Chapter 71 - 70: Don’t Blame Him

Chapter 71: Chapter 70: Don’t Blame Him

Huai Yu looked at him without speaking.

Zhou Qian wasn’t angry. It was only natural for the young girl to feel upset after losing something so precious. He smiled reassuringly, then checked the time. "We can’t help you move. Our time is almost up, so we need to head back."

Huai Yu nodded. Her emotions were in turmoil, and she didn’t know what to say.

She watched Zhou Qian turn away, only to see him abruptly pause, look back at her, and let out a hesitant sigh. "Huai Yu, don’t blame General Wu."

Seeing Huai Yu knit her brows, Zhou Qian sighed again. "According to wartime regulations, General Wu has the right to enter your house to investigate.

"General Lin’s whereabouts are simply too important. Furthermore, it cannot be made public, so examining your Ice Sculpture was part of his duty.

"To compensate you, he spent nearly 5,000 Contribution Points. Little Yu, everything he earns comes from life-and-death battles on the most dangerous front lines.

"I don’t know why he got injured, but with his abilities, he could have instantly overturned your entire treehouse to ensure he remained completely unharmed."

Huai Yu listened in silence before suddenly speaking up. "But I’m being unreasonable."

Zhou Qian was stunned.

He watched the young girl in front of him sigh. "Captain, everything you said makes a lot of sense. Heroes have their duties, and I should understand and cooperate. His actions were for everyone’s safety, which I should also understand and respect.

"But I just don’t want to.

"So what if he earned those 5,000 points fighting on the front lines? Do I care? Do you think building my house was easy?

"He could have easily overturned my treehouse, but he didn’t. Instead, he left my dilapidated frame intact... Am I supposed to feel flattered? Am I supposed to think he’s amazing?

"Well, I don’t!"

She raised her face, her expression carrying an unyielding stubbornness. "I loathe him. I don’t want to hear his name at all. Even if he is a hero, he’s not *my* hero.

"I’m highly capable, and the life I have now is entirely due to my own hard work."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she choked on them.

Strictly speaking, the stability of the entire Flower City was largely thanks to General Wu’s contributions. To live in this peaceful environment and make such a bold claim felt a bit too shameless...

Huai Yu lowered her head in frustration.

She was obviously so weak, yet she possessed such genuine confidence. She truly believed she was very capable!

However, even her narcissism had its limits.

Thus, she reluctantly compromised. "Fine.

"Since you put it that way, I won’t get angry when you mention his name from now on."

Zhou Qian was left speechless.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was quite a novelty; this was the most he had ever heard Huai Yu speak since they met. Yet, the content was all about her "own hard work"...

He had told her to be a bit more confident earlier, but he hadn’t expected her to become overconfident so quickly.

Well, so be it.

He let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the little girl’s demeanor, even though Lin Xuefeng had only met her once, he must have left a profound impact on her.

It made sense. To meet someone just once, yet be willing to expend a tremendous amount of energy to leave them an unknown Amulet... Especially since the existence of this Amulet was only discovered after it had been destroyed. Anyone would be deeply moved by that!

Now that she had lost his very last trace, it was completely justified for Little Yu, still just a child, to be angry. For her to now tolerate hearing General Wu’s name could be considered... magnanimous of her.

Feeling a mix of worry and amusement, his strong hand ruffled Huai Yu’s fluffy hair. "Alright, alright! I know, you’re already being very forgiving."

With that, he jogged two steps forward and began barking out orders.

The Defense Army soldiers, having toiled through the night, were now joking and laughing as they geared up and piled into the vehicles.

Their boisterous voices drifted on the wind.

"It’s a pity we don’t have phones anymore. Being this close to the Rose Corridor is something I could brag about for ages..."

"Tell me about it! I’ve been stationed here for three years, and this is the first time I’ve sensed it in a genuinely good mood."

"Looks like General Wu, the one who catalyzed it, managed to soothe the Rose Corridor with his visit."

"Wood Ability Users are truly incredible! General Wu risked his life to accelerate the growth of the Rose Corridor back then. After all these years, it still remembers him. It’s even thrilled by his arrival, turning a blind eye to us building houses and digging dirt right next to it..."

"Whoa—"

"Your tone sounds a bit strange. Have you been sneaking peeks at some weird novels lately?! Hand them over right now—"

After they left, Huai Yu slowly made her way back to her treehouse. She threw herself onto the silk quilt, whose tear was growing larger by the minute, and huffed angrily. "What’s so great about 5,000 points? Sooner or later, I’ll earn even more.

"Does not overturning my treehouse make him a saint? Hmph! It’s definitely because my wisteria is so well-behaved and its roots are so deep that he couldn’t flip it at all.

"Fighting on the front lines isn’t... fine, that is actually quite impressive. But sooner or later, when I become powerful, I’ll go to the Wilderness too!"

She thrashed around on the bed for a while. Seeing that another clump of cotton stuffing was about to be torn out, she finally snapped out of it. "I forgot to buy a needle and thread! This quilt would still be perfectly usable if I just stitched it up."

There weren’t many things to move in the treehouse, and the new house wasn’t far away. In just a few trips, Huai Yu had transferred all her belongings.

Finally, only the empty cabin remained.

She sighed and glanced at the sparse pile of dry firewood in the corner, which had been neatly chopped by the Water Blade.

There was also a large heap of uncleaned branches, twigs, and hay. She finally began dragging them away in silence.

Once everything was completely empty, she raised her hand and pulled down the waterproof tarp, which was already slashed with numerous cuts. She then gently stroked the trunk of the wisteria with her palm.

"I’m sorry. Your flowers were sliced off, and you’ve been through a lot... You don’t have to help me build a house anymore... Just grow freely."

The Wood Ability surged within her body, carrying immense Life energy, and washed over the tree trunks in front of her.

From the roots to the leaves, in just an instant, slender twigs rapidly sprouted from the branches.

The tender green leaves had barely unfurled before the excess energy impatiently caused clusters upon clusters of flower buds to droop from the tips.

Huai Yu collapsed onto the ground, her body going soft as she panted heavily, feeling utterly exhausted in both body and mind.

After a long while, she widened her eyes, staring at the dozen or so wisteria trees radiating incredibly vigorous Life energy in front of her, and then opened her palm.

"Huh?"

It seemed that after all the practice she’d had recently, her Wood Ability’s accelerating power had indeed grown much stronger!

But didn’t the Academy of Sciences say there was no way to enhance superpowers other than through pollution?

Unable to figure it out after pondering for a moment, Huai Yu became happy again. "I knew I was very capable!"