Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Waking up again in the handsome brother's arms the next day, the little one finally understood: his brother didn't dislike him at all; it was just that in the world of the dead, people didn't talk much.

Perhaps it was because they had become the dead. Su Ximu climbed out of his brother's embrace, lowered his head, and touched his stomach.

He felt as if he hadn't eaten in a very, very long time, yet he didn't feel hungry.

Ghosts probably didn't need to eat.

Since eating wasn't necessary, after waking and sitting alone for a while, the little one rubbed his eyes, then turned and crawled back beside his brother, lying down next to him.

"Brother, if you all don't talk and only I do, will it be annoying?" Su Ximu turned his head to look at the handsome brother, who was also awake, and continued, "If it's a little annoying, just tap me."

After waiting a moment and receiving no further action from his brother, he felt reassured and turned his little head back.

"Then I'll talk, okay?"

"Brother, what are your names?"

"My name is Su Ximu. This 'Su'." The little one extended a tender finger and traced the character in the air.

"Xi Mu—Grandma said it means 'stars'."

So when Grandma used his nickname, she sometimes called him Xi Bao, or sometimes Star Baby.

Thinking of Grandma, Su Ximu grew sad again.

"Grandma must be so sad to know I'm dead!"

"Brother, are you, Big Brother, and Little Brother from the same parents?"

Did Big Brother, Brother, and Little Brother all die together?

In the past, aside from meals, cleansings, and gathering, the entire residential area was eerily quiet. Because of the smog, there wasn't even the sound of birds or insects.

Now, suddenly, there was this little one—warm, insecure, and constantly pressing close to others, babbling softly, saying who-knew-what.

The other three people in the room weren't actually annoyed.

On the third night, when the little one fluttered his long, thick eyelashes and said goodnight to everyone, 243 even turned his head for the first time to look at this child who had instinctively snuggled into his second brother’s arms.

At night, perhaps due to their close proximity, the heartbeats of 242 and the child in his arms began to synchronize.

***

In the days that followed, time passed.

Life in District 13 was as still as stagnant water, but for Su Ximu, a newcomer, there were still plenty of novelties to explore.

At first, he didn’t dare to venture far, only exploring around the metal house after telling his handsome brother.

But as time went on, he discovered that, aside from their reluctance to speak, the people here weren’t fierce and wouldn’t scold or hit him.

Gradually, the little one grew a little bolder.

When he had spent too long in the small house, he would go out for a walk.

Since his location was actually on the edge of the residential area, one day, Su Ximu, exploring with tiny steps, finally reached the end of the residential area.

There stood a very, very tall steel wall.

Weathered by years of smog and occasional acid rain, the wall was unsightly, pitted and rusty.

The little one strained his neck, finally seeing the top of the wall.

He ran to the wall, measured himself against it with his hand, and slightly opened his mouth.

This wall was very, very tall—perhaps... a hundred of him!

In the mind of a child who was still two months shy of his fifth birthday, a hundred was an enormous number.

After his seemingly professional assessment of the wall's height, Su Ximu wanted to see how far the wall extended.

Only when he looked into the distance did he realize that, compared to its height, which at least had a visible end, the wall's width was truly boundless.

Beyond a certain point, the rest of the wall vanished into the smog.

After lingering a little longer by his newly discovered wall, he turned to head home.

That night, the little one, who loved chatting with his brothers every evening, had a new topic.

He asked curiously, "Brother, why is there such a tall, big wall there?"

"I heard laughter from over there. Brother, why don't you laugh?"

Receiving no answer, Su Ximu began to ponder on his own.

At one point, he thought perhaps the wall served to separate those who laughed from those who didn't.

At another, he thought maybe something very happy had happened on the other side of the wall that day, which made everyone laugh.

As he chattered, he suddenly noticed the little brother lying beside him turning over, then turning again.

Hearing the movement, the child was immediately distracted, blinking his bright, wide eyes as he looked toward the little brother.

Before going to sleep in the past, he had never heard anyone turn over.

243 seemed restless before bed tonight.

After all, people aren't inanimate objects.

Even if their thoughts were muddled, even penned livestock, when truly upset, would kick at the dirt under their hooves.

After turning over, 243 rubbed his left arm against the ground.

Then he turned over again, just in time to meet the curious, bright, dark eyes of the little one beside him.

Su Ximu was a very helpful child.

Noticing the little brother's unusual behavior, he proactively crawled out of his brother's arms, moved over to the little brother, and asked, "Little Brother, did a bug bite your arm?"

"Let me scratch it for you~"

With that, he reached out and touched the little brother's arm, which was still rubbing against the ground.

243’s arm trembled and stilled.

Then he closed his eyes, as if avoiding something.

Su Ximu thought Little Brother was agreeing, so he reached out, pushed up Little Brother's slightly oversized sleeve, placed his other hand on it, and prepared to scratch the itch.

But after just a couple of scratches, he leaned in curiously for a closer look.

On Little Brother's arm, which was only about half again as long as his own, there was a row of neatly aligned square scars.

He didn't know how severe an injury it would take to leave such raised scars.

He lowered his head and rolled up his own sleeve.

He had fallen when he was little too, scraping his hand until it bled, and it hurt so much.

Su Ximu tried hard to recall, almost feeling the pain again, but the exposed section of his fair, tender arm, like a lotus root, showed no trace of any scar.

Now, the little one stopped scratching and instead lay there, puffing soft breaths gently on Little Brother's arm, soothing him as he blew: "Doesn't hurt."

"Baby be good… good baby…"

"Blow on it and it won't hurt anymore."

The scarred area on 243's arm, rubbed until it felt warm and swollen, actually started to feel better after being blown on several times.

Gradually, he stopped tossing and turning restlessly. In this somewhat awkward position, he gazed at the child still diligently puffing on his arm, his eyes dazed for a moment, and soon after, he closed them and truly fell asleep.

Nearby, 242 and 241, who actually hadn't been asleep all along, saw this and also scratched their arms.

***

A few hours later, while the sky was still heavily overcast, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded outside.

Then, clattering, clattering—the incessant sound of chains dragging as residents moved about.

When Su Ximu was awakened by the noise, he found that all three of his brothers at home were already up.

They were cleaning their teeth with white sand that looked like salt, then using the same sand to wipe their faces.

They had even changed their clothes, switching into loose, oversized white outfits.

Seeing his brothers like this and hearing the noise outside, the little one stood up, pressed against the door, and peered out through the crack.

He noticed that the people outside were dressed just like his brothers.

Encountering a group activity for the first time, he scampered over to his brother, lifted his little face, and asked, "Brother, what is everyone going to do? Can I go too?"

"Why don't I have the same white clothes as everyone else?"

After saying this, the little one spread his arms and spun around, indicating that he didn't have that wide-sleeved, sheet-like white outfit.

242 didn't say a word.

But after a moment, he made a rare proactive response these days.

Before heading out, he reached out a finger, pressed it against the forehead of the little one who wanted to go out with them, and pushed him back into the small room.

Su Ximu touched his forehead, not understanding, smiled at his brother, and then raised his foot to try to hold hands.

But he was pushed back again with a finger to his forehead.

This time, after being pushed back, when he looked up, all he saw was the door slamming shut with a snap.

Now he understood.

His Brother, Big Brother, and Little Brother were going out together, but without him.

The rejected little one pursed his lips somewhat dejectedly, walked to the corner, and crouched down, like an obedient but gloomy little mushroom.

This wait lasted almost the entire day.

In the evening, the brothers who had left very early finally returned home.

Having stayed home alone all day but not really holding a grudge, little Su Ximu perked up his ears and immediately ran toward the door.

The first to enter was Big Brother, then Little Brother, and finally Brother, who closed the door behind him.

Big Brother and Brother showed no obvious signs, but Little Brother circled the room several times.

After that, Little Brother looked at his arm and then sat down, pounding his hand against the wall.

He seemed to be in a worse mood than yesterday.

At one point, Su Ximu felt like Little Brother glanced at him.

So, he actively walked over, sat down imitating Little Brother's posture, looked at Little Brother's arm, and had a sudden idea.

He lifted Little Brother's arm as he had done yesterday and pushed up the sleeve.

Just as he was about to scratch and blow on it like before, his eyes suddenly widened.

On the arm that already had many scars, a new square wound had been added.

The wound was deep, as if a small piece of flesh had been directly gouged out.

Normally, a wound this large wouldn't stop bleeding for a while, but it must have been treated—the fresh wound was charred black.

Aside from a small amount of tissue fluid seeping out, there was no blood.

The younger the child, the less concept they have of bloody scenes.

Su Ximu didn't find the wound scary, but he seemed at a loss.

He felt that such a wound must hurt terribly, terribly badly.

As if thinking of something, he immediately stood up, ran over to his Brother, and pushed up his sleeve to look.

On the arm covered by the sleeve was an identical wound.

Brother's arm also had many such scars, even more than Little Brother's.

After checking Brother, he didn't leave out Big Brother.

Similarly, Big Brother's arm also had a wound.

The little one puckered his lips, suddenly turned, hugged his Brother around the waist, and burst into sad tears.

He knew why his Brother had left him at home today.

Because this group activity was bad—those who went would get hurt.