TopAppnovel Chapter 384 - 369: Not Him
Chapter 384 - 369: Not Him
Ye Junhan leaned against the SUV, glancing up at the pensive girl on the screen opposite him before falling silent himself.
It was five-thirty in the morning, the sky on the verge of brightening, with a faint mist lingering in the distance. Behind him, however, were the bright lights and signs of life from the camp—at this hour, refugees were already lining up to receive today’s food.
Even though they had just caused a disturbance the previous night, clashing with the stationed forces, it didn’t stop them from lining up for food today.
In the apocalypse, dignity didn’t matter. What mattered... was filling your stomach and surviving.
Zhao Qingxiao and Yang Liu were over there helping Shen Yue’s people maintain order. Ye Junhan merely gave them an indifferent glance before his gaze fell back to the screen opposite him.
Gu Xi was still lost in her thoughts. A delicate vine drooped listlessly over her wrist, the two tender leaves at its tip twitching every now and then...
Ye Junhan didn’t speak to disturb Gu Xi, nor did he end the call. He simply stood quietly in the shadow cast by the large SUV.
After a long moment, the girl on the screen looked up.
"There’s something..." Gu Xi hesitated.
"Go on," Ye Junhan said, looking up, his gaze impassive.
Gu Xi asked him, "Is Shen Yue managing to cope over there in the disaster area?"
Ye Junhan nodded, panning the camera toward the bustling scene not far behind him.
But Gu Xi’s focus wasn’t on the refugees who were lazily getting in line. In the brief moment the camera had panned, she immediately spotted the bloodstain on Ye Junhan’s leg.
"You’re injured?" Gu Xi raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. With Ye Junhan’s skills, there was almost no one in City A who could hurt him.
Except for Yun Ye.
’But Yun Ye came to the farm last night... so it wasn’t him.’
"How did you get injured?" Gu Xi asked with a frown.
Ye Junhan felt a flicker of annoyance, but his expression remained cool. "It’s just a minor injury, nothing serious."
During the disturbance last night, a young woman was shoved out from a crowd of large men. The woman’s features were somewhat similar to Gu Xi’s. Ye Junhan had been stunned for a second, feeling at the time that something was off.
He hadn’t expected the woman to be a Space Element user. A single Space Jump brought her right up to him.
Of course, Ye Junhan’s reaction was also incredibly fast; he lashed out with a kick almost at the same instant she used Space Jump.
Unexpectedly, the woman acted as if she had a death wish. She didn’t even try to dodge, but instead threw herself forward, grabbed his leg, and stabbed him.
It was only a minor wound, and there were only two people in the city with a Healing Ability, whereas there were many injured refugees here. Ye Junhan had simply bandaged it himself, never expecting Gu Xi to discover it.
Gu Xi’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. Her gaze fell on his face. Seeing his cool expression and the slight press of his thin lips, she didn’t know what came over her, but she found herself asking—
"The woman who injured you... does she really look that much like me?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Gu Xi herself froze. She looked up and met Ye Junhan’s gaze.
"There is a slight resemblance." His expression was impassive, revealing nothing, yet Gu Xi somehow sensed a hint of awkwardness from him.
’For that woman to be able to injure someone of Ye Junhan’s caliber, she must be skilled. Or perhaps...’ Gu Xi stared at the man on the screen and swallowed. "Then where is she now?"
Ye Junhan glanced at her before slowly replying, "I’ve left her for Shen Yue to handle."
Sending a Space Element user who bore a slight resemblance to Gu Xi to assassinate Ye Junhan was a bizarre situation in itself.
Both Shen Yue and Ye Junhan believed that perhaps... the other party’s goal wasn’t to assassinate Ye Junhan, but rather to reveal this person to them.
After all, the other party must have known that with Ye Junhan’s strength—not to mention the Special Service Team experts who were with him at the time—the female assassin would have had no chance of success even if he had been alone.
—After all, Ye Junhan wasn’t the type of person to let his guard down just because he was momentarily stunned by someone who resembled Gu Xi.
If he were, Ye Junhan would have been dead a thousand times over by now.
So when the female assassin attempted to commit suicide after her failed attack, Shen Yue had her taken away.
"Did you get anything out of her?" Gu Xi asked.
Ye Junhan slowly shook his head. Gu Xi couldn’t tell if it was because they had truly gotten nothing out of her, or because he couldn’t speak freely, knowing their call was being monitored.
Gu Xi glanced at him but didn’t press the matter, instead changing the subject to Gu Garden. "I heard that tomorrow... no, it should be today... is Ms. Liu’s birthday. The Liu Family is hosting a grand banquet at Gu Garden. I wonder, did they send an invitation to you and Shen Yue?"
Ye Junhan nodded, his expression impassive. "They did."
He glanced at the brightly lit area nearby. A lot of refugees had arrived by now, and many of them were stealing glances in his direction.
He paused for a moment before saying, "But we have too much to deal with here. Shen Yue and I probably won’t have time to go..."
’And it wasn’t as if the Liu Family’s invitation was sincere anyway.’
"...I see." Gu Xi said, a little disappointed. "I hear the scenery at Gu Garden is lovely... Didn’t Yan Xun run off to Gu Garden? What are you and Shen Yue planning to do about that?"
Ye Junhan’s expression was cool. "Shen Yue has already sent people to negotiate." After all, Gu Garden was the Liu Family’s private residence, and Mr. Liu’s rank in the military was clearly much higher than his or Shen Yue’s.
So, officially, they couldn’t just storm the place to conduct a search.
Not even when they knew for a fact that the person had gone into Gu Garden.
Gu Xi nodded in understanding. ’After all, both he and Shen Yue are in the military, so officially, they have to operate within certain rules. As for what they do unofficially...’
Gu Xi looked at the man on the screen, confident he would understand her subtext.
Ye Junhan met her gaze, and the hand resting on the scabbard at his waist tapped it twice.
Just then, Shen Yue sauntered over, a wild vegetable bun in hand. He waved at the camera. "Gu Xi, when can the next batch of grain be delivered?"
Gu Xi frowned slightly. ’The grain she had sent over the past few days should have been more than enough to solve Shen Yue’s immediate problems. For him to be asking this now... he was probably saying it for someone else’s benefit.’
After a moment’s thought, Gu Xi replied with a frown, "Probably in a few more days."
"I see..." Shen Yue stuffed half of the vegetable bun into his mouth, patted Ye Junhan’s shoulder, and then abruptly changed the subject. "By the way, that female assassin from last night? She says her name is Gu Xiaochen."
’That name immediately sounded fishy.’
Shen Yue even asked Gu Xi jokingly, "Gu Xiaoxi, are you sure you don’t have a long-lost twin sister or something?"
Gu Xi considered it with a serious expression, then said, "You’d have to ask Li Ming about that."
Shen Yue: "..."
Shen Yue raised an eyebrow and shrugged, a flicker of ridicule in his eyes. The two of them exchanged a few more seemingly random pleasantries before ending the call.
After all, Shen Yue and Ye Junhan were genuinely busy.
Watching the screen before her slowly go dark, Gu Xi’s lips curled into a faint smile.
After a long moment, she looked down at the listless sprout drooping from her fingertip and let out a soft sigh. ’First they send an "uncle" running, and now they deliver a "sister"?’
’What in the world are those people trying to do?’
’Are they trying to make a big deal out of my identity? Or... is their real target Li Ming?’