Chapter 85
The car came to a steady stop at the southwest gate of Shiguang Amusement Park. Not far away stood the Colorful Mouse Children’s Theme Hotel.
The castle-like hotel building stood there in silence. On its blue walls hung a row of adorable pink cartoon mole cutouts.
“Wow.” Guanguan pressed his soft little face against the car window, slapping the glass excitedly with his hand. “So many little mouse babies!”
It was the first time the child had ever seen an amusement park, and his eyes were practically glued open.
Wei Cheng helped him put on his helmet, neck guard, and mask, then pulled over the camouflage bulletproof vest that had been altered for him. “Is it heavy?”
Guanguan shook his head. “Not heavy!”
There were armor plates tucked inside the vest. How could it not be heavy?
Guanguan really had grown up.
“Be good. Stay close to brother no matter what.” Wei Cheng opened the car door and lifted the child out.
The two uncles each had a wilderness survival backpack on their backs and rifles slung over their shoulders.
Yi Qi said, “There’s a roadblock up ahead, so the car can’t get through. We’ll have to cross the fountain square to reach the southwest entrance. I’ll take point, Guanguan and Chengcheng stay in the middle, and Xiao Zheng will cover the rear.”
No one objected.
The fountain square, once crowded with people coming to check in and take photos, had become silent and ruined. Dried black mud washed in by that storm and white trash were scattered everywhere. Now and then, a few seagulls landed on the exposed steel skeletons of buildings and let out mournful cries.
There were no zombies in sight, and no human corpses either.
They made it safely to the amusement park entrance.
With a short running start, Yi Qi vaulted over the top of the permanently open turnstile gate. “This feels weirdly thrilling and guilty, like I’m sneaking in without a ticket.”
“Guanguan wants to jump too!” Dressed head to toe in his little camouflage gear, Guanguan clenched his fists and made to charge in.
“You’re not even as tall as the gate, baby.” Yi Qi bent down, scooped him up, and carried him inside, then flicked his plump cheek. “And your legs are too short.”
Guanguan covered his ears with both hands and showed his little white teeth. “You can’t say it out loud!”
If Baby didn’t hear it, then his legs weren’t short!
“I see, covering your ears and stealing the bell.” Yi Qi laughed so hard he nearly bent over, then looked toward Wei Cheng. “Want uncle to carry Chengcheng over too?”
The corner of Wei Cheng’s mouth twitched. “It’s not locked.” Then he pushed open the sagging little side gate and walked right in.
Shen Zheng laughed so hard his shoulders shook, and Yi Qi laughed too. “Alright then. Looks like I’m the only one here who’s used to acting like a thief.”
Not understanding what everyone was laughing about, Guanguan cupped his mouth and fake-laughed twice too.
Yi Qi pinched his cheek again. “You’ve already learned fake laughing, huh?”
They held their rifles and walked cautiously down streets covered in fallen leaves and dried sludge.
Only a year had passed since the apocalypse. Shiguang Amusement Park was deserted and filthy, but the shops and buildings inside had not yet badly faded.
It preserved the last trace of fairy-tale magic for Guanguan, who was still just a child.
After passing through a colorful cartoon animal street, a place called Wonderful Animals Café came into view.
After observing it for a moment without hearing anything unusual, Shen Zheng suggested, “Want to go in and check?”
“Sure.”
They stepped over the low fence. As soon as they pushed open the door, they saw all kinds of plush toys sitting quietly on crooked shelves. There were plenty of messy footprints on the dark floor. Clearly, this place had already been looted several times.
“Wow!” Guanguan rubbed his eyes, completely incredulous. “So many fluffy things!”
Yi Qi set Guanguan down. “These are all yours. Take whatever you like.”
Guanguan hugged his hands to himself and glanced at his brother.
Wei Cheng smiled. “It’s fine. Go ahead.”
Guanguan immediately pounced on the stuffed toy shelves and hugged four chubby little fox plushies at once. “One for Baby, one for Mingming, one for Xiaotiao, one for Sister Xiaoyue!”
Then he grabbed an even bigger fox plush and hoisted it onto his shoulder. “This big one is for brother!”
Wei Cheng took the fox doll in the little dress and gently touched the small hat on its head. “Thank you. It’s really cute.”
From behind the bar and in the back kitchen, Shen Zheng called up with a smile, “Guanguan, you can take every stuffed toy in the whole store if you want.”
Guanguan shook his head firmly while holding his pile of little foxes. “We need to leave some for other children!”
“Good baby,” Wei Cheng said, patting his head.
The system mall did not have toys like these. But true to his word, Guanguan only took five of each item.
“Brother, what’s this?”
Wei Cheng was watching outside and answered without looking down, “A keychain. A little charm you can hang on the farm keys.”
Guanguan stretched out his round, plump fingers and counted, “One, two, three, four, five…”
As he counted, he got a little muddled. “Brother, how many people are in our family?”
“Sixteen people and two puppies.”
Guanguan scooped up a jingling handful of keychains and tossed them into his little basket, then looked up hopefully at his brother. “Is that enough?”
Wei Cheng counted them roughly, then smiled. “Yeah, that’s enough.”
The moment he heard that, Guanguan was delighted. He dragged his little basket along and trotted off to another shelf to pick out plush hats.
The refrigerators in the back kitchen and prep room were completely empty. Yi Qi and Shen Zheng only found two big bags of instant coffee concentrate, three bags of premium white sugar, and golden coffee sweetener.
All of it had been stuffed into a black plastic bag and hidden under a heap of messy cardboard boxes in the corner.
Whoever had looted the place earlier must have been in a hurry and missed them.
Searching for supplies in the early apocalypse was like that. Maybe you wouldn’t come across any big-ticket items like rice or flour, but sometimes, tucked into a hidden corner, you could still strike gold.
Yi Qi carefully read out the coffee’s name and sighed. “Good thing I never paid for this kind of overpriced ‘hand-ground’ coffee when I came to amusement parks.”
“And good thing it’s not coffee beans. Who among us has the time and mood to grind coffee beans now?” Shen Zheng laughed. “The sugar’s great too. When we get home, let Director Wang make little sugar dumplings for the kids.”
The moment Guanguan heard that, he poked his head out and said, “Baby loves the sweet dumplings Grandpa makes!”
“Fine, we’ll make them for you as soon as we get back!”
Both the adults and the little one had found things they wanted.
Now they needed to find a safe indoor place to stay for the day.
To lighten the load, Wei Cheng sent all of Guanguan’s plush toys, the coffee, and the sugar into the safe house storage shelves.
They left the café and continued on. More amusement rides and themed shops full of childlike whimsy came into view.
Guanguan pointed toward a building in the distance. “What’s that?”
Wei Cheng said, “A carousel.”
Guanguan clenched the straps of his little backpack and looked at his brother with bright, eager eyes.
Squatting down, Wei Cheng looked him in the eye and said, “There’s no electricity, so it won’t spin and there won’t be any music. Is that okay?”
Guanguan nodded frantically. “It is! It is!”
Wei Cheng led him over to the carousel. “Pick a horse you like.”
Guanguan looked left and right, then finally chose a pretty little white horse.
His brother lifted him onto its back. Guanguan gripped the metal pole tightly. “It’s so high, so high! Will Baby fall off?”
Wei Cheng smiled. “No. Brother’s here with you.”
Even though he couldn’t truly experience the thrill of a working carousel, Guanguan was a very easy child to satisfy.
“So this is what an amusement park looks like!”
Just sitting on a little horse, touching it, and bouncing around there for a while was enough to make Baby unbelievably happy.
Suddenly, Wei Cheng’s gaze sharpened and fixed on the entrance to Bear Cave Adventure across from them.
Neither Yi Qi nor Shen Zheng had found the control room near the carousel. When they came back and saw him staring, they asked, “Did something happen?”
Wei Cheng withdrew his gaze. “Nothing.”
He had the distinct feeling that one of the bear decorations at the cave entrance had moved.
But he said nothing. When they passed the cave entrance on their way out, he deliberately dropped a step behind, like a child distracted by something cute, and smiled as he reached out to touch the somewhat faded bear display.
It was a hollow steel display, fixed at the base with bolts. It couldn’t possibly move.
Wei Cheng kept the smile on his face and quickly caught up to the others.
The moment he turned away, the smile vanished. His expression grew even more cold and vigilant.
They kept walking and came across more rides, restaurants, and shops.
Guanguan came away with lots of plush toys, little display figures, hats, bags, cute headbands, and rain boots. Yi Qi and Shen Zheng found two bags of expired breadcrumbs, cocoa powder, milk powder, and various random dessert ingredients. Anything remotely edible and not rotten went into their haul.
By nightfall, the backpacks of both men and the child were crammed full.
But none of those things were especially valuable in the system’s eyes. They wouldn’t earn many points for them. If they wanted real rewards, they still needed to find gasoline, guns, generators, and other high-value supplies.
At last, they found a place to stay for the night.
It was the control room for an indoor adventure attraction, tucked behind a belt of greenery and so inconspicuous that it could easily be missed. On the door were the red words: High Voltage Danger, No Unauthorized Entry.
They pried the lock open and slipped inside. It was pitch-black, and the stale, irritating smell was terrible.
One side of the room held dedicated control cabinets, remote timer control boxes, inverters, and various ride components.
Yi Qi and Shen Zheng immediately switched on their flashlights and began carefully searching, one in front and one in back.
A long, thick black cable gave Shen Zheng an idea. Following it to the back door, he exclaimed, “Found it! Over here!”
Wei Cheng quickly carried Guanguan over, and behind the door was a small outdoor service space. A locked iron box occupied half of it, with lightning symbols painted on all sides.
Yi Qi pulled a heavy cutting plier from his backpack and snapped the lock off without much effort.
When they opened the box, they found not only the distribution panel but also a large generator set.
Yi Qi looked over the specs. “V12… five hundred kilowatts?”
Shen Zheng asked, “How is it? Can it power the whole farm?”
“Running at full load, a 500-kilowatt generator can produce twelve thousand kilowatt-hours in a day,” Wei Cheng said suddenly. “Our farm has ten households. There aren’t many places that even use electricity. Altogether, we probably use thirty kilowatt-hours a day at most.”
Yi Qi slapped Shen Zheng’s shoulder and laughed. “Using a butcher knife to slaughter a chicken!”
Shen Zheng nodded. “Great. That’s fantastic. Washing clothes and cooking in winter will be much easier!”
Then he looked at the tangled, brightly colored wires inside. “But these wires… which ones stay, which ones go? What do we do?”
Yi Qi paused. He didn’t know either.
Wei Cheng set his backpack down. “I’ll handle it.”
Shen Zheng might be slow on the uptake sometimes, but even he realized something by then.
If a nine-year-old boy had good aim with a gun, that could be explained away as talent forced out by extreme conditions. But for a nine-year-old child to also understand electrical systems and know how to work with them… that was too much to chalk up to talent.
Wei Cheng said, “Uncle Yi, Uncle Shen, take Guanguan and go eat something.”
Yi Qi nudged Shen Zheng lightly. “Come on.”
Guanguan poked his head over and asked, “Brother, what is Baby eating?”
Wei Cheng reached into his backpack, though in truth he was pulling something from the safe house. He took out a four-tier lunchbox. “Braised pork rice.”
He had already prepared their food several days in advance.
Clutching the lunchbox, Guanguan cheered. “Braised pork rice! Braised pork rice! Braised pork rice has eggs in it!”
Afraid of disturbing Wei Cheng while he worked, the others took Guanguan back to the control room to eat.
When two portable lights were switched on, the room became bright and clear.
Knowing Wei Cheng kept Guanguan very clean, Shen Zheng used wipes to clean the child’s face and hands.
After sniffing his hand, Guanguan pushed his cheek toward him. “Uncle, smell Baby’s face. Is it clean now?”
Shen Zheng bent down. “It’s clean. You can eat now.”
When they opened the lunchbox, they found it packed full of golden pan-fried meat, boiled greens, and a marinated egg.
Clutching the egg with his chopsticks, Guanguan swung his legs and asked, “Uncle, can Baby go feed brother?”
“You can.”
Guanguan jumped down from the chair, carrying the little marinated egg over. A moment later he came running back, proudly holding the egg with one bite taken out of it.
Yi Qi had already finished his meal in just a few bites. Watching the little brat’s smug face, he couldn’t help smiling. “Baby, who do you like better, Brother Xiaotiao or Brother Mingming?”
Guanguan’s eyes rolled thoughtfully. “Baby likes Uncle Shen!”
Yi Qi asked again, “Then do you like me better or Uncle Sun Dali?”
Guanguan swallowed a big piece of meat. “Like Uncle Shen!”
Shen Zheng burst out laughing. “You brought this humiliation on yourself!”
Just as Yi Qi was about to say something, Guanguan held out a big piece of meat to his mouth. “Uncle Yi, eat meat!”
If Baby shared meat with you, that meant Baby liked you a lot too.
Shen Zheng nudged him. “Guanguan loves meat most of all. If he’s willing to share meat with you, doesn’t that mean he likes you?”
Yi Qi was so moved his eyes nearly watered. “My little can, keep eating. Uncle will go find you more plushies in a minute!”
The moment Guanguan heard that Uncle Yi didn’t want his meat and would go get him plush toys instead, he shook his chopsticks and declared, “Tomorrow Baby will like Uncle Yi even more!”
Yi Qi shot to his feet. “I’ll go find them for you right now!”
Shen Zheng laughed helplessly. “That little high-EQ can is playing you like a fiddle!”
Deep into the night, the noise of the cutting saw finally died away.
The generator had been fixed to a concrete base. Around it, apart from the muffler and shock absorbers, there were all kinds of cables, fuel lines, and exhaust fittings that had to be carefully separated with a cutting saw and wrench.
The work demanded expertise and patience. One mistake could ruin the generator and waste all their effort.
Back in his past life, when Wei Cheng had been around ten, he had traded half a pack of cigarettes for a chance to work odd jobs in the mechanical room at Guardian Community. It had been the hardest, most exhausting, and most fulfilling time of his life. The older men shoved all the dirtiest, heaviest work onto a child who knew nothing. If anything went wrong, he was the one thrown out to take the blame. He had no choice but to keep his mind sharp and learn by watching and imitating, or he would have been beaten to death long ago by the hot-tempered overseer in that machine room.
At last came a faint sound of something loosening, and the generator finally detached from the concrete base.
Yi Qi kept his voice low in excitement. “Done!”
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Wei Cheng also let out a breath.
He immediately sent the entire generator set into the storage shelf, then locked the iron box again.
The two of them cleaned up the dirt and all traces of the work so no one would notice anything unusual.
A major gain had safely been secured.
“Guanguan fell asleep?”
Yi Qi nodded. “He did. Uncle Shen told him stories until he fell asleep, otherwise he would’ve kept insisting on coming to find you.”
After returning to the safe house and eating a quick bite, Wei Cheng went back to the control room.
Spread out on the floor were moisture-proof mats, thick fleece blankets, and four sleeping bags.
Seeing Wei Cheng come in, Shen Zheng quietly slipped back into his own sleeping bag and started murmuring something to Yi Qi.
The moment Wei Cheng lay down, the little fat sleeping bag beside him rolled over.
Surprised, he laughed softly. “Why are you awake?”
Guanguan rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Did brother eat the braised pork rice and the little marinated egg?”
“I ate them.” Wei Cheng patted him. “Why’d you wake up all of a sudden? Do you feel sick?”
Guanguan’s eyes curved into crescents. “Dreamed of Grandpa.”
He gestured with his chubby hands. “Grandpa was testing the little friends with counting questions. He said whichever little friend was sleeping had to answer, so Baby hurried and woke up. Baby didn’t know the answer!”
Wei Cheng laughed quietly. “Very smart.”
“Brother.” Guanguan wriggled into his brother’s arms like a little caterpillar and lifted his plump face. “Baby misses home a little.”
He pressed a hand to his chest and furrowed his tiny brows. “This place misses home very, very much.”
Wei Cheng paused, then said, “We’ll go home tomorrow.”
If Guanguan missed home, then they would head back as soon as possible.
Originally, he had planned to go to the area near Dehui Mall tomorrow to look for gasoline and rice flour, to earn some more rewards.
But now that they had found this 500-kilowatt generator, the system was definitely going to reward them a lot of coins for it. This trip was worth it even without anything else.
Guanguan kicked his feet happily. “Baby wants to share the toys with the other children!”
“Yeah, they’ll definitely be happy.” Wei Cheng thought that they could also take out Guanguan’s little Ferrari and a few of the kids’ toy cars as well, so the children on the farm could play together with him.
Once Guanguan had fallen asleep again, Wei Cheng carried him into the cozy little house.
When he came back out, his two uncles were discussing watch duty.
“We’re not going to Dehui Mall tomorrow morning,” Wei Cheng said as he looked at them. “We’re going straight home.”
The two exchanged a look. “Did something happen?”
“Guanguan almost never says he misses home on the first day away. Sometimes this kid’s instincts are really strong. I’m worried something might happen at the farm. And besides, the generator we found this time is valuable enough. The trip was worth it.”
After hesitating a moment, Wei Cheng told them about the “bear” he had seen move that afternoon.
Yi Qi’s expression darkened. “We leave tonight.”
“Uncle Yi, don’t panic. I’m guessing whoever’s watching us doesn’t have guns and hasn’t formed much of a force. Otherwise they wouldn’t have held back this long.”
Then he voiced his real concern. “We can’t activate Guanguan’s Twisty Car in the city center. You two drove for so long today. Can your bodies handle it?”
“How could they not?” Shen Zheng gave a wry smile. “Back when Qiao Dasheng was afraid of flying, he was always going out of town for meetings. Another driver and I used to drive all day long. I got used to it a long time ago.”
Yi Qi got to his feet. “And I’ve worked myself to the bone at the operating table. Chengcheng, we should leave as soon as possible.”
Since both uncles were insisting, Wei Cheng quickly took out several bottles of coffee and energy drinks and handed them over. “Alright. Then I’ll go bring Guanguan out and we’ll leave the amusement park tonight.”
Late at night, all was quiet.
Wei Cheng carried the sleeping Guanguan on his back, with one uncle in front of him and one behind.
Maybe it was just psychological, or maybe it was real.
But all three of them felt as though there were slow footsteps following behind them.
Yet every time they turned around, there was no one there.
In daylight, the amusement park had seemed full of whimsy. At that moment, it felt deeply eerie.
Even the smiling dolls lining both sides of the street looked strangely sinister.
Wei Cheng stopped Yi Qi from turning around again and said in a low voice, “Don’t look back. Keep walking.”
Yi Qi clenched his fists. His teeth were trembling. “Okay.”
It was too strange. The footsteps sounded almost like high heels…
The three of them quickened their pace and finally made it out of the amusement park. After crossing the fountain square, they at last saw their car.
That teeth-grinding, skin-crawling feeling vanished instantly.
“Wait.” One glance was enough for Shen Zheng to know something was wrong. “The tires have been punctured.”
Whenever they traveled, they always brought one regular car and one small truck.
The truck usually stayed in the safe house storage, and there were no woods here, only an endless stretch of beach. There was no way they could bring it out now.
“Head north.” Wei Cheng’s memory was excellent. “There was an open-air parking lot over there when we came. There might be zombies…”
Yi Qi said, “Doesn’t matter. We just need to find a way out of the city center first.”
The three of them ran toward the parking lot.
There were only a few electric sightseeing carts and four or five private cars parked there.
A dozen or so zombies were wandering around, apparently sniffing for something.
Wei Cheng said in a low voice, “Uncle Shen, go get the car started. Uncle Yi and I will deal with them with the crossbows.”
“Got it!”
Crossbows were quiet and less likely to attract even more zombies.
A few tight, rapid sounds followed, and steel bolts buried themselves in zombie skulls.
The noise of the zombies collapsing immediately drew the attention of the others. Roaring, they stumbled toward Yi Qi and Wei Cheng with claws outstretched.
Shen Zheng had just failed to open one private car door and was about to run to the sightseeing carts when something suddenly grabbed his ankle.
He stumbled, looked down, and saw a rotting male zombie with only its upper body left. Its bony hand clamped tightly around his trouser leg, while its nearly bald skull lifted a mouth crawling with maggots toward his shoe.
Shen Zheng yanked hard, but couldn’t break free.
He had no crossbow in hand. In the critical moment, he had no choice but to pull the pistol from his waist and fire directly into the zombie’s head.
Suddenly, a glowing five-pointed star caught his eye beneath the car. He didn’t care that the ground was covered in maggots and rotting flesh. He dropped down and snatched it up.
“A car key!”
He hit the unlock button, and a white Lingdu next to him beeped open.
Without hesitation, he yanked the door open and started the engine. Then he checked the gas gauge and nearly wanted to cry with relief.
He rolled down the window, just about to shout for them to get in, when his pupils contracted sharply.
Zombies were pouring in from all sides, and Yi Qi and Chengcheng were about to be surrounded!
The gunshot must have drawn them all in!
His guilt and panic surged. Slamming the accelerator to the floor, he shouted, “Chengcheng! Yi Qi, get in!”
