Chapter 60

Chapter 60

To the little prince he had killed, a name seemed more important than anything else.

241 didn't share that feeling. What mattered most to him now was his home. And home was just like this.

But even though he felt that way, 241 couldn't help himself. Watching 242 repeatedly recite his new name until his pronunciation grew smoother and smoother, he pursed his lips, his feet itching to kick something.

He felt like he suddenly understood why, back when they went to the sand dunes together, 242 had gotten so angry over a flower that he stomped his feet.

He watched as 242, after repeatedly reciting his own name, got their little brother to look up at the sky with him.

“*Xi Mu* is a star,” 242 said, pointing to the brightest little star in the sky.

Then, shifting his finger slightly, he pointed to the star closest to that little star and confidently declared, “That one is *Ju Zi*.”

*Xi Mu* originates from the ancient twelve Asterisms of China, commonly found in Eastern astrology.

At the time of a person’s birth, the positions of the Asterisms along the ecliptic, in order, are Star Chronology, *Xuan Xiao*, *Ju Zi*, *Jiang Lou*, Great Beam, Actual Depth, Quail Head, Quail Tail, Longevity Star, Great Fire, and *Xi Mu*.

Because it was the origin of his name, Su Ximu remembered it clearly.

Incidentally, the little one, who still couldn't read many characters, also memorized the names of a few other little stars after several rounds of repetition.

He didn’t quite understand the specific concept of Asterisms, so he simply remembered them all as little stars.

So, when his older brother pointed to a star in the sky and said it was *Ju Zi*, the little one made an effort to recall and confidently nodded, “Yeah, that should be it.”

Nearby, 243 watched as his second brother and younger brother chatted back and forth, working himself into a sweat. He couldn’t figure out why his younger brother suddenly wanted to go to the sky with their second brother to become stars. Were they going without him?

243 was so frantic he started to stutter. He reached out to grab his younger brother’s hand, saying, “N-no, you can’t!”

You can’t go with just Second Brother and leave me behind!

After saying that, he added another hand, clamping onto his little brother's hand with both of his, afraid that his younger brother would immediately fly up and turn into a star.

At the same time, because his speech had suddenly become stuttered, his face and neck flushed red, and he nearly burst into tears.

Finally, he managed to spit out a complete sentence: “D-do you have to go? T-take me! I’ll go with you. I’ll go anywhere!”

“M-me too, I’m a star too!”

243 declared himself a star and immediately looked up to find his own spot in the sky.

He wasn’t very pleased that the star closest to his younger brother had already been taken by Second Brother.

He turned to ask Second Brother to give him that star, but Second Brother ignored him and tapped him on the head.

He had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, randomly picking one of the two stars that were only slightly farther away than Second Brother’s.

After making his choice, 243 immediately turned his head and looked at his younger brother expectantly: “Wh-what’s that one called?”

Because of Third Brother’s earnest and urgent attitude, Su Ximu, who had already started trying hard to remember, suddenly felt himself being lifted higher.

His eldest brother picked him up and brought him closer to the stars.

There were two stars there, and coincidentally, Su Ximu came up with two names.

Under the night sky, with one arm wrapped around his eldest brother’s neck, he extended his other little hand and traced the strokes of the names in the air.

One was called *Xuan Xiao*.

The other was called *Jiang Lou*.

*Xuan Xiao*, *Ju Zi*, *Jiang Lou*, *Xi Mu*.

Just by their names, they sounded like a family.

In a clearing where the number of sheet-metal houses was slightly fewer, a teenager who was just starting to grow into his frame held a child in his arms, while two slightly older children stood on either side.

They looked up, observing the sky more carefully than they ever had before.

Su Juzi opened his hand, and a palm-sized transparent orb floated in his palm.

Inside the orb, a faint, miniature version of the scene appeared.

“Brother, what is this?”

Su Juzi looked down at the transparent orb in his hand, sensed it for a moment, and replied, “It’s a dream.”

It was a dream that lay between illusion and reality.

When reality shatters, it can become a dream.

When there are more people in a dream, it can become reality.

He wanted to preserve this moment forever, in the form of a dream.

Because the best reality was right beside him.

***

241, 242, and 243, who had officially changed their names to Su Xuanxiao, Su Juzi, and Su Jianglou, had all recently gotten into the habit of going out at night to look at the stars.

Unfortunately, the pollution in the wasteland world was too severe, and it wasn’t until three months later that they once again saw scattered points of light appear in the night sky.

Su Jianglou was still hung up on the transparent orb Second Brother had been holding that day and wanted it for himself. But after sneaking around the house looking for it for several days, he couldn’t find where Second Brother had hidden it.

In the end, his eldest brother told him that Second Brother had taken the orb back, and it couldn’t be found at home.

Su Jianglou gave up, though reluctantly.

Fortunately, something soon happened that made him very happy. According to Xi Bao, his birthday was coming up.

His birthday was something Xi Bao had seen on the shackles around his wrist, where his date of birth was engraved.

After that, Su Jianglou also checked his eldest and second brothers' shackles.

On the second day after his eldest brother returned, when he went to school, the teacher had put the shackles back on him.

According to the dates, his birthday would come next, followed by his eldest brother’s, while Second Brother’s birthday was still far off.

This made Su Jianglou happy enough that he even boasted to Second Brother that his birthday would come first!

Although Second Brother didn’t show it on the surface, Su Jianglou felt that Second Brother was irritated.

Su Jianglou’s intuition was right. While Su Juzi hadn't cared at first, his attitude changed after Third Brother happily celebrated his birthday, ate cake, and received a gift made of small stones from Xi Bao, and then Eldest Brother also celebrated his birthday, ate cake, and received a gift...

Third Brother's and Eldest Brother's birthdays were close together, but he himself had no birthday, no cake, and no gift.

Su Juzi held back for a long time, resisting the urge to do something to his brothers' gifts. But he was really upset and anxious. At night, he ran outside alone, and his eyes turned red.

He couldn’t run too far because of the chains on him.

In the end, it was Su Ximu, who usually slept cuddled by his brother, who noticed something was wrong. He followed Su Juzi outside and spent a good while comforting him. He even brought out the birthday gift he had prepared for his brother in advance, which finally cheered him up.

***

In the strictly regulated environment of the 104 Education Center, time started to matter less and less.

According to the post-apocalyptic world’s calendar, after Su Juzi celebrated his very first birthday, the entire education center suddenly became much quieter.

Every day, people were taken away by the administrators, never to return.

Originally, according to the research institute’s plan, they had not intended to hastily deploy this batch of trainee hunters whose potential was still developing.

But the situation between worlds changed in the blink of an eye, taking the wasteland administrators by surprise.

They had initially believed that the suddenly appearing world, with its mysterious and bizarre powers, had been mapped to its boundaries and was a world they could conquer and consume.

Little did they know that the bizarre monsters they encountered were merely a small glimpse of that vast world!

At the cost of sacrificing several large districts, which became monster-infested zones, they managed to conquer a small corner of that world and wrongly assumed they'd conquered the entire world.

But when even more powerful monsters crossed the boundary's gray mist zone and arrived in that corner, they realized they had no way to fight back.

Districts 23, 26, and 12, which were adjacent to District 13, fell one after another, leaving District 13 almost an isolated island.

By this point, the administrators of District 13 had given up on their dreams of conquering a new world to gain longevity and perfect bodies. Their only desire now was a chance to continue living powerfully and respectably.

Fortunately, they saw a glimmer of hope.

Some intelligence they'd accidentally gathered by District 13’s management from that world revealed that one of the weird monsters that came through the gray mist possessed a reward item called the "Doomsday Travel Ship."

This item could carry people through the gaps between worlds in search of new opportunities.

The administrators of District 13 were desperate to get this item.

As for how to obtain it, they already had plenty of experience.

They simply needed to play a game with the monster—survive or defeat it—to have a chance of acquiring the "Doomsday Travel Ship."

To this end, District 13’s management frantically started throwing people at the monster’s territory.

If not for the monster’s game limiting the number of participants, they would have preferred to send everyone from all the education centers in District 13 at once to maximize their chances.

Due to the tense situation, the school at the 104 Education Center canceled classes.

If even after sending all the students from the education center, they still failed to obtain the item from the monster, the management would have no choice but to send people from the inner districts as well.

The inner districts, of course, included the teachers from the education centers.

By this time, the education center was nearly half empty. The teachers and administrators, anxious and fearful, no longer lingered there and had all returned home.

Su Xuanxiao and Su Juzi sensed danger in the air.

Su Ximu also felt that something was off and was a bit uneasy. However, being young, he was soon distracted by his third brother, who was home during the day for once, and they played together for a while, making him forget his unease.

Taking advantage of the few people outside, he and his third brother went to their grandfather’s house next door.

The old man had always lived alone, but more than a year later, the house now felt surprisingly lively.

The walls of the house were covered with cartoon animals drawn in white chalk.

Most of these were drawn by Su Ximu.

At first, the little one hadn’t intended to draw randomly at his grandfather’s house. His kindergarten teacher had taught him that it was impolite for children to scribble in other people’s homes.

Only once, when he happened to have a piece of white chalk in his pocket, he couldn’t resist drawing a little dog on the ground while talking to his grandfather. After finishing, he immediately tried to wipe it away.

To his surprise, his grandfather stopped him, picked him up, and encouraged him to draw freely on the wall.

His grandfather explained that drawings on the floor would easily get ruined when people walked over them.

Even though Su Ximu was a well-behaved child, being held by his grandfather and allowed to draw on the wall unleashed his innate love for doodling.

Over time, this creative release made the old man’s house a vibrant place.

With a little dog on the east wall, a cow on the west, groups of rabbits on the north, and two pigs on the south, the house was anything but lonely.