Chapter 56 Reunion

Chapter 56: Reunion with an Old Acquaintance

"My dad just went to play chess," he gestured vaguely...

The servers ahead were a blur of motion, yet the line showed no signs of shrinking. Oliver stood on his tiptoes for a better look, groaning, "Ugh, how did the line get so long just from me looking away for a second?"

Kahn asked, "Are you very hungry? I have some snacks in my pocket. Want something to tide you over?"

"Yes!"

"No need."

Two voices answered simultaneously. Kahn looked back, confused. "Who are you?"

Kahn glanced down at him and asked, "Where are your parents?"

The little boy casually rubbed the back of his head, replying briefly, "They're gone." Yet, there wasn't a trace of sadness on his face.

Oliver watched him warily, sensing something off about the boy. He subtly tugged at Kahn's sleeve, shaking his head slightly.

Though Oliver's movement was subtle, the boy noticed. Unbothered, he crouched down and resumed doodling on the ground with a stone, just as before.

Kahn studied him for a moment longer, then crouched down to meet the boy at eye level. "I only have these compressed biscuits."

The boy looked up, surprised. "For me?"

Kahn nodded and handed him two packs of biscuits.

As if afraid Kahn would change his mind, the boy quickly snatched the biscuits and stuffed them into his pocket.

Seeing this, Oliver didn't try to stop him but asked curiously, "Aren't you going to eat them now?"

Perhaps holding a grudge over Oliver's earlier behavior, the boy remained silent.

Oliver let out an exasperated laugh. "Hey, you little guy, quite the temper you've got."

Kahn chuckled and stood up, moving forward with the line.

But Oliver was now determined to tease the boy. He swapped places with Kahn, hoisted the boy up, and asked, "What's your name?"

The boy irritably shook off Oliver's hand, refusing to cooperate. "No name."

"No name? How about I give you one?" Oliver rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Little Monkey—how about that?" Oliver clapped his hands, thinking himself a genius. "Look at you, skinny as a rail and full of mischief. Your English name could even be Monkey!"

"You're the monkey!" The boy flushed red with anger.

Oliver felt pleased. "I actually was born in the Year of the Monkey."

The boy was speechless with frustration. Amused, Kahn stepped back between them and said to Oliver, "Don't bully the kid."

Seeing he had backup, the boy immediately gained confidence, peeking out from behind Kahn and making a so-called internationally friendly gesture at Oliver from his blind spot.

Oliver exclaimed, "Holy crap, Kahn, look at him!"

Kahn turned to look, only to see the boy with his hands behind his back, nervously twisting his clothes—a perfect picture of playing innocent.

Oliver was astounded. "Shit..."

Kahn frowned at him disapprovingly. "Don't swear in front of a child."

Oliver: "..." White Squad, Chen the Fool, Young Master Gu, where are you guys? I miss you so much T_T

After mediating between the two, Kahn crossed his arms and quietly waited for the line to move.

Then, the boy suddenly tugged at his sleeve. "Bro, my name is Mo Mo."

Kahn was surprised but still greeted him kindly. "Nice to meet you, Mo Mo. I'm Kahn."

Oliver slung an arm over Kahn's shoulder and joined in. "Mo Mo, I'm Oliver, but I still think Little Monkey suits you better."

Mo Mo didn't respond, just rolled his eyes at him.

Perhaps it's in a child's nature to not sit still. Mo Mo curiously examined the ID cards on Kahn and Oliver's chests and asked, "Are you new here?"

Kahn replied, "Oh? How can you tell?"

Mo Mo pointed at their cards. "Because they've only filled up to the twelfth floor right now."

Kahn nodded in understanding and asked another question. "Besides mealtimes, does everyone usually stay in their rooms?"

Mo Mo sighed gloomily. "More like we're locked inside." He continued, "Meal times are fixed: 8 a.m., 12 p.m., and now, 6 p.m. They ring a bell each time, and after getting food, we have an hour and a half to be outside."

At this, Mo Mo's eyes lit up. "It gets really lively during free time!"

Kahn thought it sounded not too bad—six hours each day to get some fresh air. Then he brought up another topic of interest. "Can the people from the other area not come out?" Aside from a few who were pulled out to help, the rest in D Block were still locked in their rooms.

"They're bad people! Evil! They deserve to be locked up." Mo Mo's thick, caterpillar-like eyebrows furrowed tightly in disgust.

Kahn was surprised by how emotional the boy was. "Do you usually argue with them a lot?"

Perhaps their conversation struck a chord with others nearby. A woman in a floral dress seamlessly joined in. "Who wants to argue with them? They're the ones picking fights. At first, everyone stayed in their own rooms, minding our own business—it was perfectly peaceful and harmonious. But then those jerks started blaming us because they can't come out and are stuck in their rooms all day..."

"Damn, this pisses me off. They have no one to blame but themselves for being locked up. If they'd followed the rules, they wouldn't be in there. Instead, they blame us and cause trouble every time we head back to our rooms. My head is buzzing from all the noise," a man in a jacket added.

"Exactly! And most of us escaped from hordes of zombies. They haven't even seen a single zombie—they're lucky and don't even appreciate it," a woman said, exasperated.

"They should be sent out to fight zombies!" the floral-dress woman said indignantly.

"Hey, haven't you heard? I think some people from D Block really were taken to fight zombies," a young woman chimed in, her gossip instincts ignited.

"Oho, I heard that too. But apparently, they weren't forced—they were recruited. Volunteers can apply for reduced sentences, I think," a young man offered his intel.

"At a time like this, who cares about reducing sentences? Staying here at least guarantees safety. Going out might turn a prison term into a death sentence."

"Ignorance is bliss. They haven't experienced what we have—they don't know how dangerous it is outside. They probably think it's no big deal."

"Now that you mention it, it makes sense. Since they can't recruit from our block, they go to theirs. The higher-ups are really clever."

More and more people joined the discussion, gradually forming a tight, unbreakable circle within the winding snake-like queue. Kahn and Oliver stood at the center, exchanging helpless looks. Meanwhile, little Mo Mo, nimble as ever, slipped out of the circle and, following the path cleared by those ahead, made his way to the front of the line.

Oliver managed to whisper, "I suspect they rushed down to queue not for the food, but to chat with others sooner."

Kahn looked on the bright side. "But we gained a lot of information, didn't we?"

"Not that it's much use to us," Oliver shrugged, resigned, then glanced toward where Mo Mo had disappeared. "That little rascal slipped away fast."

It wasn't until they reached the front that the chattering group finally quieted down. Seeing an opening in the circle, Kahn and Oliver eagerly leaped out like stranded fish returning to the sea.

As the two stepped forward, the aunt swiftly thrust a gleaming metal tray at them. Before they could react, several tattooed guys quickly scooped them stir-fried Shanghai bok choy, sweet and sour pork with lychee, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a solid portion of steamed rice, and a steaming bowl of seaweed egg drop soup.

The entire process took less than two minutes. Once done, the men yelled out, "Quick, quick, next!"

Oliver and Kahn, caught up in the tense and hurried atmosphere, automatically held their trays and moved aside quickly to make room for those still waiting in line.

They found a place not far away, set their trays on the ground, and sat down, patting their chests to calm their racing hearts.

Oliver said in a daze, "For a moment there, I thought I was back in college." Fortunately, there was no need to order here—otherwise, he would have had to crane his neck from ten meters away to see what dishes were available, decide on his choices before his turn, and quickly and accurately point them out to the aunt the moment he stood before her. Failing that, he would face the aunt’s sharp look and the silent pressure from the students behind him.

Kahn, who had never experienced such a scene before, remarked with excitement, "So thrilling."

Oliver replied, "Well, you’ll get to experience it every day from now on."

As the two chatted while eating, neither noticed a young man standing not far away, eyeing them strangely—or more precisely, eyeing Kahn.

"Are you... Kahn?" the young man hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to ask.

Kahn looked up at the handsome, well-built young man in front of him and asked, confused, "You are...?"

Oliver watched warily. With their captain absent, he had to keep a close eye on Kahn for him.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, I thought I’d mistaken you for someone else. I’m Shi Mingshan, Bai Suizhi’s roommate."

Hearing this, Kahn stood up and stared at Shi Mingshan for a moment. "I remember you."

Shi Mingshan smiled. "You left a deep impression on me. Actually, I recognized you at first glance just now—just didn’t dare to confirm it." He then glanced around and asked worriedly, "Where’s Suizhi? Isn’t he with you?"

Kahn replied, "He’s here, but he’s in another zone."

Oliver introduced himself proactively, "Hi, I’m Oliver. I happened to run into Bai and Kahn on the way and came here with them."

Shi Mingshan said, "Hey, I’m Shi Mingshan, Bai Suizhi’s roommate and Kahn’s video chat friend."

"Video chat friend?" Kahn asked, puzzled.

"We’ve video-called before, so we’re video chat friends," Shi Mingshan said playfully, winking.

Oliver found this unexpectedly funny. He let out a chuckle, then put on a serious face, clenched his fist as if holding a microphone, and asked Shi Mingshan, "So, Student Shi, how does our Kahn compare in person to how he looks on video?"

Shi Mingshan also played along seriously, saying in a deep voice, "Hmm... a hundred times more beautiful!"

Oliver moved the "microphone" in front of Kahn, keeping a straight face as he asked, "Student Kahn, how does our Student Shi Mingshan compare in person to how he looks on video?"

Kahn, who had never been asked such a question before, didn’t know how to respond and simply reused Shi Mingshan’s answer. "Very handsome, a hundred times better than on video."

Oliver's eyes lit up as he asked, "Then who’s better-looking, him or Bai?"

Shi Mingshan instantly caught Oliver’s meaning and struck a dramatic pose, saying, "It’s fine, Kahn, you can say it."

Kahn looked down awkwardly. After a long pause, he murmured, "He’s better-looking..."

Oliver chuckled mischievously, "Hehehe..."

Shi Mingshan started fake-crying, "Wuwuwu..."

Kahn ignored the two clowns and sat down to eat by himself. If not for the slight blush on the tips of his ears, no one would have noticed that he was flustered.

Shi Mingshan and Oliver also sat down and began chatting about random things.

"How come you two arrived so late?" Shi Mingshan asked.

Oliver sighed, "Ah, it’s a long story."

Shi Mingshan said, "I’m all ears."

...

Shi Mingshan picked his jaw up off the floor and said with difficulty, "You... you two..."

Oliver shrugged, "I know we’re unlucky."

Kahn glanced at Oliver, who, understanding his look, blinked pitifully at him: Don’t expose my terrible luck.

Kahn averted his gaze and casually took a sip of the egg drop soup.

Oliver said, "Enough about us. What about you?"

Shi Mingshan replied, "There’s not much to say about me. Although our neighborhood is run-down, we managed to hold on until the rescue team arrived. By the way, my dad just went to play chess." He pointed in one direction, then added, "My mom is over there doing square dance." He pointed in another direction.

It was then that Kahn and Oliver noticed the scene and atmosphere around them had undergone a dramatic change.