Before Yan Qiongyu woke up, Wang Luan went to check the nearby area. She walked two kilometers out, yet the scenery around her remained unchanged.
An endless wasteland, yellow sand and broken stones, with the occasional stone slope or two. She did not see a single living thing, nor did she find any plants. Apart from the sound of her own footsteps, there was only the howling wind.
The only fellow sufferer was still unconscious at the original spot. To prevent any accidents, she could only turn back.
Yan Qiongyu refused to wake up, and she could not just sit there waiting forever, so she turned her gaze to that battered airship.
The airship had been violently ravaged within the twisted spatial nodes. After crashing onto the barren planet, it was almost completely disintegrated. Repairing it and flying back was impossible, but in this desolate place where there was nothing, there were still some things inside the airship that could be reused. So she began dismantling the airship’s components.
She usually stayed in her workshop researching various convenient living devices of this world, and had also pondered the structures of airships and flying vessels. At this moment, dismantling the airship went rather smoothly.
Influenced by Yan Qiongyu’s habit of carrying medical equipment with him in folding capsules, she had also bought many folding capsules to carry some items with her, such as her commonly used tool kit and self-defense equipment.
During the time Yan Qiongyu lay unconscious, she took her tool kit and, like dismantling a crab, took apart half of the usable components from the airship.
The inflatable pad bed Yan Qiongyu was lying on was something she had simply made by dismantling a safety airbag.
After briefly explaining the current situation to Yan Qiongyu, Wang Luan looked at his contemplative face and felt relaxed. With a living person beside her, the howling, windswept wasteland did not feel so frightening anymore.
Wang Luan had never liked thinking too far ahead. She preferred to deal with what was right in front of her, such as her current filthy state. She had not noticed it while dismantling things earlier, but now her whole body felt uncomfortable.
Yan Qiongyu noticed her mood and shifted his thoughts away from the mad Fifth Prince, the Wang family’s movements, and Prince Lu Xin, turning instead to more realistic problems.
In the coming days, before the Wang family or others found them, how were they to survive on this barren planet?
“We’ll probably need to first look for a water source and food,” Yan Qiongyu frowned.
He had not anticipated the current situation. When it came to survival on a barren planet, his knowledge was completely blank. After all, he had been confined to the Imperial Capital Star for more than ten years, and had rarely even left the omega academy.
Judging only by their surroundings, food and water would likely be very difficult to secure.
Just as Yan Qiongyu was thinking this, Wang Luan stood up and brought out a strange-looking object from behind a rock.
That thing looked like an upside-down umbrella, with a pile of makeshift materials underneath. Yan Qiongyu felt that the inverted umbrella somewhat resembled a certain component from inside the airship.
“I made a water-collecting tool, but during the day the sun is strong here and the air is dry. It only starts collecting at night. In about three hours, it’s only collected this much water,” Wang Luan sighed.
She looked at the water, her eyes dull. “This little bit of water is only enough for drinking, not enough to wash my hair.”
A moment ago, Yan Qiongyu had been worrying about drinking water. Now, looking at the small half-basin of water in the container, his expression turned subtle, unsure whether it was surprise or astonishment. “…Miss Wang Luan, are you sure this water can be drunk?”
Wang Luan said, “It can be drunk. I tested it with a detector.”
She then took out a small gadget with a display screen from the side and showed it to him. “Look, the test data.”
Yan Qiongyu recognized that display screen as a small monitoring screen from the airship. He did not know how she had dismantled it and modified it into a detector display screen.
Yan Qiongyu asked, “How do you know how to do all this?”
Wang Luan retorted, “Didn’t you see me making things in the workshop?”
After coming to this world, she felt that many things here were far more convenient and efficient than in her original world. In addition, the original body’s Wang Luan liked mecha and machinery, and she might have been influenced by that as well.
Being confined in the Wang family with nothing to do, she could only play with these things. Making things by hand became enjoyable, and since she was fairly talented, she ended up learning a lot.
It was just that she had never expected there would come a day when it would actually be useful.
Yan Qiongyu was momentarily taken aback by her question.
Indeed, she often stayed in the workshop with her head down dismantling things, but every time he saw her, it was always just scattered parts. He did not know what those things were, nor did he often look closely at what she was actually doing, so he had never realized she possessed such skills.
Of course, he had to be grateful to Miss Wang Luan, who had quietly given him such an unexpected surprise. Otherwise, he truly would not have known how to find a water source in a place like this.
As for food…
“For food, I only have these few nutrient solutions.” Wang Luan took out several tubes of nutrient solution from a compressed capsule.
They were meant to replenish energy when she got too hungry during training. She had casually put them into her portable compressed capsule, and there were only these few.
She handed one to Yan Qiongyu, signaling for him to eat.
Yan Qiongyu took one but did not eat it. Instead, he asked, “What else did you make?”
“Nothing else,” Wang Luan replied, her mind still thinking about how to find more water.
Unfortunately, there were not enough water-absorbing materials for collecting water. Otherwise, if she could make a dozen or so water storage tools, she would be able to take a bath.
“This is already very good. At least the drinking water problem is solved. Tomorrow, we’ll go take another look around,” Yan Qiongyu said, quietly leaning back a little as he spoke.
He had not been awake for long, and his body was actually still very weak.
An omega’s physical constitution was naturally no match for a strong alpha’s. Right now, he looked no different from usual, but in fact, the sense of turbulence in his head had not subsided since he woke up. As he spoke with Wang Luan, the dizziness grew worse and worse, his vision darkened, and he even felt like vomiting. He could not even drink the nutrient solution.
But he did not want to show weakness. Their situation was already unfavorable. If he appeared weak under such circumstances, he would become a burden to Wang Luan. She might make some choices he did not want to see—abandoning him or harming him.
He still needed her, so he had to steady her.
“Miss Wang Luan must be very tired. Why don’t you rest early?” Yan Qiongyu suggested with a smile.
Wang Luan turned her head and carefully looked at him, fiddling with the gravel on the ground.
She did not know whether Yan Qiongyu himself had noticed it, but the more he needed her cooperation, the gentler his attitude toward her became. Especially every time he smiled and called her Miss Wang Luan, something was definitely up.
She guessed that this young man, whose mind was full of schemes and calculations, was thinking about something complicated again.
Using the not-so-bright small lamp dismantled from the airship, she could see Yan Qiongyu’s unfocused eyes, his colorless lips, and the way his waist and back leaned slightly backward.
He was probably not feeling well.
“Oh, then let’s rest. We’ll talk about anything tomorrow,” she said, taking off her filthy outer clothes, then wiping her face with a dry cloth. At least she looked a bit cleaner now.
She was left wearing only a thin layer of close-fitting clothes. On this wasteland, when the wind blew, it was cold enough to make her shiver.
Taking advantage of the last bit of residual warmth, she lay down on the airbag bed and wrapped herself in the blanket. The blanket was a curtain dismantled from the airship. It was not very warm, but there was no choice—when there was nothing, one could only make do.
Yan Qiongyu also slowly got up and sat down beside her. Under these circumstances, he obviously could not suggest sleeping separately, because there was only this one place fit for sleeping, and with the sharp drop in temperature on the barren planet at night, staying together would better resist the cold.
Each of them had their own concerns as they silently lay down on the small airbag bed.
The bed was probably less than 1.2 meters wide, naturally no match for the nearly three-meter-wide bed in the Wang family residence, where two people could lie down and turn over without touching even a single finger of the other.
As soon as Yan Qiongyu lay down, he bumped into Wang Luan, their arms and legs pressed together.
About three seconds later, Wang Luan suddenly shrank back, opening up a thin gap between them. Yan Qiongyu felt that she seemed to be rubbing her arms. Her old problem had probably flared up again.
He also felt the cold wind pouring in through the gap between their bodies, carrying away the warmth from him.
After weighing the current situation for a moment, he reached out to press down on Wang Luan’s arm, pulling her into his embrace, and said, “Please come a bit closer. I’m very cold.”
Perhaps because the night wind was too cold, Wang Luan felt that even Yan Qiongyu’s voice sounded chilly.
Once she could not see the smile on Yan Qiongyu’s face, hearing only his voice made it seem very cold and detached.
The two of them were not pressed together too tightly, yet Wang Luan felt goosebumps rising all over her body. Uncomfortable, she wanted to kick Yan Qiongyu away, but she could indeed feel the chill radiating from him.
She still had a bit of warmth on her body, but Yan Qiongyu was like a corpse—icy cold, without the slightest hint of heat.
Forget it, forget it. With a bitter expression, Wang Luan began to think aimlessly about other things, trying to distract herself and avoid focusing on the fact that their bodies were pressed together.
Yan Qiongyu’s hand rested on her abdomen. Apart from that initial movement, he held her without moving at all, very proper.
Since they had known each other, this was the first time they had been this intimate. Wang Luan felt uncomfortable, and she thought Yan Qiongyu would not feel much more at ease either. He looked gentle, but only on the surface—his sense of distance was heavier than anyone else’s.
Wang Luan lay there for a long time without falling asleep. Hearing Yan Qiongyu’s breathing grow steady beside her, she guessed he might have fallen asleep. She quietly tilted her head up to take a look, only to meet a pair of eyes that were half-lowered and unfocused.
In the dead of night, having someone stare at you with such a pale, expressionless face was rather frightening. If he were uglier, he would look like an evil ghost; since he was good-looking, he looked like a seductive ghost. Either way, he looked like a ghost.
“What is it, can’t sleep?” Yan Qiongyu’s expression shifted from December to May as he asked softly.
Speaking like this, so close together, right by her ear, was a bit too intimate. The hairs on the back of Wang Luan’s neck all stood on end. She felt that Yan Qiongyu might be doing it on purpose—if he was uncomfortable, he wanted her to be uncomfortable too.
She tucked her head in and moved away from Yan Qiongyu’s mouth, not wanting him to speak by her ear again.
Seeing her entire body shrink downward, her head nearly pressed against his chest, Yan Qiongyu tightened his arm around her, braced his foot against hers, and pulled her upward with force. “Don’t rub downward.”
Realizing the awkwardness of the position, Wang Luan could only move back again.
The wind outside grew even stronger, and from time to time, small bits of gravel were blown up and smashed against the airship shell surrounding the airbag bed.
For a long while, Wang Luan still could not fall asleep—not only because Yan Qiongyu was too close, but also because it was simply too cold. The hand Yan Qiongyu had clasped over her abdomen had been there for so long and was still like a block of cold iron, showing no sign of warming up.
If they slept like this all night, Yan Qiongyu would probably fall ill by tomorrow. If he really got sick, what would she do? She really did not want to dig a grave for someone on a barren planet.
After dismantling the airship for so long, Wang Luan belatedly began to feel worried.
“Bang… clang—”
At this very moment, as misfortune never comes singly, the airship shell that Wang Luan had piled up beside the airbag bed to block the wind was blown over by a sudden intensification of the gale. The cold wind puffed their blanket up like a sail.
Looking at the beautiful starry sky above and the beautiful young man beside her, Wang Luan said with tragic resignation, “At a time like this, I really miss a poem called ‘Song of the Thatched Cottage Torn Apart by the Autumn Wind.’”
After saying that, she climbed up in resignation, preparing to look for some materials to reinforce things, at least to block the wind.
