Chapter 119: The Measure

Chapter 119

"I truly admire your ability to get sidetracked! You can have your attention completely diverted by such trivial matters, and you even take them quite seriously. Have you become so idle? Instead of wasting your time pondering whether you are living inside a book, you would be better off going out to hack a couple of zombies. At least that would prove the value of your existence!" Cyriel looked at the group, a mocking sneer tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Uh, is the value of our existence really just to kill a couple of zombies?" Lin Shaojie muttered, his tone showing some dissatisfaction.

"Otherwise? What other value do you think you have? Saving the world?" Cyriel sneered.

His words left Lin Shaojie speechless.

It was true. He lacked the strength to save the world, the talent to develop a cure for the zombie virus, and as for fighting or running errands, there were plenty of others who could do that. When he tallied it all up, killing zombies was all he really had left to do.

Deeply struck by this realization, Lin Shaojie retreated to a corner to "grow mushrooms" in misery.

"Cyriel, you can't say it like that! Think about it—if someone used our names and our world's background to write a book, but with experiences completely different from our own, wouldn't that be quite interesting?" Mei ignored Cyriel’s sarcasm, nibbling on the tip of her chopsticks as she imagined how it would feel if she were a character in a novel.

She thought that if such a thing were true, she would probably find it quite novel.

She would read the book like someone else's story, toss it aside when finished, and then continue doing what she was supposed to do.

After all, it would just be a depiction of another possibility for her life. Knowing it was enough; since she had already chosen a vastly different path, she would walk it earnestly and diligently.

"Are you that idle? With the time you spend thinking about such boring things, you would be better off returning to your room and starting to look for the whereabouts of the Source of Darkness! Don't let your brain start degenerating toward that of a lower animal!" Cyriel knew his sarcasm had no effect on Mei, so he simply found her something to do.

"Cyriel, your world is truly too dull. Proper entertainment helps to relax the mood," Mei complained.

"Entertainment? I see nothing entertaining about imagining things that couldn't possibly happen. Furthermore, I don't believe that such a foolish method could ever relax my mood. Besides, I don't think you need to relax at all! You’ve been quite relaxed enough since arriving in this world. If you relax any further, are you sure you’ll still have your little life?" Cyriel said bluntly.

Mei stopped speaking at once, wearing a pitiful expression.

She had truly reflected on herself. Could he please stop bringing that up?

Ye Jingxuan could not bear to see her like this, so he changed the subject: "Mei'er, are you full? Would you like to eat a little more?"

At the mention of food, Mei’s attention was easily diverted. Feeling her stomach, which was already full, she looked at the remaining dishes and shook her head with regret.

"I can't eat any more!"

"Since you're full, go and rest. Your body has just recovered; you need plenty of rest. Only after you are well-rested can you continue to look for other fragments, right?" Ye Jingxuan brushed her hair, his fingertips accidentally touching the tip of her ear.

"Ah!" Mei cried out, quickly turning her head to dodge his hand while covering her ear, a faint blush spreading across her jade-like face.

"Ah Ye, you cannot touch my ears!" Before Ye Jingxuan could ask, Mei had already spoken.

"Why can't I touch them?" Mo Chen asked from the other side, looking puzzled. In truth, he had wanted to touch her ears earlier but hadn't gotten the chance.

Although her ears were different from a human's, their pointed, delicate shape looked truly adorable.

"Because I haven't reached adulthood yet, so I cannot accept any courtship. If Ah Ye wants to mate, he will have to find someone else! Not just him, all of you—you must not touch my ears, understand?" Mei said with great seriousness.

Mo Chen paused before asking with some difficulty, "Are you saying that touching your ears signifies... signifies courtship?"

"Yes! For an elf, the ears are extremely sensitive and fragile. Therefore, unless we are mating, we would never let anyone touch our ears!"

Only then did Mei remember that she seemed to be the only elf in this world, so she provided further explanation.

Upon hearing this, Ye Jingxuan seemed to think of something; his entire body stiffened. With a blank expression, he apologized to Mei and shifted his gaze elsewhere.

"Enough, didn't I tell you to go rest? Why aren't you going?" Cyriel interrupted Mei, who looked as if she had more to say, and began to shoo her away with a cold face.

Mei tilted her head and looked at Cyriel, sensing that he seemed to have something to say to the others that he didn't want her to know. She said nothing more, greeted the others, and went back to her room to rest.

"What do you want to tell us? Speak now," Mo Chen said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and an unhappy expression, once Mei had left.

Cyriel acted as if he did not see the hidden anger in the other man’s eyes and said coldly, "I don't care what thoughts you harbor toward Mei, you are not allowed to joke with her about anything related to romance!"

"How funny, why shouldn't we? What right do you have to manage her affairs?" Mo Chen looked at him coldly; the long-suppressed anger in his heart could no longer be contained.

"By the right that I understand her situation better than any of you!"

"So what? You understand her so well, yet she still feels nothing for you beyond friendship, does she? You are neither her kin nor her partner; what right do you have to question her feelings?" Mo Chen retorted sharply.

"You are wrong. It’s not that she hasn't developed feelings for me, but that she will not develop feelings beyond friendship for anyone!" Cyriel did not use a sarcastic tone this time, but stated it with great calmness.

"What do you mean by that?" Mo Chen frowned.

The others also looked at Cyriel in confusion. Although Mei seemed to have low emotional intelligence and did not understand what love was, that did not mean she could not learn, right?

"Is it still not clear enough? I mean that she cannot develop the emotion of love for anyone. If you trouble her with such emotions, it will only stimulate her and cause her to enter adulthood prematurely. Do you understand now?"

"You mean that before she reaches adulthood, it is impossible for her to understand what love is, and once she begins to understand, it means she is entering adulthood, right?" Ye Jingxuan asked very seriously.

"I thought I had already made myself very clear!"

"But isn't that a good thing? Doesn't Mei'er always want to reach adulthood?" Lin Shaojie, who was nearby, bravely asked a very idiotic question.

Before Cyriel could offer a sarcastic remark, Qu Wenyuan rolled her eyes at him and scolded, "Are you an idiot? Have you forgotten what Mei'er said? To reach adulthood, she must hold an initiation ceremony and find three sources of energy that match her attributes. Now that we have only found two fragments, how do you expect her to hold the ceremony?"

Only then did Lin Shaojie realize what an idiotic question he had asked. He retreated to the corner again, not daring to show his face, fearing he would be despised and attacked by the others.

They could all imagine what it would mean for Mei to enter adulthood before finding the three energy sources, without Cyriel needing to explain further.

Mo Chen did not continue to bicker with Cyriel; he believed the man would not joke about such a matter, and he would not gamble with Mei's safety just to vent his frustration.

Cyriel stood up, looked at the people present, and sneered, "I don't care about the intimate gestures you make toward her normally, because she doesn't take them to heart. But if you cannot control yourselves when it comes to crossing that line, I don't mind lending you a hand."

Having said this, he ignored the reactions of the others and turned to leave.

Cyriel arrived outside Mei's room and pushed the door open directly. Her habits had not changed; in places she deemed safe, she never locked her door.

"Cyriel, you're here!" Hearing the door open, Mei moved her gaze from the computer screen to the doorway.

Seeing it was Cyriel, she greeted him and then shifted her focus back to the screen, her hands typing rapidly on the keyboard.

"Hmm," Cyriel responded, then walked behind her to watch her operate the computer.

"I haven't asked you yet, are you adapting well to this world?" Cyriel suddenly asked.

"It's okay! At first, it was quite novel, since this world is very different from our own. But after seeing more of it, I grew a bit bored. Luckily, I made a few friends. Although they aren't very powerful, their potential is decent, and they are pretty good people! With them around, I don't miss you, Xiao Sa, or Luo Luo quite as much!" Mei said, multitasking as she chatted with Cyriel while continuing to search for the information she needed in the government's secret database.

"Oh? Are you sure they aren't just relying on you? Relying on your strength to provide them with shelter?" Cyriel said with a skeptical tone.

"Of course I'm sure! Although they aren't powerful enough, they have been working hard to become stronger. If they only wanted protection from me, they should have abandoned me at Longsheng to gain benefits when I fell ill, or left me to fend for myself, instead of desperately trying to find ways to help me recover. Ah Ye, Ah Chen, and the others—they took great care of me when I was sick. It was very hard for them!" Mei stopped her work and retorted seriously.

"Oh, is that so? Anything else? What else have they done?" Cyriel did not comment on her words, but instead guided her to tell him more about the members of the Reversal Squad.

Mei naturally followed his lead and began to recount all the things she had experienced with them, allowing Cyriel to gain a more comprehensive understanding of those individuals.

Mo Chen and the others had no heart to continue eating. After simply cleaning up the table, they each returned to their rooms.

Yet, there were still many people tossing and turning, unable to sleep that night.