Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 26

“Overall, there are no serious injuries, but the extent of the minor injuries is unexpectedly severe,” Princess Nankang said with some surprise after checking Cheng Jinyang’s condition.

To put it another way, it’s like having sustained severe injuries, undergoing emergency treatment and hospitalization, and then being allowed to go home to recuperate—Cheng Jinyang doesn’t have any critical injuries needing urgent treatment, but vigorous activity is still off-limits.

For instance, manipulating gravity to fly around in the air or escaping through crowded areas while being chased by demons are activities he should avoid.

Therefore, what Xing Yuanzhi said about “staying here to recuperate” isn’t a case of “deliberate deception,” though she certainly has her own motives.

“Oh, why is everyone standing?” Xing Yuanzhi covered her mouth and laughed, taking on the role of the hostess. “Please sit down. I’ll make you all some breakfast.”

Luling privately rolled her eyes, thinking, “It’s just a makeshift base, why make it feel like a home?”

Huh?

Curious, she looked around and noticed that the base was roughly square, consisting of an L-shaped main room and a small square bathroom.

The L-shaped main room had bedrooms (with beds and furniture) at one end and a kitchen (with supplies and heating equipment) at the other. The middle was an information office area, compact yet fully functional, suitable for staying ten days or even a month.

Luling then began to daydream: Imagine if this beautiful princess was seriously injured on the battlefield and was rescued by a handsome man. To evade the demons chasing them, they had to stay in this secret underground base for a while, and during this time, they had many sweet and blush-inducing moments…

Just as she was imagining the most romantic scenario, Cheng Jinyang suddenly asked, “Sister Xinnan, what’s the situation outside?”

“It’s very bad,” Princess Nankang sighed. “There are basically puppet demons appearing throughout the southern city. The infection has reached an outbreak stage, and Jiankang City… might have to be abandoned.”

Luling felt a twinge of gloom. Both princesses had grown up in Jiankang, and the prospect of abandoning it and moving elsewhere gave a sense of displacement and melancholy.

As the highest combat force on the tech side, she could hold her own against greater demons, yet was helpless against low-level puppet demons, which used infection to replicate at an exponential rate, leaving them with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness and despair.

Cheng Jinyang, on the other hand, wasn’t too affected. After all, moving the capital was nothing new for the Great Jin Empire, and survival was more important than anything.

After chatting with the two princesses for another ten minutes, Cheng Jinyang learned that their reason for staying in Jiankang was twofold: one was to create the illusion that the Empress Dowager was still in Taicheng, luring the rebel forces to remain; the other was to buy time for the citizens of Jiankang to escape to Lin’an and for various military factions to prepare for the king’s support.

Of course, they were chosen for this mission because only they were up to the task.

Among the third-rank combatants in Jiankang, the Lu family head was incapacitated, the Zheng family head was unconscious, the Cui family head was a strategic suicide weapon (for research purposes only), and the Wang family head’s abilities were ineffective against greater demons and clones. Only the Li family head, Li Xuansheng, stayed behind in Jiankang to command the Shenwu and Yulin troops in resistance.

Apart from the established military forces, only the two princesses and Li Xuansheng could combat the greater demons. Cheng Jinyang’s attempt to join in and nearly being beaten to near death was the best example of this limitation.

Hearing how Cheng Jinyang narrowly escaped a deadly attack from a greater demon by hiding in the underground network and was subsequently rescued by Xing Yuanzhi, Nankang obviously breathed a sigh of relief. Her expression still showed lingering anxiety. Luling felt a mix of guilt and relief.

Xing Yuanzhi brought out breakfast: a bowl of congee cooked with dried scallops and fish, and a few crispy, dehydrated oil sticks.

As everyone gathered around the table, the atmosphere grew a bit awkward.

Nankang and Luling ate slowly. For them, chewing was less about digestion and more about allowing their taste buds to collect more data… The food decomposition furnace was far more efficient than their stomachs, and even when not in battle, they generally didn’t use cloned organs for this purpose.

Cheng Jinyang also ate slowly, mainly because he had too many matters on his mind, leaving him with little attention to the taste of the food.

Since Princess Nankang has confirmed that she is safe and that it wasn’t a matter of “the court not having time to rescue” or being “abandoned as bait,” but rather a deliberate choice to stay in the city to buy time, the primary objective has been achieved. It’s time to make a move.

Of course, even though the plan was to help the capital’s residents escape, this effort would continue even after Cheng Jinyang’s departure.

To be honest, while the primary focus is on rescuing engineers and other high-level talents, this approach still has more drawbacks than benefits for the Jingkou and Beifu armies.

Jingkou is currently facing a severe shortage of resources, exacerbated by the influx of northern refugees, which has dangerously lowered the per capita resource availability and significantly threatened public order.

Cheng Jinyang’s decision to rescue the people of Jiankang will undoubtedly intensify the burden on Jingkou in the short term.

However, in the long term, once production activities and industrial chains are established in Jingkou, the presence of high-level talents will naturally turn losses into gains. In fact, on average, civilians selected through rigorous competition often have more value than non-combat talents from aristocratic families.

He picked up a piece of dried fish from his congee with his chopsticks, chewing it slowly as he seriously contemplated the subsequent administrative plans. He didn’t notice that Xing Yuanzhi and Princess Nankang had finished breakfast and were now seemingly having a friendly chat.

“Yuanzhi,” Princess Nankang said with a smile, “you’ve now become one of the de facto leaders of the Hejian Xing clan. Are you planning to honor the marriage pact that both of your fathers arranged?”

“Of course,” Xing Yuanzhi replied with a gentle smile, glancing at Cheng Jinyang, who was distracted, “Once the war is over, we’ll marry in Jingkou.”

“I see.” Princess Nankang nodded, not showing any unusual reaction, which made Xing Yuanzhi feel a bit wary.

After all, in the old house in Wujiang Town, when the marriage pact was mentioned, Princess Nankang had openly expressed her opposition and malice toward it.

Princess Nankang was aware of the subtle change in Xing Yuanzhi’s expression but chose to remain silent and smiling.

She had opposed the marriage initially because she sensed that Xing Yuanzhi had no genuine feelings for Cheng Jinyang and was merely involved with him for some ulterior motive.

However, this time, Xing Yuanzhi had risked her life to save Cheng Jinyang from near death in the battle with the major demon, proving that she indeed had genuine feelings for him.

Princess Nankang considered herself not a jealous woman. Since Xing Yuanzhi could genuinely care for Cheng Jinyang, she was willing to reciprocate with equal sincerity.

Allow her to be a concubine!