Ji Yuanchen sat opposite her, his body leaning towards her, his phoenix eyes fixed on her.

There weren’t many people near the conference table at this time. Qiao Yanrou quickly looked away and continued to wipe the remaining part of the table clean.

“How’s your body recovering?”

Ji Yuanchen’s voice was lazy and pleasant.

His concern surprised Qiao Yanrou, causing her to look up.

Seeing Ji Yuanchen looking at her, she confirmed he was asking her.

“It’s… almost fully recovered.” She wiped the table even faster.

Ji Yuanchen looked at her silently.

It wasn’t her imagination; Ji Yuanchen gave her the feeling of a predator staring at its prey…

“I found some tonics while gathering supplies outside and left them at your door.”

Qiao Yanrou completely stopped wiping the table, her expression utterly astonished, “Tonics…”

“Mm.” After telling her, Ji Yuanchen got up and left the conference table.

Qiao Yanrou was too surprised. Didn’t Ji Yuanchen hate people like her who held others back? Why… would he send her the tonics he had gathered?

After wiping the table and washing her hands, she went upstairs to the second floor. Several paper bags were placed at the entrance of the suite.

She brought the bags into the suite and looked through the contents. They were indeed some dried, nutritious ingredients, but the packaging looked brand new… not like something found while scavenging.

With some doubt, she put away the nutritious ingredients. She would find time to cook them in the next couple of days and send some to Ji Yuanchen next door. She didn’t have anything good to reciprocate his gift, so this was the only way to thank him.

In the evening, all the teams that had gone out to gather supplies returned before dark.

More ability users had gone out to gather supplies today. Seeing the crowd, Qiao Yanrou went to the tent to see if she could help.

These past few days, no one dared to let her help, especially with the inspection work in the tent.  You had to squat down to inspect something, then stand up again a few seconds later.

With many people, the repetitive movements were too much for her body, which had just recovered. What if she had a hypoglycemic episode and collapsed? She looked so fragile, like the wind could blow her away.

Moreover, Shen Luohan had told them not to let her help in the tent for now.

“Don’t work these few days. Get some rest.” The people in the tent advised her.

Qiao Yanrou was quite helpless, guessing that Shen Luohan had told them not to let her help.

She didn’t ask any further and left the tent.

As she left the tent, Liu Yan immediately glared at her, thinking that Zhang Keqing was still stronger. Brother Shen should be with Zhang Keqing; this Qiao Yanrou was too weak.

She muttered, “Besides being pretty and having a good personality, she has no other merits.”

Hearing her last sentence, others snickered.

“You’re right, Yanrou really doesn’t have any other flaws.” The woman who had spoken up for Qiao Yanrou a few days ago echoed humorously.

Liu Yan realized she had misspoken, turning merits into flaws.  She was annoyed and sat alone in her chair, sulking.

After leaving the tent, Qiao Yanrou went to the kitchen and, without saying a word, started helping prepare dinner for the ability users.

It wasn’t until everything was ready that Sister Lan saw Qiao Yanrou washing her hands with her abilities and insisted on taking her to eat.

Qiao Yanrou wasn’t used to eating with so many ability users, and she had many concerns, so it was safer to get her food and eat upstairs.

But Sister Lan had ulterior motives. She saw that Zhang Keqing, the newcomer to the base, had ulterior motives towards Shen Luohan and wanted Qiao Yanrou and Shen Luohan to show more affection to drive Zhang Keqing away.

It took a lot of effort to persuade Qiao Yanrou to sit at the table.  But she insisted on sitting at the very edge.

Sister Lan: “…”. She was utterly helpless. How could she possibly be Zhang Keqing’s opponent like this?

When the returning ability users filled the fragrant dining table, the dining hall became lively.

Two empty seats in the middle of the table were reserved for Shen Luohan and Ji Yuanchen.

As usual, Zhang Keqing sat next to Shen Luohan, glancing over and noticing that Qiao Yanrou was also there.

Qiao Yanrou was waiting for dinner when she heard a familiar voice to her left.

“Bai Xiaoyan, move over.” Shen Luohan asked Bai Xiaoyan to move over.

Bai Xiaoyan, who also wanted to sit next to Qiao Yanrou, moved over reluctantly.

Shen Luohan, seemingly oblivious to others, put his arm around her waist and looked at her sideways.

Qiao Yanrou smiled at him, but the next second, she felt his hand tighten around her waist.

The ability users at the table rarely saw them show affection. This scene was undeniably eye-catching; a handsome man and a beautiful woman, pleasing to the eye.

Ji Yuanchen remained calm, eating as usual.

Zhang Keqing chatted with the other ability users about the interesting things that happened while gathering supplies, and everyone was having a good time.

Bai Xiaoyan, also a member of the supply-gathering team, chatted with the other ability users.

“…Brother Shen saved me. Brother Shen saved me several times. Once, I almost got bitten by a zombie, and Brother Shen picked me up…”

Zhang Keqing stopped abruptly, looking as if she had said something wrong.

Her pause only drew more attention.

The other ability users glanced at Qiao Yanrou, who was sitting next to Shen Luohan, and didn’t dare to speak.

When Qiao Yanrou heard “picked me up,” her chopsticks paused, then she continued eating.

Shen Luohan, who occasionally participated in the conversation, frowned and corrected her, “He lifted me up.”

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Many ability users quite liked Qiao Yanrou and didn’t want to see her upset.

Zhang Keqing, far from being embarrassed, stuck out her tongue at Shen Luohan, emphasizing their closeness.

Qiao Yanrou silently ate her food, neither angry nor upset.

An extra piece of braised pork belly, all lean meat, appeared in her bowl.

“Eat more,” Shen Luohan’s voice followed.