Little Yuan
A deep and gentle rasp sounds close to his ear, calling him softly.
(Translator's notes: Snipped)
Remarkableyou are really too remarkable that I can't resist the desire to eat you
A flash of sharp teeth and a malicious smirk. In a split-second, the figure crosses the distance between them, eyes flaring scarlet as a tongue flicks out to run over his lips.
"Ahh - !!"
A frightened shriek rings out, eyes abruptly snapping wide open as Huo Zaiyuan jerks up into a sitting position on the bed, panting.
Warm morning sunlight shines in through the window, brightening the entire bedroom. After a long mont, his thundering heart eventually calms. Frowning, Huo Zaiyuan lifts a hand to his lightly aching head as he recalls what transpired in that strange dream with a black face.
Damn it! Just what kind of ssed up nightmare was that ah
He actually dreamt about being chased by Long Zhanye andno, no. That's not right. That definitely wasn't Zhanye and him. That malicious smirkwho exactly did he dream about?
Thoughts in chaos, Huo Zaiyuan honestly cannot make sense of what he saw.
Shoving the blanket away and getting off the bed, his gaze falls on the bedside table and a smile surfaces. For the past few days, he always wakes up to this scene. A glass of cold water on the bedside table with a piece of paper below.
Picking up the paper, he reads the bold cursive characters written on it: I'm also busy today. Be good and eat your als. Not allowed to have only vegetables. If you are bored, take a stroll outside. Love you! Zhanye.
It has been three days since they arrived at A base, and every day, Long Zhanye is busy with his work, daily matters leaving him exhausted at the end of the day. Early in the morning, before Huo Zaiyuan wakes up, Long Zhanye is already working, returning only around midnight when he is asleep or ditating. Thus, in these three days, he rarely sees Long Zhanye around. This habit of leaving notes on slips of paper also began from day one. Three daysthree notes.
Paper in hand, Huo Zaiyuan bites his lower lip in thought.
It wouldn't be because he's been missing Zhanye these past days that he dreamt such a strange thing, right?
How about going out to see himjust from a distance will do.
The paper in his hand disappears in a flash of silver and Huo Zaiyuan grabs a clean set of clothes before heading to the bathroom. Eating a bowl of vegetable soup for breakfast, Huo Zaiyuan leaves the unit.
Two days ago, under Grandfather Long's arrangent, Li Qing was hauled away by the technicians in the chanicdepartnt. And Qin Jun with his dical expertise was sent to work in the safe zone's hospital. Because the Elder Taoist priest returned to B City, Huo Zaiyuan is left all alone with nothing to do.
Hiding in the house for three days, he only ditated besides eating and sleeping. Today he decides to go out and enjoy that warm sunshine. All things considered, this world is still pretty nice.
The safe zone is divided into two districts, the inner one being the original military base. The outer district is the extended portion that was later established when more space was needed. As for the large gates separating the two regions, it is always left open so everyone can freely traverse through the entire zone. Naturally, there are still areas restricted to ordinary citizens, one of which is the central command centre of the military base.
Since it is still early in the morning, he reckons Long Zhanye will still be busy with work, which is why Huo Zaiyuan is prepared to go for a stroll. When lunchti cos, he will go and search for the other man.
In these past few days, Huo Zaiyuan has not taken up any tasks and hasn't traded anything with anyone, which is why his identity card has zero points.
But, it's not as if he needs anything.
The first area Huo Zaiyuan explores is the place where people co to take missions and assignnts. The mission hall consists of a large lobby that is separated into two by wooden plaques. One reads "Daily assignnts" and the other "rcenary squad missions". It gives off a feeling one might have when walking into an adventurer's guild in a ga or fiction novel.
Glancing over the various tasks up for grabs, Huo Zaiyuan doesnt see anything interesting enough to draw his attention. Therefore, he turns and leaves.
On the left side near the periter walls sits a few wooden shacks which allow survivors to set up stores, creating sothing like a small marketplace. A few transaction machines are scattered throughout the street for convenient selling and purchasing of goods. A myriad of items can be seen throughout, necessities mixed with junk. Browsing the various booths for a while, Huo Zaiyuan cos across a store with a crowd of people surrounding it.
Originally thinking the booth is selling sothing extrely attractive, Huo Zaiyuan slips through the mass to take a peek. Unexpectedly, the interesting sothing is rely a jar of mouldy salted vegetables. Not only that, but it isn't being sold a bottle at a ti. Rather, the seller slices it into a thin piece and sells each slice for a rather high price. Ten blue points for one. And there are actually quite a lot of buyers vying for it.
Seeing the brilliant smile on the seller's face, Huo Zaiyuan's eyes narrow and he walks away with a scoff.
After strolling through the marketplace, he decides to climb up to the top of the periter wall and walk one round. It is already midday by the ti he finishes a lap. Speculating that Long Zhanye will take his lunch around this ti, he heads back to the central command centre.
A half a ter high steel fence surrounds the command centre and a couple of soldiers are tasked with standing guard at the gate even if ordinary civilians know not to approach it. As soon as Huo Zaiyuan draws close, the two guards bar his way.
"Who are you? This is the safe zone's military command centre. Ordinary civilians are not allowed to enter," One of the guards states in a strict tone.
If this is soone else, they would have been scared off by the stern tone of this man. However, Huo Zaiyuan rely regards him with a calm expression. "I ca to find soone."
"Find soone? Who are you looking for ah?" The other guard asks after hearing Huo Zaiyuan's words.
"Looking for Long Zhanye."
"" The pair of guards freeze, staring at him with wide eyes.
At this mont, a car drives past, stopping before the gates. Sitting in the driver's seat is another soldier wearing a military cap, a sunny smile on his handso face.
"Oi, Bei zi[1], lao[1] Qian, what's this all about? Ooh, where did this pretty boy co from? So good-looking too."
"Hao zi, he said he is looking for Boss." The guard on the left called Bei zi says.
"Looking for Boss? Is Boss soone you can ask to see so easily?" The tanned, curly-haired soldier sitting in the car snorts.
"That's right ah, Boss has only been back for three days and already suitors co to knock on the door. Ai, this is too extre ah!" Beside the curly-haired soldier is another sporting a buzz-cut and an ambiguous smile on his face.
"Hey, hey, Hui zi, I rember Boss likes that kind of assertive and confident pretty younger sisters. This child's a male, though." Hao zi says loudly to the buzz-cut male in the car.
"I know Boss likes those sorts, but in the past, there were also sons and male cousins of famous families and officials delivered to his doorsteps ah!" Hui zi replies just as loudly.
Standing between the soldiers, Huo Zaiyuan's face remains expressionless even as he listens to the discussion of Long Zhanye's old conquests deliberately leaked by these big-mouths.
"Oi, youngster, let tell you. Our Boss doesn't like won, and dislikes skinny brats like you even more. Go back and wait until youve matured." As soon as these words leave Hao zi's mouth, everyone bursts out laughing.
"What are all of you doing?"
A faux-pleasant voice with a slight edge suddenly drifts over, causing the laughing soldiers to cease instantly. The three people in the car scramble to get off the vehicle, snapping to attention as soon as their feet touch the ground and saluting.
"Greetings, Boss!"
"Greetings, senior officer!"
Huo Zaiyuan recognises Long Zhanye's voice as soon as he hears it. However, just as he turns around, curly-haired Hao zi and the buzz-cut Hui zi suddenly shifts closer, blocking his view of Long Zhanye.
"What are you doing?" Long Zhanye frowns, an irritated expression settling across his face.
"Boss, you didn't see anything just now. Besides us, there really is no one else here." Hao zi says with an enormous smile plastered on his face.
"Youngster, leave, quickly leave. Don't let Boss see you. Or else when he gets angry, he will beat people up." Curly-hair nudges Huo Zaiyuan in his side, whispering for him to flee.
Originally thinking these soldiers were blocking his way so he wouldnt be able to et Long Zhanye, a small smile appears on Huo Zaiyuan's face when he realises this wasn't their intention.
"Move far away." Long Zhanye growls in a low voice as he stalks forward. Reaching out, he places a hand on Hao zi and Hui zi's shoulders, shoving them aside.
Really, blocking his way like that.
"Boss, don't be angry. Don't be angry. This is my younger brother, he ca here to find !" Seeing Long Zhanye's stoic face, the curly-haired soldier hurriedly cos up with an excuse as he drags Huo Zaiyuan behind him.
Heavens ah, Boss is really pissed. This little kid looks so soft and fragile, how can he stand up to a single punch from Boss?
"You, scram as well!" A foot imdiately rises and shoves Hao zi to one side before Long Zhanye stops in front of Huo Zaiyuan.
"Boss, don't - "
"You ca." The previously dark and foreboding look changes to a gentle and affectionate smile in a split-second.
"I missed you, so here I am." Huo Zaiyuan returns the smile, then drags his eyes up and down the man clad in a smart military uniform. "Un, very handso."
""
This short exchange makes the originally extrely anxious soldiers pause, stunned.
Whatwhat just happened?
Footnotes:
[1] Not going to translate this to "little so-and-so" or "old so-and-so" because too many nas with such prefixes tagged on will make the entire text sound weird. But basically, "zi" is for those younger than the speaker and "lao" is for those older. Peers are addressed typically as "Ah so-and-so".
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