The convoy arrived at the next stop as night fell.
The moment the vehicle stopped, Gu Ning let out a long sigh of relief, unbuckled her seatbelt, and couldn’t wait to get out.
Even though she’d always been healthy and never got carsick, a full day in the unsteady vehicle had taken its toll.
The car had also grown increasingly stuffy, and she needed to get out for some fresh air.
Besides, being stuck with that Birdman Philinos was no more pleasant than being with Vine.
The only slight upside was that if she didn’t talk to him, he’d go completely silent.
Gu Ning tried to push the door open, but it was still locked.
"Wait."
Philinos scanned the surroundings, then moved the vehicle to a different spot, away from the main convoy.
Gu Ning looked outside. The sky was completely dark now. In the glow of the headlights, she could make out collapsed buildings all around. This place was even more dilapidated than the last supply stop—it was practically a ruin.
The vehicle stopped behind a half-collapsed wall.
Seeing that Philinos had parked, Gu Ning pulled on the interior door handle, signaling for him to unlock it.
"Wait," Philinos said.
Gu Ning stared at him wordlessly. ’What now?’
Philinos looked back at her.
Gu Ning waited for him to speak, but Philinos just met her gaze for a long moment, showing no intention of saying anything.
"Is there something else?" Gu Ning asked, taking a slow breath.
"No," Philinos said. "If you need something, just say it."
"..." Gu Ning gripped the door handle, lowered her head, took a deep breath, and couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.
"There’s nothing. Open the door."
Philinos: "Wait..."
Gu Ning clenched her jaw. ’What in the world is this Birdman trying to do?!’
Philinos said, "What do you need?"
"..." Gu Ning’s face was wooden as she spoke to him with the last shred of her patience. "Nothing. Please. Open. The. Door."
Philinos: "So you do need something."
Gu Ning: "..."
She was so speechless she almost wanted to laugh.
For the first time, she felt the communication problem wasn’t due to her poor grasp of the Beastman language, but because there was something wrong with this Birdman’s brain.
She couldn’t be bothered to keep going in circles with him, so she leaned over to find the door lock button herself.
Beastman vehicles, from their model types to their internal systems, were very different from the cars she was used to driving. Luckily, she had noted where the lock button was when Vine was driving.
She found the button and pressed it, but the door didn’t open.
Philinos stared intently at the little female as she leaned closer. With every breath, her scent, mingled with that of other males, made him frown. He had the urge to just push her away.
He raised his hand and gripped the little female’s shoulder. Instead of pushing her away, he took a deep sniff of her scent.
He couldn’t help but recall their close contact during the last battle with the Mutant Species, but that encounter had not been a pleasant one.
That was why she didn’t want to be near him now.
"Talk less, do more. Don’t be hasty. Slowly, she’ll come to like you." That’s what Andrew had told him.
’But how can I get to know her better if we don’t communicate?’
’If communication is out, then I have to do something.’
’Do something? But he didn’t know what to do.’
Gu Ning was still fumbling, trying to figure out how to open the damn door, when she felt Philinos move. She turned her head and met his handsome face, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
The Birdman was undeniably handsome, but Gu Ning was in no mood to appreciate it right now.
"What are you doing?" she asked, glancing down at his hand.
Philinos stared at her masked face for a moment before pushing her back a little. "The doors are system-locked. What do you need to do outside?"
"Report..." he suddenly added.
Hearing that, it finally clicked for her.
She held up her palm, nearly shoving it in his face, and folded down a finger for each clipped word. "Bathroom. Food. Air!"
After speaking, she felt another wave of indignation. Vine had never made her report like a soldier.
’I’ll just pretend he’s on a mission!’ she thought. ’I’ll endure it!’
’Besides, he’s soaked in sweat from the heat. Isn’t he uncomfortable? Doesn’t he want to get out?’
Philinos looked at the little female’s clenched fist, then pressed his earpiece and slowly added, "Report on situational security, Team Two."
Gu Ning: "...."
’Oh. He wasn’t talking to me.’
KNOCK KNOCK!
The sound of knocking on the window saved Gu Ning, who had been so embarrassed she was about to pull her hair out.
She turned to look out the window. Cook and Barto had arrived.
Seeing them felt like a great pardon to Gu Ning. ’My saviors!’
’The puppy and the fox are so much better,’ Gu Ning thought, wishing she could just break the window and jump out.
Philinos unhurriedly deactivated the door locks.
Barto pulled the door open and was hit by such a blast of scent that he almost slammed it shut. The stench of Birdman mixed with the stench of wolf had been stewing in the car; he had no idea how Gu Ning had tolerated it.
Vine, who had already been spraying scent eliminator around the vehicle, walked over. He frowned deeply upon catching the smell; his own scent had been almost completely overwhelmed by Philinos’s.
The moment the door opened, Gu Ning practically flew out and threw her arms around Cook.
At this point, she’d rather stand in the cold wind than stay in that car for another second.
Cook caught Gu Ning, hoisted her up a bit, and lowered his head to lick her face, trying to cover her with his own scent.
Barto pulled Cook away and asked Gu Ning, "How could you stand that smell?"
He knew Gu Ning’s sense of smell wasn’t well-developed, but this was ridiculous.
Gu Ning actually hadn’t smelled anything particularly bad. The car had an air filtration system, and aside from the heat making it increasingly stuffy, she hadn’t even smelled sweat on Philinos when she was close to him just now. In fact, there had been a faint, pleasant fragrance.
She suspected Philinos might have been wearing cologne. Vine sweated just as much, if not more, and she could smell him, along with a puppy-like scent on his clothes similar to Cook’s.
She didn’t want to ask Philinos about it, though. Communicating with that guy’s brain was just too difficult.
Philinos activated the car’s ventilation system, got out, and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He had only been driving for a few hours, but it felt like he had just completed an arduous mission.
Seeing Philinos soaked in sweat, Vine took out his scent eliminator and began spraying him vigorously.
This was the scent eliminator Alex had given him, which was said to be extremely potent.
He couldn’t let Philinos run around tainted with Gu Ning’s scent.
Philinos snatched the scent eliminator from him, his expression blank. "I’ll do it myself."
Vine pulled another bottle of scent eliminator from his pocket and started cleaning the scent out of the car.
Gu Ning watched the two team captains spraying the scent eliminator everywhere, then rested her head on Cook’s shoulder. The familiar puppy-like scent from him was comforting, and the cold wind on her face felt much better too.
Barto saw her listless expression, glanced at Philinos who was still by the car, and patted Cook on the head. "Stay close to Xiao Ning," he instructed. "Don’t run off."
Gu Ning: "Where are you going?"
Barto: "Gotta take a crap."
Gu Ning: "...I need to go too."
"Have Vine take you," Barto said, hopping into the snow and heading back the way he came, toward Seth’s vehicle.
"Barto?" Seth and the others were setting up a pot to cook by their vehicle. Seeing him return so soon after leaving, they looked behind him. "Why are you by yourself? Where are Cook and the Little Boss? We’ve made lamb soup. Have the Little Boss come over and have some."
"Ladle some out. I’ll take it to her in a bit."
With that, Barto pulled open the front passenger door and got inside.
The inside of the vehicle was pitch-black. A figure sat in the back seat by the window, its eyes gleaming with a spectral light as it stared at Barto.