Black Sky - Chapter 43

After waking up, Bai Zi felt that Meng Yilan had suddenly turned into a block of ice.

No matter who she saw, she had a cold expression, like a moving iceberg. Every time she spoke to someone, she only uttered two or three words, and then closed her eyes, using a headache as an excuse to ignore the other person.

Especially when facing Bai Zi, Meng Yilan’s attitude was even more obvious, directly shutting her mouth and not speaking, not even bothering to say two or three words.

Bai Zi didn’t care much about this, only fulfilling her duty as an “assistant,” busying herself for the sick Meng Yilan, afraid that she would accidentally get worse.

After all, she had just cried a lot, and Bai Zi very considerately believed that Meng Yilan must be physically and mentally exhausted.

When Bai Zi was getting medicine for Meng Yilan, she found that the damp lemon hard candy was gone.

The candy that Bai Zi had finally found after running all over the shopping mall and asking everyone when the doctor was examining Meng Yilan was now nowhere to be found.

Bai Zi unconsciously looked at Meng Yilan: “Where’s the candy?”

As soon as she finished asking, she immediately felt that she had asked the wrong person—Meng Yilan only liked to eat strawberry-flavored candy, so the whereabouts of that lemon hard candy couldn’t possibly have anything to do with her.

Bai Zi, who had thought that she would be ignored, saw Meng Yilan turn her head, extending a slender jade finger, and silently gesturing towards Mao Mao, she had done it.

Mao Mao, who was lying on the table gnawing on a compressed biscuit, looked up innocently when it saw the two of them staring at it.

Bai Zi sighed for the lemon hard candy that she had finally found. She walked to the table, pretending to raise her hand to hit Mao Mao, but in the end only rubbed its sparsely haired head and stopped.

But she didn’t know that not far behind her, Meng Yilan, who was feeling a little guilty, had taken a big gulp of water. The hand that had been clenched into a fist in her upper pocket suddenly loosened, and a lemon hard candy wrapped in paper silently slipped to the bottom of the pocket.

After Meng Yilan had rested for two days, although she still had a low fever, the support convoy had quietly arrived.

Before preparing to set off back to Bei City, Uncle Hong ran to Meng Yilan, who was standing by the parking lot, and after briefly explaining some things, said a little awkwardly: “Miss Meng, due to the suddenness of the incident, the losses to ‘Hongya’ from this accident aren’t small, so the support arrangements are also quite tricky.”

While listening, Meng Yilan looked at Bai Zi not far away, who was pulling Mao Mao off her back and onto the ground.

Uncle Hong continued to talk non-stop: “So, we also reported the situation of this accident to the government. With their help, we not only started searching for Liao Yurou’s whereabouts nationwide, but also…”

“Uncle Hong,” Meng Yilan, who had never liked to beat around the bush, said lightly, with a slightly nasal tone, “Just say it directly.”

Uncle Hong hesitated for a while, and said in a low voice: “The government officials sent over will arrive in about half an hour. At that time, I’ll have to trouble you to talk to them for a few words.”

Uncle Hong, who had worked at the Hongya Group for most of his life, knew very well that Meng Yilan was someone who didn’t want to have anything to do with the Hongya Group.

If it had been in the past, let alone talk, even just nodding her head, Meng Yilan would never have agreed, let alone when she had a low fever now.

But now, Meng Yilan, after listening to Uncle Hong’s request, frowned slightly, and nodded in agreement.

As early as when she had asked her aunt for help at the farm, Meng Yilan had already made all the preparations.

This was one of the “consequences” that she should bear after insisting on returning to take Bai Zi away.

And she also knew very well that these things now were just appetizers.

Meng Yilan forced herself not to think about the things that would happen in the future. She turned her head back, and saw Mao Mao being led by Bai Zi, walking towards her step by step, their swaying posture very funny.

Looking at the two of them, Meng Yilan’s eyebrows unconsciously relaxed, and the coldness in her eyes also dissipated a lot.

But before the two could walk up to her, Mao Mao sneezed loudly. Bai Zi helplessly told Meng Yilan: “It lost its old blanket, and I wanted to get it some clothes to wear.”

Hearing this, Meng Yilan turned her head and said to Uncle Hong: “Call me again when the people arrive.”

Uncle Hong nodded: “Okay, Miss Meng.”

Meng Yilan glanced at Bai Zi, and without saying anything, only bent down and took Mao Mao from Bai Zi’s hand, turning around and walking towards the shopping mall.

Uncle Hong stood there, watching Meng Yilan and Bai Zi walking away with Mao Mao in the middle, and felt that this scene was quite like a family of three going shopping at the mall on a holiday.

Then he immediately came back to his senses, shaking his head at his ridiculous thoughts.

The bonfire in the main hall had already been cleaned up, and the sundries had also been cleared away. The guards had already left the shopping mall, and they had all returned to the trucks, waiting to depart.

Perhaps because she was still sick, Meng Yilan was walking slower than usual, so Bai Zi also slowed down her pace. Although she didn’t know where Meng Yilan wanted to go, she still walked forward without hesitation.

The surroundings became darker and darker, and Bai Zi turned on the flashlight for Meng Yilan.

Meng Yilan, illuminated by the light, slowly walked to a row of shelves.

Various styles of clothing were placed on the shelves, stacked very neatly. It was a pity that the clothes were covered in thick dust. If anyone reached out and patted them, the dust flying everywhere would definitely give Mao Mao sinusitis.

Meng Yilan looked around, and after a long while, pulled a leather jacket from the shelf, looking at Bai Zi.

Bai Zi looked at the clothes, and then looked at Mao Mao next to her, and shook her head.

Meng Yilan put down the leather jacket, picked up a blue down jacket next to it, and turned to look at Bai Zi again.

“This one’s not bad.” Bai Zi nodded.

Meng Yilan unfolded the down jacket, wanting to have Mao Mao try it on, but the brat bared its teeth and dodged to the side, but excitedly picked up another pink down jacket, trying to stuff its feet into the small sleeves of the down jacket.

Bai Zi frowned: “Pink?” She suddenly remembered something, and turned to Meng Yilan, “The same color as strawberries, you should also like pink…”

Meng Yilan’s face stiffened. After a long silence, she finally opened her mouth and said, “Shut up.”

Bai Zi shut her mouth, picked up the down jacket and walked to the side, patted the dust off it, and helped Mao Mao put on the pink down jacket with Meng Yilan’s cooperation.

After getting dressed, Mao Mao tried to climb onto Bai Zi’s back, but the bulky clothes made it slide back to the ground. Bai Zi smiled and patted Mao Mao’s head, but heard Meng Yilan suddenly say next to her: “Put it on.”

Bai Zi, while carrying Mao Mao on her back, turned her head and saw that the other party was handing her an electronic watch, the same style as the one Meng Yilan had hanging around her neck.

“I’ve already entered all your file data into it,” Meng Yilan said in a low voice, her nasal tone still a little heavy. “With it, no one will make things difficult for you in Bei City.”

Bai Zi took the watch: “You Yuyi said that if you want to enter Bei City, you have to have a physical examination, at that time…”

“Don’t worry,” Meng Yilan said, seemingly a little displeased. “Following the ‘Hongya’ convoy in, you don’t need to do those tests.”

Bai Zi smiled slightly: “You Yuyi said that you would definitely have a way to let me return to Bei City safely. She really knew everything.”

“Do you still remember You Yuyi?” Meng Yilan suddenly asked.

Bai Zi was stunned, and nodded: “Yes, I remember.”

“You seem to trust her very much.” Meng Yilan narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Because she’s a good person.” Bai Zi nodded again.

Meng Yilan suddenly chuckled, her tone slow and gentle, but her eyes were clearly very cold: “Do you even know her very well? You’ve only spent less than a week together, and she’s already so good that you’re willing to replace her to exchange for Lin Quwei?”

Bai Zi frowned. She didn’t answer immediately, but said with an unusually serious expression: “Although I can’t understand why I would do that now, I’m very certain that I wasn’t trying to save You Yuyi, but for you.”

Meng Yilan, who had been smiling, suddenly froze.

“Maybe it was a kind of,” Bai Zi thought, trying hard to find the right words to describe that feeling, “a morbid desire to desperately get closer to you, hoping that I would be of some value to you.”

Bai Zi’s attitude was as if she was analyzing someone unrelated, very calm and rational.

Hearing the word “morbid,” Meng Yilan felt a little unhappy and sad for some reason, but she didn’t continue chatting with Bai Zi, only lowering her head to tidy up Mao Mao’s sleeves, using this to hide her emotions.

“After returning to Bei City, can I go back to where I used to live?” Bai Zi asked, stroking the watch in her hand.

Meng Yilan turned her head, raising her eyebrows and asking: “That basement?”

Bai Zi nodded: “There must be a lot of my things inside, maybe it can help me remember…”

“Bai Zi,” Meng Yilan lowered her eyes, and said after hesitating for a while, “Bei City has changed dramatically this past year.”

Seeing Bai Zi looking at her in confusion, Meng Yilan coughed lightly, patiently explaining to the other party: “At first, the government sealed off all the areas where mutants had appeared, and pulled all the residents inside to the yellow zone for quarantine—your former residence was one of the areas that had been sealed off.”

“But then there was a riot,” Meng Yilan paused, and then continued, “That place was occupied by a large group of anti-government people. They deliberately destroyed everything. Later, after the government sent people to arrest that group of people, that place was no longer habitable, and there were limited resources, so it couldn’t be rebuilt.”

Bai Zi listened to Meng Yilan’s explanation blankly, her brain seeming to have stopped.

That was to say, she had nothing now.

But on second thought, that was right. In a world that had lost the sun, why would Bai Zi’s home still be safe and sound, completely the same as it had been a year ago?

“Although you can’t go back to live there,” Meng Yilan softened her tone, comforting her softly, “But don’t worry, I had someone move all your things from your home to a warehouse in advance.”

Bai Zi’s brain stopped again.

Meng Yilan didn’t speak again. It was obvious that she didn’t want to explain to Bai Zi why she had done this.

At first, after Bai Zi was taken away by the company because she had been bitten, she became a knot in Meng Yilan’s heart—although Meng Yilan had extremely disliked Bai Zi at that time, she couldn’t forget that she had been saved by Bai Zi several times.

The twisted mentality prompted Meng Yilan to constantly use various connections to inquire about Bai Zi’s situation while running around for Lin Quwei, but unfortunately, she didn’t find anything.

When Meng Yilan learned that a riot had occurred at Bai Zi’s residence, she immediately asked someone to help her secretly transport the things from Bai Zi’s home to a warehouse in Bei City.

Although she had never gone to see Bai Zi’s things, doing this seemed to make Meng Yilan’s twisted mentality feel a little better.

“Meng Yilan,” Bai Zi, who had been silent all along, suddenly called out, looking directly at the other party with her right eye, “You’re really so gentle.”

This time, it was Meng Yilan whose brain stopped.

Bai Zi seemed to have discovered something extremely wonderful: “After Lin Quwei was arrested, you seemed to have completely changed, but in fact, you haven’t changed at all.”

Meng Yilan frowned, refuting a little awkwardly: “Don’t think too much…”

“It’s okay,” Bai Zi walked closer to Meng Yilan, her clear almond eyes with a slight smile. “There’s no need to pretend to be cold, because I knew from the start that you’re a very gentle person.”

Meng Yilan felt her cheeks start to burn. She wondered if her body temperature had already soared to forty degrees Celsius.

Bai Zi finally noticed that Meng Yilan was acting strange, and worriedly raised her hand to touch the other party’s forehead: “Are you okay?”

Footsteps came from not far away, followed by Uncle Hong’s voice: “Miss Meng…”

“Are the people here?” Meng Yilan responded immediately, turning around and walking towards Uncle Hong as if she was running away. “I’ll go over now.”

At the same time, Mao Mao, because the down jacket on its body was too thick, couldn’t hold onto Bai Zi’s neck and slid down.

It called out in annoyance, and then bent its arm, trying to scratch its back, but couldn’t reach it at all.

Bai Zi squatted down to help Mao Mao scratch its back, and then holding its hand, walked out quickly.

While walking, she looked at Meng Yilan’s back in the distance, her expression seeming very happy. She said to Mao Mao next to her as if talking to herself: “Let’s go, let’s go back to Bei City.”