Xu An did not respond to the other party, but she still took the words to heart.
She stepped into the footprints Qin Chuan had already made and cautiously followed.
Qin Chuan's footprints were well-defined, and when Xu An stepped into them,
the prints, which were a size larger than hers, perfectly encased the soles of her shoes. They were steady, without the feeling of sinking into the snowflakes.
Xu An had indeed suspected that Qin Chuan might have done this deliberately to make it easier for her to follow.
But then, she wondered if she was being overly sentimental.
So she shook her head again, dispelling the absurd thought.
With a clear mind, she continued to follow Qin Chuan's back.
Before long, Qin Chuan led Xu An past the house of the woman they had asked for directions earlier.
Xu An saw that Qin Chuan, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped, as if in a daze.
She had been looking down, searching for Qin Chuan's footprints behind him, and not noticing Qin Chuan stop, she ran straight into his back.
The moment her forehead collided with Qin Chuan's back, Xu An remembered that Qin Chuan had an injury on his back.
Her expression became a little tense, "Are you alright? I didn't mean to. Is your back injury okay?"
Looking up, she found that Qin Chuan had merely glanced casually at the house over there before shaking his head, "I'm fine, let's keep moving."
Xu An had a hunch that Qin Chuan must have had some encounter with the villagers here, but since Qin Chuan was unwilling to talk about it, she couldn't keep asking.
Watching Qin Chuan resume walking, Xu An followed along the footprints he left.
It was only now that she felt the awkward atmosphere between them.
Even Xu An herself didn't know how to define her relationship with Qin Chuan.
If she called them friends, she felt their relationship hadn't reached that level, but if she considered them strangers,
Xu An had indeed experienced countless near-death situations with Qin Chuan.
Xu An chose not to dwell on things that made her too uncomfortable and decided to let nature take its course.
With this thought, her curiosity grew immense about what Qin Chuan's unit had encountered before they arrived.
Even Chu Yu, whom they met at the southern base, had said that.
Qin Chuan had encountered a sea monster and had a narrow escape from death.
Although she had found Qin Chuan in a near-death state, Xu An hadn't felt any impact from a giant monster on him.
Bearing her doubts, Xu An tentatively asked, "Do you know the owner of that house?"
Qin Chuan, walking ahead, paused for a moment, then quickly continued walking as if nothing had happened.
He did not reply.
Xu An continued, "The owner of that house seemed to be a woman, and that woman probably has a son, but the woman's temper isn't very good."
Seeing that Qin Chuan remained silent, Xu An continued, "Mei Jie and I initially stopped at the doorstep of this household, and then this woman said that a troop had indeed come here, but they had all died."
As Xu An said this, she had been secretly observing Qin Chuan's expression.
For this reason, she deliberately stopped relying on Qin Chuan's footprints and quickly walked to a position about a meter away from him.
Xu An noticed that when she said they had all died, Qin Chuan's expression clearly faltered for a moment.
But the other party concealed it too well.
It was only for an instant, and he quickly resumed his usual indifferent expression.
It was thanks to Xu An's superior dynamic vision, which had long surpassed normal human capabilities, that she was able to capture it precisely.
But Qin Chuan remained nonchalant, completely unfazed by Xu An's attempts to probe him.
Seeing that he was unyielding to either gentle or forceful approaches, Xu An also dropped the pretense, her voice growing colder, "So, what exactly is this sacrifice?"
As soon as the words fell, Qin Chuan's footsteps completely stopped.
"What exactly do you want to know?"
His eyes, filled with coldness, stared intently at Xu An, like a beast finally emerging in the freezing snow.
Xu An involuntarily took a step back. It was the first time she had seen Qin Chuan in such a state.
He looked ferocious, like a lion whose territory had been invaded, staring at the intruder.
Xu An suddenly regretted, for a fleeting moment, that she might not have should have asked Qin Chuan this question.
But she was still very eager to know the meaning of this sacrifice and what the giant sea monster was.
Ze Yuan had told her before that there was a giant mushroom here.
After thinking for a long time, she concluded that if there was a mushroom here, it could only be the giant sea monster that Chu Yu had mentioned.
But at this moment, Qin Chuan looked fierce, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Do you want to know how I led a hundred people to fight monsters, surviving with less than thirty people from the monster's jaws, or do you want to know how we were cunningly tricked by the villagers here, falling into someone else's trap?"
"Xu An, I know you're a smart person. From the first time we met, I knew you were different from us. You must have a secret that you're hiding."
"I don't feel sorry for not warning you about the rabbit-headed monster in the mall because we were adversaries at the time."
"And later, I did develop feelings for you and wanted to take you under my wing. The Lighthouse is desperately short of talent."
"But I also know that you've been investigating me behind my back."
Seeing Xu An's increasingly silent expression, Qin Chuan did not stop speaking but continued,
"There are more places to investigate information in the Lighthouse than just the back alleys and the rats. Your investigations behind my back and into official matters have already attracted attention."
Xu An's eyes also turned stern. Though they were only a stone's throw apart, they seemed miles away.
She dropped the playful expression on her face, her demeanor seeming to meld into the blizzard.
This seemed like an accidental confession.
But Xu An had no intention of revealing everything to Qin Chuan.
"So, which side are you on?"
The question was put very directly, almost as if she were about to ask it to Qin Chuan's face.
Qin Chuan exhaled deeply, his gaze becoming even more resolute. He looked at Xu An.
"I will always stand on the side of supreme human interests."
Xu An let out a scoff, "Even if human interests and survival are built upon the sacrifice of the majority's interests?"
Qin Chuan did not refute, but for the first time, he directly faced Xu An's question.
This answer seemed to have been spoken by him countless times, deeply etched into his very bones.
"Yes, I am forever loyal to the supremacy of human interests."
Having spoken, Qin Chuan did not wait for Xu An's reply. He looked into Xu An's eyes, his tone carrying a hint of coercion, and slowly asked,
"Last time, in the desert, when we came out of the cave, you took something from that monster, didn't you?"
The words drifted softly, yet they landed on Xu An's heart like a heavy boulder.