Cold Dependence - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was hungry.

Perhaps to normal people, these were just three simple words, but to Qi Wenxi’s ears, they sounded like a terrifying sound effect from a horror movie.

The pronunciation of those three words was like the broken, static noise from an old tape recorder disrupted by a bad signal.

Especially the raspy, grating sound from the woman’s throat was particularly eerie.

What was wrong with this woman’s throat? Were her vocal cords damaged?

“Hungry….”

The woman, with sand still clinging to her face, made that strange sound again from her throat.

Qi Wenxi nervously swallowed, forcing herself to stay calm and keep a relatively safe distance. She politely waved her hand, indicating she really didn’t have any food on her.

After seeing Qi Wenxi’s gesture refusing to offer food, Jing Lian’s golden eyes filled with confusion and puzzlement. Why was this two-legged creature’s reaction different from the humans she remembered?

She vaguely recalled many, many years ago when she got bored and poked her head out of the water to look around. Back then, the local two-legged villagers bowed and worshipped her. Honestly, she didn’t need their worship, but those humans were clever enough to know she was hungry. They placed lots of fresh, plump food on the shore for her, along with many strange, shiny gems.

That made the noisy gongs and drums welcoming her seem less annoying.

In contrast, this human woman in front of her, who had just played a chasing game with her before hunting, clearly didn’t understand her meaning.

Did this frail two-legged creature think she wanted to eat her?

Jing Lian tilted her head, noticing Qi Wenxi still kept a stance ready to flee at any moment. Jing Lian’s brows furrowed so much they could reach the sky.

Please, you don’t even look like enough to fill the gaps between my teeth.

“You… not… tasty… I… want to eat… like shark… liver,” Jing Lian opened her mouth, her stuck vocal cords producing a raspy, grating sound that gave people goosebumps, but she herself didn’t seem to care.

Qi Wenxi stared at this tone-deaf, slurring, completely naked woman like she was a monster. The woman actually said she didn’t look tasty and wasn’t even as good as a bloody shark liver!?

Qi Wenxi immediately labeled her as a mentally unstable dangerous person. Even though this strange woman had saved her during their run earlier, that didn’t prove she was sane.

She really couldn’t stay with this somewhat unhinged woman. And she couldn’t run—if she ran, this woman would chase her endlessly. The woman’s athletic reflexes were sharp; the more Qi Wenxi tried to escape, the more excited the woman got.

After a brief standoff, under the black-haired woman’s silent gaze, Qi Wenxi had no choice but to go along with her request. “I can go find you shark… food. You wait here, and I’ll go get it for you.”

At this critical moment, she could only use this white lie to get away.

After calmly making her promise, Qi Wenxi looked up at the woman. The woman just stared at her quietly, her pure and clear gaze making Qi Wenxi feel a bit guilty. When the woman didn’t respond, Qi Wenxi took it as agreement and slowly started moving.

The woman behind her didn’t follow.

Qi Wenxi’s tense nerves finally relaxed a little. Her steps quickened, and she jogged up the stairs. But both exits of Lanhai Sea were already sealed. Although she could see her car parked outside the restricted area, it was useless.

She couldn’t get out.

The news had warned citizens earlier that Suirong Avenue leading to Lanhai Sea was completely blocked. Due to the typhoon, the government had sealed off the areas around Lanhai Sea.

So, she had no idea how her car ended up at the west exit parking lot.

Looking at the tall blue metal fence, much higher than her, with a “No Entry” sign hanging on it.

She was baffled about how she even got into this place. Did she abandon her car, climb over an electrified fence, and enter this sea area?

Was she crazy? Obviously not. It made no sense, and she didn’t have the ability to do that.

Because she was constantly anxious and nervous, Qi Wenxi didn’t care that her clothes were sticky and uncomfortable, carrying the smell of seawater mixed with dirt, completely breaking her meticulous personality over the years.

“Can’t get out…” Qi Wenxi walked around the sea’s fence for a long time. It was all sealed.

There were a few surveillance cameras above the fence. Qi Wenxi waved desperately at them, signaling for help.

Unfortunately, the cameras gave her no response.

Meanwhile, Jing Lian, who had been standing and watching, saw this human woman walk from west to east, then east to west, even making strange gestures at the devices she had accidentally destroyed with her sonic waves when she came ashore. Jing Lian found it slightly amusing.

This two-legged creature’s dancing moves were so funny.

While Qi Wenxi was still looking for an exit, Jing Lian slowly walked to the nearest west exit.

With a loud clank of metal grinding, the sturdy, high-strength iron gate’s chain broke and fell to the ground.

Jing Lian picked up the fallen lock, squeezed it lightly, and the high-precision lock crumbled into pieces. She tossed away the inedible scraps with disinterest and turned to look at the human woman, who was still fumbling and scratching at the fence, searching for something.

Her throat let out a faint, whale-like cry, calling the two-legged creature to come see.

From far away, Qi Wenxi heard a strange sound, like something a whale would make. She immediately looked at the sea, then curiously at the woman, who was standing at the west exit, looking at her.

After a moment of hesitation, Qi Wenxi dragged her tired body toward the woman.

That graceful, completely naked woman—Qi Wenxi glanced at her once, then quickly looked away.

To her surprise, the lock on the west exit gate was broken, with half the chain lying on the sand. She hadn’t noticed it before!

With a clank, she pushed the gate open. The half-broken lock was just for show.

Qi Wenxi found it odd that she hadn’t noticed this detail earlier, but there was no time to think. She needed to leave this place first.

As the iron gate opened, Qi Wenxi glanced around for a moment, then walked out of the restricted area. Her car was right there on the road, safe and sound, waiting for its exhausted owner.

As she walked, someone followed her.

The woman had come out with her.

“You,” Qi Wenxi reached her car and turned to look at the woman who had been following her. She was about to continue her lie about going to find food and asking her to wait here.

But when she saw the woman’s unabashed, pure, and dazzling golden eyes, Qi Wenxi couldn’t continue her deceptive words. She wasn’t good at lying like that.

Luckily, there were no cars passing by on this road at the moment, or this naked woman would definitely attract a crowd, maybe even get filmed and mocked online by onlookers.

Qi Wenxi quickly opened her car door, grabbed a camel-colored long coat from the back seat, sized up the slightly taller woman, and handed it to her.

“For you,” Qi Wenxi said.

Jing Lian looked at the thick, folded coat in the two-legged creature’s hands. It wasn’t food, it couldn’t be eaten, so she didn’t take it.

Qi Wenxi felt she was meddling. She could have just driven off while the woman wasn’t paying attention and ditched this unhinged person. But her sympathy got the better of her, and she draped the coat over the woman herself.

Though the woman had sand on her hair and face, and her intelligence seemed off, leaving her on this road would likely lead to her being harmed by bad people.

Thinking this, Qi Wenxi buttoned up the coat she had put on the woman, tied the drawstring, and wrapped the troublesome woman up tightly.

However, the ancient ancestor being dressed up frowned unhappily. She didn’t like having such heavy things on her smooth skin.

So-called human clothes.

She reached to tear off the cumbersome thing.

But just as she started pulling, Qi Wenxi grabbed her hands tightly.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you need to wear clothes now. Please, it’s really not okay without them.” Fortunately, Qi Wenxi noticed the woman’s resistant expression in time and held her cold hands, earnestly and sternly asking her to comply.

Jing Lian looked at the human’s hand holding hers, blinked her golden eyes, and felt the warm temperature from the other’s palm. She didn’t dislike it; it was quite comfortable.

Fine, since this two-legged creature didn’t mean to disrespect her, she wouldn’t make a fuss.

Jing Lian stopped struggling and instead grabbed Qi Wenxi’s hand, holding it tightly in her own.

Qi Wenxi froze, completely confused by this woman’s behavior. She tried to pull her hand back, but the woman held on so tightly she couldn’t break free.

“Why… are you holding me?” Qi Wenxi emphasized, signaling her to let go.

Jing Lian blinked her beautiful eyes at Qi Wenxi and made two sounds from her throat.

“Com… fortable…”

Because it was comfortable, Jing Lian kept holding Qi Wenxi’s right hand, ignoring her words or actions indicating it wasn’t okay.

Finally, when Qi Wenxi said, “If you keep holding me like this, you’ll never get to eat shark liver,” the black-haired woman reluctantly let go.

Free at last, Qi Wenxi immediately looked at her right wrist, which had red marks from the woman’s grip.

This person used such strength!

She needed to get rid of this hot potato quickly.

So, Qi Wenxi made a kind decision to take her to the nearest police station.

Once there, the woman’s family would surely come for her, and then it would no longer be her problem, nor would she need to deal with this strange woman whose mind and speech were off.

It was doing a good deed.

“Sit still, don’t move. I’m buckling your seatbelt. If you want to eat delicious shark, behave,” Qi Wenxi said coldly while pressing Jing Lian into the passenger seat. After much effort, she finally got the seatbelt on her.

She felt half-dead from exhaustion.

After buckling the seatbelt, Qi Wenxi was about to close the car door when she saw the woman’s sand-covered face.

Her car had never had anyone else in it, partly because she preferred being alone, and partly because she had a thing about cleanliness.

So, Qi Wenxi couldn’t stand it. She pulled out a few tissues and handed them to the woman.

“Wipe your face first.”

Jing Lian looked at the tissues in her hand with slight disdain. She had already been cooperative enough with this foolish two-legged creature. Why hadn’t she gotten food yet?

With the arrogance of an ancient being, Jing Lian didn’t want to comply with her request. She’d wait for food first.

She crumpled the tissues into a ball and played with them in her hand.

Even with sand all over her face, Qi Wenxi could still see the “disdain” in the woman’s sparkling eyes.

This person really thought she was some mental patient who needed to be pampered.

Qi Wenxi took out two more tissues, held the woman’s chin, and quickly wiped the sand off her face.

Her intention was just to make the woman clean enough to sit in her car, not to see what she looked like.

But when she actually saw the woman’s face clearly, Qi Wenxi froze, her hand pausing in midair.

She looked much younger than herself, maybe in her early twenties, not at all like her hoarse, terrifying voice.

On the contrary, her face had a subtle balance, a beauty that was both innocent and seductive.

The woman, now with a clean face, slightly tilted her head and gave Qi Wenxi a faint smile.

For a moment, Qi Wenxi’s heart stopped.

Such an angelic, harmless smile made it hard to believe this woman was dangerous.

But the next second, the black-haired woman opened her mouth and bit Qi Wenxi’s hand.

[Ah… it’s because… I’m hungry.]