The two kept going forward before turning right again, entering the city center.
The area was once filled with high rises and brilliant lights at night, a prosperous world. Now all that was left was desolation.
The empty streets were full of wreckage. Broken glass panels reflected the harsh midday sun. There was an office building where the lower part was intact, but the top twenty floors were missing. They had probably collapsed.
The two entered the office building. The large lobby was empty, paperwork scattered everywhere. Some pots of plants had fallen on the tile floor.
“Let’s look upstairs.”
The two went to the second floor. In the nearest room, they found a water cooler and drank their fill using paper cups.
Feng Chen finished his water and searched around. Luckily, he found five bottles of water, three bags of instant ramen, an entire loaf of sliced bread, a chocolate bar, and some beef jerky in a tightly shut pantry.
Yan Bubu just followed him. He stayed quiet and licked the hole where his teeth used to be from time to time. Only when he saw the chocolate and beef jerky did his eyes glitter brightly.
The two sat on the couch to eat. Feng Chen ate a slice of bread while tidying his marching backpack. Yan Bubu focused on the bag of beef jerky. He tried to rip it open with his hands, then his teeth. He was tugging so hard that his head spun.
Feng Chen took his bag of beef jerky, his fingers carefully avoiding the slobbery area dotted with teeth marks and opening it. He handed it back to Yan Bubu.
Yan Bubu didn’t eat the first strip he took out. He brought it to Feng Chen’s mouth, “Eat, Young Master.”
Feng Chen looked down at his fingers. Since the fair little digits were just a little dusty, he bit into the beef jerky.
He chewed as he cleared out the useless items in his backpack to make room for the instant ramen and bottled water. Finally, he took out that cipher box and held it for a closer look.
It was a smooth, silvery gray metal box about the size of a cigarette carton but square, equipped with a numerical keypad on one side. He only knew that it contained important secrets. He didn’t know exactly what was inside, nor was he sure of the code to open the box.
Yan Bubu rambled on beside him, “Can I put the beef jerky in the bread and eat it?”
“Yes.”
“What about adding a piece of chocolate?”
“En.”
Yan Bubu put some beef jerky and chocolate between a piece of bread and showed it to Feng Chen. “Look at my magic fruit sandwich, Young Master! Do you want some?”
“No.”
Feng Chen couldn’t imagine what bread with beef jerky and chocolate would taste like. He decisively refused.
There were suddenly the sounds of tracked vehicles from outside, as well as a message broadcasted from a loudspeaker which gradually became clearer.
“…All survivors, head for Haiyun Tower. You will be able to enter the underground settlement after registration…”
Feng Chen walked to the window, only to see two armoured tanks leading the way, with several tracked vehicles with soldiers behind. People came out from the dilapidated buildings on both sides of the street and followed the vehicles after having their wrist IDs scanned.
Feng Chen turned back and saw that Yan Bubu hadn’t eaten. The child was looking at him uneasily, so he said, “We can’t go with them.”
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.
“En, I know.” Yan Bubu nodded understandingly.
Lf kjr ralii kfjglcu Mfcu Jtfc’r rela pjmxfa. Llr wevvs ifur tecu boo atf rlvf bo atf rboj. Dfmjerf tf kjr rlaalcu, atf rela milwyfv eq ab fzqbrf akb ibaer gbba-ilxf ifur jcv atf rwjii yfjcr lc yfakffc.
Mfcu Jtfc jnfgafv tlr fsfr j ilaaif jkxkjgvis jcv rjlv, “Aera obg cbk, jcskjs. Ktfgf’r kjsr ab vfji klat la, yea atf wbra lwqbgajca atlcu gluta cbk lr ab ufa sbe rbwf mibatfr.”
“I think what I’m wearing now is fine.” Yan Bubu said.
“It isn’t.” Feng Chen said expressionlessly. ”
“Wu, okay then.”
Yan Bubu turned and spotted that cipher box peeking out of the backpack. He was somewhat curious and tried to poke it. “Young Master, what’s this?”
Feng Chen mused, “I don’t know exactly what it is either. Father only told me that the box is important to the future of the Eastern Union Army and will determine the fate of many people. That’s why we can’t let the Western Union Army get their hands on it. He also said that if there was an emergency, I must remember to keep it safe.”
“So the Western Union Army are the bad guys?” Yan Bubu asked.
Feng Chen: “Not quite. However, it won’t be good if they find out who we are.”
“Are they going to beat us to death?” Yan Bubu’s eyes widened.
Feng Chen: “No, but they’ll take away the cipher box and keep us as bargaining chips to use against my father. Isn’t the United States’ presidential election soon? They could–”
Feng Chen’s words suddenly cut off.
The lack of aid from other cities considering Haiyun City’s current state meant the situation was very bad. How could there possibly be a presidential election?
“What could they do?” Yan Bubu wasn’t letting this go.
Feng Chen shook his head. “Nothing really. Anyways, we’ll hide it if we can.”
He put the cipher box on the very bottom part of his backpack and said, “We’ll stay here during the day and leave at night. I’ll take you to someone who should be able to help us if he’s still alive.”
“En, sounds good.” Yan Bubu continued to eat his so-called magic fruit sandwich.
Feng Chen glanced at him. “Sit up straight.”
“Oh.”
“And keep your legs together.”
As night fell, the two left the office building and searched for a fashion outlet on the street. The one they found was only half collapsed. Some gas lamps hung in the doorway, and there were still some people inside.
Feng Chen turned his flashlight on and took Yan Bubu towards an outdoor clothing store at the very back.
The store was very quiet. The flashlight illuminated the models on display in the windows in an artificial white. It was kind of creepy. Yan Bubu only glanced at them before immediately looking away and sticking closer to Feng Chen.
Feng Chen, who was almost 1.70 m, took a small sized windbreaker and T-shirt from the rack. He was about to undress when he noticed Yan Bubu clutching the corner of his shirt.
“Don’t be scared.” He quietly said.
Yan Bubu wanted to say he wasn’t, but then he saw the models nearby and latched onto Feng Chen’s thigh.
Feng Chen smootly pulled a few pieces of clothing off the rack and covered the heads of those models. Only then did Yan Bubu let go.
Feng Chen put down his backpack and took off his shirt, exposing the upper half of his body.
The teen was slender and well-proportioned. He only had a thin layer of muscle, but that didn’t mean he was weak. As he moved, those lines of muscles shifted, vaguely revealing a strength unusual for his age.
He put on the gray T-shirt and dark blue windbreaker. He held some pants over his body to compare. When he reached for his belt, he stopped and turned back to look at Yan Bubu.
Yan Bubu was staring at him unabashedly. His big eyes frankly had no intention of looking away.
“Yan Bubu, go get those shoes for me.” Feng Chen said.
“Oh.”
Yan Bubu quickly agreed, but his feet didn’t move. Feng Chen’s hand moved away from his belt. “Go on, get that pair of black outdoor shoes.”
“Oh.”
Feng Chen thought about it and handed him the flashlight. Only then did Yan Bubu slowly shuffled over to the shoe rack on their left.
Yan Bubu walked to the shoe rack and picked up that pair of outdoor shoes. As he turned around, a dark shadow darted just out of view.
He looked in that direction but didn’t see anything. However, outside the range of the phone’s flashlight, there was a pair of pale yellow eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.
“Ah!” Yan Bubu was so frightened that the shoes in his hand fell to the floor. Feng Chen, who had just put on some pants, immediately whirled around and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Yan Bubu rushed over to Feng Chen and hid behind him, incoherently pointing to the left of the shoe rack. “G-ghost. There, a ghost. Its eyes are looking at me…”
Feng Chen looked in that direction. There was half of a wood board in the way. He retrieved his dagger from the backpack and ventured forward.
Yan Bubu had a death grip around his thigh. He said frantically, “Don’t go, Young Master! Don’t go! There’s a ghost.”
“It’s fine.” Feng Chen pried him off. “Stay behind me and hold the flashlight.”
Yet when they got to the wood board, there was nothing there but two shoes on the floor.
Yan Bubu poked his head out from behind Feng Chen and said nervously, “Just now, just now there was a pair of eyes there.”
With that, a dark shadow silently swooped down from the left shoe rack, its sharp claws slicing through the air for Yan Bubu’s face.
Those claws were as sharp as spikes. If they made contact with Yan Bubu’s face, it wouldn’t just be a flesh wound.
Yan Bubu hadn’t yet discovered the danger coming from above. He was looking at the corner. Yet Feng Chen suddenly turned and slashed down at lightning speed.
As a glint of cold silver flashed, a harsh screech rang out in the store. Something fell heavily to the floor.
Feng Chen turned the dagger and stabbed again. This thing was also quite agile and rolled a short distance despite the pain to dodge. Then it leapt onto the shoe rack and limped into the vents.
Yan Bubu followed Feng Chen’s order to hold the flashlight. Even if he was so scared his neck craned back, he made sure the light always followed that thing.
It was a stocky monkey that quickly disappeared into the vent. They could hear it clanging around in there as it fled.
Yan Bubu shivered. He asked incredulously, “Young Master, did you see that? It’s a monkey.”
Feng Chen looked at the dagger in his hand in a daze.
His reaction speed just now was beyond the norm. The monkey pounced without making any sound, but he somehow instantly sensed the danger, drew his dagger and struck in one smooth motion.
Yan Bubu was still murmuring, “Why would a monkey want to hurt people? Maoli is so well-behaved, so why would he want to hurt me?”
“Maoli?” Feng Chen turned back, puzzled.
“Haven’t you watched The Adventures of Maoli? That was Maoli the Monkey.” Yan Bubu was shocked and sad. “I like Maoli so much, but it actually wanted to hurt me.”
Feng Chen didn’t know about The Adventures of Maoli, but it was probably a cartoon. He silently retrieved the shoes and put them on.
“…I didn’t even mess with it, and I’m not a bad guy either! But Maoli never hits the good guys. Am I actually a bad guy…”
Yan Bubu kept rambling sadly. Feng Chen finally couldn’t hold it in any longer, “That’s not Maoli. It’s just an ordinary monkey.”
“It’s not Maoli?”
“No.”
“Then who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“So it–”
“–Is not Maoli, in any case.”
“Oh.”
Then Yan Bubu asked, “Why is there a monkey here?”
Feng Chen was also thinking about that. “It should be from the zoo. Probably escaped when the earthquake destroyed the enclosures.”
“A monkey from the zoo, ah…”
Feng Chen suddenly realized that since this monkey was from the zoo, other animals, including tigers and leopards and other fierce beasts might have also escaped and were on the prowl out there.
“Did you kill that monkey just now?” Yan Bubu asked.
“No.”
Actually, his dagger should have slit the monkey’s abdomen open. It was hard to say if the wound would prove fatal.
But he wouldn’t tell Yan Bubu that. Who knew how much more nonsense the child would spew then?
I thought it’s Mowgli.😉
So his reaction and senses are slowly upgrading.
Thank you for the chapters !
Is he a human who has a supernatural power? I’m sorry, I don’t know it called in English in this kind of setting
Thank you for your translation 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
Yan Bubu!!!! Kawaiiii 💖
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🐒👀
Magic fruit sandwich = Bread + beef jerky + chocolate – any fruit.. 😂
Feng k iddo is really tall considering his age !!! I’m jealous ..
I hope Bubu will also have supernatural powers its really hard to survive in the wasteland if you don’t have any and its not like Feng Chen will always be there for him
+1 and even if they’re kids now, I hate when the bottom is weak, they should have some type of power to save themselves and the ML when needed
Damn, 12 year old Feng Chen is taller than I as a grown ass adult will ever be. ಥ‿ಥ
lo monos son las criaturas más vengativas, realmente tendremos problemas