r18novel Chapter 61 Power and Humanity
Chapter 61 Power and Humanity
Su Nian followed Jiang Yiyou back to that house.
The door wasn't locked, so Jiang Yiyou pushed it open and stepped aside to let Su Nian go in first.
Su Nian went inside, put her backpack at the foot of the bed, and then sat down on the edge of the bed.
The wound on my right leg started to ache again after all that commotion.
The bloodstains on the bandage had expanded, but fortunately they hadn't seeped out over a large area, indicating that the bleeding wasn't significant.
Jiang Yiyou followed her in and closed the door.
He didn't immediately treat Su Nian's wound, but stood at the door and glanced at her.
Su Nian looked up and met his gaze.
"Is there anything to eat?"
From last night until now, she has only drunk one bowl of medicinal soup and has not eaten anything.
Jiang Yiyou looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Yes. You wait."
He turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out.
The door wasn't closed tightly, leaving a crack through which a cold wind, carrying the dry scent unique to the Gobi Desert, slipped in.
Su Nian sat on the edge of the bed, without moving.
Her gaze swept across every corner of the room, her mind racing with calculations.
She hasn't looked around the house properly since she woke up.
I was so focused on walking that I didn't pay attention to my surroundings.
Now she has time.
Everything was ordinary, so ordinary that it had no distinguishing features.
There were no photos, no decorations, nothing that could indicate the owner's identity or any trace of their life.
Su Nian's gaze fell on the cabinet.
Jiang Yiyou had taken photos from inside before, which means there should be other things in the cabinet.
But Su Nian didn't look it up.
It's not that she doesn't want to, but that it's not the right time yet.
She needs to recover her physical strength and vital energy first.
Only then can you do other things.
About fifteen minutes later, the door was pushed open.
Jiang Yiyou is back.
He was carrying three wild rabbits in his hand, still dripping blood, they had just been hunted.
Su Nian glanced at the rabbits, and her stomach clenched again.
"It will be ready soon," Jiang Yiyou said.
He began to process the rabbit.
The movements were very skillful; in less than ten minutes, the three rabbits were processed, and the smell of blood was dissipated by the wind.
Jiang Yiyou built a simple fire pit outside the house with pebbles, brought out a few pieces of chopped firewood from inside the house, arranged them in a grid pattern, and lit them with flint.
The flames licked the firewood, crackling and popping, and wisps of smoke rose, only to be quickly dispersed by the wind.
He strung the rabbits on branches, placed them over the fire pit, and slowly rotated them.
It got dark.
Sunsets on the Gobi Desert are quick; as soon as the sun dips below the horizon, the light fades rapidly.
Su Nian sat by the fire pit, with her back to the house and facing the Gobi Desert.
Jiang Yiyou sat opposite him, with the fire pit and the three rabbits roasting between them.
The rabbit started to ooze oil; golden fat seeped from the meat and dripped onto the charcoal fire, filling the air with its aroma.
good smell.
Su Nian's stomach clenched again.
She resisted looking at the rabbits and instead turned her gaze to the distant Gobi Desert.
Su Nian's right hand hung down at her side, her index and middle fingers joined together.
The art of detection.
She concentrated her remaining vital energy at her fingertips and spread it outwards from herself.
The fluctuations of the detection technique spread outwards silently, in concentric circles.
ten meters.
Thirty meters.
Fifty meters.
One hundred meters.
Everything within a hundred meters of this house is within Su Nian's perception.
The undulations of the ground, the distribution of rocks, the approximate location of underground water sources, and...
biological.
She sensed it.
There were a dozen faint signs of life in the Gobi Desert surrounding the house.
It was those wild dogs, lurking behind rocks or lying motionless in crevices in the ground, as if waiting for something.
Further away, about 300 meters away, there was an even stronger life signal.
It's not a stray dog.
Larger in size, and the posture is not on all fours, but...
Stand upright on both feet.
Su Nian's fingers tightened slightly.
But the signal only appeared for a moment before disappearing.
It looked like it was covered by something, or...
It's being blocked by something.
Su Nian raised her head and looked at Jiang Yiyou opposite her.
He was looking down, intently turning the branch in his hand to ensure the rabbit was heated evenly, the firelight reflecting off his face in alternating light and shadow.
Then he raised his head.
He looked at Su Nian with a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his lips.
"No need to bother anymore."
His voice wasn't loud, and it was somewhat scattered by the wind.
"I am not from Jiugongling."
Su Nian's fingers tightened suddenly.
She leaned back slightly, raised her right hand from her side, palm facing outward, fingers spread.
A faint wisp of red primordial energy condensed in his palm.
Jiang Yiyou stared at the faint flame in her palm, remaining motionless and her expression unchanged.
It was still that faint smile.
Su Nian stared at him for three seconds.
Then she put her hand down.
The flame in his palm went out.
It's not because she didn't want to fight.
It's because she couldn't beat them.
She has less than 20% of her vital energy left, her right leg is injured, she can't use Moon Chase, and she can only use Burning Wilds once at most.
The man opposite her could become completely invisible under her detection spell, and could kill a wild dog in a second without her being able to see the trajectory of his attack.
There's no chance of winning if we fight head-on.
and……
If he really wanted to kill her, she would have been dead long ago.
Su Nian put her hands back on her knees, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.
She did not speak.
Jiang Yiyou remained silent.
The two sat quietly across the fire pit.
The rabbit was almost done roasting; its skin had turned dark brown, the fat was still sizzling, and the aroma was even stronger than before.
Jiang Yiyou took one of the rabbits off the fire, placed it on a clean broad leaf, and pushed it in front of Su Nian.
Su Nian did not take it immediately.
She looked at the skewer of roasted rabbit, then at Jiang Yiyou.
Jiang Yiyou picked up another skewer, blew on it, took a bite, and chewed slowly.
Su Nian then picked up the skewer in front of her, tore off a small piece of meat, and put it in her mouth.
hot.
But it smells very good.
The meat was very tender; although no seasoning was added, the natural aroma of the wild rabbit was enough.
Su Nian chewed a few times, swallowed, and then tore off a second piece.
This one is bigger.
Then came the third piece, which was even bigger.
She began to wolf down her food.
She hasn't eaten for almost twenty hours since last night, and with all that blood loss, her body desperately needs to replenish its energy.
No matter what image, what precautions, what vigilance, none of it matters in the face of hunger.
She ate heartily, greasy food getting on her lips and fingers, but she didn't bother to wipe it off.
Jiang Yiyou watched her eat without saying a word.
The firelight danced on his face, his expression shifting between light and shadow, making it difficult to see clearly.
Su Nian ate most of the rabbit before slowing down.
She licked the grease from the corner of her mouth, tore the remaining piece of meat into thin strips, and stuffed them into her mouth one by one, chewing slowly.
With food in my stomach, my body warmed up, and my mind started to function again.
She raised her head and looked at Jiang Yiyou.
Jiang Yiyou was looking at her.
His gaze was calm, as if he were looking at something interesting.
Su Nian swallowed the meat in her mouth and wiped her hands with her sleeve.
"You just said," she began, "that you are not from Jiugongling."
Jiang Yiyou nodded.
"Then who are you?"
Jiang Yiyou did not answer directly.
He flipped the half-eaten rabbit over and roasted it over the fire to make the skin crispier.
Then he spoke.
Instead of answering Su Nian's question, he asked another question.
"Which do you think is more important, power or humanity?"
Su Nian was stunned for a moment.
This question came too suddenly, and was completely different from the conversation she had anticipated.
She thought Jiang Yiyou would explain his identity, or at least explain why he was there.
But he was asking a philosophical question.
On the Gobi Desert, by a campfire, less than a day after the two had met.
Su Nian did not answer.
It wasn't that she didn't want to answer, but that she wasn't sure of the answer.
Strength and humanity.
If she answers that power is more important, then why did she become a Xia Lan?
The power of the Xia Lan is meant to protect people. If power is more important than people, then what is the difference between the Xia Lan and those Zero who pursue power?
If she answers that humanity is more important, then why does she need to cultivate herself?
Humanity without power is nothing in the face of zero.
Su Nian fell silent.
Jiang Yiyou didn't seem to care about her silence.
He asked another question.
"The greatest strength of the Xia Lan is their unity, their belief, and their commitment to protection, right?"
Su Nian looked at him.
"But wouldn't it be better to use our comrades' lives to solve the immediate problem?"
Su Nian's fingers tightened suddenly.
She stared into Jiang Yiyou's eyes, those quiet, peaceful eyes.
Su Nian's voice was a little tense.
"The most important thing about the Xia Lan is that they are unwilling to give up on each other."
Jiang Yiyou smiled.
The smile was very faint, so faint that it was almost impossible to tell that it was a smile.
But Su Nian saw it.
There was no warmth in that smile.
"What if you're unwilling to give up on each other, and the trouble becomes so big that it can't be resolved?"
He paused.
"You still have to sacrifice your comrades."
"What's the difference?"
His gaze fell on Su Nian's face.
"It's simply a matter of one being proactive and the other being reactive."
Su Nian opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but swallowed the words back.
Because she genuinely didn't know how to refute it.
He's right.
If the problem is too big to be solved, sacrifice is inevitable.
Whether you sacrifice yourself willingly or unwillingly, the result is the same.
People are dead.
My companion is dead.
The only difference is that when you make a voluntary sacrifice, you can tell yourself "it's for the greater good" and "there's no other way."
When you are forced to sacrifice yourself, you don't even have that kind of self-comfort.
Su Nian looked into Jiang Yiyou's eyes.
There was no emotion in those eyes.
It wasn't indifference, it wasn't coldness, it wasn't any emotion she could recognize.
Just ...
No.
It's empty.
A thought suddenly flashed through Su Nian's mind.
Seven Souls.
Legend has it that the Seven Souls possess wisdom and power far exceeding that of ordinary beings, and can transform into human form, hide among humans, and manipulate everything.
But the Seven Souls are at most at the Taiji level, or at a slightly smaller level, the Yin and Yang.
Although her detection skills are now greatly diminished due to insufficient vital energy, they shouldn't be completely ineffective.
Moreover, the seven souls are not so similar to humans.
The seven souls recorded in ancient books, even when they take human form, will still have some abnormal characteristics that cannot be concealed.
For example, skin color, pupil shape, abnormal body temperature, or the special nature of the fluctuation of vital energy.
But the Jiang Yiyou in front of me looked so much like the same person, from appearance to aura.
That's so true.
So real it's unreal.
Su Nian couldn't understand it.
"Eat."
Jiang Yiyou's voice pulled her back from her thoughts.
He handed me another skewer of roasted rabbit, one end of which was wrapped in clean leaves for easy handling.
"It won't taste good when it's cold."
Su Nian looked at the string of rabbits.
The fat glistened in the firelight, the skin was crispy, and the aroma of the meat was irresistible.
Her stomach rumbled again.
Su Nian reached out and took the string of rabbits.
Then she lowered her head and continued eating.
Eat it in big mouthfuls.
She didn't notice Jiang Yiyou's expression.
The firelight danced on his face, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, forming a smile that was neither a smile nor a frown.