Chapter 35
The middle-aged guard looked at the little bean-sized chub who was trying to hide himself. “Chubby cub, your backpack.”
Only after seeing his brother nod did Guanguan slowly unzip the little backpack he was carrying in front of his chest.
Out of the yellowed old bag popped a lively, dark little black wolfdog puppy.
The middle-aged guard frowned. “A dog?”
Wei Cheng caught the hesitation in the guard’s face and hurriedly said, “Uncle, it’s just a little puppy. It doesn’t eat much food, and we won’t take extra food from the base. We’ll only share part of our own portion with it. I’m strong, and I’m brave. I can kill zombies, and I can do lots of work. Please let us bring the puppy in too.”
The middle-aged guard shook his head. “No…”
Guanguan’s voice was already soft and childish to begin with, and once he got anxious, his word order turned even more jumbled. With red-rimmed eyes, he said, “Uncle, Uncle, when Guanguan becomes a big kid, doctor uncle said Little Apricot will become a big doggie, then Guanguan and Little Apricot will grow up and protect you…”
“Uncle, if we can’t bring the puppy in…” With one arm around Guanguan’s little shoulder, Wei Cheng lowered his voice. “Then the two of us will have to find somewhere else.”
Since they had picked the puppy up and given it a name, then it was one of the most important family members he and Guanguan had in this world.
The little black dog seemed to sense the danger too. Its ears, which had been standing straight up, drooped down, and it let out a trembling little whine at the middle-aged guard.
“Find somewhere else? The Thirteenth Joint Cannery doesn’t take old people or children, and Watcher Community isn’t a place fit for humans. Where could two little brats like you possibly go?”
The middle-aged guard actually liked dogs very much. Before the apocalypse, he had five stray little mutts at home himself. Looking at these two children—pitiful and adorable both—he rubbed the cigarette in his pocket for a moment, then waved his hand as if out of sight meant peace of mind. “Go on in, go on in. There are all kinds of people in the shelter. If you want to raise that dog, then keep a good eye on it.”
In the apocalypse, cats and dogs were no longer humanity’s companions, but dishes on humanity’s table. There were some things that a gate guard like him simply could not control.
The moment Guanguan heard that, he happily hugged the puppy tighter and lifted his little face, red from the cold. “Thank you, Uncle! Uncle will get very, very rich in the future!”
Wei Cheng was delighted too. He had not expected the middle-aged guard to relent.
“Get rich?”
The guard rubbed the child’s round little head and gave a bitter laugh. “Little one, getting rich was Uncle’s dream before the apocalypse. Now Uncle only wants his whole family to stay safe.”
Guanguan was very quick to respond. “Uncle’s whole family will be super, super safe!”
“I’ll borrow your good words.”
Then the middle-aged guard turned to Wei Cheng and said, “There’ll be another checkpoint up the mountain where they collect your supplies. If anyone asks about the dog, just say Uncle Sun Dali agreed to let you bring it in.”
Once the guard gave permission, Wei Cheng, Guanguan, and the twenty-some others were allowed onto the mountain road.
The snow had been shoveled to either side of the road. Since it was all uphill, everyone walked until they were panting for breath.
Wei Cheng gave Guanguan’s little hand a shake. “Come on, Brother will carry you.”
“Guanguan can do it!”
The child’s little face was flushed red as he marched on with his short legs, every step solid and determined.
Wei Cheng was carrying the puppy backpack and holding another bag in his hand. “You only need to walk as far as that big tree up ahead. Brother will carry you the rest of the way.”
“Okay!”
One of the people who had been following them finally spoke. “Where are you two little brothers from?”
Wei Cheng glanced at the speaker. He was a man in his thirties, cheeks hollow, dark-skinned and gaunt, as if he had been starving for a long time.
Wei Cheng answered briefly, “Mingshui District.”
Mingshui District was one of Yu City’s old urban areas, only a few dozen kilometers from here. If he said the two of them had come from Huan City nearly a thousand miles away, they would inevitably be questioned and suspected.
“Mingshui District? That is pretty close.” The thin man said, “Uncle escaped from over by Stone Mountain. My family all died. I’m the only one left.”
He glanced at the child walking ahead with big strides, then looked at the tall, thin Wei Cheng. “Your parents and family are gone too?”
Wei Cheng said nothing.
The thin man sighed. “Don’t think that coming to a place like this means you’ll get to live well. The waters here run deep. These bases and shelters take us in for resources, nothing more. Two children with no family like you are going to have it rough from here on. I heard people say that once quarantine is over, they’ll assign housing. Why don’t I talk to the management? The two of you can just follow me from now on.”
The man had planned this well. Earlier, he had used two bars of chocolate to buy information from the guard. He had heard that the more family members a household had, the more living supplies they were assigned—especially families with children and old people.
Wei Cheng looked at him and asked calmly, “Have you ever killed anyone?”
The thin man froze. “You… what are you saying, kid?”
Wei Cheng lowered his voice. “Don’t set your sights on me and my little brother, unless you sleep without ever closing your eyes.”
For some reason, the thin man felt a chill crawl down his spine under that child’s gaze. “You… you…”
No one who had survived to now was simple.
Especially not children.
Wei Cheng quickened his steps and caught up to Guanguan. “Come on, Brother will carry you.”
After nearly an hour of climbing the mountain road, they finally reached the town at the mountaintop.
A guard at the high gates said, “Highland Shelter uses an equal distribution system for supplies in the early stage. Later, distribution will be according to labor. If you want to enter the town now, you must hand over all survival supplies.”
One couple carrying a child protested, “Why should we? We scrimped and saved to gather all this!”
“That’s right! My son died trying to find this little bit of food. Why should we hand over the things we traded our lives for!”
The guard replied coldly, “If you’re unwilling to hand it over, then leave.”
An elderly woman with graying hair and a stern face said, “How can you people be this heartless? Do you know who I am? I want to see your leader! Who made these rules!”
Another younger guard laughed. “Grandma, don’t bring the pre-apocalypse way of thinking into the present. After the apocalypse, there’s no fairness, no justice, and no one doing things selflessly for you. This isn’t a salvation hall! If you want to enter the shelter, then you obey the shelter’s rules!”
Inwardly, the guard knew their base already treated the elderly and children very well—but that was not something to say aloud.
“I’ll tell you now: even if you enter the shelter, you’re not coming here to enjoy an easy life. Whether child or old person, if you eat one bite of the base’s food, then you work for the base. The supplies you eat and use, and your personal safety, were all bought with the lives of shelter hunters! If you’re unhappy, then get down the mountain right now!”
Once those words came out, no one dared say anything more. The old woman who had been cursing the loudest handed over her backpack first. It clinked when set down, and out of it they even pulled two thick bundles of useless red banknotes.
One by one, everyone else started handing things over too.
The guards recorded the survivors’ names and the supplies they handed in with quick strokes on paper.
Actually, Highland Shelter was already very humane. They only made survivors surrender the items on the surface. At Watcher Community, survivors had to strip naked and be searched, regardless of age or gender.
Wei Cheng also handed over his and Guanguan’s belongings. When the young guard saw the puppy inside Guanguan’s bag, he frowned. “This dog…”
Wei Cheng hurriedly said, “Brother, Uncle Sun Dali said we could bring the puppy in.”
“Captain Sun agreed?”
The young guard clearly disapproved, but he did not make things difficult for them. He waved his hand. “Go on in.”
After all, cats and dogs would not survive long at the base anyway.
This really was worthy of being a famous hot-spring resort town. Every street was paved with cobblestones, and on both sides stretched endless rows of white villas. Tall trees ran all through them, with vast artificial lawns beyond.
Before the apocalypse, probably only that old woman among all these people would have had the means to stay here often.
The original survivors already living here glanced at them and then hurried away again, all looking very busy.
They were not taken into the villas. Instead, after walking another twenty minutes, they were brought to a row of flat-roofed buildings in the woods.
This used to be staff housing.
“Normally, survivors should wait five hours outside the mountain road before being let in, and then stay twelve hours in quarantine rooms. Since leadership ordered that you be brought in early, then you’ll stay in this quarantine room until tomorrow morning. Someone will bring food at mealtime.”
A guard called out a name, and the corresponding survivor obediently went inside. The next second, the door was locked from the outside.
“Wei Cheng…”
“Xiao Zhang.” One of the guards who had led them up here nodded his chin toward the two remaining children. “Captain Sun said these two kids can be locked together. If they turn into zombies, it’s only a single kick anyway. No need to waste resources.”
After Wei Cheng and Guanguan entered, they heard that guard Xiao Zhang lower his voice and sneer, “Ever since Captain Sun’s little nephew died, he’s really been showing favoritism toward these brats.”
Above the dormitory door was a transparent pane of glass. Inside, there was a bed, a table, and a dark plastic toilet bucket.
What surprised Wei Cheng most was that the room was actually warm!
“Brother, this room is warm.”
Guanguan sat on the bed, kicking his little feet, his big eyes full of curiosity. “There are so many pretty houses here, and so many people too.”
“Mm. The people leading this base are pretty good.”
Wei Cheng let the little black dog out.
Guanguan jumped off the bed and hugged his puppy. “Little Apricot, Little Apricot, look! This is our new home!”
Wei Cheng took off his little hat and smiled. “Not really our new home. Tomorrow morning we’ll have somewhere else to go.”
The little black dog wagged its tail and sniffed everywhere. It was clearly curious about the room too.
Guanguan rubbed his cheek against the dog’s head. “Little Apricot, Little Apricot, you have to behave, okay? Don’t run around. Stay by Brother and Guanguan.”
But the little black dog seemed oddly interested in the toilet bucket. It bared its teeth and barked at it.
Guanguan hugged the puppy’s head, frowned fiercely, and imitated an adult’s tone. “Puppy, be good. Puppy must not squint at children!”
Wei Cheng laughed. “It probably thinks the toilet is an enemy.”
Just then, a familiar voice suddenly sounded by their ears.
[Congratulations! Little House Owner and bound companion have successfully moved into a new base and earned 3000 Twist Coins!]
[Reward: One set of Highland Shelter maps! Please check them carefully!]
[Twist Coin balance: 11180]
[Safehouse stockpile amount: 250]
[Twisty Car upgrade level: Intermediate Form 250 (Reach 2000 points in Intermediate Form to unlock 10-person escape…)]
This time there was no surprise prize wheel. Instead, the reward was a map of the shelter?
Wei Cheng was always one to overthink. He suspected the system was warning them that even inside the shelter, they could not relax. With a map, they would also know the best escape routes here.
Guanguan’s eyes lit up, and he whispered, “Brother!”
Brother had told him never to reveal their secret, so even when he got excited about getting richer again, Guanguan kept his voice tiny.
Wei Cheng laughed softly. “Mm.”
The glass in the door let people outside see in, so for the moment they could not enter the safehouse and could only rest in the little room.
The two children played a hand-slapping game for a while before drowsiness overtook them. After all, they had not slept all night, and their young bodies were already exhausted to the limit.
At some point, deafening knocking sounded outside.
Wei Cheng and Guanguan jolted awake at once. Little Apricot, curled up at the foot of the bed, barked twice at the door.
“Wake up, all of you wake up! Lunch is here!”
Wei Cheng let out a breath of relief, annoyed with himself for having slept so deeply. He patted the startled Guanguan. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Brother will go get the food.”
Guanguan wiped his drool. “Hungry. Going together!”
The person outside watched them for a moment, probably checking whether they had mutated.
Guanguan’s eyes met the person outside.
Both the child and the man froze.
Guanguan’s little face filled with surprise, and he waved his chubby little hand. “Driver Uncle!”
Guanguan’s foster family’s driver? The kind driver who had once given Guanguan a thousand-yuan red envelope?
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