Chapter 31: Xin

But Xin completely ignored what he said.

She paced over to the head of the bed, lightly patted the bed board, and said in a flat tone, “Because I originally lay right here. When I was undergoing the modification and nearly died, I was here too.”

With that, Xin grabbed the pillow from the bed.

She held it out to the organization member and pointed at the seam of the pillow.

“Here, there’s still some of my fur on it.”

These words left the organization member speechless.

He had originally thought Xin was here to cause trouble, but it turned out he had taken her bed.

He watched as Xin unceremoniously lay down on the bed, even closing her eyes and ignoring him completely.

The organization member’s face flushed bright red.

He retorted in an embarrassed and angry tone, “Well… you still shouldn’t be so rude! We’ve been living here for a long time! You…”

“Enough!”

Naya walked over from the side.

He glared at the organization member and said in a reproachful tone, “Isn’t it just a place to rest? What’s there to argue about? Go squeeze in somewhere else and stay away from Miss Xin.”

“Y-yes…” The organization member lowered his head, not daring to disobey the leader’s order.

He shot Xin a hateful glare before turning and leaving.

Xin didn’t really care about how these people treated her, because she didn’t plan to stay here long.

After lying down for a bit, she sat up and jumped off the bed. She looked around the layout as she walked toward the side door of the lab, muttering, “I’m a little hungry, huh. Do you have anything to eat here?”

Naya had intended to find Xin something to eat, but before he could call out, she had already disappeared.

He shook his head helplessly and let her go.

Naya walked over to Noah, who was resting, and said in a gentle tone, “Dear, are you hungry? Want something to eat?”

With that, Naya waved for the members to bring over a piece of bread and a carton of milk.

This was one of the few normal foods left in the research institute.

He handed the food to Noah.

“Come on, dear. Replenish your strength first.”

“Oh, thanks…” Noah took it, but didn’t intend to eat.

She reached out and touched her stomach, then said hesitantly, “Hmm… I don’t seem to feel hungry…”

Naya was puzzled by her state.

“Huh? Is that so? But you’ve been fighting for so long. How can you not be hungry?”

“Really, I don’t feel hungry. Just very thirsty.”

Noah was clearly more interested in the carton of milk than the bread.

She tore open the straw, inserted it, and took a small sip.

The rich, creamy taste of the milk satisfied her greatly.

“Delicious! What is this?”

“Hmm? It’s milk.”

Naya watched Noah take small sips of the milk, finding it a bit amusing.

He said in a nostalgic tone, “Don’t you remember, dear? You used to love this stuff.”

Noah savored the taste of the milk, then nodded lightly.

“Is that so… I really do like it…”

Naya looked at Noah with gentle eyes and sat down beside her.

He leaned in slightly, trying to get closer to her, but Noah flinched like a startled cat and immediately stood up.

Seeing Naya’s stunned expression, Noah sighed and said, “I… I don’t mean anything else… I’m just not used to it yet…”

Naya gave a bitter smile and lowered his head.

“I understand, dear… You don’t need to say anything else… I understand…”

Noah couldn’t bear to look at Naya’s disappointed expression.

She turned around and changed the subject.

“It… feels a bit stuffy in here… I’m going over there to get some air… See you later…”

With that, Noah hurriedly walked into the side door of the lab, leaving Naya standing there, lost in thought.

On the other side of the door was a row of lab tables cluttered with various dissection tools.

As soon as Noah entered, she saw Xin rummaging through cabinets, looking for something.

She was just about to go over and greet her when Xin noticed her first.

Xin had a piece of animal tail dangling from her mouth and was crunching on something.

Seeing it was Noah, she immediately stood up.

Still holding the tail like a toothpick, she walked over and said, “Yo, beautiful, you here to forage too?”

“Uh…” Noah stared at the tail in Xin’s mouth. “What are you eating?”

“Lab mice.”

Xin pointed at the cage behind her.

“I remember this is the dissection lab. They used to keep a lot of mice. Didn’t expect a few were still hidden away. Lucky me.”

“Aren’t you disgusted eating mice?”

Noah frowned.

She felt she might have a bit of a cleanliness complex and couldn’t accept eating mice.

But Xin looked at Noah with a strange expression.

“What kind of talk is that? I’m a cat. Isn’t it normal for a cat to eat mice?”

“Well, I guess so.”

Noah gave a belated laugh.

She leaned against the lab wall next to Xin and asked, “Who knows if these mice have been modified or carry diseases. Aren’t you afraid of getting sick from eating them?”

“Pfft, when you’re starving, you don’t care about that.”

Xin crunched down the last of the mouse tail in her mouth, then pulled another one from her pocket and stuffed it in. She chewed and sneered, “What kind of young lady are you? Living so cautiously.”

Noah didn’t answer.

Instead, she looked at the bread in her hand and held it out.

“Those few mice won’t fill you up, right? Here, take this.”

“Oh! Good stuff? Did your husband give it to you?”

Xin took it without hesitation, tore open the wrapper, and took a savage bite.

She chewed loudly and asked through her mouthful, “You give it to me, then what you eat…”

“I’m not hungry,” Noah replied.

“Hmm… really?”

Xin swallowed the bread first, then looked at Noah in surprise.

“You ran such a big loop and you’re not hungry?”

“No, ever since I woke up, I’ve only felt thirsty, no urge to eat…”

Noah thought for a moment.

“Anyway, I really don’t feel hungry. I just want to drink water.”

“Lucky.”

Xin chewed the bread.

It was unsweetened and had probably been sitting around for a while.

Besides being bitter, it also had a sour taste.

Xin gradually fell silent, her chewing slowing down.

She suddenly felt her mood was more bitter than the bread.

She took another small bite and muttered to herself in a melancholic tone, “I miss my parents…”

Noah looked at Xin in surprise and blurted out, “You still have parents?”

Xin stopped chewing immediately.

She slowly turned her head to look at Noah and said in a reproachful tone, “Is that what people say…”

“Uh… sorry, sorry…”

Noah quickly apologized with an awkward smile.

She had assumed the Truth Organization had wiped out Xin’s clan when they captured her, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Damn Truth Organization!”

Xin bit viciously into the bread as if she were biting into the flesh of the organization’s leader.

Her tone was filled with undisguised hatred.

“If I ever escape this research institute, I’ll use this Divine Power of the Fighting Spirit to take revenge on them! To the death!”

“Truth Organization…” Noah repeated the name again.

She frowned at Xin.

“What exactly did they do to you?”