"Captain, my sister is right. I'm usually blunt, and when I see good food, I naturally get greedy and want to buy a bit more."
"The smell of this roast meat is truly irresistible, and I was momentarily overcome. But my sister and I are just two women. You old men and women, calling us spies, isn't that a bit too much bullying?"
They were all shrewd individuals who had come down from the lighthouse.
After Xu An finished speaking, Zhou Haimei practically embodied the image of a bullied and ostracized orphan.
She portrayed the sense of being misunderstood, misinterpreted, and lost in a strange land with great skill.
Chu Yu, of course, knew that Xu An and Zhou Haimei were acting.
But his own identity had now been exposed to the two of them.
He had only two paths forward.
Either he could give face to Xu An and Zhou Haimei and protect them, which would allow him to negotiate terms later when returning to the lighthouse.
The other path.
Was to kill the two of them right here.
But the second path was too risky.
They all came from the lighthouse, and they knew exactly how much offensive weaponry each person carried.
Moreover, not to mention Zhou Haimei, just Xu An alone.
He wouldn't be able to keep him.
Seeing Chu Yu's expression soften, Xu An's lips curved into a smile.
She took out the remaining hand cream from her backpack and walked up to the roast meat stall owner.
"Big sister, my sister is just used to being outspoken. I have another hand cream here that I normally can't bear to use."
"You do business in this biting cold every day, so you'll definitely need this. We are outsiders and didn't exchange contribution points when we entered. Consider this hand cream as an apology. We'll buy three skewers of roast meat at the going price. Can we let this matter go?"
Chu Yu watched Xu An's actions with a playful smile, his back perfectly straight, without changing his posture at all.
He had truly mastered the art of "one shouldn't hit a smiling face."
He was becoming more and more curious about Xu An.
Zhou Haimei, observing Xu An's actions, also understood that the key to resolving the conflict lay with the stall owner.
She stepped forward to apologize as well.
The stall owner glanced at Chu Yu and noticed that he made no move to stop Xu An.
She then guessed that Chu Yu intended to protect them.
Anyone doing business was a shrewd person.
She understood what was happening.
The previously tense atmosphere dissolved as the stall owner covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
The stall owner accepted the hand cream from Xu An and, with a casual glance, realized it was an expensive brand from before the apocalypse.
In this current world, all the previous factories had shut down.
You might be able to exchange items for the most common necessities like rice and plain clothing.
But something like the hand cream Xu An gave her was a consumable, with each piece becoming rarer in the world.
If this kind of item were to be exchanged, it would be worth at least fifty to sixty contribution points.
In this post-apocalyptic era, not everyone was starving or suffering from famine.
Once some people's basic needs for food were met,
They would also focus on the quality of life; this was a common human trait.
The insatiable material desires.
After all, rice could be replanted, but something as intricately manufactured as hand cream.
Once used, there would be no one to produce another.
The person who had mocked Zhou Haimei for being poor just now, seeing the valuable item Xu An casually produced, was stunned.
They hadn't expected these two seemingly ordinary women to be so generous.
As if to make sure the other person's face was sufficiently slapped, Zhou Haimei said,
"Heh, didn't someone just say I was bragging and couldn't afford ten skewers of roast meat? Why are you quiet now?"
Xu An looked at Zhou Haimei's relentless demeanor and felt helpless.
She pulled Zhou Haimei over, signaling her to restrain herself, as their troubles weren't entirely over yet.
They still had the fierce-looking Chu Yu standing before them.
Chu Yu's face remained expressionless. He watched Xu An and Zhou Haimei walk out of the crowd.
The roast meat stall returned to normal. Even the onlookers who had been clamoring to send Xu An and Zhou Haimei to the dungeon were now sheepishly lining up, their faces flushed with embarrassment.
No one dared to cause trouble in front of Chu Yu.
"All handled?"
His tone was cold and indifferent, devoid of his usual nonchalance. Chu Yu's gaze, however, finally settled on Xu An.
Xu An first glanced around, seeing that everyone's attention had been drawn back to the roast meat, and then quietly looked at Chu Yu.
"Captain Chu, it's been a while."
Although Xu An's voice was quiet, it carried an undeniable sharpness.
Zhou Haimei stood by, watching the two engage in a standoff, the air thick with a suffocating tension.
"Can you two find another place to catch up? Aren't you afraid of being seen?"
Xu An snorted coldly.
She had previously felt that Chu Yu was somewhat suspicious and had asked Zhou Haimei and Old Rat to investigate him.
However, the results of the investigation yielded no useful information, other than that he had been recommended by the upper echelons.
This time, descending the tower,
Xu An had specifically reminded herself to keep an eye on Chu Yu's movements.
But at the beginning of the descent, Chu Yu had already disappeared from the group.
She hadn't expected.
To encounter him in this manner.
Chu Yu didn't reply. He turned and walked ahead, leaving only a cold command: "Follow."
Zhou Haimei looked at Chu Yu's retreating back, a hint of excitement in her eyes.
"An'an, this guy is always so sloppily dressed on the lighthouse, I never realized he had such a good figure!"
Xu An's face was filled with exasperation.
At a time like this, Zhou Haimei's focus was on Chu Yu's physique?
Before it was mentioned, Xu An hadn't noticed.
Now, prompted by Zhou Haimei, Xu An looked at Chu Yu's back.
Her mind was filled with images of an inverted triangle, a perfect waist-to-hip ratio, long legs, broad shoulders, well-defined shoulder blades, and a fitted shirt subtly outlining a lean waistline...
Finally...
Xu An couldn't take it anymore and pinched Zhou Haimei hard.
She whispered sternly, "Mei Jie! Stop talking!"
Heaven knew she could no longer look at Chu Yu's back without seeing it in that light.
She hadn't realized Zhou Haimei had a "stalker" trait before.
Chu Yu heard the two women muttering behind him, but their voices were too low.
He couldn't make out the words clearly.
He only vaguely heard Xu An quietly telling the woman beside her to shut up.
He couldn't help but chuckle.
But before the smile could fully form on his lips, he noticed his own mood.
He forcefully suppressed the urge to smile.
He looked at the streetlights breaking through the misty barrier, casting their struggling beams of light.
He reminded himself.
He was not at the lighthouse now, but at the Southern Base.