Chapter 41

Hearing Chen Mu's question, He Ying was obviously a bit uncomfortable, hesitated a moment and said: "I originally wanted to take it right then, but you woke up, didn't you?"

"You can even hear that?"

Chen Mu suddenly realized, the other party had keen hearing, able to detect even the slightest movement; after he woke up and moved so lightly, they still noticed him.

After saying that, he gave a hint of appreciative glance toward the boy named Sun Yuan.

The meaning in his gaze was clear: "Little bro, you can do it!"

Sun Yuan immediately put on a fawning face: "Hehe, Brother Chen's movements were very light; I actually didn't hear anything, but the original three breathing sounds became two, so I guessed someone had woken up."

So that's how it is.

At that time, Chen Mu sensed danger and naturally held his breath and focused, but as a result he ended up exposing himself.

He Ying then said: "So we then used the situation, taking advantage of Sun Yuan's keen hearing to follow you all along; on one hand we wanted to find a chance to strike again, and on the other hand we planned to simply locate your camp, so that if we ever needed help, we could come look for……assistance."

So-called seeking help naturally meant coming to steal things.

Chen Mu thought to himself, "How close! I almost became their long-term meal ticket."

"And you? How did you know we were following you?" He Ying asked again, voicing her doubt.

Chen Mu said: "Actually I don't know."

"Ah?"

"When I saw you suddenly leave, I thought of two possibilities: first, you had a change of heart or were just passing by with no real intention; second, you planned to go back and call for help."

"That makes sense, so you left in a hurry overnight." He Ying nodded.

"Right, but halfway I suddenly thought of a third possibility."

"What?"

"Just as you just said, perhaps you wanted to use this opportunity to find our base and then wipe us out in one go." Chen Mu slipped his weapon back around his waist and continued: "Having thought of that, I naturally guessed further: perhaps you already realized you were discovered, leading to another hypothesis—that one of you has extremely keen senses."

"You actually guessed right."

"But I didn't know exactly what ability it was at the time, so I took the opportunity of going to the toilet, deliberately made a little noise to focus your ability users, and from my observation, no ability can be maintained indefinitely; after your false alarm, there would definitely be a brief period of laxity. Taking advantage of that, I and Wei Dalei used eye contact to communicate and set up an ambush."

"Such a thing could never be foolproof; I didn't know if it would work then, and I couldn't even be sure whether someone was really following us, but I had to try my best to feel at ease."

Hearing that, He Ying couldn't help but sigh: "We lost fair and square."

Meanwhile, Sun Yuan broke into applause, his face full of admiration.

Looking at his excited, agitated appearance, someone who didn't know might think he was part of Chen Mu's group.

One couldn't tell whether his personality was naturally like that or he'd been stimulated by something.

"You just said, you still have companions?" After Chen Mu frankly explained everything, he also asked about their situation.

"We have five people total, but the other three have no abilities, so it's just me and Sun Yuan going out to find food. At first it was okay; near the cafeteria we could always find some food scraps on the ground, but after a few days those things got moldy and spoiled, so I thought about going into the cafeteria to look. Actually we originally weren't just five people, but we ran into students from Yi Zhong; that bunch were basically lunatics, attacking without distinction, and after we lost two people we never dared to go into the cafeteria again."

He Ying explained while sighing.

Chen Mu really wanted to ask clearly about their past experiences and the exact situation of those Yi Zhong folks, but realizing the current circumstances, it was obviously not a good time to chat.

"What do you plan to do next?"

"I don't know either; actually we initially just haphazardly gathered together, and although we're down to five now, we can't abandon them."

Chen Mu thought for a moment and said: "How about this: you two come back with us first, tell us what you know about the school situation, and in exchange we can provide you with some food."

"Okay."

He Ying certainly had no objection, but still had a doubtful question: "Aren't you afraid of exposing your hideout, so that I'll come steal things later?"

Chen Mu laughed: "To be honest, if you caught us off guard, you might actually succeed, but now you probably won't get another chance."

"You're that confident?" He Ying rarely showed a smile.

Chen Mu neither affirmed nor denied.

But he also felt inspired, planning to make a container for storing food and resources when he gets back.

Forge a large iron box that even Wei Dalei can't move, then seal it.

Let you little thief steal!

"Never mind me, aren't you afraid?"

"What?" He Ying blinked.

"Who knows, after we get back we might pump you for information and then just kill you to silence you."

"You……won't?" He Ying was obviously taken aback, asking uncertainly, his usually confident calm face now showing a hint of panic.

Zhao Xiao Yan chuckled: "What are you thinking? Chen Mu is a good person."

Chen Mu spread his hands, thinking to himself, "Good thing I didn't say that to Wei Dalei."

……

After all that, the sky was already lightening; Chen Mu simply stopped resting and intended to head home in one go.

The trio's party expanded to five.

More labor power.

He Ying helped Chen Mu push the flatbed cart.

To be honest, even though we discarded some flour, this is still not an easy task.

The wheels are made fine enough, but the problem is the road is extremely bumpy; we need to avoid big potholes ahead of time to keep the wheels from getting stuck, and even so, pushing it is still strenuous.

Wei Dalei pushes the cart, often just dragging it, which has caused severe damage to the vehicle, requiring Chen Mu to constantly repair it.

"Your strength isn't bad either; could you tell me exactly what your ability is?"

Chen Mu originally thought He Ying just had good body technique, but since she helped push the cart he's clearly felt much less strain, indicating she also has strength.

"I'm not sure if it's accurate, but broadly speaking, my ability is to reduce my own weight." He Ying did not hide it.

"Reduce weight?" Chen Mu pondered a moment, then asked: "What about strength?"

"It stays the same." He Ying answered.

"So you'll seem more agile, and your jumping will be better too." Chen Mu nodded, indicating he understood.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure how to describe the feeling of the body becoming lighter, it's like..." He Ying thought for a long time, but couldn't find any words to describe it.

And Chen Mu then interjected: "It's like walking on the moon?"