Chapter 8

After class, Su Junxin went to the corridor's water dispenser and fetched a cup of water, only to find her seat swarmed by people when she returned.

More accurately, it was Qin You's seat.

With a slight lift of her eyebrows, she patted the shoulder of a girl at the edge of the crowd.

"Excuse me, let me through."

The girl was startled and hurriedly stepped aside, "Ah, Su Junxin is back."

Everyone fell silent without a cue, they turned their heads towards her, and soon dispersed.

Su Junxin sat down in her seat, stopped drinking water halfway, and glanced at Qin You who was staring at her.

"What are you looking at?"

Qin You's gaze swept over the people who had just gathered around, his tone filled with subtle laughter.

"They seem to be afraid of you."

Su Junxin pulled up the corner of her mouth, nonchalantly answering, "Oh."

She figured they should be afraid of her.

Without changing his expression, Qin You moved a little closer to her.

"So... don't you have any friends?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Junxin's hand holding her thermos cup paused imperceptibly.

Her breathing became a bit heavy, her lowered eyes quickly filled with a fierce red color.

She did have friends, but they were all dead.

They all died right in front of her.

Blinking lightly, Su Junxin lifted her eyelids, everything returned to normal.

"No."

"I see..."

Qin You didn't speak again, just when Su Junxin thought he wouldn't bother her anymore, he leaned in once again.

"Can I be your friend?"

Without thinking, she decisively refused, "No."

Qin You seemed to have predicted her reaction and still grinned, "But you ate my chocolate last class."

Su Junxin put the cup down on the table with a "snap".

"You offered it to me."

"But you still ate it, didn't you?"

"You——"

Pausing mid-sentence, she suddenly realized she was arguing with a teenager and pinched her nose bridge in resignation.

"Forget it, I'll repay you the chocolate, just stop bothering me."

But Qin You wasn't going to let her off that easily.

He smirked, "That chocolate was a limited edition, and the distribution channels have been closed. There's not a second one in the whole world."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Her ingrained suspicious nature made Su Junxin think of something. She narrowed her eyes, giving him a serious look for the first time.

After a while, she spoke in a deep voice.

"Did you do it on purpose?"

Qin You seemed taken aback by her sudden stern expression, blinking confusedly.

"You misunderstand, what sort of bad intentions could I have towards you? I just—"

"Just what?"

He pursed his lips, lowering his voice, "I just thought you seemed to dislike me, so I wanted to use chocolate to win you over... That's it."

Su Junxin's gaze shifted from his slightly red earlobes to his innocent eyes, her expression turning calm.

"You're overthinking, I don't dislike you."

Upon hearing this, Qin You beamed immediately, "So you agree to be my friend?"

Su Junxin learned her lesson this time and stopped acknowledging him, focusing on her sketchbook and pencil instead.

The blueprint of the safety zone was already complete, she just needed to perfect the details. However, she didn't study architecture in her past life and was fearful of making mistakes, therefore she could only mimic the design of the safety zone named Cloud in her memory.

Cloud is surrounded by walls several meters high. No zombies broke in within a decade, it's essentially impregnable.

During a victory banquet, Su Junxin accidentally overheard some information about the alarm system on the defensive walls. It even had a unique code name, YC…

"YC-2130?"

A sudden voice interrupted Su Junxin's thoughts.

She turned her head towards Qin You, startled, "What did you just say?"

Qin You gave a glance at her draft, emitted a light "huh" from his nose, and turned away.

Su Junxin pushed the sketchbook in front of him, pointing to the semi-completed diagram of the wall on it.

"You recognize this?"

He idly pulled out a 53 exercise book and flipped it open, pretending not to hear her. His upturned mouth, however, betrayed his current state of mind.

Su Junxin was stunned for a few seconds but quickly reacted.

She laughed helplessly, her tongue brushing lightly against her cheek, before saying, "Alright, I promise you, I'll be your friend."

The moment the words left her mouth, a smile tugged at the corners of Qin You's lips.

"Are you being sincere?"

"Of course." Su Junxin readily answered.

Having achieved his goal, Qin You finally seemed joyful. He laughed rather proudly.

A ray of golden sunlight streamed through the window, casting a gentle glow onto his face.

For a brief moment, Su Junxin suddenly thought his eyes shone like the dazzling Milky Way.

After a short pause, she quickly regained her composure.

"So do you really know what this is?"

Qin You took the pen from her hand, adding a few details to the diagram, then showed it to her.

"What do you think?"

Clearly, he demonstrated his capabilities through action.

With one glance, Su Junxin was sure—this was indeed the real YC-2130!

"What else do you know?" she asked with a rare sense of urgency in her voice.

"Whatever you want to know, I can tell you."

*

A second before the bell for night classes rang, Qin You capped his pen and slammed a stack of papers in front of Su Junxin.

"Here is the complete YC-2130 system."

She flipped through the materials with incredulity, her fingers tracing over the faint ink marks.

"Are you sure it's okay to tell me all this?"

At her question, Qin You looked even more surprised than her.

"You know, as a military enthusiast, this is the first time I've found someone who's as interested in YC-2130 as I am. It's my honor to share it with you."

He paused, then added, "Besides, shouldn't friends help each other?"

Su Junxin was rendered speechless.

After a moment of thought, she stood up and stopped Qin You who was about to leave.

"You asked me earlier if I sincerely wanted to be your friend, let me answer you again."

She looked at him seriously, "Yes."

Qin You chuckled, half-jokingly said, "A stack of blueprints for a sincere friend, sounds like I didn't get a bad deal."

At his words, Su Junxin touched her nose awkwardly.

Her previous behavior in front of him did seem somewhat self-interested. She couldn't blame him for teasing her.

Qin You glanced at the clock, "I'm going to go now, see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

Only a few people remained in the classroom. Su Junxin quickly packed her things and left.

Just as she walked out of the school gate, she heard a familiar voice. She instinctively stopped and turned toward the direction of the sound.

In the dimly lit alley, several tall young men dressed in the school's uniform stood or squatted, each holding a lit cigarette in their fingers.

She recognized the blonde-haired boy from earlier that morning who she had punched.

"No money? If you're broke, why not ask your mom?" He spat on the ground and glared at a figure huddled in the corner of the alley, "If you don't have the money by tomorrow, I swear I'll wreck your family store!"

After delivering a kick to the figure, he turned around, took a fierce drag from his cigarette.

"Let's go. Damn bad luck..."

Seeing him turn around, Su Junxin quickly hid in the shadow of the entrance.

"Bro You seems really pissed off today. Is something bothering you? Just tell us, we'll teach them a lesson for you!"

The guy known as Brother You shot a glance at the speaker.

"None of your damn business!"

Seeing that his attempt to suck up has backfired, the other boy quickly shut up.

It was only after they all left that Su Junxin walked into the alley.

The youth curled up on the ground twitched involuntarily at the sound of her approaching steps, burying his head deeper into his arms.

Seeing him like this, Su Junxin felt a tightness in her chest.

After a moment of silence, she took a box of ointment out of her pocket.

It was brand new, and the packaging was still intact.

She had found it in her drawer before she left, and it was clear that Qin You had intended for her to have it.

But now, someone else seemed to need it more.

As the footsteps faded away, Li Weize slowly untucked himself, and his gaze fell on the small white box in front of him.

He was momentarily stunned.