Chapter 53: I Get Jealous Too

“Why did he shrink?” Chu Xihen stared at the small white tiger rolling on the ground, acting cute, his face full of confusion.

Lou Su speculated, “It’s probably a self-protection mechanism triggered by severe injuries.”

But wasn’t this kind of self-protection a little too risky? Transforming into a small, unintelligent white tiger only made him more vulnerable to potential threats.

For instance, right now, Chu Xihen couldn’t resist picking up the fluffy little creature and “tormenting” it with affectionate pats and rubs.

Lou Su narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the ball of fluff in Chu Xihen’s arms.

“What skill attribute did you choose?” Lou Su forced himself to soften his gaze and looked away from the white tiger.

“What about you?” Chu Xihen countered without answering, or rather, he was so preoccupied with petting the tiger that he didn’t feel like responding.

Lou Su: “…”

What was he supposed to do if his latent frustration toward animal abuse started surfacing?

He took a deep breath to calm himself before replying, “I chose a Dark attribute skill for Ling Yao. I read the description—it’s very compatible with his beast-taming ability.”

Fearing that Chu Xihen might misunderstand his intentions toward the overly attention-grabbing little tiger, Lou Su quickly explained further: “He passed out saving me, and since he doesn’t have a suitable ability yet, I figured I’d pick one for him. I already have Wind abilities, so I can always choose another skill later.”

Ling Yao was unconscious and unable to select a skill for himself. If left unchosen, the reward system would assign a random one to his inventory, which might not suit him at all.

Chu Xihen nodded. “I know. That’s why I picked a Wind attribute skill for you.”

The skill Chu Xihen chose was called [Time Slice], described as: The wind can cut through time.

Though its exact effects were unclear, just from its description, it seemed like it could synergize perfectly with Lou Su’s Time Rewind. It felt like a rare opportunity not to be missed.

He retrieved the skill from his inventory and tossed it to Lou Su.

Catching it with both hands, Lou Su felt a twinge of discomfort in his heart. “What about you?”

If he remembered correctly, Chu Xihen still didn’t have any elemental abilities.

“I don’t need one,” Chu Xihen replied casually.

Don’t need one?

Lou Su had mentally prepared several possible responses from Chu Xihen but hadn’t expected this answer: I don’t need one.

How could anyone not need an ability? In this post-apocalyptic world where survival depended on powers, having an ability was essential to staying alive.

If Chu Xihen said he didn’t need one, there were only two possibilities: either he already had an ability or he didn’t care about living anymore.

While Lou Su knew that Chu Xihen harbored some degree of weariness toward life, it hadn’t reached the point where he wanted to give up entirely.

That left only the first possibility—Chu Xihen already had an ability.

But so far, Lou Su had never seen him use one.

Though suspicion brewed in his mind, Lou Su refrained from pressing further. He knew now wasn’t the right time. Pushing too hard would only create distance between them.

“Then I won’t hold back,” Lou Su said with a faint smile. “I noticed this skill while selecting rewards earlier—it seemed promising but lacked detailed information. I’ll need to study it further.” He raised the skill card in his hand and immediately chose to learn it. The card dissolved into light particles between his slender fingers and disappeared.

“By the way,” Lou Su began after learning the skill, recalling their encounter in the instance. “Did you figure out what kind of ability Guan Yu was using? Controlling so many people at once is no small feat.”

Chu Xihen replied, “Probably something like a puppeteer ability. When he controlled his four teammates during combat, his fingers kept moving as if they were marionettes on strings.”

However, there were countless variations of such abilities. Even Chu Xihen couldn’t pinpoint its exact name.

“But Wang Heng and Ding Hui seemed different—they turned against us temporarily.” If Wang Heng and Ding Hui hadn’t suddenly betrayed them mid-battle, Ling Yao wouldn’t have ended up as a tiny white tiger being hugged by Chu Xihen right now!

Chu Xihen nodded thoughtfully. “I suspect they were hypnotized at the last moment. Guan Yu likely has more than one ability.”

This suspicion stemmed from how Ding Hui regained clarity immediately after Wang Heng died shielding Guan Yu from an arrow. In contrast, those controlled by Guan Yu’s fingers showed no signs of regaining consciousness even in death.

“This guy is ruthless—and it seems like he’s developed a grudge against me. We’ll need to be cautious in future instances,” Lou Su warned. When Guan Yu exited the instance earlier, Lou Su could clearly sense his intense hatred.

What stood out most was that Guan Yu’s animosity wasn’t directed at him personally but at his ability—Time Rewind.

When Lou Su used Time Rewind to save Ling Yao, Guan Yu had explicitly called out its name.

But those words—Time Rewind—were something Lou Su had only ever heard from Chu Xihen before. Until then, he had always referred to his power as Instant Kill. This suggested that Guan Yu might have mistaken him for someone else entirely.

“Mm,” Chu Xihen responded softly.

He thought back carefully but couldn’t recall ever encountering someone like Guan Yu before. Then again, he had made plenty of enemies over time; who knew how many more “Guan Yus” they might run into in future instances? Retirement seemed further away than ever—how annoying!

With that topic closed, Lou Su shifted focus to their points gained from this instance.

“In addition to the base 200 points for clearing the instance, we earned an extra 3,700 points—likely 1% of our total points accumulated during the instance.” This significant haul was thanks entirely to Chu Xihen taking down all of Guan Yu’s controlled puppets at the end.

Before killing them off, none of them realized those four weren’t actually Guan Yu’s teammates but rather survivors from other teams still listed on the leaderboard.

“Not bad,” Chu Xihen remarked. “Let’s use them all on experience cards so you guys can level up your abilities first. I’ll handle exchanging for living supplies.”

Experience cards cost 10 points each. Upgrading an ability from Level 1 to Level 2 required just 10 cards; beyond that, leveling up required exponentially more cards—50 times the level number. As abilities became harder to upgrade over time, points earned in instances grew increasingly valuable.

Unfortunately for Chu Xihen, his own stash of points couldn’t be transferred and could only be used for basic supplies in his inventory store—though they did help improve their team’s quality of life significantly.

“Alright,” Lou Su agreed readily without questioning further.

With some time left before dawn broke, Lou Su suggested that Chu Xihen rest while he kept watch and studied his newly acquired skill.

The night air was chilly, but with a small white tiger nestled in his arms like a warm hand warmer, Chu Xihen didn’t feel cold at all.

Once Chu Xihen fell asleep, Lou Su attempted to quietly lift the little white tiger out of his arms—but the tiny creature burrowed deeper into Chu Xihen’s embrace as if refusing to leave any chance for separation.

Lou Su couldn’t help but entertain a rather wicked thought: once morning came and it got too hot for Chu Xihen to keep holding onto it willingly… maybe he’d tie the little tiger up and hang it from an umbrella handle!

But when dawn finally arrived later than expected, it wasn’t accompanied by scorching sunlight as usual. Though temperatures remained high—within tolerable limits—the ground even sprouted fresh green grass!

“Hot? Want me to hold it for a while?” Lou Su offered nonchalantly as they prepared to travel under 40-degree heat with nothing but a paper umbrella for shade. Surely carrying a small tiger would become unbearable soon enough—and his reasoning seemed flawless!

“It’s fine—not too hot,” Chu Xihen replied casually.

Lou Su’s handsome face fell slightly. “You’ve been holding it all night!”

“What? Are you jealous?” Chu Xihen teased with amusement as he glanced at Lou Su knowingly.

“A little,” Lou Su admitted honestly.

But then Chu Xihen smirked and said something unexpected: “Have you ever considered that if I let you hold it… I’d get jealous too?”