16: Chapter 16 Origin

"Go take a shower."

Zhou An pointed to the tightly closed metal door in the corner; it was the [Integrated Automatic Bathroom] he had installed earlier.

"A shower?" Luo Ning was stunned for a moment. "Big Boss, my SAN value is at 1, I'm hanging by a thread, and you want me to take a shower? What is this? Hospice care?"

"The smell of monster blood mixed with machine oil on you is too strong. I don't take in stinky refugees here."

Zhou An waved his hand in disgust. "There is a purification system in that bathroom, the water is warm, and it comes with a SAN value recovery effect. Hurry up and go, don't pollute the air in my cabin."

Hearing that it had a SAN value recovery effect, Luo Ning's eyes lit up instantly, and she rushed into the bathroom without another word.

"Splash—"

Soon, the sound of running water started.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened a crack, and Luo Ning's head poked out. Her short hair was plastered wetly against her cheeks, and combined with her quiet, gentle face, she actually looked quite pitiful.

"Um... my original clothes were torn to shreds and covered in blood. Do you have anything I can change into?"

Zhou An sighed helplessly and walked over to his storage locker.

Although he had traded for quite a lot of supplies earlier, he didn't have the habit of hoarding women's clothing.

He could only randomly pull out an oversized black cotton T-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts and toss them through the door gap.

"Only mine, just make do with them."

A moment later, Luo Ning walked out, drying her hair. The men's T-shirt on her petite frame looked like a dress, and the wide neckline even revealed her delicate collarbones.

"So much more comfortable, this bathroom is amazing! My SAN value has already risen to 15!" Luo Ning stretched contentedly.

"Go lie down in the bedroom."

Zhou An pointed to the sliding door next to it, which was covered with a privacy film.

"That bed is a rehabilitation bed; it can accelerate physical recovery and provides an additional +1 SAN value per hour. Just sleep there, and don't come out until your SAN value is fully restored."

Luo Ning peeked at the large bed that looked extremely soft, then looked at the expressionless Zhou An.

Suddenly, she crossed her arms over her chest and took a half-step back with a guarded expression, though a mischievous smile hung on the corners of her lips. "Big Boss, your abacus is calculating quite loudly, isn't it? Asking a weak girl like me to go sleep in your room? I'm currently... inside, you know. You wouldn't be thinking of doing something inappropriate while I'm sleeping, would you?"

Black lines instantly appeared on Zhou An's forehead, and his fists clenched, making a cracking sound.

"Is it your Mad Scientist talent that caused the waste in your brain to evolve along with it? What could I possibly want from you? Your lack of showering? Your mental illness?"

"Get in there and go to sleep! Don't touch anything! I'll cook when you wake up!"

"Hehe, just kidding, don't be angry, Big Boss."

Luo Ning stuck out her tongue, slipped into the bedroom in a flash, and locked the door with a "click."

Zhou An rolled his eyes, turned around, and returned to the main control console, continuing to stare at the radar and the flight path.

...

A few hours later

[Cloud Top Fortress] was cruising steadily along the flight path at an altitude of 20,000 meters. The surrounding ink-purple clouds had gradually thinned, and the normal white light of the cloud sea was faintly visible ahead.

Just then, a very light sound of a door opening came from behind.

Zhou An turned his head.

Luo Ning was standing at the entrance of the main control room. She seemed to have slept extremely well; her previously pale cheeks were now flushed with a healthy glow.

She had loosely tied the oversized T-shirt at her waist with a thin string, making it look clean and neat.

Most importantly, the crazed energy she had carried had vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Luo Ning stood there quietly, her eyes curved, her gaze clear and gentle, just like the most well-behaved, obedient girl from student days who spoke in soft whispers.

If he hadn't seen her with his own eyes carrying a rocket launcher and bombing the sky, Zhou An would absolutely not believe it was the same person.

"Does your talent... have a side effect of split personality?" Zhou An couldn't help but ask.

"Big Boss, it's not very polite to say that to a girl."

Luo Ning's voice became light and pleasant, completely devoid of the hysterical madness from before.

She brushed the stray hair behind her ear somewhat shyly. "Regardless, thank you for saving me. This bed was really too comfortable."

Zhou An waved his hand; he still wasn't quite used to this "girl" whose style had changed so drastically.

"Since you're awake, go sit on the sofa in the hall for a while."

Zhou An stood up and walked toward the kitchen area.

"I'm going to cook; consider it a celebration that we made it out alive."

"Cook?"

Luo Ning nodded obediently, a flash of surprise and anticipation in her eyes.

"Do you need help? Although I'm not good at cooking, I can help with prep work."

"No need, you just staying put is the biggest help you can give me."

He took out several pieces of fresh mutated beast meat from the system storage, along with some precious vegetables he had traded for earlier using materials.

Slicing meat, blanching, stir-frying...

Not long after, four dishes and one soup were served on the large metal dining table.

Stir-fried yellow beef, shredded pork with green peppers, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and even a luxurious plate of sweet and sour pork tenderloin! In the center was a large bowl of rich mutated beast bone soup.

Luo Ning sat at the dining table, looking at the dishes that were so sumptuous they were almost absurd, and couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

At the dining table, Luo Ning initially tried her best to maintain a quiet image, eating rice in small bites.

But when the first bite of stir-fried beef entered her stomach, the rich meat juices and the long-lost aroma of fats instantly shattered her restraint.

For the next ten minutes, Zhou An watched, dumbfounded, as this petite girl transformed into a ruthless eating machine, devouring three large bowls of white rice, and even using a bun to wipe the plate that had held the sweet and sour pork tenderloin completely clean.

"Hic—"

Luo Ning leaned back against the chair and let out a burp without any regard for her image, then her face flushed red, and she lowered her head, embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, Big Boss, I was just too hungry."

Zhou An poured a glass of warm water and handed it to her, asking casually, "How exactly have you been living these past few days? Your aircraft has such high mobility; even if you didn't kill monsters, finding a few supply crates shouldn't have left you this hungry, right?"

Hearing this, Luo Ning's eyes dimmed, and she gave a bitter smile.

"You think I had this equipment from the start? When I first started, my initial vehicle was a broken jet. The speed was infuriatingly slow, and I was caught by the devouring black mist behind me on the first night."

"You entered the devouring black mist?!"

"Yeah. If I hadn't awakened the [Mad Scientist] talent, I would have already turned into an aberrant inside."

Luo Ning held the water cup, recalling.

"After entering the devouring black mist, my SAN value quickly dropped to zero, triggering the blood-lock berserk state."

"During those three hours of the berserk state, countless crazy mechanical modification blueprints flooded my brain. To survive, I used all the basic materials I picked up along the way to forcibly modify my equipment."

She pointed to the scrapped backpack thrown in the corner. "This is the product. These past few days, whenever I recovered a bit of sanity, I had to continue going to the edge of the devouring black mist to farm monsters and find materials to repair it. All my resources were poured into this bottomless pit; these past few days were basically feast or famine, and I even had to tie myself to the backpack and sleep while floating in mid-air."

Hearing this, Zhou An finally understood. This girl was a completely extreme specialist, having put all her talent points into firepower and mobility, while her logistical support was almost zero.

Zhou An put down his chopsticks and looked at her with a serious expression.

"Tell me about your future plans."

"You desperately helped me stall for thirty minutes out there, and I, Zhou An, am not the type to be ungrateful. If you plan to leave and go ahead to find the main forces, I can provide you with enough fuel, high-level metal, and even a week's worth of food and water, ensuring you can safely catch up with those guild big shots on the front line."

"Of course, if you think it's too dangerous outside and want to stay..."