Feng Chen opened the window at the end of the passage on the 5th floor. Snowflakes blew in with the cold air. A layer of frost instantly formed on the walls around the window.
“I’m heading out.” He quickly flipped over the windowsill. The black lion followed close behind, shutting the window with a thump.
Although he didn’t hear a reluctant farewell even now, Feng Chen felt the most relaxed he has been for a long time. The gloom that hung over him these days had vanished without a trace.
Dun, dun, dun.
There was a knock on the window behind him.
He turned to see Yan Bubu pressing his face to the window. The child mouthed, “Come back soon.”
Feng Chen nodded in acknowledgement and left with a faint smile on his face.
There seemed to be only one colour left in the world, stretching as far as the eye could see. The extreme cold was like mercury, penetrating through every pore beneath his clothes and washing away the warmth from being inside.
The wind and snow blew harshly. Feng Chen got on the black lion’s back and directed it towards Haiyun Mountain.
Yan Bubu wiped away the layer of frost that quickly formed on the window and watched Feng Chen disappear into the blizzard.
He stood in front of the window for a while before heading upstairs. As he passed the living room Binunu was being kept in, their eyes met.
Binunu had its face up against the transparent wall, glaring fiercely at him. Its claws scritched incessantly on the surface.
Yan Bubu coldly turned away and headed upstairs without a second glance.
He started on the writing homework Feng Chen had left. After a while, Binunu finally quieted down on the 5th floor.
All the water that had flooded into Haiyun City had frozen over. The exposed buildings were now like ice sculptures. The Haiyun Tower still stood in the city centre, its tip invisible in the blizzard and its once pitch black body now silvery-white.
Feng Chen passed by the frozen Hive ship again in a very different mood than before. He suddenly felt like the time he cried here with Yan Bubu was a lifetime ago.
The black lion padded steadily across the ice. After more than half an hour, they stopped beneath Haiyun Mountain. Feng Chen discovered rabbit mutant tracks in the snow before even going up the mountain. He patted the black lion’s big head. “Go. Dig up the rabbit dens and grab the rabbits.”
While Feng Chen caught rabbits, Yan Bubu was carefully practicing his penmanship. The temperature in the building was just right. He only had a set of thermal wear on and kicked off his shoes for good measure, walking around in his socks.
The sharp whistle of cold wind on the 5th floor suddenly broke the silence. Then a heavy thud from the window at the end of the corridor brought the wind to an abrupt halt.
It was like someone had opened and shut the window.
Dun dun dun!
Binunu started banging against the walls again.
“Big Brother!” Yan Bubu threw down his pencil excitedly. He didn’t even bother with his shoes as he ran down the stairs.
He stood at the foot of the stairs. There wasn’t anyone in sight but Binunu, who was throwing itself against the walls even more venomously than before.
“Big Brother?” Yan Bubu called out again. There was no response.
He slowly ventured forward with Binunu scratching and clawing in the background to the window at the end of the hallway. He pressed his face against the glass and looked out.
But the only thing outside was the snowstorm. There was no one in sight.
Were his ears playing tricks on him? Maybe Big Brother wasn’t home yet.
As soon as Yan Bubu thought about turning around, his eyes fell on the wall nearby.
The light brown wallpaper with dark flowers there was covered with a thin layer of rapidly melting frost condensing into beads of moisture.
Yan Bubu reached out to touch one with some surprise. He watched the droplet coat his fingertip.
This happened before when Feng Chen set off. The walls rapidly frosted over before melting equally quickly.
Did Big Brother hide somewhere on purpose?
“Big Brother??” Yan Bubu wiped his wet finger on himself and turned back towards the stairs.
He saw that Binunu was still scratching the partition like crazy. Its two shiny rows of teeth were bared just like any other zombie.
“Are you back, Big Brother?”
Yan Bubu shouted towards the top of the stairs again. There was still no answer. He looked down, somewhat disappointed.
Binunu was causing a real ruckus behind him. Yan Bubu whirled around angrily and roared, “Shut up already! Why are you such a nuisance?!”
Binunu couldn’t care less about his anger. Still baring its teeth, its pitch black zombie eyes stared dead at a point behind him.
“Stop throwing a fit, okay? You’re so annoying…”
Yan Bubu muttered, but his voice gradually trailed off.
He finally noticed something was wrong and whirled back around. The only thing behind him was the stairs.
As his gaze shifted to beside the stairs, he saw a huge shadow on the floor.
That dark shadow had a huge body and head, as well as a protruding snout. It obviously belonged to some large predator.
Yan Bubu’s heart pounded violently. After freezing for a moment, he returned to his senses and backed up until his back was against the transparent wall.
He didn’t dare to go up the stairs. He could only stare unblinkingly at that dark shadow as he quietly shuffled towards the hallway on the left. His plan was to duck into one of the rooms there and hide.
Dun dun! Dun dun!
Behind him, the zombie Binunu kept clawing at the walls. Even the exceptionally durable clear material the partition was made of had scratches left in it.
Yan Bubu slowly shuffled to the left. He reached for the door handle of the first room.
But that shadow suddenly moved. A huge brown bear emerged from under the stairs.
The brown bear was the size of a small mountain. Its body alone blocked half the stairs. There was a cold, bloodthirsty glint in its red eyes as it stared at Yan Bubu.
Yan Bubu forgot to even breathe. He clung to the wall motionlessly as his trembling fingers touched the door handle.
But the brown bear opened its mouth wide at this time and unleashed a deafening roar. Yan Bubu’s ears buzzed.
There was less than 5m between the child and bear. Yan Bubu could see the clear saliva strands between its teeth, as well as the razor sharp barbs on its tongue that resembled curved daggers.
He was scared out of his wits and whirled around to twist the door handle.
A cold wind blew from behind, carrying a putrid stench. Yan Bubu could see the black shadow on the floor by his feet. He knew the brown bear was right behind him already.
The brown bear dwarfed him entirely. The cold wind stirred up by its movements caused goosebumps to rise on the back of his neck. All his hair stood on end.
There was nowhere for him to hide. When he realized he was about to be mauled to death by the bear, only sheer reflex made him continue to open the door and rush in the room.
Just when the brown bear lunged at him, several images suddenly flashed in Yan Bubu’s head.
The images popping up were like individual screens on a giant display. Every tiny screen played different content.
None of the screens were the exact same, but they shared a similarity: the brown bear pouncing from behind, its razor-sharp teeth less than two inches from the top of his head.
Yet each version of him shown on these tiny screens reacted differently.
One rushed to the left, but half his head was in the brown bear’s mouth before he could even take a step. That screen went dark. Another rushed to the right, only for the brown bear to grab his entire arm and shoulder. That screen went dark as well.
Yet the version of him on the leftmost screen suddenly rushed forward into the centre of the room, ducking and rolling a bit to the left to successfully avoid the brown bear’s attack.
The screen left and down showed him squatting down before swiftly backing up. The brown bear sailed over his head into the room.
Yan Bubu didn’t hesitate. He made his choice between the only two remaining screens. Suddenly giving up on going into the room, he squatted down in place like that version of him had done.
He could feel the brown bear’s abdomen brushing past his hair, as well as the chilling sensation of its claws gliding past his head. Then he swiftly retreated all the way into the hallway.
The brown bear was caught off guard. Momentum carried it forward until it crashed into several scientific instruments in the room.
Yet the images playing in Yan Bubu’s head didn’t stop. Countless new screens instantly refreshed in his head.
If he tried to close the door, the brown bear would already have oriented itself by the time his fingers touched the handle and lunged at him once more.
The screen went dark.
If he climbed to his feet and ran for the window at the end of the corridor… The screen went dark after a couple of steps.
If he ran towards the neighbouring room and rushed inside… The screen went dark.
Dark, dark, dark…
His mental power was like a supercomputer, calculating every possibility and giving precise answers in the form of visual feedback.
His consciousness seemed to grow hands and quickly flick away those darkened screens to leave the ones still playing.
It might seem like a lot of time had passed as he picked through these images, but less than a second had elapsed in reality.
Screen after screen turned dark, leaving only three.
The rightmost showed him charging right into the room at the brown bear as it pounced. They would just miss each other in the air.
The centre screen showed him standing his ground and rolling slightly to the right when the brown bear’s head passed the doorway, causing it to miss again.
The screen down and left showed him rolling to the left in the direction of the stairs while continuing to squat.
The sheer terror Yan Bubu felt at this moment propelled his mental power into overdrive. More images were actually generated based on the three existing ones.
If he took the first option, aka charging at the brown bear and swapping places with it…
The brown bear would turn and lunge into the room. The screen went dark.
The brown bear broke through the closed door with a swipe of its claw. The screen went dark.
The brown bear rushed to the cabinet. He darted out the instant it opened its mouth to chomp down on the cabinet door. More options popped up.
But they soon started going dark as well.
……
Some of the seemingly endless supply of tiny screens went dark while others generated new ones, flashing by in Yan Bubu’s head.
In only a second, Yan Bubu made his decision in the endless stream of possibilities.
The hand representing his conscious mind tapped one of the images and expanded it to the entire display before flicking all the other ones away. They disintegrated into fragments of light in his mental domain.
The brown bear knocked over a bunch of instruments as it crashed into the room, but its surprisingly agile body immediately twisted. It pounced at Yan Bubu again.
Yan Bubu was reflected in its ruby red eyes as it dove at him through the air.
The little boy curled into a tight ball at the foot of the wall. He neither struggled nor screamed, as if he had already accepted this terrible fate.
But the instant before the brown bear landed, Yan Bubu suddenly rolled to the left, towards the stairs.
He didn’t have superhuman instantaneous explosive power. His tiny body scrambled desperately as fresh tears dripped down his cheeks.
Yet the short distance he managed to roll was enough for the brown bear to miss again and crash heavily into the wall.
Yan Bubu climbed to his feet. Forcibly suppressing the extreme terror plaguing him, he ran for the stairs while his mental domain calculated his next steps.
The giant display lit up once more. Countless small screens played the following scenes.
If he ran upstairs, the screen went dark as he rounded the corner.
If he charged straight ahead for the opposite corridor and squatted down at the right time before he reached the first room, the brown bear would sail over his head again. He could take the chance to turn tail and run, creating countless possibilities…
Yan Bubu quickly swiped through the images and kept watching.
But to his despair, no matter how he ducked or hid, he would eventually run out of steam and start slowing down.
At a certain point, he would finally fail to climb up quickly enough and be pinned down by the bear.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
All the screens went dark simultaneously.
It became deadly silent.
Yan Bubu didn’t want to die.
He could still hear the outside world while he was unconscious after the zombie bit him. He heard Feng Chen’s pained cries during those agonizing days. Every sound stabbed into his heart like a tiny dagger.
He didn’t want his big brother to cry because of him anymore.
As the brown bear charged over behind him, Yan Bubu caught sight of Binunu within its transparent prison out of the corner of his eye.
No. Yan Bubu couldn’t accept that it was Binunu. It was just a zombie, a mutant species.
Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!
The zombie/mutant species looked even more terrifying than the bear behind him. It bared its sharp teeth as its black eyes bulged angrily. The area around its eyes had a blue-black tinge. The presence of the brown bear seemed to further infuriate it. If it could, it would tear into the bear right now.
Yan Bubu instinctively looked away. His gaze happened to land on the small square cover on the corridor wall.
He’s seen Feng Chen use it before. Inside was the switch to open the transparent barrier. One press would unleash this zombie mutant.
Yan Bubu had no intention of letting it out, but his mental domain subconsciously started calculating what would happen if he did.
Small, bright screens were generated after he pressed the switch on the giant display.
To his astonishment, they didn’t go dark or show any images. There wasn’t even static. Only a pure, bright white.
He actually couldn’t see what would happen once he let out the zombie mutant.
Yan Bubu stared dumbfoundedly at that square box for half a second. That was all the time the brown bear needed to close the distance to 2m.
He could either let himself be eaten by the bear or let out the zombie mutant. Although he didn’t know what would happen, the screens didn’t go dark. Yan Bubu stopped hesitating and pressed the switch within.
With a bang, the transparent barrier contracted into the wall on the left. A crack was all that was needed for a round thing to dart out like lightning.
The brown bear lunged at Yan Bubu. It was enraged after missing so many times. Its eyes seemed to drip blood.
But just as its sharp claws were about to touch the child’s back, Binunu had already leapt onto its head. It plunged the long and sharp claws that popped out of its paws into the bear’s eyeballs.
Binunu didn’t stop there. It rammed its claws even deeper into the bear’s skull.
“Grrr!!!” The brown bear let out an agonized roar as it crashed to the floor. Its enraged howls echoed in the small building, so loud that Yan Bubu’s ears started to ring. He couldn’t hear anything for a moment.
Yan Bubu tightly hugged the corridor wall and watched as the bear bleeding from both eyes rushed past him, charging carelessly into the walls on the other end of the corridor.
Fortunately, the Eastern Union Army used the most sturdy military-grade materials to construct this building. A regular house would have collapsed long ago.
Binunu was firmly seated atop the bear’s head. Its claws remained in its eyeballs as it tore into the bear with its teeth, tearing away strips of fur and flesh every time.
Yan Bubu could barely breathe thanks to the bloody scene before him. He hyperventilated as he clutched at his shirt,
The brown bear’s roars slowly died off. It finally collapsed to the floor and lay motionless in the corridor, dead.
Binunu slowly raised its head.
Its pitch-black eyes stared at Yan Bubu, its mouth still ringed with crimson.
Yan Bubu knew it was very vicious before, but he never imagined it was this vicious!
It didn’t draw blood when biting the black lion or even Feng Chen’s butt. But right now, it was scarier than even real zombies.
Yan Bubu watched it hop off the bear’s head and slowly walk over.
Although it was tiny and only came up to his knee…
Although its head was like a big potato…
All Yan Bubu felt as it approached was fear. He was even more afraid than when he was being chased by that bear. He trembled uncontrollably.
Binunu stopped. It looked up at Yan Bubu.
Its eyes were the purest black, as if any light would be sucked into the black holes. Yan Bubu wished he could become one with the wall as he met its ice-cold gaze. He wished he could become a chameleon on the spot, disappear from its sight and climb up onto the ceiling.
But Binunu just glanced at him before indifferently walking past him. At the end of the corridor, it hopped onto the windowsill and opened the window.
As the cold air and snow poured into the corridor, that tiny being leapt out and vanished instantly into the blizzard.
“Waaaaa…” He wasn’t sure if it was fear or something else, but the sight of that open window made Yan Bubu finally start wailing.
Author’s Corner
Yan Bubu: I’m like a supercomputer
Feng Chen: What’s 34 + 67?
Yan Bubu: ???
