Chapter One Hundred and Six: Letting You Win the Match?

After the match between Jiang Miaomiao and Qin Sheng ended, they went straight to the hospital in the safe zone.

After asking which ward A Di was in, the two of them hurried up to the second floor to see how she was doing.

Coincidentally, A Di’s room was not far from Shen Mei’s, and upstairs was also where Lin Xing was being held.

Just as Qin Sheng’s hand touched the door, she heard Zhu Xingyu’s nagging voice from inside.

“Don’t keep eating, A Di. The doctor said you can’t have too much greasy meat right now...”

“Oh, I know, I know...”

Jiang Miaomiao and Qin Sheng exchanged a glance, then opened the door and went in. The moment they entered, they saw A Di with her left arm wrapped in bandages, while her right hand was holding a huge chicken leg and eating with great enthusiasm.

Qin Sheng: ...

Jiang Miaomiao: ...

Seeing them arrive, Zhu Xingyu stood up and helplessly explained to Qin Sheng and Jiang Miaomiao, “I already tried talking her out of it. It didn’t work. This is the second one...”

He looked at Qin Sheng with a troubled expression, then glanced at the second chicken leg A Di had just finished.

A Di clearly did not care about Zhu Xingyu’s continued lecturing. She gnawed every last bit of meat clean off the bone and tossed it into the trash can with a perfect arc.

Before the competition, she had not eaten much, and now she had been beaten up too. A Di did not care what the doctor said about avoiding greasy food; she only wanted to feel full.

So the first thing she did after the doctor left was ask Zhu Xingyu to go to Shen Mei’s room and get her some food.

Of course, “ask” was putting it mildly; it had been more like coercion sweetened with threats and inducements.

Just as Qin Sheng had said before, Shen Mei needed to build herself back up, so a lot of meat had been sent over.

Shen Mei had been very generous, and once she learned that A Di was injured, she had told Zhu Xingyu to bring it all over.

A Di had originally planned to have another one, but under Qin Sheng and Jiang Miaomiao’s blazing gazes, she really did not dare reach for a third chicken leg.

With no choice, she gave up and used a wet wipe to clean the grease from her hands.

“If you two hadn’t come, she definitely would’ve gone for a third one...” Zhu Xingyu said, shrugging as he voiced A Di’s inner thoughts.

A Di looked a little embarrassed and gave a dry laugh, saying to Jiang Miaomiao and Qin Sheng, “How could I? Two is already enough to make me stuffed. There’s absolutely no way I could eat a third!”

Seeing how firmly A Di swore it, Jiang Miaomiao teased her softly, “If that’s the case, I’ll have Xingyu send all this back later. You need to avoid greasy food, but Shen Mei needs to build up her strength right now.”

A Di’s face immediately fell, her expression practically spelling out: no.

Jiang Miaomiao chuckled and shook her head, then said to Qin Sheng, “Looks like A Di is fine.”

Qin Sheng thought so too. Her disciple really was broad-minded, not stopping even with a bandage on her arm.

“Oh, right. How did your competition go?” A Di asked Jiang Miaomiao.

Jiang Miaomiao shook her head, indicating that there was no problem.

“That’s good, that’s good. I didn’t affect you.” The stone in A Di’s heart finally seemed to settle. She had been afraid Jiang Miaomiao might be distracted in the match because of her injury.

Qin Sheng glanced at Jiang Miaomiao and found it somewhat surprising that she had not told A Di about her wound healing. Qin Sheng had never expressly told Jiang Miaomiao to keep her power secret from A Di.

Still, it was better this way. If A Di did not know, she would have one less thing to worry about.

“That filthy pervert—what was his name again?” Thinking of how that man had touched her hand twice, A Di immediately flared up again. She took another wet wipe and carefully scrubbed the spot where Zhang Dong had touched her.

Zhu Xingyu glanced at the half bag of wet wipes already used up and shook his head helplessly.

“Zhang Dong.” Qin Sheng, who had not spoken all this time, slowly uttered the man’s real name.

At once, the lowered eyes of Qin Sheng grew colder by the second. That gaze was the sort that could freeze the air on contact; no one could endure being looked at by Qin Sheng in such a way.

“So he’s called Zhang Dong, is he? Tell him to wash his neck and wait. Once this auntie gets better, I’m going to take his dog head as payment for daring to touch my hand!” A Di shouted furiously toward the doorway, as if Zhang Dong were standing right in front of her.

“Exactly. When we get to the third stage, I’ll make sure to teach him a proper lesson for bullying our A Di!” Jiang Miaomiao had always doted on A Di the most. Thinking of the scene she had seen at the arena, she was itching to go tear the skin off that Zhang Dong herself.

Though Zhu Xingyu disliked A Di for not listening to advice, he was not about to let Zhang Dong’s bullying of her go unpunished.

“Count me in. I’ll knock out two of his teeth for you as a souvenir,” Zhu Xingyu added.

Jiang Miaomiao immediately grinned at that. “Then I’ll take Zhang Dong’s two front teeth.”

“And then won’t he whistle when he talks?” Zhu Xingyu could not help laughing just imagining it.

Jiang Miaomiao and A Di pictured it too, and soon they were laughing along.

Only Qin Sheng remained silent, her eyes lowered the entire time.

Qin Sheng stayed for a short while before heading out, leaving Zhu Xingyu and Jiang Miaomiao to keep A Di company. Unexpectedly, the moment she stepped outside, she ran into someone she knew.

Or rather, someone she had only just met.

Qin Sheng saw Shen Shi leaning against the old locust tree that had long since withered beside the hospital entrance, his arms folded, as if he had been waiting for quite some time.

He seemed to have come straight from the arena after the competition.

Qin Sheng was not surprised. During today’s match, she had already known that Shen Shi had recognized her.

That he would come looking for her was no surprise; only the speed of it was.

When Qin Sheng looked over, Shen Shi also saw her.

“So you’re Qin Sheng,” Shen Shi said with a light chuckle, and Qin Sheng could not immediately tell what he intended.

Qin Sheng curved her lips with interest and asked in return, “You’re surprised?”

Shen Shi was silent for a moment before speaking in a soft, distant voice. “I’m not surprised. After all, being able to come and go from the hospital as one pleases without anyone noticing is not something an ordinary person can do.”

Qin Sheng smiled faintly. “In that case, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“No need to be surprised. It is a compliment.”

Shen Shi’s answer only made Qin Sheng less able to read him. She frowned slightly and said slowly, “Say it. What do you want?”

Shen Shi knew Qin Sheng was smart; even if he said nothing, she would know he had come with a purpose.

“You want me to let you win in the third stage?” Qin Sheng thought it over and could not think of any other reason.

Besides, Shen Shi was under that old fox Guo Jun. Wanting to win the third round was only natural.

Shen Shi straightened, as if deeply dismissive of the condition Qin Sheng had proposed. His expression became more serious. “What I want has never been something I need others to hand over to me.”

Qin Sheng raised her brows and nodded in agreement.

How fortunate—she was that kind of person too.

“Then let’s wait and see.” Qin Sheng smiled, tilting her head slightly before striding away from the safe zone hospital.

Shen Shi stared after her for a long while, lost in thought.

“Brother Shen Shi!” As soon as Guo Ting came out of the hospital, she saw Shen Shi looking at something and called out to draw his attention.

Shen Shi came back to himself, glanced back at Guo Ting, and kept his expression as indifferent as ever. “Did you see Uncle Guo?”

Seeing that Shen Shi would at least answer her, Guo Ting was overjoyed and nodded eagerly. “I did! Uncle asked me to congratulate you on making it through the second stage of the arena match!”

His expression remained unchanged. He nodded twice, then turned as if to leave.

“Oh, right, Brother Shen Shi, Uncle asked me to tell you something.” Guo Ting’s face suddenly turned solemn, and she stopped Shen Shi just as he was about to go.

Though Shen Shi did not want to stay and listen to whatever else she had to say, Guo Jun’s words were not something he could ignore. Forcing himself to be patient, he paused and turned back to look at her.

“What did Uncle Guo want you to tell me?”

Seeing that Shen Shi stood several meters away, Guo Ting glanced around, lowered her head shyly, then quickly walked a few steps closer.

Shen Shi frowned in obvious discomfort at her approach.

“You’re Brother Shen Shi. Since Uncle asked me to pass something along, it must be important. How can you hear it if you stand so far away?” Guo Ting said with a shy smile, using the excuse to inch even closer.

Shen Shi clenched his palm, forcing himself to bear it, and continued, “Now that I’m close enough, can you tell me?”

With Shen Shi so near, Guo Ting could smell the pleasant scent on him, and she smiled with satisfaction. In a soft voice, she said, “Uncle said that Qin Sheng also passed the second stage, so you need to be careful in the zombie forest.”

Shen Shi already knew this. He asked, “Anything else?”

Guo Ting pressed her lips together and cautiously glanced around before leaning close to Shen Shi’s ear and whispering, “Uncle said that if there’s a chance, get rid of Qin Sheng.”

Shen Shi frowned in confusion, wondering what deep grudge Guo Jun could possibly have against Qin Sheng. Was a little girl really enough to make the captain unable to tolerate her?

Of course, he could not pry that out of Guo Ting. Before heading to the zombie forest, he needed to understand Qin Sheng better from Guo Jun himself.

After all, one had to know both oneself and the enemy to win every battle.

“Is that all?” Shen Shi saw that Guo Ting had stopped speaking but was still lingering close to him, and the discomfort from his body’s instinctive reaction rose again.

Guo Ting heard the faintly magnetic sound of his voice at such close range, and her cheeks flushed bright red. She nodded lightly. “That’s all...”

Having gotten the answer he wanted, Shen Shi immediately stepped back two paces without the slightest hesitation.

“Aren’t you going to eat? Let’s go.” He knew there were people from Guo Jun nearby, so he could not simply leave Guo Ting there. Using more patience than usual, he said those words.

When Guo Ting heard that Shen Shi was actually going to accompany her for a meal, her heart fluttered like a startled fawn, pounding wildly in her chest. She subconsciously touched her face.

Had her makeup smudged?

Shen Shi paid no mind to her thoughts. After speaking, he turned and walked toward the hospital entrance of the safe zone.

Guo Ting stood there for a few seconds before hurrying after him, carefully lowering her head to take a mirror from her bag and check her makeup.

Shen Shi did not care who was by his side. He only cast a glance back toward the ward area on the second floor of the hospital.

That ward was Guo Jun’s room.