Chapter 81

Chapter 81

As Feng Chen pushed open the window, preparing to climb out, he noticed that the water level had receded to the fourth floor, leaving the hovercraft, which was attached to ropes, hanging in mid-air.

The floodwaters had receded so rapidly that he wondered if this was a sign of an impending extreme cold.

Regardless, the receding water was a relief. He descended to the fifth floor, untied the hovercraft, and paddled towards the sea.

Despite wearing a down jacket and a raincoat, Feng Chen's hands and feet quickly grew icy cold. The temperature on his wristwatch read zero degrees, consistent with the previous day's temperature, maintaining a steady value.

More buildings emerged from the water in Haiyun City, many of their bricks and mud washed away, leaving only the stark steel skeletons.

Paddling through the cold, steel ruins, he passed several steel columns protruding from the water and noticed a cross hanging on one of them.

Perhaps it was the roof of a once-standing church, or maybe the cross had been swept there from elsewhere. Nonetheless, Feng Chen set down his oar, held his hands together, and knelt before the cross.

He had never been religious, but in the moment he knelt, he was filled with a sincere devotion, choking up as he prayed for divine protection, hoping Yan Bubu would safely overcome this ordeal.

"I'll do anything to ensure his safety..."

No divine response came, only the howling wind.

After a long while, he slowly stood up and continued paddling towards the sea.

Feng Chen had never fished before, and it was only upon reaching the sea that he realized he lacked fishing tools. Standing cluelessly at the bow, he decided to extend his psychic energy into the sea.

His psychic energy spread out like a vast net, ensnaring the unsuspecting, leisurely swimming fish, gradually tightening into an invisible pouch.

The fish only realized their peril as they began to struggle desperately, but it was too late; he had already hauled them onto the boat.

Using his psychic powers as a net, he quickly caught half a boatload of fish, eventually throwing back the smaller ones and returning to the research institute with the remaining catch.

The institute was warm. He took off his down jacket and approached the sofa. After rubbing his icy hands warm, he gently lifted Yan Bubu's trouser leg to measure the length of the purplish spider-web-like bruise.

Fortunately, it had shrunk by about half a finger joint since last night.

A faint smile appeared on Feng Chen's face. He flicked Yan Bubu's forehead lightly and said, "Not bad, it seems you've made an effort. Today, I'll reward you with fish."

In the kitchen, there was a large empty freezer. Feng Chen stored all the fish in it. After a moment of thought, he fetched a smart computer from the fifth floor and started browsing the data stored in it.

Moments later, he closed the computer expressionlessly and took the fish out one by one to clean their innards in the kitchen.

Cleaning the mountainous pile of fish was no easy task. Hei Shi, the black lion, came to help. It took the entire afternoon for man and lion to freeze all the fish in the freezer.

Dinner for him and Yan Bubu was fish.

He boiled the fish in water with a bit of salt. After the fish was cooked, he picked out the tenderest pieces, carefully removed the bones, and put them back in the pot to continue cooking. He ate the rest of the fish himself.

He simmered those selected fish pieces on low heat until they completely dissolved into the soup, then poured it into a bowl, cooled it down, and fed Yan Bubu.

After dinner, he carried Yan Bubu around the institute, exploring both upstairs and downstairs.

"The seventh floor is the laboratory, nothing much to see. You wouldn't understand these instruments. Let's go to the eighth floor."

"The eighth floor is also a laboratory. Oh, there's a small robot here. Once activated, it can talk to people and help carry documents... Well, I'll turn it on for you if you wake up. If not, no chance."

"The ninth floor is the office, just some files. The Eastern Alliance Army left in such a hurry, leaving files and books everywhere. If you wake up... even then, I won't force you to write. Only if you want to."

On the tenth floor, they arrived at the floor where they had last come to change identity information.

"Remember? Fan Renjing, this is where you became the 'Annoying Spirit.'" Feng Chen poked Yan Bubu's cheek and whispered, "The name suits you; you really can be annoying."

The tenth floor was filled with instruments, not much to see. Feng Chen was about to go back downstairs when his gaze swept over an instrument in the corner of the wall and he slowly walked towards it.

Last time, he had used this machine's software to leave a message for his father. Knowing he would never get a reply, he still pressed the start button of the machine.

The screen lit up as Feng Chen, cradling Yan Bubu in his left arm, navigated with his right hand through the folders to find the simulation software used only by him and his father, and gently opened it.

As the screen transitioned, his heart involuntarily raced with a faint hope.

[Father, this is Feng Chen. I'm still in Haiyun City. If you see this message, please come to get me as soon as possible.]

Displayed as unread.

Feng Chen quietly observed the line of text, then after a moment, reached out to turn off the device.

After touring several floors upstairs, Feng Chen carried him down to the fifth floor.

"Get familiar with your future abode. Look! If you turn into a zombie, you'll stay here. No little robots, no cartoons, just sitting here staring at the hole above and howling like a ghost."

Feng Chen pried open his closed eyelids with his fingers, letting him look around before releasing his grip.

"You don't want to stay here, right? If not, keep fighting hard. You absolutely can't turn into a zombie."

Feng Chen supported the back of Yan Bubu's head, pressing it down twice as if nodding.

"Good, I know you'll try hard. You've always been obedient, you'll definitely make an effort."

Feng Chen carried Yan Bubu back upstairs, climbing step by step.

The only sound in the entire building was the cartoon 'Binunu' playing, its childish dialogue echoing through the halls, failing to fill the space, only making it feel more empty and lonely.

After walking a few steps, he slowly sat down on the stairs. Hei Shi, the black lion, came down quietly from above, gently licked Yan Bubu's face, then lay quietly beside him.

At night, Feng Chen still set his alarm, waking up every hour to check the wound on Yan Bubu's leg and recording it on his wristwatch.

"October 6th, 1 AM, no change in the wound, toxin climbed to one centimeter below the knee."

"October 6th, 3 AM, toxin decreased by one centimeter… he wet the bed, changed the sheets."

"October 6th, 5 AM, toxin climbed again by one centimeter."

……

Come morning, Feng Chen, as usual, got up early to prepare fish soup, feeding a bowl to Yan Bubu.

Yesterday, he had visited the Li Stone engine room on the fifth floor and found only two or three stones left in storage, enough to last a few more months. Recalling the time he and Lin Fen went to the underground shelter to retrieve Li Stones, where a bagful was left, he decided to go and retrieve it.

After settling Yan Bubu, turning on the Binunu cartoon, and leaving Hei Shi to watch over him, Feng Chen dressed in his down jacket, grabbed the pressure-resistant diving suit, and headed downstairs.

The sound of his footsteps echoed to the fifth floor, paused, then returned upstairs.

He carried Yan Bubu, who was lying on the sofa, to the bathroom, stripped down his trousers, held up his legs, and squatted in front of the toilet to help him urinate.

"You drank fish soup, so you need to pee. Otherwise, you'll wet yourself again."

A minute passed, and Yan Bubu didn't urinate.

After three minutes, with his legs going numb, Feng Chen still held Yan Bubu in his arms, motionless, showing no signs of needing to urinate.

Feng Chen began to reminisce.

When Yan Bubu was a baby, he had seen Ame helping him urinate... what was it like then?

"Shh... shh..." he imitated the sound Ame made while helping Yan Bubu.

Just a few shushes later, the sound of trickling water echoed in the toilet bowl.

After Yan Bubu finished, Feng Chen carried him back to the sofa, tidied his clothes, and covered him with a blanket.

"Are you being naughty? Are you?" Feng Chen tapped his nose, "You can hear when I say it's time to pee, why can't you hear when I tell you to eat? Are you doing this on purpose?"

Despite his scolding words, Feng Chen's face radiated a glow unseen in recent days, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

Hei Shi excitedly circled around the sofa, occasionally scratching the floor with its paws, then nuzzling and lavishly licking Yan Bubu's face.

Feng Chen, barely containing his excitement, briskly walked down to the fifth floor, climbed out the window, and rowed towards the underground shelter.

At the entrance to the shelter, he donned his pressure-resistant diving suit and swam into the elevator, beginning his descent.

Although the floodwaters on the surface were receding, the water inside the shelter remained deep.

Without Lin Fen by his side and having left Hei Shi back at the institute, Feng Chen felt a profound sense of solitude, sinking alone in the dark waters, as if he were the only person left in the world.

Holding onto the iron rail, he thought that if Yan Bubu didn't recover, then every day of his life henceforth would be no different from the present.

Reaching the bottom in the elevator, he used his psychic energy to create a protective barrier against the water pressure and swam towards the Li Stone generator room.

The light on his forehead illuminated the underwater area, revealing mining carts and shovels mostly buried under sediment, with only parts of their metal bodies visible.

Seeing these remnants evoked memories of the days spent living in the shelter with Yan Bubu, bringing a sense of surreal nostalgia.

That period seemed like it had just passed, yet also felt like several centuries ago.

He swam to the Li Stone generator. Since he hadn't closed the door on his last visit, he easily entered the engine room and found the barrel of Li Stones.

Unfolding the inflatable bag and opening the valve, he watched as the bag slowly expanded with the injected gas.

Surrounded by silence, he perceived an imminent threat through his heightened sentinel instincts, sensing something approaching from behind.

Drawing the dagger that never left his side, he stabbed backward without looking. Turning around upon the dagger piercing something, he was shocked to see a zombie.

Illuminated by the light from his forehead, the zombie's pale, blue-tinged face glared with pitch-black eyes and bared its rows of ghastly white fangs.

The dagger was lodged in its chest, its thorax and abdomen compressed flat by the water pressure, with ribs piercing through the skin, yet it continued to lunge forward, seemingly unfazed.

Feng Chen hadn't expected to encounter a zombie in the deep water, especially such a ferocious and terrifying one. Caught off guard, he froze for a split second.

It wasn't until the zombie almost reached him that he reacted, kicking it away and then driving his dagger into its temple.

With the zombie permanently dead, Feng Chen didn't dare linger. He quickly packed the Li Stones, dragging the heavy bag out of the engine room and towards the elevator.

Fearing another zombie might spring from the dark waters, he divided part of his psychic energy to continuously scan the surrounding water within ten meters.

Fortunately, he encountered no more surprises on his way back to the elevator.

Standing in the ascending elevator, he pondered the origin of the zombie. After much thought, he surmised it must have come from the emergency passage leading to Haiyun Tower.

During their ascent to the tower, he and Yan Bubu had killed the zombies nearby, but many had survived on the outskirts. Lin Fen had sealed them on the lower floors of Haiyun Tower with partition doors. Unexpectedly, they were still alive and had swum through that emergency passage.

However, zombies lack intelligence. The emergency passage was five kilometers long, so this one probably entered the shelter by accident, an outlier, while the rest remained beneath Haiyun Tower.

Nonetheless, for safety, Feng Chen activated the wall switch upon exiting the shelter, sealing the main door. This would prevent any zombies inside the shelter from swimming into Haiyun City.

Such an occurrence would be a real problem.

He took the Li Stones back to the institute and made two more trips to the supply point. Not only did he bring back half a boatload of vacuum-packed soybeans and rice, but he also replenished household items like toilet paper and soap, as well as clothing and footwear for various ages and sizes.

After all, he didn't know how long he and Yan Bubu would have to stay in Haiyun City. It was best to stock up on several years' worth of clothes at once. Although the supply point was nearby and more clothes could be fetched later, it was safer to have a stash at the institute in case of emergencies.

Having prepared all essential supplies for the extreme cold, he hurried back to the institute and prepared a fish lunch for himself and Yan Bubu.

Without taking a break after the meal, he went back to the sea to fish again.

The freezer in the institute was large, and the fish he had caught last time only filled half of it, leaving room for more.

After catching the fish, Feng Chen organized and stored all the items.

While sorting items in the living room, Yan Bubu lay on the sofa with cartoons projected as background noise, and Black Lion transported the sorted items to either the storage room or kitchen.

When Feng Chen went to the kitchen to clean the fish, he dragged a sofa to the doorway so Yan Bubu could lie there. He kept glancing over as he worked on the fish.

Feng Chen and Black Lion busied themselves the entire day, finally organizing all the items. Seeing the fully stocked storage room and freezer, Feng Chen felt a sense of relief.

"Do I smell bad? I feel like I reek of fish," Feng Chen leaned close to Yan Bubu, inviting him to smell him, adding, "Stinks, right? You should smell too, can’t let me be the only one dealing with the stench."

Feng Chen went to their room's bathroom first for a shower, then filled the bathtub with water and carried Yan Bubu in.

"You haven't bathed in a few days either, you’ll turn into a stinky fish. Before you turn into a zombie, I have to make sure you’re clean, right?"

While muttering to himself, Feng Chen stripped Yan Bubu completely and placed him in the warm water.

"Even if you become a zombie, you still need to bathe every week. Then, I’ll tie you up with a rope, gag you with a smelly sock, and scrub you on the floor with a big brush..."

Feng Chen paused while washing Yan Bubu's upper body, hesitating as he lifted one of his legs to wash, his voice gradually fading away.

Before entering the water, the blue-black veins on his leg had only reached the middle of his knee. In just this short time, the spiderweb pattern had climbed a centimeter higher, against the child's fair skin, appearing even more sinister and striking.

Feng Chen stared blankly for a while, as if pained by the sight, and abruptly turned his head away.

After a long pause, he continued bathing Yan Bubu, hurriedly finishing before wrapping him in a towel and lifting him out of the bathtub.

He placed Yan Bubu on the sofa and picked up a set of children's pajamas to dress him.

"I chose these for you at the supply point. The fabric is very comfortable, you’ll definitely like it. There are lots of little bears on it, I didn’t count, but probably hundreds. Each little bear has a tie around its neck..."

Feng Chen guided Yan Bubu’s hands into the pajama sleeves, then began to button it up. His gaze lingered on Yan Bubu’s chest for a few seconds, his fingers gently pressing there.

The child's chest skin, still warm from the hot bath, but the rise and fall were increasingly faint, his heartbeat nearly imperceptible under his fingers.

Feng Chen bent down, pressing his ear against Yan Bubu's chest, listening intently to the faint and slow heartbeat. His eyes, looking through the window, reflected the gray, gloomy sky.

The night had deepened, dark and silent.

Feng Chen didn’t sleep. He lay half-holding Yan Bubu on the sofa, staring out the window in a daze, amidst the continuous background music of the playing cartoons.

Black Lion lay beside the sofa, occasionally nudging Yan Bubu with its paw, as if reminding him not to keep sleeping like this, then it brought over the cloth bag and placed it on him.

Feng Chen looked at the cloth bag somewhat sluggishly, reaching inside to fumble around, pulling out an empty password box. Entering the code, he opened the lid, revealing Yan Bubu's "treasures" inside.

Inside were a scale from a Kanze lizard, two small steel balls, three small red flowers, and a neatly folded piece of paper at the bottom.

Feng Chen unfolded the paper; it was a drawing by Yan Bubu, showing two jar-like figures sitting side by side, looking up at a chaotically drawn sky.

"...Brother, actually, the birthday gift I want most right now is to sit with you on a boat and watch the stars."

Feng Chen jolted sharply, raising his wrist to check the time on his watch.

October 6th, 23:35.

October 6th... less than half an hour to October 7th.

It was also Yan Bubu’s birthday.