【God BLESS effervescent tablets!】
【Is that really how you use effervescent tablets????】
【Hahahahaha I’m DEAD I love Cabbage so much!!!! LONG LIVE THE CABBAGE QUEEN!!!!】
【Raise the Cabbage flag high! Everyone CHARGE!!!!】
【Cabbage Party must prevail!!!!】
【Hahahahahahaha we MUST prevail!!!!!】
【What the — this cult is going off AGAIN. THEY’RE GOING OFF AGAIN.】
【…I kind of want to join the cult…】
【Same…（whispering）】
【Rain or shine, the cult awaits! Come on in!! If you love Cabbage, we’re already family!】
【Cabbage must prevail!】
【Cabbage must prevail!】
【Look at that — a rich, bubbling red broth, roiling with foam, a few slices of half-cooked octopus tentacle floating on top~ Can’t smell it through the screen unfortunately, but — I’m hungry.】
【Is this what they call…hot pot? I’m moved to tears_】
【Suddenly craving grilled squid……】
……
The water’s surface boiled for a long time.
No one knew how many effervescent tablets Bai Youwei had actually thrown in. They simply stood and waited for the water to settle.
Once the last bubble had stopped rising, Bai Youwei reached into her backpack and pulled out an inflatable pool ring.
Nick felt a sharp, stabbing ache in his chest.
A normal floatation ring would’ve been one thing — he might’ve let that pass. But what she produced was an outlandishly oversized, extravagantly decorated unicorn pool float — so large it practically qualified as a personal inflatable vessel!
Complete with a pump!
Nick was well and truly out of words. Not one word left in him.
He watched in dark, burning silence as Shen Mo inflated the unicorn float for Bai Youwei. He watched in dark, burning silence as the two of them climbed onto it. He watched in dark, burning silence as they paddled leisurely back and forth across the water — and even managed to fish the little waterlogged shoe back up from the surface.
Nick: “……”
He drew a long, deep breath, then dropped into the water and swam for the staircase.
He couldn’t be certain if it was psychological, but he was convinced he could smell something off about himself. Blood. Gunpowder. Toilet bowl cleaner. Vitamin effervescent tablet.
Ada waited until everyone was accounted for, wiped the water off himself, and turned toward the stairs. “Let’s go. Next up is the fourth floor……”
Shen Mo asked Bai Youwei, “Still want the pool ring?”
“Leave it. Putting it away again would be too much trouble.”
Bai Youwei wrestled her foot back into her drenched shoe, then hooked her arm through Shen Mo’s and climbed the stairs one step at a time.
“I should’ve brought an extra pair of shoes. I still feel like there’s sand inside… “
The only reason she hadn’t opted to go barefoot was the knowledge that one of the later floor traps involved burning liquid — without shoes, her feet would get scorched.
They’d walked up half a flight when — probably because of her slower pace — the two ahead stopped to wait for her and Shen Mo.
Bai Youwei noticed that Nick’s expression seemed to be carrying a somewhat dark undercurrent.
She asked, “Am I imagining things, or do you have some kind of problem with me?”
Nick said, without expression: “……I just hope that when we get to the fourth floor, you can keep yourself in check. I have no interest in being crushed flat by a falling rock.”
Bai Youwei’s brow furrowed slightly. “I can’t make promises about things in the future — I’m not a fortune teller.”
Nick: “……”
“And another thing — what’s your attitude right now?” Bai Youwei said, clearly dissatisfied. “Why are you looking at me like I’m your mortal enemy? You used to admire me. You even said nice things about me — you said I was as cute as a flower. Did you forget?”
Nick: “…………”
Was I just blind?! Was I JUST COMPLETELY BLIND?!
Shen Mo gave him a slow, quiet sideways glance. His dark eyes lowered slightly. “Is that right. He said you were as cute as a flower……”
“He did~” Bai Youwei’s eyes swiveled with clear deliberation, and she said with all sincerity, “Men change their tune so quickly — they forget the things they say before the sound has even died. Look at that scowl he’s had all day. Hah — and people say things change. Honey, you really are the best to me~”
Then she rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to Shen Mo’s cheek.
Shen Mo’s expression softened fractionally.
Nick watched the two of them carrying on, and felt his heart lurch dangerously toward something resembling a cardiac event. He snapped his head the other direction and headed up the stairs, fuming to himself.