Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 19

“……I heard they’ve already reached Gushu.”

Just as he entered the bedroom, Cheng Jinyang heard some girls talking about something.

“What’s reached Gushu?” Cheng Jinyang asked. “Demons?”

“No, it’s the refugee army from Liyang,” Chu Qingqing said. “Just now, on New Year’s Eve, they secretly crossed the river and launched a surprise attack, capturing Gushu Town.”

“Due to the news blockade, no one in Jiankang City knows about this yet, except for Taicheng and a few prominent families.”

“How is the combat strength of the refugee army?” Cheng Jinyang asked again.

“Hard to say.” This time it was Li Qingwan who answered. “Their style is different from the Longxiang Army.”

“Oh, how so?”

“The Longxiang Army’s overall strategy revolves around warships and drone swarms, forming an almost overwhelming aerial suppression force. On the ground, they advance with the combination of supernaturals and infantry,” Li Qingwan explained. “Since Jiankang City had completely lost air supremacy, it could only rely on city shields to hold out.”

“As for the refugee army, their main force consists of northern refugees. Due to their long-term exploration of military facilities in the north and restoration of a large amount of technology, their army is more mechanized. However, they don’t have overwhelming military weapons like warships, nor do they have supernaturals.”

“That’s good news,” Cheng Jinyang said.

“But the city shield is also gone,” Cui Jinqi sighed. “Sister Xiaopei said her uncle hasn’t regained his basic computing abilities yet.”

“So Jiankang City can only engage in urban warfare with the refugee army,” Chu Qingqing concluded.

Cheng Jinyang: ……

Everyone knows that urban warfare in a large city is almost synonymous with a meat grinder.

The complex urban environment prevents the stronger side from quickly deploying troops to defeat the weaker side, resulting in close-quarters combat where life and death are decided quickly, dragging on until one side can no longer endure the losses.

However, as far as I know, even if it comes to urban warfare, it probably won’t get to that point, because Zhongshu Yu will definitely call for the Iron Giant Soldier to be deployed.

Of course, the current war situation is still unclear, and it’s not yet time to play the final card, so I can still hang on for a while.

“Let’s sleep,” Cheng Jinyang said, waving his hand. “We’ll deal with it when they attack.”

The girls each lay down and turned off the lights. In the dark room, only the faint sounds of breathing could be heard.

For some reason, Cheng Jinyang couldn’t sleep.

Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t just take everyone and flee overseas. As for the Jin Empire and the fate of humanity… what does that have to do with me!

Then he realized that Sister Xinnan definitely wouldn’t go with him, after all, her home was here.

What about Su Lili? If he really left the mainland, he might never see her again.

“What are you thinking about?” Probably because he had been tossing and turning for a long time, Miss Qingqing gently hugged him from behind and softly coaxed him, “Sleep, be good.”

“Okay,” Cheng Jinyang said.

However, on the other side, Cui Xiaoniang also heard it, so she turned over:

“Do you have something on your mind, can’t sleep?”

“It’s nothing,” Cheng Jinyang said.

“Sleep, goodnight.” Cui Xiaoniang reached out and patted his shoulder.

But she patted Miss Qingqing’s left arm that was wrapped around his neck.

Cui Jinqi: ???

Hmph, I’ll pinch!

Feeling the pain, Miss Qingqing remained calm and extended her right arm, which was under Cheng Jinyang’s neck, forward and immediately grabbed Cui Jinqi’s nape.

Cui Jinqi panicked instantly and hurriedly used her hands to pry Miss Qingqing’s fingers, struggling in discomfort.

Chu Qingqing secretly sneered and tightened her grip.

Feeling the force increase, Cui Jinqi quickly stretched her leg over Cheng Jinyang and kicked Miss Qingqing’s abdomen hard.

Chu Qingqing extended her left arm again, grabbing Cui Jinqi’s leg and pulling her knee towards her.

So Cui Xiaoniang was pulled by her legs and pressed up close, squeezing Cheng Jinyang tightly in the middle. The latter felt like the filling of a sandwich, almost unable to breathe, and quickly whispered:

“Stop it, both of you!”

“You tell her to let go first,” Cui Xiaoniang said angrily.

“You let go first,” Miss Qingqing retorted.

“You’re grabbing my leg and choking my neck.”

“My hand that’s choking your neck is still being held by you. Besides, who made the first move?”

“You touched Jinyang first!”

“Alright, alright.” Cheng Jinyang, worried about waking the other girls, quickly stretched out his arms to hold the two of them. “Give me some face, let’s each take a step back and get some rest, okay?”

Then both sides of his waist were simultaneously attacked.

It was amazing—just moments ago, they were fighting fiercely, and in the blink of an eye, they had reached a mutual understanding. Even the positions and strength of their attacks were identical.

Grimacing in pain, Cheng Jinyang awkwardly withdrew his arms and smiled wryly, “Can we sleep well now?”

No one answered him.

But at least the conflict beside his pillow was resolved, so he closed his eyes with peace of mind and gradually sank into a soft sleep.

……

“Xiao Pei, Xiao Pei?”

A faint voice called by his ear.

Cheng Jinyang opened his eyes… or rather, the eyes of the body he was possessing opened.

The young Zheng Qiupei slowly woke up and, with the help of her maid, got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.

She had lost her parents in an accident when she was young and had been living with her uncle’s family ever since. Her uncle was the head of the Zheng family and rarely came home, leaving her cousin Zheng Wengong in charge of the household.

Although Zheng Wengong was her peer, he was already over thirty, more than twenty years her senior. As the saying goes, “An elder brother is like a father.” Zheng Qiupei greatly respected this cousin, seeing him as an elder brother, but she had a poor relationship with his wife, Madam Liu.

The reason was simple: Zheng Wengong’s talent evaluation was mediocre, with a minimum of fifth grade and a potential fourth grade, while Zheng Qiupei had a guaranteed fourth grade potential who could aim for the third grade, far surpassing her cousin.

Therefore, there were rumors that the family head, Zheng Junming, intended to adopt Zheng Qiupei from her parents’ branch as his own daughter and make her the heir, effectively taking the inheritance from Zheng Wengong’s line, making her an obvious thorn in Madam Liu’s side.

“…So how long do you plan to endure this?” Madam Liu’s roar suddenly sounded from outside.

“Keep your voice down, keep your voice down, don’t let her hear,” her cousin quickly tried to stop her.

So the voices outside gradually lowered.

Inside the room, the personal maid was still picking out clothes from the wardrobe, as if she hadn’t heard anything.

As a maid trained by an aristocratic family, maintaining distance from the family’s private matters was a crucial professional ethic. In the past, Zheng Qiupei had been troubled by these issues and occasionally confided in her, but she always responded with silent, perfect, and helpless smiles.

“Miss, how about this dress?” The maid picked out a light yellow dress from the rack, thinking it suited Zheng Qiupei’s gentle and kind temperament.

Zheng Qiupei looked at the dress in silence, her eyes seeming somewhat dim.

“Choose the one at the very back,” she suddenly said.

The maid was taken aback and followed her gaze to the back of the wardrobe.

Hanging at the very back of the rack was a plain, gray dress that was completely unremarkable.