Chapter 14: Promise

Description

[Liuli’s Containment Unit]

“Mmm… mmh…” Liuli lay on the bed, wrapped in her own blanket, her sleeping posture less than graceful.

Lin Zhiyi pulled up a chair and sat beside Liuli’s bed.

On the nightstand sat a basin and two stacks of towels, with some already-used towels inside the basin.

It looked like Lin Zhiyi had been keeping vigil for quite some time.

“Click.”

The door to the containment unit opened, and someone walked in from outside.

The aroma of grilled meat and curry drifted through the air.

“How did the test results come back?”

Lisa walked over to Lin Zhiyi, carrying two servings of roast duck leg and two servings of dual-flavor curry meatballs.

“The report from over there came out… all sample tests from that time came back normal.

The only anomaly was when Jinghua was inside the containment unit.”

Lin Zhiyi pulled up the inspection results for Lisa to see.

“Huh?

Hmm… could it be?

That thing?”

“Yeah, it should be that.”

“So it really was that after all!”

Lin Zhiyi picked up a bowl of dual-flavor curry meatballs and skewered one with a bamboo pick to eat.

White fluorescent light shone down on the two figures in white coats—one standing, one sitting.

Although the containment unit had been arranged to look like an ordinary young girl’s room, Liuli lying on the bed still brought a touch of cold stillness to the space.

Lin Zhiyi looked somewhat haggard.

After Liuli had briefly regained consciousness and spoken a few words, she had fallen unconscious again.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

The hair of the girl on the bed was a bit disheveled.

Fine beads of sweat frequently formed on her forehead, clinging to her greyish-white strands, making them sticky and tangled.

Lin Zhiyi would occasionally feel her hands and feet—ice cold—but her torso was burning hot, so she had to wipe the sweat from her body from time to time.

“So it really is that after all!”

Watching Lin Zhiyi care for Liuli so attentively, the thought in Lisa’s mind seemed to be confirmed.

Acting like a wooden block all the time, working dutifully without complaint—after a while, that kind of person would eventually want something more thrilling… more intimate…

“You like this kid, don’t you?”

“Huh?”

Lin Zhiyi turned her head and stared at Lisa in bewilderment.

“You really have fallen for this kid, haven’t you!”

“…I was talking about the potential of her ability’s usage.

What are you thinking about?”

“That doesn’t matter, right?

You can continue testing later.

First, tell me—do you really like Little White Bird!”

With her gossip senses tingling, Lisa leaned closer to Lin Zhiyi, raising both hands in a clawing gesture.

“If you don’t tell me, I’m going to tickle you☆”

“Hey… that’s about enough.

Clearly, the ability’s usage is more important, right?

If using her ability ends up making her like this every time, then I…”

Lin Zhiyi didn’t dare to finish the second half of that sentence.

“Then you what?”

“…”

“Come on, tell me!”

“I won’t say it.”

“Tell me!”

“Not saying.”

“Say it!”

“No.”

“Ugh, just tell me already—”

Lisa grabbed Lin Zhiyi’s shoulders and shook her.

“Keeping it all bottled up isn’t good for you either.

Look at you, all weighed down and hesitating—that’s not like you at all.”

“…” Lin Zhiyi stayed silent, merely trying to reach for her tablet, but with her shoulders pinned down, she couldn’t get to it.

“Hey… you still can’t get over that incident, can you?

You were the victim in that situation, and you know it.”

Lin Zhiyi froze for a moment.

Of course, she knew exactly what incident Lisa was talking about.

It was an accident that had occurred at Containment Site 37 about a year ago.

“Maybe back then… I, we, could have done better.

I want to do everything I can to make sure no one gets hurt.”

“Although I really want to comfort you… but…”

Lisa took a deep breath, her expression turning somewhat more serious as her grip on Lin Zhiyi’s shoulders tightened.

“Working here, it’s impossible to protect everyone.

No—should I say, if you’ve already decided to work here and enjoy the corresponding allowances and benefits, that means you have to bear considerable risk as well.”

“If you keep holding onto that mindset and stay so tightly wound all the time, sooner or later you’ll crack and break down.

I don’t want to see that happen to you.”

Lin Zhiyi let out a sigh.

“Is that so… maybe you’re right.”

“Alright, don’t be so heavy… so, do you actually like Little White Bird or not?”

“…”

“Keep dodging the question and you’ll be going out to eat by yourself.”

“Hey!

I’m at least the deputy director here… and aren’t we old friends?

You can’t do this to me!”

Lin Zhiyi didn’t respond, giving Lisa a look that said “you know exactly what I mean.”

“Fine, fine… then I won’t ask anymore.”

Lisa spread her hands, took her portion of curry meatballs and roast duck leg, and sat down on the sofa.

“Then I’ll play a game.

My favorite new entry in the ○○ Legend series finally got synced to the facility.

I can’t wait to see what this story is about!”

Lisa turned on the PS5 and clicked to download what looked like a classic RPG from some cherry-blossom country.

Lin Zhiyi didn’t pay her much mind.

She looked back at Liuli, reached out, and felt her forehead.

Damp again.

[Let me wipe it for her.]

Lin Zhiyi picked up a towel that had been prepared earlier, lifted Liuli’s bangs, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Mmm… mm…?”

As Lin Zhiyi was wiping Liuli’s sweat, Liuli’s long, slender eyelashes suddenly trembled.

“Mmm… huff… huff huff… mmm…”

The petite grey-white-haired girl on the bed let out sticky murmurs, seemingly lost in a dream.

Lin Zhiyi instinctively opened her tablet to check the mood index.

[It hasn’t dropped… looks like she’s not having nightmares.]

Lin Zhiyi let out a breath of relief.

This time, thanks to Liuli, she and Lisa had been able to escape safely from Poison Granny’s sudden rampage.

[When Jinghua wakes up, I need to properly thank her too.]

Lin Zhiyi had deliberately kept a certain distance from Liuli all this time—somewhat awkwardly so.

She was afraid that getting too close to Liuli would affect her ability to make sound judgments at work.

When dealing with anomalies, a single misjudgment could easily get people killed.

Although this job was extremely high-risk, Lin Zhiyi still couldn’t bear to see anyone get hurt or die because of her own mistakes.

But in reality, over these past few times, her mistakes had already caused Liuli to suffer quite a bit of injury—and yet, because she was always overthinking things, she couldn’t even offer a proper word of comfort or encouragement.

Just… pathetic.

Regardless of whether Liuli woke up or not, Lin Zhiyi had made up her mind: she would fulfill her promise and take her out for barbecue.

The location was already reserved—a designated campsite within the nature park.

If Liuli didn’t wake up… then she’d keep extending the reservation until she did, and whenever she felt like going, they’d go.

“Mmm…”

…

May 14, 2023, morning.

“Nngh… nn—”

Liuli woke up in bed, letting out a groggy murmur.

Opening her eyes, she saw the familiar ceiling… her own room.

Although it wasn’t exactly her home, the similar setup always brought a certain familiar sense of comfort.

Speaking of which…

What exactly happened just now?

And her body felt a bit heavy…

Looking down, a black-haired girl with shoulder-length hair and a small ponytail tied at the back of her head was lying across her bed, right on top of her legs.

“Zhi… Zhiyi…”

Liuli started to speak, then realized something and shut her mouth.

[Zhiyi… has she been taking care of me this whole time?]

Lin Zhiyi sat in the chair, her head tilted sideways as she rested it on the edge of Liuli’s pink bed.

On the nightstand sat used towels, Liuli’s phone, and Lin Zhiyi’s tablet.

Judging by her appearance, Lin Zhiyi seemed to be sleeping quite soundly.

“Grrrgle…”

Liuli’s stomach let out an embarrassing cry, startling her into quickly covering it with her hand to stop it from making more noise.

Along with the sound came waves of hollow, cramping hunger.

[Mmm… I’m so hungry…]

Liuli carefully shifted her body, managing to sit up without waking Lin Zhiyi, then grabbed her phone… to see about ordering some food.

She felt like she’d slept for a long time this time… and had a very, very long dream.

She dreamed of a classroom, classmates, and also a big green tree, along with a very mysterious whispering voice.

That voice… seemed somewhat familiar.

She also heard Lin Zhiyi mention something about taking her out for barbecue…

Barbecue, huh…

She remembered that her parents used to take her out for barbecue in all sorts of places too, mostly family gatherings.

She’d watch them having a great time while she huddled off to the side, quietly grilling and then eating the not-so-tasty grilled chicken wings that came out of it.

But this time was different…

“Gr…rrrgle…”

[Ugh… stop making noise, stop making noise… I’m ordering food right now…]

She moved with some difficulty, shifting her legs slightly to the side, then picked up her own pillow and placed it under Lin Zhiyi’s head so she wouldn’t wake up from her head dropping.

Because Liuli herself was actually a light sleeper, she knew that people could easily be roused by even the slightest movement.

Lin Zhiyi had worked so hard taking care of her… she’d worn herself out enough to fall asleep.

Liuli didn’t want to disturb her rest.

She managed to move her legs away.

The mattress on this bed had decent elasticity, so moving around on it didn’t make too much noise.

Hmm…

Let’s grab the phone and see what to order…

Actually, come to think of it, since getting her phone, Liuli hadn’t really had the chance to examine it carefully.

On the phone, there was an app called [Needs Request].

Opening it revealed all kinds of request categories.

Things like food, electronic items, books, containment unit modifications…

Tapping the food category, there was actually quite a lot to eat.

Not only were there various chain restaurants big and small, but there were also daily home-cooked dishes that looked like they came from small eateries.

Except, compared to typical promotional photos, these pictures all seemed to be taken from the same angle at the same place.

[Come to think of it… where does all this food in the containment facility even come from… It gets delivered fast, tastes good, and always feels freshly made.]

Liuli ordered a Shaanxi flat noodle dish—the tomato and egg noodles.

Everything in the containment facility was so amazing.

She had studied geography, so she roughly knew about something called a supply chain, transportation costs, and all that…

If this was Containment Site 37, did that mean there were 36 other containment facilities before this one?

Just how terrifyingly advanced would the transportation technology and complete logistics chain need to be to pull that off?

Liuli exited the app, swiped around a couple of times, and found a messaging app.

There was a little red notification dot in the top right corner… it looked quite inviting.

Liuli instinctively tapped it open.

Inside was a message left by Lin Zhiyi.

“If you wake up… you might not remember this, but I promised to take you out for barbecue.

A promise is a promise—I won’t forget it.

Whenever you want to go, I’ll take you.”

Liuli stared at the message, stunned for a moment.

So those things in her dream… were real after all.