Yan Bubu crouched under the table, surrounded by darkness. He cried out for help at first but his fear lessened as time went on. He even felt bored, picking at the legs of the table.
When there was suddenly movement from outside and light shone into the cramped space, he squinted in discomfort and spotted a slim figure beyond the light.
“Come out, Yan Bubu.” A clear voice hoarse with exhaustion rang out. The figure held out his hand to him.
After the two looked at each other for a few seconds, Yan Bubu’s eyes brightened. He called out in a small voice, “Young Master.”
He was carried out. He wrapped his arms tightly around Feng Chen’s neck and buried his face in his shoulder.
Feng Chen had just walked out with him when another aftershock struck. The wooden table Yan Bubu was just under was crushed by debris.
Feng Chen freed a hand to squeeze Yan Bubu’s shoulder. “Does it hurt anywhere?”
Yan Bubu sniffled and shook his head. “No.”
His cowlick swayed with this movement, softly brushing past Feng Chen’s neck.
Feng Chen inspected Yan Bubu’s limbs before also pressing on his belly and chest a few times.
“Does it hurt here?”
“No.”
Feng Chen put him down. Yan Bubu held the corner of his shirt and looked around in bewilderment.
The villa was in ruins. Everything was in ruins. Yan Bubu asked fearfully, “Where are we, Young Master?”
Feng Chen numbly replied, “We’re still at home, but everything’s collapsed after the earthquake.”
Yan Bubu was stunned, then became nervous. “What about Mommy then?”
Feng Chen pursed his lips without saying a word. He wiped the sweat dotting his forehead with the back of his hand.
Yan Bubu tugged at the corner of his shirt and pleaded, “I want Mommy, Young Master.”
His voice gradually rose as the silence stretched on. He tugged frantically at the corner of Feng Chen’s shirt, making him sway from side to side.
“I want Mommy, Young Master. I want Mommy. Where is she?”
Feng Chen finally spoke, “I didn’t see your mother. Maybe she’s somewhere else.”
Yan Bubu didn’t drop the issue. “Mommy was going to the main house, so how could she be anywhere else?”
Feng Chen’s expression didn’t seem that good.
He had walked all the way back from the airport for hours, not even bothering to take a sip of water. His throat was so dry that it seemed to stick to itself. That dizziness also came and went, making his limbs go weak. He was probably running a low fever again.
He was just at the ruins of the main house, where he saw the bodies of several people including A-Mei. It was in the collapsed secret room there that he found the cipher box hidden by his father.
In just a few hours, his whole world had been turned upside down. He was just as afraid as Yan Bubu, but his restrained nature allowed him to force those emotions down.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He didn’t know how to answer Yan Bubu’s insistent questions, so he could only say distractedly, “I haven’t seen your mother.”
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“Tjc Deye–“
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Feng Chen stood there until the next aftershock before rushing over. Without preamble, he picked Yan Bubu up and ran down the pile of wreckage.
“I have to save Mommy! Let go of me, I have to save her!”
Yan Bubu struggled in his arms, crying loudly and wriggling around like a slippery fish.
He was unexpectedly strong to the point where Feng Chen couldn’t control him. Seeing the cement slab beside them sinking, he pinned the child under his arm and ran for his life.
After reaching a safe, flat area, Feng Chen threw Yan Bubu to the ground. After tumbling a bit, Yan Bubu got to his feet and rushed towards the ruins again. Feng Chen caught him by the back of his collar.
When he couldn’t break free, Yan Bubu turned to try and pry at Feng Chen’s fingers. “Let go, let go…”
“Calm down, Yan Bubu.” Feng Chen tugged him back by the collar and made him look up.
“You can’t save your mother, and I can’t either. No one in the world can save her. It’s already too late. Do you understand?”
Yan Bubu didn’t understand.
“No, I have to, I have to save Mommy.”
Feng Chen pressed that little head to his chest and panted. He hoarsely said, “Yan Bubu, stop it. I just saw your mother. She’s dead.”
As if someone pressed pause, Yan Bubu froze in place.
When Feng Chen tentatively let go, he stumbled back two steps, gasping painfully as if he couldn’t breathe.
The two just stood facing each other like this, neither bothering to acknowledge the deep sounds the earth emitted from time to time.
Feng Chen licked his cracked lips, his eyes sweeping the horizon. Something there made his expression change dramatically. He tugged Yan Bubu’s arm and ran out of the courtyard.
Yan Bubu stumbled along until he was stuffed by Feng Chen into a fake ornamental cave in the small garden outside the courtyard. Then the teen went in himself.
“Young Master–”
“Be quiet.”
Feng Chen sternly interrupted him.
Footsteps could be heard as at least a dozen people passed by the ornamental cave. Feng Chen peered out through the gap, only able to see the cold hilts of guns at their waists.
“Quickly now. Dig everything up if you have to to find that box. The security guard said their son just came back, so find him too.”
“Understood.”
The sounds of machines starting up followed the stranger’s words. Lifted cement blocks fell with a boom.
The ornamental cave was very narrow. The two of them huddled together silently. After a wave of aftershocks, gravel fell from the ceiling of the already cracked cave.
“Captain, we found a few bodies. What should we do with them?”
Feng Chen noticed Yan Bubu suddenly stiffening in his arms. He quickly put a hand on his shoulder, signaling for him to stay quiet.
That male stranger’s voice rang out again, “…The dead deserve respect. Bury them on the spot.”
“Understood.”
“Wait!”
After a moment of silence, the captain continued, “There are two boys missing.”
When Feng Chen heard this, he took advantage of their preoccupation to sneak himself and Yan Bubu out of the ornamental cave. They dove behind those crooked tree trunks and crawled away.
The sun was almost down and the two were small enough to be hidden in the dappled shadows of the trees. They soon left the villa behind.
When Yan Bubu kept turning back, Feng Chen whispered, “Don’t look, just go. They’ll be here soon.”
The air was thick with dust and smelled of dirt. The last rays of sunset penetrated the thick gray murk to shine miserably on the devastated earth. The entire area around the villa was dead silent. The driveway was twisted, the roads cracked and littered with fallen trees.
Yan Bubu tightly held onto Feng Chen, following him step by step. Feng Chen occasionally reminded him to watch his step. If there were any crevices on the wider side, he would pick the child up and carry him across under his arm.
Instead of going through the villa’s main gate, they flipped over the collapsed iron fence and into a patch of woods. After stumbling around inside for a while, they followed a path down the mountain.
Feng Chen knew it was safe here at the foot of the mountain, so he stopped. “Sit down and rest for a while.”
The two picked a random boulder to sit on. Feng Chen took out a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and handed it to Yan Bubu.
Yan Bubu didn’t take it. His shoulders started to tremble as intermittent sobs sounded.
Feng Chen took back his hand and lowered his head to drink water.
Yan Bubu slid down the boulder and curled up into a ball, his face pressed on the cold ground.
“Yan Bubu.” Feng Chen called out to him.
Yan Bubu’s long eyelashes trembled. He closed his eyes, a whimper escaping from his throat like the sad cry of a wounded little beast.
Feng Chen looked at him in silence for a moment, before suddenly getting up and walking down the mountain.
Yan Bubu finally opened his eyes after hearing the commotion. He looked tearfully at Feng Chen’s back as he walked away.
The teen’s thin but straight figure soon disappeared around the bend in the road.
Yan Bubu stared until he was sure Feng Chen wasn’t coming back. Then he lay back down again.
Just a few seconds later, even more tears came out, trickling over the dirty bridge of his nose and seeping into his hair and the ground.
His cries grew louder, becoming heartwrenching and interspersed with muffled calls for ‘Mommy’.
He opened his mouth wide, clenching a small piece of rock in his hand. Tears and saliva dripped down into the rough surface beneath his face.
After crying for a while, his head jerked up to look at the bend in the road, before falling back down in disappointment.
After a long, long time, his cries subsided. The surroundings quieted down.
This was a different kind of quiet than usual. There were no insects or birds chirping, no vague TV and car horns. A dead silence, as if time and space had frozen entirely.
Yan Bubu sat up and surveyed his surroundings with red-rimmed, swollen eyes.
The sun has already set, the last rays of light almost gone. There were no lights in the distance. A dog somewhere out there howled long and low, the desolate sound travelling through the air. Perhaps it came from a wolf.
The sadness in Yan Bubu’s heart had been driven away by panic. He vigilantly turned to look around.
“Young Master, Young Master.” With a hoarse voice, he called out twice in the direction of the main road.
Yan Bubu just sat there when there was no response.
He regretted it. He regretted not following the young master. It felt like he was the only one left in the world right now. Panic and despair filled his tiny body.
The only one he could rely on now was the young master. As long as he could remember, he knew he would grow up to serve the young master and follow him for the rest of his life.
Since his mother was gone now, what should he do if the young master didn’t want him? Who would he serve from now on?
Yan Bubu scrambled to his feet and ran forward as fast as he could.
He was filled with trepidation, desperately chasing after the young master in hopes he would take him away. It didn’t matter where.
As long as he didn’t leave Yan Bubu behind.
He didn’t pay enough attention to his feet and fell with a thud. Rather than crying out in pain, he rolled and quickly got up to continue on.
He stopped dead in his tracks the moment he reached the bend Feng Chen disappeared around.
Someone was sitting on a boulder in the near darkness, his long legs curled up slightly, his hands resting on his knees. His eyes were closed.
The side of his face was cast in shadow, like he was deep in thought or asleep. Those eyelashes fluttered inconspicuously.
Yan Bubu teared up again. He was drowning in relief at this reunion, with an inexplicable sense of grievance and sorrow mixed in.
“Young Master.” He used a sleeve to wipe his eyes before cautiously calling out.
Feng Chen didn’t reply, but Yan Bubu saw his head turn in his direction.
Yan Bubu shuffled over step by step, crouching down to gently grasp the corner of his shirt before tightening his grip.
As if he was afraid that Feng Chen would suddenly run away.
Yan Bubu’s eyes glimmered in the darkness, like an abandoned puppy that had finally found its master again. Ever so cautiously, yet hardly able to conceal his enthusiasm, he called out, “Young Master.”
what’s in this mysterious box? 👀
Mystery box… Off to…do they have a direction? Who were those not good guys? Lots of questions… Thanks for the translation ❤️
Thank you for the chapter! 💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍
Thank you very much!
Whoever those armed guys are, at least they’re not corpse-defiling lunatics. Still very untrustworthy though
I really hope Yan Bubu and Feng Chen don’t suffer much more than they already have in the future 😢