CHAPTER 12: NIGHT ATTACK

By September, the blistering hot summer has already mostly faded away. In the forests and mountain ranges, the blasts of cold winds increased in intensity after nightfall as temperatures plummeted rapidly. As the weather was dry and hot when he had left home, Jing Xia only took a few thin shirts and went out. He didn’t even think about clothing issues, because after gaining abilities, the physical functions of all the evolvers increased too much, and didn’t have much reaction to a temperature difference of ten or so degrees.

Yet presently, he still has not evolved.

Jing Xia propped up his chin with his hand and pouted while looking at the crackling fire. Sparks of flames incessantly flickered, heating the surrounding air. He wore Ji Chuancheng’s black shirt. Since the shirt was a size bigger, Jing Xia had to roll up his cuffs.

Thinking of this, Jing Xia felt depressed.

Clearly there was only a difference of half a head in height, but this guy’s figure was actually bigger than him by a size! This guy also seemed quite thin when wearing clothes ah. Unexpectedly, he actually still had a six-pack after he took off his clothes!

Producing a cold snort, Jing Xia threw the small wooden stick in his hand into the fire.

“You are a lot taller than before.” A low, hoarse voice suddenly sounded. It drifted over as gentle as the night wind in the quiet valley, causing Jing Xia to become suddenly unresponsive. “I remember, you used to worry that you would not grow tall.”

Only after a long time did Jing Xia turn around with a strange expression, lowering his voice to ask, “You still remember that kind of childish nonsense?”

That was Jing Xia’s black history.

He and Ji Chuancheng met each other when he was 5 years old. Before he was ten years old, he grew very slowly and Ji Chuancheng was five years older than him. It was just in time for his puberty and his height abruptly shot up. It only took merely five years to reach 178m, letting Jing Xia be endlessly envious and harping on about how he also wants to grow taller everyday.

Hearing Jing Xia’s words, Ji Chuancheng looked down, “En. Since then, I have rarely seen you.” The handsome face softened under the blaze. Somehow, in Jing Xia’s eyes, he actually felt that this person was a little lonely.

His throat became slightly constricted. Jing Xia swallowed before continuing to say, “En, you were thrown into the army by your old man when you were sixteen years old. Haha, it’s also quite fortunate that you went to the army. If I had to see this cold face of yours every day, I definitely would’ve already changed from Jing Xia to Jing Dong*.”

T/N: The ‘Xia’ in Jing Xia’s name means summer while ‘Dong’ means winter. So Jing Xia joked that he would’ve been frozen by now

Jing Xia’s laughter echoed in the silent valley alone. Occasionally, it even mixed with Steward Wang’s low snoring. The night wind softly blew by again and it seemed as cold as the South Pole. He could no longer maintain his awkward laughter anymore. Jing Xia stiffly pouted and whispered, “Not funny?”

Ji Chuancheng glanced at him coldly, “Funny.”

“Then you should smile ah!”

“You are funny.”

“…”

The last shift for night duty was precisely Ji Chuancheng and Jing Xia’s. This time, around 4 to 5 AM, had the lowest temperature in a day’s time. The east sky was already filled with the marble white of dawn. All that was missing was that circular sun breaking through the horizon’s obstruction and leaping into sight.

Jing Xia, who was bored to death, used a wooden stick to stir up the diminishing flame in the fire. Occasionally, he gazed at the man next to him from the corner of his eye. Soon, he found that the other was looking at the distance thoughtfully, unaware of what kinds of things he was thinking about.

Jing Xia curled his lips. Teaming with this guy for night duty is really not as good as teaming with Sister Qin. Sister Qin is beautiful and also has a good figure. It’s just that she has a ‘big sister’* type of personality and is a bit overbearing. Everything else is much better than this completely hard, dead iceberg.

T/N: Yu Jie refers to young women who are the cool and mature type of big sister

However, recently, Qin Chu’s period had arrived, and her body was somewhat inferior to before. So now, Qin Chu will only be on night duty once per night, and Ji Chuancheng practically had no time to rest anymore. But, during the daytime when they were hurrying along, Ji Chuancheng also didn’t appear even a little tired.

Jing Xia secretly looked at Ji Chuancheng a few times. Seeing the dark circles under the other’s eyes, he sighed softly in his heart. Sure enough… even this humanoid weapon will feel tired ah.

“A’Chuan, how about I take over the entire night duty tonight?” Jing Xia finally couldn’t help but say.

Ji Chuancheng was slightly stunned and asked, “What?”

“Night duty ah. Sister Qin will be able to recover the day after tomorrow. I’ll just be on duty for a night. You can rest assured, although I am not as strong as a bull like you, there’s no problem for me to pull an all-nighter.”

Ji Chuancheng slightly frowned. “No need, you have a good rest.”

Jing Xia raised an eyebrow and instead became more stubborn. “You are looking down on me? Heng, don’t underestimate me, I had killed an s-grade mutant before! It’s settled, just let me do it tonight.” While speaking, Jing Xia got up and planned to call up Steward Wang and Qin Chu to hurry on.

Ji Chuancheng immediately stood up and said, “Tonight, you…”

“Don’t persuade me, I’ll fight it out with whoever’s going to persuade me!” He was definitely going to take Ji Chuancheng’s place for night duty tonight!

“Jing Xia!!!”

A mournful and horrified sound suddenly echoed from behind. Hearing it, Jing Xia was even more angry. He turned and looked at the other, saying, “Ji Chuancheng, are you looking down on me……”

The sound came to an abrupt end. Jing Xia foolishly stared at Ji Chuancheng who suddenly threw himself at him. A “Is this guy going to end this with me in mutual destruction?” thought swiftly flashed through his mind. Jing Xia was pounced on and fell to the ground. Because there was a strong arm in the space between his back and the ground, this shock almost made him feel as if his waist was going to snap.

“Ouch, ouch, it hurts……” Jing Xia grimaced while shouting. He lifted his head and said, “Ji Chuancheng! Do you want to kill……” to silence me ah.

Jing Xia’s remaining words all disappeared in his throat. His eyes directly met with Ji Chuancheng’s. He blankly stared in shock at this man who was only a few centimeters away, and his throat gradually dried up. At this moment, he only saw Ji Chuancheng’s pitch-black deep pupils overflowed with unconcealable dread and lingering fear. He just stared at the shocked young man like this. His eyes gradually reddened, and even his pupils trembled in fear.

His heart suddenly thumped. Jing Xia swallowed and abruptly felt that the two arms on his waist became extremely hot. Somehow, a kind of strange thought actually emerged in his heart: these arms…… are like the two strongest shackles in the world, wanting to tie him up here forever, depriving him of the right to leave.

However, all of this only occurred in a mere instant.

Clearly, Ji Chuancheng didn’t give Jing Xia the time to think carefully. He quickly confirmed that the young man had not even lost a hair, and abruptly stood up using his left hand. His right hand smoothly pulled out the long knife hanging at his waist, and simultaneously, his left hand drew the gun. He single-handedly loaded the gun, unlocking the safety, readying all his preparations.

Jing Xia, who was originally still bewildered, saw Ji Chuancheng’s actions and immediately understood the other party’s meaning.

He quickly got up and similarly pulled out the knife, vigilantly sweeping his eyes across the surroundings.

Without any words, the two slowly stepped forward and then stepped back a few steps closer to each other. The next moment, they tacitly leaned against each other, each defending one side.

“What is it?” Jing Xia’s face no longer held the previous relaxed smile, and asked seriously.

Ji Chuancheng’s tone was grave. “A yellow and black shadow, about half a meter long, its speed is very fast.” Pausing for a while, he added, “It is a little slower than that mouse.”

As he was speaking, Qin Chu heard a loud noise. Squinting her eyes, she climbed out from her sleeping bag. She half-supported her body, and when her line of sight just crossed the two who had been on alert, her brain immediately woke up.

Qin Chu anxiously asked, “Young Master! What happened?!”

Ji Chuancheng calmly commanded, “You protect Steward Wang. Find a covert place to hide.”

“Yes!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Qin Chu quickly accepted the order. She drew a silver Czech cz93, and then pulling Steward Wang who had long woken, she took a few steps back. She stopped next to the thick trunk of a needle-leaved pine tree. With the help of the dense and luxuriant obstruction of the needle-leaved pine tree, the figures of the two were almost completely hidden.

Qin Chu looked up to the two people a dozen meters away, and her frown deepened. Her current physical condition was not good at all, so the retreat this time was the best choice. But…… she was still very worried——only Young Master and that little bastard were there, she didn’t know if they could handle it well.

On the other side, Jing Xia and Ji Chuancheng didn’t relax even a little. Due to this body’s instinctive reaction being not well trained, Jing Xia had to be even more careful, raising his attentiveness to 120,000 points, preventing the enemy from making a breakthrough from his side.

An enemy that can make even Ji Chuancheng serious and solemn to this degree demonstrated that this would definitely not be a simple thing. But even so, somehow, Jing Xia’s heart still felt a little calm. 

He had once faced this kind of situation with this person. It was when he killed the first and only s-grade mutant in his life. It was precisely like this, they leaned against each other, without words or gestures, they could cooperate with each other tacitly, and eventually slayed that s-grade mutant.

“A’Chuan, thank you.”

“En.”

“In general, organisms that have not evolved to c-class are unable to resist external attacks, but just in case, it’s best if we are still careful when acting. If it doesn’t work out, run!” Jing Xia suggested.

Ji Chuancheng’s eyes darkened, “En, I’ll bring up the rear.”

Jing Xia suddenly blanked out, “A’Chuan!”

Ji Chuancheng was silent and did not respond. Only the sound of the biting cold wind in the mountains silently answered Jing Xia’s question, making his originally still calm and steady state of mind, also somewhat frenetic at this moment.

“Young Master…… what is he up to by doing this?” Steward Wang strangely looked at Jing Xia who suddenly threw the long knife in his hand to the side. He said with concern, “The Young Master will be in more danger by doing this ah!”

 Qin Chu looked at Jing Xia’s slowly changed footsteps and the somewhat stiff posture of his hands. Her apricot-shaped pupils suddenly widened into a circle. She suppressed that hint of surprise in her heart and said, “This may not necessarily be. Perhaps…… this is more advantageous.”

Steward Wang doubtfully looked at Qin Chu. Before he could ask, he heard a fit of steep high-pitched “Jijijijijiji” in his own arms. That voice was filled with horror and fear, suddenly breaking the tranquil atmosphere of the entire coniferous pine forest.

The “bang” of the gunshot pierced through the serenity of the entire forest, and countless birds flapped their wings and fled.

Just as a yellow-black shadow that scuttled out of the underbush was seen, it was swiftly slammed back by an ice-cold silver bullet. The scarlet red blood lingered in the air, and splattered on the ground, suddenly forming a burn-like black spot, emitting waves of heat.

In the embrace of countless conifers, tense air suddenly seeped out from Jing Xia’s whole body after he heard the sound of a heavy object falling. He turned and looked at Ji Chuancheng. The latter indifferently sheathed the long knife into its scabbard, veiling the silver glare. Wisps of white smoke still emanated from the handgun in his left hand, seemingly declaring the simple and effortless end of a battle.

“Have you handled it?” Jing Xia softly inquired, but still didn’t let down his guard.

Ji Chuancheng slightly shook his head, “Not necessarily. But…… it’s abdomen has been hit.”

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