RotA – Chapter 9

Following the young girl’s finger, Chai Yuening looked toward the collection of essays.

On the yellowed pages was an essay passed down from the Old World.

Things like apricot blossoms, spring rain, and willow-scented breezes all seemed to be beautiful words from that era.

Unfortunately, however, the world depicted in the essays of the Old World was one that most people in the Base had never seen.

“It sounds like a wonderful world,” Chai Yuening said.

Regrettably, she had been accustomed to life and death on the surface with her seniors since she was a teenager. Her imagination wasn’t vivid enough to let her feel the beauty the words sought to convey.

Chu Ci hummed in agreement but said no more.

Realizing the topic couldn’t continue, Chai Yuening walked somewhat awkwardly to the rocking chair and sat down. She wanted to turn on the radio but was afraid of disturbing Chu Ci’s reading.

After a bout of boredom, she got up and went into the bedroom, pushed the bed against the wall, and pulled out some spare bedding to make a simple pallet on the floor.

When she stood up and turned around, Chu Ci, who should have been sitting on the sofa reading, was standing outside the bedroom door at some point.

She had one hand on the wall, revealing only half of her body, as if she wanted to come in but was too embarrassed.

Chai Yuening paused for a moment, then asked, “Are you done with the book?”

Chu Ci nodded.

Chai Yuening thought for a moment, then asked, “So, do you want to rest early, or listen to the radio? Or we can just chat, if you’d like. I’m free anyway.”

“I…”

“Yes?”

“Can I join you?”

“Huh?”

Chai Yuening was a bit slow to react to the out-of-the-blue question.

Chu Ci seemed to press her lips together nervously, then looked up as if she had made up her mind and said, “I can’t just live here for free. You have a mercenary team. I’ve heard that mercenary teams get paid to do jobs on the surface. Can I… join you?”

“But the surface is very dangerous.”

“I know.”

“In a true life-or-death situation, people can only look out for themselves. Family, lovers, comrades—sometimes, to survive, they can heartlessly abandon you. You’ve seen that kind of abandonment with your own eyes.”

“I know.” Chu Ci’s voice was soft, but there was no trace of wavering.

“You’re young, pretty, literate, and have a quiet disposition.” Seeing that Chu Ci didn’t respond, Chai Yuening continued, “Perhaps you’re suited to stay in the city district, find a clerical job, do some light work. There’s no need to risk your life in a dangerous place.”

Chu Ci’s fingers, resting on the wall, unconsciously tightened. She asked in a small voice, “Are those things I can choose?”

Chai Yuening hummed in affirmation. “Of course. If you need it, I can ask someone to help you with an introduction.”

“Thank you,” Chu Ci replied in a low voice, once again falling silent.

She looked at Chai Yuening, wanting to say more but hesitating. After a good while, she pursed her lips and raised them into a faint, shallow smile.

She said, “But the moment I opened my eyes, I was there.”

This answer left Chai Yuening momentarily at a loss for words.

Chu Ci continued, “I can’t remember what happened before, but I woke up there. I have the instinct to deal with those monsters, I can find relatively safe places to hide, and I know some methods for emergency wound treatment… I think, the person I was before must have lived a life just like yours…”

The young girl’s words left a bitter taste in Chai Yuening’s heart.

In truth, from the first moment she saw Chu Ci, she knew that this young girl possessed surface survival experience that was second to none.

In truth, she herself had been about the same age when she started enduring countless hardships on the surface with the team’s seniors.

In truth, just earlier when she went out to buy groceries, the thought of recruiting Chu Ci had crossed her mind.

But for some reason, when it came time to actually say it, a trace of pity surfaced in her heart.

She couldn’t help but think, if her father had always been around, if she’d had a choice back then, she probably wouldn’t have left the city district in her teens to eke out a living on the surface with the uncles who had faced life and death alongside her father.

Chai Yuening sighed softly, took two steps forward, and leaned against the doorframe. “Don’t you want to try an easier way of life?” she asked.

“I… I still want to join you,” Chu Ci said, raising her eyes to ask cautiously, yet full of anticipation, “Can I?”

“You’re really not afraid.”

“…No.”

Chai Yuening pondered for a moment, then said no more. She simply nodded and extended a hand to Chu Ci with a smile. “In that case, welcome aboard. This is the Thirteenth Mercenary Team of the Base.”

A faint light ignited in Chu Ci’s timid eyes.

She grasped the hand extended toward her. The owner of that hand, just as when they first met, had a warm and reassuring smile in her eyes.

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The day after Chu Ci moved into the Sixth District, the Thirteenth Mercenary Team gathered temporarily in their small base for a not-so-formal meeting.

All five members unanimously approved the new teammate’s application to join. They brought out long-stored liquor, stir-fried five or six small dishes, and celebrated with laughter and conversation.

Chu Ci was clearly a lightweight; just two small cups were enough to make her cheeks flush red. Yet, whenever she saw someone at the table drink, she would follow with another cup, so seriously it was as if she were studying, not drinking.

For those in the surface mercenary line of work, everyone had old injuries yet felt perfectly fine. There was no rule against drinking just because you were injured. At the dinner table, as long as there was alcohol, no one would stop anyone who wanted to drink.

Chai Yuening had only stepped aside to fiddle with the old, signal-deficient radio for a moment. When she returned, she saw that Chu Ci’s eyes were already hazy from drinking, and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

After dinner, Chai Yuening supported a dizzy Chu Ci, staggering the three steps back to her front door.

With one hand, she supported Chu Ci, who was practically collapsing against her while muttering about feeling sick and wanting to throw up. With the other, she swiped her card to open the door and helped the girl into the bathroom.

As if knowing she had arrived, Chu Ci immediately let go of Chai Yuening and leaned over the sink, retching.

Chai Yuening quickly went to the kitchen to mix a glass of sugar water. She came back and patted Chu Ci’s back, muttering, “It’s one thing for the two heavy drinkers at the table, one old and one young, to drink so much, but why did you have to keep up…”

As she spoke, she had Chu Ci rinse her mouth.

After drinking the sugar water, Chu Ci just kept squatting in the bathroom, not saying a word and refusing to come out no matter what.

Unable to pull her up, Chai Yuening had no choice but to return to the sofa alone and listen to the Base’s broadcast.

On the radio, a familiar female announcer was reporting the day’s news.

First, she mentioned that a medium-sized mutated beast had passed over the Base and was successfully hunted by the military. It had now been transferred to the main city’s research center.

Then, she announced that the main city’s simulated ecological zone would open for paid tours to outer city residents in five days. Ticket booths would be set up in each outer city district, and ticket holders could enter the main city after an inspection.

You could guess with your toes that the ticket price would be frighteningly expensive, probably costing an ordinary outer city resident a year or a year and a half of work for nothing.

The main city district really knew how to make money, fleecing the outer city which was already so poor.

Chai Yuening listened for a while, and a slight drunkenness slowly crept up on her, making her feel a bit tired.

She slowly closed her eyes, planning to take a short nap before making another glass of sugar water for Chu Ci.

In a state of half-sleep, she heard the broadcast talking about the signal tower.

She didn’t need to focus to know it was surely about the plan to clear all the black vines around the signal tower encountering some obstacles, delaying its recapture.

She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but as she heard the word “black vine” repeatedly mentioned on the radio, she felt like she could smell a scent from the surface.

It was a… faint, somewhat damp, ethereal fragrance, like that of black vines growing in the rainy season.

This scent was everywhere on the surface, but most of the time it was masked by the smell of blood, making it easy to overlook.

Chai Yuening couldn’t help but think groggily that her alcohol tolerance was already low; she shouldn’t drink so much next time. It was causing hallucinations.

She took a deep breath and struggled to her feet, wanting to make another glass of sugar water for Chu Ci to sober up, and have some for herself as well.

Her mind was still not clear, the phantom scent lingering at the tip of her nose. She walked dizzily into the kitchen and started boiling water.

A moment later, she heard a strange sound.

A rustling, like the faint friction of plants rubbing against each other.

The sound was brief and quiet, quickly drowned out by the sound of the boiling water.

She couldn’t help but frown. Holding her breath, she tiptoed lightly in the direction of the sound.

Her right hand unconsciously reached for the dagger at her waist.

“Blech…”

As a retching sound came from the bathroom, Chai Yuening walked to the door.

The silver-haired girl was squatting by the toilet, her face flushed red, vomiting until tears streamed down her face.

Chai Yuening rubbed her temples and realized that apart from the smell of alcohol, there was no other strange scent here. She let out a sigh of relief.

She thought she might have been overly tense due to the Base broadcast.

She went over to hand Chu Ci a few tissues, then returned to the kitchen, mixed the freshly boiled water with some cooled water, added a bit of sugar, and brought it to Chu Ci’s side.

“Don’t drink next time.”

“Mmm…” Chu Ci cradled the glass of sugar water with both hands, responding softly like a kitten.

“It must be uncomfortable squatting here. You’ll feel better after some sleep. If you’re worried about throwing up, I’ll put a basin by your bed.”

“Mmm…”

Chai Yuening, who had hardly ever taken care of anyone in her life, sighed. “Come on, get up. Stop squatting…”

She pulled Chu Ci up from the floor and half-supported, half-carried her to the bed.

Truth be told, when the girl didn’t resist, she was quite light.

With that thought, Chai Yuening turned and went into the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and grabbed a plastic basin.

“According to recent years of research, the more advanced a mutated beast is, the higher its dependency on black vines. Dr. Ge Heguang believes that if humanity could fuse with black vines through safe, scientific methods, it might be possible to develop a certain antibody against mutated beast infection. As more samples from the outside world are collected and research experiments continue, the future of the Base is full of hope. It is believed that in the near future…”

As the radio was switched off, the lights in the room also dimmed.

The young girl on the bed burrowed into her quilt, wrapping herself up tightly from head to toe.

Chai Yuening placed the plastic basin by the bed, sat on her floor pallet in a daze for a while, then also wrapped herself in her quilt and lay down.

In her sleep, she vaguely smelled that ethereal fragrance once more.

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Author’s Notes:

That day, the number of strange fragrances in Chai Chai’s home increased.