Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Humans are highly imitative creatures.

Their previous numbness, their apparent obliviousness to any external changes, stemmed from everyone around them behaving the same way.

Now, in the once-silent house, a new presence had emerged: a little clingy bundle who cried, laughed, and needed to be held to sleep every day. While 242 didn't immediately adopt these behaviors, his calm pond was nonetheless stirred.

He didn't understand what was happening to him, but he simply felt uncomfortable, uneasy. This discomfort was unlike the pain of an injured arm, leaving him somewhat at a loss. He wanted to silently endure it as before, yet he couldn't resist stomping harder on the pebble beneath his foot.

It wasn't until his own little yellow flower was handed to him that this uncomfortable feeling strangely subsided significantly, leaving only a faint trace.

242 lifted his foot, releasing the pebble, and gently touched the petals of the flower in his hand.

The delicate yellow petals trembled lightly at his touch, causing the stamens to quiver as well.

In the past, even if he had trampled countless such flowers, 242 wouldn't have cared.

Or rather, he wouldn't have even noticed these flowers at all.

Just as in the many years gone by, he had never known that, besides the dull, gray metal houses in the city, such colors existed.

As the flower trembled under his touch, 242 withdrew his hand and didn't touch it again.

243, holding the second flower he had ever received, took the hand of his younger brother, who had given him the flower, and ran back up the small sand dune.

Wanting to fit in with his older brothers, Su Ximu, after distributing three flowers, also ran off to pick one for himself.

Now, just like his older brother, he held a flower in one hand, and the two of them sat side by side on the sand dune.

Fearing that his eldest brother and second brother might be dragged down the dune again by the little one, the small child specifically got up again before joining his older brother on the slide. He took the hands of his eldest brother and second brother, making them sit down too.

After settling his eldest and second brothers, Su Ximu returned to his original spot. Noticing his older brother's gaze, he immediately nodded, pointed forward with his small hand, and declared, "Let's charge!"

The next moment, 243 pushed off with his feet, sliding down at a speed that nearly caused friction burns on his bottom.

241 remained as steady as a mountain, carried along by the force, but at least he didn't tumble this time.

As 242 slid, he noticed the flower in his hand trembling again and slowly raised his other hand to shield it from the oncoming wind.

In contrast, Su Ximu, the child responsible for giving the command, ended up last. He slid down leisurely and, without any extra push, even came to a stop halfway down.

The little guy awkwardly stood up, cleared his throat lightly, and pretended nothing had happened.

However, the next time they slid, he noticed that his older brother had also precisely stopped halfway down the sand dune.

Perhaps because he had never experienced any form of entertainment before, even a simple sand dune to slide down was enough to keep 243 endlessly entertained.

The intense running up and down made his heart pound violently. By the end, as he slid down the dune, gasping for breath, he suddenly let out a shout: "Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ah ah!"

It was as if an excess of joy had accumulated in his chest, making him dizzy and unsure how to release it, so he could only shout instinctively.

They played like this until mid-afternoon naptime. 243 still seemed very reluctant to leave, even lying down on the ground as if he intended to take his nap right there.

Unfortunately, he didn't succeed.

He could drag his two brothers out with him.

Similarly, if his eldest brother wanted to drag him somewhere, he couldn't resist either.

241's biological clock was very fixed by now. At this time, he felt they absolutely had to take their nap.

As energetic as 243 had been when they went out, he was just as disheveled when dragged back.

He whined and resisted, sitting on the ground, and when pushed to the brink, he even managed to say a few words: "No! No!"

But the result of his protest was only being dragged along the ground by his eldest brother, leaving a long trail in the sand behind him.

Seeing his older brother like this, Su Ximu pursed his lips and very dutifully ran up to take his brother’s hand.

He had to go home too, for naptime.

***

This kind of joyful activity had many, many advantages.

At the very least, the next day when 243 wanted to go out again, he no longer had to drag his two brothers along.

But such activities also had a hard-to-ignore downside.

They were very physically demanding.

District 13 regulations stated that residents could only go to the feeding tube once every two days to get half-full.

The administrators would never allow the residents under their jurisdiction to eat their fill, because according to past experience, residents who were completely full were always harder to manage.

With sufficient energy, they might start wanting more and even attempt to think.

Thinking—what a terrifying word. It was something only certain people were allowed to possess.

So, under these circumstances, by the time they could go to the feeding tube again for replenishment, everyone in the family except Su Ximu was already starving, dizzy with hunger and feeling weak in the legs.

Even so, that morning, 243 still wanted to try going out to play.

But the moment he stepped outside, he collapsed onto the ground.

He had been the most active over the past two days, so naturally, his legs gave out the fastest.

243, not understanding why, insisted on crawling to the sand dune to play with his younger brother: "Go, go…"

It was Su Ximu, the child younger than him, who crouched down, waving his hand to coax him: "No, no."

"Little brother, stomach, hungry." After saying this, worried that his older brother still wouldn't understand, he rubbed his own stomach and gestured.

He had come to realize that his brothers seemed different from him.

For example, he didn’t have long chains on his wrists. For example, his brothers couldn’t simply walk through walls. And also, his brothers needed to eat to avoid hunger.

Su Ximu only knew that his brothers also had to go out together to eat every time.

Once, he had wanted to follow them to see, but his brother probably thought it was right to have pushed him back by the forehead last time and not let him go out. So afterward, no matter what group activity it was, they never allowed him to accompany them.

Last week, when his brothers went to take baths, they didn’t take him either.

Seeing his younger brother rub his stomach, 243 also rubbed his own. Despite feeling the undeniable hunger, he still felt that going to the sand dune was more important and stubbornly kept looking in that direction.

It was only because his younger brother had said no that he didn't make a move.

However, 242 showed a rare thoughtful expression in his eyes.

Before heading out, he still gently pressed his forehead against the little one's and slowly pushed him back into the room.

The push from his brother was so light that Su Ximu didn’t feel any pain at all. By now, he had almost come to see it as his brother’s usual way of saying goodbye before leaving.

It was just like waving.

After settling the youngest brother, the three older brothers started walking again toward the feeding tube.

The feeding tube in District 13 looked, at first glance, like another large chimney.

Thick pipes dispensed a white paste, which was evenly distributed into rows of horizontal troughs.

Under each trough was a foot pedal—stepping on it would release a portion of food.

Across the vast area, aside from the residents coming to eat, there was only one administrator in charge of supervision.

Yet even with just one administrator patrolling occasionally among the troughs, order was impeccably maintained among the crowd.

It was like a flock of docile sheep and a sheepdog.

Even if just two or three sheep banded together, they could easily trample a lone sheepdog to death.

But no sheep ever chose to do so.

They were born to be controlled by the sheepdog.

241 led his brothers in a long queue until his steps grew unsteady, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Finally, a spot became available at one of the troughs.

241 stepped up to the trough, stepped on the pedal, and his portion of paste was dispensed. He immediately lowered his head and began eating hungrily.

When he finished, it was 242’s turn.

The boy stood before the trough for a moment, but unlike every time before, he didn't immediately bury his head in the trough to eat.

Instead, he glanced ahead first, then bent down and pulled a small bucket from under his loose robe. Quickly, he stepped on the pedal.

The white paste flowing from the feeding tube—barely qualifying as nutrient fluid—was collected in the small bucket before it could even reach the trough.

Once the bucket was filled, 242 hid it back under his robe and stepped on the pedal again.

It was a simple action, yet it felt almost like a great discovery and innovation.

The next moment, the trough was refilled with white nutrient fluid.

242 lowered his head and began to eat.

When he finished, it was 243’s turn to eat.

Just then, the administrator passed behind the three brothers. 242 remained expressionless, not even flinching.

The administrator’s footsteps didn’t pause in the slightest.

241’s eyes flickered slightly as he watched the administrator return. He casually draped his sleeve over the corner of the bucket that was peeking out.

243 noticed his brother’s action too, but he stayed silent.

Just like that, the three brothers smuggled out a whole small bucket of nutrient fluid from the feeding area.

Back home, after closing the door, they saw the little one, who had come running at the sound of their return just like always. 242 took out the small bucket he had hidden under his wide sleeve and placed it in front of the little one. Then he reached out and patted his stomach.

"Brother, what’s this?" The little boy blinked curiously.

243 already understood the meaning of the word.

He pushed the small bucket forward, patted his own half-full stomach, and said two words: "Hungry. Eat!"

Su Ximu understood now.

So this was what his brothers went out to eat every time.

Even though he didn’t need to eat and never felt hungry, the sight of real food in front of him made the little one restless with curiosity.

But how was he supposed to eat such a big bucket of it?

The little one looked left and right but couldn’t find any utensils like a spoon.

His older brother repeated, "Eat."

With no other choice, Su Ximu leaned his little face close to the bucket and tried slurping a mouthful.

Hmm…

This taste…

The little one shuddered as he forced the mouthful of nutrient fluid down. He hugged his brother’s waist and felt like crying again.

He knew it—this world really was full of big bad guys!

Even the food they made was so… awful-tasting!