The small tree stretches its branches and leaves to bask in the sun. Xu Song and Yue Zheng prepared breakfast and fed the twins. Then they tidied up and brought the children to the third floor.
When they knocked on the door of Luo Wen’an and the others’ room, the two inside hadn’t woken up yet.
After a whole day of rushing around, the two of them had barely fallen asleep last night after lying down for a long time. Naturally, they couldn’t wake up early today.
As soon as Luo Wen’an got up, he wanted to go out and find people immediately, but Xu Song and Su Danji persuaded and held him back. They took out the breakfast they had prepared and put it in their hands. Xu Song and Yue Zheng sat on one of the beds to discuss with them.
“We still don’t know the specific distribution of the safe area. However, considering the situation when Liu Shishi went missing yesterday, it’s best for us to act separately,” Yue Zheng had figured out the best course of action last night.
“Xu Song and I will search for clues nearby, while the two of you search the western street of the community one block at a time, and don’t overlook the back of buildings, small boxes, or garbage storage areas.”
After speaking, he comforted them, “Don’t worry. Otherwise, if you manage to find her but collapse from exhaustion, who will she rely on then?”
It had to be said that although Yue Zheng hadn’t had much experience in comforting the families of victims since starting work, he had learned a lot in this area.
After hearing his words, Luo Wen’an nodded silently and quickly ate the porridge that he couldn’t swallow before.
It’s good that they can eat. Xu Song also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that if they hadn’t found Liu Shishi yet, Luo Wen’an would collapse first. Unexpectedly, Luo Wen’an and Liu Shishi had such a good relationship, which was not easily discernible on the surface.
After breakfast, the four adults went downstairs again. Luo Wen’an and the others headed straight to the eastern exit of the community, while Yue Zheng led Xu Song and the two children, playing around in the nearby corridor.
Although Yue Zheng’s hearing had improved a lot, he still couldn’t hear everything, and there were limitations to his hearing as well. For example, if the surroundings were too noisy, he couldn’t hear distant sounds. If he could focus on specific areas, it would be better, but the current aimless searching probably wouldn’t yield any results even after a whole day.
Bending down to pretend to talk and play with the two children, Xu Song also felt worried. He wanted to help and share Yue Zheng’s burden and help find Liu Shishi, but it seemed that there was no better method at the moment.
His sleeve was shaken, and Xu Song looked down to see the twins looking at him eagerly. “What’s wrong?”
“Uncle, is Aunt Shishi gone?” Although the children were young, they weren’t foolish at all. They were sleeping when Su Danji came last night, so they were not aware of it, but they vaguely knew that someone had come to their house. When they arrived at Luo Wen’an’s house in the morning heard the adults talking, and didn’t see Liu Shishi anywhere, the children guessed the truth.
There was a trace of heartache in Xu Song’s eyes. It was really uncomfortable to expose such things to such young children.
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.
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The two little ones nodded in unison, holding Xu Song’s hand, one on each side, and walked forward.
They seemed to have not heard any useful information nearby, so they headed towards the public bathhouse with the children. If nothing unexpected happened on the way, that should have been Liu Shishi’s destination.
According to Su Danji, they had inquired with the bathhouse staff yesterday when they came here but didn’t obtain any useful information.
They had also asked people they encountered along the way in the neighborhood, but who would pay special attention to a woman going to the bathhouse? In the current situation, it was different from before. In the community before the mutation, there would always be elderly people strolling, talking, and chatting in the neighborhood.
Even if these people weren’t active outside, there were security guards in the community who could provide information easily.
But now, although there were many people coming and going on the road, most of them were in a hurry, and no one had the time to stroll around outside.
Yue Zheng perked up his ears and listened to the sounds coming from the public bathhouse. Unfortunately, during this time of day, there weren’t many people taking baths. Besides a couple in a private room on the third floor enjoying a bath unsuitable for children and a few staff members chatting in the management room, there wasn’t much activity.
However, it wasn’t completely without information.
Yesterday, Luo Wen’an and Su Danji caused quite a commotion while searching for people. Even in the current situation, people would still gossip and chat once they had free time. Today, the topic naturally revolved around the person who went missing yesterday.
“…Really, you can tell she just arrived at the shelter. How can she venture out alone? And she’s a young lady, isn’t she just asking for trouble?”
“That’s right. Hey, those two young men yesterday, they were wearing green badges, right? I wonder if that woman had abilities too.”
“Having abilities doesn’t mean she can’t go missing.”
“What do you mean? I’ve heard that among the people who go missing in our shelter, two or three out of ten are ability users! Don’t think having abilities makes them invincible. They’re just the same as everyone else.”
Ability users go missing?
Yue Zheng was taken aback. Before he could think deeply about it, his phone in his pocket suddenly started ringing.
The ringtone was unfamiliar, and when Xu Song saw the style of the phone that Yue Zheng took out, his expression became a little awkward. Yue Zheng had only given his number to Luo Wen’an and himself. Since Luo Wen’an and the others had just left, the likelihood of them calling immediately was low. Besides that woman with ill intentions, who else would be calling at this moment?
Before they clarified their relationship, even if Xu Song felt jealous, he wouldn’t show it on his face. But now… he had a legitimate reason to feel jealous, so Yue Zheng naturally saw through it.
With a teasing smile at the corner of his mouth, Yue Zheng pressed the answer button with one hand while the other hand reached for Xu Song’s head, running his fingers through his soft hair. The look in his eyes carried an unsettling charm.
Alright… He, as a grown man, shouldn’t act like a jealous woman in such matters.
Xu Song decided to trust Yue Zheng generously, but his feet showed no intention of moving away. He squatted down next to him, using the excuse of taking care of the twins to support his ear, he was just worried that Yue Zheng would be deceived! Really!!
Listening to the voice on the phone inviting him to have dinner together, Yue Zheng’s eyes remained fixed on Xu Song, who intentionally squatted down and refused to move. Suddenly, Yue Zheng realized that occasionally making him nervous, worried, and jealous wasn’t so bad.
However, while he could reluctantly sacrifice some vanity before to inquire about information, now… he couldn’t bear to do that.
“Sorry, something came up here, and I don’t have time at the moment.”
“Huh? Something came up? What happened?” Qian Yu had a busy workload at the research institute lately. It was quite challenging for her to find time to have a candlelight dinner together. Afterward, if possible, it would be even better to have a romantic night together… Hmm, whether it was before or after the apocalypse, it was necessary to check the “quality” before deciding whether to pursue a relationship or not.
“My friend has gone missing.” Yue Zheng briefly explained the situation and prepared to end the call. He had only clarified his relationship with Xu Song last night and didn’t want to make him overly jealous, which could affect their relationship.
“Missing…” Qian Yu paused for a moment and comforted him, “Don’t worry, maybe it’s just a temporary disappearance. After all, you guys are new to this shelter area…”
As he dealt with the person on the phone, Yue Zheng watched Xu Song squatting on the ground, studying a mutating ant with Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou. His heart softened. Suddenly, he remembered the information he had heard from the bathhouse staff earlier, “Are there many cases like this in the shelter?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean people going missing,” Qian Yu sighed, “There are always some cases, but most of them happen at night, so I don’t think the situation is as bad as you think. What if they encountered someone they knew from before? It’s not impossible, especially now with communication…”
“I think so too. After all, that girl is an ability user and should have some self-defense abilities.”
“Huh? ability user?” Qian Yu was taken aback.
“What? Are there cases of ability users going missing in the shelter?” Yue Zheng squinted his eyes. Xu Song, who had heard the conversation and looked up, showed a hint of seriousness on his face and stood up.
“Well…” Qian Yu hesitated in her voice, seemingly considering something, then asked, “What kind of ability does your friend have?”
“I’m not quite sure. All I know is that she can make anyone who hears her scream feel dizzy. I don’t know if it’s a sonic or mental attack,” Yue Zheng deliberately sounded casual, “Every time we hear her scream, we’re dizzy for a while, so we always thought that the possibility of her being attacked is unlikely.”
“Heh, it’s quite…” Qian Yu’s voice paused for a moment and she asked again, “Are you very close with that friend?”
“Not really, we have a decent relationship with her boyfriend. After all, they took care of us during the journey to S City. We can’t just ignore them now.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Qian Yu’s tone suddenly relaxed, “You guys just do your best, and I’ll help you ask around… Oh, about the dinner… If it’s not possible, let’s postpone it for a few days.”
After a while, Yue Zheng hung up the phone.
“Brother Yue?” Yue Zheng’s expression was serious, and Xu Song immediately noticed it. He had been quietly standing by his side, waiting for him.
Holding the hand that Xu Song had placed on his arm, Yue Zheng said, “This matter is probably not that simple…”
“Uncle, Uncle!” Mo Tianyou suddenly jumped up, raising his little head and pointing to the floor, “It says it has seen Auntie Shishi!”
“Who?!” exclaimed Xu Song, looking at Mo Tianyou expectantly.
Mo Tianyou lowered his head and communicated with the grasshopper for a while before looking up, “It says… the person looks just like us adults…”
…
Looks just like… us adults?
“What does she look like?”
After another long pause, Mo Tianyou raised his head and said, “It says… she looks similar to us.”
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter ♥️
Thank you for the chapter♥️♥️
Ah, I actually quite like Qian Yu, I hope she’s not involved in those experiments!
Thank you for the update!
Oh, so the grasshopper is the 👁️ witness. Does Qian Yu aware of that mad scientist experimentation of those with abilities?
When I read the title I thought the witness would be some wise old aunt. Turns out it’s a wise little ant 🤣
Oops it’s a grasshopper I was wrong twice