Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH78

Chapter 78

The sun rose, and the farm welcomed a new day.

Guanguan’s forehead felt warm.

The child frowned, and with a smack, his little hand landed on his forehead. Then… the back of his hand was warm too!

“Something warm is chasing Guanguan…”

With a neat little roll, Guanguan flipped over and wriggled his chubby bottom upward through the soft quilt, rubbing his big eyes as he looked around. He saw that the curtain by the bed had been left open by a gap about as wide as a pillow.

“It’s the sunlight!”

Seeing that his brother was still asleep, Guanguan inched over on his side, grabbed the curtain, and swish—pulled it shut. The scorching sunlight disappeared from the cozy little room.

Guanguan waved his hand solemnly. “Sunshine, don’t disturb Guanguan’s brother while he’s sleeping!”

Then he curiously scooted over to his brother.

His brother was sleeping soundly, lying on his side, his injured hand resting on the pillow. His eyes were tightly shut, and there were two dark smudges under them, like little patches.

Guanguan’s eyes widened. “Brother turned into a panda!”

Then he remembered something Grandpa Director had taught them. He carefully held the back of his hand under his brother’s nose. “Brother is still alive!”

After muttering to himself against his brother’s chest for a while, he suddenly heard something.

“Who! Who’s making that gurgling noise?”

Guanguan threw back the blanket and listened closely to his brother’s flat stomach.

No sound there. So it wasn’t Brother’s tummy!

He wanted to listen to his own tummy, but after trying for a while, he just couldn’t figure out how to get his ear down to his own belly.

In the end, he patted his little round tummy in frustration, and soon felt a faint rumbling under his palm.

The child got a little embarrassed. Covering his mouth with both hands, he giggled. “It’s Guanguan’s tummy growling.”

He climbed down from the bed backward and deliberately walked around to the other side so he could slip into his brother’s slippers.

His two piglet-like little feet slid effortlessly into the oversized black slippers.

“When little kids wear big shoes, they grow tall faster!”

A little while later, splashing sounds came from the bathroom.

Guanguan was standing on the rainbow foam step stool, washing his face and brushing his teeth.

Brother had never been comfortable with Guanguan standing on a little stool to wash up, so he had bought this kind of foam from Cloud Mall and built him a little staircase out of it.

When Guanguan finished washing up, he stood on tiptoe and pulled out his little frog-shaped baby face cream from the cupboard niche.

He opened it and sniffed it. “It smells like apples!”

Then he scooped out a huge lump and smeared it all over his chubby little face.

Imitating the way his brother usually put cream on him, he rubbed it in with all his might until his cheeks turned red, but there was still a lot of wet cream left on both his face and hands.

“Baby made trouble!”

Guanguan knew he had made trouble. He quickly climbed down from the rainbow steps and sat on the lowest one, then took off his little old-man undershirt and started rubbing the leftover baby cream onto his body.

Soon he was covered in it, laughing away. “Baby is all nice and fragrant now! This is so fun!”

Then he climbed back up the steps and brought the jar of cream down with him.

When Wei Cheng woke up, the room felt strangely quiet.

Now that Guanguan was older, every morning when he woke up, he would say all sorts of little-kid nonsense with utter seriousness.

Why was it so peaceful today?

A quiet child is definitely up to something.

Wei Cheng rolled out of bed and noticed his slippers were gone. Following the sounds of smug little laughter—“Oh ho ho, wahaha”—he made his way to the bathroom and was greeted by a scene that made him laugh helplessly.

Thankfully, the baby cream was not foundation. It had no color, and the smell was light. Otherwise, with the amount this kid had smeared onto himself, he would have turned into a terracotta warrior.

“Guanguan?”

Guanguan spun around at once, cheeks flushed pink. “Brother! You’re awake!”

“I am.” Wei Cheng smiled. “What is Baby doing?”

“Baby is putting on fragrance!”

Guanguan clomped over in the big slippers and held out his sticky little hand. “Is it fragrant?”

Wei Cheng said, “It is. But this baby cream is for your face. If you want your body to smell good in the future, you need to use this one.”

He opened another cabinet and took out a bottle of children’s body lotion.

“Got it!” Guanguan declared.

Wei Cheng glanced at the now-empty jar of face cream and suddenly thought of something. “You didn’t eat any of it, did you?”

Guanguan nodded his little head forward, his face radiating the look of you underestimate me. “Brother, your baby is smart. This isn’t yogurt. Baby doesn’t eat it!”

Wei Cheng burst out laughing.

Then the child hugged his leg and looked up at him. “Brother, my tummy is growling. I’m hungry!”

The moment he heard that, Wei Cheng hurriedly said, “Hungry? Okay, Brother will clean you up first, and then we’ll go downstairs and eat.”

Since he couldn’t get his other hand wet for now, he used wet wipes to clean Guanguan off.

The child would definitely go running around outside later. With that much baby cream smeared on him, he would feel terrible once he started sweating.

By the time they finished, it was almost ten o’clock, and both brothers were hungry, so they pushed a shopping cart straight into Cloud Mall to pick lunch.

Wei Cheng chose a serving of tomato pasta and a carton of milk, then carried a tray over to the deli section to pick out a few side dishes to go with it.

Meanwhile, Guanguan wandered along with a yogurt box in his mouth, happily eating wherever he went.

“Brother, can I eat the beef cubes?”

From a distance, Wei Cheng called back, “Yes, you can.”

Guanguan cheerfully dropped a box of garlic beef cubes into the cart.

A little later, he spotted some tiny octopus-shaped mini sausages.

His eyes lit up. He set down the yogurt box, expertly pulled on a pair of plastic gloves hanging nearby, and plopped himself down in front of the shelf, eating mini sausages and beef cubes one after another.

By the time his brother found him, Guanguan’s little belly was already full, and he could no longer eat any real food.

Wei Cheng touched his stomach and laughed. “All right, then. When you get hungry later, Brother will bake you a pizza.”

Cloud Mall didn’t have ready-made pizza, burgers, or fried chicken, but it did have plenty of frozen items.

Wei Cheng thought maybe the system didn’t want Guanguan eating too much fast food. Or maybe it wanted to teach him the habit of eating proper meals and real meat.

The moment he heard the word pizza, Guanguan’s eyes lit up again. “Brother, Baby has never eaten that before!”

“Mm. When you’re hungry, Brother will make it fresh and bake it for you.”

Guanguan cheered. “Yay!”

By the time the brothers came out of the little wooden house, it was already noon.

They had assumed everyone was still sleeping in, but it turned out people had simply wanted to let them sleep longer.

At this hour, everyone was gathered in Grandpa Director Wang’s little wooden house eating lunch.

Grandpa Director Wang smiled. “I was just thinking of asking Mister Shen to call you two over for lunch.”

“Today the old director made us noodles with gravy!” Yi Qi came over carrying a basin of white noodles that had just been rinsed.

Guanguan touched his belly and said sorrowfully, “But I’m already full.”

At the side, Sun Xiaoyue patted his tummy. “Wow, little brother’s belly is so round.”

Guanguan grinned. “Baby’s head is round too!”

Sun Xiaoyue reached up and patted his head. “It really is round!”

Wang Xiaotiao and Mingming also crowded over to pat Guanguan’s head.

Wang Xiaotiao proudly produced a simile. “Little brother is as round as a big soccer ball! I compared little brother to a soccer ball!”

Mingming and Sun Xiaoyue immediately burst into applause. “Xiaotiao, you finally learned how to make a simile!”

Wang Xiaotiao lifted his little dark face, looking pleased.

He had been learning that one simile for months.

Guanguan, meanwhile, looked stunned. He ran to his brother and whispered, “But… but why is Baby a ball?”

Wei Cheng suppressed a laugh. “Because you’re cute. Only cute things get compared to soccer balls.”

Guanguan’s face cleared instantly. Then he pointed at Uncle Shen, who was carrying a bowl. “Uncle Shen, you’re a soccer ball too!”

Shen Zheng: “…”

He burst out laughing. “Is Guanguan saying Uncle got fatter?”

Guanguan shook his head. “You’re cute.”

Yi Qi had heard it too. “Guanguan’s got taste. Your Uncle Shen really is cute.”

Shen Zheng’s face reddened. He glanced around, and seeing that the adults were all busy and no one was paying attention to them, he muttered with a low laugh, “Shut up.”

Yi Qi lifted a brow. “Fine. Guanguan said it, not me.”

The gravy for the noodles had been made with little green onions from the vegetable patch and meat from a red-braised pork can.

When Grandpa Director Wang heard that Guanguan had already eaten, he didn’t ask what he had eaten. Instead, he said, “Then Grandpa will use the leftover meat gravy to make you a soup, all right?”

Guanguan couldn’t stand the smell of something delicious. Wiping at his drool with the back of his hand, he said, “Okay. Guanguan can still make a little room.”

Everyone burst out laughing. This child’s way of speaking was getting more amusing by the day.

The family sat in the little wooden house eating delicious gravy noodles, while the two puppies chased each other around outside. Life seemed, once again, to return to a rare kind of peace.

Yi Qi had noticed the bandage on Wei Cheng’s right hand long ago.

He knew this child was reserved, quiet, and disliked making a fuss. After thinking about it, he decided not to ask in front of everyone.

Instead, he raised another matter. “The bodies of those people were carried to the trench and burned. Yesterday we seized a total of eighty-eight handguns, including two rifles, and three hundred and sixty-seven rounds of ammunition. I want to head up the mountain today. Maybe we can also recover their supplies and tents.”

Wei Cheng said, “Okay, I’ll go with you, Uncle.”

Shen Zheng immediately chimed in. “I’m going too!”

“Uncle Shen, you and Uncle Sun check the two big trucks we have left,” Wei Cheng said, glancing at the others. “We’re running low on supplies. We’ll probably have to go out searching for supplies soon.”

The lively atmosphere froze at once.

Even the children stopped laughing and talking.

In the wooden house, the only sound was Guanguan slurping his soup.

Wang Xiaotiao clutched his bowl tightly, his eyes going hot. “Brother Chengcheng… are we… are we going hungry again?”

Grandpa Director Wang sighed softly. “Xiaotiao, don’t say that.”

Sun Dali’s family looked helpless too.

Knowing the truth, Shen Zheng hurried to explain, “Everyone, don’t panic. We still have enough rice and flour, but drinkable water and canned food are running out. In times like these, the sooner we find more food, the better. The longer we wait, the less food there’ll be left to find.”

Su Min sighed lightly. “Mister Shen is right. Early in the apocalypse, my family could still find crushed instant noodles and expired bread left in supermarkets. Later on, even scraps of food were impossible to find.”

“I heard something. Don’t know if any of you did.” Sun Dali suddenly spoke up.

“What is it?”

“The Thirteenth Union Canning Factory used to trade with other bases and groups a long time ago,” Sun Dali said. “They would exchange canned food for guns, gasoline, coal, and intact black stones from zombies’ heads.”

Grandpa Director Wang said, “We don’t have enough of any of those things to trade. The only one we might manage is the black stones from zombie heads. When Zheng Hui used a bunch of zombies to attack us at the gas station, the situation was so urgent that we blasted those zombies to pieces. The black stones in their heads were all shattered too.”

Yi Qi glanced at Wei Cheng, catching the meaning in his eyes, then hurriedly said, “Trying to remove those black stones from zombies’ heads intact is not easy at all. One slip-up, and you could get scratched. Besides, we’re not at the point of starving with no bullets left. There’s no need to start getting tangled up with those major bases. If we can keep a low profile, we should. Yu City is huge. Finding supplies isn’t that hard.”

“All right, enough. Everyone eat. We’ll talk about supplies in a couple days!”

—

Yi Qi left the farm with Wei Cheng, Guanguan, and the two dogs, heading up the mountain.

Guanguan was a little tagalong. The moment he heard Brother was going up the mountain, he immediately fastened his little watermelon hat, took Black Dog Xing Xing in his left hand, carried the heavy Gray Cub in his right arm, and squatted by the door waiting.

Seeing that, Wei Cheng could only say, “No running around. Stay close to Uncle and Brother.”

Guanguan nodded obediently. “Okay!”

Then he asked the other children if they wanted to come too. But those children all knew too well how hard and dangerous the outside world was. None of them dared leave the farm lightly.

They didn’t drive. Instead, they pushed two large handcarts.

It was too hot. After only a few steps, Guanguan and Gray Cub were both loaded into one cart by Uncle Yi, while Xing Xing stayed at their side, alert and guarding them.

Fan in hand, Guanguan flapped his little watermelon hat and stared hopefully at his brother. “Baby is so hot.”

Wei Cheng knew exactly what he was after. Smiling, he said, “Then should we have a little ice cream?”

Guanguan waved his hands eagerly. “Yes, yes!”

The little ice cream cup was tiny, only about half the size of a yogurt cup, with hardly anything in it.

“What about Uncle Yi? What do you want?”

Yi Qi thought for a moment. “Do they have mung bean popsicles?”

“Yes.”

In the end, Wei Cheng and Yi Qi ate mung bean popsicles, while Guanguan had vanilla ice cream.

Gray Cub was a glutton too. He whined pitifully from being tempted, so Wei Cheng quickly gave each of the dogs a strip of jerky.

Xing Xing held his in his mouth but didn’t eat it. When Gray Cub had finished his, Xing Xing placed his own strip back down on the cart.

Wei Cheng handed him another piece and, seeing him try to share again, quickly said, “All right, this one is for you. If Gray Cub eats any more, his stomach will hurt again.”

“Isn’t Xing Xing basically the ideal warm-hearted boyfriend among dogs?” Yi Qi said around his popsicle. “Black wolfdogs are one of the four top-tier dog breeds. Midnight wandering dragon. Where did you even find him?”

Guanguan turned his head, his ice cream bowl still in his mouth. “Guanguan picked him up!”

Yi Qi gave him a thumbs-up. “Guanguan’s awesome!”

Guanguan giggled, lightly tugging Xing Xing’s ear, then began bragging. “Xing Xing wouldn’t let anyone else raise him. He only lets Guanguan raise him. He said he’s Guanguan’s baby! He likes Guanguan!”

Yi Qi laughed. “Oh? So Guanguan’s dogs can talk?”

Guanguan’s eyes moved craftily. Suddenly a spark of cleverness flashed through him. “Only Guanguan can understand Xing Xing language!”

“And can you understand what Gray Cub says?”

With the ice cream bowl still in his mouth, Guanguan lifted the pudgy little Gray Cub high. “Gray Cub is even more amazing. He can understand what Guanguan says!”

Wei Cheng smiled softly.

Yi Qi laughed too. “Then Xing Xing is a top dog among dogs, and Gray Cub is the prime minister of the dog world.”

Guanguan nodded. “That’s exactly right!”

Gray Cub, flattered, gave a little twitch of his tail. His beautiful glacier-blue dog eyes even looked a little smug.

After the two dogs had sniffed the guns and ammunition those men had left behind, they soon led the humans to a campsite.

Some twenty tents were pitched quietly in the forest.

Xing Xing barked sharply at the tents, and Gray Cub also seemed uneasy.

Guanguan got so excited he was about to charge over.

“Wait.” Wei Cheng said, “Xing Xing’s bark isn’t normal. Guanguan, go into the safe house first. Uncle and I are going to check. Then you can come out.”

Yi Qi couldn’t help marveling again at how meticulous the child was.

One man took one dog and began checking. The first few tents showed no danger.

Then Wei Cheng heard a chewing sound from one tent near the slope.

Xing Xing’s ears shot upright. He didn’t bark, but lowered himself into an attacking posture.

Wei Cheng’s expression tightened. Gun in hand, he circled the tent carefully.

There was a large hole in the back of it, and a pool of blood seeped across the ground. When he looked closer, he saw a hunched, rotting zombie crouched inside, devouring something with wild hunger.

Two shots rang out, and the zombie collapsed inside the tent.

Hearing the gunfire, Yi Qi hurried over from a distance.

When he saw the scattered wool on the ground, he let out a howl. “My lamb!”

The dead lamb had a chain around its neck. Clearly, it had been one of Guardwatch Community’s war supplies.

Its body had already been hollowed out by the zombie. There was no saving it.

Knowing how badly Uncle Yi had wanted to raise livestock, Wei Cheng comforted him. “Uncle, we’ll find more later.”

Yi Qi angrily kicked the zombie corpse. “Damn zombies!”

Since the tents had been cleared as safe, Guanguan popped out of the safe house too.

“Take this woven sack,” Wei Cheng told him. “If you find small items, put them in the sack. Big things like quilts and mats, leave them there for Brother and Uncle to carry.”

Guanguan brought his hands together in a formal salute. “Promise to complete the mission!”

Wei Cheng smiled. “Xing Xing, Gray Cub, stick close to Guanguan!”

Guanguan rushed into one tent. Inside there was a blanket and two big backpacks.

“Wow, all treasures!”

He opened one of the bags and found a little red box with sharp square edges. “This is cigarettes. Uncle Dali likes these!”

He knew what cigarettes were. He and Brother had found some red cigarette packs on the highway in Sun Village before.

He kept digging and found two big boxes of sugar-frosted biscuits, several packs of instant noodles, and over a dozen cans.

Excitedly, Guanguan swept them all into the woven sack, then opened the second backpack.

This one was full of clothes.

Guanguan spread out a large black T-shirt and nodded seriously. “Brother can wear this when Baby grows up!”

He tossed it into the sack too.

At the very bottom of the bag was a brightly colored book.

Guanguan didn’t know the words and had no interest in it, so he flung it aside and dragged the woven sack outside.

There were more tents to search!

An hour later, they had emptied all twenty-odd tents and taken the tents themselves down as well.

“These are all good things. You never know when we might need them later.”

The tents took up so much room that even the two carts they’d brought were nearly not enough.

When they returned to the farm, everyone came over to help carry things once they saw how much had been found.

Grandpa Director Wang, with his hands clasped behind his back, smiled. “That’s quite a haul.”

“There are twenty-five tents, one hundred and twenty cans, sixty packs of instant noodles, one hundred and fifty bottles of water, fifteen boxes of biscuits, thirty-five sausages, and some clothes and backpacks… and this too…” Wei Cheng handed a few cigarette cartons to Sun Dali. “Uncle Sun, Guanguan found these for you.”

Sun Dali’s eyes widened. “Cigarettes?”

Su Min shook her head with a smile. “Look at you. No dignity at all.”

Sun Dali swallowed hard and said firmly, “Chengcheng, cigarettes are a good thing for someone who has the habit, but Uncle already quit. Let’s keep them for later. Maybe they’ll be useful for dealing with people.”

Since Uncle Sun insisted, Wei Cheng didn’t force them on him. He carried the cigarettes along with the rest of the supplies back into the little wooden house he shared with Guanguan.

Guanguan, meanwhile, took a big box of sugar-frosted biscuits to his little friends.

The children sat in a row on the grass, happily watching Mingming use a stone to scratch open the sealed plastic wrapping around the biscuit tin.

The moment it was opened, a sweet, milky smell floated out.

The biscuits were large, round, and thin, dusted with a sparkling layer of sugar.

Wang Xiaotiao exclaimed, “It’s sweet crisp sugar-frost biscuits!”

It was an old-fashioned snack, one they had eaten back at the orphanage.

Mingming offered the biscuits around to everyone, silently urging them to take one.

Several little hands reached for the biscuits, and one of them was especially chubby, like a white paw from Doraemon.

Guanguan took a biscuit and first held it to Mingming’s lips. “Mingming Brother, eat!”

Mingming pressed his lips together, then gently bit into it. The moment he tasted the sweetness, he smiled shyly.

“You all eat. Don’t wait for Guanguan!”

Then Guanguan grabbed two biscuits and scurried off toward the little wooden house.

Wei Cheng was in the middle of sorting the goods they had found. Hearing footsteps, he turned and smiled. “Why are you running so fast?”

“Brother, eat!”

Wei Cheng bit into the biscuit and found it a little sweet, but he kept eating. “It’s good. Did Guanguan eat one too?”

“Baby’s eating now!”

Guanguan squatted beside his brother, holding the big biscuit in both hands and gnawing on it. Before long, sugar dust coated his lips and nose.

His little feet swung happily in the air. “This is Guanguan’s spoils of war!”

Wei Cheng patted the child’s head. “That’s right. Today Guanguan captured quite a lot of spoils.”

Then he looked at the supplies stacked neatly in rows and thought to himself that they still needed to go out and “find” supplies again soon, just to keep up appearances.

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