Chapter 69 - 68: But I Just Don’t Like It

Chapter 69: Chapter 68: But I Just Don’t Like It

Huai Yu stared steadily at Zhou Qian. The long, thin scab on his face was strikingly conspicuous.

At some point, her tears had stopped falling. Yet, the intense light in her eyes made even Zhou Qian feel as though he had nowhere to hide.

After a moment, Huai Yu asked softly, "Where are the fragments?"

"What?" Zhou Qian was taken aback.

"I mean the fragments of the Ice Sculpture that Lin Xuefeng gave *me*," she asked, heavily emphasizing the word.

Zhou Qian’s cheeks burned. It was hard to describe his profound embarrassment in that moment, and a faint flicker of resentment toward General Wu began to rise within him.

Regardless, he still had to tell the truth. "Once the power within the ice fragments was released, they could no longer maintain their original form. They most likely... melted."

Huai Yu turned to look at her ruined home. Since her water bucket had also shattered, she hadn’t paid any attention to the puddles and water stains scattered across the room. Looking at it now, all her painstaking efforts to build this little house felt like a fleeting dream.

And the person who had shared secrets with her on that rainy night, who had taught her about this world and how to stay safe from its dangers, had vanished without a single trace—like an illusion dissolving into thin air.

She stood up, tilting her head to wipe her miserable tears against her shoulder. Taking a long, deep breath, she asked, "Captain Zhou, did you all come here to help me rebuild my house?"

Zhou Qian’s brow furrowed tightly, but he soon let out a breath of relief. "Yes! We’re going to build you a much better one. I can provide anything you might need. All the expenses will be billed to General Wu."

"I hate him," she said, looking up at Zhou Qian. A deep, dark revulsion surged in her pitch-black eyes. "I hate him. I never want to hear his name again."

She lowered her head again and murmured, "I’m sorry, Captain Zhou. I know this isn’t your fault. Thank you for helping me rebuild."

Zhou Qian stood there in silence, letting out a heavy sigh.

After a brief moment of quiet, he raised a hand and offered, "You can stay in the women’s barracks for the night. We’ve split our men into two teams; we’ll build you a much better brick-and-tile cabin."

Huai Yu shook her head. "It’s not that cold out anymore, so the treehouse is perfectly livable. Besides, I just bought some chicks today. I need to stay home with them tonight."

Zhou Qian was left speechless.

She had actually managed to buy chicks. Such livestock was exclusively controlled by the Animal Husbandry Institute. Even if *he* had wanted to buy them, it would have taken considerable effort and cost a hefty sum.

He wanted to praise Huai Yu for her resourcefulness, but looking at the shattered, dilapidated ruins of her home, the words died in his throat.

In the end, he simply waved his hand. "Don’t worry. We have surveyors who will find a much more suitable plot of land for you nearby."

The setting sun gradually dipped below the mountains, leaving behind vast sweeps of golden-orange clouds. Above the distant peaks, the sky blurred into a hazy transition of blues and purples.

Inside the treehouse, Huai Yu quietly set up straw mats to create a warm enclosure for her chicks. Her gaze suddenly fell on the single Rose resting safely in its vase.

Of the three bamboo baskets in the corner, one had been sheared cleanly in half. The other two were still covered by damp towels, quietly sprouting beans in the dark...

Without realizing it, tears began to stream silently down her face once more. "The new house will definitely be wonderful," she murmured. "But I just don’t want it."

***

The sun had fully set. A massive bonfire now blazed in the clearing—a thoughtful gesture Zhou Qian had arranged after noticing Huai Yu collecting wood ash earlier. Extremely bright floodlights illuminated the surroundings, drawing scattered bugs to dance in their beams. It seemed that tonight, scarce resources like electricity and fuel were being burned without a single thought to the cost.

Huai Yu was sipping from a pouch of nutrient fluid when Zhou Qian walked over, handing her a bowl of porridge. "Try this. It’s our standard military ration. It actually tastes pretty good."

Huai Yu accepted it silently. She looked over at the Defense Army soldiers, who were diligently laying bricks late into the night under the glaring floodlights. "Is it really okay for all of you to be out here helping me build a house?"

Seeing that she seemed to have accepted the situation and was taking the initiative to ask, Zhou Qian finally let out a thorough breath of relief and smiled.

"Don’t worry about it, the guys were fighting for this job. After all... the pay is quite generous. Plus, all the expenses are being deducted from *his* account, and he certainly isn’t short on Contribution Points."

"That’s good." Huai Yu took a sip of the military ration. The texture was reminiscent of savory oil tea—rich, slightly salty, and carrying the distinct aroma of butter.

"It’s pretty good," she evaluated objectively. She figured its contamination level couldn’t be too high—probably around 15. While it couldn’t compare to her usual food, it was still quite decent.

"Glad you like it!" Zhou Qian happily pulled out a notebook and jotted something down. "I’ll bring you ten different flavors."

He then asked, "That folding cot of yours is probably a bit flimsy to sleep on. Even though it’s not broken, it can’t be very comfortable. We might as well take this opportunity to get you a proper bunk bed!

"We use them in our barracks. They’re 1.2 meters wide and incredibly sturdy. You can use the top bunk for storage since you won’t be sleeping up there. Oh, and I’ll order two sets of our modular barrack wardrobes for you. You can use them to hang your clothes and store your belongings."

His pen flew across the page, quickly compiling a long list of items.

"You girls don’t really like sleeping on hard wooden boards, right? I’ll request two extra mattresses for you.

"I’ll get you another solar-powered lamp.

"I’ll put you down for a full set of kitchenware... Do you have enough baskets? Whatever, I’m adding it to the list!

"And clothes... we don’t carry civilian clothing in the military, but that’s fine. We’ll just convert it into a thousand Contribution Points as compensation, and you can buy some yourself."

He looked at Huai Yu, the heavy burden of guilt finally lifting from his shoulders entirely, and gently assured her:

"The new house will be built directly over the original foundation of the Rose Mansion. It won’t be huge—about thirty square meters. One side will have an attached shed for storing firewood and grass. We’ll follow your previous layout and extend the roof to create a covered walkway that leads all the way to the outhouse, so you’ll be shielded from the rain.

"We’ll build you a proper outhouse based on the old rural designs, lined with cement so it’s easier to maintain.

"Once conditions improve and we can route electricity out here, you’ll even be able to install a water tower and a flushable toilet.

"The house might need to air out for a couple of days. The bricks are being laid with quick-drying materials, and we’ll spray a simple sealant over the entire wall surface... After it cures in the sun tomorrow and the day after, it’ll be ready for you to move in."

After racking his brain and filling the page with dense notes, Zhou Qian meticulously reviewed the necessities of living alone one last time before handing the notebook over.

"Take a look and see if there’s anything else you want. Make the most of this opportunity to ask for a little more.

"I know it’s heartbreaking that your house was destroyed, but we have to try to look at the silver lining and turn a disaster into a blessing."

He abruptly choked on his words. The reality was that the defensive power contained within the Ice Sculpture Lin Xuefeng had left her was infinitely more valuable than any of these material possessions.

But...

That was something they could never replicate. For now, he could only quietly gloss over it.

Huai Yu carefully read through the list in the notebook, top to bottom. Then, she added one last request.

"Vases.

"I want three vases in different sizes, but they have to be very, very beautiful."