Chapter 72 - 71: The Person in the Photo

Chapter 72: Chapter 71: The Person in the Photo

Zhou Qian didn’t feel the heavy pressure suddenly lift from his shoulders until he returned to the camp. After dealing with the exhausting ordeal for a whole day and night, even though their physical constitutions were now superior to ordinary people, the psychological exhaustion was hard to wear off. Now, he could finally rest.

However, just as he closed his eyes, he was suddenly notified to go to the conference room. He grabbed his helmet and immediately fastened it. "What is it?" he asked. "Why is there another meeting all of a sudden? Is there an emergency?"

"No." The other person shook his head. "General Wu from the Imperial Capital sent a message. He needs you to answer a few questions."

Zhou Qian remembered the list he had submitted and coughed dryly, feeling a bit guilty. But in the next instant, he felt justified again. Huai Yu was able to buy little chicks all on her own; wasn’t it just a matter of time before she saved up enough materials to build a house? Who cared for his compensation anyway? Just Lin Xuefeng’s Ice Sculpture alone could fetch nearly 5,000 points on the black market. But...

Upon arriving at the conference room, someone turned on the screen and handed him a headset. "Captain Zhou, General Wu wants to speak with you privately. I’ll take my leave now."

On the large screen in front of him was a photograph of a young woman. He unconsciously took a few glances at her. Who was this? He didn’t recognize her.

He put on the headset. With a BEEP, the person on the other end came online.

"Captain Zhou Qian?"

"Yes." Zhou Qian unconsciously stood up straighter. He stared at the screen in front of him, suddenly finding the face somewhat familiar. "General Wu," he replied respectfully. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Nothing much," Wu Yue’s voice was faint. "I just want to ask you, does the Huai Yu you know look like the person in the photo?"

"No, she doesn’t," Zhou Qian answered directly without even needing to think.

He wasn’t lying. Although there was a tiny hint of familiarity between the two, if one looked closely, they didn’t look alike at all. As for that sense of familiarity... Zhou Qian thought it was probably because both of them were quite pretty and had distinctive features, which gave off a similar vibe.

Was the person in the photo a famous figure before the apocalypse? Why did she look more familiar the longer he looked? But as he continued to stare, he realized she was completely different from Huai Yu. After all, there were different types of beauty.

The woman in the photo was in her twenties or thirties, wearing light makeup. Since the image was enlarged, every flaw was fully visible. It was obvious that her underlying skin tone was a bit dark, with a few faint scar marks—not in the best condition. This was completely unlike Little Yu’s delicate, fair skin, which had a pale translucence that even faintly revealed light blue veins beneath.

Then there was the hair. The woman’s hair was somewhat yellowish, frizzy, and dry, making her look malnourished—another stark difference.

And her eyes... The person on the screen had wide double eyelids, making her eyes look large and beautiful, but the nervousness and exhaustion in her gaze were fully exposed. Huai Yu... Huai Yu seemed different.

Zhou Qian felt embarrassed to stare back and forth at a young woman, so he could only rely on his memory. Little Yu was just a teenage girl who hadn’t fully matured yet. Her eyes seemed to be phoenix eyes, quite distinctive, and entirely unlike this woman’s.

The person on the screen was standing under a tree, smiling reservedly. She looked a bit insecure and somewhat sad, her hands awkwardly clasped together. Oh, and another thing—the fingers captured in the photo had thick knuckles and were slightly rough, not fair and tender. It seemed she was used to doing heavy manual labor.

But Huai Yu wasn’t like that. Looking at her slender arms and legs, no matter how much heavy work she did, her hands still looked fair and pristine. Perhaps her good skin was purely genetic. When she needed a favor, she would sweet-talk him, smiling brilliantly with her emotions clearly displayed.

The girl in the photo, on the other hand, gave off a slightly stubborn vibe, possessing a kind of strength amidst melancholy. Zhou Qian scratched his head. He couldn’t describe it well, but that was roughly the feeling.

What was going on with General Wu? He insisted on asking for similarities between two completely unrelated people. Judging by the temper tantrum Huai Yu threw this morning, if someone upset her or made her feel uncomfortable, she would probably angrily throw her basket over their head! Her main trait was that while others could swallow their pride and endure hardship, she refused to suffer the slightest grievance.

As for further details... Zhou Qian felt a headache coming on the more he thought about it. Human memory was just that amazing; when genuinely trying to recall someone’s appearance, attempting to piece together the details of their facial features in one’s mind out of thin air simply didn’t work.

Anyway, he knew the two were different, and that was enough. In short, after a brief mental evaluation, he affirmed once more, "General Wu, there are no similarities between the two."

The person on the other end of the line fell silent. After a long while, he let out a bitter laugh. "Are you sure?"

"I am sure," Zhou Qian said decisively.

There was another long stretch of silence from the other end. Zhou Qian thought for a moment and quickly seized the opportunity to ask, "General Wu, about the list I sent this morning..."

Fearing that the final calculated amount was too high and the other party wouldn’t approve it, he hastily added, "That house was built by the little girl herself, little by little, with her own hands. Now that her home is gone, she cried so miserably..."

As soon as he said those words, he was the first to freeze. Wait, wait, wait. Even though it was a lot of points, it shouldn’t be a big problem for General Wu, right? Why did he even feel the need to worry that the other party would find it too much? Hiss! He wondered if he was starting to view the General with prejudice, or if the rose-colored glasses he used to wear had finally shattered.

However, following his words, Wu Yue on the other end sounded somewhat relieved.

"Cry... Huai Yu never cries... Forget it. I just couldn’t give up hope.

"Thank you for your trouble, Captain Zhou."

The communication ended there. The other party never answered whether the list was approved or not.

Zhou Qian stood frozen in place before finally tossing the issue to the back of his mind. "Whatever. You were the one who destroyed her things anyway, and I followed your orders to compensate her as much as possible. Approve it or don’t!" he thought. This money was advanced by their Defense Army. If General Wu didn’t want to approve it, it would be his own loss of face.

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Capital.

Wu Yue, who had been traveling tirelessly without rest, looked at the photo on the screen, a faint trace of nostalgia welling up in his eyes once more.

"Huai Yu, you were so resolute when you wrote your suicide note. You didn’t want to have the slightest relationship with me, nor did you want to accept this unfair world...

"Now, everyone only knows that I was the one who stimulated the growth of the Rose Corridor, and they’ve never even heard of you. If you knew, would you feel regret?

"My mother is still the same as always... Speaking of which, it’s all because you were too generous to her back then. I know you genuinely wanted a family...

"But she couldn’t change that extravagant habit, and now even I—"

His melancholia came to an abrupt halt.

Because on the list that popped up in his inbox, the score of [6573] points was exceptionally glaring.