Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH36

Chapter 36

“Guanguan?!”

The moment Shen Zheng saw the child inside, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Shocked and overjoyed, he quickly opened the isolation room door.

The second he stepped in, a loud, babyish dog bark rang out.

When Wei Cheng saw Shen Zheng’s face, he froze for a moment too. He had met this man in his previous life…

“Little Apricot!”

Guanguan immediately restrained the little black dog, who had not even grown to an adult man’s ankle yet. Hugging him up, he pointed him toward Shen Zheng and flashed his little baby teeth in a grin. “This is Driver Uncle! Driver Uncle gave money-money and saved the puppy-dog!”

Shen Zheng dumped the two boxed meals onto the table in a messy heap, scooped the child into his arms, and looked him up and down in delight. “Guanguan? It really is you? This child, this child has…” become so round?

He forcibly swallowed the word skinny back down. How had little Guanguan become even chubbier than he was at the welfare home?

“Uncle, Uncle, it’s Guanguan!”

Guanguan bounced happily, then turned his little head toward the person behind him. “This is big brother. His name is Wei Chengcheng, and Guanguan is called Wei Guanguan!”

Wei Cheng gathered his thoughts back together, then let out a soft laugh at Guanguan’s words.

The children at the welfare home were either surnamed Fu or Wang. No one had ever deliberately taught Guanguan that he should grow up with the surname Wei, but ever since he heard the adults at the welfare home call out Wei Cheng’s name, the child had automatically claimed Wei as his own surname too.

Shen Zheng lifted his head and looked at the especially handsome little boy. He was clearly only eight or nine years old, yet there was a lone wolf’s steadiness and coldness in his eyes. It was obvious that Guanguan had survived this long thanks to this child’s care.

“Chengcheng? Are you from the welfare home too?”

Wei Cheng nodded. “Mm.”

Shen Zheng thought of something, then frowned. “Director Wang and Teacher Meizhen weren’t among this group of survivors. They…?”

Wei Cheng lowered his eyes. “We got separated.”

When they could not control the situation, some things could not be told to anyone.

“Separated… sigh…”

In his heart, Shen Zheng guessed the adults had probably already died. His eyes showed helplessness and pity. “For you two little kids to make it all the way to the shelter, you must have suffered a lot.”

Looking at the dirty little faces of the two children, he immediately regretted bringing up such a heavy topic. So he poked Guanguan’s round little tummy and teased him instead. “Did baby eat well and live well? You’ve raised yourself pretty nicely.”

Guanguan scratched at his tummy with one hand, his black eyes turning. “Uncle, little kids can’t eat spicy stuff!”

Big brother said they could not tell anyone what they had eaten!

Shen Zheng laughed. “You little rascal…”

He reached back and opened the boxed meals. “Come on, you must be starving. Eat.”

Inside the clear plastic lunch boxes was a fist-sized lump of coarse rice and five or six leaves of greens.

“Eat. If it gets cold, your tummy will hurt.”

Shen Zheng glanced toward the door and lowered his voice. “In a couple of days, Uncle will bring you some chicken to eat. A friend of Uncle’s confiscated a batch of important supplies this morning, and one of the big leaders at the shelter rewarded him with lots of good stuff.”

The two children sat side by side holding their lunch boxes. Wei Cheng also lowered his voice. “Uncle, you saw it too. Guanguan didn’t lose much weight. That’s because my brother and I were helped by many kind people on the way. We didn’t suffer too much hunger or hardship, and we don’t eat that much either.”

“My brother and I only ask to eat enough, not to eat well. I know life is hard for you adults here too, and the outside is so dangerous, and you have to smooth things over everywhere. I hope you and that uncle can think more about yourselves—eat enough, wear enough, and stay safe. That’s the most important thing. Otherwise my brother and I would feel very guilty and very sad.”

Guanguan had not understood the earlier part, but big brother had taught him the phrase feel sad, so he repeated in his soft baby voice, “Will feel sad!”

Shen Zheng was genuinely surprised that such a small child could say something so considerate. He sighed softly, thinking what exactly these two children must have gone through to become this sensible.

Where there were people, there was competition. In the apocalypse, there was even less morality or conscience. In order to get lower-risk assignments from the managers, hunters like them really did have to grease palms everywhere.

“Don’t worry. We uncles are adults. We’ll take care of ourselves. And how much can two little kids even eat? Tomorrow, once your isolation is over, management will find you a family to live with.”

Wei Cheng immediately looked up. “A family to live with?”

“That’s right. Elderly people and minors are assigned to married households. It’s also a form of protection for you.”

Wei Cheng said, “Uncle, can my brother and I live on our own?”

“No. That’s the shelter’s rule.”

Shen Zheng’s tone turned serious. “Chengcheng, Uncle can tell that you’re a strong-minded child with your own ideas. But never touch the shelter’s rules. If you do, you really will be thrown out.”

Then, thinking that perhaps the child was worried about safety—since there were all kinds of scum inside a base—he added, “And you don’t need to worry too much. Not counting hunters and leaders, there are only a little over six hundred survivors living in the hilltop town. Housing here isn’t crowded. Once you and Guanguan move into your new family, you’ll have your own room.”

Only then did Wei Cheng relax a little. No matter what, Highland Shelter really was the best place for him and Guanguan right now.

As for a new family? As long as they did not provoke Guanguan, he could tolerate it.

“As for this dog…” Shen Zheng hesitated for a moment. “You absolutely must keep a close eye on it.”

Guanguan nodded like a pecking chick. “Guanguan will!”

“Mm, Uncle believes Guanguan.” Shen Zheng stood up. “It’s getting late. Uncle has to go out on a mission this afternoon too. I don’t know when I’ll be back. You two have to take good care of yourselves.”

By now, Guanguan more or less understood what Uncle meant by mission. The missions here were dangerous, but if you did them, you got rewards—just like he and big brother!

“Uncle, be good-good!” His eyes lit up, and he immediately put his new knowledge to use. “Be super extra safe and peaceful!”

At the shelter, adult men were forced to do at least one ordinary mission every month. Of course, some people voluntarily took on missions too, in order to get promoted into management or gain more supplies.

Shen Zheng was about to go on only his second ordinary mission. The first time, he had been lucky enough to survive. This time, he felt even more uneasy.

But after hearing Guanguan’s childish words, he relaxed quite a bit. “Mm, Uncle will come back safe. Then I’ll bring good food for Guanguan and Chengcheng. Oh, right…”

He suddenly stopped himself.

Actually, the Qiao family who had returned Guanguan—his former employers—were also living up in the little town.

Hopefully Guanguan would never run into that family again.

The moment Driver Uncle left, Guanguan hugged his lunch box and took a huge bite from the pointy tip of the rice mound. “So fragrant, so fragrant!”

Then he suddenly looked up, a grain of rice stuck to the tip of his nose. “Big brother, what will Little Apricot eat?”

The little black dog gave a plaintive awooo, as if saying, You little Guanguan, you finally remembered me!

With his back to the glass window, Wei Cheng reached into the backpack and worked the system panel. A moment later, a bowl of dog food appeared inside the backpack. He slid it under the bed. “Little Apricot, go eat under the bed.”

Then he took out a small packet of seaweed pork floss, tore it open gently, sprinkled it over Guanguan’s rice, and said softly, “Let’s eat like this for these first two meals. Once we have our own room, then we’ll eat something better.”

Guanguan held his lunch box carefully and whispered in a sneaky little voice, “Big brother, do I have to go under the bed to eat too?”

Wei Cheng held back a laugh. “You don’t. Even if people find yours, it doesn’t matter.”

The shelter guards had not searched their bodies, which meant they tacitly allowed survivors to do what they wanted with what they carried.

And besides, what was the big deal if two little children had a packet of seaweed pork floss snack on them?

Guanguan absolutely loved seaweed pork floss mixed with rice. Holding his chopsticks in both little hands, he stirred frantically, then gulped down even the few stems of greens in one big bite.

“Good. Food at the base doesn’t come easily. We absolutely mustn’t waste it.”

If he got the chance, Wei Cheng still wanted to repay the base for whatever food he and Guanguan ate and used there.

After all, what they lacked least right now was food.

That night, the shelter gave them one bottle of mineral water and four yellow cornmeal buns.

Afraid Guanguan would not be full, Wei Cheng secretly bought a box of faint-smelling but sweet banana cake from the mall.

Early the next morning, Wei Cheng woke up at dawn to the sound of people outside unlocking doors and talking.

He immediately got up and patted Guanguan, who was still sleeping soundly. “Baby, wake up, wake up.”

He picked up the child and grabbed some clothes to pull onto him. “Come on, big brother will dress you.”

Guanguan gave a little yawn, eyes still barely open. “Need to pee.”

Wei Cheng carried him down from the bed to let him pee, but the moment Guanguan saw the black plastic potty, he shut his eyes again. “Don’t want to pee anymore!”

The little brat was even picky about potties.

“Just pee a little. It’s cold outside. If you wet your pants, you’ll get sick.”

Guanguan still shook his head, pressing tightly over his little yellow-duck underwear with both hands. Resolutely, he said, “No!”

Wei Cheng laughed helplessly. “All right then.”

After getting Guanguan dressed and stuffing the little dog into the backpack as well, he saw that a group of people had already gathered outside the dorm room.

Several tall, broad-shouldered managers held weapons. After looking them over carefully, they finally opened the door. “Come out.”

The lead manager called out names, and the survivors were taken away one by one by other managers. In the end, only Wei Cheng, Guanguan, and the elderly woman from yesterday—the one who had shouted that she wanted to see the leader—remained.

“You three, come with me.”

The three followed the head manager for about ten minutes before stopping in front of a white little villa with a lawn.

“This villa currently houses a family of five survivors. For now, the three of you will live with them. There are spare rooms available right now, so the two children can share one room and the old lady can have one room by herself. If more people arrive in the future, several of you may have to share a room. The female head of this household will explain your work to you.”

The manager spoke quickly and walked even faster, clearly another person here who already had his own tasks to do.

The old woman’s legs were still strong enough. She went up the little front steps and knocked on the door.

It took quite a while before footsteps sounded from inside.

When the door opened, a woman appeared who clearly looked like she had once lived a pampered life. Her tone was not very pleasant. “Who are you? What do you want at our house?”

The old woman shoved past her. “What your house? This is now the shared house of all comrades!”

The woman was startled, her hand loosening on the door. The old woman quickly went inside.

Wei Cheng, holding a half-asleep Guanguan and the dog bag, followed right behind her.

“Why are there children too…”

The woman muttered under her breath. Then her eyes suddenly landed on the face of the child being carried. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth. “Th-this…”

Wei Cheng was too busy trying to get Guanguan to a toilet and did not notice the shocked look on the woman’s face.

Click here to download the full novel (PDF & EPUB)