Black Sky - Chapter 47

Bai Zi was holding her breath, not only because she was too close to Meng Yilan.

Another reason was that the motorcycle was going way too fast.

So fast that Bai Zi couldn’t see the scenery on the side of the road at all.

Bai Zi suspected that Meng Yilan didn’t know that the vehicle she was driving had a function called “brakes,” and also didn’t know that the accelerator didn’t need to be twisted so hard.

From the moment Bai Zi hugged Meng Yilan, Meng Yilan had been twisting the accelerator for all she was worth, driving faster and faster in Bei City, which had no traffic lights, as if she was being chased by thousands of mutants.

Bai Zi originally thought that Bei City had some kind of strange regulation requiring everyone to drive as fast as possible, but when she saw that other electric bikes or motorcycles, and even cars, were being left far behind by Meng Yilan, Bai Zi knew that she was overthinking it.

Meng Yilan simply liked to drive fast.

Therefore, she hugged Meng Yilan even tighter—not because she was afraid, but because she was ready to jump out of the motor immediately in case of an accident, and was constantly rehearsing in her brain how to hold Meng Yilan and how to roll on the ground in order to minimize the damage from the motorcycle accident.

At the same time, Meng Yilan, who clearly felt that she was being hugged tighter, frowned slightly.

So, when Bai Zi was rehearsing how to jump out of the car for the fifth time in her brain, the motor’s speed suddenly slowed down…a lot.

Finally, longer than the originally estimated half an hour, the two arrived at their destination after about fifty minutes—the Bei City Art Museum.

Bai Zi never dreamed that one day, her things would be stored in an art museum.

The Bei City Art Museum had a very large area, and the interior of the venue was divided into countless areas. In the past, it had exhibited artworks from different countries and with different themes all year round.

But now, the art museum, which was shaped like a pyramid, was surrounded by thick and high protective nets, and streetlights were installed on the protective nets at certain intervals, completely illuminating the surrounding roads.

As soon as she got off of the motorcycle, Bai Zi heard the sound of hammering coming from all around. It seemed that construction was underway nearby.

On the steps not far away, several men wearing hard hats were smoking and drinking. They were attracted by the sound of the motorcycle, and then looked at Meng Yilan and Bai Zi, their eyes revealing a lewdness that made Bai Zi feel extremely disgusted.

Meng Yilan locked the motorcycle, led Bai Zi towards the gate, and showed the guards her watch data.

For some reason, Bai Zi felt that the guard’s appearance was a little familiar, but she couldn’t remember why, so she could only turn her head and follow Meng Yilan away.

After walking through the gate of the art museum, Bai Zi immediately froze in place.

It was a space that was larger than a football stadium, but only a few corners were lit with oil lamps, unable to illuminate the entire venue.

Hanging from the top of the venue was a giant crystal ball, and countless star-shaped crystal chandeliers were suspended around it.

When Bai Zi first looked up, she thought that she had broken into a vast universe that had lost its light—although the crystal ball and those star chandeliers didn’t emit light, the design of the entire space gave people a very wonderful sense of vastness, but it was extremely oppressive because of the darkness.

Below this “small universe” was a complex space divided into small cubicles.

Meng Yilan was obviously not here for the first time. She led Bai Zi to a small cubicle next to the gate.

At this time, the two suddenly heard a cry of surprise coming from behind them: “Lanlan?”

Bai Zi immediately turned her head. She saw a tall woman with short blue hair walking quickly towards them not far away.

“Why are you here,” the blue-haired woman said with a delighted expression. “Did you come specifically to see me?”

Meng Yilan frowned slightly displeased: “I’ve told you many times, don’t call me that.”

“Lanlan, I went to ‘Sleepless’ to look for you five or six times this month,” the blue-haired woman didn’t take Meng Yilan’s words to heart at all. “I didn’t see you every time. If you don’t show up again, I was even planning to ask the people from ‘Black Bridge’ to find you.”

The “Sleepless” she mentioned was the name of a bar. After the virus broke out, the government re-divided the various areas of Bei City, and “Sleepless” was a bar that had been opened in the entertainment district. People could come here to spend money during specific periods.

The blue-haired woman’s outfit was quite punk. Although it was winter, the pants she was wearing had been deliberately torn in several places, and thick eyeliner was drawn around her almond-shaped eyes. Countless silver earrings were worn on her ears.

When the woman got closer, Bai Zi realized that she and Meng Yilan were about the same height.

Meng Yilan took out a number plate from her pocket expressionlessly and handed it to the other party: “Open this cubicle.”

“We rarely meet, are you really going to treat me like this?” The blue-haired woman pouted, refusing to take the number plate.

Meng Yilan coldly spat out two words: “Hou Saiwen.”

“I told you not to call me by my Chinese name,” the blue-haired woman said as if she had been stepped on her tail, but she didn’t dare to get angry, only emphasizing with a wronged expression, “Seven, call me Seven!”

At this time, Hou Saiwen finally noticed Bai Zi standing behind Meng Yilan: “And who is this?”

“Hello,” Bai Zi curled the corners of her mouth. She inexplicably felt that the other party was a pretty easygoing person, and introduced herself proactively, “I’m Meng Yilan’s assistant, Bai Zi.”

Hou Saiwen narrowed her eyes, and turned her head to look at Meng Yilan: “Assistant?”

Meng Yilan waved the number plate in her hand impatiently: “Open the cubicle.”

“When we first met,” Hou Saiwen said, crossing her arms as if she was a little embarrassed, “I begged you again and again, wanting to be your assistant, even if it was just running errands, but you wouldn’t agree no matter what! Now, you found a skinny and short weakling to be your assistant?!”

Bai Zi was stunned. Before she could react, she saw Meng Yilan’s face instantly freeze over: “Hou Saiwen, apologize.”

Hou Saiwen was startled by Meng Yilan’s attitude, and immediately softened her tone, turning her head to look at Bai Zi with an embarrassed expression: “Sorry, I was a little agitated just now, don’t take it too seriously.”

“It’s okay…” Before Bai Zi could finish speaking, Hou Saiwen leaned close to Meng Yilan’s eyes again: “Lanlan, you’re wearing makeup today, right? You’re so pretty!”

Meng Yilan took a step back, and raised the number plate in her hand again.

Hou Saiwen finally took the plate. She glanced at the number on it, and led Meng Yilan and Bai Zi towards the depths of the venue: “Lanlan, have you found that Lin yet? If you ask me, you shouldn’t look for him anymore. There are plenty of fish in the sea, you should pay more attention to the flowers and plants growing around you, for example…” Saying that, she turned her head and winked at Meng Yilan.

Meng Yilan sneered: “Don’t you think you’re a little noisy?”

Standing at the very back, Bai Zi listened to the two arguing back and forth, and suddenly seemed to understand something, could it be that Meng Yilan had put on makeup specifically to see this Seven?

Although Hou Saiwen’s makeup was heavy, it could be seen that her features were very beautiful, and she and Meng Yilan were about the same height. The two looked quite well-matched.

The more Bai Zi thought about it, the more she felt that it made sense.

But in the next second, Bai Zi immediately refuted herself—hadn’t Meng Yilan said that she didn’t like women?

According to Meng Yilan’s decisive personality, if she was straight, she would definitely be straight, and it was absolutely impossible for her to be gay.

Moreover, who said that women put on makeup to please others? Couldn’t it be to make themselves happy?

But pleasing the person you like could also make you happy, right?

Bai Zi suddenly thought of You Xin. If that little brat was here, she would probably come up with a lot of conclusions that would make her suddenly understand.

At this time, Bai Zi couldn’t help but remember that she had been very cold to You Xin.

Not only You Xin, but at that time, she didn’t care about anyone other than Meng Yilan.

But the current Bai Zi couldn’t remember why she had that mentality at the time.

“What’s wrong?” Just as Bai Zi was getting more and more tangled, she heard Meng Yilan’s voice.

Bai Zi looked up, and saw Meng Yilan standing not far away, staring at her with a confused expression.

“Are you feeling unwell?” Meng Yilan turned around and walked closer to Bai Zi, deliberately lowering her voice. “Is your wound starting to hurt?”

Saying that, she was about to pull up Bai Zi’s sleeve.

“Hey—” Hou Saiwen’s anxious shout came from the front. “What are you doing? Don’t talk secrets behind my back, it’s very impolite!”

Bai Zi consciously pulled up her sleeve, letting Meng Yilan check: “I’m fine.”

After confirming that there was nothing wrong with Bai Zi’s bite wound, Meng Yilan led her to Hou Saiwen.

Hou Saiwen narrowed her eyes and stared at Bai Zi for a long while, and then looked at Meng Yilan with a slightly wronged expression. Seeing that the other party was looking at her expressionlessly, she swallowed the words that had reached her lips, and took out a large bunch of keys from her waist, opening the cubicle in front of her.

“Sorry, there’s no light.” Hou Saiwen said to Bai Zi in a not-so-friendly tone after pulling up the roller shutter door.

Bai Zi didn’t care about her attitude: “It’s okay, I can see, thank you.”

After saying that, she walked straight in.

The cubicle was filled with everything that had once belonged to Bai Zi. There wasn’t much, but there was a wide variety of things, even a folding chair, a clothes rack, and a mattress.

Meng Yilan stood outside the roller shutter door. She wanted to go in, but felt that she shouldn’t pry into Bai Zi’s privacy, so she said, “Take your time, I’ll wait for you outside. Take whatever you want to take.”

“Okay.” Bai Zi nodded, walking towards a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner.

Outside the cubicle, Hou Saiwen stood behind Meng Yilan with her arms crossed, her face becoming more and more unsightly.

Finally, she couldn’t help but grab Meng Yilan and pull her to the side: “Lanlan, what’s your relationship with her?”

Meng Yilan shook off the other party, looking puzzled: “What does that have to do with you?”

“I…” Hou Saiwen stomped her feet anxiously. “Didn’t you say that you don’t like women?”

Meng Yilan was stunned, and involuntarily raised her eyebrows.

At first, the reason why she had become more and more certain that she didn’t like women was because she had met Hou Saiwen.

The two had met half a year after the mutant virus broke out, at the bar called “Sleepless” that Hou Saiwen had mentioned just now.

At that time, Meng Yilan and Shi Lei had just finished handing over various information related to Lin Quwei, and she was about to leave, but Hou Saiwen, who was drunk and delirious, hugged Meng Yilan without regard for anything and pouted, wanting to kiss her—and then she was slapped by Meng Yilan without any politeness.

It was this slap that plunged Hou Saiwen into the whirlpool of love.

Then, Hou Saiwen launched an extremely enthusiastic pursuit of Meng Yilan, using all kinds of methods. This also made Meng Yilan even more certain—she really wasn’t interested in women.

“Is that all you have in your head all day?” Meng Yilan retorted coldly, without answering the other party’s question directly.

Hou Saiwen retorted unwillingly: “Why is it her? If you randomly ask someone on the street to choose, they would definitely choose me!”

At this time, there was a commotion at the gate.

The two turned their heads and saw several men walking into the venue, and they could smell the alcohol from far away.

“Get out, did you hear me?” The guard who had checked the watches just now also ran in a hurry. “If you do that again, I won’t be polite!”

Meng Yilan narrowed her eyes and looked carefully, and found that the men were the workers she had met on the steps just now. It seemed that after getting drunk, they wanted to come to the venue to cause trouble.

“Stay here!” Hou Saiwen said to Meng Yilan in a low voice, and then, without waiting for the other party to answer, took out a small curved knife from her waist, and walked quickly towards the men.

The burliest worker showed a confused expression after seeing Hou Saiwen appear: “Yo, there are woman here?”

I told you, with such a large space, how could there not be women?” a tall, thin man beside him chimed in.

The two were pushed away by the man with a full beard standing at the back. He walked to Hou Saiwen, looked her up and down, and shook his head: “This face look like a monkey’s butt, who wants her?!”

Hou Saiwen pushed the bearded man away, raising the knife in her hand at him: “You sons bitches, get out of here, or I’ll castrate all of you!”

The bearded man staggered after being pushed, and took a long time to steady himself. He was about to open his mouth to curse Hou Saiwen, but suddenly saw Meng Yilan not far away, and said with a lewd smile: “Hey, there’s another one over there, not bad, we’ll have a threesome, how exciting!”

Just as he finished speaking, the guard suddenly took out a stun gun, shocking the bearded man to the ground.

The other drunkards were enraged, and the three of them rushed forward to drag the guard away. The bearded man, who was lying on the ground, was furious, stood up and wanted to snatch Hou Saiwen’s knife.

Hou Saiwen wanted to take advantage of the situation and swing the knife at the other party, but the bearded man had obviously practiced before. He suddenly bent down, rushing forward like a mad dog and grabbing Hou Saiwen’s waist, knocking her to the ground.

Then, he snatched Hou Saiwen’s knife, kicked Hou Saiwen a few times, and walked quickly towards Meng Yilan.

“Lanlan, run!” Hou Saiwen shouted, enduring the pain in her waist.

Meng Yilan stood there without moving, but her right hand had already reached to her waist, preparing to take out her handgun.

Just as Hou Saiwen was gritting her teeth, trying to run towards Meng Yilan regardless of everything, she suddenly saw a person carrying a cardboard box crash into the bearded man.

The cardboard box was knocked over, and the sundries inside scattered in the air. The man was instantly knocked to the ground.

Only then did Hou Saiwen see clearly that the person who had suddenly rushed out was Bai Zi, who she had ridiculed as a weakling.

Like a beast tamer catching a vicious dog, Bai Zi grabbed the man’s neck hard, preventing him from moving, and then turned her head to look at Meng Yilan. The two made eye contact tacitly, and after confirming that they were both unharmed, Bai Zi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This scene was watched from beginning to end by Hou Saiwen, who was lying on the ground.

Hou Saiwen frowned, and stood up unwillingly. She endured the pain in her waist and walked towards Meng Yilan.

On the other side, the guard had handcuffed the three drunkards who had tried to restrain him. Then, he ran to Bai Zi, and quickly handcuffed the bearded man.

At this time, Bai Zi suddenly shouted to the guard: “Old Mao?”

The guard, who was called Old Mao by Bai Zi, showed an awkward expression. He stammered for a long time before replying: “Bai Zi.”

Old Mao was originally a martial arts coach. When Bai Zi was at her wit’s end, it was Old Mao who had taken the initiative to hire Bai Zi as an assistant, so that Bai Zi could continue to live in Bei City.

Bai Zi was very excited to recognize an old friend. She didn’t notice at all that Meng Yilan behind her was squatting on the ground, her expression very complicated.

Hou Saiwen walked to Meng Yilan’s side: “Lanlan, are you okay?”

Meng Yilan ignored Hou Saiwen. At this time, she was holding a Polaroid photo in her hand.

This photo had been knocked out of the cardboard box by Bai Zi when she had rushed towards the bearded man, and had fallen to her feet.

Although the photo had yellowed and faded, Meng Yilan could still see the contents clearly.

In the photo, there were three people.

A young man was standing behind the sofa, smiling, his eyes gentle.

In front of him, a young girl was sitting on the sofa, her left eye was wrapped in gauze, and she didn’t have a smile on her face. Her clear almond eyes staring at the camera showed a hint of nervousness.

Sitting next to the girl was a beautiful young woman, with a gentle smile on her face, leaning towards the girl next to her.

“Lanlan,” Hou Saiwen squatted down, pointing to the woman in the photo and saying, “Is this you? You’re so pretty…”

Meng Yilan ignored Hou Saiwen and continued to stare at the photo without saying a word.

The woman in the photo was indeed herself, and the inexperienced girl she leaned over to deliberately get closer to was undoubtedly Bai Zi.

However, at this moment, Meng Yilan had no impression of this photo at all.