Upon seeing Yu An enter, the little baby on the chair burst into tears.
Yu An quickly patted his head to comfort him, saying, "Little Jiu, don't cry. Big brother is alright. Look, I'm back now."
Xiao Jiu clung to his older brother's waist; he was genuinely terrified.
Yu An picked him up and sat him back down in the chair, not bothering to coax him gently. He carefully took a butterfly out of his pocket.
The injured little butterfly was soaked in seawater again, and the visual effect of the wound was quite gruesome.
"Xiao Jiu, this is Xiao Liu."
Yu An placed the little butterfly on a piece of clean cloth spread out on the ground and instructed Xiao Jiu, "Get me some clean water."
Xiao Jiu, with tears still clinging to her eyelashes: "..."
Damn it.
How did this fluttering moth find its way here?!
"Xiao Jiu, hurry up."
"Oh, okay."
Xiao Jiu, with her delicate chubby face drooping, went to fetch water in a sullen mood.
Yu An then found some alcohol and cotton swabs. He lowered his eyes and carefully examined Little Butterfly's wound, his hands not trembling at all.
Fortunately, there were traces of medicine on the butterfly's wings.
Yu An focused intently on treating his wounds, but since he had no medicine, he could only perform the simplest treatments.
Time passed little by little.
Yu An opened the nutritional paste she had stored away and bent down to feed the weak little butterfly.
The little butterfly ate diligently, reluctant to let go.
Yu An frowned more and more deeply, and said in a low voice, "Sixth son, how long has it been since you've eaten anything?"
Six's injury looked like it had been there for several days. All mutants have strong self-healing abilities, so Six's slow self-healing could only mean he was malnourished.
Xiao Jiu remained silent.
Liu Zai is a picky little moth; he has two things he won't eat: this and that.
After the nutritional paste ran out of stock, Liu Zai went into hibernation for a while. When he woke up, there was still nothing to eat, so he became unhappy and started to go hungry.
Xiao Jiu wasn't as particular as him; she made everything.
However, because of her older brother, Xiao Jiu doesn't eat people very often.
The mutants can eat each other. Xiao Jiu once invited Liu Zai to kill Xiao Ba and make Xiao Ba into a teppanyaki, but Liu Zai rejected the offer.
"Eat slowly, you'll feel bloated if you eat too much at once."
Yu An was still talking to the little butterfly on the fabric. The little butterfly finished two tubes of nutritional paste before sliding down like a piece of paper.
"Big brother."
Little Nine asked hesitantly, "Is Sixth Brother going to die?"
Yu An gently placed the little butterfly down and whispered, "Shh, Sixth Brother is asleep. He won't die. He's just turned back into a butterfly form. He'll recover slowly."
Xiao Jiu's eyes were immediately filled with regret.
Having eaten and drunk its fill, the little butterfly returned to its older brother's side and immediately fell into a deep sleep. The mutants are naturally highly alert and generally only experience light sleep.
Such deep sleep is only possible in an environment of extreme trust.
Yu An felt a sense of peace as she listened to his even breathing.
Having already made his way in front of his elder brother, Xiao Jiu knew he had no chance to make a move. In the blink of an eye, he made a flexible decision and temporarily reconciled with Liu Zai in front of his elder brother.
In the hospital ward.
Xie Chiyuan suffered a lot, but Tang Yi finally treated all his injuries.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his gaze toward Tang Yi was incredibly complex: "When the world is more peaceful in the future, you should become a veterinarian."
The way he treated his wounds looked just like a veterinarian's.
Tang Yi was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk to him.
The ward was deathly still when a small head peeked in through the door. It was Yu An, who had settled the babies in.
"May I come inside?"
"Come in."
When Xie Chiyuan saw him, he asked, "Why didn't you let the doctor examine you again just now?"
Yu An glanced at Tang Yi, who had a sour face, and whispered, "I'm fine, no need to look."
"Alright."
Seeing that he was unharmed and in good spirits, Xie Chiyuan did not insist on having him continue the examination.
Yu An came to give Xie Chiyuan a "good guy" card. If Xie Chiyuan hadn't arrived in time, he might have been dragged into the deep sea and drowned by the big fish.
Tang Yi glanced at them and felt that if she stayed any longer, her eyes would start to hurt.
"I'm leaving now."
He packed his things, pushed open the door, and left.
Yu An glanced at Tang Yi's retreating figure and almost followed her. He was still planning to go find the doctor to ask for some medicine.
"Please sit down."
Xie Chiyuan pointed to a chair and told him to sit down.
Yu An obediently sat down and sincerely said to Xie Chiyuan, "Thank you for saving me."
Xie Chiyuan said calmly, "You're welcome."
Their eyes met, and Yu An, looking at the bandages wrapped around his body, suddenly asked, "Xie Chiyuan, why did you save humans?"
From the moment they first met, Xie Chiyuan embarked on a journey to save humanity.
He kills zombies and mutants, and even when he is covered in wounds, he uses his own strength to hold up a protective umbrella for humanity.
Yu An couldn't understand why he wouldn't get tired of persisting like this day after day.
He is just a person.
He is not a machine, much less a god.
Xie Chiyuan was taken aback by the question.
After a long pause, he finally spoke: "No one has ever asked me this question before."
Meeting Yu An's clear eyes, Xie Chiyuan pondered for a few seconds before replying earnestly, "When I was ten years old, I was adopted by my father. My father was a soldier."
"I spent a long time living in the military. Protecting humanity is a soldier's primary mission."
"Among humans, there are those who commit heinous crimes and are ungrateful, but there are also those who are simple, hardworking, and strive to live a good life. As a soldier, I feel it is very meaningful to protect the latter."
Yu An doesn't have much contact with people outside the family.
But then he thought of the little boy in overalls he had seen, the dead uncle, the wooden blocks in the old city…
"Yes! You're right!"
Yu Anxin readily agreed with his point of view.
Xie Chiyuan found it amusing to see the serious look on his face: "Yu An, from your tone, it sounds like you don't consider yourself human?"
Yu An: "!"
Yu An was stunned.
Xie Chiyuan's guess was incredibly accurate!
Afraid of being exposed, Yu An quickly changed the subject, emphasizing righteously, "I am a human being! Do I not look human?"
Xie Chiyuan looked at his handsome face and said, "Yes, he's a person."
Once the topic was moved on, the two started talking about other things.
Not long after.
A group of freshmen in training uniforms knocked on the ward door and came in to visit their instructor.
Upon seeing Yu An, the round-faced freshman at the back of the group's eyes lit up. It seemed that some of the gossip on the forum was actually true.
"Instructor, are you feeling better?"
"It's alright, I won't die."
"Ahem." The freshman choked, cleared his throat, and then got to the point: "Um, you know... will you still be able to teach us tomorrow?"
The moment the question was asked, the other freshmen held their breath, nervously awaiting the answer.
Xie Chiyuan's reputation for tormenting freshmen during his time as an instructor was still passed down through generations. None of these freshmen were unafraid of him.
Xie Chiyuan glared coldly at the group of brats, uttering a single word: "Go."
The moment those words were uttered, the atmosphere in the ward instantly fell silent. Even Yu An felt a pang of pity for the expressions on the faces of these new students.
"If there's nothing else, go back and practice more. See you on the training field tomorrow."
"Yes, I understand, Instructor."
The freshmen left the ward feeling extremely disappointed, and one by one they made a pact to go for extra training.
Yu An thoughtfully closed the door they had forgotten to close.
"Oh, right."
Xie Chiyuan looked up at Yu An and suddenly had an idea: "Since you're just sitting here anyway, why don't you go and exercise together starting tomorrow?"
Yu An: "?"
Is this what forced conscription looks like?
Yu An was silent for a moment, then slowly asked, "If I don't go, will you kick me out?"
Xie Chiyuan squinted at him, remaining silent.