Surviving the apocalypse with a wife and a system! [GL]

But around LiLi, that coldness disappeared almost completely. She was patient. She was gentle. She played with the little girl, listened to her stories, helped her with food, and never once treated her like an inconvenience.

Yan Cijin had noticed those things long before she realized how much they mattered to her.

Now she watched Bai Li playing with LiLi and quietly thought that this woman had somehow managed to find her way into every corner of her life.

At first, Bai Li had only been someone Yan Cijin had to cooperate with because the world had ended and survival mattered more than anything else.

Then she had become someone she could rely on.

Then someone she trusted.

Then someone whose footsteps she could recognize without looking up.

Then someone whose voice could calm her even when she was angry.

And somewhere between one day and another, she had become someone Yan Cijin could no longer imagine losing.

Yan Cijin lowered her eyes.

It was almost funny.

She had lived through things that would have broken most people. She had seen the world collapse. She had experienced things she had never told anyone about. She carried secrets that were too strange to explain and memories that belonged to more than one life. In another time, in another life, she might have laughed at the idea of falling in love during the apocalypse.

Yet here she was.

She had fallen in love with Bai Li so quietly that even Bai Li did not seem to realize it.

Perhaps that was because Yan Cijin herself had not realized it at first either.

She had spent so long protecting her heart that she had forgotten what it felt like to let someone get close.

And Bai Li had never forced her way in.

That was what had made the difference.

Bai Li did not ask her to explain everything.

She did not demand answers about her past.

She did not question every strange thing about her.

She simply treated Yan Cijin with respect.

That respect had slowly become something Yan Cijin treasured more than she wanted to admit.

There were many things about Bai Li that still made her suspicious. Yan Cijin already knew that Bai Li had known about the apocalypse beforehand. That much had become impossible to deny. Bai Li’s knowledge was simply too accurate, too broad, and too consistent. Her strange abilities made things even more mysterious. Yan Cijin had no idea exactly how far those abilities went, and despite her curiosity, she had never pushed Bai Li too hard.

Perhaps part of that was because Yan Cijin had her own secrets.

She had her own hidden power.

Her own memories.

Her own history that Bai Li knew nothing about.

There were things Yan Cijin still had not revealed about her previous reincarnations. There were abilities buried beneath layers of control that even now she had not shown completely. She had already learned that some truths could not be explained until the right time came.

So how could she ask Bai Li to reveal every secret when she herself was not ready to reveal hers?

It was better to trust.

And after these few weeks together, Yan Cijin realized something else.

It did not really matter anymore where Bai Li’s powers came from.

It did not matter where her information came from.

It did not matter how strong she actually was.

She was Bai Li.

That was enough.

Bai Li was the woman who never treated her like she was less capable simply because she was a woman.

The woman who never mocked her for asking questions.

The woman who would silently leave the better piece of meat on Yan Cijin’s plate and pretend she had not done it.

The woman who noticed when LiLi was tired.

The woman who understood that sometimes silence was more useful than advice.

The woman who could be terribly stubborn, unbelievably reckless, and far too protective for her own good, yet still somehow make Yan Cijin feel safer than she had in years.

The realization should have frightened her.

Instead, it made her heart ache with a strange warmth.

Bai Li finally stood and looked toward her.

”Cijin, can I talk to you about something?”

Yan Cijin nodded.

”Of course.”

Bai Li looked at LiLi.

”Can she stay here?”

Yan Cijin understood immediately.

”LiLi, go sit in the other room for a little while.”

LiLi looked between them with curious eyes.

”Is it secret?”

Bai Li smiled.

”A little.”

LiLi nodded very seriously as if she had just been given an important mission.

”Okay.”

She picked up one of her dolls and walked away.

Once LiLi was out of earshot, Bai Li pulled out a chair and sat down.

Yan Cijin watched her.

”You look serious.”

”I am.”

That made Yan Cijin sit straighter.

”What happened?”

Bai Li took a slow breath.

”The system told me something important.”

Yan Cijin’s eyes flickered.

She had expected something like this eventually.

Over the past few weeks, she had learned that Bai Li’s mysterious source of information could not be judged by ordinary standards. Sometimes Bai Li seemed to know exactly what would happen before it happened. Other times she would suddenly become thoughtful for no obvious reason and then make a decision that turned out to save everyone from a danger they had not even noticed.

Yan Cijin had questions.

Many of them.

But she did not ask them now.

She simply waited.

Bai Li began slowly.

”A new opportunity has appeared.”

”What kind of opportunity?”

”The kind that could change things for us.”

Yan Cijin narrowed her eyes slightly.

Bai Li continued.

”The system called it the Golden Fruit of Immortality.”

Yan Cijin’s eyebrows lifted.

”Immortality?”

Bai Li shook her head.

”Not literal immortality. The name is just the name of the fruit. It won’t make someone live forever. But the effect is still amazing.”

She paused, gathering her thoughts.

”The fruit grows on a mutated pomelo tree.

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TO BE CONTINUED.