Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 23

Upon waking up in the morning, Xing Yuanzhi sensed something was off.

Last night, she seemed to have slept particularly well.

As she pondered in the bathtub, she realized it was likely because she hadn’t dreamed.

After finishing her bath and leaving the bathroom, she saw that Miss Wang was still in the study reading, with the door wide open.

“Wanrou.” Xing Yuanzhi pulled up a chair beside her and sat down. “Didn’t we dream last night?”

“He did, but we didn’t,” Wang Wanrou replied nonchalantly.

“Who?” Xing Yuanzhi asked warily.

Wang Wanrou was silent for a moment. “Zheng Qiupei.”

“Spiritual Impact? That’s not entirely useless…” Xing Yuanzhi mused, suddenly realizing the implications. “Wait! This isn’t just simple team recruitment. You know newcomers have to sleep with us! There might be another strong rival!”

“Can we stop him from bringing in new people?” she said worriedly. “The more people join, the closer our combat system gets to completion, but we don’t need more people. Besides, it’s harder to keep secrets and manage a large group.”

“I’m still working on that,” Wang Wanrou said coolly.

“Alright.”

Full of concerns, Xing Yuanzhi left and took a walk near the back mountain. When she returned, she saw Jinyang playing around with Qingqing and Jinqi, which soured her mood even more. Although this wasn’t entirely his fault, it was still frustrating.

“What’s the situation with Zheng Qiupei?” Xing Yuanzhi asked.

“I only promised to keep her secret and haven’t mentioned the dream yet,” Cheng Jinyang replied seriously.

“How could Sister Xiao Pei have psychological problems?” Cui Jinqi wondered, biting her nails. “She’s such a good person…”

“I can’t really say,” Cheng Jinyang smiled. “However, psychic shock is indeed a useful ability. Think about the last time the city shield withstood the main cannon of a warship.”

“Are you after her ability or her body?” Chu Qingqing asked mischievously.

“Of course, it’s her ability… cough, cough,” Cheng Jinyang forced a cough to interrupt and then said seriously, “I didn’t choose the dream targets. It was an accident!”

“If one of us gets pregnant, will you say the same thing?” Chu Qingqing laughed.

“What are you talking about? Enough, I’m going to have lunch.” Cheng Jinyang felt the atmosphere getting worse and quickly turned to leave.

In the family cafeteria, after grabbing his lunch and finding an empty seat, Cheng Jinyang saw three girls already carrying their lunch and occupying the other three seats at his table.

“What are you doing?” Cheng Jinyang asked, puzzled.

“Watching you, to prevent you from flirting with other girls,” Cui Jinqi said righteously.

“Am I that kind of person? Hey!” Cheng Jinyang protested.

“Zheng Qiupei,” Xing Yuanzhi reminded him.

“That was an accident,” Cheng Jinyang said weakly.

“We’re here to prevent such accidents,” Chu Qingqing said, picking up her chopsticks and making a chopping gesture. “Strict defense! No strangers allowed! Slash, slash, slash!”

“You’re crazy!”

“You’re welcome. Just don’t think about sneaking around,” Miss Qingqing said, biting her chopsticks.

Feeling depressed, Cheng Jinyang finished his meal and stood up. “I’m going to Jingkou. You’re not going to follow me, are you?”

“Why are you going to Jingkou?” Xing Yuanzhi asked, swallowing her rice.

“To win people over,” Cheng Jinyang replied. “Last night, New Year’s Eve, a batch of goods was sent to Jingkou via the Ground Network. I’m going to show my face so everyone knows what the benefactor looks like.”

“Then we definitely have to go with you,” Cui Jinqi said, scooping seaweed soup with a ladle and grimacing from the heat. “Last time, that Sun Wuzhong gave you several ‘homeless girls.’ If we’re not around, you might just accept them this time!”

“Those girls aren’t ‘homeless’ at all!” Cheng Jinyang was speechless. “They’re just receptionists, okay? They only handle reception work, not selling themselves! Cui Jinqi, I see you’re stirring up trouble again!”

“I am not!” Cui Jinqi argued. “I’m just boldly hypothesizing and reasonably suspecting, okay?”

“Jinyang, more people means more safety,” Xing Yuanzhi said, pulling him to sit down. “Calm down and wait for us to finish eating, then we’ll go together.”

Cheng Jinyang pretended to suppress his anger and sat down again, quietly watching them eat.

Ah Zhi was still dieting, eating a vegetarian meal of rice, cauliflower, and tofu soup, moving with deliberate slowness.

Cui Xiaoniang’s plate held spicy stir-fried clams, pan-fried small yellow croaker, and green pepper squid strips, seemingly the cafeteria’s special seafood set for the day.

Miss Qingqing’s meal was more alarming: quail eggs stir-fried with meat, fried chicken nuggets, and spicy stir-fried frog legs—three types of meat combined in a gut-wrenching feast.

“What kind of set meal is that?” Cheng Jinyang asked, staring at her. “The constipation set?”

Xing Yuanzhi next to him slammed her chopsticks down and glared at him.

“Don’t be mean.” Miss Qingqing was unhappy. “I also eat fruit to supplement my vitamins, okay?”

“I’m just amazed at how greasy your diet is,” Cheng Jinyang joked. “You must have been a carnivorous tigress in your past life.”

“I don’t know about others, but you were definitely a crab in your past life,” Miss Qingqing retorted.

“Why?”

“Because you’re so crabby,” Cui Xiaoniang interjected.

Everyone burst out laughing.

The journey to Jingkou was smooth. Cheng Jinyang, now a rank-six, could easily carry three people while flying. They departed for Jingkou at noon and still had time to return for the night.

Upon arriving in Jingkou, they found that nearly all the refugee gangs had gathered together. Xie Youdu was registering everyone’s details.

“Happy New Year, Registrar Xie,” Cheng Jinyang handed him a red envelope. “Working on the first day of the new year?”

“Jingkou has a lot to rebuild,” Xie Youdu replied with a smile. “The more work we do now, the easier it will be later.”

“How’s the development here?” Cheng Jinyang asked.

“Not bad,” Xie Youdu said. “Jingkou has a lot of people, so resources per capita are quite scarce. Fortunately, most of them are refugees, and the armed forces are basically under our control, so social order is relatively stable.”

“The only issue is the occasional puppet attacks from the north, which cause mass panic among the refugees and severely disrupt normal life and production. The local refugee gangs used to patrol the northern part of Jingkou themselves. Lord Sima, do you think we can reinforce the Tianluo personnel to expand the range of demon hunting?”

“Yes,” Cheng Jinyang nodded. “But we can’t rely solely on Tianluo. We need to arm more refugees, aiming for ‘self-defense and self-guarding.'”

“Understood,” Xie Youdu knew his focus was on rapid military expansion and nodded. “I’ll finish sorting the military records as soon as possible.”