Free Web NovelChapter 286: Chapter 286: The Trap Is Set
[Host, your vital signs are stabilizing,] the system noted.
[Good job. Your husbands would be proud of your survival instincts.]
"I don’t want them to be proud," Yue Yue grumbled, leaning her head on her knees. "I just want them to find me. I’ll even drink a gallon of this stuff if it means I can see them again."
She sat there in the gray dust, a lonely snake girl in a broken world, clutching the empty tube of nutrients like it was a treasure.
She was a wilted cabbage, yes, but she was a cabbage that refused to rot. She would wait. She would survive. And when they finally found her, she would make sure to complain to Feng Yanshen about the taste of the slime for at least three days straight.
With a new resolve, Yue Yue continued to walk aimlessly through the gray dust, her footsteps heavy and dragging. The silence of the wasteland was so thick that it felt like a physical weight on her shoulders.
Suddenly, a faint sound drifted through the dry air.
"Yue Yue... is that you?"
Yue Yue froze for a split second, her ears twitching. But then, she let out a tired sigh and shook her head. I’m finally losing it, she thought. The loneliness is playing tricks on my mind. How could there be someone here who knows my name?
Aside from the Zerg and the wind, she hadn’t seen a single living soul in days. The possibility of meeting an acquaintance in this vast, ruined star region was practically zero. She ignored the voice and continued walking, her head bowed.
"Yue Yue! Stop! It’s me!" ƒreewebɳovel.com
The voice was louder this time, clearer. Yue Yue stopped again. This didn’t feel like an imagination. She slowly turned around, her eyes squinting against the dim light of the hazy sky.
In the distance, a female figure was waving her arms frantically, running toward her through the rubble. As the figure got closer, Yue Yue’s eyes widened in total shock. Her heart gave a sudden, happy leap.
"Lin En?" she exclaimed, her voice cracking with emotion.
Lin En ran up to her, breathing hard, her face covered in a thin layer of dust but her expression full of relief. "Oh, thank the Goddess! Yue Yue, it really is you! I thought I was the only one who fell into this hellhole!"
Yue Yue felt like a drowning person who had finally found a piece of driftwood.
Lin En was her only true friend in the entire Interstellar Beast World, a girl she had shared secrets with and who had always been kind to her.
"Lin En! I can’t believe it!" Yue Yue cried, grabbing her friend’s hands. They were cold, but the touch of another human being made Yue Yue want to sob with joy.
"Did you also fall here when the portals opened?"
Lin En nodded quickly, her eyes shimmering. "Yes. I’ve been wandering for days, terrified. I thought the Zerg would get me for sure. And then I saw a familiar small figure in the distance... I prayed it was you."
The two of them sat down on a collapsed stone pillar, and Yue Yue began to chat excitedly. For the first time in days, the "wilted cabbage" seemed to regain its spark.
She told Lin En about the nutritional solution, the silver artifact, and how much she missed the nagging of her husbands.
"I was so scared, Lin En," Yue Yue whispered, her guard completely down. "I thought I would die here alone."
"You’re not alone now," Lin En replied, patting Yue Yue’s hand gently. "We’ll stay together. We’ll find a way out together."
Yue Yue was so overwhelmed by the happiness of the reunion that she didn’t notice the subtle shift in her friend’s behavior.
She didn’t see the way Lin En’s eyes remained cold even while she smiled.
She didn’t notice how Lin En was carefully eyeing the expensive rings on Yue Yue’s fingers and the high-grade silver hilt tucked into her belt.
In the shadows of the gray wasteland, Lin En’s gaze flickered with a strange, dark intensity...a look that didn’t belong on a friend’s face. But Yue Yue, starved for companionship and warmth, only saw a savior.
"I’m so glad it was you," Yue Yue said, leaning her head on Lin En’s shoulder.
Lin En looked out at the desolate horizon, a small, chilling smile playing on her lips. "Me too, Yue Yue. Me too."
The gray dust of the wasteland swirled around them, but for a moment, the chatter of the two girls made the world feel almost normal. However, that normalcy was shattered in an instant.
From behind a rock formation, a tall, imposing figure stepped out.
Yue Yue’s breath hitched in her throat, and for a moment she thought her heart skipped a beat.
The man was donned in entire black combat gear...and reinforced plates that looked like they could withstand a Zerg explosion. Even his face was hidden beneath a deep hood and a tactical mask, leaving nothing but a shadow where his features should be.
He radiated a masculine and feral aura, something so raw and powerful that the air around him seemed to hum with tension. He stood there like a harbinger of death, silent and unmoving.
Who is he? Yue Yue thought her gemstone blue eyes immediately widened when she felt a familiar pull.
Before she could say anything, Lin En jumped to her feet with a bright, beaming smile. She rushed over and grabbed the man’s arm, clinging to him as if he were a prize she had just won. freēwēbnovel.com
"Yue Yue! Don’t be scared!" Lin En called out, her voice echoing with pride.
"Look, this is my husband! We actually met here in this wasteland and instantly clicked. Isn’t he amazing? He’s been protecting me this whole time."
Yue Yue forced a smile, though a strange, cold discomfort began to settle in the pit of her stomach.
Meeting a "husband" in the middle of a Zerg-infested wasteland after just a few days seemed... impossible. And the way Lin En was clinging to him felt performative, as if she were showing off.
"Oh... I see," Yue Yue said, her voice small. "I’m happy for you, Lin En. It’s good that you’re not alone."
She nodded with forced happiness, not wanting to diminish her friend’s mood.
But her eyes kept drifting back to the man in black. He was like a statue...stoic, cold, and utterly silent. Even when Lin En pulled on his arm and chattered about their "romance," the man didn’t move a single muscle. He didn’t look at Lin En. He didn’t make a sound.
There was something hauntingly familiar about the way he stood, a steady weight in his stance that reminded her of a wall that could never be broken.
Yue Yue was so lost in her thoughts, trying desperately to peel away the shadow of the hood with her gaze to see the man’s face, that she completely missed what was happening right in front of her.
Lin En, while leaning against the man’s shoulder, turned her head slightly toward Yue Yue.
The "kind friend" mask slipped for a split second, replaced by a smug, venomous gaze. Her eyes were full of a dark triumph, watching Yue Yue’s confusion with the satisfaction of a hunter who had successfully laid a trap.
"He doesn’t talk much," Lin En said, her voice sweet yet mocking. "He’s a man of action. Aren’t you, darling?"
The man remained silent, his hooded gaze fixed forward, while Yue Yue felt a shiver run down her spine that had nothing to do with the dry wind of the wasteland.
