Chapter 36: The Fourth Day of the Countdown

A rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Su Huan spoke indifferently, showing no intention of leaving the bathtub. He never locked his door; there was no need to lock it when someone was around, and even less so when he was alone. Yu Jing and the others frequently entered his room to fetch things for him.

Yu Yue pushed the door open and walked in. Her eyes swept across the room before settling on the bathroom in the corner. Hearing the sound of water inside, she felt slightly awkward. "I saw that you seemed to be injured..."

Su Huan set down his logbook and glanced at his left shoulder. A large, charred patch of flesh, resembling a hard crust, clung to the skin. Some of the venom Gao Zhe had thrown had seeped in through his collar. To prevent the toxin from spreading, he had simply used high heat to carbonize that portion of his flesh. He was long accustomed to such injuries; once he evolved, or after a few days had passed, the carbonized tissue would simply fall off.

*Creak.*

Su Huan pulled the door panel open and saw Yu Yue standing in the middle of the room, holding a tray laden with iodine, bandages, and other medical supplies.

"I want to help you treat your wound." Seeing Su Huan standing there naked, Yu Yue subconsciously envisioned a cold, clinical healing process, and her expression grew tense.

Only then did Su Huan remember that she was a nurse. He thought for a moment and said, "Come here." He casually rested his injured arm outside.

Yu Yue stepped forward and prepared the supplies. Before she could start, she heard Su Huan say, "Something is missing. Go to the dining cart, pour me some of that whiskey, and bring some ice."

Yu Yue hurried to comply, returning shortly with a glass of ice and the bottle of whiskey. Looking conflicted, she said, "This alcohol won't disinfect the wound."

Su Huan curled his lip. "That’s for me to drink."

"Oh."

Yu Yue fell silent and knelt at the bathroom threshold to tend to his wound. Su Huan downed half the glass, crunching the ice cubes between his teeth. Alcohol was a form of long-term storable water in the apocalypse, but it was expensive; in his past life, his supplies had been so meager that he never had the opportunity to indulge in such luxuries. Now that the most pressing matters regarding the armored train were settled, he allowed himself a rare moment of relaxation.

After a while, Su Huan looked down at the woman fumbling with his shoulder. She had been using tweezers for a long time, only managing to remove a tiny piece of charred flesh. He frowned and flicked his finger against the wound. A large chunk of the black crust fell away, and fresh blood surged out.

"Hurry up and finish. We’re heading into the city tomorrow, and you need to get up early to cook." Su Huan said calmly, as if the large crater on his shoulder wasn't his own flesh.

The woman’s movements became much more nimble. "What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?"

Su Huan swirled his glass. "Wontons."

Soon, the wound was treated. Yu Yue began to tidy up, stealing glances at Su Huan from time to time, wanting to say something but hesitating.

"Say what you want, quickly. I’m going to sleep," Su Huan said irritably.

"I... I really didn't hear his position..." Yu Yue looked like a child who had done something wrong, her face filled with anxiety. She had been so happy when she first became an evolver, feeling she might finally be of some use, but she never expected such a major oversight on her first mission. She hadn't even raised an alarm when the enemy was so close. Thinking of Su Huan’s cold, ruthless nature, she had been terrified on the way back, fearing that her mistake would lead to her and her daughter being thrown off the train. After agonizing over it, she decided to confess her error first, lest the petty conductor record it in his little black book—which she had heard was filled with the names of people he didn't like.

Su Huan was slightly surprised. *Am I really that scary?*

A dark, low voice escaped his lips. "Did you really not hear him... or were you hoping I would die out there?"

Yu Yue’s almond-shaped eyes widened, and her rosy lips lost their color in an instant. "I, I..."

Seeing her so vulnerable, Su Huan felt even more aroused. He twined his fingers through the hair at her temple, his tone languid and laced with desire. "You wouldn't want your mistake to cause your daughter to end up wandering the wilderness with you, would you?"

The water splashed as Su Huan stood up. The woman scrambled to stand and explain, but having knelt for too long, her legs were numb; she stumbled and fell to the floor, her shapely thighs pressing into a lush curve.

Su Huan brushed his fingertips over the woman’s sensitive, delicate earlobe and scoffed, "Good attitude."

...

Su Huan woke up very early the next day, his mood rather sour. Last night, he had intended to give himself a small reward, but the woman was so inexperienced that it was hard to believe she had a twenty-year-old daughter. Sitting in the cold, chaotic room, Su Huan ground his teeth in annoyance before walking toward the window.

Just like yesterday, it had started raining in the middle of the night. The air was thick with mist and an inescapable, muggy heat; the air conditioner, running at full capacity, sounded as if it were gasping its last breath. He slid the steel plate open, took the thermometer from the table, and held it out the window, watching the red line surge upward.

Su Huan’s foul mood grew even more restless.

"December 21st, Rain, 35°C."

"Four days until the extreme heatwave hits."

He left his compartment and went straight to Carriage No. 2. The five-meter-tall integrated water purifier stood silently there, a reassuring sight. He circled the machine, noting the information on the attached metal plaque: it could filter river and lake water with a turbidity of ≤3000mg/L—the equivalent of a river choked with mud and silt after a downpour, or untreated lake water.

The output was connected to the carriage’s water tanks. Each carriage had two such tanks, each holding two tons of water, equipped with internal baffles to prevent the liquid from sloshing, much like the fuel tanks.

He went up to the second floor, where an opening had been cut to collect rainwater directly into the storage tanks. This made Su Huan feel much better about the rainy weather. Once he added a pH-regulating device to the end of the system, collecting water in acid rain zones would no longer be a problem.

He placed his palm on the purifier, and the massive machine began to hum as it filtered the collected rainwater, pumping it into the prepared tanks. It only managed to fill half a tank, however.

When Su Huan came back down, the sky was just beginning to brighten. In the dining cart, Yu Yue was already busy, wearing an expression of humble subservience that seemed to say, "I'm working so hard, please don't be difficult with me."

Su Huan offered a silent, cold sneer and sat nearby, watching her. Yu Yue was nervous, tidying here and wiping there, not daring to be idle for a second. The hem of her ginger-yellow shirt lifted slightly with her movements, revealing a waistline as smooth as cream. The flexible muscles, strengthened by her evolution, pulled into breathtaking curves as she bent over, like willow branches pressed down by a spring breeze, only to return to a full, fluid line the moment she straightened up.

Finally, the wontons were ready. Yu Yue carefully brought them over. "Brother Su, would you like to add some chili oil?"

Looking at her downcast, submissive expression, Su Huan felt a flare of irritation. He ladled a large spoonful of chili oil into the bowl, stirred it, and picked up a wonton, holding it out to her lips.

Yu Yue hesitated. She puffed out her cheeks and blew on it for a long time, until the wonton skin wrinkled, revealing the glistening meat beneath, before she took a bite. The wonton rolled in the spoon, its skin and meat intact.

Su Huan squinted at her. "Can't you just swallow it?"

"It's too big..." Yu Yue felt aggrieved, her translucent skin beaded with a light sweat that gathered in the hollow of her collarbone.

The woman had a small mouth and a narrow throat; it took her three bites to finally finish the single wonton.

"If you bite me again next time, I'll pull your teeth out," Su Huan said chillingly.