Chapter 292: Scars and Secrets

“A question…”

Boss Gao Ting looked a bit bewildered by Lu Xin’s words.

It wasn’t that she was worried Lu Xin would uncover some secret; she simply didn’t know what he could possibly want to ask…

What question could be more valuable than the payment she was willing to offer him?

This man had already seen every inch of her body, after all…

…

“You performed really well back in the city, but there’s actually something I don’t understand…”

Lu Xin slowly adopted the gentle tone of the psychologist who had spoken with him before, asking softly, “Some of your actions earlier didn’t make sense. For instance, when you first saw that Brain Monster, you rushed forward with two bombs without even discussing it with me. It felt less like you were trying to kill the monster and more like… you were trying to kill yourself?”

Gao Ting tilted her head up slightly glancing at Lu Xin.

The firelight nearby illuminated her face, casting one side in brightness and the other in shadow.

Lu Xin met her gaze and gave a slight nod of encouragement.

Gao Ting lowered her head slightly. After a moment, she replied softly, “That was indeed my intention.”

A flicker of confusion crossed Lu Xin’s face. “But…”

She answered quietly, “Wouldn’t it be good? I could help the brothers one last time and destroy this detestable body of mine.”

“Just as I thought.”

Lu Xin sighed inwardly. When he had saved her earlier, the look of release in her eyes had made him suspect something like this.

Then he looked up, puzzled. “Why?”

Gao Ting didn’t answer for a long time. Then she abruptly stood up and strode away. Just as Lu Xin was wondering what was going on, she returned holding a bottle of golden liquid. The foreign label was smudged.

She tried to twist the cap open, but her bandaged fingers couldn’t get a grip.

She looked up at Lu Xin and handed him the bottle.

“Hm…”

Lu Xin glanced at her injured fingers. “What happened to your hands?”

Gao Ting just looked at him without speaking.

Lu Xin didn’t feel it was right to lecture her about drinking while injured, so he silently pulled out the wooden cork for her.

Gao Ting took a swig of the alcohol, cleared her throat with a dry cough, and suddenly looked at Lu Xin. “What do you think of me as a person?”

“Hm?”

Lu Xin immediately felt wary. After a moment, he said, “…You’re pretty good.”

“Heh…”

Gao Ting let out a cold laugh. “I’m not hitting on you. I’m asking you, what kind of person am I?”

“Well…”

Lu Xin paused for a moment. “Pretty good.”

“I think I’m pretty decent too.”

Gao Ting smiled. “I’m a woman, but I don’t lose fights to men, and I shoot better than most of them… you’re an exception… Back then, my man died. It was such a worthless death. A tough guy like him, died from dysentery. Before he died, he told me to take care of the brothers. He also said I should find another man while I’m still young, settle down so life wouldn’t be so hard…”

She paused slightly. “But I don’t want to find anyone else. Is there a problem with that?”

Lu Xin was taken aback for a second, then quickly said, “Of course not.”

“Right? I don’t think so either…”

Gao Ting slowly continued, “Right after my man died, a lot of people didn’t respect me, but I dealt with them one by one. There were also plenty of idiots who had eyes for my body, and I took care of all of them too… I’m a woman, and I also want a man to cherish me. But besides my man, who was a hero half his life only to die from diarrhea, I don’t want anyone else…”

“Do you understand that feeling?”

…

Lu Xin felt a bit flustered by her sudden question and lied, “I understand.”

“Actually, whether you understand or not doesn’t matter.”

Gao Ting sighed softly, took another large gulp of alcohol, and said, “Anyway, I just feel… my man was really good. He died young, didn’t even leave a child or anything. But I feel bad for him. I don’t want anyone else touching my body because nobody else is him. Actually, I know he told me to find another man because he worried that a woman like me would have a hard time surviving in this world alone…”

“But I think I’m pretty capable myself. Leading this convoy back and forth, handling things decently enough. We can eat, the brothers trust me. After running around like this for years, honestly, sometimes I even feel quite remarkable…”

…

Her voice trailed off slowly. After a moment, she recalled, “Until that trip two months ago.”

“Like always, I took the brothers to Central City to pick up cargo. I was careful during the handover, paid all the necessary bribes. I thought it would be like before, but one of their supervisors stopped me. He said there was a problem with one truckload of my goods, and according to the rules, he couldn’t accept it. He told me to take it back. Of course, I couldn’t agree, so I tried to find ways to smooth things over with him…”

“And so…”

She pressed her lips together slightly. “He showed me a path… a hotel room number.”

“Ah, this…”

Lu Xin was somewhat surprised. “So, you?”

“Heh heh, of course, I couldn’t possibly agree to that…”

A cold sneer touched Gao Ting’s lips. “I didn’t give him any face. I threw that room number right back at him,” she said dismissively.

Hearing this, Lu Xin breathed a small sigh of relief. “And then?”

Gao Ting fell silent for a moment. “Then he got angry. None of my cargo could enter the warehouse. We could only wait.”

“The weather was still quite hot back then. If the goods sat for too long, they’d spoil.”

“Every extra day meant another portion ruined.”

Her voice took on a strange quality as she slowly continued, “So, I started to panic. I looked everywhere for connections. Only then did I find out that the newly transferred supervisor actually had powerful backing. His father worked at the Research Institute, supposedly even more powerful than the Administration Hall… Anyway, he was someone us haulers absolutely couldn’t afford to offend. Once he gave the word, nobody dared accept our cargo!”

“So, after begging around, in the end, I still had no choice but to go beg him.”

“I swallowed all my pride and begged him to let us off, to leave a bowl of rice for the brothers in the convoy…”

…

Reaching this point, she gave a self-deprecating smile. “Do you know what the result was?”

Lu Xin thought seriously for a moment and said softly, “I think I understand, mostly.”

A strange smile spread across Gao Ting’s face, looking almost excited. Her breathing quickened slightly, eyes shining. “He took me to the hotel, praised me. He said I was only average looking, not as clean as the women in the city, but my body was the most beautiful he’d ever seen. He said he’d been obsessed with my body since the first moment he saw me. He had to have me…”

“And then…”

“He toyed with me like I was some animal. He left marks on my body. When I couldn’t help crying, he slapped me a few times, grabbed my neck, and told me not to act high and mighty. That this body belonged to him from now on…”

“He even said I actually liked it too, otherwise why would my body react?”

…

Gao Ting recounted everything bit by bit. Her expressions grew more animated, but her voice became increasingly flat.

Lu Xin stopped writing, feeling that these words shouldn’t be put on paper.

“Then, starting from that time, every time I went to deliver goods, he demanded me…”

“I refused to accept it.”

Gao Ting said softly, “I especially hated it when he praised my body. I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me like I was some treasure. So, I started thinking, why should I let you have it so easily? Since you think my body is so great, since you think it belongs to you, then I might as well just discard it. It’s a good thing, right? Might as well share it with everyone…”

“After all, there are indeed quite a few men in our convoy who always sneak glances at me.”

…

Whether she realized it or not, a bizarre smile had spread across her face. “I’m a spineless woman. Out in the Wasteland, I act tough, but once I enter the city, I become someone’s plaything. I don’t have the courage to secretly bring a gun and shoot him either. After all, the brothers in the convoy need to eat, need to live… So, I ruined her…”

“You want something good? Fine, I’ll give you trash instead!”

“You think you exclusively own this body? Fine, I’ll give her to anyone…”

“Haha…”

She covered her mouth and laughed, a hint of malice in her expression. “You have no idea how furious he was the last time he saw all these scars on me. Watching him curse me like crazy… that was honestly the happiest I’ve felt in years…”

…

Lu Xin watched her laugh, remaining silent.

Only after her laughter subsided, after her moment of dark joy passed and silence fell, did he frown slightly.

“Do the people in the convoy not know?”

…

Gao Ting glanced at him coolly. “How could I tell them?”

“Tell them that every batch of goods we deliver is actually exchanged using my body?”

…

Seeing Lu Xin fall into thoughtful silence, Gao Ting sighed softly, clutching the bottle. “I didn’t know you were secretly watching me every day not because you desired me, but because you were curious about this. Heh, this misunderstanding got a bit out of hand…”

“I can also see you’re a capable person, but clearly, the problem I’m facing isn’t something you can solve.”

Saying this, she shook her head gently. “I don’t know if this answer cleared up your confusion, but that’s really all there is to it. Using this to repay your kindness for saving my life… perhaps it’s still not enough. It’s just a pity…”

“My body is dirty, after all. Otherwise, I could have thanked you in *that* way…”

…

Watching her turn to leave, bottle in hand, Lu Xin remained silent for a moment.

“Wait.”

He suddenly said.

Gao Ting turned back hesitantly, her expression seeming somewhat confused.

Lu Xin first opened his small notebook and quickly wrote down the words “Investigation results confirmed.”

Then he closed the notebook, looked up thoughtfully, and said:

“The investigation is over, but I still have two questions.”

“First.”

He looked at Gao Ting seriously. “Your body isn’t dirty. The reason you think that way is because you’re sick.”

Gao Ting’s expression was clearly stunned, unsure how to interpret his words.

It sounded like an insult, but the way he said it inexplicably made her feel a sense of comfort.

“Second…”

Lu Xin thought for a moment before stating frankly, “The ones who asked me to come here were Old Zhou and Little Zhou. They’re very worried about you.”

Gao Ting didn’t say anything. Even if Lu Xin hadn’t told her, she could have guessed.

Lu Xin smiled and continued, “They asked me to come here to heal you, not just to investigate the problem.”