Chapter 6
“You have to share. This one is for Xiaotiao and Mingming to eat…”
Guanguan handed the other melon to Wei Cheng. “Big brother and Guanguan share this one…”
“Guanguan is such a good boy.” Wei Cheng split the melon in half and put one half into his hand. He left the other half of the green melon untouched at his side. It was not that he could not bear to eat it—he simply had never liked sweet things.
If it had been anyone else returning from the apocalypse, whether they liked sweets or not, just seeing fruit this fresh and juicy would probably have made them eat themselves upside down with delight. But after the age of fifteen, because of his exceptional abilities and also because he was searching for Guanguan, Wei Cheng had stored up points in several major bases, so the last few years of his life had not been quite so miserable or unbearable.
Crunch, crunch sounds rang in his ears. When Wei Cheng came back to himself, he saw Guanguan chewing away with his eyes shut, taking huge bites, but his row of tiny rice-grain teeth was only managing to inflict surface damage on the melon flesh.
Sweet melon juice was all over Guanguan’s mouth, and he looked bewildered. “Big brother, this melon is very hard to kill.”
Wei Cheng laughed and took the melon from his hands. “Big brother’s fault. I’ll break it into smaller pieces for you.”
“Okay!” Guanguan clapped his grubby little hands and waited obediently at the side.
Even though the melon was fully ripe, it was still especially crisp. Wei Cheng hardly used any strength before snapping the green melon into several smaller pieces. “Eat.”
Guanguan eagerly snatched up the soft, juicy melon and started chomping away, shaking his head in amazement as he ate. “So sweet, so sweet!”
Wang Xiaotiao on the opposite bed turned over and twitched his nose. “What smell is that? It smells so good!”
The moment he heard that, Guanguan grabbed the untouched half of the melon and was about to roll himself off the bed. Wei Cheng whispered, “No one knows when Mingming will come back. It’s so hot out that once a melon’s been broken open, it won’t keep. Give this half to Wang Xiaotiao.”
Guanguan tucked his hands behind his back. “That one is big brother’s!”
Wei Cheng’s heart warmed a little. He gave him a look. “Big brother wants to eat later. I’ll go buy another one then.”
“Buy it where?”
Guanguan looked confused again. After one nap, all he remembered was that he had woken up wanting to eat something tasty.
Wei Cheng reminded him softly, “Guanguan and big brother’s secret base.”
Guanguan remembered right away. Standing on tiptoe, he immediately slapped his dirty little hand over Wei Cheng’s mouth, his brows scrunch up. “Can’t say it.”
Then he drew the side of his other little hand across his own neck, moving it left and right, tilted his head, and stuck out his tongue. “Or we’ll get killed!”
“Huh? Who’s an idiot?” Wang Xiaotiao sat up on the quilt with his eyes still closed.
He rubbed his eyes, saw the melon in Guanguan’s hand, and with a clang jumped off the bed, making the old iron bed frame screech.
“Melon! Where did that melon come from? Did Doctor Chen bring Mingming back?”
“I secretly snuck out and bought it. Don’t be so loud.”
Wei Cheng said, “We still saved one for Mingming. If you let other people find out, then sick Mingming won’t get any sweet melon either.”
Wang Xiaotiao immediately lowered his voice. “I won’t say anything, I won’t.”
Guanguan handed him the melon. “It’s really sweet. Eat it.”
Wang Xiaotiao took the melon and bit into it, his eyes going bright with amazement. “It’s really so sweet! Sweeter than the strawberries from this morning!”
Guanguan held up his own melon and clinked it against Wang Xiaotiao’s. “Cheers!”
“Cheers!” Wang Xiaotiao said, deliberately keeping his big voice down.
It was clearly a warm and adorable scene, yet Wei Cheng felt a little unbearable sadness in his heart.
A large reason why six-year-old Wang Xiaotiao played so well with three-year-old Guanguan was because of a defect he had been born with.
There was no problem with Wang Xiaotiao’s ordinary daily life, but his ability to learn was extremely poor. At six, he should have been in elementary school already, yet he had not even managed to continue kindergarten. He could not understand anything related to studying or thinking. And Mingming, who was seven this year, had witnessed his whole family die in a car crash when he was four, which had left the child unable to speak ever since.
In truth, as long as an orphan in the welfare home was even slightly more normal, they would be adopted very quickly—for example, Guanguan, who had been adopted and then returned. But children like Wang Xiaotiao and Mingming were usually rejected at the very first stage of adoption. Their lives were already so hard in a peaceful world; in the apocalypse, survival would be even more difficult for them.
Suddenly, without any warning, a peal of thunder exploded outside the window.
Wei Cheng froze, then crossed the room in a few quick steps to the window, staring straight at the clear, cloudless sky.
A moment later, he heard the scattered sound of rain.
At some point, Guanguan had also come over to the window. He cheered, “It’s raining!”
Wang Xiaotiao squeezed over too. “Rain is great. When it stops, we can go splash in the puddles!”
Wei Cheng frowned. In his previous life, had there really been this much rain at this time?
Today was July 20. Logically, the rain should not have started becoming frequent until late August.
A bad feeling rose in his heart. They had to start doing missions and stockpiling supplies immediately.
This light rain continued from afternoon all the way into evening. Since it never stopped, Teacher Xiaomei would not let them go out to play. After dinner, she even let them watch two more episodes of cartoons, and then the children went back to their dorm rooms early.
But Zhou Zihao and several boys were the rebellious sort. They swaggered about, insisting on running out to play, and no matter what Teacher Xiaomei said, it was useless. The boys started arguing loudly in the hallway.
Guanguan, who had been playing cards with Wang Xiaotiao, bounced off the bed like a chubby little spring. “Guanguan will protect Teacher Xiaomei!”
Wei Cheng put down the towel he had been using to dry his hair. “I’ll go take a look. You keep playing with Xiaotiao.”
He pushed open the door and walked out of the dorm room, then silently came to stand in front of the boys.
For some reason, Zhou Zihao suddenly felt that this person’s eyes were a bit frightening. The force of his argument with Teacher Xiaomei vanished in an instant, and he said resentfully to the others, “Fine, then we won’t go out!”
When the children obediently returned to their dorms, Teacher Xiaomei finally let out a sigh of relief. “I’m only stopping you from going out because I’m afraid you’ll catch cold. If you get sick, your bodies will feel awful, and I’ll be reprimanded by the director too.”
Wei Cheng nodded. “Teacher, I feel like it’s been raining a lot lately, and there are a lot of children in the home. Shouldn’t we stock up on some cold medicine and fever medicine?”
“When Doctor Chen brings Mingming back, I’ll remind him.” Teacher Xiaomei smiled. “You really talk like a little grown-up.”
Wei Cheng moved his lips slightly, then said, “Teacher, do you think a sickness like the epidemic might ever happen again one day?”
Teacher Xiaomei smiled and said, “Don’t worry, it won’t. That illness was so many years ago already. You were so young back then. You still remember it?”
“I remember a little.” Wei Cheng lowered his brows, his tone turning sad. “Lately I’ve even been dreaming about things from the epidemic. Back then it was just me and Grandma at home. Luckily Grandma liked to stockpile rice, flour, and oil, and she helped quite a few neighbors too. I think keeping more medicine and rice, flour, and oil at home isn’t a bad thing.”
Teacher Xiaomei also recalled those chaotic days. “Actually, after that, I also got into the habit of keeping some rice, flour, and instant noodles at home. But don’t worry—there aren’t any illnesses like that anymore. You little flowers will all grow up safe and sound. Hurry back to bed now.”
“Okay, Teacher Xiaomei.”
When Wei Cheng turned around, he saw Zhou Zihao stealthily pulling his head back from behind the wall, and the door to Room 308 slam shut.
Wei Cheng suddenly remembered what had happened to that child in his previous life.
August brought heavy rains. After frequently talking back to Teacher Xiaomei and sneaking out to play, Zhou Zihao caught a cold within a few days.
Then, on the third day that the temperature began rising in that eerie way, he died from illness.
He was the first corpse carried out of the welfare home.
When Wei Cheng returned to the dorm room, he heard two alternating streams of snoring.
Wang Xiaotiao and Guanguan had fallen asleep with their heads pressed together.
He carried Guanguan back to his little bed, then tucked Wang Xiaotiao in properly.
The rain grew heavier again during the night, but Wei Cheng was trapped inside a nightmare he could not escape. He dreamed that the blazing heat was melting his skin, that poisonous fog was corroding his organs, that hordes of zombies were lunging at him…
Suddenly, by his ear, he heard someone calling again and again, “Big brother.”
Wei Cheng shot awake and saw Guanguan quietly sobbing.
“Big brother, big brother…”
“Guanguan.”
Still shaken out of his wits, Wei Cheng was drenched in sweat, his whole body like he had just crawled out of water.
“Big brother was crying the whole time.”
In the darkness, Guanguan wiped his tears with his little hands. “Big brother was crying so sadly, and then Guanguan got sad too.”
Wei Cheng’s body was still trembling from the nightmare. “Big brother is fine. Big brother just had a dream.”
Guanguan said, “What dream? Guanguan will protect you!”
Wei Cheng closed his eyes, then said with difficulty, “The world was destroyed. Order collapsed. So many people died of sickness, and so many people starved to death. They went from living people to monsters that ate people. I… I…”
Guanguan got a little scared and burrowed into his arms. “Where was Guanguan?”
Wei Cheng said nothing.
Guanguan whispered, “Guanguan wasn’t good and ran off while playing.”
“Guanguan wasn’t naughty.”
Wei Cheng choked up. “It was… it was me who lost you. I searched for you for so many years. I… no matter what, I could never find you.”
He cried very, very hard, as though from the very moment he had lost Guanguan, the Wei Cheng who was still only a child had also died in his ninth year.
From then on, he could no longer grow up.
“It’s okay, big brother.” Guanguan patted his shoulder with his little hand. “Guanguan runs very fast. The monsters couldn’t bite Guanguan. Guanguan was definitely looking for big brother too.”
Wei Cheng wiped away his tears. “Okay. Guanguan, starting tomorrow, we need to actively do missions. This time, we absolutely have to survive.”
—
Early the next morning, the first thing Wei Cheng and Guanguan did after waking up was check the [Mission Section] on the system panel.
Sure enough, there was a bright red notification dot on it.
Guanguan hurriedly tapped it open. “Big brother, what are all these little ants saying?”
Illiterate little Guanguan asked the question.
[Mission Section]
[Beginner Missions]
(1) Learn five Chinese characters [1 Twisty Coin per character]
(2) I’ll pick up the little water bottles [1 Twisty Coin per bottle]
(3) Help an elderly person
Looking at the beginner missions, Wei Cheng suddenly thought of the educational resources section in the mall. Was this system trying to train Guanguan’s survival ability for the apocalypse?
Guanguan knew absolutely nothing about the coming lessons. With his round eyes wide open, he asked, “Big brother, how many broccolis does Guanguan have to eat today!”
“No broccoli today.” Wei Cheng rubbed his little head. “Guanguan… you may have to study.”
Guanguan looked as if he had just been struck by lightning. “Big brother, Guanguan is only three years old. What does a three-year-old need to study for?”
At three, it was still the age where even peeing by yourself earned praise.
Wei Cheng thought for a moment, then said, “Don’t you want to know how to recognize the five characters for ‘apple-flavored candy’? Otherwise, if you go to the mall to get something and accidentally take broccoli-flavored candy, what then?”
Guanguan’s expression changed at once. He clenched his little fists. “Big brother, three years old is exactly the age for studying! Let Guanguan learn lots!”
Wei Cheng held back a laugh. “Okay. Then let’s go wash up and eat breakfast. Today big brother will teach you how to read.”
After breakfast, Teacher Xiaomei, as usual, led the children in singing nursery rhymes and learning about animals. When she heard that Guanguan wanted to go learn characters with Wei Cheng today, she was surprised, but still let him go.
Guanguan clutched a little pencil in his hand but did not leave. His eyes were fixed on Teacher Xiaomei’s ear. “Teacher, why is your ear all shiny? Will Guanguan be shiny in the future too?”
Teacher Xiaomei smiled. “That’s an earring. Girls wear those.”
Guanguan touched his own earlobe. “Okay then. Guanguan will wear one when Guanguan becomes a girl.”
Teacher Xiaomei burst out laughing. “Boys can get ear piercings too, but that depends on what kind of job Guanguan has in the future.”
Guanguan lifted up his chubby little face. “Oh. In the future, Guanguan might have a job picking up trash.”
Just then Wei Cheng walked over. “Guanguan, time to learn characters. Big brother still has homework to do.”
“Wei Cheng.”
Teacher Xiaomei said with a smile, “Teacher’s husband and child are coming, so I probably won’t be at the home for the next two days. This afternoon the director and Doctor Chen will bring Mingming back. While I’m gone, you have to take good care of Guanguan.”
After carrying Guanguan to a seat and settling him down, Wei Cheng whispered, “With Teacher Xiaomei away, we can go out and pick up bottles.”
Teacher Xiaomei was a very responsible teacher, and she rarely allowed the children to run outside the welfare home to play.
Guanguan clapped. “Yay!”
“All right, now it’s time to learn characters.”
Wei Cheng opened the book, only to hear Guanguan cry out in surprise: “Big brother, this little horse is trapped inside a door!”
Wei Cheng took a closer look. On the page was indeed the character chu?ng.
He smiled. “This character is pronounced chu?ng.”
Guanguan nodded solemnly. “Zhuang.”
Wei Cheng decisively gave up and took out a practice sheet to start teaching Guanguan other characters instead.
It had to be said that anything related to food really was easy to remember. Before long, Guanguan had completely memorized the phrase “apple-flavored candy.” No matter how Wei Cheng tested him, he recognized it every time.
At that very moment, a sound rang in their heads:
[Congratulations! The little house owner has obtained 5 Twisty Coins! Please keep working hard!]
Once Teacher Xiaomei left, Director Wang’s daughter-in-law came to watch over the children, but the woman was busy scrolling on her phone and did not notice that several children were missing from the classroom.
Because Wang Xiaotiao and Qiqi were waiting for Mingming to come back, they did not go with them, so Wei Cheng took Guanguan out through the back gate of the welfare home.
Zhou Zihao and the others had long since run off to go online at an internet café.
Behind the welfare home was a middle school sports field, and not far away was the police station. Cars were also prohibited from passing through the area, which greatly helped ensure the children’s safety.
At this hour, there was no one on the field, but there were a lot of bottles.
“Stay close to big brother and don’t run around. We can complete these two missions at the same time. As long as we give the bottles we pick up to an old person…”
Wei Cheng turned his head and did not see Guanguan. Then when he looked down, he found Guanguan squatting very properly in front of a shop, standing guard beside a round stone bollard.
Holding back a laugh, Wei Cheng asked, “Guanguan, why are you squatting here?”
Guanguan reached out and touched the little stone bollard. “It looks a little lonely.”
“All right then. Do you want to keep it company a little longer?”
“No.”
Guanguan pushed himself shakily upright with his hands on his knees. “Guanguan’s legs grew a little bit.”
They had clearly gone numb.
Wei Cheng picked him up. “It’s okay. Big brother will carry you.”
After walking a little while with Guanguan in his arms, he saw bottles scattered all over the inside and outside of the ball field. Guanguan shot out like an arrow. “Bottles!”
“There’s one here too!”
“There’s another bottle here too!”
As more and more bottles went into their plastic bag, the system’s voice kept ringing by Wei Cheng and Guanguan’s ears.
[Congratulations, you obtained 1 Twisty Coin!]
[Congratulations, you obtained 3 Twisty Coins!]
…
[Congratulations, you obtained 40 Twisty Coins!]
