Bick had no idea that the boy in front of him, who seed to be only eighteen or nineteen years old, was actually approaching forty, and was even a few years older than himself!
Tang Ye’s outward appearance deceived him!
A long silence fell between the two. After an indefinite amount of ti, Bick finally couldn’t bear it anymore and let out a few laughs to ease the awkwardness: "Ha-ha, maybe... I was being too presumptuous..."
As he spoke, there was a clear note of displeasure in Bick’s words. No man would be happy to have his daughter’s worth denied by soone else.
"Sorry, I have no intention of getting married. I hope you don’t take offense."
"No worries, no worries..." Bick waved his hand dismissively, when his wife ca out with several plates of food and put them on the table. She turned to Bick and said sothing in the local language, and Bick quickly translated it for Tang Ye: "Dinner will be ready soon."
"Thank you."
Tang Ye glanced at the dishes on the table. The food was not lavish—just so simple vegetables and a few pieces of black bread for garnish. It was unrealistic to think the six of them could get full, but it was enough to stave off hunger.
Bick stood up, pulled out a chair, and said to Tang Ye, "Feel free to sit."
"Okay." Tang Ye took the seat facing the living room door as suggested by Bick, and then saw Bick go into the children’s room and softly call them out in the local language to co and eat.
His wife was still preparing the last dish in the kitchen. When the three children ca out, the youngest boy tugged at Tang Ye’s sleeve, pouted his lips, and smiled at him. The oldest girl also returned a polite smile upon making eye contact with him. Dairya, however, was expressionless; she just glanced at him after stepping out of the room.
It was unclear how long the last dish would take to prepare. Tang Ye picked up his phone and checked the ti. There were still about ten minutes until 5:49 p.m., the ti he had scheduled. When he took out this modern-era device, both the oldest girl and Dairya turned to look.
The oldest girl was rely curious and didn’t approach Tang Ye to see what he was holding, but he noticed her subtle gesture as she nudged her sister, evidently suggesting that Dairya should check what it was. Eventually, Dairya ca over, glanced at the incomprehensible content on the phone, and directly asked Tang Ye, "What is this?"
Tang Ye beca alert; this girl, who seed completely non-threatening, might in the next second grow several tentacles out of her body and tie him up. His current strength was not yet a match for the Zombie King at his peak!
"This is a smartphone; you can play gas on it," Tang Ye replied.
As soon as he finished his answer, Tang Ye realized sothing wasn’t right. The language Dairya had spoken was clearly the local tongue, so why could he understand it perfectly and answer so naturally?
He looked at Dairya, whose gaze was no longer on him but on the phone screen.
"A ga? How do you play it?"
She suddenly looked up, her gaze locking with Tang Ye’s. In her eyes, there was neither malice nor friendliness.
Interested, Tang Ye said, "Like this," as he swiped across the phone’s screen, located the built-in single-player ga, and opened it.
As the ga interface unfolded, a tiny character appeared. With downward swipes, Tang Ye maneuvered the character up one step after another.
Dairya seed fascinated, her eyes fixed on the tiny character on the phone as it dodged one danger after another under Tang Ye’s control. When she looked up at Tang Ye again, he saw a spark of interest in her eyes.
"Want to play? I can teach you?"
Dairya didn’t speak, just nodded her head. Tang Ye handed her the smartphone, and soon she got familiar with the ga rules, controlling the little character to keep jumping upwards, dodging one danger after another.
Finally, Bick’s wife brought out the last dish, a glob of batter, which seed to be made from tuberous plants from its sll. It wasn’t lavish when placed with the other dishes on the table, but under such circumstances, it sufficed.
Bick ca out with bowls and spoons, distributing them to everyone. There was no rice here; the main food was these dishes.
"Let’s eat," Bick said to Tang Ye. The next second, he saw Dairya playing with the smartphone.
"Dairya, what are you doing... What is that?" Bick looked at the out-of-era smartphone with deep curiosity.
"I’m playing a ga."
"Give it back to this brother, it’s ti for dinner."
"Mhm."
Dairya didn’t argue with her father’s words. She nodded, handed the smartphone back to Tang Ye, and said, "Here you go."
As the character on the ga screen lost Dairya’s control and got pierced by a steel pin due to the moving image, Tang Ye took the smartphone, nodded, and watched as Dairya obediently returned to her seat. Her sister, unable to suppress her curiosity, asked Dairya so questions. Tang Ye didn’t understand what she said, but it was probably about the ga.
"Eat, eat."
Bick gestured to Tang Ye and sat down with his wife. He scooped up a blob of batter into his bowl with a spoon. In the faint candlelight, this family of five gathered around the dining table looked especially heartwarming.
Tang Ye held a partly rusted fork in his hand, glanced at Bick, who also noticed his look and smiled at Tang Ye, perhaps thinking he was being bashful. Bick said, "No need to be polite, just treat it like your own ho."
"Mhm."
Tang Ye didn’t say much, just took a stack of greens with his fork and put it in his mouth. The taste was hard to describe—he was still a Zombie, after all, and couldn’t discern the specific flavors of human food—but he could be sure that these dishes lacked grease, let alone taste.
He had hardly chewed the greens twice in his mouth before hastily swallowing them down. To him, these vegetables weren’t as tasty as even one Evolution Crystal, but that was just his perspective.
Just as he swallowed that mouthful of greens, an untily noise suddenly ca from outside the door—voices of people talking. But there was supposed to be no one else in this residential building except for this family of five!
Only then did he realize that he hadn’t been paying attention to the movents of other people aside from this family of five. It wasn’t until there was a commotion outside that Tang Ye realized it!
Bick’s face changed color, seemingly realizing that sothing bad was happening!
"Oh! Quick, pack up, we need to hide!"
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