Chapter 99 - 96: Midnight Convoy [Two in One]

Chapter 99: Chapter 96: Midnight Convoy [Two in One]

...until she was completely out of sight.

The transport cabin gradually quieted down.

After a while, someone muttered, "If only my little sister were this well-behaved..."

Zhou Qian laughed, murmuring softly, "She just has a sweet mouth. When she doesn’t need anything from anyone, she’s never this well-behaved..."

The vehicles gradually drove further away until the silent night swallowed their silhouettes, leaving not a single trace behind.

Huai Yu knew they would detour to the other side of Sanqing Mountain, out of the Rose Corridor’s reach, and wind their way along the foot of the mountain all the way to the Wilderness.

The night wind was cold now. She rubbed her arms, carrying her lantern as she turned back.

Behind her, the two chubby, football-sized goslings had followed her at some point. Their dark, round eyes looked at her curiously as they let out short cries:

"HONK!"

Huai Yu burst into laughter. She crouched down and gently stroked their hedgehog-like feathers.

"Following me in the middle of the night—are you worried about me or just curious?"

She walked slowly toward the house, speaking as if to the goslings, but also to herself:

"It feels so nice to be able to say goodbye in person.

"When I woke up back then, there was nothing left in the house except for that Ice Sculpture—

"Goslings, do you understand? That feeling was exactly like when I woke up on Sanqing Mountain. Surrounding me were unfamiliar, ancient buildings and trees, but the only thing that belonged to me was my tree cocoon. Nothing else.

"I keep thinking that if I had known he was going to the Wilderness to face death, I definitely wouldn’t have gone to sleep that night—or at the very least, I would have made sure to say goodbye.

"Knowing that someone is thinking about them, whether they are facing death or fighting for a chance to live... it must make them feel much more at peace than usual."

She let out a long breath, turning back to look at the vast night as she murmured again:

"There’s a casualty rate of over thirty percent every time... But Zhou Qian will be fine. He’s so strong, right?"

The night wind blew gently, sending Rose petals fluttering through the air.

By the time she visited the Red Victory Trading Market again, a week had already passed.

Huai Yu arrived at Huaxia Gold, only to see Boss Tang sitting in his chair looking sickly. Even his chubby figure seemed to have thinned out a bit.

What was even stranger was that he was wearing a raincoat over his clothes and rubber gloves on his hands—

She wondered if there were poisonous insects around.

Curious, Huai Yu asked, "Boss Tang, did something happen?"

Boss Tang lifted his eyelids to glance at her, looking listless. "It’s nothing..."

"Oh." Huai Yu nodded. Her gaze swept around the shop before she set down her woven basket. "I brought a lot of bean sprouts today! Their Mutant Value is 9!"

"Nine?!"

Boss Tang finally perked up. He tried to spring to his feet but failed, so he grabbed the armrests of his chair and slowly stood up instead.

"Good, good, good! I knew your family was capable, Little Yu! Although there are other items with low Mutant Values nowadays, many of them are intercepted halfway. They never make it to someone like me who’s too afraid to step out the door!"

He looked at the woven basket full of fresh, tender bean sprouts. Moving with practiced ease, he lifted the basket and placed it on the scale.

Huai Yu chimed in, "There are moisturizing towels at the bottom and on top. They’re full of water..."

"No problem, no problem! I’ll just deduct a couple of pounds later." In a great mood, Boss Tang stared at the scale, not caring about the extra weight at all. Instead, he asked, "By the way, how come it’s just been you coming to sell things for so long? Don’t you have two older brothers? Are they really that unworried? This basket of bean sprouts isn’t cheap."

Huai Yu smiled, her expression gentle. "They both went to the Wilderness."

"...Oh." Boss Tang realized something. He cleared his throat and didn’t ask any more questions.

He then found a brand-new large basin, tore off the plastic film covering it, and poured the bean sprouts inside.

Meanwhile, Huai Yu looked down and noticed a black sphere suddenly roll out near her feet. It was the size of a ping-pong ball—

"What is this?"

"Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it!" Boss Tang reacted as if facing a mortal enemy, repeatedly stopping her. "Whatever you do, don’t touch it! I’ll go get the tongs!"

As he turned and squeezed his way out from behind the counter, he roared in frustration:

"Ke Taichiro! I’ve had enough of you!"

Huai Yu was surprised, wondering who this Taichiro was. It sounded like a name from Fusang Country! But she had heard that after the cataclysm, that entire country was already...

She looked over curiously. "Who is Taichiro? Your relative?"

While she spoke, Boss Tang had already pushed open the back door in despair.

Huai Yu’s eyes instantly went round!

Standing outside the door was a creature completely colored fly-green, a good forty to fifty centimeters tall. Its two front claws were even holding a black, ping-pong-ball-sized sphere—

"A dung beetle?!"