Yan Bubu didn’t find anyone in the 4th floor workshop or training room, so the only floor left was the 7th.
He ran up to the 7th floor, waving the scissors wildly. “Keep hiding! I want to see how long you can last!!”
He decisively opened the door of the first room. “Hehe.”
There was no one inside. A few red and green peppers grew under the artificial light of the high-pressure sodium lamps, along with some other recently sprouted vegetables.
He closed that door and crept to the door of the next room. He suddenly opened that door. “Hehe.”
There was still no one inside.
Yan Bubu circled the entire 7th floor before pausing in the last empty room to think. He realized that Feng Chen had never left the 6th floor at all.
Suddenly, the sharp whistle of wind could be heard in the building…
Someone just opened the 5th floor hallway’s window.
Yan Bubu rushed out of the room and all the way to the fifth floor in one breath.
“Did my brother just leave?” He asked Binunu.
The black lion shook his head at him again. Binunu continued to turn his back to him.
Meaning Feng Chen was still inside.
Yan Bubu sat down on the stairs with a huff when he saw the rapidly melting frost in the hallway. He snapped the scissors in frustration. “I can’t believe you’re both double agents now.”
“This mini device has found the target. This mini device has locked on to the target. This mini device reminds the target that it is now 4:00pm on the dot. Time to study.”
The robot rolled to the edge of the 6th floor stairs and announced to Yan Bubu below.
Yan Bubu remembered that he hadn’t started on his homework today and sulked his way upstairs.
The workload wasn’t too great today, but it wasn’t small either. It took him a full hour to finish. Meanwhile, Binunu went outside to play and the black lion tagged along.
Yan Bubu tossed the pen on the table as he yawned and stretched.
Then he saw Feng Chen walk out of his own bedroom.
Yan Bubu forgot to even close his mouth. He just stared at Feng Chen, frozen in the same posture as before.
“What are you up to? Finished your homework?”
Feng Chen looked like he just woke up. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Yan Bubu before sneering. “Why are you looking at me like that? Did your brain turn to mush doing homework?”
Yan Bubu stammered, “W-when did you come back??”
“Come back?” Feng Chen walked to the table and poured himself a glass of water. He asked strangely, “What do you mean ‘come back’? I didn’t go out at all.”
“Wha…” Yan Bubu stared at him blankly for a while before his brain suddenly registered what happened. “You opened that window for a second on purpose. You never left, huh.”
He tilted his head thoughtfully. “No wonder Sasaka said you didn’t leave and Binunu kept his back to me. They were telling the truth when they said you didn’t leave.”
Feng Chen came over with his water in hand and suddenly flicked Yan Bubu on the forehead. “Dummy.”
Yan Bubu couldn’t take it anymore as he watched Feng Chen leisurely go downstairs. He shrieked, “Big Brother, you cunning fox mutant!”
“I’ve actually seen a fox mutant before. It was rather handsome. Thanks for the compliment.” Feng Chen’s voice came from downstairs.
Yan Bubu asked, “What are you up to now?”
“Training.” Feng Chen had already reached the 4th floor.
Yan Bubu got up. “I want to train too.”
The training room was next to the workshop on the 4th floor. The spacious room had sandbags and other homemade equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes. There was even a scale by the wall.
Feng Chen was already jogging when Yan Bubu came in, so he picked up a pair of foam gloves as he kept walking at a steady pace at
“Look how agile I am, how high my instantaneous explosive power is, how unbeatable my rapid force is…”
The instrument on the wall displayed Yan Bubu’s current stats: instantaneous explosive power 136 SJ, rapid force 14 kN/s.
Bang!
A powerful punch slammed into the sandbag in front of Yan Bubu with a muffled sound.
The numbers on the instrument jumped immediately: instantaneous explosive power 632 SJ, rapid force 153 kN/s..
Yan Bubu paused and glanced back expressionlessly at Feng Chen behind him.
Feng Chen patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the right. “That activity suits you more. Continue to work on your physique and agility over there.”
Yan Bubu punched the sandbag a few more times before taking off the foam gloves and walking to the right side of the training room.
There was a vacant space marked with yellow lines here. The instant Yan Bubu crossed inside, there was a beep in the room. Then a few beams of light shone down from the ceiling.
The moment they landed on the floor, Yan Bubu adjusted his position to avoid. However, those beams moved swiftly, chasing after him like a magnet would metal.
Yan Bubu ducked and weaved between the light beams like an agile impala skipping around the sunlight filtered through forest leaves.
His control over his body was astounding. Even when he seemed to have tilted back beyond the point of no return, he sprung back up like bamboo and brushed past the pursuing lights.
He seemed to dance as he weaved through the lights. Then next time he turned around, Feng Chen had finished boxing and had moved on to weightlifting.
He easily lifted the heavy dumbbell to his chest and lowered it. Every flex highlighted his smooth yet powerful muscles.
Feng Chen bent his arm again. Before he could lift the dumbbell to his chest, he sensed an invisible force coiling naughtily around his arm.
His arm suddenly relaxed, causing the dumbbell to almost fall from his grip.
“Behave, Yan Bubu.” Feng Chen said helplessly.
“Hahaha.” Yan Bubu laughed gleefully as he dodged the lights.
After training, the two of them went to take separate showers. It was already getting dark by the time they were done.
Feng Chen came out of the bathroom, his somewhat long and damp hair let down casually. He was wearing a handmade sweater as well, but it wasn’t a turtleneck like Yan Bubu’s. The loose, low collar exposed a sensual collarbone.
“We’ll have hand pulled noodles tonight with some of that rabbit meat from lunch, okay?” He asked Yan Bubu, who was lying on the sofa.
Their hand pulled noodles were made with a mixture of cornmeal, potato flour, and soy flour. It actually had quite a nice mouthfeel.
“En. Put chilis in mine. Lots and lots of chilis. Enough to make my snot drip into the bowl.” Yan Bubu said.
That’s gross.”
“A little, yes. But not too much.” Yan Bubu wriggled his legs and head.
Feng Chen went to make noodles in the kitchen while Yan Bubu headed to the window and wiped a circle clean. He wanted to know when Binunu and the black lion were coming home.
The snow seemed to have temporarily stopped, but it was still an arctic wasteland out there. He stared in the direction the two quantum beasts often favoured. After a while, a black dot appeared over the horizon.
He thought it was the black lion at first, but as the black dots approached, he realized that it was actually a tracked car. The car body was that of an ordinary minivan, so it was obviously privately modified.
Yan Bubu hasn’t seen anyone else aside from Feng Chen, Binunu and Sasaka in years. The appearance of this car actually dumbfounded him.
When he came back to his senses, he remembered how they ran into Chu Shi’s group a similar way back then. He hastily ducked behind the curtains and peeked out with only his eyes showing.
“Big Brother, Big Brother!” He shrank behind the curtains and shouted.
Feng Chen heard something off in his tone and rushed out of the kitchen at once. “What happened? Why are you hiding there?”
Yan Bubu was a little nervous and excited as he pointed out the window. “I saw a car.”
“A car?”
“A smaller model. There’s people inside, people!” Yan Bubu stammered with slightly flushed cheeks.
Feng Chen walked to the window and took a look for himself. After a few seconds, he tightly shut the curtains and headed back to the kitchen.
Yan Bubu made sure he was back in the kitchen before he pulled the curtain open a slit and peeked out with one eye.
“I recognize this kind of car. It’s a four wheeled minivan that had its tires replaced by tracks. “
“The car just stopped.”
“People are getting out! Two of them at that!”
“Ahhhhhh, they’re heading our way! They’re right outside our door and looking up at us!”
Although the people outside couldn’t see in, Yan Bubu still shut the curtains and pressed himself against the wall.
Then came three regular knocks on a window downstairs.
“They’re knocking on our window, Big Brother. They know we’re here. Yan Bubu rushed into the kitchen.
Feng Chen was kneading dough. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His slender yet powerful fingers massaged the dough.
“Hear that? They’re knocking on the window again.” Yan Bubu rushed over to hug him from behind.
“Let them be. Just ignore them.” Feng Chen looked down at the dough with little visible emotion.
Yan Bubu was about to burst from excitement, but he tried to keep it down since he sensed Feng Chen’s unhappiness. He just pressed his face into the man’s back and continued listening to the commotion downstairs.
The soundproofing of the Institute was very good. He could barely hear the people outside shouting, but he couldn’t make out anything specific.
There was silence after two more knocks.
Yan Bubu raised his head. “Are they gone?”
But a few seconds later, the knocking resumed.
Yan Bubu breathed a sigh of relief.
Those people were still knocking from time to time when dinner was ready. Yan Bubu snuck glances at Feng Chen and the window as he ate.
“You can leave if you’re not hungry.” Feng Chen said indifferently.
Yan Bubu jolted and started inhaling his noodles.
“Be quiet. You’re ruining my appetite.”
“Oh, okay.”
After dinner, Feng Chen set down his bowl and shut himself up in his bedroom.
Yan Bubu wasn’t in the mood to wash dishes either. He walked over to the door of Feng Chen’s room only to find it locked. Then he went to the neighbouring room and tried the door connecting the two. This time it opened.
Feng Chen was sitting back on the loveseat resting his eyes. His long legs were crossed on the small table in front.
Yan Bubu slowly shuffled over and squeezed in beside him before hugging his arm.
“I was wrong, Big Brother.” He apologized while keeping an eye on Feng Chen’s expression. When there was no reaction, he nuzzled his cheek on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t be angry anymore. I was wrong.”
Feng Chen kept his eyes closed, so Yan Bubu added, “I shouldn’t have been that happy to see other people.”
Feng Chen sighed after a moment and softly said, “You have nothing to apologize for, Yan Bubu. I’m just feeling a bit irritable.”
Yan Bubu looked up at him. Feng Chen continued, “These people who came to knock on our windows probably want some help. If we let them in, they’ll fall over themselves with platitudes and ask if we can spare a bite to eat, if they could stay the night…”
Feng Chen opened his eyes a fraction and looked at Yan Bubu, “And after they’re fed and rested, they’ll say ‘Our car isn’t starting, can you find us some fuel?’. Fine. We have more limestone than we can use anyway, so why not? So off they go tomorrow morning, eternally grateful with ample fuel and food.”
Feng Chen picked up one of Yan Bubu’s curls and twirled it about. “Because we can provide the help they need, everything seems fine for now. But think about what would happen if we let them in despite only having one piece of meat and a can of gas?”
“If there’s only one piece of meat and a can of gas…” Yan Bubu paused, “Then we probably need to leave with them.”
Feng Chen’s fingers paused. He stared silently at Yan Bubu, who added, “Think about it, Big Brother. If we only have that much left, then we can’t live here much longer, ah. We’ll have to find someplace else with lots of fuel and bring it back. We can’t get far on foot, but luckily they have a car! So we just have to offer the fuel and have them take us along. Killing mutant species along the way would solve the food problem, right?”
Feng Chen continued to look at him with narrowed eyes. His gaze was both sharp and complicated.
Yan Bubu leaned forward and gently tapped their foreheads together. “Did I say something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like I answered a question wrong. The kind of question you tried to teach me how to do a million times.”
But Feng Chen suddenly chuckled softly and pinched the teen’s cheeks. He said through gritted teeth, “Sometimes, I don’t know if you’re too smart or too stupid for your own good, Yan Bubu.”
“Obviously I’m too smart.” Yan Bubu said vaguely as both his cheeks were pinched.
Feng Chen let go of his face, stood up and walked to the door.
“Where are you going? Yan Bubu looked up and asked.
Feng Chen opened the door. “To see what those two have been knocking all this time for.”
“I thought you wanted to ignore them.” Yan Bubu ran after him and hugged his arm. “Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
“Because you looked so pathetic.” Feng Chen sneered. “Didn’t you come over because you want me to go take a look?”
Yan Bubu inexplicably touched his face. “I don’t look pathetic.” He tugged his eyelids down. “This would be pathetic.”
Feng Chen tugged his arm free with a bland smile. “I’m afraid those two will freeze to death outside our home and I’ll have to drag them off and bury them. How about…I stay here and you bury them when they die?”
“No way.”
Dun dun dun.
“Anyone there? Can you open the window for a bit?”
Feng Chen went down to the 5th floor. There were two dark shadows outside the living room window. They seemed to sense someone was nearby and started knocking again.
He walked to the window and wiped the white fog off. There were two thickly bundled people standing outside the window.
The two were so excited to meet Feng Chen’s eyes that they kept waving their arms as they begged, “…Our car is out of fuel…”
Feng Chen regarded them expressionlessly before gesturing for them to wait at the window of the right hallway and swiftly closing the curtains.
Feng Chen returned to the 6th floor and began to put on a thick pelt coat and scarf. Yan Bubu asked, “So you’re going out yourself instead of letting them in?”
“You want to let them in as well?” Feng Chen stopped getting dressed and shot Yan Bubu a cold look.
Yan Bubu frantically shook his head. “No way. They’re never coming in. What if they’re bad guys?”
Feng Chen started putting on his scarf as Yan Bubu muttered, “Your temper’s almost as bad as Binunu’s…”
Feng Chen immediately started taking off the scarf.
“I’m talking about myself! My temper’s almost as bad as Binunu’s.” Yan Bubu slapped his hands away and helped him put on the scarf before suiting up himself.
“You’re not going.” Feng Chen said.
Yan Bubu: “Yes I am. I don’t feel comfortable letting you go alone.”
“Even if Chu Shi came he wouldn’t be my opponent. There’s no reason to worry about me.”
“What if there’s two Chu Shi? If you don’t let me go, I’ll sing to you all night long.” Yan Bubu threatened, “Don’t think you can hide either. I’ll plug in a microphone.
Feng Chen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Then you must not say a word. Don’t give them whatever they want. Not a word, you hear me?”
“Why would I give them anything they want? I’m not an idiot.” Yan Bubu shuffled over and said sweetly, “What if they want you? They can screw right the hell off then. How dare they try to take my big brother? If they dare to knock on the window again, I’ll sic Binunu and Sasaka on them!”
“Nonsense.” Feng Chen’s tone was impatient, but his eyebrows became less furrowed.
When they were almost ready to head out, Feng Chen saw Yan Bubu sizing up two down jackets. He raised an eyebrow. “You want to go outside in that?”
Yan Bubu grumbled, “I haven’t seen anyone in years, so I have to be presentable at least. I look like a monkey if I wear a pelt coat. You look like a brown bear, by the way.”
“Then don’t expect me to help put cream on your back if you get frostbite again. Not even if it gets infected.”
Yan Bubu glanced at Feng Chen. Seeing that he didn’t seem like he was joking, he put down the down jacket and started putting on the pelt coat.
Feng Chen sighed, “Put the down jacket on outside of the pelt coat. Leave it unbuttoned if you can’t fasten them.
Yan Bubu considered it. “Wouldn’t that make me seem like a brown bear too? I would be better off just wearing the pelt coat. This hairstyle, though…” He ran a hand through his hair.
Feng Chen couldn’t help but slap him upside the head. “Just wear a hat, dumbo.”
