It was already very early in the morning, and Ruan Ke always had a good sleep schedule and got up early. But this time, he only answered the video call when it was about to disconnect.
Even after the call was connected, he still looked exhausted.
Xie Chiyuan sized him up for a few seconds, then realized: "My dad's gone?"
Ruan Ke leaned against the headboard, her pajamas impeccably buttoned up, even the top buttons fastened. But the marks on her neck were impossible to conceal.
"You're looking for your dad?"
Ruan Ke was probably really tired and wasn't feeling well. He rubbed his temples and said to Xie Chiyuan, "Your father has passed away."
Xie Chiyuan didn't want to find his father; he only wanted to find Ruan Ke.
"Uncle Ruan, I have something to tell you."
In front of Yu An, Xie Chiyuan briefly explained the relationship between Yu An and A10. He assumed that A10 was like Chongchong or Duoduo, someone who had been taken in and raised by Yu An when they were homeless.
As for Yu An himself, he repeatedly emphasized that over the years, he had really just been an ordinary, unremarkable nobody who rarely left his home.
Yu An spoke these words in a very honest tone.
This is how he sees himself. He has been recuperating from illness for years, and all his studies and life have taken place in the research institute.
He didn't even have any special skills, and if his father hadn't paid for the research institute, he thought he probably wouldn't even have a place to get treatment.
To call him an ordinary, unremarkable nobody would be an understatement.
On the other end of the video call, Ruan Ke didn't even show any surprise after hearing what Xie Chiyuan said. He simply said good-naturedly, "I understand."
“You mean A10, is it called Qiuqiu? I’ll tell Tang Yi in advance so he can be ready to treat Qiuqiu at any time.”
"I won't tell anyone about Qiuqiu's identity except your father. Come back soon, and don't worry about anything else."
Ruan Ke spoke in a gentle tone, and from beginning to end, he was considering their needs.
Yu An's eyes welled up with tears. He squeezed in front of the camera and thanked Ruan Ke in a muffled voice, "Dr. Ruan, thank you, you're so kind."
Ruan Ke smiled at him: "No need to thank me, An'an. Come back soon. I've researched a few new flavors of my nutritional paste. You can give them to Qiuqiu when you get back."
With Ruan Ke's patient reassurance, Yu An finally relaxed.
They had decided to leave, and Xie Chiyuan wanted to go inside the building one last time before leaving. He had already contacted the magician.
The magician was still telling him about the zombie king's strangeness: "You're lucky, Xie. The zombie king was already there when you were fighting last night."
“He has quite a few zombies under his command. If we had taken them all over last night, it would be uncertain whether we could have gotten out of S City.”
Xie Chiyuan frowned upon hearing this: "Then why didn't he come in the end?"
The magician replied, "I don't know. He sent some zombies to check things out, but I don't know what they saw. Anyway, I kept an eye on the zombie king, and they didn't go over in the end."
"The Zombie King entered that building just before dawn today. Now the building is teeming with zombies, and many of them are high-level zombies. It won't be easy to get in now."
The zombie king is clearly not a kind person.
The number of zombies in this city is terrifying.
With Xie Chiyuan's abilities, he could indeed force his way into the building, but a battle with the zombie king would be inevitable.
After much deliberation, Xie Chiyuan gave up on going to the building to check.
Bring A10 back to the island, and when A10 wakes up, he can still get some information from A10 about Xia Tianwu and what happened in this building.
Yu An stayed by Qiu Qiu's side, never leaving her side.
When they drove out of S City, Yu An finally got to drive. Xie Chiyuan and Huo Yan were responsible for dealing with any zombies that tried to hop onto the car.
The car sped along.
Hearing the roars of the zombies in front of him, the Zombie King responded with a low, short "roar".
The zombie henchman continued tattling: "Roar!"
Boss, the food ran away! All the food ran away!
The Zombie King stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, his voice low and menacing: "Roar!"
I know, I should just run.
The zombie henchman, unwilling to give up, roared: "Awooo!"
Hey boss, I'm starving! Time for some food!
The zombie king glanced at him, clearly dissatisfied with this lackey who only knew how to eat.
The zombie underlings are fearless and are still begging for food.
The zombie king stared at him for a couple of seconds, then slapped him on the shoulder: "Roar!"
No food!
He did want to take his underlings out to eat yesterday, but one of the dishes was inedible! In the end, because of that inedible dish, they had to give up all the other dishes.
At the zombie king's command, the zombie underlings who were waiting for their food could only suppress their drooling and let a bunch of food escape.
Outside the city.
The magician finally got into the car, but one of his men had died, including a bald man who had originally been with the magician. The bald man had been bitten by the zombie king himself.
After that, the magician never saw him again.
Yu An was stunned for a moment after hearing that the bald man was gone. But soon, his attention was drawn to Xie Chiyuan's voice.
His bumper car made Little Butterfly feel nauseous even on a short distance.
After arriving outside the city, Xie Chiyuan decisively had the magician switch places with Yu An: "An'an, come sit here, let the magician drive."
The magician, with a sour face, looked at Xie Chiyuan with displeasure: "Do you really think I'm here to serve you? Xie Chiyuan, we've already completed the first task you entrusted to Red Bird."
"From now on, we should go our separate ways."
The magician didn't want to spend another minute with Xie Chiyuan. He had suffered losses at Xie Chiyuan's hands and been beaten up by Yu An.
Now, whenever he sees those two people, he reflexively feels unlucky.
Xie Chiyuan glanced at the city gate behind him and then looked at him: "We've only gone a few hundred meters out of the city. Are you sure you want to go your separate ways?"
The magician said coldly, "I'm very sure!"
There were other carriages outside the city, and the magician went down himself and found one that worked. He knocked on the window and called to Flame, who was sitting inside, "Get out, we should go."
The little sister in the flame's arms had her eyes closed.
She wasn't completely unconscious; rather, after waking up, she was knocked unconscious again by the flames because she was looking for her master.
The younger sister was unprepared for flames, otherwise she wouldn't have been knocked unconscious so easily.
"An'an, we're leaving."
Flame carried her younger sister out of the car and said goodbye to Yu An, "See you next time."
Yu An waved goodbye to him and said goodbye for next time.
As soon as they left, the car was empty. The only choice for driver was Xie Chiyuan, since it was a choice between him and Yu An.
Xie Chiyuan watched the magician and the others leave, feeling quite pleased: "An'an, now it's just the two of us in the car, no third wheels."
Yu An pointed to Chiu Chiu: "And Chiu Chiu!"
Xie Chiyuan smiled nonchalantly: "Little Qiuqiu hasn't woken up yet, so she's not really a third wheel."
Yu An touched his pocket and remained silent.
Time passed slowly, and Xie Chiyuan did not linger for long before leaving S City, which was known as the City of Death.
Their only destination on their return journey was the small island.
After contacting Ruan Ke on the island, Ruan Ke had already sent a helicopter to pick them up. However, the helicopter was unable to enter the airspace over the eastern district.
They need to drive out of the East District so they can take a helicopter directly.
After one day of operation.
Xie Chiyuan reached the border of the Eastern District, an area that used to be inhabited. However, nowadays, there are hardly any residents left; most survivors choose to seek refuge at the base.
"An'an, let's rest here for now and wait for the helicopter to pick us up."
Xie Chiyuan found a slightly cleaner house and brought Qiuqiu inside. Yu An wanted to carry him himself, but Xie Chiyuan saw that he had slept for a while in the car and was still quite drowsy, so he didn't let him carry him, afraid that he wouldn't be able to hold him properly and might drop him.
After the two went inside, nothing else happened.
Without any outside interference, Xie Chiyuan wanted to spend some quality time with Yu An.
They put Chiu Chiu on the bed, and then all sat on the sofa by the window. This spot offered a good view of the sky, meaning they could more easily see the helicopters.
"An'an".
Xie Chiyuan pulled the man in front of him, not allowing him to dodge: "I've been thinking about this for two days, and now I've made up my mind. Even if it's not a family of three, I'll still support him."
As he spoke, he reached out and touched Yu An's stomach.
Before Yu An could react, he had already spoken: "If you can have children, I'll raise as many as you want."
Yu An: "..."
Yu Anla pulled a long face and slapped his hand away: "You're the one who's pregnant!"
The issue of family population that he was about to discuss was almost completely interrupted.
Xie Chiyuan looked up at him, his dark eyes reflecting Yu An's image. Those focused and captivating eyes left the person in the spotlight momentarily bewildered.
"Big Head".
Yu An started to be confused again: "Why do you like me? I'm not good at all, and I have a baby to raise. According to human standards for choosing a partner, no one would marry me."
This is a truth that Yu An himself came to understand after entering human society.
He knew his marketability was poor, so he hadn't even considered finding a partner. Raising a child was already difficult enough; if he had to support a wife as well, he definitely couldn't afford it.
"An'an, I've said it many times, you're great, you deserve it."
Xie Chiyuan's forehead was pressed against his, and Yu An had gotten used to this intimate contact and didn't resist at all.
Their foreheads touched, and when they spoke, their lips almost touched.
Yu An's face was flushed from the praise.
The atmosphere in the air unconsciously became thick and ambiguous. In the quiet where only their breathing could be heard, their two heartbeats sounded like drums, one after the other, until they finally overlapped.