It's a Little Silly...

Uesugi Akizuki stared at Su Ze lying on the bed for a long while before squatting down beside the bed, gently taking his hand in hers.

Silence... The room was eerily quiet.

Everyone watched this scene with complicated expressions.

Uesugi Akizuki closed her eyes, holding Su Ze's hand with both of hers.

"What is she doing?" Shen Qingsheng asked, puzzled.

"Praying."

Meng Xingyao seemed to understand and stood up to leave, not wanting to disturb the moment between the two.

Shen Qingsheng followed her out.

The dusky sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting a warm hue over the room.

Only the little shrine maiden silently praying for her lover and the silver-haired boy whose hand she held remained in the room.

Upon seeing Su Ze unconscious, the little shrine maiden didn’t cry or make a scene. From sunset to nightfall, she quietly stayed by his side.

The next morning, in the hospital corridor.

Su Yu walked down the hallway carrying several breakfasts to visit his brother.

Seeing Uesugi Chigenki and Meng Xingyao sitting together on a bench chatting, he handed them two breakfasts.

"Su Yu," Meng Xingyao called out to him just as he was about to enter the ward, sounding curious, "Have you been getting close to certain people recently?"

Su Yu visibly flinched, pretending not to understand, "Sister Xingyao... I don’t know what you mean."

Meng Xingyao smiled, not pressing further, and opened the breakfast in her hands—simple soy milk and fried dough sticks, still slightly warm. "It’s fine if you don’t understand. Just remember, don’t let yourself become someone else’s tool."

"Understood," Su Yu replied after a moment of silence, then entered the ward.

"Is he being used by someone?" Uesugi Chigenki caught the underlying meaning.

"Not exactly used," Meng Xingyao said while eating her fried dough stick, "He’s quite sensible."

Uesugi Chigenki ate her fried dough stick without fully understanding, realizing Meng Xingyao didn’t want to elaborate.

Inside the ward, Su Yu watched the little shrine maiden diligently massaging his brother’s arm.

"Uesugi Akizuki, a shrine maiden from Japan. You can call her... sister-in-law," Shen Qingsheng said from the adjacent bed, playing on his phone without looking up, his hand outstretched.

Su Yu hung a breakfast bag on his fingers, asking, "When did they start dating?"

"How should I know?"

Shen Qingsheng didn’t even know if they were officially a couple, but his casual guess turned out to be correct.

Su Yu smacked his butt in annoyance, "Go to hell."

He walked over to Uesugi Akizuki and handed her a breakfast, "Sister-in-law, have some breakfast."

Though he was full of questions, it didn’t stop him from calling the beautiful shrine maiden "sister-in-law."

The little airhead blinked in confusion, looking back at Su Yu, clearly unaware of what "sister-in-law" meant.

She’s so pretty... but why does she seem a bit clueless?

Su Yu found himself staring at her innocent, slightly dazed face.

He suddenly remembered the orange-haired girl sitting on the bench outside with Meng Xingyao. These two seemed somewhat similar!

Though confused by Su Yu’s address, the little airhead still accepted the breakfast he offered, stammering, "Th-thank you."

Since seeing Su Ze, the little airhead had started eating again. She didn’t cry, fuss, or cling to him.

She simply stayed by his side all day, gently massaging his limbs.

Everyone who saw this felt a pang of sadness. This innocent girl hadn’t smiled once since Su Ze’s accident.

After escaping from Japan, the little she had learned about society helped her understand its basic workings, but it wasn’t enough.

She didn’t ask her sister to take her out shopping, nor did she complain about the monotony of staying in the ward all day. She became serious and strong, diligently doing whatever she could for Su Ze.

Though all she could do was massage his legs and arms, she did so with great care and attention.

Uesugi Chigenki watched everything, gently patting her sister’s head, "You really love him, don’t you?"

Uesugi Akizuki paused her massage, looking up at her sister with pure eyes and nodding earnestly, "I love him."

She didn’t know how to be modest. She believed she loved Su Ze deeply, not just because he loved her.

"Then, when you’re older, will you marry him?" Uesugi Chigenki teased, pinching her sister’s cheek.

"Okay!" Uesugi Akizuki didn’t fully understand marriage, but her intuition told her it was something wonderful, so she agreed without hesitation.

As night fell again, Shen Qingsheng and Meng Xingyao had to return to school, while Uesugi Chigenki stayed to look after her sister.

The moonlit ward was now occupied only by Uesugi Akizuki and the unconscious Su Ze.

Uesugi Chigenki sat on a bench in the corridor outside, lost in thought.

In the bustling hospital lobby, Su Yu dozed off on a bench.

He wasn’t extraordinary like those who had unlocked their genetic potential—he was just an ordinary person who needed regular sleep.

The lobby lights remained bright, with family members of patients hurrying past and a constant stream of people at the emergency registration window.

After the disaster, the hospital was as busy at night as it was during the day.

Su Yu found it hard to sleep. The benches were mostly full, and a burly man squeezed in next to him, making it uncomfortable. When an auntie approached, he gave up his seat and went to sleep on a stone pillar in the hospital’s outdoor pavilion.

It was quieter there.

*Slap!*

He smacked his own face hard! Looking at his hand, he saw a little blood.

The pavilion was peaceful, with a clear view of the moon, but the mosquitoes were relentless...

He took off his jacket and draped it over his head. The soft moonlight bathed him, giving him a somewhat decadent, sophisticated look.

There was only one moon, but its light belonged to everyone.

In the ward, the moonlight illuminated half of the little airhead’s face, making it look flawless, while the other half remained in shadow. Su Ze’s face was similarly split.

The little airhead was still massaging Su Ze’s shoulders, though her head kept nodding as she fought off sleep.

*Thud!*

Her head hit the edge of the bed!

Tears welled up as she clutched her head.

Her first instinct was to check if Su Ze had been disturbed or if anything had happened to him.

Seeing that everything was fine, the shrine maiden with her wine-red hair glowing under the moonlight bit her lip and slowly buried her face in Su Ze’s blanket.

It really hurt, and she wanted to cry out, but she didn’t dare.

Instead, she gently rubbed her head against the blanket to ease the pain.

She held Su Ze’s hand carefully, her heart full of unspoken grievances.

These past few days, she had been trying to grow up, to learn how to take care of others.

Like a child desperately wanting to prove they’ve matured, she wanted to show she could handle things on her own and not be a burden to Su Ze.

She wanted to grow up quickly, to fully understand the world, so she could take care of Su Ze if anything happened to him.

So she had been trying to be strong, clumsily imitating her sister, Meng Xingyao, and the nurses, hoping to learn more this way.

Of course, her efforts yielded little, as she often forgot what she had just learned.

Or her eyes would see, her mind would understand, and she’d think, "I can do this," but her hands and feet would say, "No, you can’t!"

She wasn’t foolish enough to actually try giving Su Ze an injection like the nurses did, though she had briefly considered it.

She wondered if that would help him wake up faster.

Under the soft moonlight, Uesugi Akizuki glanced at Su Ze’s handsome face, which seemed to have an irresistible charm.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had been intimate with him. Since his coma, she had been too busy massaging his limbs to think about such things.

She stood up and leaned over Su Ze, staring at his face for a while.

This person was her lover, so it should be okay to be a little intimate, right?

With that thought, she bent down.

This time, it wasn’t as enjoyable as before.

Su Ze’s lips were dry and stiff.

Feeling a bit frustrated, she sat back down on the stool beside the bed, holding his hand.

After a moment, she lifted the blanket and slipped underneath it.

Looking at Su Ze's handsome and serene features, the little witch's pure face, illuminated by the moonlight like white jade, revealed a sweet smile.

The little witch adjusted Su Ze's blanket, tucking him in neatly before lying down beside him, holding him tightly as she drifted off to sleep.

She hadn’t rested for days, relying on her extraordinary spiritual stamina as a transcendent. But after so long, even she was feeling a bit drowsy. She kissed Su Ze gently, carefully rearranged his blanket once more, and then fell asleep sweetly beside him.

In the distance, on a mountain, Uesugi Akizuki's clothes fluttered in the wind. Yuan Qinghe, seeing his wife's somewhat gloomy expression, cautiously tried to smooth things over. "They're just kids... It's normal for them to experience their first love."

"What's normal about it?" Uesugi Akizuki turned and stared at the cautious Yuan Qinghe.

"Well..." Yuan Qinghe, not the most articulate, couldn't find the right words.

"And what's with this idea of romance? Taking me mountain climbing in the middle of the night?" Uesugi Akizuki redirected her anger toward Yuan Qinghe, unable to bring herself to be upset with the little one.

Looking at the barren mountaintop, littered with animal droppings, her expression darkened even further.

"Isn't climbing a mountain at night romantic?"

Yuan Qinghe seemed a bit dissatisfied that Uesugi Akizuki didn't understand his idea of romance. "We finally have some time together, climbing under the high moon, indulging in the passion of the night, breathing in the fragrance of nature... Even if that fragrance is mixed with animal droppings, isn't that still romantic?"

A crow flew overhead, leaving six black dots in the sky.

Uesugi Akizuki slapped the back of Yuan Qinghe's head. "Romantic, my foot!"

She was somewhat moved by the mention of the moon, but why did he have to bring up the animal droppings? Couldn't he just leave that part out?

"Sit down!" Uesugi Akizuki commanded, pulling him to sit on a large rock beside her, where they sat together gazing at the moon.

In the hospital room, Su Ze's brow furrowed slightly.

...

*Slap!*

Su Yu, feeling utterly defeated, slapped himself again, scratched his neck, and tried to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, a cool sensation on his neck jolted him awake!

"Why are you sleeping here?" As he removed the jacket covering his face, he saw a handsome face. "Wouldn't it be better to sleep in the ward?"

Ji Ruxin was applying cooling oil to the mosquito bites on his neck.

"I didn’t want to disturb my brother and sister-in-law," Su Yu said casually.

This was also why Uesugi Chigenki and the others didn’t enter the ward—they didn’t want to intrude on the couple's private time.

Given the hardships they had endured, sleeping on a bench in the hallway wasn’t much of a sacrifice.

Su Yu's words didn’t elicit any sign of displeasure from Ji Ruxin, who calmly continued applying cooling oil to another mosquito bite.

"How’s your brother doing now?"

"Still unconscious," Su Yu replied. He then asked, "How did you find me?"

"Telepathy," Ji Ruxin said with a smile, cupping his face in her hands.

"You installed a tracker on my phone," Su Yu said flatly, recalling how Ji Ruxin had taken his phone out a few days ago.

"Then try throwing your phone away and see if I can still find you," Ji Ruxin said with a doting, gentle smile.

"You... are terrifying," Su Yu said, feeling a chill run down his spine at Ji Ruxin's possessiveness.

"It’s almost time. You’ll soon become a transcendent," Ji Ruxin took a step back, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. "When that happens, remember to apply to Huaxia University. I’ve already paved the way for you."

Becoming a transcendent had always been Su Yu's dream, but the idea of being controlled as one was hard for him to accept.

But such was reality—you could only endure and accept the role fate had assigned you.

Once he truly became a transcendent, it didn’t necessarily mean he would always be under someone's control.

Ji Ruxin flicked the cigarette away, exhaling a puff of smoke before sitting down beside him and resting Su Yu's head on her shoulder. "Sleep. No one will disturb you, and there won’t be any more mosquitoes."

As the cigarette burned on the ground, it seemed to create a barrier, keeping all mosquitoes and insects at least three meters away.

In the hospital room, Su Ze slowly opened his eyes.

As if sensing something, Uesugi Akizuki quickly woke up! Under the soft moonlight, her delighted smile was exceptionally beautiful.

Su Ze gazed at her smiling face, his hand subtly searching for something. Finally, his hand landed on the fruit knife on the bedside table, gripping it tightly.

"Stay out of my range," Su Ze said coldly.

Uesugi Akizuki was momentarily stunned. She obediently placed her bare feet on the floor, standing by the bed, her eyes filled with confusion but still brimming with joy at seeing Su Ze awake.

Su Ze silently observed the little one for a moment, then flipped the knife, pressing the blade against his arm to conceal it.

"Kid, where are we?" Su Ze asked, noticing her compliance and lack of malice, though he remained cautious.

Uesugi Akizuki blinked, then shook her head, tears falling one after another. She was a sensitive girl.

"You don’t know? No need to cry," Su Ze said, feeling an inexplicable ache in his heart, though his words were merely casual comfort.

Suddenly, the little witch lunged at him! Su Ze, startled, instinctively swung the knife!

Her wine-red hair floated in the moonlight before falling back down.

The blade stopped less than ten centimeters from Uesugi Akizuki.

Su Ze was tightly embraced, frozen in place like a statue, unable to bring himself to stab her.

Burying her face in his chest, the little one's voice was muffled with sobs. "Little one... is the little one..."

Yes, Su Ze had always called Uesugi Akizuki "little one." Why would he call her "kid"?

From the moment Su Ze woke up, his eyes no longer held the warmth they once had, and the little one had sensed something was off...