Bazai nodded hesitantly.
Mature octopuses are enormous, veritable behemoths in the ocean. They can freely switch between their mature and juvenile forms.
In front of his elder brother, he was more accustomed to using the form of a cub.
Yu An touched his little tentacles and chatted with him: "When we go back to the island next time, turn back into your mature form and show me."
"Um!"
As they talked, they soon arrived at the house that Chiu Chiu had just discovered.
Calling this a village is an understatement; it consists of only a few poor households, living far apart from each other, not even close neighbors.
The house was self-built, with at least three rooms. The vegetable garden in the yard hadn't been tended to for a long time, and the weeds were taller than the vegetables.
Yu An and Xie Chiyuan's goal was to find a place where people could live.
Only after finding a place to stay can they continue their search. After all, whether it's Ying Jian who came here initially or the West District team looking for Ying Jian, they all need a place to stay.
"You little brat, crawl back into my pocket."
Seeing that there was too much dust in the room, Yu An worried that he would get covered in it: "Just stick your head out."
Bazai wasn't afraid of getting dirty. He sat up and looked at the house in front of him, showing great interest in exploring it.
The group went inside.
Yu An and Xie Chiyuan walked away from each other; he went to check the room on the west side, while Xie Chiyuan went to the east side.
The room is poorly lit, and the view is blurry if the curtains are not drawn.
Yu An examined the place carefully, not missing a single detail: "There's a packaging bag here, and some crumbs. It doesn't look like it's been here for long; someone lived here a while ago."
Xie Chiyuan also made a discovery.
He quickly finished inspecting this place and then continued to check other houses.
Yu An looked at his back, hesitated for two seconds, and then called out, "Xie Chiyuan."
Xie Chiyuan stopped, but did not turn around.
Yu An called out again, her voice filled with grievance: "Xie Chiyuan, are you really ignoring me?"
Upon hearing that aggrieved voice, Xie Chiyuan's eyes flickered slightly. Then, he sighed softly, knowing he couldn't hold back any longer.
"come over."
He resignedly called out to Yu An, and when Yu An came closer, he hugged her tightly, so tightly that there was almost no gap between them: "An'an, be good."
The investigation into this unusual zombie outbreak is still ongoing.
Even though Yu An herself is already a zombie, Xie Chiyuan is still worried.
Yu An buried her face in his chest and whispered, "I want to stay with you. I don't want to be separated from you. Please don't let me leave, okay? After we finish the mission, we'll go back together."
Xie Chiyuan lowered his head and kissed the crown of his head.
He did not respond to Yu An's request.
But the cold war between the two had completely melted away, and the two little ones, who had been suppressed by the oppressive atmosphere and dared not utter a sound, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Big brother, hug me."
Xie Chiyuan had just hugged Yu An, so he put Qiuqiu down. Now that Qiuqiu saw them make up, she immediately opened her arms.
Yu An hugged Qiu Qiu and told Xie Chiyuan about her discovery.
“There are signs that people live here. If we had come a few days earlier, we might have found them.”
"It's okay, it's not too late to find it now."
The current discovery is also a clue for them; if they continue to search, they will surely find more and more clues.
The other houses indeed provided them with more clues.
In the last house, there was leftover food in the kitchen. The food was slightly spoiled, but the spoiled smell wasn't strong, so it was probably cooked yesterday.
Yu An and Xie Chiyuan looked at the spoiled food and exchanged a glance.
"Someone lives here."
"Okay, we'll just wait here."
Instead of staying inside, they waited outside. This way, if the person staying inside returned, they could go straight in.
It's more convenient for them to come in from the outside and block the road.
Time flowed quietly.
Yu An looked towards the door, unsure how much longer he would have to wait.
Xie Chiyuan turned his head back and said in a low voice, "It's not dark yet, so he probably won't be back. There's no need to keep watching him."
Upon hearing this, Yu An averted his gaze.
The two sat shoulder to shoulder under the cucumber vines, exchanging information from what they had just heard.
“It’s not Ying Jian. Ying Jian’s identity is special, and it’s impossible for him to live a pastoral life here. There’s a high probability that he will do something related to his profession.”
Yingjian's major is related to various experiments.
The new nutritional paste sold in the West District has almost monopolized the market. If Ying Jian hears about it and wants a piece of the pie, he will at least use the traditional nutritional paste formula he knows to make a tube of traditional nutritional paste.
"If it's not Ying Jian, then why are we still waiting?"
"Because the person we're waiting for has very likely already met Ying Jian."
This area isn't particularly large, but it's not small either. If they search for survivors, there's a good chance they can get useful information from them.
Yu An nodded.
The kids couldn't sit still, so I didn't sit here with them.
Yu An would glance at the direction the kids were playing in from time to time, and after a few glances, she would turn her attention back to Xie Chiyuan.
Xie Chiyuan was examining his arm.
"Don't shield me next time. No matter what happens, don't stand in front of me."
"oh."
Yu An's agreement was somewhat perfunctory, so perfunctory that Xie Chiyuan wanted to teach him another lesson.
The white gauze was removed and replaced, and Yu An felt the pain again.
He looked at the wound. There was nothing strange about it, but for some reason, the healing speed was much slower than when he was bitten the first time.
Could it really be the effect of a special type of zombie?
Yu An thought more deeply than Xie Chiyuan; looking at his wound, he was still pondering another reason—
Is it possible that his own ailing body is also on the verge of flare-up?
The second reason made his eyelid twitch heavily was his right eye. There's a superstitious saying that a twitching left eye means good fortune, while a twitching right eye means bad luck.
Is he about to suffer a disaster?
"Xie Chiyuan, can zombies get sick?"
"have no idea."
Xie Chiyuan truly had no experience working with zombies, and he hadn't made any specific observations about the details of the research on zombies at the base.
Yu An's question left him speechless.
Fortunately, Yu An didn't delve into it. In the brief moment Xie Chiyuan was distracted, he suddenly leaned over and kissed Xie Chiyuan's cheek.
"Xie Chiyuan, even if I get sick, I will remember that I love you."
Slina once said that when he was sick, his condition would be very different from usual. Yu An recalled his own experiences with illness, but he couldn't remember what he was like when he was sick.
If he forgets things again, he must remember them, he absolutely cannot forget them—
He is dating Xie Chiyuan.
Under the cucumber trellis, adults are dating.
In the nearby thicket, the little ones were playing games. Eight-Eight had already returned to maturity; although he could shrink himself, it didn't mean he was still weak.
He grew a little bigger, his little tentacles tightly wrapped around Chiu Chiu, and with Chiu Chiu's startled cry, he suddenly tossed Chiu Chiu upwards.
The startled chirping instantly turned into cheers.
"Hehehe, throw it higher, throw it even higher!"
It was rare for Chiu Chiu to be so lively. He didn't need to move his little wings. His whole body was wrapped up by the little tentacles and thrown up heavily. Just before he fell to the ground, he was caught up in a thrilling moment.
This kind of stimulation drove Chiu Chiu, who never engages in vigorous activities, crazy.
A clucking sound came from not far away.
Yu An could tell from his voice, "Chirp is really having a lot of fun."
Xie Chiyuan didn't care at all: "I'll play this little game with you when we get back. It's just lifting you up high, right? I'll lift you up as high as you want."
Yu An blushed slightly.
He said, "I don't play games that kids play."
Xie Chiyuan raised an eyebrow, getting excited: "Then shall we play some games that adults play? In adult games, we can lift things up too..."
Taking advantage of the fact that the children were not around, Xie Chiyuan said nothing that the children could listen to.
Yu An's face flushed.
Xie Chiyuan thought about sending him away, not knowing when they would see each other again.
His eyes darkened, and he began to collect the interest on their separation as quickly as possible.
The young couple was putting on a show as a couple, while the game involving their child was nearing its end.
The little cub tossed and turned, its tiny tentacles getting sore from all the tossing.
He took a breath and notified Chirp, "Stinky Chirp, we're done playing. I need to rest for a bit; my tentacles have all dried out!"
Chiu Chiu is a considerate chiu. Upon hearing this, she quickly said that she wanted to go down.
Eight-Eight raised its little tentacles, intending to let Chiu-Chiu play one last time.