Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Moonlight streamed in through the bus window, making Yan Bubu's hair glow with a glossy sheen, with a few strands singed yellow by the flamethrower visible.

His skin looked almost translucent under the moonlight, his eyes big and round. Paired with his curly hair, he resembled a doll.

Feng Chen watched him demonstrate earnestly, feeling suddenly distracted.

At this time in the past, Yan Bubu would still be playing in the backyard, huddled in a corner of the lawn digging for earthworms, while Ame searched everywhere to get him to bed.

Feng Chen would immediately close the window then, because the next moment, Yan Bubu's cries would echo through every corner of the villa.

Indeed, he didn't like Yan Bubu and was even annoyed by his noise, but now, Yan Bubu was the only one who could be by his side.

The world outside had turned into ruins, with distant explosions faintly audible. On this weary night, marked by life-and-death experiences, in this empty bus, there were only him and Yan Bubu, and the moonlight streaming through the window.

Yan Bubu's voice softened, yawning twice, rubbing his eyes.

Seeing him ready to sleep, Feng Chen stood up to search the bus, surprisingly finding two fleece blankets on the luggage rack.

He made Yan Bubu lie down on the adjacent seat, tossing him one blanket, while he lay on the opposite seat, covering himself with the other, and closed his eyes.

The bus quieted down, and as Feng Chen was drifting off, he faintly heard Yan Bubu whispering, "Mom, take care, awu beng ga ada wu xia."

Feng Chen's eyelashes fluttered, and after a moment, he silently repeated in his heart, "Take care, awu... xia."

Although he no longer had to adhere to military training routines, Feng Chen had always been self-disciplined, waking up promptly at 6 a.m. due to his internal body clock.

He wiped the condensation off the bus window to check the weather outside.

The sky was overcast, and despite the lack of sun, the air was tinged with a dry heat. Yan Bubu was still sleeping soundly on the opposite seat, his blanket kicked off and his body contorted like a twisted pretzel.

"Hey, time to get up," Feng Chen walked over and nudged him.

Yan Bubu didn’t budge, so Feng Chen tried patting his face, "Yan Bubu, wake up."

With his eyes closed, Yan Bubu's eyelashes rested on his lower lids, resembling two curled miniature fans. Touched by Feng Chen, these little fans fluttered and slowly opened, revealing a pair of groggy eyes.

He stared motionlessly at Feng Chen, as if he hadn’t quite come to his senses. Feng Chen patiently repeated, "Stop sleeping, we need to go out soon."

Yan Bubu rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, while Feng Chen turned to rummage through the backpack, pulling out a half-eaten loaf of bread they had taken from the office building, "Come on, have breakfast."

Hearing no response, he turned back to see Yan Bubu sitting cross-legged on the seat, face sullen and eyes downcast, as if upset with someone.

Feng Chen paused and asked, "What's the matter?"

Yan Bubu didn't respond, sitting still with his tousled curly hair, as if deep in meditation.

Feng Chen approached and looked down at him, "Who upset you? Are you mad at someone?"

"No one upset me," Yan Bubu said, frowning with a nasally voice from just waking up.

"Then eat the bread. We need to leave after you’re done."

Yan Bubu glanced at the slice of bread in Feng Chen’s hand, "Don’t want to eat it."

"Why not?"

"Just don't feel like it."

Feng Chen asked patiently, "Then what would you like to eat?"

"I want milk and a sandwich with egg in it."

Feng Chen's expression darkened, and he turned away, biting into the bread in his hand: "Take it or leave it."

He stopped paying attention to Yan Bubu, eating his bread while opening his multi-functional watch to log his body data from the previous day.

"Normal body temperature, no intermittent fever, burst strength..."

He paused at this point, hesitating for a moment before continuing, "Burst strength reached 294SJ in ten seconds, rapid strength hit 36KS. I wonder if it's the potential unleashed in a dangerous situation."

As Feng Chen recorded, Yan Bubu, though sitting with a sulky face, kept glancing at him. Then, sliding off his seat, he moved next to Feng Chen and quietly started eating a piece of bread.

After Feng Chen finished logging, he turned with a cold look to find Yan Bubu with his cheeks puffed out, smiling at him, eyes curving into crescents.

"Didn’t you say you wouldn’t eat, that you wanted milk and a sandwich with egg?" asked Feng Chen.

Yan Bubu, swinging his legs hanging off the seat, leaned in close with a pleasing look, "The bread is also tasty."

Feng Chen extended a finger to push him away a bit, asking, "Are you grumpy because you just woke up?"

"What's grumpy? I don’t know," Yan Bubu said, recalling, "Every day when I wake up, I get beaten."

At this, Feng Chen couldn’t help but curl the corner of his mouth slightly, saying nothing further. He took out the jar of caviar from his backpack, scooped a spoonful onto Yan Bubu's bread.

"Eat this."

Yan Bubu took a bite of the bread, then saw Feng Chen seal the caviar jar and put it back in the backpack.

"Young master, you eat mine, I'll eat yours," he said, reaching for Feng Chen's bread while offering his own.

Feng Chen quickly moved his hand away, "What are you doing?"

Yan Bubu insisted, "Mine tastes better, you eat mine, I'll eat yours."

Feng Chen frowned slightly, "I don't like caviar. It's too fishy and salty. You eat it yourself."

Indeed, he didn’t like caviar, disliking its fishy saltiness. But Yan Bubu's eyes were full of disbelief, as if saying, how could anyone not like something so delicious?

Yan Bubu insisted on swapping, but seeing his bread looking as though it had been mauled by a dog, Feng Chen simply stuffed the rest of his own bread into his mouth.

He rarely ate in such a rush and ended up choking, coughing while searching for water in the backpack, his handsome face turning slightly red.

"Young master, drink some water," Yan Bubu timely offered him the bottle.

Feng Chen gulped down the water, while Yan Bubu patted his back, mumbling, "Eat slowly, no one's competing with you."

Feng Chen, somewhat embarrassed, brushed his hand away, grabbed his backpack, and emotionlessly stated they were leaving, then strode towards the bus door.

Yan Bubu hurriedly slung his bag over his shoulder, following with the piece of bread in his hand.

As they left the parking lot, Yan Bubu looked back repeatedly at the bus they had stayed in overnight, almost stumbling over a stone under his feet.

"Watch where you're going," Feng Chen grabbed the collar of his shirt, "We're just going out to find food, and we'll come back after."

"Yay!" Yan Bubu bounced on the spot.

"Do you like living on the bus?" Feng Chen asked without looking at him.

"I do," Yan Bubu's eyes sparkled, "Xiao Kula and his whole family live on a bus."

Feng Chen didn't need to ask to know that Xiao Kula must be a character from some cartoon. Considering the earthquake had just occurred and most of the buildings in the city had collapsed, with the rest being unsafe, temporarily living in the bus was indeed a good choice.

Leaving the parking lot and walking down a street, they found a well in a side alley with a group of people lining up to draw water.

Feng Chen watched from a distance, saw no sign of the West Union Army, and immediately took Yan Bubu back to the parking lot to look for containers for water.

Several cars were unlocked with doors wide open, and they found two buckets and a plastic basin in their trunks.

In the alley, people were lined up with a variety of containers for collecting water.

These containers, mostly salvaged from the ruins, included buckets, basins, lunch boxes, and even someone holding a dusty earthenware jar.

Feng Chen and Yan Bubu joined the back of the line, slowly moving forward with the crowd.

The people around them were not much interested in talking, moving forward in silence, only occasionally exchanging a few words.

"It's only April, but the temperature feels quite high."

"It's probably a reaction to the earthquake, affecting the climate. It should get better in a few days."

"Why didn't you go to the West Union Army's relief center?"

"I'm waiting for my son; he's in Qin Cliff City. What if he comes back and can't find us?"

"Forget it, all sea, land, and air transportation are paralyzed. You can't leave, and he can't come in..."

……

Yan Bubu wasn't paying attention to their conversation; he was just looking up at the sky.

A small military plane was circling above the city. After two rounds, it dropped a string of objects from its belly like a hen laying eggs, plummeting towards the ground with a whistling sound.

Yan Bubu, curious, tugged at Feng Chen's sleeve, about to ask what it was, when a thunderous noise filled his ears, and the ground seemed to tremble.

He dropped the basin and hugged Feng Chen's leg. Feng Chen covered his ears, hunched over, his eyes warily watching the distance.

The people in line for water became panicked, ducking and covering their heads.

"Is it an earthquake? Another earthquake?"

"No earthquake, don't panic, it's the West Union Army bombing."

"Bombing? What are they bombing? The followers of Anbu Jia or the East Union Army?"

"I don't know, but it seems like the bombing is near the Feitu River."

"Definitely not the East Union Army; our city doesn't have any of their forces."

After the bombing ended and the plane flew away, everyone resumed lining up for water. Yan Bubu and Feng Chen quickly filled their two buckets and basin to the brim.

Feng Chen, carrying two buckets of water, stepped out a few paces, then turned to ask Yan Bubu, "Can you manage it?"

Yan Bubu, seriously rolling up his sleeves, said, "I can."

Feng Chen walked on while Yan Bubu, legs slightly apart, reached down to lift the full basin.

"Heave-ho!"

The basin lifted only slightly before water sloshed out.

Yan Bubu exerted more effort.

"Heave-ho!"

Clenching his teeth and his cheeks flushed red, he finally managed to shakily lift the entire basin of water, hunching his back and moving forward step by step.

Reaching the corner, Feng Chen looked back, set down his buckets, and walked back quickly, "Put the basin down and wait here. I'll take these two buckets back first, then come back for it."

But Yan Bubu refused to let go, squeezing out the words through clenched teeth, "I—can—"

Seeing Yan Bubu struggling, with water constantly sloshing from the basin, soaking the front of his shirt, Feng Chen took the basin, poured out half of its contents, and handed it back to him.

"Why did you pour it out?" Yan Bubu looked at him incredulously, "I said I could carry it back. Why did you pour it out?"

"Just carry this half basin of water."

"No!" Yan Bubu placed the basin on the ground, shouting at Feng Chen, "I want to carry a full basin. I said I could carry a full basin!"

Feng Chen looked at him coldly, "Are you acting up because you didn't get beaten when you woke up today, and now you're looking for an excuse?"

Yan Bubu, deflated like a punctured balloon, fell silent immediately.

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Author's note:

Yan Bubu: My brother hasn't hit me for three days now.