Chapter Fifteen: Nianyu Awakes

Xiao Jie was growing frustrated. “Are you going to keep this up? It’s been two days already. Nianyu will wake up. Can’t you eat something?”

Zhou Yu glanced at Xiao Jie, understanding that she meant well, and finally accepted what she offered him.

Xiao Jie looked at Zhou Yu with a hint of helplessness. “Are we really going to stay here forever?”

Without lifting his head, Zhou Yu answered quietly, “We’ll see.”

Xiao Jie sat down beside him, lowered her head, and nervously tugged at the corner of her shirt. In a soft voice, she said, “You know, you were the first person I ever loved. Back then, I didn’t want you or Nianyu to get hurt, so I kept it to myself. I still love you, even now. I’m willing to take a lesser place in your life. Even if my family objects, I just want you to go eat something now—please?”

Zhou Yu turned to her, his voice hoarse. “This isn’t the time to talk about this. As long as Nianyu wakes up, nothing else matters.”

“If you eat, then when Nianyu wakes up, I’ll tell her everything. If she doesn’t agree, I’ll leave,” Xiao Jie said, resolute.

Zhou Yu was taken aback. This was not the Xiao Jie he had first met, that gentle, introverted girl. She was so determined now.

“No, you can’t leave either. As long as I’m alive, I won’t let either of you get hurt,” Zhou Yu said slowly.

“Zhou Yu, if—just if—Nianyu doesn’t wake up, what will you do?” Xiao Jie’s voice trembled.

Zhou Yu didn’t look up. He just pulled out his gun. “If Nianyu doesn’t wake up, I’ll go with her.”

Xiao Jie froze, surprised by how much Zhou Yu cared for Nianyu.

---

Xiao Jie gazed at Nianyu with a trace of envy, then softly asked Zhou Yu, “If it were me instead, would you feel any better?”

Zhou Yu hadn’t expected her to ask that. After a moment’s thought, he replied, “I’d go with you too.”

Xiao Jie was stunned. She couldn’t understand why Zhou Yu would say such a thing. “Then what about Nianyu?”

Zhou Yu squeezed Nianyu’s hand more tightly. “I think Nianyu would understand.”

Xiao Jie stood there for a moment, as if making a great decision. Then she walked around to Zhou Yu’s other side and took the gun from his hand.

“If Nianyu doesn’t wake up, I’ll kill you first, then myself,” Xiao Jie said as she ejected the bullets from the revolver.

Zhou Yu watched her calmly, asking, “What’s the point of that?”

After leaving only two bullets in the chamber, Xiao Jie put the cylinder back, cocked the gun, and set it aside.

“Who knows? This way, the three of us will never be separated. In this damned apocalypse, being with the ones you love is all that matters,” she murmured, glancing at Nianyu.

Zhou Yu said nothing, only stared blankly at her.

Seeing that Nianyu remained silent, Xiao Jie continued, “If not for this cursed end of the world, the three of us would probably have just gone our separate ways, safe and sound. If not for this damned apocalypse, maybe we’d never have said these absurd words.”

With that, Xiao Jie leaned over and kissed Zhou Yu. He didn’t avoid her; his heart was a tangled mess.

---

“Thank you, Zhou Yu. At least before I die, I gave my first kiss to the one I love the most,” Xiao Jie said, cheeks flushed as she looked at him.

Zhou Yu didn’t know what to say. He simply took her hand and placed it on top of Nianyu’s.

Xiao Jie looked at him in silence.

A moment later, a cough shattered the stillness.

Zhou Yu quickly helped Nianyu sit up, murmuring, “How could you be so foolish? What am I supposed to do if you die?”

Nianyu shot him a weak, reproachful look. “Isn’t Xiao Jie still here?”

Zhou Yu gazed at her in his arms. “You are you, and Xiao Jie is Xiao Jie. Neither of you can be replaced.”

Nianyu ignored him and turned to Xiao Jie instead. “First kiss before death, was it? Am I in your way? Or do you want to give him your first night too?”

Xiao Jie stared at Nianyu in shock. “How did you know?”