My game, Orange Flavor, is great!

Why did I suddenly decide to take the bus today?

Perhaps... it was because when I saw that person sitting alone in the back seat of the car just as I was about to leave, I involuntarily stopped.

Chapter 44 A New Storm Has Arrived

"The seafood noodles are here!"

Holding two steaming bowls of noodles on the table, Lu Zhao smiled smugly and confidently put his hands on his hips. "Come and try it. It's a new dish I recently learned."

The original owner learned all the skills in prison, emphasizing simplicity and a love of food, so when the two lived together, they often ordered takeout to change things up.

She's different. Although she can't do anything else, her cooking skills, honed since childhood, are unparalleled. If she doesn't fatten up the young lady by five pounds, it would be a disservice to the pot she specially bought!

Xia Zhifei practiced yoga at home for half an afternoon. After taking a shower, she rushed out of the bathroom following the fragrance. Her eyes lit up when she saw the various ingredients on the soup bowl.

"Ah Zhao, where did you learn this skill from?"

She picked up a piece of squid with her chopsticks and tasted it. The delicious aroma filled her mouth, and she couldn't help but praise it.

Lu Zhao was prepared for this question. He pulled the other person to sit down and explained proudly, "When I was in the hospital a few days ago, I accidentally saw a few recipes and learned how to make them. They tasted pretty good, right?"

"Absolutely wonderful!"

Xia Zhifei was generous with her praise for good things, showering them with compliments for a long time before finally lowering her head to eat with a satisfied expression.

That's why they say food is the most important thing for people. Even the young lady couldn't escape her cravings. In the end, she didn't forget to look up at Lu Zhao with pleading eyes and ask, "Zhao, will there be food like this again in the future?"

You can eat seafood every day and not worry about getting gout.

Lu Zhao chuckled and reached out to rub her head. "Don't worry, I'll make something else delicious next time."

"Okay~" Xia Zhifei, who had finished eating, was exceptionally well-behaved. She gave a soft reply and went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Adhering to the principle of digesting food after a meal, Xia Zhifei took her out for a walk after cleaning up the kitchen.

The winter solstice has passed, and the weather has turned cold again. Lu Zhao is fine, as the white flame will automatically adjust her temperature perception within her body. Xia Zhifei is different; the pampered young lady has already put on a cotton-padded coat, and is skipping and hopping along the road while breathing out cold air.

He doesn't look like a man in his early twenties; he looks more like an energetic high school student.

This was also thanks to the original owner's meticulous care, which allowed Xia Zhifei to recover quickly after experiencing the pain of being abandoned by his family.

Watching Xia Zhifei stop in the distance, standing next to a candied hawthorn stall, bending down to stare at the various candied hawthorns for a while, before turning around and calling out, "A-Zhao, I want to eat candied hawthorns!"

She couldn't help but smile.

It's no wonder the original owner protected her so well; who wouldn't want to see a sweet girl smiling sweetly at them every day?

A smile instantly dispels all the fatigue of the day; who could resist that?

"Okay, okay," she said helplessly, stepping forward and paying with her phone. "Eat whatever you want, boss, could you please give her a fresh skewer?"

"okay!"

Having successfully tricked her into giving him a string of candied hawthorns, Xia Zhifei winked at her with satisfaction, "Thank you, A-Zhao."

I wish you could be this happy every day.

A voice from the depths of her heart rang out. Lu Zhao paused for a moment, reached out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, and asked gently, "Is there anything else you want to buy?"

"Hmm... not at the moment." Xia Zhifei linked arms with her, eating and walking together, looking quite relaxed.

However, she didn't notice that the expressions on the faces of the people around her gradually became serious.

Was that voice from the original owner?

She was right; the original owner still had a remnant of consciousness in this body, and it would occasionally appear, affecting her emotions.

Lu Zhao knew very well that as an observer, she might feel pity and sympathy for Xia Zhifei, but having only been here for about twenty days, she would never utter such a sigh in her heart, filled with sorrow, hope, and many other complex emotions.

That could only belong to the remaining consciousness of this body.

To be honest, she is not a rational person. She often acts on emotion, such as with Duan Yue, or in her interactions with everyone around her.

The fact that she transmigrated into this body is not something she can influence with her own will, so even if the original owner has any residual consciousness, she has no objection at all, after all, she is the one who has taken over the body.

However, no matter what, she didn't want her will to be influenced by this consciousness, causing her to do things that were not what she wanted.

I wonder if there's any way to communicate with this consciousness. If I let it continue like this, I'll be affected sooner or later.

“Ah Zhao,” Xia Zhifei looked at her with concern, “you’re spacing out again.”

She snapped out of her reverie, her thin lips pursed slightly, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "It's nothing, I was just wondering when Xiaoyue will be able to come back."

It was originally just a pretext to change the subject, but Xia Zhifei's face suddenly turned pale, and he hurriedly looked away, starting to change the subject: "By the way, I saw that a new shopping mall opened nearby, let's go and have a look."

Normally, Lu Zhao would have noticed something was off about her expression, but right now she was preoccupied with her own thoughts and had no time to discern Xia Zhifei's intentions. She was thus dragged along towards a shopping mall in the distance.

In an instant, the joyful atmosphere vanished, and the two people, each with something on their minds, fell into an awkward silence.

Only when he got close to the mall did Lu Zhao manage to put his mind at ease. He looked around carefully and a strange feeling rose from the bottom of his heart.

That's strange. It's a newly opened shopping mall, and this is a commercial street. At peak times, there should be quite a few people inside.

But as I walked along, I hardly saw anyone coming out of there. Now that I'm closer, I realize that the pedestrians around me are deliberately avoiding this place.

"Excuse me," she quickly asked a passerby, "has something happened here?"

A passerby glanced at her, his face revealing his panic. "Young lady, I advise you not to come near here. People from the Spirit Management Bureau came here to arrest people today. I guess some spirit race member has infiltrated!"

With that, he left as if he were a snake or a scorpion.

It turned out to be the case.

I glanced inside thoughtfully and noticed that the sales clerks also seemed a bit unsettled, probably worried that this incident might affect them.

“Ah Zhao,” Xia Zhifei tugged at her, “it should be the second team carrying out a mission.”

Oh, then maybe it's best not to go and join the fun.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard the sound of shattering glass coming from upstairs...

Chapter 45 Fierce Battle in the Shopping Mall

Just as he was about to lift his left foot, he unconsciously put it down. Lu Zhao stopped in place and looked up at the floor from which the sound came.

“Ah Zhao, they can handle it.” Xia Zhifei tugged at her sleeve. “When the second team carries out an A-level capture mission, they usually send out more than five people.”

If the five of them can't capture a single member of the Spirit Race, then it's better for them to relinquish their title of elite, so they don't keep getting in their way all day long.

Lu Zhao was well aware of this, so after not hearing any further sounds, he chose to leave.

They had only taken two steps when they heard another series of clattering and banging sounds coming from above, along with faint cries of pain.

Tsk.

She let out a dissatisfied sound, turned around, and looked intently at Xia Zhifei. Before she could speak, he sighed and asked, "You still want to go up, right?"

“…We can’t just leave it like this.” Lu Zhao herself felt that it was a bit inappropriate, but she had clearly heard that one of the wails from above was coming from the woman who had provoked her before.

Xia Zhifei was clearly used to her decision. He simply released her hand and smiled slightly. "Okay, then you go upstairs. I'll go help evacuate the ordinary people on the first floor."

When the first team carries out a mission, they will evacuate the crowd in advance. However, the second team's work is often more urgent, and sometimes there is not enough time to evacuate. People are not clear about the situation and have been ordered in advance not to run around. That is why there is a situation where people are being arrested from above, but people below dare not move.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Remember to be careful." Without further hesitation, Lu Zhao immediately ran towards the mall's emergency exit.

Xia Zhifei took a deep breath of the cold air, feeling the chill rush into his lungs through his nostrils, then exhaled a long breath, strode into the mall, and shouted, "I am an official from the Spirit Management Bureau. Please evacuate through the main entrance in an orderly manner! Quickly!"

Hearing the sounds coming from below, Lu Zhao stopped walking, reached out and pressed his hand against the fire door of the emergency passage in front of him. He wrinkled his nose slightly, and a faint smell of blood wafted out from inside.

Has blood already been drawn?

A sudden tremor ran through her heart. She hesitated. In her previous world, she had never experienced such a scene. What if she rushed in and then failed halfway through...?

Just now downstairs, her decision stemmed from her concern for the people upstairs, but now that she was actually going to the battlefield, fear had taken over.

Ultimately, before she transmigrated, she was just an ordinary person, the kind who would complain for ages even if she bumped her toe.

It's not too late to leave now and pretend nothing happened.

She glanced at the dimly lit stairwell behind her, swallowed hard, and while her right hand was still gripping the doorknob tightly, her other hand unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.

Go in, or leave?

Just as she was hesitating, she heard a violent tremor coming from inside, followed by a suppressed wail.

Someone else has been injured!

Lu Zhao trembled. Although her fingers were still shaking, in that instant, the fear in her heart was forcibly suppressed by her worry for the people inside. As if injected with adrenaline, she suddenly pulled open the fire door—

A body, lying sideways, flew towards her by sheer coincidence.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her body reacted instinctively. She dodged to the side, and just before the person was about to crash into the door, she caught her and spun her around a few times to absorb the impact before carefully placing her on the ground.

"Hey!" The light was too dim for her to see the other person's face clearly. "How are you feeling?"

The woman lying on the ground coughed twice suddenly, and said incredulously, "You... Lu Zhao? How could you... cough cough!"

It can still talk, so it seems like nothing serious has happened.

She told the other person to go down and ask for help immediately, and only then did she feel relieved. She got up and walked through the passage, but this time there was no door blocking her way.

Looking at the fire door, riddled with holes smashed open by something, Lu Zhao was momentarily speechless, guessing that it was the woman he had just rescued who had caused those holes.

Too brutal.

I cautiously peeked inside. There was still some light in the mall, but some of the counters had been smashed, and the air was filled with the smell of dirt and blood.

While she was still carefully observing, she heard another sound of glass being smashed not far away, and then saw seven or eight metal frames fly up from the perfume counter and crash down on a certain point.

Soon, another mixed scent of perfume wafted into her nose.

Is that telekinesis?

Lu Zhao frowned and quickly walked in that direction. Just as he reached the corner, he saw an arrogant woman holding a boulder several times larger than herself and smashing it at a man who was lying on the ground in front of her.

"Watch out!" Startled, she rolled away, taking the man with her and dodging the attack.

With a loud "boom," the spot where the man had just been lying was pierced through.

Good heavens, no wonder it smells like soil, it turns out it's an earth-type spirit.

The other four were also surprised to see her, but given the special circumstances, even if they had disagreements before, they didn't have time to dwell on it in the current situation.

After finally getting the person to a relatively safe counter and settling them in, she looked up at the still-raging battlefield and asked in a low voice, "Hey, is there only one person on the other side?"