abyss rose

Chapter 9

Following the girl's fingertips, Chai Yuening looked at the collection of essays.

On the yellowed pages is a prose handed down from the old world.

Such words as apricot blossom, spring rain, and willow wind seem to be beautiful words of that era.

But it is a pity that the world depicted in the prose of the old world is something that most people in the base have never seen before.

"It looks like a very good world." Chai Yuening said.

It's a pity that when she was still a teenager, she was already used to seeing life and death on the ground with her predecessors, and her imagination was not enough to make her feel the beauty that she wanted to express in words.

Chu Ci gave a "hmm" and didn't say anything more.

Finding that this topic could not be continued, Chai Yuening went to the side with some embarrassment and sat down on the rocking chair. She wanted to turn on the radio and listen to it, but she was afraid of disturbing Chu Ci's reading.

After a while of boredom, she got up and walked into the bedroom, pushed the bed against the wall, pulled out the spare mattress, and made a simple floor bunk on the floor.

When he got up and looked back, Chu Ci, who was supposed to be sitting on the sofa reading a book, had already stood outside the bedroom door at some point.

She leaned on the wall with one hand, only half of her body was exposed, as if she wanted to come in, but she was embarrassed.

Chai Yuening was stunned for a moment, and asked, "Don't you read the book?"

Chu Ci nodded.

Chai Yuening thought for a while, and then asked: "Then do you want to go to bed earlier, or listen to the radio? Or you can chat if you want, I have nothing to do anyway."

"I……"

"Ok?"

"Can I join you?"

"what?"

Chai Yuening was a little unresponsive to this endless question.

Chu Ci pursed his lips nervously, raised his eyes and said with determination: "I can't live here for nothing, you have a mercenary team, I heard people say that the mercenary team is paid to go to the ground to do things , can I... join you?"

"But the ground is dangerous."

"I know."

"In the real critical moment of life and death, people can only take care of themselves. Relatives, lovers, and comrades-in-arms can sometimes abandon you cruelly in order to survive. You have seen such abandonment with your own eyes."

"I know." Chu Ci's voice was very soft, but there was no wavering.

"You are very young, beautiful, literate, and quiet." Seeing that Chu Ci did not respond, Chai Yuening continued, "Maybe it is suitable for you to stay in the city, find a civil job, and do some light work. There is no need to go to dangerous places. Places go through fire and water."

Chu Ci unconsciously used more force with his fingers supporting the wall, and asked in a low voice, "Are these all optional?"

Chai Yuening gave a "hmm" and said affirmatively, "Of course, if you need it, I'll ask someone to introduce it to you."

"Thank you." Chu Ci replied in a low voice, falling into silence again.

She looked at Chai Yuening hesitantly, and after a while, she pursed her lips and smiled slightly.

"But I was there when I opened my eyes," she said.

Such an answer made Chai Yuening a little speechless for a while.

Chu Ci continued: "I can't remember what happened in the past, but I was there when I woke up. I have the instinct to deal with those monsters, I can find a relatively safe place to hide, and I can also deal with wounds urgently." Method... I think, I used to live the same life as you..."

Hearing the girl's words, Chai Yuening felt a little uncomfortable.

In fact, from the first moment she saw Chu Ci, she knew that this very young girl had the same ground survival experience as many others.

In fact, she is also about this age, and she has already experienced countless hardships on the ground with the seniors in the team.

In fact, when she went out to buy groceries just now, she even thought about pulling Chuci to join the team.

But for some reason, when he was really about to speak, a trace of unbearableness surfaced in his heart.

She couldn't help thinking, if her father had always been there, if she had had a choice, she wouldn't have left the city when she was a teenager, and followed those uncles and uncles who had been born and died with her father to the ground to seek survival, right?

Chai Yuening sighed softly, took two steps forward, leaned half against the door, and asked, "Don't you want to change to a more relaxed way of life?"

"I... still want to join you." Chu Ci said, raised his eyes, cautiously, and asked with great anticipation, "Can you?"

"You are really not afraid."

"……Um."

Chai Yuening pondered for a moment, said nothing more, just nodded, and extended a hand to Chu Ci with a smile: "Then, you are welcome to join, this is the No.13 mercenary team of the base."

There was a gleam in Chu Ci's timid eyes.

She held the hand stretched out to her in front of her eyes. The owner of the hands, just like when she first met, had a reassuring and warm smile in her eyes.

***

On the second day after Chu Ci moved into the Sixth District, the No.13 mercenary team temporarily gathered in their small base and had an informal meeting.

The five people unanimously approved the new teammate's application for joining the team, took out the drinks that had been stored for a long time, cooked five or six small dishes, and celebrated with talking and laughing.

Chu Ci obviously didn't hold much alcohol, his cheeks flushed after drinking two small glasses, but he still followed up with a glass when he saw someone drinking at the table, as if he was studying rather than drinking.

Anyone who works as a mercenary on the ground feels good about himself despite his old injuries. There is no saying that you can't drink if you are injured.At the dinner table, as long as there is wine, no one will stop anyone who likes to drink.

Chai Yuening just tossed aside for a while the old radio that was always missing signals, and when she came back, she saw that Chu Ci was so drunk that her eyes were a little blurred, and she couldn't laugh or cry for a while.

After dinner, Chai Yuening supported Chu Ci, who was drowsy from drinking, and walked back to the door of the house in three steps.

She supported her whole body with one hand and nearly collapsed on herself, muttering uncomfortable and wanting to vomit, swiped the card with one hand to open the door, and helped him into the toilet.

As if knowing that he had reached the ground, Chu Ci let go of Chai Yuening, lay down on the edge of the sink and vomited.

Chai Yuening hurriedly went to the kitchen to mix a glass of sugar water, and while patting Chu Ci's back, she muttered in a low voice: "It's fine for the old and the young to drink so much from the barrels on the table, what are you drinking..."

As she spoke, Chu Ci rinsed her mouth.

After drinking the sugar water, Chu Ci just squatted in the toilet, saying nothing, and refused to go out no matter what.

Chai Yuening couldn't pull it, so she could only go back to the sofa and sit down alone, listening to the base broadcast.

On the radio, a familiar female announcer broadcast today's news.

First, he said that a medium-sized alien beast passed above the base, and the military successfully hunted it down, and it has been transferred to the main city research center.

Then he said that the virtual ecological zone in the main city will be open to residents of the outer city for paid visits in five days, and ticket sales points will be set up in all urban areas of the outer city, and ticket holders will be able to enter the main city after being inspected.

If you think about it with your toes, you know that the price of the ticket must be frighteningly expensive, maybe it will make an ordinary outer city resident work for a year or a half for nothing.

The main city can really make money, the outer city is so poor, and it still needs to be so rich.

Chai Yuening listened for a while, and the slightest drunkenness slowly came to her head, and she also felt a little tired.

She slowly closed her eyes, wanting to squint for a while before going to mix a glass of sugar water for Chu Ci.

Half asleep, she heard something about the signal tower on the radio.

You don't need to concentrate to know that the plan to clean up all the black vines around the signal tower must have been hindered to a certain extent, and the recovery time of the signal tower has been delayed.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but when Chai Yuening heard the word "black vine" being mentioned repeatedly on the radio, she always felt that she smelled a smell from the ground.

It was a kind... Faint, slightly damp, like the fragrance from the black vines that grow in the rainy season.

This kind of fragrance can be heard everywhere on the ground, but most of the time it will be covered by the smell of blood, and it is most likely to be ignored by people.

Chai Yuening couldn't help thinking in a daze, that she doesn't drink too much, so next time she can't drink too much, she's hallucinating.

She took a deep breath, struggled to get up, and wanted to get another glass of sugar water to hangover for Chu Ci, and some for herself by the way.

She was still not clear-headed, and the hallucinations on the tip of her nose were still there. She walked into the kitchen in a daze, and boiled hot water.

After a while, she heard a strange sound.

There was a rustle, as if there was a slight friction between the plants.

The sound was very short and low, and was quickly covered by the sound of boiling water.

She couldn't help frowning, held her breath, lowered her steps, and walked gently towards the direction of the sound.

With his right hand, he unconsciously touched the dagger at his waist.

"vomit……"

With a sound of vomiting from the toilet, Chai Yuening walked to the door.

The silver-haired girl squatted on the toilet with a red face, vomited until tears came out.

Chai Yuening rubbed her temples, and found that there was no other strange smell except for the smell of alcohol, so she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

She thought that she might be a little too nervous because she was influenced by the base broadcast.

She went up to pass a few pieces of paper to Chu Ci, went back to the kitchen, mixed the freshly boiled water with the cooled water, added some sugar, and sent it to Chu Ci.

"Don't drink it next time."

"Hmm..." Chu Ci held the sugar water in both hands, and whispered like a cat.

"It's uncomfortable to squat here. Just sleep and you'll be fine. If you're afraid of vomiting, I'll bring you a basin by the bed."

"Um……"

Chai Yuening, who hadn't taken care of anyone much in her life, sighed: "Come on, get up, stop squatting..."

She dragged Chu Ci up from the ground, and half-supported and half-carried him to the bed.

Not to mention, when this girl didn't resist, she was quite light.

Thinking this way, Chai Yuening turned around and walked into the toilet, flushed the water, and touched a plastic basin.

"According to research in recent years, the more advanced the alien beast, the higher its attachment to black vines. Dr. Ge Heguang believes that if humans can fuse with black vines in a safe and scientific way, they may be able to be more sensitive to alien beasts. The animal infection produces certain antibodies. With more and more external samples and continuous research experiments, the future of the base is full of hope. I believe that in the near future..."

The lights in the house dimmed as the radio was turned off.

The girl lying on the bed retracted into the bed, wrapping her whole body tightly with the quilt.

Chai Yuening put the plastic basin beside the bed, sat on the laid floor for a while, and then lay down wrapped in a quilt.

In his sleep, he smelled the fragrance again in a trance.

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The author has something to say:

On that day, the strange fragrance in Mudan Chai Chai's house increased.