Chapter 70: An Invitation from the Situ Family

Chapter Seventy

"Sorry, my hand slipped!" As all eyes turned toward him, Mo Chen said this expressionlessly.

Only then did Qu Wenjuan recall the relationship between Mo Chen and Mei. She had been holding onto his childhood friend while discussing the charms of other men—wasn’t that a bit out of line?

Realizing this belatedly, Qu Wenjuan shrank her neck and turned away, no longer daring to meet Mo Chen’s gaze.

Mei glanced at Mo Chen, who seemed a little displeased, but couldn’t fathom the reason. Thinking it over, she realized she hadn’t said anything inappropriate, so it probably had nothing to do with her.

With this in mind, Mei asked nothing further and curled back up on the sofa to focus on her book.

"Juan-jie, is this man naked?" Mei flipped out a poster and asked with a frown.

Qu Wenjuan, still anxious, nearly choked on her own saliva at this question, and hurried to check whether Mei had seen something she shouldn’t have.

On the poster, a man sat entirely unclothed on a plush rug, but a large vase in front of him shielded his body completely from view.

Qu Wenjuan breathed a sigh of relief—at least Mei hadn’t seen anything inappropriate.

But just as she relaxed, Mei spoke again, puzzled: "If he’s not wearing any clothes, why bother covering up? Does he want people to look at him or not?"

Her words successfully made everyone in the room cough and choke!

Hearing the sudden coughing, Mei looked even more confused, wondering why they were reacting this way. Had she said something she shouldn’t have again?

Just as Qu Wenjuan was at a loss as to how to proceed, Ye Jingxuan entered from outside, breaking the awkward silence.

Ye Jingxuan paused when he saw the floor strewn with books, then quickly noticed the strange atmosphere in the room. Looking at Mei, he found her expression blank, clearly not understanding what had happened.

Suppressing his curiosity, he stepped around the books and sat beside Mei. "What are you reading?"

"A magazine!" Mei replied, handing him the magazine without a second thought.

Qu Wenjuan was too late to stop her and could only watch helplessly as Mei passed the book to Ye Jingxuan. She opened her mouth, then shut it again, shrinking into the sofa like an ostrich.

Ye Jingxuan glanced at the contents and surmised that Mei must have said something astonishing again, leaving everyone at a loss.

"Meier, do you think he’s handsome?" Ye Jingxuan asked directly.

"No! He isn’t even as good-looking as Brother Jie, and he’s nothing compared to you all! I just don’t get why he’s stripped naked, yet still finds something to cover himself. Does he want people to see or not?" Mei’s tone was tinged with disdain as she looked to Ye Jingxuan, hoping he could explain.

"Because he’s insecure," Ye Jingxuan replied without hesitation.

Qu Wenjuan’s eyes widened in disbelief at his straight-faced response. The others exchanged odd glances at Ye Jingxuan, too.

Only Mei seemed to suddenly understand, nodding in perfect acceptance of his explanation.

"I see, so that’s the reason! Really, if he’s not confident, why bother posing at all?" Mei muttered, then set the issue aside and continued flipping through the magazine.

The others were all left speechless by how easily she accepted such an explanation. Lin Shaojie and Qu Wenjuan both thought to themselves that Mei was far too naïve to believe something like that.

Meanwhile, Mo Chen and An Ziyou seemed deep in thought—so that’s all it takes?

"Do you have any beef or lamb? For hotpot, those are the best. Also, it’s good to have some vegetables, or it’ll get too greasy. What do you think?" Noticing Mei still engrossed in that magazine full of half-naked and naked men, Ye Jingxuan subtly shifted her attention elsewhere.

At the mention of food, Mei immediately tossed the magazine aside, and everyone in the room was once again reminded that in her heart, good food always outweighed good-looking men. After considering for a moment, Mei actually pulled a live creature resembling a sheep from her spatial storage!

"Ah Ye, is this one okay?" Mei asked uncertainly.

The animals in her space were all brought from her original world, mostly for culinary purposes, so Mei felt no qualms about presenting a Redhorn Rockbeast for eating.

The Redhorn Rockbeast, known for its irascible temperament, immediately began to rampage about until Ye Jingxuan swiftly subdued it.

"Meier, is this a sheep?" Lin Shaojie tossed aside his book and hurried over, curious.

"Doesn’t it look like one?" Mei blinked, countering.

She had done her best to find an animal in her space that resembled this world’s sheep; whether it tasted the same, she had no idea.

"It really does, though... Where’d you find such a mutant? I didn’t see any mutant sheep at the farm last time," Lin Shaojie asked, assuming the Redhorn Rockbeast was some kind of mutated sheep.

Only then did Mei realize she’d brought out another thing that didn’t belong in this world.

"It’s always been in my space," she answered vaguely, unable to explain.

Lin Shaojie, hearing this, assumed the Redhorn Rockbeast was a built-in feature of her spatial storage and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Meier, your space is truly incredible!"

Mei only smiled and stayed silent—her space had been crafted by Savitlan, who had gifted one to each of them, so she never thought much of it. Though she truly couldn’t make one herself!

With this distraction, Mei lost interest in the magazine.

Seizing the opportunity, Qu Wenjuan quickly gathered up all the books and tucked them away in her own space, lest Mei see them again and ask more awkward questions. She was no Ye Jingxuan—she couldn’t handle that!

Later that night, snow began to fall thickly from the sky.

Because the base was well provisioned and with Ye Jingxuan’s subtle prompting, Ye Jingnan ordered the distribution of winter supplies early in the morning, allowing people to exchange for them. Even ordinary people could receive a cotton coat or quilt on credit, ensuring no one would freeze to death from the sudden drop in temperature.

Ye Jingnan’s actions quickly won the Ye family much public gratitude; many, upon receiving supplies, were deeply thankful.

By the time the other three families heard and tried to intervene, it was too late. All they could do was participate and try to make it clear the supplies belonged to the base, not just the Ye family.

While this was technically true, Ye Jingnan had been the first to step forward and address the crisis, so in everyone’s mind, the supplies were associated with the Ye family. Even after learning it wasn’t just their contribution, people remained more grateful to them. After all, it was Ye Jingnan who first thought of the people’s plight and provided a solution.

The other three families struggled to catch up, but their efforts were largely in vain—they could only watch as the Ye family won hearts with the base’s resources.

Naturally, they wouldn’t just sit idly by. Liu and Wang, having more abundant resources, teamed up to provide daily free hot porridge or dumpling soup to the people in the base. However, since their food reserves were limited, the daily portions were rationed.

This inevitably left many without food, so while the Liu and Wang families won some people over, they also caused greater dissatisfaction among those left out.

The age-old adage proved true: people resent inequality more than scarcity.

Half a month later, the snow finally stopped. After being drilled for two weeks by Mei, Ye Jingxuan, and Mo Chen, the Ye family’s ability users were at last dispatched to complete zombie-killing missions.

Because their awakening had been kept secret from the other three families, Ye Jingxuan didn’t send everyone out at once; instead, he split them into three groups, rotating zombie-hunting shifts outside the base.

Still, compared to before—when the Ye family only sent out a few people heavily armed—now they deployed many lightly equipped, prompting speculation that something was wrong within the Ye family.

But all of this had nothing to do with Mei and the others. The six of them discussed taking some time in the next few days to complete their third mission. They’d been idle for half a month; if they didn’t get moving soon, they’d grow rusty.

Yet before they could set off, Ye Jingnan returned with news: the head of the Situ family had invited them to visit.

At this, everyone immediately focused on Mo Chen.

No one had forgotten how, last time at the mission hall, Situ Qing had hounded Mo Chen. So upon hearing the Situ family’s invitation, everyone’s first thought was that they actually only wanted Mo Chen there—the rest of them were just a cover.

Mo Chen’s face darkened under their collective gaze.

"What’s with those looks? What does the Situ family’s invitation have to do with me?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Outwardly, nothing, but who could say for sure?

The others shared a tacit understanding, though no one voiced it. Even Mei, after Mo Chen’s stern reprimand that day, now knew better than to say some things aloud—lest she bring trouble upon herself.

"Who else did the Situ family invite?" Mo Chen, seeing everyone avoid his gaze, turned to Ye Jingnan.

Ye Jingnan, amused by everyone’s reactions, didn’t answer directly; instead, his eyes gleamed with gossipy curiosity. "I heard the Situ family’s spoiled princess fancies you—confessing to you in public no less. Looks like it’s true, isn’t it?"

Mo Chen’s face grew even darker. He flexed his fingers and said through clenched teeth, "It’s not good for an ability user to neglect training. Why don’t I accompany you for some, shall we say, intensive practice today?"

"Heh, that’s probably not a great idea. I just made it to level three, you know—bullying the weak is so undignified!" Ye Jingnan protested, but to no avail. He was dragged off to the training grounds by Mo Chen.

Everyone watched the pair depart with their eyes, not one voicing a word of sympathy for Ye Jingnan. Not that Mo Chen would really hurt him anyway—Ye Jingnan was no pushover, reputed to be second only to Ye Jingxuan in hand-to-hand combat within the Ye family.

Having someone like that for Mo Chen to vent his frustrations on was a relief to the others—it meant they wouldn’t be the target of his ire.

Such were their irresponsible thoughts.

"The Situ family must be getting anxious," Mei said, hugging a pillow and propping up her head as she spoke to Ye Jingxuan.

During the blizzard, the Wang and Liu families had clearly shown signs of forming an alliance. Meanwhile, the Ye family had benefited greatly from the snowstorm, leaving the Situ family—despite their support from mutants—largely hollow in terms of real power. Mutants could never compare to ability users, and the Situ family’s true advantage lay in their seven awakened users.

But with Ye Jingxuan’s return and the Liu and Wang families joining forces, even that advantage was gone. If they didn’t act soon, the Situ family’s position would become dangerously precarious.