The Post-Apocalyptic Rival Who Crashed My Wedding with a Baby - Chapter 10

Listening to Jiang Weiqing’s brazen declaration, the fury in Shen Qingyu’s eyes flared anew. Just as she began to gather her depleted Metal energy for a strike, the toddler seemed to sense the overwhelming pressure. The child let out a tiny, uneasy “aya,” her face clouding with distress as she teetered on the verge of waking up.

The moment Shen Qingyu saw the child’s state, her rage was doused as if by a bucket of ice water. Her reason slowly returned.

She is strong, and I am weak. To force a life-and-death struggle now would be nothing short of suicide.

Within a few breaths, Shen Qingyu had assessed the situation with painful clarity. She turned to find that Jiang Weiqing had already moved with surprising gentleness, tucking the child in beside her.

“She was very good. She drank most of a bottle of soy milk tonight,” Jiang Weiqing said, touching the child’s cheek. There was a faint note of boasting in her voice.

Anyone could see that despite the girl’s lingering frailty, she had been meticulously cared for. She was dressed in a cute pink rabbit onesie and wore a little yellow duck bib. Her face, wrists, and neck were spotless.

Shen Qingyu shot Jiang Weiqing a sidelong glance before pulling the child into her own arms, emphasizing sharply, “She is my daughter. Of course she is good.”

Jiang Weiqing blinked, her tone turning tentative. “Did you… give birth to her?”

She didn’t notice that her own breath hitched. She awaited the answer with a mix of dread and desperate hope.

Shen Qingyu looked at her with an impassive gaze. “That is none of your business.”

Jiang Weiqing: “…”

*****

Shen Qingyu had expected to sleep fitfully after the night’s events, but she found herself slipping into a rare, deep slumber.

As the first light of dawn touched the cave, she stirred. Opening her eyes, she found Jiang Weiqing still keeping watch beside her, her left hand rhythmically and softly patting the child’s back. The girl looked utterly content, sleeping soundly in an atmosphere so domestic it felt like any other morning.

It was as if Jiang Weiqing hadn’t abandoned them. As if there had been no engagement to another woman.

Shen Qingyu’s eyes burned. She felt a sudden, greedy longing for this peace and didn’t dare open her eyes fully.

Suddenly, a panicked voice shattered the silence.

“The baby! Where’s the baby?” Lin Yunxia cried out. Out of habit, she had rolled over and reached out, only to find the spot beside her cold. The empty space sent a jolt of anxiety through her. She remembered the child being right there.

Her eyes snapped open, and the realization that the child was gone made her break into a cold sweat. “She’s gone!”

Miao Jialing, who had been dozing, bolted upright at the shout. “Where is she?” Her loud voice woke Xu Bairan and An Songyu on the other side of the cave.

Seeing the commotion, Shen Qingyu could no longer feign sleep. “She’s here with me,” she called out.

Everyone’s gaze snapped to her. Seeing the toddler safely nestled by Shen Qingyu’s side, Lin Yunxia let out a massive sigh of relief. Then, she looked puzzled. “How did she get all the way over there?”

An Songyu rubbed his chin and muttered, “Maybe it’s that mother-daughter connection.”

The cave conditions were primitive; they had merely laid a wooden board on a raised ledge and used sleeping bags. It wasn’t impossible for a toddler to crawl from one end to the other.

Xu Bairan nodded in agreement. “I saw it on TV once. Babies are very sensitive to the scents of the people around them. Maybe she smelled Sister Qingyu.”

“So that’s it,” Miao Jialing mused. Beside them, the child’s dark eyes fluttered open, clear as a mountain spring. She looked at the group curiously, as if she understood every word they were saying.

Now that everyone was awake, there was no point in going back to sleep. They began to wash up and prepare for the day. Lin Yunxia approached Shen Qingyu curiously, offering a polite greeting.

“Hello. We are the Longyu Squad, the Captain’s teammates.” She gestured to her somewhat eccentric companions as she introduced them. “This is An Songyu, a Earth-type Esper and our senior member. He used to be a—”

Before she could finish, Shen Qingyu cut in. “He was a police officer. I know him. Level 4 Earth-type, very strong sense of justice.”

She then swept her gaze over the others.

“Miao Jialing, a girl of the Miao people. Fire-type, master of Gu.”

“Lu Yan, a feline shifter. A natural assassin with the power of Shadow Cloak.”

“Xu Bairan, Wood-type. Physically frail but exceptionally powerful.”

Her descriptions were so pinpoint accurate that the team was stunned. Lu Yan’s eyes went wide, and she let out a series of confused “meows,” batting at her own head with her tail.

Strange. Shadow Cloak is a new ability I just awakened. How does she know?

Seeing Lu Yan’s suspicious gaze, Shen Qingyu felt a chill. She realized she had said too much. She blinked and tried to cover her tracks. “You’re the famous Longyu Squad. Who hasn’t heard of you?”

In reality, her internal shock was just as great as theirs. The Longyu Squad had been founded by her and Jiang Weiqing together. They had even used the “Yu” from her name to christen it. How could her own teammates not recognize her?

But their unfamiliarity didn’t seem faked. They truly looked like they were meeting her for the first time. The weight of this mystery pressed down on her like a heavy, dark cloud.

If it were just Jiang Weiqing, that heartless woman might have faked it to marry her first love. But the others? These were the teammates she and Jiang Weiqing had hand-picked for their character. They wouldn’t play along with such a cruel charade.

Unless… Her mind raced, searching for a thread in the labyrinth of her thoughts. Did the entire Longyu Squad lose their memories except for me?

Or, there was the darker possibility: they were all on Jiang Weiqing’s side, intentionally acting to deceive her. She shook her head, forcing herself to stop overthinking.

“Are we really that famous?” An Songyu asked, scratching the back of his head. “How does everyone know our backgrounds so clearly?”

“I’ve just heard people talking,” Shen Qingyu said simply.

Jiang Weiqing’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. An Songyu’s former life as a cop was something they had never made public.

Miao Jialing, seemingly accepting the answer, asked, “Sister Qingyu, which base were you at before?”

By all logic, someone as powerful as a Level 5 Metal Esper couldn’t be a nobody in the wasteland. Yet the Captain had searched for three years without finding a trace of her. Jialing didn’t even notice that, despite this being their “first” meeting, she was already using a familiar honorific with Shen Qingyu.

Shen Qingyu felt a bitter sense of irony. She was the one who helped recruit these people. Looking at their curious faces, she suppressed her emotions, her voice sounding muffled.

“Just a very small base. You probably haven’t heard of it,” she said with finality.

Jialing wanted to pry further, but Yunxia nudged her shoulder and glanced at the child, signaling her to drop it. If she didn’t want to talk, they should respect that.

“Let’s have breakfast,” Yunxia suggested with a gentle smile. “I still have half a bag of soy milk to warm up for the baby.”

Shen Qingyu shook her head. “No need. I have milk powder for her.” She pulled a tin of formula, a bottle, a small bowl, and a spoon from her backpack.

The child’s eyes lit up at the sight. She nuzzled against Shen Qingyu. “Mama, hungry. Hungry, num-nums.”

Though she called both women “Mama,” she was clearly more affectionate with Shen Qingyu, her voice trailing off in a sweet whine.

“Does the baby eat solid food too?” Jiang Weiqing asked, surprised.

Shen Qingyu nodded. “Yes. She loves ‘cooking,’ and she even ‘makes’ her own meals.”

“She cooks?” An Songyu and the others crowded around, fascinated. “Baby, what can you make? Can we have some?”

The child puffed out her chest and gave a big thumbs-up to herself. “Yes! Very good at it!” Her milky voice was firm and full of confidence. She turned to Shen Qingyu and declared, “Mama, I cook!” She said it so fluently it was clear she said it often.

Jiang Weiqing didn’t join the huddle. She arched an eyebrow at Shen Qingyu and smirked. “Is her cooking actually good?”

Shen Qingyu blinked, as if savoring a memory, and then nodded solemnly. “It’s good.”

Shen Qingyu didn’t look like she was lying. Combined with her own curiosity about how a toddler who could barely walk could make anything edible, Jiang Weiqing joined the list of “customers.”

Seeing the crowd, the child’s smile grew even wider. Just as they were wondering how she would pull it off, a surge of energy rippled from Shen Qingyu.

Suddenly, a miniature kitchen appeared beside the child. It was perfectly tailored to her size—a palm-sized iron pot, a tiny spatula, and even a miniature spice rack and bowls.

The child couldn’t manage many words yet, so she turned to Shen Qingyu and began babbling in “baby talk.” Shen Qingyu seemed to understand perfectly, manifesting eggs, small silver fish, and vegetables in her hands.

An Songyu watched, dumbfounded. He swallowed hard. “Are you a… Space-type Esper?”

The odds of awakening Space powers were less than one in ten thousand. They could store vast amounts of food and halt the spoilage process indefinitely. Whatever went in came out exactly the same. Even the top scientists at the Research Institute could only extend shelf life by a month at most.

Shen Qingyu nodded calmly. “I collected a lot of supplies at the start of the apocalypse.” To put it mildly, she had enough to feed herself and the child for the rest of their lives.

Miao Jialing and Lin Yunxia looked at her with envy. Space meant security. It meant never going hungry. They had all known the gnawing ache of starvation in the early days, a feeling one never forgot.

Lu Yan was already at Shen Qingyu’s feet, meowing piteously with wide, “Puss-in-Boots” eyes. Shen Qingyu’s hand flicked, and a fresh carp appeared in the air. Lu Yan snatched it mid-fall, her eyes turning even more fawning.

Jiang Weiqing watched the pathetic display and rubbed her temples. “Does she have any dignity left as a member of this squad?”

Xu Bairan answered with brutal honesty. “What’s dignity? Can you eat it?”

Jiang Weiqing, speechless, tweaked his ear and shooed him away. “Go study your lessons.”

Schools had been destroyed long ago, but the squad insisted the boy get an education. They made a point of scavaging textbooks whenever they were out on missions. Xu Bairan sighed but obediently pulled out a book and began reciting ancient poetry.

Once Bairan was settled, Yunxia’s voice reached Jiang Weiqing. “Captain… the baby finished ‘cooking’ for us.”

Jiang Weiqing turned, her curiosity piqued. “Why is your face so pale?” she asked Yunxia, who looked as if she’d seen a ghost.

Though the child “cooked,” she was still small; Lin Yunxia had acted as her sous-chef to handle the dangerous parts like the stove. Yunxia pointed a trembling finger at the dishes. “Because… the baby’s recipes are very ‘creative’.”

The others crowded around, and their gazes shuddered as they saw the food.

On a long slice of bread, dozens of glutinous rice balls were packed tightly, drizzled with black sesame paste. From a distance, it looked like a cluster of freshly harvested eyeballs. It was harrowing.

Jiang Weiqing licked her lips, lost for words. She looked at the next dish.

A bowl of eerie, glowing green steamed eggs sat on a plate, surrounded by a ring of small silver fish pointing straight up toward the sky. Their dead, white eyes stared back. It was a culinary nightmare.

Then there was a bowl of deep, reddish-purple soup. Floating inside were purple wisps and octopus tentacles positioned as if they might crawl out of the bowl at any moment.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Shen Qingyu prompted. Beside her, the toddler let out an encouraging “aya-yi-ya!”

Under the child’s expectant gaze, Jiang Weiqing and the others could only raise their chopsticks with trembling hands.

In ancient times, the great hero Yu passed his home three times without entering while taming the floods. Today, the Longyu Squad faced “Lovecraftian” cuisine, and they were caught in a desperate dilemma: to eat, or not to eat!

Support