After washing up and taking a rest, the two set off again. As they gradually entered the city centre, they spotted more and more survivors. At the same time, the tragedies left in the earthquake’s wake only became more apparent.
The streets were filled with crashed cars burned to the frame. A derailed high-speed train had pierced through the tall building in front of it. The carriages were deformed, with several sections still on the ground and two dangling outside the building.
There were bodies everywhere. Bloody messes littered the street, ghastly white limbs protruded from under rubble… There was even a collapsed office building where the dead bodies piled up because it was bustling with people at work during the earthquake.
This was only what the eye could see. It was unimaginable how many more were under the debris, never to see the light of day again.
Yan Bubu was very quiet the entire way. He didn’t make a sound, but the hand holding Feng Chen’s was cool and trembling.
When they passed by a broken wall that seemed to be swaying, a dark shadow suddenly fell from a ruined window, blocking their path.
It was a woman hanging upside down. Because her collarbone was broken, her neck stretched to an alarming length. Her black hair fluttered in the wind as black blood seeped from her mouth, over the bridge of her nose and her hair to the ground.
Yan Bubu happened to meet the woman’s blank eyes. His heart seemed to stop beating. His blood stopped flowing. His mind went blank.
He heard Feng Chen urging him to quickly leave, but he no longer knew how to walk. Feng Chen grabbed him under his arms and hauled him away. Yan Bubu’s legs dragged on the ground like wooden sticks.
When they were farther away from that wall, Yan Bubu opened his mouth slightly, still too frightened to make a sound. Feng Chen went to pat his face and hoarsely called out, “Hey, Yan Bubu, hey. Talk.”
Yan Bubu’s eyes dully shifted to look at Feng Chen. Then he turned around and tightly hugged his waist, his teeth clattering.
Feng Chen hesitated but didn’t push him away. He patted Yan Bubu’s shoulder a few times.
A few moments later, the two continued onward. Feng Chen didn’t want a repeat of what happened before, so he kept a closer eye on their surroundings, constantly adjusting the route as necessary. When he encountered a situation that was unavoidable, he ordered Yan Bubu to close his eyes and carried him under one arm, leaving in a hurry before letting him back down.
As they slowly entered the residential area and the number of houses increased, so did the number of people scrambling over the rubble.
Now was the best chance to rescue survivors. On the ruins of some residential buildings, people called out the name of their loved ones and used steel bars to pry open concrete slabs that were not too big. Because of the city’s power outage, those better off put steam lamps on nearby rocks for illumination. The less fortunate had to make do with candles.
“Okay, okay, come out now. Be careful.”
Cheers came from the right side in front of them. Yan Bubu saw someone being pulled out from under the rubble. However, everything below their right knee had been pulverized, leaving an empty section in their pants.
“Does any one have clotting factor… Pain medication… Find a rope to tie on top of the wound first… No, there’s too much blood…”
The air was thick with the scent of blood. It stuck to the mucous membranes of the nose and threatened to suffocate people. Yan Bubu was pulled forward by Feng Chen. Although he was afraid, he couldn’t help but turn back frequently to look at that man, wondering if he would die.
“…Help…help me…”
Yan Bubu froze. He seemed to hear a quiet cry for help.
Feng Chen obviously heard as well. He stepped on the debris towards their right and shifted a door panel to reveal a middle-aged man lying in the crevice below.
“Save…save…” The middle-aged man was pinned below the waist by a beam.
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.
Feng Chen stood by his head, trying to drag him out under his arms to no avail.
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“Here, Young Master.”
Feng Chen took the steel bar and began to pry the bricks and stones on top of that beam. The teen who was just starting his growth spurt only had a thin layer of muscle on his arms. When he exerted himself, the smooth lines hidden under his shirt appeared at times.
The debris was quickly cleared away, but Feng Chen found that one end of the beam was impossible to lift by human means. Only a machine could do it.
The gaze of the middle-aged man lying in the crevice was unfocused, his expression defeated. He muttered, “Water…”
“Young Master, he wants some water.” Yan Bubu said from the side.
Feng Chen panted, instructing, “There’s still some water in the backpack. Give him that half full bottle.”
Yan Bubu quickly took out said bottle of water and carefully fed it to the middle-aged man while Feng Chen used the steel bar to dig at the rocks beneath him. Since prying wouldn’t work, he would try to dig out some space and then drag the person out.
Yan Bubu knelt on the ground, holding the bottle with both hands. After feeding the middle-aged man a few sips of water, he suddenly asked, “Uncle, aren’t you thirsty? Why aren’t you drinking?”
Feng Chen paused. He stopped digging and turned to look at the middle-aged man’s face. He used a finger to probe the side of his neck.
A few moments later, he tossed the steel bar he was holding aside. It clanked as it rolled away. Yan Bubu looked up at him, startled.
“Let’s go.” Feng Chen stood up.
Yan Bubu was still kneeling. He asked in shock, “What about this uncle?”
Feng Chen said indifferently, “He’s already dead.”
“Ah! But he was just drinking water. How could he have died?”
Feng Chen didn’t respond. He picked up a black plastic bag and used it to cover the face of the middle-aged man. In order to prevent the wind from blowing it away, he used a few small rocks to weigh down the edges.
After doing all this, he noticed Yan Bubu was still standing there, dumbfounded. He asked, “Are you coming?”
Then he turned and continued onward.
Yan Bubu came back to his senses and rushed after him.
Thiss street was once full of stores. Yan Bubu consciously tucked his hand into Feng Chen’s palm and grabbed one of his fingers.
A moment later, Yan Bubu, suddenly spoke with his head down, “Young Master.”
“En.”
“Is that uncle just now also going to heaven?”
Feng Chen was silent for a moment. “En.”
“So the all the dead people we saw on the road, all of them went to heaven?”
Feng Chen glanced down at Yan Bubu.
Because the child had his head down, only the top of his hair could be seen. The messy curls looked very soft.
“En.”
It was a while before Yan Bubu suddenly exclaimed, “Young Master, you’re so kind.”
Feng Chen ignored him, but he continued on, “I like you so, so much. I want to be with you and serve you forever.”
Feng Chen hated hearing him say these sappy things. A layer of goosebumps rose on his body as he frowned and said, “Stop it.”
“Why?”
Feng Chen: “It’s annoying.”
“But Mommy loves to hear me say these things.”
“I’m not your mother.”
Yan Bubu stopped. After a moment of silence, he whispered, “Then don’t leave me behind, okay?”
Feng Chen didn’t pay much care to his words. He raised a hand to touch his forehead. His eyebrows tightly furrowed.
After walking like this for a while, Yan Bubu gradually realized that something was wrong with Feng Chen. His hands were getting hotter and hotter as he gradually slowed down. Even though there weren’t any rocks under his feet, he nearly tripped.
Yan Bubu couldn’t help but peer up. He saw that Feng Chen looked like he was going to fall sleep. He was walking with his eyes closed.
“Young Master, there’s a rock here.” Seeing that Feng Chen was about to run into a rock, Yan Bubu hastily pulled him back.
Feng Chen reluctantly opened his eyes and walked around that rock.
Yan Bubu led him forward. When he looked up again, he saw that Feng Chen’s eyes were closed again. His body swayed before falling to the left.
“Young Master, Young Master! Don’t fall.” Yan Bubu used all his might to drag the teen’s arm and managed to steady him.
Feng Chen used the brick wall next to him as support and panted, “Let’s find a place to, to rest.”
Yan Bubu looked around and found the nearest flat surface. He put Feng Chen’s hand on his shoulder and helped him there.
Feng Chen’s body was half leaning on Yan Bubu. Although it only took a dozen steps, the two of them stumbled with great effort.
“Are you tired? Keep moving your feet. Just a few more steps.”
Yan Bubu helped Feng Chen sit on the rock. As soon as he let go, Feng Chen fell sideways. He quickly grabbed the teen and let him rest his head against himself.
“Are you tired from walking, Young Master? Do you want to take a nap?”
Feng Chen didn’t respond, so Yan Bubu poked his head out to look at him.
There was a store burning in front of them on the right. The firelight showed the abnormal flush of Feng Chen’s cheeks. His lips were dry, cracked and crusted.
“Are you sick?” Like his mother usually did when he was sick, Yan Bubu used the back of his hand to test Feng Chen’s forehead and then his own. “It’s so hot. You are sick.”
Feng Chen had fallen into a semi-consciousness state. His lips opened and closed but failed to make any sound.
Yan Bubu knew that sick people needed to take medicine and see a doctor, but where was he supposed to go find a doctor now?
He removed Feng Chen’s backpack and took out a bottle of water. Biting the cap with his teeth, he slowly twisted it open.
“Drink some water, Young Master.” He brought the bottle up to Feng Chen’s mouth and carefully fed him.
Feng Chen’s eyes were closed tightly. The water he was fed just dripped out of the corner of his mouth.
Yan Bubu slowly squatted in front of him and tilted his head. After a long time, he pleaded in a whisper, “Don’t sleep, Young Master. Wake up.”
Feng Chen’s drooped eyelashes trembled. His eyes opened a sliver to dazedly meet Yan Bubu’s before closing again.
Yan Bubu looked at him helplessly. He pressed their foreheads together.
Feng Chen’s forehead was even hotter now. Even his breath was hot. When it brushed past Yan Bubu’s face, he felt like he might get burned.
“What to do? What to do? No, I have to go find medicine and food for him.” Yan Bubu muttered.
He looked around. There was no one was in sight. That store was still burning. Further down the street was shrouded in darkness.
“Sit tight and wait for me, Young Master. Be good and don’t run around. I’ll go get you medicine and food.”
With that, Yan Bubu ran out. He turned back after a couple of steps and stuffed the backpack under Feng Chen like a cushion. He continued to mutter, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll be right back, ah.”
He ran out again and kept running until the flames no longer illuminated his surroundings. He came to a stop as if he remembered something.
Then he hightailed it back and picked up the flashlight.
“Be a good boy, ah. Don’t be afraid, I’ll be right back.”
Thank you for the chapter! 🤍💚🤍💚
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️❤️
omg yan bubu is such a good kid 😭😭 i hope nothing will happen to him on his little trip 🥹
Is Feng Chen developing a superpower ??? Hope so..
Good baby. Thank you.
Oh ok, thanks for the info.
Thank you for the info.
For some reason, I think the writer and in relation Feng Chen knew that too~
Thank you for the info!!
Oh my goddd my anxiety is risinggggg