Chapter 328: Date

That evening, Evelyn Ford led Ronan Kendrick away from Immeasurable Mountain. She had tricked him by saying she was taking him on a date. In reality, she had been so busy lately that she had forgotten to take the bodies out of her dimensional space and burn them.

After winding through several large mountains, Ronan Kendrick found a deep pit. Evelyn Ford dumped all the bodies of the failed experiments and mutants from Mount Caldera into it, poured gasoline over them, and set them ablaze.

She had collected the bodies to prevent the military from discovering any problems. She was also worried their corpses might carry a virus, so Evelyn chose to bring them out here to burn them clean.

A raging fire erupted in the pit, and an acrid smell immediately filled the air.

"Let’s go sit over there for a bit."

Evelyn Ford took out a couple of chairs, found a spot, and sat down with Ronan Kendrick to watch the moon.

Tonight, the dark clouds had parted, revealing the long-unseen moon. Evelyn lounged in her chair as if boneless, humming an off-key tune.

Ronan Kendrick sat beside her, his gaze never leaving her for a moment.

Evelyn Ford suddenly laughed out loud.

"What is it?"

Evelyn tilted her head to look at Ronan. "Isn’t this an exciting date?"

Ronan Kendrick nodded gravely. "Very exciting. I get to smell burning corpses while listening to you sing."

Evelyn’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "So my Kendrick enjoys this kind of excitement, huh? Next time something like this happens, I’ll be sure to call you. Do you prefer burying or burning?"

Ronan Kendrick... ’That’s really not necessary.’

"It’s so cold out. Want to eat something? Hot pot? Barbecue? Or maybe fried chicken? Roast duck?"

Ronan looked at the enthusiastic Evelyn, a little puzzled. "Doesn’t this disgust you?"

Evelyn countered, "Does it disgust *you*?"

"I don’t feel much of anything."

Evelyn shrugged. "Same here. I used to be scared, but now I’m completely numb to it. I think I’m turning into a psychotic killer."

As she spoke, she took a table, solid fuel blocks, an alcohol stove, an emergency lamp, hot pot base, purified water, meat, and vegetables from her space.

"You know, this atmosphere is just perfect for hot pot." With that, Evelyn pulled out a bottle of strong liquor.

Resigned, Ronan Kendrick reached out to help her light the fuel block, sat down beside her, and started preparing the hot pot for her.

"Evelyn, I’m feeling incredibly grateful right now."

Evelyn turned to look at him. "Hmm?"

"Incredibly grateful that you only threw me in a pit that day and didn’t douse me with gasoline or destroy my body to hide the evidence."

Evelyn burst out laughing. The pot was hot, and Ronan Kendrick added the hot pot base and water.

"To be honest, I was terrified that day. It was the first time I’d ever seen someone who couldn’t be killed. I panicked and just wanted to run home as fast as I could."

Ronan leaned in, their eyes meeting. "And it was the first time I’d ever met someone so ruthless."

Evelyn gave an awkward laugh. "Let bygones be bygones. I was wrong, Mr. Kendrick. I’ll toast to you. Let’s just forget this unpleasant memory."

Ronan Kendrick raised an eyebrow. "I found it very pleasant. If you didn’t have enough fun, you can stab me a couple more times right now."

Evelyn... ’What a savage man.’

"I’m hungry."

The smell of burning flesh and gasoline wafted over from the distance, mingling in Evelyn’s nose with the aroma of the hot pot base.

A hint of a smile flashed in Ronan Kendrick’s eyes. He picked up his chopsticks and placed a slice of meat into the pot.

"You should eat less spicy food for the next few days. Your period is coming soon."

Evelyn nodded. "I’ll be careful next time. One meal won’t hurt. I’m in great health right now; I could even eat ice cubes without a problem."

Ronan Kendrick put the meat slices and vegetables into the pot and began to feed her.

Evelyn just sat sprawled in her chair, her mouth open, waiting for him to feed her.

"It’s so quiet in the mountains. When I was little, my parents took me on a trip one summer vacation. I remember it clearly. We were staying at an inn in the mountains. At night, you could hear all sorts of birds chirping. There was a pond in front of the inn with frogs croaking, and the kid next door was crying and making a fuss. The whole night was incredibly noisy, and I was so frustrated."

Evelyn let out a wry laugh. "Looking back on it now, those were good times."

Ronan Kendrick didn’t want to reminisce about his own childhood, but he was very curious about Evelyn’s.

"What were you like when you were a kid?"

Evelyn Ford frowned. "A little chubby, a little plain, with a somewhat difficult personality. I didn’t like to talk much. I didn’t have many friends, and everyone gave me all sorts of nicknames."

"Did you have a really tough childhood?" The concern in Ronan’s eyes was practically overflowing.

Evelyn shook her head. "No, my parents doted on me. I did well in school and started getting scholarships in elementary school."

Evelyn rambled on, telling him many stories from her childhood. By the time they finished the hot pot, a glance at the time showed it was 4:30 in the morning.

"It should have all burned away by now."

Ronan Kendrick stood up. "I’ll go check."

Evelyn put everything back into her space and ambled after him.

"It’s all burned. Hand me a shovel. We need to dig up some dirt to extinguish the embers."

Evelyn took a look. Everything had indeed burned away, but the smell was still heavy. It probably wouldn’t be easy to cover up.

She took out two shovels. They extinguished the fire in the pit and buried the remaining bones as well.

This place was quite far from Immeasurable Mountain, and there were no refugees living nearby, so it was relatively safe.

On the way back, Evelyn playfully demanded that Ronan Kendrick carry her on his back. To their surprise, just as they got back to the cabin, they ran into Quincy, who was coming out to use the toilet.

"Holy shit! Why are you two coming back from outside in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

Ronan shot Quincy a dark look. "Shut up."

"Don’t tell me you were up to no good. Wait, why do you guys smell like hot pot? Did you go camping?"

Quincy circled them. Ronan Kendrick didn’t want to deal with him, but Quincy stuck to them like glue.

"Quincy, do you have a death wish?" Evelyn, dead tired, glared menacingly at him.

Quincy gave a sly grin. "Then you have to promise to take me with you next time you go to Tarr City."

"You want to be a third wheel? Are you going to sleep between the two of us?"

Quincy waved his hands. "Oh, no need for that. I can just sleep on the floor. You two can ignore me, just pretend I’m a corpse."

"Forget it. We’re not going out anytime soon. Now get the hell out of here before I turn you into a real corpse."

Quincy didn’t budge, so Evelyn jumped off Ronan’s back, grabbed a stick by the door, and moved as if to hit him. Terrified, he bolted in a flash.

"If I remember correctly, isn’t that guy pushing forty? He’s still so childish."

"In that respect, you two are actually a little bit similar." Ronan closed the door and led Evelyn back to the bedroom.

"Similar? Are you saying I’m childish?"

"I mean you’re both full of energy." Ronan’s survival instincts were kicking in.

Seeing him light the firewood for the heated brick bed, Evelyn sniffed her clothes.

"We really do smell like hot pot. No wonder Quincy could tell. I need to take a bath."

"I’ll go heat the water."

Evelyn clung to Ronan again. "I’ll keep you company while you heat the water."

"And what about my bath?"

"I’ll join you."

Ronan Kendrick let out a soft laugh. "Alright, then. Let’s go."