Picking Up My Ex-Wife in the Apocalypse - Chapter 37

Si Ruxu’s energy entered Si Qi’s heart, cautiously probing. The rogue energy was huddled there quietly, as if the violent upheaval from moments ago had never happened.

Si Ruxu focused, carefully distinguishing the foreign energy from Si Qi’s original power. When she opened her eyes, her gaze was dark and complex.

“The energy from the Commander is clashing with your own,” she explained. “Logically, they are of the same source, but you were too badly injured when you absorbed it. You didn’t have time to merge them, so now they are rejecting each other.”

Si Qi nodded. She had felt the imbalance, but since she hadn’t used much power lately, she hadn’t given it much thought.

Looking at Si Qi’s indifferent profile, Si Ruxu felt a knot of frustration in her chest—unable to advance, unable to retreat.

“It’s just as well… while you’re being hunted, you can’t use your abilities anyway.” As she spoke, she left a cluster of healing energy within Si Qi’s meridians to keep things stable.

“Just rest properly. You’ll be fine.” The redness around her eyes had faded, leaving only a faint pink tint on the tip of her nose. Her voice was cool and seemingly detached, but the anger was written all over her face.

Si Qi’s eyes curved slightly. “If I die, you can just absorb my core. Then you can end the apocalypse yourself. Wouldn’t that be good for you?”

It was true; a large part of why people hunted Si Qi was for her core. Such a powerful source could solidify one’s status or even lead to a breakthrough beyond the known limits.

“I’m already strong enough. I don’t want your core.” Si Ruxu frowned. Even in her darkest moments, she had never craved Si Qi’s power, let alone now. She was furious at Si Qi’s nonchalance, yet that fury was laced with the dull ache of heartbreak.

A silence fell between them. Si Ruxu took the initiative, using her Space ability to pack the soil Si Qi had meant to move into her storage, then depositing it outside to form a thick earthen wall.

The Great Frost had only recently ended, and the deep earth was still damp, radiating a lingering chill. Si Qi hadn’t dug this deep when she used to hide from the heat; seeing the heavy cold rising from below, she realized it would be the perfect natural cooling.

The only remaining issue was water. Hydration was critical in the Great Heat. If the heat lasted for weeks, storing enough water would be a problem.

And we have no containers.

Si Qi turned to ask Si Ruxu, only to see her pulling out a literal mountain of pots, pans, and basins.

“Why do you have so many basins?” Si Qi picked one up and tapped it. It made a sharp, clear sound; the quality was excellent.

Si Ruxu lowered her gaze, her voice sounding a bit bitter. “That ‘one-third of the base’s property’ they gave me for safekeeping? Half of it was stuff like this.”

Si Qi looked at her. “There were no crystals in the resources they gave you?”

She was genuinely curious. How many of the crystals in Si Ruxu’s space were actually hers from hunting?

Si Ruxu shook her head slowly. “None.”

“And you didn’t suspect them?!” Si Qi found it incomprehensible. Had Si Ruxu always been this easy to fool? They claimed to give her the base’s wealth and “ultimate weapons,” yet didn’t give her a single crystal.

A faint pink touched Si Ruxu’s ears. “I had so many crystals of my own… at the time, I didn’t realize they were such a vital commodity.”

It was the indifference of someone who had always had plenty, like the numbness toward love felt by someone always surrounded by it.

Si Qi felt a sudden wave of weariness. Si Ruxu was always like this: she didn’t value what she had in abundance. She only understood the importance of something when it was scarce or about to leave.

She was like that with everyone.

*****

By evening, the air already carried a faint, singed smell. Si Ruxu stored the containers in her space, took them to the water source, and worked with Si Qi to fill them one by one.

The water was a clear, vivid blue, but as the sunset stained the low-hanging clouds, it reflected a brilliant orange-red. The sky in the apocalypse always felt low whether it was the thunderheads of a rainy day or the emerald blue of a clear one. Even the sunset felt heavy, with golden rays spilling through the cracks of cotton-like clouds, falling unsparingly onto the world.

The withered earth was dyed in a soft gold, and the water’s surface held the reflection of a hope found at a dead end.

Humans who hadn’t yet been numbed were like light-seeking insects, chasing the sun.

Si Qi loved watching the clouds and the sunset. She felt that as long as the sky didn’t collapse, there was still hope. Standing nearby, Si Ruxu watched her, the reflection of the girl sitting quietly in her eyes. It was as if she were getting to know her all over again.

She wondered: In a meeting like this, should one say ‘long time no see,’ or ‘nice to meet you for the first time’?

*****

It was late night by the time they returned to the cave. The air wasn’t scorching yet, but the breeze was warm; Si Qi knew the wind would stop soon. When that happened, the leaves wouldn’t even stir. Everything would look as if life had been drained from it. Without water and under extreme heat, life withered fast.

Food would rot instantly in the heat, so Si Qi hadn’t hoarded any. If they stayed still, eating once every three days wouldn’t be a problem.

Si Ruxu didn’t light a fire. She placed several glowing crystals around the cave for illumination.

As the night deepened, sleepiness coiled around Si Qi like vines. She yawned, leaning against the wall, watching Si Ruxu pull a large bed from her space. “Is that bed… also part of the ‘one-third’?” she asked groggily.

In her drowsy state, Si Qi’s eyes were misty and vulnerable, the cold indifference of the day completely gone.

Si Ruxu remembered nights from years ago when Si Qi would stay up with her while she finished paperwork. The girl would hug a pillow and watch her, her eyelids drooping with exhaustion. Back then, Si Ruxu would coax her to go to bed, but Si Qi would just shake her head, her eyes like misty rain, saying she just wanted to be with her. She couldn’t sleep alone.

Si Ruxu’s eyes burned with unshed tears. “Yes,” she whispered. “The base gave it to me.”

Liar, Si Qi thought. She knew that whenever Si Ruxu went on a trip and she watched the monitors, she saw the woman taking up the whole bed in a star shape.

“At least… it’s useful,” Si Qi murmured, her voice trailing off as she fell into a deep sleep.

*****

The healing energy Si Ruxu had left in her sensed the internal turmoil. The rogue power began to merge bit by bit with Si Qi’s own. It was no longer just in her meridians; it was seeping into her flesh and blood.

If Si Qi’s energy was of the same source as the apocalypse, then her life was tied to it.

The apocalypse was on a countdown, and so was her life.

Si Ruxu gently lifted Si Qi onto the bed and lay down beside her. Her amber eyes, usually so cold, were full of devotion and sorrow. In the gloom, she traced the lines of Si Qi’s face with her gaze.

She carefully lay in Si Qi’s arms, feeling the girl’s faint pulse and cold body temperature.

If someone must go to hell, she thought, I should be the first choice. The master hunter had become the most helpless prey.

*****

The Great Heat arrived with terrifying speed. In less than forty-eight hours, the lingering chill of the frost was replaced by a blistering, radiant heat.

Si Qi and Si Ruxu retreated into their earthen cellar. Perhaps because the heat had just started, the air underground felt almost cold, but it was better than the alternative. Si Qi pulled on her coat and sat in the corner, nibbling on a saved fruit.

Si Ruxu came down from above, her hair plastered to her forehead, her cheeks flushed, and sweat dripping from her chin. She saw Si Qi in a coat and paused, her eyes flickering with unreadable emotions.

Si Qi tilted her head. She didn’t understand why Si Ruxu looked so pained again. Has she still not gotten over being betrayed by the base? Well, if she had trusted them so completely and sacrificed so much, only for them to try to kill her, she would be upset for a long time too.

Offering a look of “understanding,” Si Qi took her last fruit from her pocket and placed it in Si Ruxu’s hand. “In this world, people change their minds. It’s not surprising. They didn’t just turn rotten overnight. If your paths are different, you shouldn’t walk together. It’s their fault, not yours.”

Si Qi smiled gently and squeezed Si Ruxu’s hand. The woman’s skin was hot—likely from being outside. She thought her words would help; surely holding her hand would make her feel better.

Suddenly, she felt a massive wave of emotion from Si Ruxu: loss, regret, and a crushing heartache. It was like a giant stone falling.

The tension in Si Qi’s mind snapped as Si Ruxu lunged forward, throwing her arms around her. Si Ruxu didn’t say a word, but Si Qi felt the hot tears soaking into her clothes.

“Si Ruxu… what are you so sad about?” Si Qi asked softly, patting her back. The clues in her head were tangling again, a fog she couldn’t see through.

Si Ruxu’s voice sounded distant and light, yet it struck Si Qi’s heart with the weight of a hammer.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “I’m afraid that in the future world… you won’t be there.”

Through the haze, Si Qi thought to herself: Si Ruxu has really been crying a lot lately.

And she realized something else: It wasn’t that Si Ruxu’s body was hot. It was that her own blood was too cold.

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