Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Wu You also lived on this floor. When he opened the door and saw the two, he greeted them, but his eyes immediately fell on Yan Bubu's head.

Staring at the unevenly cut hair, he hadn't yet spoken when he saw a layer of moisture appear in Yan Bubu's eyes, his lips trembling.

Wu You and Feng Chen exchanged a knowing glance, communicating everything about the situation without needing words, then led Yan Bubu inside.

"Do you want Uncle Wu to cut your hair?"

"Yes," Yan Bubu sniffled.

Wu You gently fiddled with Yan Bubu's hair, reassuring, "Don't worry, don't panic. Uncle Wu can give you a nice haircut."

"Will it be like before?" Yan Bubu asked.

Wu You smiled warmly, "Not like before. Your hair was too long then, like a little girl's."

Yan Bubu, with a hint of a cry in his voice, corrected, "Brother said I looked like a sheep."

"...We'll cut it shorter, and you'll look like a handsome young boy."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Wu."

Half an hour later, Wu You's door opened to reveal a refreshed and invigorated Yan Bubu.

His hair had been neatly trimmed, a bit shorter but looking spirited, with his ears and forehead, long hidden, finally revealed.

Feng Chen followed him, his previously longer hair now cut short, leaving only a stubble that faintly revealed his scalp.

His handsome features, paired with this new hairstyle, added an edge and aggression to his appearance, diminishing his youthful air.

As they walked, Yan Bubu kept looking up at him, nearly bumping into a trash can in the hallway. Feng Chen said, "Walk properly, stop looking around."

"Haha, hahaha," Yan Bubu laughed joyously and exaggeratedly, "Brother, your head looks like an egg."

Before Feng Chen could respond, Yan Bubu licked his lips, "Haven't had eggs in a long time." He then pretended to grab something from Feng Chen's head, bringing it to his mouth with a playful growl, "Delicious, delicious."

Back in their room, Feng Chen went to the bathroom to wash clothes, while Yan Bubu opened the window to look outside.

It was now eight in the evening, and beyond lay darkness, lit only by the lights of the ship, illuminating the surrounding sea. The dark water surface was dotted with tiny pits created by raindrops.

Having stayed in the underground shelter for months, he was finally experiencing the icy touch of rain and the wind brushing his cheeks. Even though he couldn't see far, he was engrossed in the view from the window.

The sound of water echoed from the bathroom; Feng Chen was washing clothes. Yan Bubu, resting his face on his arms, called out lazily, "Brother, come and see outside."

"No time."

Black Lion paced restlessly around Yan Bubu's feet, its lion face somber, seemingly unhappy.

Yan Bubu glanced towards the bathroom and left the window, walking to the bathroom door.

Feng Chen was squatting, washing a pale yellow T-shirt with a Binunu print. Yan Bubu squatted beside him, playing with the soap bubbles.

Just like every time Feng Chen did the laundry, one would wash while the other stayed nearby.

"Not watching outside anymore?" Feng Chen asked without looking up.

Yan Bubu played with a bubble in his palm, "Not anymore."

"Why not?"

Yan Bubu blew a bubble, "You're not there, so I don't want to watch."

Feng Chen said nothing, continuing to wash clothes. Meanwhile, Black Lion's mood visibly improved, lying down at the bathroom door, half-closing its eyes, its tail gently swishing.

After finishing the laundry, Feng Chen carried the basin outside to find a place to hang the clothes, heading to the front of the ship on this level.

The spot seemed perfect for drying clothes, shielded above, safe from the rain at the ship's side. The ventilation shaft from the cabin faced here, blowing hot air like a large dryer. Someone had already strung wire there, with about a dozen clothes hanging.

The floor was covered with several soaked quilts. Feng Chen admired the determination of those who had carried these heavy quilts through water and zombie chases, even sliding down from the windows of Haiyun Tower.

But after seeing the large pickling jars near the ship's side, he thought carrying the quilts might not have been too difficult.

Nevertheless, the sight of those jars made him realize that carrying quilts wasn't such an impossible task after all.

After hanging the laundry, they returned to their room to sleep. Although there were two beds, they naturally lay together on the same one.

Feng Chen turned off the light, and Yan Bubu, as usual, tossed and turned, occasionally mumbling to himself.

Black Lion lay on the carpet beside the bed, covering its ears with its paws.

Yan Bubu always did this before falling asleep: tossing, muttering, and once he lay still, he was asleep. So Feng Chen didn't bother him and just lay quietly with his eyes closed.

"Gurgle gurgle bang bang..."

Yan Bubu's murmuring became more muffled and eventually ceased. Only then did Feng Chen open his eyes, tuck Yan Bubu's arm back under the blanket, and turned over to sleep.

Deep into the night, the whole world was immersed in darkness, except for the four ships in the rain, their lights glowing like stars in the pitch-black night sky.

Outside a porthole on the fifth floor, a shadow flashed by and then disappeared. Only the rain streaking down the window left several trails.

……

The next morning, soldiers came to call Feng Chen.

Seeing Yan Bubu sleeping soundly beside him, Feng Chen didn't wake him but quietly finished his morning routine.

Understanding each other without words, Black Lion continued to lie beside the bed, while Feng Chen, donning a raincoat handed by a soldier, boarded a hovercraft moored below Hive A.

On the boat were just over a dozen soldiers, including Feng Chen, led by Yu Yuan to salvage supplies from the army's material warehouse.

Feng Chen saw white cranes flying in the sky and noticed a beaver and a badger lying on the bow of the ship.

He still didn't know how to distinguish Sentinels from Guides, but he was aware that there were at least two of them here.

As he observed the two quantum beasts, they suddenly stood up and started fighting, tearing and biting at each other without a clear aggressor.

Feng Chen turned to look at the soldiers and noticed they all stood with normal expressions, showing no sign of who owned the two quantum beasts.

"How was your rest last night?" Yu Yuan didn't ask his black lion, instead, he pulled out two hot potatoes from his raincoat pocket and handed them over.

"Good, very good," Feng Chen took the potatoes and hesitated before asking, "What if I just leave like this and Fan Renjing wakes up later?"

In the past, when he was at the underground shelter, he would go to the surface to work, and Yan Bubu would go to the canteen by herself for meals. But now, having just moved onto this ship, they were unfamiliar with the surroundings and unsure if there was a canteen.

Although the black lion was there, also a quantum beast manifested from his own psyche, Feng Chen felt it couldn't fully replace him and remained somewhat worried.

Yu Yuan said, "No worries, I've arranged for someone. When Xiaojuanmao wakes up, he'll have breakfast delivered."

Feng Chen didn't say more and began eating the potatoes quickly, glancing at the two quantum beasts entangled in a fight.

Yu Yuan followed his gaze, then turned to the group of soldiers: "Wang Shi, Ke Yang, this is Qin Shen. You three will dive later."

Two soldiers approached, standing in front of Feng Chen.

"Hello, I am Wang Shi, a sentinel."

Feng Chen noticed that the sentinel, while talking to him, glanced over at the wolverine wrestling with a beaver rat.

Ah, this was the owner of the wolverine.

The other soldier followed, "Hello, I am Ke Yang, a sentinel. We'll dive together later."

The beaver rat kicked the wolverine away with its hind legs and squeaked at Feng Chen.

Feng Chen also introduced himself, "Hello, I am Qin Shen, a sentinel."

After completing their self-introduction task as arranged by Yu Yuan, the two soldiers walked towards the stern of the ship, chatting quietly, seeming quite close.

—If one ignored the two quantum beasts now pulling at each other's ears.

The hovercraft left the dock, heading westward from the city. Yu Yuan chewed on his potato while explaining to Feng Chen, "Initially, not all supplies were transported to the underground shelter in case of emergencies. We kept some on the surface. The warehouse at the supply point has a sealed waterproof structure. It wasn't damaged in the earthquake, with a Lishi generator inside for cooling, keeping all supplies intact. However, not much food was stored, mainly civilian supplies found in the rubble post-earthquake."

Feng Chen understood: the supply point had limited food stocks, but the resources salvaged from the collapsed malls after the earthquake were mostly stored there.

"You weren't initially required to go, but since Major General Lin has taken people back to the underground shelter to retrieve Lishi stones, we're short of hands as the rest of the soldiers are guarding the ship," Yu Yuan explained.

Feng Chen asked in astonishment, "To the underground shelter for Lishi stones?"

The shelter was now completely submerged, with water depths reaching several hundred meters. Even in the most advanced pressure-resistant diving suits, the human body couldn't withstand such pressure.

"Each of the four ships needs Lishi stones daily. Even if we find some scattered stones outside, it would barely cover a week's power supply. The shelter is the only place with a large quantity of Lishi stones, so we must retrieve them," Yu Yuan concluded, giving Feng Chen a meaningful look, "As for the water pressure… you're seriously underestimating the capabilities of a high-ranking sentinel."

Feng Chen quickly grasped the implication of his words, also understanding why he was needed for the supply retrieval.

The Western Allied Forces' supply point was in the western part of Haiyun City, at ground level it was the Haiyun City Gymnasium, and the supply point was in the gymnasium's basement, a depression more than a hundred meters deep.

After Feng Chen and the other two sentinels donned their pressure-resistant diving suits, Yu Yuan said to the sentinel with the wolverine, "Take care of him, he's strong in spirit but still a kid."

The wolverine sentinel acknowledged, "Understood."

"Do you know how to dive?" Yu Yuan asked Feng Chen.

Feng Chen was somewhat speechless. He had been brought here, suited up in diving gear, and only now they thought to ask if he knew how to dive.

"Yes."

Yu Yuan nodded, "I thought so. Kids born in Haiyun City, none don't know how to dive."

Feng Chen put on his oxygen mask, holding his ever-present dagger, and the trio dived, descending along the wall into deeper water. Around twenty meters down, it was pitch black, so they each turned on the lights on their heads.

The light illuminated the water ahead, revealing the tiled patterns on the wall. As they continued to descend, Feng Chen glanced at his wristwatch, which now read a depth of 120 meters – they were nearing the supply point's gate.

Despite wearing a pressure-resistant suit, one would normally feel the water pressure, but he felt no discomfort. The two sentinels beside him seemed unbothered as well, each dragging a large sealed box.

The wolverine and beaver rat, while following them down, were still fighting.

Well, he had indeed underestimated the physical prowess of a sentinel.

Descending further, dark green algae appeared in the water – half a foot wide and several meters long, swaying gently with the waves, like a dimly lit underwater forest.

Feng Chen was feeling that the abundance of algae here was unusual when he heard a soldier's voice through the headset, "Be cautious, these algae might be a mutated variety."

The pressure-resistant diving suits were sealed and waterproof, allowing conversation underwater, and Yu Yuan on the surface could see the underwater situation through their helmet cameras.

"Swerve twenty meters to the right and then descend, there's less algae there," Yu Yuan's voice came through Feng Chen's headset, slightly distorted.

"Roger that," the soldier responded.

"Qin Shen," Yu Yuan was calling Feng Chen.

Following behind the soldier and veering right, Feng Chen replied, "Here."

"Don't panic, there's nothing to worry about. These mutated algae are of the lowest grade and pose no threat to you."

"Understood."

The beaver rat and wolverine finally called a temporary truce, leading the way and tearing through the swaying algae with claws and teeth.

The algae, seemingly sensing pain when bitten and torn, quickly retracted like a tape measure rolling back, curling into a ball.

After descending to the bottom from the right and swimming forward, the wolverine sentinel stopped, plunged his dagger into the algae-sealed wall, and the algae rapidly withdrew, revealing a smooth Acre metal door.

The beaver rat sentinel and Feng Chen followed suit, using their daggers to clear the algae blocking the door, quickly revealing the entire gate.

The wolverine sentinel entered the password on the door lock, and the door opened, allowing them to swim in, one after another.

Inside the door was another sealed gate. After closing the outer door and draining the incoming water, the wolverine sentinel then opened the inner seal.

Lights simultaneously brightened, illuminating the vast warehouse space, where goods were stacked into small hills.

Daily necessities and household items were neatly packed in wooden boxes, categorized and arranged separately. In the middle of the warehouse, two brand-new mini trucks were parked.

The two sentinels opened the boxes they were dragging, each filled with airtight compression bags. The wolverine sentinel took one, opened the valve, and it quickly inflated into a half-human-height large square bag.

He dragged a metal trolley from the wall, placed the big bag on it, and handed it to Feng Chen, saying, "Go ahead, fill it with anything useful you find."

Feng Chen removed his mask and started pushing the metal trolley forward.

Although the air in the warehouse was dry, the food section mostly contained long-lasting items like soybeans, vacuum-packed and stacked in bags.

The square bags on the trolley, though not looking very large, were quite capacious. He filled one after another with soybeans, sealing each after fitting in ten bags.

Then he took another empty bag to continue filling.

Soon, there were ten sealed bags of soybeans by the door, resembling small mounds. The badger soldier asked if they should continue packing. Yu Yuan replied, "No, this is all the grain we have for now. We can't empty the warehouse in one go; we still need to find other food."

"Yes."

"Let's gather some medicines and daily necessities."

"Understood."

The trio headed to the living area, where Feng Chen heard Yu Yuan saying to him through the earpiece, "Qin Shen, pick something you want."

"Okay." Feng Chen didn't refuse.

The supplies in the living area were salvaged from collapsed malls and supermarkets after the earthquake, hence the variety was vast, ranging from delicate coffee cups and cake plates to diapers and disposable garbage bags – a complete assortment of items.

The badger Sentinel swept items from the shelves into a bag and, holding up a small paper box in front of Feng Chen, said, "We can’t just stock up on food. These are essential daily items. The ship is currently short on these supplies, so we need to take them all."

Feng Chen, unable to see what was in the badger's hand, asked, "What is that?"

"Feminine essentials. Don’t worry about it, just pack them in the bag," the badger Sentinel replied.

"Oh."

The three of them started sweeping daily necessities into their bags, with the beaver and the badger busily moving the sealed large bags towards the warehouse entrance.

The two Sentinels cooperated with each other, occasionally joking around. However, their quantum beasts were less cooperative, sneaking in attacks and scratching each other, creating an atmosphere in the warehouse that was both harmonious and awkward.

In the northwest corner of the warehouse, there were quilts and clothes. The ship already had quilts, so they weren't needed, but clothes were exactly what Feng Chen needed the most at the moment.

Seeing Feng Chen eyeing the pile of clothes, the badger Sentinel nodded towards them, "Go ahead and pick, as much as you like. They’re just sitting there anyway."

"Okay."

Feng Chen sifted through the mountain-like pile of clothes, not picky about his own attire. He chose practical and durable outdoor wear, quickly picking two pairs of long pants and two short-sleeved T-shirts.

Considering it was already August and autumn was approaching, he also grabbed two long-sleeved T-shirts and two weatherproof jackets.

However, selecting clothes for Yan Bubu required more thought.

Yan Bubu favors bright colors, but not too dazzling—like light yellow, pale pink, sky blue, light green...

When Feng Chen selects T-shirts for him, he first eliminates black, white, and grey. Although black and grey are most suitable for little boys, being dirt-resistant and not showing stains even after rolling on the ground, he doesn't consider them since Yan Bubu dislikes them.

White is also not an option, not because Yan Bubu dislikes it, but because Feng Chen doesn't want to wash clothes several times a day.

Then comes the patterns. Bi Nu Nu is, of course, the unrivaled best choice. However, if Bi Nu Nu isn't available, other cartoon patterns are also acceptable.

But remember, puppets with square heads and long, rubbery figures are a no-go.

They are Yan Bubu's least favorite cartoon characters and his taboo zone, best not to tread there.

As Feng Chen examines the clothes, the beaver sentinel asks, "Are you picking out clothes for your little brother?"

"Yes."

"How old is he?"

"Six."

"How long until he turns seven?"

Feng Chen is taken aback upon hearing this.

He only knows that Yan Bubu is six but doesn't know how long until he turns seven. Perhaps he is already seven, and Feng Chen is just unaware.

Yan Bubu's identity information was altered by Feng Chen, who hadn't paid attention to his actual birth date at the time. It's only now, prompted by the soldier's question, that he realizes this overlooked detail.