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

The floor was messy. The air was warm. Bai Li was sweating a little at the temples, and every time she lifted her arm, the cloth on her shoulder shifted slightly. Yan Cijin did not dare keep looking, but her eyes kept slipping back anyway. She secretly told herself that Bai Li could not possibly be that bad. Bai Li had never acted like a messy person. She was practical, serious, and always knew what to do. So maybe the problem was her own brain. Maybe she was the one making everything sound strange. Yan Cijin was almost convinced by her own reasoning when Bai Li suddenly moved a chair aside and said, "There, now there is more space." Yan Cijin blurted out, "Space is always good." Bai Li turned to look at her. There was a brief pause. Then Bai Li laughed. Not loud, just a little, the kind of laugh that sounded like she had finally heard something amusing and was trying not to show it too much. Yan Cijin’s face went red all the way to her ears. She knew it. Bai Li knew. Bai Li definitely knew something.

That realization made her heart skip in a messy way. Yan Cijin stood there holding a stack of folded blankets and wished she could just become invisible. At the same time, another part of her could not help but think that if Bai Li really knew, then why was she still so calm? Why did she not say anything? Was she teasing her on purpose? The thought made Yan Cijin’s fingers tighten around the blankets. Bai Li noticed the tension in her hands and asked, "Are you alright?" Yan Cijin nodded a little too stiffly. Bai Li watched her for a second, then deliberately lowered her voice and said, "If you keep standing there, people might think you’re the one who wants to sleep here." Yan Cijin nearly dropped the blankets. "I do not." Bai Li tilted her head. "Then why are you getting so nervous?" Yan Cijin opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. No matter how she looked at it, Bai Li was clearly teasing her now. She had never seen Bai Li like this before. The calm, steady woman she usually saw was suddenly so bad at pretending. She was not even trying to hide her smile properly. Yan Cijin stared at her in disbelief, then turned away so fast that even her neck looked hot.

Bai Li looked at Yan Cijin’s back and suddenly felt something in her chest settle and burn at the same time. She had guessed that Yan Cijin misunderstood, and once she noticed it, the whole situation turned from awkward into a bit funny. But the funny part lasted only a little while. After that came the heavier part that she had to keep buried deep inside herself. The woman in front of her was too good looking. It was not the kind of beauty that just made people look once and forget. It was the kind that stayed. It stuck to the eyes. It stayed in the mind. It made the heart feel restless even when the body was busy doing other things. Bai Li saw the sweat dripping down Yan Cijin’s neck, saw the small strands of hair sticking to her skin, saw the way she bent down to move supplies with a focused look, and she had to admit that her heart was starting to burn too. That was the dangerous thing. She could already feel it. She liked her. She liked her in a way that was no longer easy to pretend away.

But liking someone was not enough. Bai Li was not the kind of person who liked to rush into things just because her heart had started beating badly. This was the apocalypse. Today might be a headache, tomorrow might be a fight, and the day after could be worse. There were too many dangerous things in the world and too many things that could go wrong. If she really wanted to hold onto someone like Yan Cijin, she needed to ask herself a lot of questions first. Could she protect her? Could she give her a safe life? Could she keep her safe when the world outside was full of monsters, bad people, and situations that could turn ugly in a second? Could she be the kind of person who would not betray that trust no matter what happened? Could she love her properly, protect her properly, and even put her own life on the line if it ever came to that? Bai Li felt that anything less would be disrespectful to the feelings of the woman in front of her, even if Yan Cijin had not said those feelings out loud yet. That was why Bai Li chose to keep quiet. She was not ready to reach for something she was not yet certain she could hold forever.

That did not mean she would not enjoy teasing Yan Cijin a little. In fact, now that she knew the other woman was misunderstanding her, Bai Li found it hard to stop herself. She glanced at Yan Cijin and said, "Dr. Yan, your face is really red." Yan Cijin kept her back turned and pretended to be busy. "It is hot in here." Bai Li looked around the room. "The air conditioner is on." Yan Cijin said, "Then it is too low." Bai Li almost laughed again. "Do you want me to turn it off?" "No." "Do you want me to turn it up?" "No." Bai Li’s voice grew even more playful. "Then what do you want?" Yan Cijin did not answer for a long time. Finally she said, "I want you to stop asking me things." Bai Li lowered her head and smiled openly this time. Yan Cijin heard that tiny laugh and felt like her whole body was on fire. She wanted to turn around and glare at Bai Li properly, but the moment she imagined Bai Li’s expression, she lost half her courage.

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TO BE CONTINUED.

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