Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 18

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The next day, after Yan Xianchuan and Lu Mingqiu had breakfast, they were driven to the meeting point by Su Hong, and they boarded the airship to the island with the other guests.

If it could be said that there was still a veil of shame between them before they parted, and they could maintain a superficial harmony, now it could be said that they had overturned the table, picked up their weapons, and were about to fight.

It wasn’t solely about avenging her friend; Doudouna also despised Xie Chuxiao, that hypocritical, pretentious fake gentleman. And the “black material” she released wasn’t fabricated; it was all true.

Besides, Xie Chuxiao only targeted newcomers who didn’t know anything when they first entered the circle; he was a senior, and no one liked to meddle, he didn’t know how many innocent omegas he had harmed.

It was like ridding the world of evil.

Xie Chuxiao didn’t want to talk to Doudouna at all, but across the aisle from him sat Yan Xianchuan, who obviously wouldn’t chat with him either.

He turned sideways, looking at Lu Mingqiu, who was chatting with Doudouna, talking about the other’s new song.

Lu Mingqiu said that she wanted to ask her to sing the theme song for her next movie; Doudouna said okay, the two of them went back and forth, chatting endlessly.

An Ning and Aqi were also chatting; no one paid any attention to him.

The movie emperor had no choice but to turn back to Yan Xianchuan, and said familiarly, “You’re really amazing, I watched the replay of the live broadcast last time, you know a lot of things, do you have a hobby in this area?”

Yan Xianchuan looked at him expressionlessly, slowly turned her head, and looked out the window, as if the blue sky and white clouds had an irresistible attraction, sucking her eyes, blocking her ears and mouth, making her unable to pay attention to anything else.

“Haha.” Xie Chuxiao laughed awkwardly twice, closed his mouth, and cursed the other party’s ancestors in his heart.

Of the six people, the most innocent was An Ning, she really didn’t know anything, she didn’t even notice that these people didn’t get along well.

After boarding the airship, she said as if she were boasting, “I went back and studied a lot of knowledge, I even practiced how to climb trees!”

I’m so envious of her being so carefree. Aqi complimented her, and An Ning was even happier.

The airship landed, and host Jiang Fei was already waiting.

“Good afternoon! After a day of rest, everyone is refreshed and energetic, it seems like you’re all very confident about the upcoming competition.”

“This time we’re going to compete in – archery!”

He pointed to the right, on the table in the open space were several wooden strips and bowstrings.

“Originally, the program team’s idea was to have the guests go into the forest to find materials and make their own bows, but the trees here are all private property, you can’t cut them down randomly, so we can only prepare the materials for you.”

Jiang Fei shook his head as if he were complaining, “I told you not to come here, director Berg insisted that this island was beautiful, we’re not here for a vacation, does it matter if it’s beautiful or not?”

Director Berg, wearing a sun hat, walked by leisurely, holding a chilled coconut juice, “Why doesn’t it matter.”

“What you have to do is very simple, make a bow, take the arrow, hey, the arrows are also prepared.” Jiang Fei looked helpless, “The grassland one hundred meters ahead has been fenced off, there are many animals in it now, that’s your lunch ingredients today.”

“That’s so hard?!” An Ning exclaimed.

Even for people who have practiced archery, it’s not easy to kill a living animal with a self-made bow.

Let alone those who have never touched it before.

“What if you can’t shoot it?” An Ning asked worriedly.

“Eat air.” Jiang Fei said sincerely.

The groups didn’t change; they were the same as last time. But this time, there was no need for any team cooperation; everyone did their own thing.

Yan Xianchuan walked over, grabbed the bowstring and wrapped it around the ends, the process was simple, rough, and very fast, she didn’t even wear gloves.

Seeing her movements, the others also walked over, picked up a bamboo bow and tried it out.

Lu Mingqiu had just touched the smooth surface of the wood when a finished bow was stuffed into her hand.

“Would you like to pick some arrows?” Yan Xianchuan said, “Just wait for me for a moment.”

“Be careful not to pinch your hand.” Lu Mingqiu’s eyes were filled with concern.

“Okay, I’ll be careful.” Yan Xianchuan said, her hands still wrapping the bowstring.

She did it quickly and easily, it seemed like she just tied the bowstring to the ends and it was done. The others tried it and realized that it was far from that simple, just tightening the bowstring was a hassle.

Lu Mingqiu took twenty arrows, put them in separate small backpacks, put one on her back, and held another in her hand, handing it to Yan Xianchuan who was walking over.

“Have you ever shot an arrow?” Yan Xianchuan asked.

“No.” Lu Mingqiu shook her head.

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you.” Yan Xianchuan said.

The two of them came to the outside of the fence, some wild rabbits were eating grass inside, some were even digging holes. A few sheep and sika deer were leisurely walking and eating with their heads down.

“Spread your feet shoulder-width apart. Don’t hold your left hand like that, your back of the hand should face you, lift it up.”

“Your index finger should be on top, your middle and ring fingers should be on the bottom, don’t grip too tightly.”

“Like this?” Lu Mingqiu drew back the bowstring.

Yan Xianchuan raised her hand and gently placed it on her arm, which was covered in sunscreen, not touching any of her exposed skin.

“Like this.”

She stood behind Lu Mingqiu’s left, in a seemingly intimate posture, helping her adjust her movements, but she was actually very measured, the two of them were not touching anywhere except their wrists.

Lu Mingqiu’s perfume was very faint… it wasn’t perfume, it was the scent of her hair.

—A light, woody fragrance.

Yan Xianchuan lowered her eyes and said softly, “Aim at your prey, release your hand gently.”

“Release.”

The arrow pierced the air, making a whooshing sound, it pierced the empty ground in front of the gray rabbit, scaring it to jump away quickly.

“Ah… I missed, what a pity.” Lu Mingqiu turned her body in annoyance, her cheeks puffed up slightly.

“You just missed a little, it’s very good.” Yan Xianchuan released her hand and stepped back, “Try it yourself.”

She walked to the side, took an arrow from the backpack and placed it on the bowstring, the obvious higher temperature on her fingertips made her uncomfortable.

Yan Xianchuan hadn’t been so averse to physical contact with people before, until one time in a dungeon, she fell into a ghost’s domain, where there were mountains of severed limbs. The limbs themselves didn’t make her feel anything, but they moved, and they especially liked to get close to living people.

She was forced to have close contact with the arms and legs for three days and three nights, the slippery, cold, wriggling friction made Yan Xianchuan develop a psychological aftereffect.

That was when she was still immature, now it was much better, she wasn’t very averse, but she still didn’t like it much.

Fortunately, she still had a good feeling about Lu Mingqiu, otherwise she wouldn’t have touched her.

Although it was to do something that fit their identities, she saw comments saying that the two of them hadn’t had any intimate contact, they hadn’t even held hands.

But if it were someone else, even if everyone said they were a fake couple, she wouldn’t have done it.

Yan Xianchuan rubbed her fingertips, grasped the tail of the arrow, pulled and released, the arrow tail spun as it left the string, pinning a gray rabbit that was eating grass to the ground, its hind legs kicked a few times, then it slowly stopped moving.

Lu Mingqiu, pretending to be a novice, saw this and said in surprise and delight, “A-chuan, you’re so amazing! You hit it on the first try!”

Her eyes were sparkling, full of admiration.

Yan Xianchuan met her eyes, met this blue mirror, and suddenly felt that it might be nice to be friends with her.

After all, after all, she was so excellent, right?

“What do you want to eat for lunch?” Yan Xianchuan took out another arrow.

“Actually, I want to eat everything.” Lu Mingqiu said, “But they’re so cute, I can’t bring myself to eat them.”

“Mutton, venison, I like to eat them all, actually, I also like spicy rabbit heads.” Lu Mingqiu leaned on the fence, a bold little deer walked over and sniffed her fingertips.

“But after I touched it, I can’t bear to kill them, do you think I’m hypocritical?”

“No.” Yan Xianchuan said, “Sympathy and compassion are emotions that most people have. Humans eat other plants and animals for survival, but that doesn’t mean that having kindness towards them is hypocritical and wrong.”

“You can’t bear to, because you have a connection with them. On the contrary, I wouldn’t hesitate.” Yan Xianchuan drew her bow and shot another gray rabbit.

“If I told you that we’re having roast beef for dinner, would you feel sorry for the cow?”

Lu Mingqiu shook her head.

“That’s the key.” Yan Xianchuan said, “Don’t feel guilty, humans are contradictory creatures with complex emotions.”

Yan Xianchuan: “Do you want to make a flower crown?”

Lu Mingqiu: “How did you know…”

Yan Xianchuan: “You made one in ‘Wild Grass’.”

“Go ahead.” She raised her chin, “By the time you come back, they’ll be in the pot.”

This time, they didn’t have to find their own kitchenware, the program team had already set up a simple kitchen.

Yan Xianchuan used a hook to hook the rabbit and pulled the prey out, she was about to leave when she was stopped by Aqi.

“Miss Yan! Please wait, it’s like this, can we make a deal? My cooking is pretty good, I’ll help you cook the rabbit…” Aqi said awkwardly, putting his hands behind his back, “You, can you help us catch two?”

An Ning squeezed next to him, nodding like a chick pecking at rice, “Aqi has a chef’s certificate, he cooks really well!”

Archery was really too difficult for the two of them, they had finally managed to make a bow, but every arrow they shot was ridiculously off target.

Besides, the program team didn’t have an unlimited supply of arrows, each person only had ten, and they had to go into the fence to get them themselves.

There were also roosters, geese, and even the seemingly docile sheep had small horns on their heads, Xie Chuxiao next to them was chased by a big white goose, his shoes flew off.

The movie star reasoned that if his archery skills were lacking, he could simply retrieve the arrows himself; the production team didn’t intervene.

He was pecked several times by the goose before he realized why they didn’t stop him, he regretted it so much that his intestines turned green.

Seeing this, the remaining three immediately gave up the idea of going in to get arrows.

It was Doudouna who came up with this idea, she watched the replay of the live broadcast, Yan Xianchuan and Lu Mingqiu were both bad at cooking, Aqi tentatively asked, if it worked out, everyone would be happy, if not, they would figure out another way.

As for what to do with Xie Chuxiao, that wasn’t their business.

Yan Xianchuan thought for a moment and asked, “What level chef’s certificate?”

Aqi quickly replied, “Level A! I can make cold, braised, spicy, dry pot, and braised rabbit meat!”

“Okay, make each one a different flavor.” Yan Xianchuan handed over all five rabbits she had shot, “What do you want to eat?”

Unexpectedly easy to talk to!

She thought she would be directly rejected, after all, it had been several days, and she hadn’t had any communication with them at all.

“Anything, anything.” The three of them said in unison, “We eat anything, we’re not picky!”

“Can you make roast whole lamb?” Yan Xianchuan suddenly asked.

“I can, I can!” Aqi nodded.

“Then add a roast whole lamb.” Yan Xianchuan said, “We’ll eat together later.”

“Don’t we need to tell Sister Qiuqiu?” Aqi looked at Lu Mingqiu who was picking flowers in the distance.

Yan Xianchuan: “It’s because she would say that, that I said it.”

She picked up an arrow, twirled it in her hand, and walked to the left, looking for a suitable angle to hunt sheep.

The three of them looked at each other, An Ning said, “I’ll go tell Sister Qiuqiu.”

The remaining two carried the five rabbits and walked to the kitchen. Doudouna could also cook some dishes, in fact, most omegas were familiar with the kitchen, they had courses in this area at school, although it was an elective, many people would take the class.

People like Lu Mingqiu, who didn’t know anything, were the minority.

Xie Chuxiao finally climbed over the fence, he was still covered in grass, his clothes were also messed up, he looked like he had rolled on the ground hundreds of times, he was completely disheveled.

He was leaning against the railing, catching his breath, when he suddenly heard a whistle, Xie Chuxiao looked over and saw Yan Xianchuan release her hand, the arrow flew out, accurately piercing the neck of the sheep that was also raising its head.

The sheep was in pain, it ran wildly on all fours, bleating as it ran, knocking over other animals, the whole fence was in chaos, a mess.

Yan Xianchuan’s movements were steady and slow as she took out another arrow, she wasn’t a sharpshooter, if she were a master, she could have directly sent the arrow through the eye and into the brain, she aimed for the neck for safety.

She could use most cold weapons, but she wasn’t a master, in the dungeons, she relied more on her reflexes, her brain, ghosts wouldn’t fight hand-to-hand with humans, they wouldn’t fight with swords and guns either.

After being hit by three arrows, the rampaging sheep finally fell to the ground, it had lost too much blood and couldn’t stand up.

Yan Xianchuan jumped into the grassland, supporting herself with one hand on the railing, she walked to the side of the sheep, which was breathing weakly, with white curly fur, her eyes suddenly became serious.

“You’ll be delicious, don’t worry.”

She reached out and covered the sheep’s eyes, then carried it out of the fence.

Yan Xianchuan couldn’t cook, but she could do some preliminary preparation work. She skinned the sheep and chopped the rabbit meat into small pieces, she was busy as a bee when Lu Mingqiu came back, holding two flower crowns in her hands.

“One for each of us.” She said, bending down and putting the flower crown on Yan Xianchuan’s head.

Yan Xianchuan’s appearance wasn’t very cold, it was her aloofness that made her look unapproachable, the flower crown on her head perfectly neutralized this temperament, she looked up at this moment, and she actually had a bit of a natural airhead look.

Lu Mingqiu squatted beside her, her lips curled into a light smile, “How did you know I would ask them to eat together?”

“Because you’re kind.” Yan Xianchuan said, “Move over a little, it’s bloody here.”

She used the hose to wash her hands, and there was kitchen paper handed over.

“Thank you.”

“Compared to you, I seem so useless, I can’t do anything”. Lu Mingqiu sighed.

“It’s okay, you play a role in terms of looks.” Yan Xianchuan replied lightly.

Lu Mingqiu tilted her head, her expression confused.

“That’s right!” An Ning was the first to agree loudly, “Sister Qiuqiu is so beautiful, just standing here gives us so much motivation!”

“Actually, I’m also a fan of Sister Qiuqiu,” Aqi said as he cooked, turning his head, “I wanted to say it last time we met, but I was too embarrassed, can Sister Qiuqiu sign something for me?”

“I have a poster of ‘Azure Dragonfly’!”

“What!” Doudouna looked over suddenly, “You never told me!”

“I was afraid you would steal it.” Aqi said weakly.

“We’ve known each other for so many years, how can you not trust me at all.” Doudouna glared at him.

“Would you steal it?” Aqi asked back.

“I would.” Doudouna nodded.

Lu Mingqiu laughed, “Autographs? Consider it done! We’ve still got a day of shooting. Bring the posters, and I’ll sign them.”

“We also want a photo!” The three of them shouted in unison.

“Okay, no problem.” Lu Mingqiu readily agreed.

Yan Xianchuan didn’t get involved in the cooking, she asked the program team for two chairs, one for each of them.

“I didn’t know you could shoot arrows, and you’re so good at it.” Lu Mingqiu bent down and picked a wildflower, observing the other party’s reaction with her peripheral vision.

Yan Xianchuan didn’t react, as if she had facial paralysis, “Because I didn’t say.”

“Then what else haven’t you told me.” Lu Mingqiu asked with a hint of curiosity, as if she were chatting, “Do you have any other amazing skills?”

Yan Xianchuan looked into her eyes, “What do you mean?”

She knew a lot, would making a dessert out of thin air count?

“Well… can you ride a horse?”

“I can.”

“Do you like driving a Silver Leopard or a Willy?”

“I don’t know how to drive.”

“Can you fight?”

“I can.”

“Can you play any instruments?”

“No.”

“What about drawing? Singing?”

“I can’t do either.”

“Do you like skydiving?”

“I’ve never done it.”

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