The Cat Who Farms in the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland – CH2

[Content Warning: Suicide Attempt]

This chapter contains a depiction of a suicide attempt that may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Please prioritize your mental well-being, and consider whether you are in the right emotional space to engage with this content. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through various hotlines and resources.

Chapter 2 – Shock

The two brothers left the medical clinic, turned right along the path, and headed towards the main road.

Xia Lu Nong, still on his brother’s back, saw many people along the way.

The clothes these people wore were mostly dark, and the hems and sleeves were more or less stained. Looking up, almost everyone had faces that were tanned and yellowed from the sun.

Their greetings came in a mix of accents: southern, southwestern, northern—it was a strange blend.

Leaning close to his brother’s ear, Xia Lu Nong remarked, “Brother, you seem to know a lot of people.”

Xia Huo Qu said, “There aren’t that many people in the base. Most are familiar faces. We say hi when we see each other.”

Xia Lu Nong looked at the base nestled at the foot of the mountain.

Their base was located in a mountain hollow in southwestern China, halfway up a hill, surrounded on three sides by mountains. There was only one exit at the front leading down the mountain.

The buildings of the base were mostly along the main road, with farmland stretching out from the edges. It looked very much like a small mountain village, and as expected, there weren’t many people.

Curious, Xia Lu Nong asked, “Just how many people are there?”

Xia Huo Qu replied, “Last month when I checked the records, there were 3,329. Not sure what it is now.”

Xia Lu Nong wanted to ask more, but Xia Huo Qu pointed ahead with his chin, “We’re almost there. See that big tree? That’s where our house is.”

Xia Lu Nong quickly looked up.

About a few hundred meters away, there was a small hill with a giant tree on it. The tree trunk was so thick that it would take three or four adult men to wrap their arms around it.

The tree stood in an open space, with two adjacent one-story houses behind it, mostly covered by the tree’s branches.

As they got closer, Xia Lu Nong noticed that their house looked better than most of the buildings in the base.

Most of the buildings were made of red bricks or even mud bricks.

Their house, on the other hand, had tiled walls on the outside.

Xia Lu Nong stared at their house, feeling like it wasn’t something built recently.

Noticing his thoughts, Xia Huo Qu explained, “This used to be a natural village. When our team arrived, most of the houses had collapsed in the earthquake. We didn’t find any survivors. We cleared it out and have been living here ever since. Our house was rebuilt based on the original building.”

Xia Lu Nong, resting his face on his brother’s shoulder, asked, “Brother, was it really hard to find this place?”

“It wasn’t too bad. Yan Xinian led the team. After his beastification, he turns into a pre-historic tiger, so he’s really strong. We didn’t lose too many people on the way. Do you remember Brother Xinian?”

Xia Lu Nong nodded.

Yán Xinian was his brother’s childhood friend, so he had to call him brother too.

He had always been the “perfect kid” that everyone talked about.

Xia Lu Nong’s eyes sparkled, “Brother, have you been in contact with Brother Yan?”

“We contacted each other right after the disaster happened. Later, we traveled together to escape to this place. It’s thanks to him that I was able to bring you here safely.”

Xia Lu Nong turned his head to look at the house next to theirs. “Does Brother Xinian live next door?”

“Yeah,” Xia Huo Qu said, putting him down and taking out the keys to open the door. “We purposely chose two houses next to each other, so we could help each other out.”

Xia Lu Nong’s legs were still weak, so he steadied himself by holding onto the wall.

In front of the house was an open space, and beyond that was the giant green tree.

Their house seemed to have been originally a two-story building. He could see where the load-bearing pillars were.

The earthquake had severely damaged the building. The upper half must have been repaired later, as it was made of red bricks without any plaster or tile decoration, making the house look like a strange patchwork.

Xia Lu Nong’s gaze lingered on the exposed red bricks of the upper half, finding the mix of old and new construction oddly unsettling.

Xia Huo Qu opened the door and led him inside. “Come on in. It’s about time for lunch. You rest at home, and I’ll go get lunch from the canteen.”

Xia Lu Nong immediately said, “Brother, let me come with you.”

“Wait until your body’s fully recovered,” Xia Huo Qu replied. “The canteen’s crowded. If you want to go out, I’ll take you for a walk up the mountain this afternoon.”

Xia Lu Nong reluctantly agreed, “Alright, we’ll go for a walk this afternoon.”

“Take a look around the house. If you think we need anything, we’ll figure out how to trade for it at the market.”

After spending some time looking around the house, Xia Huo Qu came back carrying lunch.

The lunch from the base canteen was the same as always: rice porridge, sweet potatoes, boiled cabbage, and a small serving of sour and spicy pickled radish.

At the sight of it, Xia Lu Nong’s stomach reflexively churned, and he quietly took a deep breath to hide his true reaction.

Xia Huo Qu handed him a pair of chopsticks, “Make do with this for now. In a few days, I’ll go out gathering and see if I can bring back some meat.”

“There’s no need,” Xia Lu Nong smiled at his brother. “If everyone else can eat this, so can I.”

He broke off a piece of the sweet potato.

This sweet potato had white skin and white flesh, unlike the red-skinned, red-fleshed variety. It was fibrous, high in starch, and low in sugar. It tasted bland and wasn’t very filling. It made his stomach feel bloated for a while, but it would digest quickly, leaving him hungry again soon after.

Xia Huo Qu saw Xia Lu Nong frowning slightly, and his heart ached a little. He said, “Finish eating and rest for a while. I’ll take you out this afternoon.”

In reality, by the time Xia Lu Nong went out, it was already 4:15 PM. The sun was setting, and with just over an hour of daylight left, they finally stepped outside.

Before leaving, Xia Huo Qu made sure to wrap a light down jacket around him, saying, “It gets chilly at night. Don’t catch a cold.”

“It’s not that bad,” Xia Lu Nong protested, though he obediently stretched out his arms, letting his brother dress him in the black, lightweight down jacket.

The jacket was a bit big, making him look even more like a child.

Seeing this, Xia Huo Qu felt a touch of warmth in his heart. He patted Lu Nong’s head, crouched down, and said, “Hop on.”

Xia Lu Nong was reluctant to be carried, “I can walk on my own for a bit.”

“I’ll let you walk once we reach the halfway point.”

Xia Huo Qu locked the door with a large padlock and then carried Xia Lu Nong up the mountain path.

As they ascended, they could see many people working in the fields of the base below—men, women, the elderly, and even children.

The elderly and children mostly worked in the terraced fields on the mountainside, as the private plots assigned to individuals were often in these areas.

Xia Lu Nong looked up the mountain, and above the terraced fields and below the summit, there was a dense bamboo forest, with high, undulating walls at the top.

On all three sides of the base, a three-meter-high, two-meter-wide stone wall had been built, encircling the mountains. Every ten meters or so, a small hut had been erected on the wall, serving as a guard post.

The wall nearly formed a complete enclosure around the base, with no other exits besides the main road in the front.

The wall looked very much like the Great Wall, and the people in the base proudly referred to it as such.

Beyond the “Great Wall” was a dangerous wilderness, but inside, it was relatively safe. After the wall and guard posts were built, the people in the base could finally breathe a sigh of relief, no longer worrying about being snatched away by wild beasts in their sleep.

Xia Lu Nong had overheard these details in conversations between patients at the clinic. He hadn’t experienced the early days of the apocalypse himself, so these stories felt like tales from another world.

Now, reflecting on it, it was an incredible achievement for over 3,000 people to establish such a base after the disaster.

The brothers continued up the mountain.

After about half an hour, they reached the halfway point.

The mountainside had been converted into terraced fields, and the path was wide enough for the two brothers to stand side by side, overlooking the scenery below.

It was nearing dusk, and smoke was rising from the rooftops of many homes below, the air filled with the distinct smell of burning wood.

If it weren’t for the looming walls atop the mountain, Xia Lu Nong would have found it hard to believe this was the scene after a great disaster.

Xia Lu Nong turned his head, looking around at the landscape within the base. It was quite pleasant, with an abundance of lush trees, their deep roots and sprawling branches like giant umbrellas.

His eyes fell on a large tree outside a mud-brick house, where he saw an elderly man carrying a ladder and leaning it against the tree. The old man tested the ladder with a push and slowly began to climb up.

When he reached the first branch, the old man threw a rope over it, tied a knot, and tugged on the rope to ensure it was secure.

Xia Lu Nong watched curiously, thinking the old man might be preparing to hang something. But to his shock, the old man calmly slipped his head into the noose, pushed off the ladder with his foot, and jumped.

The whole event happened in an instant—the old man slipping the noose around his neck and jumping was a fluid, unhesitating movement.

“Ah—” Xia Lu Nong gasped, stumbling back a step.

The old man’s body swayed as he hung from the tree, and Xia Lu Nong, horrified, reached out for his brother, frantically waving his arm, “Brother—brother! Over there!!”

Far off in the distance, the old man’s body continued to sway in the tree.

Xia Lu Nong stared at the scene, his legs going weak.

He had never imagined that on his first trip up the mountain, he would witness something like this.

“Don’t look.” His brother’s warm hand suddenly covered his eyes from behind. Pressing close to his back, Xia Huo Qu repeated softly, “Don’t look.”

After whispering in his ear, Xia Huo Qu let out a long, sharp whistle.

Someone in the distance shouted back, though Xia Lu Nong couldn’t make out the words. He only heard his brother call out directions, “Over there, at Old Ye’s place—”

A moment later, Xia Huo Qu gently removed his hand from Xia Lu Nong’s eyes but kept his hand on his shoulder for support.

Xia Lu Nong quickly opened his eyes and looked toward the tree where the old man had hanged himself. In just a few breaths, a crowd had already gathered, and the old man had been taken down from the tree.

Xia Huo Qu hadn’t expected to encounter something like this on his first outing with his brother.

He gave Xia Lu Nong’s shoulder a gentle pat and sighed, “Let’s go back.”

Xia Lu Nong nodded without asking any questions, silently leaning against his brother’s back as he was carried home.

He didn’t ask about it afterward, but the news of Old Ye’s suicide soon reached them.

Old Ye was gone, and the people in the base held a funeral for him. Xia Lu Nong didn’t attend, but his brother did to help out. When he came back, his expression was as calm as ever.

The brothers didn’t discuss the incident much, and the matter passed quietly.

Xia Lu Nong felt a growing sense of unease. It seemed this world was even harsher than he had imagined.

—