Chapter 28 Little Stone? Ji An?

Chapter 28 Little Stone? Ji An?

Zhang Yi said smugly, tilting his chin slightly. "Did that help Researcher Ji?"

Ji An gave a thumbs-up. "It did."

Using the same approach, Ji An drove away the remaining superpowered individuals. A few bystanders, seeing everyone else leave, found no point in staying and eventually followed suit.

Having not visited the shop for a while, Ji An found an accumulation of jade stones. Instead of taking them away, he decided to sit down and inspect them one by one.

The results were decent—nearly twenty viable stones, which meant another substantial profit.

Ji An sent the credits to Tang Ning so she could pay the sellers directly when they came to collect.

He stayed at the shop until after closing time, helping Tang Ning and Zheng Yan straighten up before preparing to leave.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we're closed," Zheng Yan said as she finished cleaning, looking up to see a tall, handsome man standing at the door.

"Waiting for someone," the man replied succinctly.

Ji An found the voice familiar and glanced over. Startled, he exclaimed, "Gu Jinsheng? What are you doing here?"

Since their return to the base, Gu Jinsheng had been busy. Though they lived under the same roof, Ji An hadn’t run into him even once at home.

Why would he suddenly appear at the shop today?

Gu Jinsheng’s face, as flawless as a celestial being's, remained expressionless, his sharp jawline as striking as ever. Yet Ji An inexplicably felt that Gu Jinsheng softened upon seeing him.

Gu Jinsheng’s voice was always precisely modulated, neither too high nor too low, magnetic and without emotional inflection—yet pleasant to the ear.

"Picking you up," Gu Jinsheng said, his gaze falling on the pile of jade Ji An hadn’t yet stored in his space as an explanation.

Nowadays, everyone in the base knew jade could be turned from waste into treasure. With 300 percent returns, some would take desperate measures. Gu Jinsheng had come specifically to ensure Ji An’s safety.

The sensation was beyond words—like a cool breeze in scorching heat, warmth in bitter cold, a gentle wind through the forest, or a dancing spark that soothed his heart.

Perhaps this was why people yearned for happy families and sweet love—they were drawn to this very feeling.

After gathering his things, Ji An followed Gu Jinsheng outside and noticed he had driven his own car. Owning a personal vehicle at this time was a mark of privilege.

Tang Ning lived nearby, so they dropped her off first, then made a detour to send Zheng Yan home.

Afterward, Gu Jinsheng didn’t start the car immediately. Instead, he asked, "Care to take a walk?"

The evening breeze was gentle, and Ji An suddenly felt the urge to stroll.

They got out, and Gu Jinsheng casually stored the car in his space. Ji An laughed. "So this is how you use your space?"

"Convenient," Gu Jinsheng replied.

Ji An imagined that, even before the apocalypse, many wealthy people would have loved such a personal parking space to avoid hunting for spaces.

The thought amused him. Then Ji An noticed Gu Jinsheng wore just a red cord around his neck, the pendant disappearing beneath his clothes. He was certain it wasn’t the Space Necklace he’d sold him—that one was made with multiple gemstones, impossible to conceal completely.

Gu Jinsheng noticed Ji An’s confusion and pulled the cord out. Only a solitary gemstone remained.

"The rest were claimed by my family," Gu Jinsheng said, his tone as flat as ever.

But Ji An sensed layers of emotion beneath that calm—as if Gu Jinsheng was venting or even confiding in him.

Oh god, Ji An suddenly felt a bit terrified—he had actually imagined so many emotions from someone else's plain narration. Something was really off.

Suddenly, Gu Jinsheng stepped forward, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him into his warm embrace, enveloping him in his unique, distinctive sandalwood scent.

Gu Jinsheng's deep, magnetic voice whispered by Ji An's ear, "You spaced out."

The moment between them was abruptly shattered by a timid child's voice.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean to." A frightened, childish voice rang out near their feet. Ji An then realized that while he was lost in thought, this child had bumped into him, and Gu Jinsheng had reacted swiftly to pull him aside.

Ji An stepped out of Gu Jinsheng's arms and noticed the boy's tattered, loose-fitting clothes. The ragged garments barely covered his body. He was caked with dirt all over, as if he could scrape off two pounds of grime, especially his face, which was exceptionally dirty.

He was so thin that his ribs were clearly visible, like a walking skeleton wandering in the dark.

The boy looked terrified, both afraid Ji An would blame him and fearful of someone behind Ji An, his gaze flickering anxiously in that direction.

Ji An followed the boy's line of sight and only caught a glimpse of a similarly ragged, emaciated figure scurrying away—likely an adult homeless man from the area.

Seeing the adult homeless man flee, the boy seemed to breathe a visible sigh of relief, finally focusing entirely on Ji An.

His extreme thinness made his eyes grotesquely large and protruding, like the big-eyed gray aliens from sci-fi movies. When he stared fixedly, it was downright creepy.

"Sorry, sirs," the boy said earnestly, bowing deeply to Ji An and Gu Jinsheng, his nose nearly touching his toes, as if afraid that even the slightest lapse in humility would invite punishment.

"I didn't mean to. I was being chased and didn't see you two."

Ji An wasn't a saint, but seeing such a young child already broken by hardship twisted his gut.

He stepped forward, intending to help the boy up, but instead frightened him into stumbling backward. The boy fell hard to the ground, not daring to run, hide, or even beg for mercy. He just curled up, trembling, waiting for the blows to come—as if this was something he had endured countless times, his body conditioned to expect it.

Fate seemed to have taught this child far too early what it meant to submit, to endure, to be as expendable as weeds.

Ji An's heart was lanced through with pain. The boy's trembling figure pierced through the haze of time, overlapping with the memory of another small, helpless child—just as gaunt, just as fearful, just as forsaken by fate, struggling desperately to survive in this cruel world.

Others simply lived; they fought just to survive—to make it to the next second, to see the next sunrise, to keep breathing their next wretched breath.

Ji An silently withdrew his hand and said nothing, simply retrieving a pack of compressed biscuits and a bottle of clean water from his inventory, offering them to the boy.

These rations were dense. If rationed, this small pack could last the child a few days.

The boy, still shielding his head, cautiously peeked through the gaps between his arms, slowly opening his eyes to see what was happening.

Under the twin moons, a pair of jade-like fingers, gleaming in the moonlight, held out two items—food!

The moment the boy realized what they were, he forgot everything—fear, panic—all he wanted was to eat. Even if the person before him was a devil crawling out of hell, it wouldn't matter.

He scrambled up with lightning speed, grabbing it like a starving animal.

But once he had it, instead of devouring it ravenously as Ji An expected, the boy dropped heavily to his knees and bowed so low his forehead hit the ground three times.

As if terrified Ji An might change his mind and take the food back, he shot off like an arrow, disappearing into the shadows.

It wasn't surprising the boy thought this way. After the apocalypse, survival was hard for everyone. People barely had enough for themselves, let alone spare sympathy for others.

Now, what was most common on the streets? Homeless people who couldn't afford food and hadn't awakened any superpowers—thicker than cockroaches. Or maybe even the cockroaches had starved to death.

"This is the west district, which has always had low crime rates. The grown homeless men and child beggars usually don't dare come here. I guess that little beggar fled here to escape pursuers." Gu Jinsheng's voice was flat and toneless, betraying no emotion.

Ji An nodded faintly. "Let's follow him."

Gu Jinsheng said nothing, silently walking beside Ji An, keeping him company through the night in silence.

The little boy's makeshift shelter was far from here, likely confirming Gu Jinsheng's suspicion that he had been chased by adult homeless men. They followed from night until dawn. As the first light of morning fell, the boy finally arrived at a crumbling shack with gaping holes in the roof.

The area swarmed with homeless people, all filthy and reeking, surrounded by flies and mosquitoes buzzing overhead. They didn’t even bother shooing them away—like corpses already dead.

But when they saw the little boy returning with food, they came alive like the undead, frantically pouncing on him and snatching everything from his hands.

The boy fought back desperately but was punched to the ground by a grown homeless man, blackening one eye. It took him a while to get up, stumbling into the shack where several little beggars clustered together for warmth.

"Brother Little Stone, are you okay?" Another tattered, grimy, and skeletal little beggar rushed over, checking him from head to toe. Only after confirming he wasn’t seriously hurt did he let out a relieved breath.

He didn’t blame him for not hiding the food in a safe place before calling them to eat. Instead, knowing it would be stolen, he still brought it back.

Little Stone said nothing, shaking his head at the approaching boy before joining the group of children huddled together.

Outside, the adult homeless paid no attention to them, too busy fighting chaotically over the scraps of food.

Little Stone slowly moved toward the center, where a little girl hovered near death, lying on the ground surrounded by the children. Using them as cover, he bent down and fed her the water he had kept in his mouth since entering, along with some softened biscuit crumbs.

Feeling the life-sustaining water, the girl’s dull eyes flared with sudden vitality—an astonishing brightness, as if that tiny sip was enough to keep her alive.

The surrounding children saw it but made no sound, showing no jealousy. Though they secretly swallowed their saliva in longing, their eyes shone with joy for the girl’s survival.

"Brother Little Stone, if Little Rose eats, she won’t die, right? She can keep living?" one beggar asked hopefully, as if Little Stone’s words were prophecy—if he nodded, Little Rose would truly survive.

The other little beggars also gazed at him expectantly. Under their pleading eyes, Little Stone nodded firmly.

"Yes, Little Rose will live."

Great!

If circumstances allowed, the little beggars would have laughed out loud and danced their clumsy, improvised dances.

Little Stone then pulled out a piece of compressed biscuit from his reeking shoe and shared it among the children.

"Eat quickly. Don’t talk."

The little beggars didn’t mind that it had been stored in his foul-smelling, long-unwashed shoe. They devoured it ravenously.

The scant biscuit, divided among them, gave each only a taste. Yet even that was enough to satisfy them.

Their will to survive was astounding, harder than weeds. With just a little food and water, they could last another day.

Little Stone broke off a few crumbs and carefully fed them to the little girl.

"I hid some water in our secret spot outside. Go one by one to drink, but don’t get caught," Little Stone whispered.

He had considered hiding the food and water, but the children who could move might eat—what about Little Rose, who couldn’t?

She needed to eat and drink. Even if he hid it, the homeless would find out. Knowing she was near death, they’d watch him relentlessly, expecting him to return with food.

So he sacrificed a small share, letting the homeless fight over it while he fed Little Rose unnoticed.

The children obeyed, sneaking out one by one to drink. But they were too young—despite their caution, the far more cunning adult homeless caught on to their scheme.

One homeless man grabbed the motionless Little Rose and snarled, "Tell me! Did you hide more outside? Where is it? Speak, or I’ll strangle her!"

The old homeless looked positively demonic, terrifying the little beggars, who shook and clustered behind Little Stone in fear.

Little Stone felt no fear—he only hated being too small and weak, helpless to intervene even if it cost him his life.