Chapter 38: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (7)
After saying those words, Si Xu felt a strong sense of embarrassment. Was there something wrong with her brain? Why would she say something like that?
Fortunately, there was no one else here besides Jiang Zhiyan. She turned her head, letting the hallway breeze cool her face.
Before letting go of Si Xu, Jiang Zhiyan couldn’t help but nuzzle against her. Her eyes were still red, but the tears were gone: “Sorry, Senior, I seem to have gotten your clothes dirty again.”
“It’s okay, let’s go.”
They had a lot to do, taking care of the rescued people and burning the corpses. With so many bodies in the summer heat, letting them decompose would be dangerous. And who knew if these corpses would turn into monsters later? They had all seen apocalyptic movies.
The alien corpses couldn’t be burned. The evolved humans who had medical knowledge worked together, using chainsaws and kitchen knives to dissect one of the corpses and wrote a dissection report. After discussion, they carefully removed the skin intact.
“I think this could be made into armor, but it’s too heavy, ordinary people probably can’t use it. Or maybe we can attach it to the walls? Aren’t we reinforcing the walls now? But would that anger them? We can try it later.” One person said, recording their thoughts in a notebook.
“Can the meat be eaten?” Someone squatted beside the skinned alien corpse and looked up, asking seriously. “The meat looks very tender.”
Everyone fell silent.
“Let’s send a piece to the lab and see.”
“It really does look suitable for hot pot.”
Their skin was tough, but the meat was easy to cut, indeed very tender. They hadn’t eaten anything warm in days. Hearing the word “hot pot,” they subconsciously swallowed, exchanging glances.
“But this monster looks too scary.”
“Crayfish also looked scary at first.”
“Look closely, isn’t this just a giant octopus?”
“It looks good for teppanyaki too.”
They all swallowed again.
Jiang Zhiyan followed Si Xu, listening to the reports from each group, slightly surprised. The progress was much faster than in the book.
She hadn’t done anything since returning from the dormitory, cultivating an aura of “delicate and helpless,” and lowering her presence. For a time, no one noticed that she hadn’t done anything. She just followed Si Xu, occasionally lending a hand, acting like a pretty, useless accessory.
Oh, she did do one thing, she disposed of the corpse in the administration building and glued the doorknob back on. As long as no one touched it, it wouldn’t fall off.
“Host, are you sure you won’t be discovered?”
“Even if I am, I won’t admit it. Besides, the university is just the first stage, we’ll be leaving in a few days, the probability of being discovered isn’t high.”
“If someone asks you what you were doing, what will you say?”
“I lowered my presence, no one will ask.” Jiang Zhiyan ran out of the administration building. “Besides, I’ve only been out for about ten minutes.”
Si Xu, holding her notebook, looked around and stopped someone running past her: “Where’s Jiang Zhiyan?”
“Huh? Jiang Zhiyan?” The person froze, then shook their head blankly. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her.”
“When did she leave? I didn’t even notice her leaving the auditorium.” Song Lingqing, sitting on the floor, yawned and rested her chin on her hand.
“Junior Jiang is really mysterious.” Xue Lin walked over and casually sat down on a chair. “The weaknesses on her are different every time.”
“She’s probably been training her abilities.” Si Xu said.
“My natural enemy, it would be troublesome if we encounter an alien like her later. Hopefully, after my ability levels up, I can see her true weakness.” Xue Lin chuckled. “I’m really curious.”
Everyone frowned, it was indeed troublesome.
“Don’t jinx it.” Song Lingqing kicked him. “And maybe you’ll never see it, she can level up too, you know?”
Si Xu frowned: “So when did she leave?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Jiang Zhiyan pushed open the auditorium door. Everyone’s gazes immediately fell on her. She stood there, looking at them blankly, then took a step back.
Jiang Zhiyan: ?
Her ability was definitely activated, not deactivated, so why did these people notice her?
“Because someone realized you were gone.” The system glanced at the data. “Si Xu was looking for you.”
“Oh, so this ability only works on people who don’t pay attention to me or care about me.” Jiang Zhiyan’s mood suddenly brightened considerably.
Si Xu cared about her! This basically meant Si Xu was already in love with her!
This world was progressing quickly.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Zhiyan asked, stammering slightly.
“Where did you go? I suddenly couldn’t find you, I was a bit worried.”
“Oh.” Jiang Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief, leaning closer to Si Xu’s ear and lowering her voice. “I went to the bathroom, a bit further away.”
Jiang Zhiyan’s face flushed, her voice getting softer: “Can you ask them to leave? I’m embarrassed to say it in front of so many people.”
“Alright, it’s fine, let’s get back to work.” Si Xu looked at the others waiting for an answer, then pulled Jiang Zhiyan away. “Tell me next time.”
“Weren’t you busy?” Jiang Zhiyan asked cheerfully, like a little fool, following Si Xu.
Si Xu looked at Jiang Zhiyan, a faint scent of blood clinging to her, not human blood: “You can still tell me even if I’m busy.”
“I’ll tell you next time, next time, Senior, you come with me, I’m still a bit scared going alone.” Jiang Zhiyan hugged Si Xu’s arm and swayed it slightly.
“Okay…” Si Xu replied, looking away.
Everyone had secrets, so it was normal for Jiang Zhiyan to have some too. Anyway, she didn’t mean any harm.
Eating was a serious matter. The two evolved humans who could generate electricity went to the biology lab to power the equipment, all for the sake of researching E1—that octopus-like alien—to see if it was edible.
Although most people were a bit hesitant and couldn’t bring themselves to eat it, they were curious. After all, eating aliens was better than resorting to cannibalism later when there was no food left.
Jiang Zhiyan, armed with the script, knew it was edible, tasting like beef, or even better than beef, because E1 was originally a food source on its home planet.
In the original plot, the evolved human in the protagonist’s group who could make plants grow died unfortunately. Left with no other choice, they decided to eat E1. When they first tasted it, they were prepared to be poisoned, but who knew it was edible? It was a major turning point in the novel.
That part of the plot was detailed. She would have a “holy mother” relapse, preventing the team members from eating E1, claiming that E1 was pitiful, and eating them was no different from cannibalism. However, this “holy mother” complex would vanish instantly when someone tried to kill and eat her.
These plot points weren’t the main focus. The main point was that they discovered aliens were edible halfway through the book, while now the plot had just begun.
There were too many bugs in this world. Jiang Zhiyan felt like she hadn’t done anything, she even got rid of things that shouldn’t have appeared, like that high-level alien and the surviving cannon fodder.
“I think the current problems have nothing to do with me.”
“I’ve already written eight bug reports.” The system sighed. “Don’t worry, we won’t take the blame for things we shouldn’t.”
Although Jiang Zhiyan liked to mess things up, this time it really wasn’t her fault, she didn’t have that much influence in this world.
The system already had no hope of retirement with Jiang Zhiyan alone, and if it took the blame for things it shouldn’t, it felt like one day it would voluntarily ask to be scrapped.
The E1 report came out. The initial conclusion was that it was edible, but after all, it was an alien creature, and their technology was more advanced. There might be substances harmful to humans that they couldn’t detect yet. Now, it depended on whether there were any volunteers willing to try it.
Several beautifully sliced pieces of E1 meat were placed on the table, next to a makeshift stove with a pot on top. The beef tallow-flavored broth was already boiling, and everyone present couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
Fragrant, so fragrant.
Many were already salivating, staring at the pot. There were still quite a few edible things available now, but nothing compared to hot pot.
“We need a representative from the evolved humans and a representative from the ordinary people.”
“I’ll do it.” Jiang Zhiyan raised her hand.
Everyone’s gaze fell on her.
Si Xu frowned almost imperceptibly. She didn’t want Jiang Zhiyan to take this risk and subconsciously tugged on Jiang Zhiyan’s clothes, trying to stop her.
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t look down, but reached out and squeezed Si Xu’s hand.
Si Xu knew she shouldn’t be biased, after all, she was the leader, but such feelings were uncontrollable. She was torn between reason and emotion.
She looked at Jiang Zhiyan, who still didn’t look at her, but whispered: “I want to do something for you. You’ll be putting someone in a difficult position no matter who you choose, and you can’t take this risk yourself, after all, you’re the pillar of this place now.”
“I’ll do it.” Someone from the ordinary people also raised their hand.
“I’ll do it.” Si Xu said. She couldn’t watch Jiang Zhiyan take this risk. She was so delicate and fragile, if she had a stomachache or something after eating it, she probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“Senior, don’t fight me for food, you’re the strongest here now, you eating it wouldn’t be representative.” Jiang Zhiyan pressed down Si Xu’s arm, stopping her with a look, then picked up her chopsticks and quickly put a piece of meat in the pot.
The aroma intensified.
The sound of inhaling was loud, accompanied by the rumbling of stomachs.
The representative from the ordinary people also eagerly put a piece of meat in the pot. She was optimistic, even if she died, she would die with a full stomach. This shitty life, whether it continued or not didn’t really matter.
Jiang Zhiyan fished out the meat after fifteen seconds. The cooked meat was dark pink, with clear lines, the aroma of meat and beef tallow mixing together, making even more people salivate.
“Cook it a little longer.” Si Xu reminded her.
“No, this is fine.” Jiang Zhiyan dodged Si Xu’s hand, blew on the meat, then took a bite, her face lighting up with enjoyment. “Delicious.”
The representative from the ordinary people also gave a thumbs-up and nodded in agreement, not speaking because she was busy with her second piece of meat.
Standing and eating was tiring, so they brought chairs and sat next to the pot. In ten minutes, they finished two large plates of meat.
The healer on standby had already swallowed her saliva several times.
Leave a Reply