“Stop laughing already.” Fu Yan let out a helpless sigh, stretching one arm out to block between Jiang Xinghuai, who was laughing like crazy, and the window. “Watch your head.”
Jiang Xinghuai clung to his arm, cackling nonstop, laughing so hard he couldn’t even get a word out.
“This kid practices shooting so much he’s gone stupid. Sometimes, his words don’t come out right.” Kang Cheng was also laughing nonstop, glancing at them through the rearview mirror and apologizing, “I’m really sorry. Please don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind, don’t mind.” Jiang Xinghuai waved his hands again and again, laughing until he could hardly breathe.
“Sorry, sorry.” Lei Pengtao’s face turned red, too. But he was still smiling, his dimples shy.
“You two silly kids.” Kang Cheng found the sight in the rearview mirror funny.
Fu Yan took off the cardigan sweater he was wearing, then started pulling off Jiang Xinghuai’s sweatshirt, which was soaked more than halfway. “Take off your clothes before you keep laughing.”
“Wait, my head’s stuck!” Jiang Xinghuai’s muffled voice came from inside the sweatshirt.
“Get your hands out first.” Fu Yan tugged at the shirt.
“Hiss—” The moment Jiang Xinghuai stretched his hand out, a sharp sting shot through his pinky.
“What’s wrong?” Fu Yan frowned, hurriedly pulling the sweatshirt apart and grabbing his hand. When he saw the fingernail split open, exposing raw flesh, he froze. After a long while, he came back to himself, face darkening. “You didn’t even know you were bleeding?”
“I forgot about it.” Jiang Xinghuai struggled free of the sweatshirt, lifted his hand for a look, and only then realized how badly it hurt. “Seems like it was when that skull grabbed me just now.”
Kang Cheng slammed down the brakes, his expression suddenly changing.
Lei Pengtao’s hand went to the pistol at his waist, the smile gone from his face.
“Why did you stop the car?” Jiang Xinghuai had just spoken when he saw Kang Cheng turn around, a gun in his hand, the black muzzle pointed straight at him.
Jiang Xinghuai froze, instinctively looking toward Fu Yan.
“Put it down.” Fu Yan stepped in front of Jiang Xinghuai, face expressionless, eyes locked on the muzzle.
“Was the wound on your hand caused by a mutant infected biting you?” Kang Cheng still held the gun steady.
“Ah—” Jiang Xinghuai snapped back to himself, poking his head out from behind Fu Yan to explain in a rush. “No, no, I cut it on the wall when I grabbed the window ledge.”
“What about your leg?” Lei Pengtao suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed tightly on Jiang Xinghuai’s ankle.
“What?” Jiang Xinghuai looked down and saw a shallow scratch on his ankle, but it was bleeding.
“The claws of mutant infected can also transmit the virus,” Lei Pengtao said.
“I…” Jiang Xinghuai panicked. “I think it was the glass that cut me.”
“Think?” Kang Cheng repeated his word, face unreadable. “You’d better be certain.”
“I… I don’t know.” Jiang Xinghuai frowned, flustered, desperately trying to recall.
He didn’t know. He couldn’t be sure if it had been the glass when he was dragged out, or… the grip of that skull.
“It wasn’t.” Fu Yan spoke calmly. “It’s already been about twenty minutes. If he’d been infected, he would have turned into a monster by now.”
“Not everyone gets infected within one to ten minutes. In some of the individual cases we rescued, some people didn’t show infection until after twelve hours of fever, or even longer.” Kang Cheng’s brows knit tightly. “Since the outbreak of this virus, we still haven’t grasped enough information. We can’t judge its incubation period and danger based only on the limited data we have now.”
Jiang Xinghuai clutched tightly at Fu Yan’s back.
Fu Yan’s expression didn’t change. He turned slightly and patted his back.
“Sorry, he can’t enter the shelter for now,” Kang Cheng said.
“We’re not going,” Fu Yan replied.
“Dr. Zheng must see you,” Kang Cheng frowned.
“Then let him come out.” Fu Yan didn’t even lift his head, one arm wrapped firmly around Jiang Xinghuai.
It was the posture of a protector.
Kang Cheng looked at him in difficulty. “Mr. Fu, you—”
“Put down your gun.” Fu Yan finally lifted his gaze toward him. “You can both get out of the car.”
Kang Cheng wanted to say more, but then he saw Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes, red with fright.
“…Sorry.” Kang Cheng lowered the gun. “I’ll discuss it with my teammate.”
Fu Yan stared at them, signaling with his eyes for them to do as they wished.
Kang Cheng and Lei Pengtao got out of the car, their faces complicated.
As soon as the car door closed, Jiang Xinghuai bent down to carefully examine the scratch, his hand clutching his pant leg, trembling. “What do we do… what do we do…”
“It’s fine.” Fu Yan frowned, grabbing his hand. “It’s fine.”
“What do I do? I won’t turn into one of those monsters, right…” Jiang Xinghuai gripped Fu Yan’s hand in return, words tumbling out in panic. “I don’t know. What if it really was that skull that scratched me? What do I do, Fu Yan? I don’t want to turn into a monster, I… I don’t want to, I—”
“You won’t.” Fu Yan cupped his face, holding him still with force. “Do you hear me? You won’t. Trust me.”
Jiang Xinghuai froze for a moment, then began taking deep breaths.
“Weren’t you hungry?” Fu Yan patted his back. “Want to eat something, jerky maybe?”
Jiang Xinghuai shook his head, face pale.
Knock knock— two taps.
The car window was rapped on from outside.
Fu Yan pressed the button to lower the window.
“Twenty-four hours of observation,” Kang Cheng said.
“What?” Fu Yan frowned.
“You’ll need to wait at the temporary camp outside the shelter for twenty-four hours before entering. If during this period you show any sign of turning into a monster…” Kang Cheng looked at Jiang Xinghuai and gave an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry.”
Jiang Xinghuai also smiled, but it was a terrible smile.
The group set off again. Kang Cheng glanced back at Jiang Xinghuai and sighed. “Just now, I wasn’t targeting you. You probably can’t imagine how many deaths it took to build the shelter as it stands now. You could even say it’s built on the sacrifice of my comrades, of our people. In this situation, we can’t allow even the slightest chance—0.1% of possible infection—to enter the base.”
“…I understand.” Jiang Xinghuai nodded, voice low. “It’s okay.”
“Does it hurt?” Fu Yan was tending to the wound on Jiang Xinghuai’s pinky.
“It’s okay.” Jiang Xinghuai held back his tears as he spoke.
Fu Yan looked up, gently squeezing his tense shoulder. “It’s fine, it’ll be over soon.”
The car drove out of the area filled with tall buildings and headed toward the distant suburbs.
From far away, they could already see towering walls of steel and copper.
They were made of massive shipping containers, stacked layer upon layer across the land, blocking the crazed infected from coming through.
“This base used to be a military training camp,” Kang Cheng explained. “When the virus first broke out, the army was the first to contain the infection. But later, because they tried to rescue civilians, nearly half of them were sacrificed.”
As the car slowly approached, they saw countless vehicles of all sizes parked outside the shelter, tents hastily set up, bonfires burning, soup boiling.
And people—some sitting, some standing—disheveled, weary to the core, both in body and spirit.
Inside the massive iron gate lay safety and order, yet only a single wall separated it from them.
“These are all people with surface wounds, but it can’t be confirmed whether they’re infected or not.” Kang Cheng found a spot and slowly stopped the car. “There are army patrols here, and snipers above. Anyone showing signs of infection will be dealt with.”
Jiang Xinghuai glanced out the window. Every face outside was marked with terror and confusion, grief and panic.
He clenched his hand, turned his head away, and stopped looking.
“Taozi, stay here. I’ll go inside to report the mission,” Kang Cheng said, then got out of the car.
Lei Pengtao gave a small smile. “I’ll be in the car just behind. Call me anytime.”
The car door closed again, leaving only Fu Yan and Jiang Xinghuai inside.
In the small space, silence settled.
“Would you kill me?” Jiang Xinghuai suddenly asked softly.
Fu Yan looked at his lowered head, placing a hand on the slender, pale back of his neck.
Jiang Xinghuai lifted his head to look at him.
“No.” Fu Yan met his gaze.
“Then what if I turn into a monster?” Jiang Xinghuai gave a bitter smile.
“I’ll kill the monster and bring you back,” Fu Yan said.
Jiang Xinghuai was stunned for a long moment, then nodded heavily. “Mm.”
“Eat something.” Fu Yan reached for the backpack.
“I want to pee.” Jiang Xinghuai turned his head to look out the window. “Where did that little dimples go?”
“His name is Lei Pengtao.” Fu Yan pushed the car door open and waved toward the car behind them. “Don’t call people little dimples. That’s impolite.”
Little Dimples saw the signal, immediately got out of the car, and ran over with quick steps.
“Hello, Little Dimples, may I ask if there’s a restroom nearby?” Fu Yan asked.
Jiang Xinghuai: “…………”
Lei Pengtao: “…………”
“Sorry,” Fu Yan said.
“Follow me.” Lei Pengtao turned and started walking toward the edge of the crowd.
“Mr. Fu, please don’t call people Little Dimples. That’s really impolite.” Jiang Xinghuai lectured him as they walked side by side.
Fu Yan couldn’t help but laugh. Jiang Xinghuai calling him “Mr. Fu” with such seriousness was very cute.
“Why do we have to wait twenty-four hours! An’an only has a mild fever! Didn’t you pay the money? Why can’t we go in?” A woman’s voice came from a tent they were passing.
Jiang Xinghuai froze mid-step, rooted to the spot.
“Don’t worry. They said it’s an infection quarantine, a twenty-four-hour observation period. We’ve already waited a few hours. It won’t be long before we can go in.” A man’s voice followed right after.
Jiang Xinghuai turned his head, his face instantly going pale.
“What is it?” Fu Yan frowned.
“Liangyuan, go talk to your friend again, okay? An’an has been crying nonstop. I’m so scared. Please, go ask him again.” The woman’s voice came once more from inside the tent.
“…Alright.” The man compromised.
The curtain of the tent was pulled open from the inside.
Jiang Xinghuai immediately spun around, grabbing Fu Yan and pulling him forward quickly.
“What is it?” Fu Yan asked in a low voice.
“Let’s go.” Jiang Xinghuai was terrified, his hands trembling.
The two of them walked all the way to the edge of the temporary camp before Jiang Xinghuai stopped and turned back to look at the path they had come from.
He searched through the crowd for that familiar figure.
Fu Yan faintly guessed something. “That man—”
“That’s my dad.” Jiang Xinghuai turned his head away, no longer looking, and explained in a very low voice, “He should be with that woman and… and their son.”
Fu Yan frowned.
“I’m fine. I just don’t want to see him.” After saying this, Jiang Xinghuai walked over to where Lei Pengtao was waiting for them ahead.
It was obvious he wasn’t fine. Back in the car, Jiang Xinghuai grew unusually quiet. Fu Yan couldn’t think of any way to comfort him.
This was something that belonged to Jiang Xinghuai alone.
The sky slowly darkened. After a simple wash-up, the two of them got back in the car to sleep.
Fu Yan lit a candle, the flame flickering. He turned his head, looking at Jiang Xinghuai lying with his back to him.
After thinking for a while, Fu Yan leaned closer. “Want something to eat? Lei Pengtao just brought over some roasted potatoes.”
“Didn’t you say last time it’s bad to eat before bed?” Jiang Xinghuai turned around.
“You didn’t eat dinner,” Fu Yan said.
“I’m not hungry,” Jiang Xinghuai replied.
“You—”
“Are you trying to comfort me?” Jiang Xinghuai suddenly laughed, very softly. “I’m really fine.”
“I’m not comforting you.” Fu Yan touched his cool forehead, frowning. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine, let’s sleep.” Just as Jiang Xinghuai finished speaking, he suddenly pushed himself up. “Actually, there’s one way.”
“What is it?” Fu Yan was taken aback.
“Don’t they say the best way to forget an ex is to find someone new?” Jiang Xinghuai blinked under the warm glow. “That dad—I don’t want him anymore. Can I change to a new dad?”
“Hm?” Fu Yan was puzzled.
“Would you be willing to be my new dad?” Jiang Xinghuai flipped over, lying down against Fu Yan’s chest.
Fu Yan’s face darkened. “…………”
“Dad,” Jiang Xinghuai called.
“Jiang Xinghuai.” Fu Yan looked down at him, eyes carrying a warning.
“Dad.” Jiang Xinghuai grinned, not afraid of him at all.
“Get off.” Fu Yan glared at him.
“Dad, dad, dad…” Jiang Xinghuai kept calling like a child throwing a tantrum.
“…Fine.” Fu Yan, helpless, could only give the smallest reply.
“Good night, Dad.” Jiang Xinghuai was satisfied at last.
“…Good night, Xing Xing.” Fu Yan sighed.
Jiang Xinghuai burst into another fit of cackling laughter. After he was done, he said, “You’re so gross.”
Fu Yan: “………………”
“Go to sleep.” Fu Yan patted his head.
The candle slowly melted, the wick gradually swallowed by the pooling wax.
The faint flame went out, and the car was plunged into darkness.
Jiang Xinghuai wiped at his wet eyes, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to sleep.
Early the next morning, the sun rose over the desolate city, waking the sleepers.
For breakfast, Jiang Xinghuai ate hot roasted potatoes and a big bowl of jelly Fu Yan had somehow dug up for him.
Just as he finished the last bite of fruit, a sudden commotion stirred at the front of the convoy.
“Wipe your mouth.” Fu Yan handed him a tissue.
“What’s going on up front?” Jiang Xinghuai wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and scrambled up onto the roof of the off-road vehicle.
“What are you doing? Get down!” Fu Yan called up from below.
“Who’s that—what a big show of force…” Jiang Xinghuai clicked his tongue in amazement.
Walking this way, through the thick crowd, was a tall, thin man in a black suit with a white lab coat over it. The man looked refined and scholarly, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, followed by several armed soldiers in camouflage.
He walked closer and closer… and closer…
Why is he walking over here—? Jiang Xinghuai stared in surprise until the tall, thin man rushed forward and threw his arms around Fu Yan by the car.
He looked down.
Fu Yan was hugging the man back, and that man was even crying.
Jiang Xinghuai: “…………”
Jiang Xinghuai frowned, realizing this must be Zheng Yi. Standing frozen on the roof of the car, he suddenly felt an uncomfortable knot in his chest.
Even when Fu Yan let go, the man was still leaning against him.
Jiang Xinghuai jumped down from the car.
“Careful with your leg.” Fu Yan quickly put some space between himself and Zheng Yi, immediately reaching out to grab Jiang Xinghuai, frowning as he scolded, “I told you, your leg hasn’t fully healed yet. You can’t just jump down from that height.”
“That’s Zheng Yi, isn’t it?” Jiang Xinghuai asked.
“Yes.” Fu Yan nodded. “Say hello.”
“Hello, Uncle Zheng.” Jiang Xinghuai stepped forward and held out his hand.
“Hello, little brother.” Zheng Yi shook his hand, then smiled at Fu Yan. “It’s one thing for you to come find me, but why would you bring a child along? It’s too dangerous.”
“Uncle Zheng, don’t you know?” Jiang Xinghuai flashed a sharp little white tooth in a grin. “I’m Fu Yan’s son. My name is Fu Xinghuai.”
