Wu You also lived on this floor. As soon as he opened the door and said hello to them, his eyes fell on Yan Bubu’s head.
He stared at the uneven hairstyle. Before he could make a sound, he saw tears gather in Yan Bubu’s eyes. The child’s lips were trembling.
Wu You and Feng Chen exchanged a look. They didn’t need words. A look alone explained what had happened. Then the man led Yan Bubu inside.
“Do you want Uncle Wu to cut your hair?”
“Yeah.” Yan Bubu sniffled.
Wu You ruffled Yan Bubu’s hair. “Don’t worry, and don’t panic either. Uncle Wu can fix this.”
“Will it be the same as before?” Yan Bubu asked.
Wu You smiled. “Not the exact same. Before your hair was too long. You looked like a little girl.”
“Big Brother said I was like a little sheep.” Yan Bubu corrected with a sob.
“…Let’s trim it a bit. Then you’ll be a handsome little boy.”
“En, okay. Thank you, Uncle Wu.”
Half an hour later, the door to Wu You’s room opened and out walked a refreshed Yan Bubu.
His hair had been salvaged. It was a little shorter, but it made him look spirited. His ears and forehead that had been covered for a long time now were finally exposed.
Feng Chen followed him out, his originally long hair was also gone, leaving only a short layer of stubble. His pale scalp was faintly visible.
He used to be on the bishounen side, but this hairstyle made him appear more harsh and aggressive. It diluted the childishness clinging to his body.
Yan Bubu kept looking up at him while they walked, almost hitting the garbage can in the corridor. Feng Chen said, “Walk properly. Don’t look around all the time.”
“Haha, hahahahaha.” Yan Bubu laughed happily and exaggeratedly, “Big Brother, your head looks like an egg.”
Without waiting for Feng Chen to reply, he licked his lips. “I haven’t had eggs in a long time.” After that, he pretended to grab at Feng Chen’s head and stuffed air in his mouth. “Tasty, so tasty.”
When they returned to their room, Feng Chen went to the bathroom to wash clothes while Yan Bubu pushed open the window to look outside.
It was 8:00pm now and pitch black in the distance. Only the lights from the ships illuminated the surrounding sea. The craters that briefly formed on the dark surface as raindrops touched down could be seen.
He finally felt the cool rain and wind buffeting his face after all those months in the underground settlement. Even if he couldn’t see anything in the distance no matter how hard he tried, he lay on the windowsill and looked out with relish.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom. Feng Chen was washing clothes. Yan Bubu rested his cheek on one hand and lazily shouted, “Big Brother, come and look outside.”
“I’m busy.”
The black lion paced at Yan Bubu’s feet with a sullen look on its lion face, seemingly not too happy.
Yan Bubu turned to look in the direction of the bathroom. He left the window and walked to the bathroom door.
Feng Chen was squatting on the floor washing a pale yellow T-shirt with Binunu on it, so Yan Bubu went over and squatted down beside him, reaching out to play with the bubbles inside.
Just like they used to every time Feng Chen washed clothes, one person would wash while the other kept him company.
“Done looking outside?” Feng Chen asked without raising his head.
Yan Bubu slid a bunch of bubbles between his hands. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
Yan Bubu blew a bubble. “I’m not interested if you’re not there.”
Feng Chen remained silent. He lowered his head and continued washing clothes, but the black lion’s mood obviously became better. It lay down at the bathroom door with half-closed eyes, its tail flicking lightly.
After the washing was done, Feng Chen left the room with the wet clothes in a basin to find somewhere to hang them up. He went out of the corridor to the bow of this floor.
This place was simply made for drying clothes. There was cover overhead that stopped the rain on either side of the ship from blowing in. The vents in the cabin all faced here, blowing out hot air like a large dryer. And someone has already fastened a wire here, with a dozen or so garments on it.
The floor was covered with several pieces of wet bedding. Feng Chen looked at those heavy bedding with some admiration.
It’s amazing anyone could carry them here with the flood, the zombies and sliding down from the window of the Haiyun Tower.
But after he saw the big jars for preserved vegetables by the side of the boat, bringing bedding seemed to pale in comparison.
After hanging the clothes up, he went back to sleep. Although there were two beds in the room, the duo naturally got in the same bed.
Feng Chen turned off the lights. Yan Bubu was restless as usual, tossing and turning while occasionally muttering to himself.
The black lion lay on the carpet next to the bed, holding its paws over its ears.
Yan Bubu was like this every night, tossing and mumbling. When he stopped, it meant he was asleep. Feng Chen didn’t bother with him and just lay there quietly with his eyes closed.
“Giant cheeseburgers…”
Yan Bubu’s mumbling finally trailed off. Only then did Feng Chen open his eyes and tuck the child’s exposed arm back under the blanket. He also turned over and started to sleep.
Late at night, the whole world was immersed in darkness. Only the four ships in the rain glittered with lights, like stars in the dark night sky.
Outside the porthole window of a certain room on the fifth floor, a dark shadow flashed by, vanishing in less than a second. Only rain slid off the window, leaving several water marks.
……
Early the next morning, a soldier came to get Feng Chen.
Feng Chen saw Yan Bubu sleeping soundly beside him, so he didn’t wake him up and quietly finished washing up.
He and the lion were of one mind. Communication wasn’t necessary. The black lion continued to stay by the bed while Feng Chen went out by himself. He put on the raincoat handed over by the soldier and boarded the speedboat parked under Hive A.
There were only a dozen soldiers on this boat, plus Feng Chen. Yu Yuan led them to go to the army supply depot for supplies.
Feng Chen saw the white crane flying in the sky, and also the beaver and wolverine lying on the bow of the boat.
He didn’t know how to distinguish between sentinels and guides yet, but he knew there were at least two here.
He was sizing up those two quantum beasts when he saw them both suddenly get up and start fighting. It was unknown who started it, but they scrabbled at each other all the same.
Feng Chen turned to look at those soldiers. He found that they were all standing with neutral expressions as usual. He couldn’t tell who the two quantum beasts belonged to.
“How was it? Did you have a good rest last night?” Yu Yuan did not ask him about his black lion. He just fished out two steaming potatoes from the pocket of his raincoat and handed them to him.
“En, I did.” Feng Chen took the potatoes and hesitantly asked, “If I leave like this, what about Fan Renjing when he wakes up later?”
In the past, when they were still in the underground settlement, Yan Bubu would go eat by himself in the dining hall while he was at work. But now they live on this unfamiliar ship. Who knew whether there was a dining hall at all?
Although the black lion, the quantum beast made from his mental power, was standing guard back there, Feng Chen still felt that it couldn’t replace him. He was still a bit worried.
Yu Yuan: “It’s okay. I’ve arranged for someone to bring breakfast to Little Cowlick when he gets up.”
Feng Chen didn’t say anything else and began to eat the potatoes while he still could. He kept watching the two quantum beasts tumble around as he ate.
Yu Yuan followed his gaze. He then turned to look at the group of soldiers. “Wang Shi, Ke Yang, this is Qin Shen. You three will go into the water together later.”
Two soldiers came over and stood in front of Feng Chen.
“Hello, I’m Wang Shi, sentry.”
Feng Chen noticed that when this sentry spoke to him, the wolverine, which was holding the beaver down and attacking it, looked over this way.
En, this was the owner of the wolverine.
The other soldier followed suit, “Hello, my name is Ke Yang, sentry. We’ll go down into the water together later.”
The beaver kicked off the wolverine with its hind legs and squeaked at Feng Chen.
Feng Chen also introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Qin Shen, sentry.”
After the introductions requested by Yu Yuan were out of the way, the two soldiers headed to the aft of the boat, whispering to each other and looking like they got along well.
–If you ignore the two quantum beasts next to them that were already tugging on each other’s ears.
The speedboat left the dock and headed towards the west end of the city. Yu Yuan munched on potatoes while explaining to Feng Chen, “We didn’t transport all the supplies to the underground settlement because we wanted there to be some left on the surface if something were to happen. The warehouse is a sealed waterproof structure which was not damaged during the earthquake, and there is a limestone generator inside for cooling. Everything is in good shape, there’s just not much food there. It’s mainly civilian supplies salvaged from the rubble after the earthquake.”
Feng Chen understood that the food stock at that supply point wasn’t high. Supplies obtained from those collapsed malls after the earthquake were basically what was inside.
“There was no need for you to go at first, but Major General Lin took some of the others back to the underground settlement to get the limestones and the rest of the soldiers had to guard the ships, so there wasn’t quite enough manpower.” Yu Yuan explained.
Feng Chen asked in shock, “They went back to the underground settlement to get limestones?!”
The settlement was completely submerged under several hundred metres of water now. Even if one wore the most advanced pressure-resistant diving suit, the human body couldn’t withstand that kind of water pressure.
“The four ships need limestones everyday. Even if we can find some loose fragments outside, it’s only enough to supply electricity for a week at most. Only the settlement has large amounts of limestone, so we must go and get it.” After Yu Yuan finished, he gave Feng Chen a meaningful look. “As for the water pressure…you’re really underestimating the capabilities of high grade sentinels.”
Feng Chen quickly understood what he meant by this, as well as why he had to come along even for a supply run.
The Western Union Army’s supply depot was in the west end of Haiyun City, namely the former Haiyun City Community Centre. The supply depot was in the basement of the community centre, in an alcove more than 100m below water level.
After Feng Chen and the other two sentinel soldiers changed into pressure-resistant diving suits, Yu Yuan said to the sentinel with the wolverine, “Take care of him if you can. He’s still a child despite his strong mental power.”
The wolverine sentinel responded, “Understood.”
“Do you know how to dive?” Yu Yuan asked Feng Chen.
Feng Chen was a bit speechless. What was the point of asking him after bringing him all the way out here, after he already changed into a diving suit??
“Yes.”
Yu Yuan nodded. “I thought so. There’s no child born in Haiyun City who can’t dive.”
Feng Chen put on the oxygen mask and held his ever handy dagger in one hand. The trio went into the water, diving along a wall into the depths. By the time they reached more than 20m down, it was pitch black so they each turned on their headlights.
The lights illuminated the section of water in front of them. The tile pattern on the walls became visible. As they continued the dive, Feng Chen raised his arm to look at his watch. It displayed that they were already 120m deep. They were about to reach the supply depot’s gate.
Although they wore pressure-resistant diving suits, the human body should still feel the water pressure at this depth. Yet Feng Chen didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Glancing at the sentinels beside him, they also looked just fine, even pulling a large sealed box each.
And that wolverine and beaver were still fighting as they followed behind the divers.
En, he really did underestimate how tough sentinels were physically.
Continuing down, some dark green algae appeared in the water, 15cm wide and several meters long. They swayed gently with the water like a dark forest.
Feng Chen had a strange feeling about the algae. The voice of the soldier next to him came through the headset, “Be careful, I suspect that these algae are a mutant species.”
The pressure-resistant diving suits were airtight and watertight, so they could talk underwater. Yu Yuan at the surface could also see the underwater conditions through the camera above their heads.
“Go around 20m to the right and then down. There is less algae there.” Yu Yuan’s slightly distorted voice came in through Feng Chen’s headset.
“Understood.” The soldiers answered.
“Qin Shen.” Yu Yuan called out.
Feng Chen followed the soldiers around to the right and responded, “Yes?”
“It’s okay, don’t panic. These mutant algae are the lowest grade mutants. They can’t pose a threat to you.”
“En.”
The beaver and wolverine finally made a temporary truce and cleared the way, using their paws and teeth to shred the algae that swayed in front of them.
And the algae, after being torn, recoiled as if they felt pain, contracting like a tape measure.
After swimming right and below for a bit, the wolverine sentinel stopped and stabbed his dagger towards algae tightly covering the wall. The algae then quickly retracted to reveal a section of a smooth acrylic metal gate.
The beaver sentinel and Feng Chen did the same thing. They used their daggers to force the seaweed sealing the door back. The whole door was soon exposed.
The wolverine sentinel entered the code on the gate lock. The gate opened, and the three swam in like fish.
There was another sealed door inside the gate. Only after the first gate closed and the water that came in was drained, did the wolverine sentry then open the sealed door.
The lights came on in unison, illuminating the huge warehouse space snow white. Small mountains of goods were stacked inside.
Daily necessities and household goods were packed in wooden boxes, separated into different categories out in the open. There was even two brand new small trucks parked in the clearing at the centre of the warehouse.
The two sentinels opened the boxes they brought here, which were full of compressed and sealed bags. The wolverine sentinel took one out and popped the valve. The sealed bag quickly ballooned into a large square bag half as tall as an adult.
He dragged an metal trolley over from the wall and put the big bag on it, pushing it to Feng Chen and saying, “Go ahead. Fill it with whatever you think is useful.”
Feng Chen took off his mask and pushed the metal trolley forward.
Although the air in the warehouse was dry, the food area was just mostly easy-to-preserve soybeans packed in dense numbers of vacuum bags.
The square bag on the trolley might not look very big, but it could really hold a lot. He could fit ten bags of soybeans inside before he had to seal it.
Then he picked up an empty bag and did it again.
Soon, ten sealed bags filled with soybeans were placed at the door, like ten small mountains. The wolverine soldier asked if they should continue loading. Yu Yuan responded, “That should be good. This is all the food we have in stock at the moment. We can’t empty the warehouse all at once. One of our next goals is to secure other food supplies.”
“Understood.”
“Go load some medicine and household necessities.”
“Understood.”
The three of them went to the living area. Feng Chen heard Yu Yuan say to him alone over the headset, “Qin Shen, go pick a few things for yourself.”
“Okay.” Feng Chen didn’t refuse.
The living area’s supplies were all brought in from those collapsed malls and supermarkets after the earthquake, so there was a large variety of things. From intricate coffee cups and cake trays to diapers and disposable garbage bags, a wide range of items were available.
The wolverine sentinel raked all the things on a shelf into his sealed bag. He picked up a small carton and waved it in front of Feng Chen’s eyes. “Food isn’t the only thing important here. These are all urgently needed daily living items on the ships. We need some of these as well.”
Feng Chen couldn’t clearly see what he was holding, so he asked, “What is that?”
“Something every woman needs…never mind. Just put them in the bags.” The wolverine sentinel said.
“Oh.”
All three began sweeping household items into the bags. The beaver and wolverine were keeping busy too, pushing the large sealed bags toward the warehouse door.
The two sentinels worked well together and occasionally even joked around a bit. But their quantum beasts didn’t give them any face, taking every opportunity to swipe at each other. It made the harmonious atmosphere in the warehouses kind of awkward too.
The northwest corner of the warehouse was piled with bedding and clothing. There was bedding on the ship so that wasn’t needed, but clothing was what Feng Chen lacked most right now.
When the wolverine sentinel saw Feng Chen surveying the piles of clothes, he inclined his head in that direction. “Go ahead, pick as many as you want. It’s just sitting there anyway.”
“Okay.”
Feng Chen sorted through that small mountain of clothes. He wasn’t picky about what he wore, so he just chose some convenient and durable outdoor clothing, quickly selecting two long pants and T-shirts.
Considering that it was already August and autumn was coming, he took two more long-sleeved shirts and windbreakers.
But when it came to picking out clothes for Yan Bubu, he was wracking his brain.
Yan Bubu liked bright colors, but not bright enough to be harsh. Like light yellow, light pink, sky blue, light green…
Feng Chen first excluded any black, white and grey T-shirts, even though black and gray were good colours for little boys to wear because they ran around so much. But since Yan Bubu didn’t like those colours, he wouldn’t consider them.
White was also out of the question. Not because Yan Bubu didn’t like it, but because Feng Chen didn’t want to wash clothes several times a day.
Next was the print. Of course Binunu was the undisputed best choice, but if there wasn’t Binunu, other cartoon prints were okay.
But there was one thing to keep in mind. A puppet with a cube for a head and a long Plasticine clay person were not okay.
Those were Yan Bubu’s least favorite cartoon characters, things he couldn’t tolerate wearing.
As Feng Chen picked clothes up and looked at them, the beaver sentinel asked, “Are you choosing clothes for that kid brother of yours?”
“Yes.”
“How old is he?”
“Six.”
“How long until he turns seven?”
Feng Chen paused at that.
He only knew Yan Bubu was six years old, but he didn’t know how long it would be before he turned seven. Maybe he was already seven and he just didn’t know it.
He didn’t pay much attention to the child’s actual birthday when changing Yan Bubu’s identity before. Now, when asked by the soldier like this, he remembered that he didn’t know.
