Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Luo Yue leaned against the reception desk, studying the girl before her with open curiosity.
There was an air of youthful innocence and quiet gentleness about the girl’s features and bearing alike.
Long, soft lashes. Fair skin. A small, high-bridged nose. Warm, limpid eyes. She was the kind of girl who naturally drew men’s attention.
Many of the Anomaly Hunters and staff who passed through the lobby could not help glancing her way.
Yet a closer look revealed a restrained edge beneath her mild exterior.
She brought to mind a kitten with its claws tucked away–usually fluffy and drowsy, purring softly, but still quite capable of scratching if teased too far.
“Qin Lan is being questioned by our director. He should be out shortly,” Luo Yue explained with a smile as she handed Su Xiaoyue a cup of hot water.
Su Xiaoyue accepted it and thanked her softly, her gaze wandering around the room.
This was her first time inside the Anomaly Hunter Bureau.
“People who spend their lives in the Fallen Zone really do feel different…”
She had noticed the same thing Qin Lan once had.
Every Anomaly Hunter carried a faint, cold air of violence, the sort of presence honed by countless brushes with death.
“Is he like them now?”
“Does he explore one instance after another in the Fallen Zone and fight those terrifying anomalies?”
“Does he… face death that often too?”
Su Xiaoyue tightened her fingers around the cup.
Then a familiar figure entered her field of vision.
Qin Lan approached with an awkward smile. The composure he had shown before Lu Xingshan was nowhere to be found, and he even stumbled over his opening words.
“Uh… what brings you here? Did you need something?”
Su Xiaoyue answered with a cool question of her own. “Can’t I come see you unless I need something?”
Beside them, Luo Yue looked as if she were watching a live-action youth romance. Her eyes lit up, and she hurriedly rummaged through the reception desk drawers.
“Where did I put those sunflower seeds…?”
“I can’t miss a scene this good…”
Qin Lan had no idea how to answer, so he steeled himself and said, “That’s not what I meant… It’s just… don’t you have to get ready for the new semester? You should have a lot to do.”
Su Xiaoyue gave a soft huff but did not answer.
Instead, she asked a question that made the pressure on Qin Lan soar.
“I heard you went to the Fallen Zone again not long ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me this time either.”
The pressure was crushing.
Sweat poured down Qin Lan’s back. He had no idea why this felt so much like standing trial.
“I mainly… didn’t want to upset you…”
“Besides, didn’t you say last time that you couldn’t be bothered with me…?”
After desperately searching his mind, his limited vocabulary finally managed to assemble a coherent sentence.
Su Xiaoyue was annoyed, but faced with his wooden expression, she could not bring herself to lose her temper. All she could do was bite her lip in frustration.
“Can’t you recognize sarcasm?”
“Are you an idiot?”
Qin Lan scratched his head in distress. “Sarcasm? But I… You…”
Luo Yue was thoroughly enjoying the show from the sidelines. Unable to contain herself, she whispered, “Use your brain! Use your brain!”
Qin Lan slapped his forehead as something suddenly occurred to him. He began searching his pockets.
“Right. Never mind that for now…”
“I never got the chance to give you a birthday present, so I brought you something to make up for it.”
With a troubled expression, Qin Lan took three small boxes from his pocket and muttered, “I’ve never celebrated a birthday, so I had no idea what you’d like…”
“I figured I should give you something you could use.”
Su Xiaoyue looked blankly at the boxes. Luo Yue’s eyes, meanwhile, went so wide that the sunflower seeds fell from her hand.
“Holy crap!”
“You’re… You’re actually giving those away?!”
The gifts Qin Lan had produced were the three cursed artifacts he had taken from Peng Haiyang.
At Qin Lan’s current strength, ordinary 1-Star anomalies were no match for him. These three cursed artifacts therefore had little practical value to him.
He could exchange them for Bureau points, but there was nothing he urgently needed.
A 1-Star cursed artifact was worth around sixty to eighty points on average. All three together would only fetch a little over a hundred.
A Curse Codex?
Thanks to Lu Xingshan’s authority, he had already exchanged for an advanced codex worth more than five hundred points. He certainly would not need a replacement anytime soon.
A Spirit-Elevation Serum?
His Talent allowed him to raise his attributes and strength at extraordinary speed, so there was no urgency to exchange for one of those either.
Curse Crystals?
He needed those even less. He could simply explore instances in the Fallen Zone at high intensity, kill low-rank anomalies, and absorb their curse power.
Qin Lan’s reasoning was simple.
A birthday present should be practical, and what could be more practical than a cursed artifact?
Perfect for home, travel, and silencing one’s enemies.
Besides, he could not move against the Qian Group yet, and Qian Youquan clearly had designs on Su Xiaoyue. These would be ideal for her self-defense.
Qin Lan had declined Lu Xingshan’s help earlier mainly because of his pride.
He wanted to make the Qian Group regret everything through his own strength. He wanted to crush Qian Youquan’s dignity with his own hands.
Some things only meant something if you did them yourself.
“Cursed artifacts?”
Only after Luo Yue explained did Su Xiaoyue realize just how valuable Qin Lan’s gifts were. She stared at them in shock.
Even with her family’s resources, buying a single 1-Star cursed artifact would not be easy.
And Qin Lan had given her three.
Calling it an extravagant gift would be no exaggeration.
“There shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Qin Lan said, taken aback. “I checked the regulations. Registered 1-Star cursed artifacts can be transferred or traded freely.”
“And all three of these are highly stable. There’s almost no risk of them going out of control.”
Luo Yue shook her head repeatedly. “That’s not the point!”
“You have no idea how long other Anomaly Hunters would have to work to afford those three artifacts!”
“Most Anomaly Hunters take low-risk exploration assignments. Those jobs don’t award many Bureau points. Saving enough for a single 1-Star cursed artifact would take at least half a year.”
“Even if they accept exploration assignments constantly, they could still die in the middle of one…”
“And you’re just giving all three away?”
Qin Lan scratched his head. “What else would I do with them?”
He genuinely did not think it was a big deal.
If he needed Bureau points, he could kill a few anomalies and bring back their corpses.
He did not have to worry about an anomaly killing him.
Resurrection was there to catch him. At worst, he could keep trying until he found the right approach. If he could kill it, he would. If he could not, he would run.
But Su Xiaoyue saw the matter very differently.
“That woman just said Anomaly Hunters have to risk their lives on assignments to earn these cursed artifacts…”
“And Qin Lan only just returned from the Fallen Zone…”
“Could he have gone into the Fallen Zone and taken such a terrible risk just for me?”
Cradling the three boxes, Su Xiaoyue began talking herself into another misunderstanding.
Her heart pounded, and her head went light.
She did not know that Peng Haiyang had delivered these supplies straight into Qin Lan’s hands. She assumed they were rewards Qin Lan had fought desperately to earn.
“This is all because I got angry with him a few days ago and left without explaining myself…”
“What if something had happened to him in the Fallen Zone? That place is full of anomalies… One mistake could cost him his life…”
“And I said something so awful. I told him I didn’t care whether he lived or died…”
Sorrow and guilt welled inside Su Xiaoyue, reddening her eyes.
She was awful.
If Qin Lan had truly died in the Fallen Zone, and the last thing he ever heard from her had been those angry words, how cruel would that have been?
“I’m sorry…” Su Xiaoyue whispered, several tears clinging to her lashes. “I should have talked things through with you before…”
Wait.
What was going on?
Why was she crying?
Qin Lan was utterly lost.
Hadn’t he just made up for missing her birthday with a present? Was that still not sincere enough?
Women were impossible to understand.
Su Xiaoyue wiped the corner of her eye, her voice incomparably gentle.
“I was too embarrassed to explain before… I don’t actually object to you joining the Anomaly Hunter Bureau. It’s just…”
She struggled for a long moment before forcing out the rest.
“I only want you to tell me before you do something that dangerous.”
“I don’t want to be kept in the dark. I… I…”
The tips of her ears turned red.
“I want… the right… to care about you.”
Qin Lan was baffled, but he patiently answered, “You already have every right to care about me.”
Of course she did. She was his classmate and his former class president. What could be more normal than her caring about him?
He did not understand why she had to be so coy about it.
Su Xiaoyue froze. Then even her neck flushed pink.
I already have the right…?
Was that his confession?!