Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One—translated by Elkin & Raylight (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)
Weary and wounded, we made our way back up to the refugee camp in single file. Along the way, we even encountered Wu Yaojin. The moment we ran into him, every soldier rushed at him, thirsting for blood and vengeance. As for me, I didn’t feel it necessary to stop them.
Everyone had dark expressions on their faces after we did a count just now. The number of survivors after all the deaths and injuries had been whittled down to just under a third. The greatest shock was the deaths of the Lieutenant and Guo Hong. Their lives were lost in the aberrant ambush led by Asura and not even their corpses were spared. Given the circumstances, could you really blame the soldiers for wanting to rip apart the researchers?
“If you kill me, you’re going to run into trouble two days down the line,” Wu Yaojin analyzed the situation extremely calmly despite the fact that his life was in danger. “In the past, we relied on Maternibaby to keep the aberrants from the refugee camp. But now that it’s not around anymore…”
He had actually adopted the term “aberrant.” With that, this new vocabulary might become commonplace even faster.
Ah Nuo’s face immediately darkened and he asked gravely, “So those monsters are gonna come?”
Wu Yaojin nodded.
The soldiers’ expressions became grimmer, with what seemed to be a tinge of resignation mixed in.
I quickly asked, “So since you’re saying ‘killing you will bring trouble,’ you’re saying that you have some way to fix this, right?”
“Yup.” Wu Yaojin gazed evenly at everyone but didn’t tell us the solution. It was obvious that he was going to use it as a bargaining chip to protect his own life. He was keeping his lips tightly sealed.
I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian, wondering if he had any ideas. But he didn’t seem to care and instead said, “Let’s head up. Thirteen is probably heading east, since his main camp was established there. Then again, there’s no guarantee that he went over to that city directly, or there might be some delay in between.”
Eastwards…? I blanched. Dàgē’s route was also eastwards, and I vaguely remembered the aberrants’ main camp being in a large metropolis. Don’t tell me it’s Lan City?!
Seeing my abrupt change in expression, Jiang Xiaotian shot me a look of bewilderment, but before I even needed to explain myself, he quickly figured it out himself, and his expression also changed to one of alarm. He blurted out, “Shujun’s in danger!”
Technically speaking, it didn’t pose an immediate danger to them. Dàgē and the others were planning to set up camp in the old town near Lan City rather than in Lan City itself. Furthermore, the world was a big place, so what was the probability of running into—Wait a second, with the Jiang family’s rotten luck, it’s hard to say! I mean, I bumped into Thirteen myself!
We’d better go soon. I started worrying.
At this moment, Chen Yanqing suddenly took a few steps toward me, with a look of unease on his face. It was almost like a man who was deeply terrified of being abandoned by his wife… No wait, I mean, just like, just like—I really don’t know a better way to describe it!
But I could understand his unease. In my previous life, there were many who wanted to stay with the strong. Even a small-fry like Xia Zhengu had quite a few followers. Everyone had simply run out of options, and survival in the face of aberrants, hunger, and drastic climate changes had become incredibly difficult. Walking in the shadow of someone strong gave that little bit of security in life, and people were willing to sell themselves and even their children to get that security.
From the way Jiang Xiaotian and I acted, it was like we were masters who knew everything, so who would want to give up the chance to tag along with such people? Although Chen Yanqing was already very clingy to begin with…
But Wu Yaojin dodged behind me and gripped my shoulder tightly before saying, “Promise that you won’t kill me, and then I’ll fix this situation for you.”
The soldiers’ thirst for blood became even stronger, and even I didn’t have any inclination of saving him. What kind of idiot thinks that hiding behind me will help?
I tore his hand off me and sidestepped to let him face the fury of the soldiers.
Wu Yaojin sighed and remarked, “Killing me will be nothing but a loss to you. Although it seems like the current world favors those with physical power, you will still need to rely on truth seekers like me to figure out problems. Surely you don’t want to be forever living in fear of aberrants?”
The soldiers were dead silent. I could sympathize with them. Although some people became obsessed with power and the apocalyptic world was probably more exciting than the days of the past, the vast majority of people just wanted to return to the old times, when even the weak could survive, rather than this kind of exciting life where slipping up even a little bit could mean death.
But why did the world suddenly become like this? Was the red meteor shower a coincidence or one of the causes? What on earth was the black fog that would visit every year without fail?
What on earth happened in the tenth year of the apocalypse, the very year I died?
I recalled there was a big commotion and there were great booms and explosions that filled the world… What was with that? My memory of that time was a bit foggy—I only remembered everyone fleeing for their lives, and the thing that was hot on their heels seemed intent on annihilating everyone.
I had chosen a direction and led a few people I was close to along the paths with no enemies, but in the end, the bastard Xia Zhengu caught up with us. Not only did he draw the danger to us, he even attacked us just to slow down the enemy. He shoved at me and sent me flying back a fair bit, and when I looked up, there was a swarm… of insect-like aberrants… Ugh!
“Shuyu, what’s wrong?”
Gripping my head, I looked up to see Xiaotian gazing at me with worry.
“Just a headache, probably thanks to whatever Thirteen did to me.”
I probably needed to question Jiang Xiaotian about the apocalyptic world ten years in the future once we were free from these soldiers. He probably knew about the commotion, unless his time travel happened earlier than Guan Weijun’s death. But that probably isn’t the case? At least I hadn’t heard of any of the elite dying back then.
While the soldiers were still being indecisive, Ah Nuo spoke, “We won’t touch you. But you better do what you need to do fast. We don’t know what the situation is like up there. If the refugee camp’s gone, you’ll be useless, and you sure won’t have any say in how you die then!”
I nodded. He was right. Without the refugee camp, all Ah Nuo and the others needed to do was just leave this place, and there wouldn’t be any more worrying about whether the aberrants would invade. Then again, if he really had a way to keep the aberrants away, everyone would want to get their hands on it! I wanted it too. It would be such a waste to destroy it!
“It’s the blood extracted from Maternibaby. With it, lasting several weeks wouldn’t be an issue. As for what comes after that, we’ll have to wait and see how to deal with it. Hopefully the research center will send help within this time frame.”
Ah Nuo impatiently butted in, “Then hurry up and get it!”
Wu Yaojin shook his head and declared, “I already took some beforehand. We can go.”
“…” All the soldiers and I felt an impulse to viciously beat him to death.
When we returned to the military zone once more, the scene was a chaotic mess. The few surviving soldiers were completely unable to control the situation. I heard from them that when Thirteen had come out, the aberrants had easily captured a few people, probably as rations to eat on the way. Even the desperate gunfire from the military was not enough to stop them because the two armored bears had managed to block all of the bullets, terrifying the soldiers to the point they thought they were goners. However, the aberrants had left without a second thought, all while clutching large quantities of “food.”
“You’re saying that the group of aberrants just left toward the south? You’re certain of this?”
I questioned the soldier in front of me in detail, afraid he had made a mistake. I mean, wouldn’t Thirteen head east to go man his main camp? What would he want to go south for?
The soldier nodded his head vigorously and pointed in that direction as he said, “If you don’t believe me, go take a look. The footprints and mucus are still there. Nobody has even dared to touch them.”
Jiang Xiaotian actually did run over to take a look. I was planning to join him, until the other soldiers started reporting to Ah Nuo, and I decided I would rather listen in. Moreover, Chen Yanqing—No, not just him, several others besides him were also looking at me with worship. If I were to run over now, I might be bringing an entire group with me, mobilizing way too many troops. It’s best if Jiang Xiaotian goes there on his own.
Speaking of which, is this a flag to start my own harem? I don’t want to become the second Xia Zhengu, thanks. All of you should just scram!
The soldier reported, “Many people have escaped, but I believe they should still be around the premises. After all, they don’t have anywhere to go to. Once the military zone settles down, they should come back.”
They might as well not come back!
First of all, it increased food consumption. Second, since there’d been a large decrease in the number of soldiers, if they had to spare a few people to go scavenge for resources in the city, the rest of them probably couldn’t control the masses of civilians. At that point, it wouldn’t be odd if people started fighting over food and firearms, and even started murdering others.
Don’t ever underestimate civilians. When your hunger reaches the limit, your humanity would also be eaten away to nothing.
Ah Nuo obviously knew that too. His brows were knitted tightly. He was deep in thought. However, in the next second when he looked up and saw me, his brows relaxed, as though I could fix it all.
… Is this the start of taking an army under my wing?
“Shuyu!”
I raised my head and looked over. The cute little Jiang Xiaotian dashed over, gleefully informing me, “Shuyu, let’s hurry! Thirteen doesn’t have any more strength to control those aberrants. That’s why he left so simply. Seeing the way the footprints are scattered around, he must have let those aberrants go free. At most, he will only have Asura and Maternibaby with him, but both are heavily injured, especially Maternibaby. They’ll only hold him back. Also, Maternibaby left a scent trail and tons of body fluid, so tracking them won’t be an issue.”
This is really a one in a thousand chance, even better than when we were in the research center! If we could do away with Thirteen here, wouldn’t the plight of humans improve for the better?
“Okay.” I nodded and spoke, “Let’s go.”
Chen Yanqing’s expression immediately changed as he shouted, “Wait—”
I snapped back my head and asserted, “I have to go after him! The leader of the aberrants just now is really something. If we leave him alive, it’s going to spell a catastrophe for mankind!”
Before Chen Yanqing could say anything, Ah Nuo interjected, “Since just now, I have been hearing this kid and you talk about something I don’t get. But it looks like you two do know something. If that’s so, we can’t neglect a bigger problem for the sake of fixing smaller ones. Ah Qing, don’t try to stop them anymore. Bigger problems are at hand, so we should let them go.”
Chen Yanqing turned red in the face, as he stammered, “I-I just wanted to say, that professor from the research center is gone.”
Ah Nuo’s face changed and he instantly glanced around, but there was no trace of Wu Yaojin to be found. He raged, “Damn it!”
“Didn’t we already agree not to kill him? Why did he still make a run for it?” I was deeply shocked at this. All of us knew that it was not a good time to be running away right now. With this many aberrants outside, running around on your own was like asking to be food for the aberrants. That’s why the thought that Wu Yaojin might run away had never even crossed my mind.
“Everyone, go look for him!” ordered Ah Nuo. Afterwards, he paced around furiously, as he roared, “That guy must have nothing on him that can stop the aberrants coming. He was just fooling us!”
“He probably does have something, or his escape would just mean he’s marching to his death.” Jiang Xiaotian thought for a moment and said, “Most likely he is unable to use it on the entire camp, or he would have chosen to stay. Moreover, the MORC might have an emergency shelter, since they were working on such dangerous experiments. After all, accidents do occur easily. They can overlook the research center getting destroyed, but even losing one researcher would hurt them, especially if they were one of the few leading the experiment. They can’t afford to lose them, so the MORC must have left them an escape route.”
Ah Nuo seemed to have suddenly recalled something and said, “There were orders from the higher-ups before, that if anything were to happen, we must protect Professor Wu as well as follow his instructions.”
I nodded and added on, “Wu Yaojin said that Professor Wu was his brother. So it wouldn’t be odd at all if he also knew where the ‘escape route’ is. Chances are that he headed over by himself.”
Chen Yanqing spoke in confusion, “Then, why didn’t he tell us? We could have escorted him over. It’s still miles safer than running over on his own.”
Jiang Xiaotian indifferently stated, “First, he would be worried that you all still hold a grudge against him, and would attempt to kill him once we’ve reached a safe and secure place. The second reason is just my speculation, but that ‘escape route’ probably can’t hold too many people. Putting aside the issue whether you all can fit in, it definitely would not be able to contain all of those civilians outside. Probably, he didn’t want to wait around while you all struggled to decide matters, so he simply made a run for it.”
“That freaking bastard!” Ah Nuo roared. “We should have just killed him!”
No use crying over spilled milk! Hurry and think of what to do, because there’s a few thousand people gathered here practically screaming to become a food haven for the aberrants! Sooner or later we’ll be wiped clean….
Jiang Xiaotian grabbed my hand and said, “Let’s quickly head out and catch up to Thirteen. After we deal with him, then you can go home. I’m a little worried that Thirteen will know how to hide his trail. At the very least, he wouldn’t let Maternibaby drip blood the entire way to form a blood trail. By then, it will be difficult to locate them.”
Hearing that, I took a deep breath, and did my best to suppress the urge to go home. In my heart, I chanted repeatedly, “As long as I finish this, I will be able to see Dàgē and Xiǎomèi.” Yes, there is no need to hurry. I’m just giving chase and busting in three heads. It’ll take no time at all.
What Jiang Xiaotian said was right. The longer I delayed now, the more time I would have to spend later looking for Thirteen. Probably double, or even several dozen times, the amount of time? I should have given chase immediately. Who knows, I might have already busted Thirteen’s brains out by now. What a mistake!
Thinking of that, I instantly turned to leave.
“Xiao Yu!” Chen Yanqing shouted anxiously.
Turning back, all of the military soldiers were looking at me, as though in disbelief that I could just up and go like that.
I gave a sigh. It’s not easy to be a master…
“Since there’s no way to prevent the aberrants from attacking, it’s best if you all evacuate the civilians and then run away. It’s definitely not a good thing to have so many people gathered in one place.”
Ah Nuo growled in disbelief, “Evacuate to where? All of them will die!”
That was true. Ah Nuo and the others at least had some military strength. However, the civilians outside had nothing to protect themselves with, and the large city beside them wasn’t somewhere that they could enter. Having no resources was pretty much equivalent to death. Moreover, even if they headed toward the smaller cities, there would be few who could survive the trip.
“Are you going to just watch as several thousand die in front of you?”
Several thousand? I felt so angry to the point it was laughable. The number of people that I have watched die in front of me in my life is a hell of a lot more than this!
“The aberrant that I’m about to give chase to is called Thirteen. Years later, he will become a very strong aberrant. The human deaths that he’s directly or indirectly involved in will be well above ten thousand, and that’s just a minimum estimate!”
All who were present at the scene had their eyes wide open in shock. They were probably shocked by the sheer numbers. However, it seemed like doubt filled their minds.
Ah Nuo hesitated for a short moment, before he questioned, “How would you know about something that happens years later?”
“Didn’t you mention just now that I know some stuff that you all don’t?” Impatiently, I continued, “Our Xiaotian can foresee many things.”
Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part Two—translated by Elkin, Ever, & lucathia (proofread by EvlNabiki & Lala Su; C/E edited by lucathia & Elkin)
Yeah, I can just push it all onto Jiang Xiaotian. In any case, there was something off about him, so it would be wrong if he didn’t have some awe-inspiring ability.
All the soldiers looked at the little kid, while the kid himself was glowering, with torrents of icy air pouring off his body. If we didn’t pursue Thirteen right this moment, the little kid would probably chase after him himself.
“You can help us first, then we’ll help you kill that aberrant later.” Ah Nuo seemed pretty desperate. It was clear that if he had the choice, he definitely wouldn’t beg an eighteen-year-old and a three-year-old kid for help.
I was certain I could just turn and leave, despite the soldiers’ unwillingness to let us go. I highly doubted that they would pull anything on us, but I didn’t want to treat them that way. They were acting for the good of the refugees; otherwise, they could just pack up their firearms and food and simply leave, instead of fretting over the problem of whether the refugees would die or not.
I said slowly and clearly, “Actually, my family’s in the east. My dàgē leads a troop of mercenaries and we’ve got firepower and supplies. My mèimei is tormenting herself like she’s gone mad, because she thinks I’m dead. So honestly? I really want to go eastwards. I really fucking do.”
Jiang Xiaotian lifted his little head to gaze at me, clearly biting back the words he wanted to say. But I completely ignored him. It was obvious that he’d just tell me to go home, and he’d run off to face Thirteen himself. He didn’t care the slightest about what would happen to him afterwards, and even if it spelled his death, he would just think of it as the opportunity of joining his siblings from the other world.
My heart clenched. Everything fell in place. Don’t tell me the reason why Jiang Xiaotian never brought up the possibility of parallel worlds is because…
I looked up sharply to see the soldiers in gloom, making it impossible for me to just immediately turn and go. Dammit, I probably can’t ever get over this Mother Teresa complex!
I sucked in a deep breath and continued my explanation, “I’m just eighteen. I’m not as strong as you think me to be. And I’m definitely not an expert fighter or anything. I only know some stuff thanks to Xiaotian. And right now, I know that Thirteen bastard will kill many people in the future. If I let him go now and later hear that he has caused a massacre, I won’t be able to live with myself!”
All the soldiers listened in silence. They were really well trained. If people like this were willing to come with me, I’d take as many of them as I could. But if they were the types of soldiers who could just abandon helpless refugees, I wouldn’t want them to come after all. Such a dilemma!
“Do you understand me? I’m not running away, and I’m not so cold-blooded as to be uncaring about the lives of thousands of people. But I absolutely must kill Thirteen, the future aberrant elite who would fucking trample over the corpses of countless humans!”
Right after I finished yelling, Ah Nuo suddenly gave a crisp salute, scaring the wits out of me. I didn’t know how to react.
Ah Nuo said solemnly, “Please kill that monster. I, Ah Nuo, thank you on behalf of all who are present here.”
All the soldiers followed him and saluted when they heard that.
If I hadn’t been here, these people would’ve probably all died? When I had found them, they were about to commit double suicide with Maternibaby, but the future Thirteen still had Maternibaby by his side… Oh yeah, in my previous life, the lieutenant probably hadn’t brought anyone with him into the lab, and without them, Ah Nuo and the others probably couldn’t have even gotten to the point where they could take down Maternibaby with them.
I really hope they will live on for much longer! I couldn’t help but blurt, “The monsters you keep talking about, I call them ‘aberrants.’ If you want to kill them, you must destroy their heads—but you probably know that already.”
They exchanged looks and nodded.
“After killing the aberrants, dig into their chest cavity. There will be a hard shell inside. Break that open and you’ll see this.”
I took the silver flask from my waist and tipped out a few evolution crystals. All the soldiers’ eyes fixated on the crystals as they swallowed reflexively.
“Eat this and it will improve your body, and also increase the strength of your abilities.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of special ability you have—don’t waste it. Although these abilities seem fairly useless right now, they definitely won’t let you down if you train them up!”
The soldiers’ eyes sparkled and they quickly clamored to ask, “Can we become as strong as you?”
“For sure,” I replied without hesitation. “You have good base qualities, so it’s not hard to achieve my tier.”
I had only reached tier two, and toward the middle of the apocalypse, a tier two was no big deal—I mean, even dogs were tier two! The dogman aberrants then were all around tiers two or three, and often appeared in packs, so people avoided them on sight.
I felt better when I saw looks of hope surface on the soldiers’ faces. As long as you had hope, you would have the drive to live. I really was worried that these soldiers who had embraced death wouldn’t be able to think things through and would stay here stubbornly to the very end, then end up being wiped clean by hungry aberrants.
“Disperse the refugees, and if you feel that’s not doing enough for them, give them most of the stuff as well. You are all very strong, and you definitely will have no problem scavenging for supplies. Aberrants out there aren’t so strong—well, at least the vast majority of them will be way weaker than the ones you encountered in the lab. You’ve already duked it out with lions, so don’t tell me you can’t beat down some dogs?”
The soldiers cracked up.
I chuckled myself too. It was good that they were able to laugh. Then, I sobered and said seriously, “When necessary, make sure to protect yourselves. I know abandoning civilians isn’t what soldiers should be doing, but in these apocalyptic days, humanity is in dire need of strong people.”
Especially strong people with good hearts. As for those bastards who are rotten both inside and out, please, go dig a hole and bury yourselves for the benefit of humanity.
“Have you remembered this properly?” I asked anxiously. I really hoped I was able to keep more capable and good-hearted people alive.
Everyone nodded.
“Stick out your hands.”
Ah Nuo stared at me in confusion, but Chen Yanqing had already stretched out his hand. I tipped the silver flask and emptied all the crystals into the palm of his hand. There actually weren’t that many left, and there might not even be enough for every soldier to get one each.
“I suggest that you split this between two or three people. Pick those whose abilities are most useful, or those who are best at fighting, because the effect of a single crystal is too small. I suggest that you don’t share it so everyone gets one, or the effects might not be enough.”
Ah Nuo’s brow furrowed at my words.
Jiang Xiaotian pointed at Ah Nuo and Chen Yanqing and declared, “The two of you should just split it in half and eat them. A leaderless platoon is not much better than headless chickens. The others can only survive if you two are alive.”
The two balked and revealed looks of hesitation. They even glanced a few times at their fellow comrades. But Jiang Xiaotian shouted, “Eat it! If you don’t eat it within five seconds, we’re taking them all back. Five, four…”
Chen Yanqing stiffened, quickly poured half to Ah Nuo and swallowed the remainder. By the time Ah Nuo got the crystals, Jiang Xiaotian had counted down to “one” and had dashed forward to grab his hand, but Ah Nuo immediately threw the crystals into his mouth.
I gave Jiang Xiaotian an impressed look. This was a fantastic way of dealing with the situation. After we had left, Ah Nuo could have distributed the crystals evenly across all the people. Or worse, even if he had split them between Ah Qing and himself, the others might resent that. But this was absolutely the best way of distributing the crystals.
Since Jiang Xiaotian forced them to swallow the crystals by saying, “the two of you swallow them or no one gets any,” this extreme method meant that, even if the other soldiers didn’t like it, they couldn’t blame it on Ah Nuo and Ah Qing.
“Shuyu, let’s go,” Jiang Xiaotian said briskly, “the later we set out, the harder it’ll be to catch them.”
I nodded and followed after the little guy, but after a few steps, I gritted my teeth and dashed back, giving Chen Yanqing a big hug. I gave him a few pats on the back as I tried to recall in my previous life how men hugged each other goodbye… Hey, you guys to the side. Don’t make weird faces. This is friendship between men!
I glared at the others angrily as they stared at the sky, at the ground, and at imaginary ants, pretending that they saw nothing. You fucking idiots! How can still you act like morons even though it’s the apocalypse?
Ignoring that bunch, I whispered beside Chen Yanqing’s ear, “I’ll be staying at Old Town next to Lan City. Don’t tell anyone else besides Ah Nuo. Only you two can take people there, understand?”
Chen Yanqing had frozen. He stuttered, “Okay, um, your, your kid…”
I turned around hurriedly. Oh shit, Jiang Xiaotian looked so angry that he could spout fire. Please, you’re the Ice Emperor, not the Flame King!
I hurriedly scooped Jiang Xiaotian up and dashed away to keep Chen Yanqing from dying by the Ice Emperor’s hands before he got killed by an aberrant. Even though that would count as a kind of accomplishment, staying alive was still more important.
I dashed out of the camp, with Jiang Xiaotian’s one line of “no puppy love” still ringing in my ears, and the scenery that greeted me the moment I stepped outside triggered memories of the past.
The refugee camp was in shambles and everyone was hiding under things, wanting to flee but too afraid to do so. An eerie silence hung over the camp. Anyone who dared to make any loud sounds would be beaten to death with no remorse. Rather than having someone draw the attention of aberrants by wailing and causing many casualties, people would rather send them to hell so they could cry all they wanted.
“Xiao Yu!”
Just as I thought that, someone actually cried out. She ran up to me, stumbling as she did and received a lot of angry glares from the others. I immediately covered her mouth and gave the people around us a warning look.
I said quietly, “Auntie Chen, don’t cry. I need to leave now. If you keep wailing like this, the others will bully you.”
Though tears were still rolling from Auntie Chen’s eyes, she didn’t look like she’d wail anymore, so I let go of her mouth and heard her sob, “Who cares about being bullied? Beibei’s gone anyway, so I might as well be dead!”
Shocked, I asked, “How’s that possible?”
As soon as I asked the question, my face immediately darkened with anger. Was she also taken to be aberrant food? But no, Beibei’s so little. There’s so many people in the refugee camp. Why would they take Beibei instead? She’s not even enough for a meal.
“I thought that he was human! A bunch of monsters suddenly rushed out, and my husband had gone off somewhere. I had no idea where he was. I couldn’t run fast while holding Beibei. A whole bunch of people were caught and monsters were running just next to us!”
Is Auntie Chen talking about the first batch of aberrants that broke free, or was it Thirteen’s crowd?
“The man just stood there looking at Beibei. I thought he wanted to help, so I handed Beibei to him, pleading for him to flee, but those monsters surrounded us. I thought we were goners, but that man actually spoke with the monsters. That was when I saw he had a tail.” Auntie Chen spoke until she choked up with sobs. She said remorsefully, “I wanted to beg him to return Beibei to me, but I couldn’t say a single word. W-Why couldn’t I say anything then?!”
She was scared shitless. I could understand.
“He took Beibei?”
Auntie Chen nodded while crying.
Thirteen actually took Beibei with him? This is really a bit strange. Can it be that with his slim stature, his appetite is also small, so snatching a girl is enough?
I frowned and informed Auntie Chen, “I’m going to track him down right now. Auntie Chen, take care of yourself. Donot go around crying.”
Joy came back to her face. She wiped her eyes, looked at Jiang Xiaotian, and asked with good intentions, “How about I help you look after him?”
I shook my head and said, “I’m leaving now. Auntie Chen, be careful. Go with the soldiers if you can, even if your husband doesn’t. Understand?”
But Auntie Chen immediately said, “I’ll wait for you to return with Beibei.”
I frowned and said, “I’ll meet up with the troops. Just follow them.”
Only then did Auntie Chen nod.
I carried Jiang Xiaotian and left quickly. I didn’t know if it was my ice spear or something else, but no one dared to stop me. I left the refugee camp just like that.
Jiang Xiaotian sprawled on my back and berated me unhappily, “Shuyu, you’re as wishy washy as a woman. You have to change that. Be more decisive. Who knows how long it’ll take to track him down now after wasting time like this? If we give him time to recover his ability to control the aberrants, killing him won’t be easy.”
Don’t I know it? If not for the apocalypse, Guan Weijun would probably have been destined to be a mother before a wife, and the partner would probably still have been Xia Zhengu. I might even have played the game of wife versus mistress, haha.
“Dàgē, why the hell did Thirteen grab Beibei?”
“Who cares? That girl is likely ‘done for.’”
My face fell. Thinking of cute Beibei, a wave of pain stabbed my heart.
“If you want to save her, focus. The faster we catch up, the likelier it is we can save her.”
True. I immediately got a hold of myself, following the tracks left by Thirteen. However, the tracks were very scattered. The horde of aberrants that had run off in all directions had left behind a sea of footprints, and it was difficult to determine which direction Thirteen had gone.
Fortunately, as Jiang Xiaotian had said, Maternibaby had a distinct smell. On top of that, she had left a trail of blood, and it even had the smell of milk.
After following the trail for a while, I actually made a huge discovery.
“Isn’t this my motorcycle?!” I was super moved. I didn’t think I’d be able to see this baby here. I was so sad when I took the bus and had to leave this behind!
Jiang Xiaotian gave it a glance and said, “If you can steal other people’s vehicles, of course other people can also steal yours. Besides, you left it on the street, so it’s not strange that someone would’ve grabbed it and rode it over. But it’s probably out of fuel. Get some fuel from some car. Need me to teach you?”
Are you kidding me?! A commoner like me, who does everything myself, is definitely better at this than the Ice Emperor who had countless underlings!
“Hm, this motorcycle uses 95 unleaded petrol. Don’t get it wrong.”
Dàgē, who cares about 95, 98, 99, or 100 during the apocalypse! When you need fuel, even sewer oil will do!
I cried on the inside as I watched Jiang Xiaotian seriously looking for a car with 95 unleaded petrol. The Ice Emperor wouldn’t even relent on his choice of fuel. No doubt he had no lack of resources in his previous life. It’s hell comparing with him!
Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One—translated by Elkin & Raylight (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)
Weary and wounded, we made our way back up to the refugee camp in single file. Along the way, we even encountered Wu Yaojin. The moment we ran into him, every soldier rushed at him, thirsting for blood and vengeance. As for me, I didn’t feel it necessary to stop them.
Everyone had dark expressions on their faces after we did a count just now. The number of survivors after all the deaths and injuries had been whittled down to just under a third. The greatest shock was the deaths of the Lieutenant and Guo Hong. Their lives were lost in the aberrant ambush led by Asura and not even their corpses were spared. Given the circumstances, could you really blame the soldiers for wanting to rip apart the researchers?
“If you kill me, you’re going to run into trouble two days down the line,” Wu Yaojin analyzed the situation extremely calmly despite the fact that his life was in danger. “In the past, we relied on Maternibaby to keep the aberrants from the refugee camp. But now that it’s not around anymore…”
He had actually adopted the term “aberrant.” With that, this new vocabulary might become commonplace even faster.
Ah Nuo’s face immediately darkened and he asked gravely, “So those monsters are gonna come?”
Wu Yaojin nodded.
The soldiers’ expressions became grimmer, with what seemed to be a tinge of resignation mixed in.
I quickly asked, “So since you’re saying ‘killing you will bring trouble,’ you’re saying that you have some way to fix this, right?”
“Yup.” Wu Yaojin gazed evenly at everyone but didn’t tell us the solution. It was obvious that he was going to use it as a bargaining chip to protect his own life. He was keeping his lips tightly sealed.
I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian, wondering if he had any ideas. But he didn’t seem to care and instead said, “Let’s head up. Thirteen is probably heading east, since his main camp was established there. Then again, there’s no guarantee that he went over to that city directly, or there might be some delay in between.”
Eastwards…? I blanched. Dàgē’s route was also eastwards, and I vaguely remembered the aberrants’ main camp being in a large metropolis. Don’t tell me it’s Lan City?!
Seeing my abrupt change in expression, Jiang Xiaotian shot me a look of bewilderment, but before I even needed to explain myself, he quickly figured it out himself, and his expression also changed to one of alarm. He blurted out, “Shujun’s in danger!”
Technically speaking, it didn’t pose an immediate danger to them. Dàgē and the others were planning to set up camp in the old town near Lan City rather than in Lan City itself. Furthermore, the world was a big place, so what was the probability of running into—Wait a second, with the Jiang family’s rotten luck, it’s hard to say! I mean, I bumped into Thirteen myself!
We’d better go soon. I started worrying.
At this moment, Chen Yanqing suddenly took a few steps toward me, with a look of unease on his face. It was almost like a man who was deeply terrified of being abandoned by his wife… No wait, I mean, just like, just like—I really don’t know a better way to describe it!
But I could understand his unease. In my previous life, there were many who wanted to stay with the strong. Even a small-fry like Xia Zhengu had quite a few followers. Everyone had simply run out of options, and survival in the face of aberrants, hunger, and drastic climate changes had become incredibly difficult. Walking in the shadow of someone strong gave that little bit of security in life, and people were willing to sell themselves and even their children to get that security.
From the way Jiang Xiaotian and I acted, it was like we were masters who knew everything, so who would want to give up the chance to tag along with such people? Although Chen Yanqing was already very clingy to begin with…
But Wu Yaojin dodged behind me and gripped my shoulder tightly before saying, “Promise that you won’t kill me, and then I’ll fix this situation for you.”
The soldiers’ thirst for blood became even stronger, and even I didn’t have any inclination of saving him. What kind of idiot thinks that hiding behind me will help?
I tore his hand off me and sidestepped to let him face the fury of the soldiers.
Wu Yaojin sighed and remarked, “Killing me will be nothing but a loss to you. Although it seems like the current world favors those with physical power, you will still need to rely on truth seekers like me to figure out problems. Surely you don’t want to be forever living in fear of aberrants?”
The soldiers were dead silent. I could sympathize with them. Although some people became obsessed with power and the apocalyptic world was probably more exciting than the days of the past, the vast majority of people just wanted to return to the old times, when even the weak could survive, rather than this kind of exciting life where slipping up even a little bit could mean death.
But why did the world suddenly become like this? Was the red meteor shower a coincidence or one of the causes? What on earth was the black fog that would visit every year without fail?
What on earth happened in the tenth year of the apocalypse, the very year I died?
I recalled there was a big commotion and there were great booms and explosions that filled the world… What was with that? My memory of that time was a bit foggy—I only remembered everyone fleeing for their lives, and the thing that was hot on their heels seemed intent on annihilating everyone.
I had chosen a direction and led a few people I was close to along the paths with no enemies, but in the end, the bastard Xia Zhengu caught up with us. Not only did he draw the danger to us, he even attacked us just to slow down the enemy. He shoved at me and sent me flying back a fair bit, and when I looked up, there was a swarm… of insect-like aberrants… Ugh!
“Shuyu, what’s wrong?”
Gripping my head, I looked up to see Xiaotian gazing at me with worry.
“Just a headache, probably thanks to whatever Thirteen did to me.”
I probably needed to question Jiang Xiaotian about the apocalyptic world ten years in the future once we were free from these soldiers. He probably knew about the commotion, unless his time travel happened earlier than Guan Weijun’s death. But that probably isn’t the case? At least I hadn’t heard of any of the elite dying back then.
While the soldiers were still being indecisive, Ah Nuo spoke, “We won’t touch you. But you better do what you need to do fast. We don’t know what the situation is like up there. If the refugee camp’s gone, you’ll be useless, and you sure won’t have any say in how you die then!”
I nodded. He was right. Without the refugee camp, all Ah Nuo and the others needed to do was just leave this place, and there wouldn’t be any more worrying about whether the aberrants would invade. Then again, if he really had a way to keep the aberrants away, everyone would want to get their hands on it! I wanted it too. It would be such a waste to destroy it!
“It’s the blood extracted from Maternibaby. With it, lasting several weeks wouldn’t be an issue. As for what comes after that, we’ll have to wait and see how to deal with it. Hopefully the research center will send help within this time frame.”
Ah Nuo impatiently butted in, “Then hurry up and get it!”
Wu Yaojin shook his head and declared, “I already took some beforehand. We can go.”
“…” All the soldiers and I felt an impulse to viciously beat him to death.
When we returned to the military zone once more, the scene was a chaotic mess. The few surviving soldiers were completely unable to control the situation. I heard from them that when Thirteen had come out, the aberrants had easily captured a few people, probably as rations to eat on the way. Even the desperate gunfire from the military was not enough to stop them because the two armored bears had managed to block all of the bullets, terrifying the soldiers to the point they thought they were goners. However, the aberrants had left without a second thought, all while clutching large quantities of “food.”
“You’re saying that the group of aberrants just left toward the south? You’re certain of this?”
I questioned the soldier in front of me in detail, afraid he had made a mistake. I mean, wouldn’t Thirteen head east to go man his main camp? What would he want to go south for?
The soldier nodded his head vigorously and pointed in that direction as he said, “If you don’t believe me, go take a look. The footprints and mucus are still there. Nobody has even dared to touch them.”
Jiang Xiaotian actually did run over to take a look. I was planning to join him, until the other soldiers started reporting to Ah Nuo, and I decided I would rather listen in. Moreover, Chen Yanqing—No, not just him, several others besides him were also looking at me with worship. If I were to run over now, I might be bringing an entire group with me, mobilizing way too many troops. It’s best if Jiang Xiaotian goes there on his own.
Speaking of which, is this a flag to start my own harem? I don’t want to become the second Xia Zhengu, thanks. All of you should just scram!
The soldier reported, “Many people have escaped, but I believe they should still be around the premises. After all, they don’t have anywhere to go to. Once the military zone settles down, they should come back.”
They might as well not come back!
First of all, it increased food consumption. Second, since there’d been a large decrease in the number of soldiers, if they had to spare a few people to go scavenge for resources in the city, the rest of them probably couldn’t control the masses of civilians. At that point, it wouldn’t be odd if people started fighting over food and firearms, and even started murdering others.
Don’t ever underestimate civilians. When your hunger reaches the limit, your humanity would also be eaten away to nothing.
Ah Nuo obviously knew that too. His brows were knitted tightly. He was deep in thought. However, in the next second when he looked up and saw me, his brows relaxed, as though I could fix it all.
… Is this the start of taking an army under my wing?
“Shuyu!”
I raised my head and looked over. The cute little Jiang Xiaotian dashed over, gleefully informing me, “Shuyu, let’s hurry! Thirteen doesn’t have any more strength to control those aberrants. That’s why he left so simply. Seeing the way the footprints are scattered around, he must have let those aberrants go free. At most, he will only have Asura and Maternibaby with him, but both are heavily injured, especially Maternibaby. They’ll only hold him back. Also, Maternibaby left a scent trail and tons of body fluid, so tracking them won’t be an issue.”
This is really a one in a thousand chance, even better than when we were in the research center! If we could do away with Thirteen here, wouldn’t the plight of humans improve for the better?
“Okay.” I nodded and spoke, “Let’s go.”
Chen Yanqing’s expression immediately changed as he shouted, “Wait—”
I snapped back my head and asserted, “I have to go after him! The leader of the aberrants just now is really something. If we leave him alive, it’s going to spell a catastrophe for mankind!”
Before Chen Yanqing could say anything, Ah Nuo interjected, “Since just now, I have been hearing this kid and you talk about something I don’t get. But it looks like you two do know something. If that’s so, we can’t neglect a bigger problem for the sake of fixing smaller ones. Ah Qing, don’t try to stop them anymore. Bigger problems are at hand, so we should let them go.”
Chen Yanqing turned red in the face, as he stammered, “I-I just wanted to say, that professor from the research center is gone.”
Ah Nuo’s face changed and he instantly glanced around, but there was no trace of Wu Yaojin to be found. He raged, “Damn it!”
“Didn’t we already agree not to kill him? Why did he still make a run for it?” I was deeply shocked at this. All of us knew that it was not a good time to be running away right now. With this many aberrants outside, running around on your own was like asking to be food for the aberrants. That’s why the thought that Wu Yaojin might run away had never even crossed my mind.
“Everyone, go look for him!” ordered Ah Nuo. Afterwards, he paced around furiously, as he roared, “That guy must have nothing on him that can stop the aberrants coming. He was just fooling us!”
“He probably does have something, or his escape would just mean he’s marching to his death.” Jiang Xiaotian thought for a moment and said, “Most likely he is unable to use it on the entire camp, or he would have chosen to stay. Moreover, the MORC might have an emergency shelter, since they were working on such dangerous experiments. After all, accidents do occur easily. They can overlook the research center getting destroyed, but even losing one researcher would hurt them, especially if they were one of the few leading the experiment. They can’t afford to lose them, so the MORC must have left them an escape route.”
Ah Nuo seemed to have suddenly recalled something and said, “There were orders from the higher-ups before, that if anything were to happen, we must protect Professor Wu as well as follow his instructions.”
I nodded and added on, “Wu Yaojin said that Professor Wu was his brother. So it wouldn’t be odd at all if he also knew where the ‘escape route’ is. Chances are that he headed over by himself.”
Chen Yanqing spoke in confusion, “Then, why didn’t he tell us? We could have escorted him over. It’s still miles safer than running over on his own.”
Jiang Xiaotian indifferently stated, “First, he would be worried that you all still hold a grudge against him, and would attempt to kill him once we’ve reached a safe and secure place. The second reason is just my speculation, but that ‘escape route’ probably can’t hold too many people. Putting aside the issue whether you all can fit in, it definitely would not be able to contain all of those civilians outside. Probably, he didn’t want to wait around while you all struggled to decide matters, so he simply made a run for it.”
“That freaking bastard!” Ah Nuo roared. “We should have just killed him!”
No use crying over spilled milk! Hurry and think of what to do, because there’s a few thousand people gathered here practically screaming to become a food haven for the aberrants! Sooner or later we’ll be wiped clean….
Jiang Xiaotian grabbed my hand and said, “Let’s quickly head out and catch up to Thirteen. After we deal with him, then you can go home. I’m a little worried that Thirteen will know how to hide his trail. At the very least, he wouldn’t let Maternibaby drip blood the entire way to form a blood trail. By then, it will be difficult to locate them.”
Hearing that, I took a deep breath, and did my best to suppress the urge to go home. In my heart, I chanted repeatedly, “As long as I finish this, I will be able to see Dàgē and Xiǎomèi.” Yes, there is no need to hurry. I’m just giving chase and busting in three heads. It’ll take no time at all.
What Jiang Xiaotian said was right. The longer I delayed now, the more time I would have to spend later looking for Thirteen. Probably double, or even several dozen times, the amount of time? I should have given chase immediately. Who knows, I might have already busted Thirteen’s brains out by now. What a mistake!
Thinking of that, I instantly turned to leave.
“Xiao Yu!” Chen Yanqing shouted anxiously.
Turning back, all of the military soldiers were looking at me, as though in disbelief that I could just up and go like that.
I gave a sigh. It’s not easy to be a master…
“Since there’s no way to prevent the aberrants from attacking, it’s best if you all evacuate the civilians and then run away. It’s definitely not a good thing to have so many people gathered in one place.”
Ah Nuo growled in disbelief, “Evacuate to where? All of them will die!”
That was true. Ah Nuo and the others at least had some military strength. However, the civilians outside had nothing to protect themselves with, and the large city beside them wasn’t somewhere that they could enter. Having no resources was pretty much equivalent to death. Moreover, even if they headed toward the smaller cities, there would be few who could survive the trip.
“Are you going to just watch as several thousand die in front of you?”
Several thousand? I felt so angry to the point it was laughable. The number of people that I have watched die in front of me in my life is a hell of a lot more than this!
“The aberrant that I’m about to give chase to is called Thirteen. Years later, he will become a very strong aberrant. The human deaths that he’s directly or indirectly involved in will be well above ten thousand, and that’s just a minimum estimate!”
All who were present at the scene had their eyes wide open in shock. They were probably shocked by the sheer numbers. However, it seemed like doubt filled their minds.
Ah Nuo hesitated for a short moment, before he questioned, “How would you know about something that happens years later?”
“Didn’t you mention just now that I know some stuff that you all don’t?” Impatiently, I continued, “Our Xiaotian can foresee many things.”
Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part Two—translated by Elkin, Ever, & lucathia (proofread by EvlNabiki & Lala Su; C/E edited by lucathia & Elkin)
Yeah, I can just push it all onto Jiang Xiaotian. In any case, there was something off about him, so it would be wrong if he didn’t have some awe-inspiring ability.
All the soldiers looked at the little kid, while the kid himself was glowering, with torrents of icy air pouring off his body. If we didn’t pursue Thirteen right this moment, the little kid would probably chase after him himself.
“You can help us first, then we’ll help you kill that aberrant later.” Ah Nuo seemed pretty desperate. It was clear that if he had the choice, he definitely wouldn’t beg an eighteen-year-old and a three-year-old kid for help.
I was certain I could just turn and leave, despite the soldiers’ unwillingness to let us go. I highly doubted that they would pull anything on us, but I didn’t want to treat them that way. They were acting for the good of the refugees; otherwise, they could just pack up their firearms and food and simply leave, instead of fretting over the problem of whether the refugees would die or not.
I said slowly and clearly, “Actually, my family’s in the east. My dàgē leads a troop of mercenaries and we’ve got firepower and supplies. My mèimei is tormenting herself like she’s gone mad, because she thinks I’m dead. So honestly? I really want to go eastwards. I really fucking do.”
Jiang Xiaotian lifted his little head to gaze at me, clearly biting back the words he wanted to say. But I completely ignored him. It was obvious that he’d just tell me to go home, and he’d run off to face Thirteen himself. He didn’t care the slightest about what would happen to him afterwards, and even if it spelled his death, he would just think of it as the opportunity of joining his siblings from the other world.
My heart clenched. Everything fell in place. Don’t tell me the reason why Jiang Xiaotian never brought up the possibility of parallel worlds is because…
I looked up sharply to see the soldiers in gloom, making it impossible for me to just immediately turn and go. Dammit, I probably can’t ever get over this Mother Teresa complex!
I sucked in a deep breath and continued my explanation, “I’m just eighteen. I’m not as strong as you think me to be. And I’m definitely not an expert fighter or anything. I only know some stuff thanks to Xiaotian. And right now, I know that Thirteen bastard will kill many people in the future. If I let him go now and later hear that he has caused a massacre, I won’t be able to live with myself!”
All the soldiers listened in silence. They were really well trained. If people like this were willing to come with me, I’d take as many of them as I could. But if they were the types of soldiers who could just abandon helpless refugees, I wouldn’t want them to come after all. Such a dilemma!
“Do you understand me? I’m not running away, and I’m not so cold-blooded as to be uncaring about the lives of thousands of people. But I absolutely must kill Thirteen, the future aberrant elite who would fucking trample over the corpses of countless humans!”
Right after I finished yelling, Ah Nuo suddenly gave a crisp salute, scaring the wits out of me. I didn’t know how to react.
Ah Nuo said solemnly, “Please kill that monster. I, Ah Nuo, thank you on behalf of all who are present here.”
All the soldiers followed him and saluted when they heard that.
If I hadn’t been here, these people would’ve probably all died? When I had found them, they were about to commit double suicide with Maternibaby, but the future Thirteen still had Maternibaby by his side… Oh yeah, in my previous life, the lieutenant probably hadn’t brought anyone with him into the lab, and without them, Ah Nuo and the others probably couldn’t have even gotten to the point where they could take down Maternibaby with them.
I really hope they will live on for much longer! I couldn’t help but blurt, “The monsters you keep talking about, I call them ‘aberrants.’ If you want to kill them, you must destroy their heads—but you probably know that already.”
They exchanged looks and nodded.
“After killing the aberrants, dig into their chest cavity. There will be a hard shell inside. Break that open and you’ll see this.”
I took the silver flask from my waist and tipped out a few evolution crystals. All the soldiers’ eyes fixated on the crystals as they swallowed reflexively.
“Eat this and it will improve your body, and also increase the strength of your abilities.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of special ability you have—don’t waste it. Although these abilities seem fairly useless right now, they definitely won’t let you down if you train them up!”
The soldiers’ eyes sparkled and they quickly clamored to ask, “Can we become as strong as you?”
“For sure,” I replied without hesitation. “You have good base qualities, so it’s not hard to achieve my tier.”
I had only reached tier two, and toward the middle of the apocalypse, a tier two was no big deal—I mean, even dogs were tier two! The dogman aberrants then were all around tiers two or three, and often appeared in packs, so people avoided them on sight.
I felt better when I saw looks of hope surface on the soldiers’ faces. As long as you had hope, you would have the drive to live. I really was worried that these soldiers who had embraced death wouldn’t be able to think things through and would stay here stubbornly to the very end, then end up being wiped clean by hungry aberrants.
“Disperse the refugees, and if you feel that’s not doing enough for them, give them most of the stuff as well. You are all very strong, and you definitely will have no problem scavenging for supplies. Aberrants out there aren’t so strong—well, at least the vast majority of them will be way weaker than the ones you encountered in the lab. You’ve already duked it out with lions, so don’t tell me you can’t beat down some dogs?”
The soldiers cracked up.
I chuckled myself too. It was good that they were able to laugh. Then, I sobered and said seriously, “When necessary, make sure to protect yourselves. I know abandoning civilians isn’t what soldiers should be doing, but in these apocalyptic days, humanity is in dire need of strong people.”
Especially strong people with good hearts. As for those bastards who are rotten both inside and out, please, go dig a hole and bury yourselves for the benefit of humanity.
“Have you remembered this properly?” I asked anxiously. I really hoped I was able to keep more capable and good-hearted people alive.
Everyone nodded.
“Stick out your hands.”
Ah Nuo stared at me in confusion, but Chen Yanqing had already stretched out his hand. I tipped the silver flask and emptied all the crystals into the palm of his hand. There actually weren’t that many left, and there might not even be enough for every soldier to get one each.
“I suggest that you split this between two or three people. Pick those whose abilities are most useful, or those who are best at fighting, because the effect of a single crystal is too small. I suggest that you don’t share it so everyone gets one, or the effects might not be enough.”
Ah Nuo’s brow furrowed at my words.
Jiang Xiaotian pointed at Ah Nuo and Chen Yanqing and declared, “The two of you should just split it in half and eat them. A leaderless platoon is not much better than headless chickens. The others can only survive if you two are alive.”
The two balked and revealed looks of hesitation. They even glanced a few times at their fellow comrades. But Jiang Xiaotian shouted, “Eat it! If you don’t eat it within five seconds, we’re taking them all back. Five, four…”
Chen Yanqing stiffened, quickly poured half to Ah Nuo and swallowed the remainder. By the time Ah Nuo got the crystals, Jiang Xiaotian had counted down to “one” and had dashed forward to grab his hand, but Ah Nuo immediately threw the crystals into his mouth.
I gave Jiang Xiaotian an impressed look. This was a fantastic way of dealing with the situation. After we had left, Ah Nuo could have distributed the crystals evenly across all the people. Or worse, even if he had split them between Ah Qing and himself, the others might resent that. But this was absolutely the best way of distributing the crystals.
Since Jiang Xiaotian forced them to swallow the crystals by saying, “the two of you swallow them or no one gets any,” this extreme method meant that, even if the other soldiers didn’t like it, they couldn’t blame it on Ah Nuo and Ah Qing.
“Shuyu, let’s go,” Jiang Xiaotian said briskly, “the later we set out, the harder it’ll be to catch them.”
I nodded and followed after the little guy, but after a few steps, I gritted my teeth and dashed back, giving Chen Yanqing a big hug. I gave him a few pats on the back as I tried to recall in my previous life how men hugged each other goodbye… Hey, you guys to the side. Don’t make weird faces. This is friendship between men!
I glared at the others angrily as they stared at the sky, at the ground, and at imaginary ants, pretending that they saw nothing. You fucking idiots! How can still you act like morons even though it’s the apocalypse?
Ignoring that bunch, I whispered beside Chen Yanqing’s ear, “I’ll be staying at Old Town next to Lan City. Don’t tell anyone else besides Ah Nuo. Only you two can take people there, understand?”
Chen Yanqing had frozen. He stuttered, “Okay, um, your, your kid…”
I turned around hurriedly. Oh shit, Jiang Xiaotian looked so angry that he could spout fire. Please, you’re the Ice Emperor, not the Flame King!
I hurriedly scooped Jiang Xiaotian up and dashed away to keep Chen Yanqing from dying by the Ice Emperor’s hands before he got killed by an aberrant. Even though that would count as a kind of accomplishment, staying alive was still more important.
I dashed out of the camp, with Jiang Xiaotian’s one line of “no puppy love” still ringing in my ears, and the scenery that greeted me the moment I stepped outside triggered memories of the past.
The refugee camp was in shambles and everyone was hiding under things, wanting to flee but too afraid to do so. An eerie silence hung over the camp. Anyone who dared to make any loud sounds would be beaten to death with no remorse. Rather than having someone draw the attention of aberrants by wailing and causing many casualties, people would rather send them to hell so they could cry all they wanted.
“Xiao Yu!”
Just as I thought that, someone actually cried out. She ran up to me, stumbling as she did and received a lot of angry glares from the others. I immediately covered her mouth and gave the people around us a warning look.
I said quietly, “Auntie Chen, don’t cry. I need to leave now. If you keep wailing like this, the others will bully you.”
Though tears were still rolling from Auntie Chen’s eyes, she didn’t look like she’d wail anymore, so I let go of her mouth and heard her sob, “Who cares about being bullied? Beibei’s gone anyway, so I might as well be dead!”
Shocked, I asked, “How’s that possible?”
As soon as I asked the question, my face immediately darkened with anger. Was she also taken to be aberrant food? But no, Beibei’s so little. There’s so many people in the refugee camp. Why would they take Beibei instead? She’s not even enough for a meal.
“I thought that he was human! A bunch of monsters suddenly rushed out, and my husband had gone off somewhere. I had no idea where he was. I couldn’t run fast while holding Beibei. A whole bunch of people were caught and monsters were running just next to us!”
Is Auntie Chen talking about the first batch of aberrants that broke free, or was it Thirteen’s crowd?
“The man just stood there looking at Beibei. I thought he wanted to help, so I handed Beibei to him, pleading for him to flee, but those monsters surrounded us. I thought we were goners, but that man actually spoke with the monsters. That was when I saw he had a tail.” Auntie Chen spoke until she choked up with sobs. She said remorsefully, “I wanted to beg him to return Beibei to me, but I couldn’t say a single word. W-Why couldn’t I say anything then?!”
She was scared shitless. I could understand.
“He took Beibei?”
Auntie Chen nodded while crying.
Thirteen actually took Beibei with him? This is really a bit strange. Can it be that with his slim stature, his appetite is also small, so snatching a girl is enough?
I frowned and informed Auntie Chen, “I’m going to track him down right now. Auntie Chen, take care of yourself. Donot go around crying.”
Joy came back to her face. She wiped her eyes, looked at Jiang Xiaotian, and asked with good intentions, “How about I help you look after him?”
I shook my head and said, “I’m leaving now. Auntie Chen, be careful. Go with the soldiers if you can, even if your husband doesn’t. Understand?”
But Auntie Chen immediately said, “I’ll wait for you to return with Beibei.”
I frowned and said, “I’ll meet up with the troops. Just follow them.”
Only then did Auntie Chen nod.
I carried Jiang Xiaotian and left quickly. I didn’t know if it was my ice spear or something else, but no one dared to stop me. I left the refugee camp just like that.
Jiang Xiaotian sprawled on my back and berated me unhappily, “Shuyu, you’re as wishy washy as a woman. You have to change that. Be more decisive. Who knows how long it’ll take to track him down now after wasting time like this? If we give him time to recover his ability to control the aberrants, killing him won’t be easy.”
Don’t I know it? If not for the apocalypse, Guan Weijun would probably have been destined to be a mother before a wife, and the partner would probably still have been Xia Zhengu. I might even have played the game of wife versus mistress, haha.
“Dàgē, why the hell did Thirteen grab Beibei?”
“Who cares? That girl is likely ‘done for.’”
My face fell. Thinking of cute Beibei, a wave of pain stabbed my heart.
“If you want to save her, focus. The faster we catch up, the likelier it is we can save her.”
True. I immediately got a hold of myself, following the tracks left by Thirteen. However, the tracks were very scattered. The horde of aberrants that had run off in all directions had left behind a sea of footprints, and it was difficult to determine which direction Thirteen had gone.
Fortunately, as Jiang Xiaotian had said, Maternibaby had a distinct smell. On top of that, she had left a trail of blood, and it even had the smell of milk.
After following the trail for a while, I actually made a huge discovery.
“Isn’t this my motorcycle?!” I was super moved. I didn’t think I’d be able to see this baby here. I was so sad when I took the bus and had to leave this behind!
Jiang Xiaotian gave it a glance and said, “If you can steal other people’s vehicles, of course other people can also steal yours. Besides, you left it on the street, so it’s not strange that someone would’ve grabbed it and rode it over. But it’s probably out of fuel. Get some fuel from some car. Need me to teach you?”
Are you kidding me?! A commoner like me, who does everything myself, is definitely better at this than the Ice Emperor who had countless underlings!
“Hm, this motorcycle uses 95 unleaded petrol. Don’t get it wrong.”
Dàgē, who cares about 95, 98, 99, or 100 during the apocalypse! When you need fuel, even sewer oil will do!
I cried on the inside as I watched Jiang Xiaotian seriously looking for a car with 95 unleaded petrol. The Ice Emperor wouldn’t even relent on his choice of fuel. No doubt he had no lack of resources in his previous life. It’s hell comparing with him!
