Chapter Ch129.1 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (8.1)

translator: baumkuchen editors: glitterypanda, serefina

Ding Qiuyun had learned emergency first-aid in the army, and Chi Xiaochi had worked as a nurse for a time in the previous world. With both sides supporting each other, they were more than capable of saving a feverish child.

The medicine was soon fed into the child’s mouth. Still worried about it not being enough, Chi Xiaochi even grabbed a bottle of strong liquor and wiped it all over the child, to physically lower his temperature.

By the time he was done, it was already daylight.

……But it wasn’t completely bright.

Thick fog covered the land, and everything was covered in a layer of fine frost. The land and sky were a uniform white. The mist was almost physical. Every time they took a breath, their lungs felt like they were being filled with ice cold droplets of water, making their bodies feel numb all over.

Mother Ding was, after all, getting old, and she’d spent half the night on the road. She was truly too sleepy, falling asleep in the back seat of the car.

While she was sleeping, Father Ding loosened the front of her anti-cold clothing so she could lie down more comfortably, and draped the thickest coat he could find over her.

Mother Ding was roused slightly by the sudden increase in warmth. Just as she was about to say something, Father Ding covered her eyes. “Sleep.”

Mother Ding shifted closer to Father Ding’s side, saying sleepily, “……Half.”

After being together for so many years, the two could understand what each other meant even with just a single word with nothing preceding or following it.

Father Ding negotiated with Mother Ding, “Listen to me. If we each share half, it won’t be enough to cover either of us.”

Mother Ding flipped over, wrapping her arms around Father Ding’s neck in a natural and practised movement.

She said, “If it’s like this, it’ll be enough.”

Father Ding, being hugged by his wife, smiled, and pulled one third of the coat draped over her body over himself. “En, it’s enough.”

The two elders slept in the car, while the new human little girl He Wanwan slipped out of the car to get some fresh air. Yan Lanlan, afraid that she’d run off and get lost, followed her out.

On the way here, everyone had found out about He Wanwan’s identity.

When she was four, she had been diagnosed with blood cancer. She’d died 30 days ago, and resurrected 29 days ago. Hence, there weren’t any huge changes to her appearance, with only a bit of discoloration from livor mortis on her arms and neck.

The Ding parents naturally felt pity for this little girl. Yan Lanlan didn’t mind her either, even trying to coax He Wanwan to talk the entire way there.

It was a pity that Wanwan had a reserved personality, and had just suffered the pain of her father’s death. Other than to explain her family background, and discussing whether the little baby leopard was a cat or a dog with Yan Lanlan, she didn’t talk.

Yan Lanlan, seeing her silence, didn’t try to force her. She flipped over her arm to look at the livor mortis marks and said, “This doesn’t look very pretty. When we get somewhere safe, jiejie will draw you some little flowers on it.”

Upon hearing this, He Wanwan’s lips moved slightly, but she didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t until they settled down at the rest stop that He Wanwan finally moved to tug at Yan Lanlan’s sleeve. “Jiejie, jiejie.”

Yan Lanlan’s head and face were wrapped in thick scarves, and she was wrapped in two jackets, but she still felt cold. She was waving her hands and jumping about like a deer, trying to keep active to stay warm.

When He Wanwan called her, she looked down and adjusted Wanwan’s scarf. White smoke billowed out of her mouth as she asked, “What’s wrong?”

He Wanwan looked up at Yan Lanlan.

She reminded her in a small voice, “……Flowers.”

Yan Lanlan instantly understood. She smiled and ruffled He Wanwan’s hair, taking the initiative to take her hand. She looked around, then started walking towards the convenience store, wanting to borrow a pen.

The convenience store’s door was securely locked from the inside with a bicycle chain. From the outside, she could only forcefully push it open a crack.

She knocked on the door. “Is anyone there?”

Soon, a face poked out from the shadows behind the counter.

That person was currently eating a beef baozi that he’d gotten from the electronic steamer. Upon seeing Yan Lanlan’s face, he burst out into a smile so bright it made one feel uncomfortable.

He walked over to the door, and asked through the glass, “What’s the matter?”

Yan Lanlan looked at the nameplate hanging on his chest. Seeing that he was surnamed Han, she asked politely, “Mister Han, do you have a pen?”

Xiao Han grinned. “Yep. I have everything here.”

Yan Lanlan placed her hand into her pocket. Inside, was a piece of chocolate. “Then I’ll use this to swap with you——”

Xiao Han waved her off contemptuously. “You want to use that? I have plenty of that here.”

He casually tapped the full box of chocolates on the counter. “Give me something I don’t have.”

Yan Lanlan felt like this person was incredibly strange, and started to become a little wary. “Then what do you want?”

“Don’t you want a pen, that’s just nice, then I want your……”

He said a very dirty homonym.

Yan Lanlan’s pretty face instantly turned red. Her first reaction was to cover He Wanwan’s ears.

Xiao Han laughed wildly, thinking that Yan Lanlan was going to run away in embarrassment.

Yan Lanlan came back to herself and leaned down to speak to He Wanwan, “Wanwan, do you still remember where Uncle Ding went?”

He Wanwan nodded, and pointed in a certain direction.

Yan Lanlan smiled. “Go find your Uncle Ding, and accompany that sick little didi. Right, and cover your ears.”

He Wanwan obediently covered her ears. SHe pursed her mouth and looked at Yan Lanlan.

Yan Lanlan mouthed, quickly go, run.

He Wanwan obediently ran off.

Only after confirming that He Wanwan was covering her ears and had gotten away far enough, did Yan Lanlan’s face turn cold. She asked Xiao Han, “What did you just say?”

Xiao Han harshened his expression, saying shamelessly, “What, you want to give it to me for free?”

Yan Lanlan walked briskly over to the wall next to them.

Mounted on the wall was a fire cabinet.

She opened the glass doors, dug out the fire ax from inside in a practised motion, and, hoisting it over her shoulder, walked back over to the glass doors.

Yan Lanlan slammed the ax onto the windowsill next to them, then pointed at him and scolded, “You want to fucking say that again?! If you have the balls then get the fuck out here, I’ll chop you into pieces! Come out!”

Xiao Han gaped.

Yan Lanlan continued to curse as she held the ax in her hands, cursing at him but not touching on his parents nor repeating any insults for a full five minutes, and even made threatening actions like banging on the door with the reverse side of the ax.

Xiao Han looked at the short-handled switchblade in his hand and instantly fell silent, quiet as a son of a tortoise. He ran back and shrunk behind the counter, not even daring to cough.

When Yan Lanlan was done cursing at him, she left with the ax. Before leaving, she still didn’t forget to spit at him. “Damn rogue, what do you think you are, you can’t even insult people properly, bah, disgraceful trash of a chicken.”

Xiao Han, “……”

Done insulting him, Yan Lanlan left with the ax to go find Ding Qiuyun.

Chi Xiaochi provided a self-heating blanket, wrapping the child up in it and carrying him from the car into the house. There was no need to keep him stuffed up inside the car, and he should at least be able to breathe some fresh air.

Not long after he made the child take the medicine with some hot water, his temperature began to go down. The child also woke up, looking curiously at Chi Xiaochi with his grape-like eyes.

Yan Lanlan stormed in, bell jingling.

Seeing the direction she’d come from, Chi Xiaochi had a rough idea of what had happened.

Jing Zihua had gotten an idea of Xiao Han’s evil from just now. Seeing her expression, there was no way for her to not understand.

She wrapped even her son’s head in a little blanket and held him in her arms. “That bastard didn’t scare you, did he?”

Yan Lanlan snorted. “As if I’d lower myself to his level. I just gave him a little scare. Who knew that he was just a little yellow-belly, coward, only knowing how to run his mouth. He can go suck on a……”

The curse word was just about to leave her mouth, when she realised that the two children, one big, one small, were both staring at her with wide eyes. Yan Lanlan instantly amended, “……suck on a biscuit.”

Jing Zihua laughed.

Only now that her son’s condition had stabilised, did she have the heart to ask Chi Xiaochi about the general circumstances. “What is the situation like where you came from?”

Chi Xiaochi gave her a general description.

Like there, all the AI systems associated with humans had shut down.

“Have you been informed about when it will be restored?”

Chi Xiaochi shook his head.

Jing Zihua had a very straightforward personality. After finding out the issue, she instantly turned her thinking to “solving the problem”. “How about the army? There’s no way that even the army is immobilized.”

Chi Xiaochi poured the remaining alcohol into an empty thermos, took a sip, and was burned into letting out a “ha”.

When Ding Qiuyun was still alive, he waited for more than two years, but no army ever came.

……But there was always hope, as long as you could stay alive for longer, the chance of that hope being fulfilled would become greater.

He said, “They’ve probably already gathered.”