"Are you all full?"
Zhou Haimei's sudden voice broke the peace.
The others nodded. Seeing that they had eaten quite a bit, Xu An took the lead in clearing away the leftover food from the table.
After everything was cleaned up, Xu An quietly asked Zhou Haimei,
"Do you want to eat fruit?"
Zhou Haimei was slightly surprised, "You have fruit here?"
Xu An nodded proudly.
Turning around, she saw Chu Yu and Qin Chuan standing like door gods at the kitchen entrance.
Zhou Haimei felt a headache coming on.
"The meal is finished, why are you two still here?"
Although Xu An's voice was low, Qin Chuan still heard it.
"Haven't we finished discussing our business? Moreover..." Qin Chuan looked at Xu An calmly, "You two can't hog it all, we want some too!"
He then deliberately looked at Chu Yu, as if seeking an ally.
He didn't really intend to freeload at Xu An's place.
It was just that the amount of information he received today was too much to digest.
Chu Yu felt the same way. Rather than staying in his cold home, it felt more lively to be at Xu An's.
He hadn't felt such a lively atmosphere in a long time.
In the past, to hide his identity, Chu Yu had always been a loner, and he thought he had grown accustomed to this life.
But today, even though the four of them, with their own agendas, were gathered together, the warmth of human life still made Chu Yu linger.
Even he himself hadn't realized that he could sit and eat with Qin Chuan, with whom he had a life-or-death barrier, without any defenses.
He didn't even hesitate, nodding in agreement with Qin Chuan's words and requesting to stay.
"Xu An, you're not being fair. Hiding good things and trying to send us away?"
The smile in his eyes was so full it was almost overflowing.
Xu An looked at the two men standing opposite her with a headache, saying helplessly,
"Eat and then you two leave!"
Qin Chuan and Chu Yu smiled at this, but Zhou Haimei looked displeased.
"An'an, why give it to them? There wasn't much to begin with, and you're giving it to these two."
The two gentlemen instinctively touched their noses, looking embarrassed.
"If there isn't much, we don't want it."
Xu An first pulled Zhou Haimei, then said to the two, "It's fine, I stored a lot before, but it's all frozen. Don't mind it."
Saying that, she walked to the balcony and, from the bottom layer, found the freeze-dried fruit she had made with her mother.
She actually had fresh fruit in her space, but those were only for her and her mother to eat when no one was around, and she couldn't take them out in front of so many people.
Because of the extreme cold period, food supply on the lighthouse was difficult, so Xu An thought of making some freeze-dried fruit.
That way, she could take it out when she really wanted to eat it.
Even if it was discovered, it wouldn't be too out of place to say it was made beforehand and taken out to eat now.
"I got these during previous supply runs. I traded some meat for freeze-dried fruit. They seemed to have been a fruit canning factory. After the great disaster, they rapidly froze all the raw materials using freezing technology. They said these fruits could be stored indefinitely as long as they weren't thawed repeatedly."
Xu An was also afraid of causing trouble for herself, so she made up an excuse to gloss over it.
This reason was vague, making it hard to distinguish from the truth.
After all, the centralized distribution times were different each time, so no one could verify Xu An's claim of finding a canning factory.
However, the people present seemed more interested in the freeze-dried fruit in Xu An's hands.
As for Xu An's excuse, they just listened and chuckled.
A unique revolutionary friendship seemed to have formed between them.
They held each other's lifelines, capable of ending each other at any moment.
Yet, they were now incredibly in sync.
After Xu An took it out, Zhou Haimei smiled happily, "Wow, there's yellow peach and strawberry! Bao'er, I'm going to love you to death. Do you know how long it's been since I've eaten these? I dream of eating canned yellow peaches."
Xu An smiled indulgently, "If you want to eat them, I'll boil some for you later and you can take them when you leave. However, once these freeze-dried fruits thaw, they must be eaten all at once, otherwise they'll spoil easily."
Zhou Haimei nodded vigorously, "An'an, you are my god!"
This sentence made the two gentlemen present awkwardly fiddle with their toes, and even Xu An looked embarrassed.
Qin Chuan watched Zhou Haimei hug Xu An's waist and muttered, "Such an old joke, still playing it now."
Zhou Haimei, whose eyes were entirely captivated by the fruit in Xu An's hands, couldn't be bothered to respond to Qin Chuan.
Xu An soaked all the freeze-dried fruit in water and then brought it to the table.
Xu An hadn't turned on the heating before, thinking they would eat hot pot together, so she hadn't thought much about it.
But now that the hot pot was removed, she felt a chill creeping into her bones.
Xu An turned on the air conditioning in the room. Seeing Xu An's actions, Qin Chuan noticed she wasn't using the heating card he had given her before.
He frowned and walked to Xu An's side.
"Why aren't you using the card I gave you?"
"My own electricity card still has money on it, and I haven't been home much these past few days. Besides, aren't your electricity cards activated every half a month? There should still be a few days left, right?"
Xu An looked at Qin Chuan inexplicably. She didn't know why, but she had a strange feeling that Qin Chuan seemed to be angry.
Angry?
Angry that she didn't use the electricity card he gave her? That seemed a bit absurd.
But Xu An didn't think of anything else. After turning on the air conditioning, she returned to the living room.
"It will be warm soon, please sit down."
After hearing Xu An's explanation, Qin Chuan returned to his seat somewhat awkwardly. He had thought Xu An was unhappy with him for not using the card.
He hadn't expected it was because the card hadn't been activated yet.
Xu An ignored the strange look in Qin Chuan's eyes.
"What did you do with Weng Quan's body?" Zhou Haimei asked.
"It was given to his girlfriend. However, we removed the parts where the problem was found. I estimate Xia Jin would be furious when he sees it."
Qin Chuan recalled that when he decided to surgically remove half of Weng Quan's brain where the mycelium was found, not only he, but even Zhou Zhe, were astonished.
At that time, Zhou Zhe perfectly embodied what it meant to be pitiful, helpless, and weak.
Zhou Zhe trembled, "Boss, do we really have to cut open the brain?"
Qin Chuan looked at him without changing his expression, saying nothing, but his actions spoke volumes.
"Stop the nonsense."
Only then did Zhou Zhe realize what it meant when he said, "The devil is actually by my side."