The two kids who were lifted up: "..."
Xiao Jiu was flexible and immediately admitted her mistake in a soft voice.
Xiao Ba sniffed and remained silent.
Yu An gave them a few more words of advice and then put them down.
The surroundings were filled with the wails and screams of the survivors. In the messy street, Yu An squatted down and looked at the pitiful dried octopus in front of him.
"Ba Zai."
He raised his hand to touch the little octopus's tentacles, then touched its head, his eyes filled with the little octopus.
When his name was called, Ba Zai's cool demeanor was clearly about to crumble. His round eyes shrunk into sun-dried eggs, still watery.
Seeing that he didn't respond, Yu An leaned closer and lowered her voice: "Why aren't you saying anything? Don't you want to talk to your older brother?"
Xiao Ba shook his head so hard that it almost left an afterimage.
Yu An stared unblinkingly at his little octopus, his heart softening with each glance. To him, it was as if he had simply taken a nap, only waking up to search for his little ones.
But for the little ones, he slept for far too long.
Yu An's physical functions had declined drastically, so after squatting for a while, he simply sat down.
Seeing his older brother's pale face, Xiao Ba finally realized what was wrong and asked anxiously, "Big brother, what's wrong?"
"fine."
Yu An hugged him, her voice betraying nothing amiss: "Big brother is just a little tired, he'll be fine after a rest."
"Little rascal, from now on, stay obediently by your big brother's side, okay?"
"good!"
Xiao Ba buried his head in his older brother's arms and answered heavily, "Wherever you are, I will be!"
Yu An originally had a lot more to say to Xiao Ba, but his throat was terribly dry.
Xiao Jiu knew that his older brother was too hungry, so he winked at Xiao Ba, signaling Xiao Ba to stop clinging to his older brother.
Xiao Ba looked at him blankly, puzzled: "Stinky mushroom, are your eyes twitching?"
Xiao Jiu: "..."
Stupid fish!
Xiao Jiu, who was busy with her work, brought a plush toy for her older brother to rest on, so he could close his eyes and relax.
"Brother, let's go get some water, we'll be right back."
"Um."
Yu An was too tired to keep running. He hugged the huge plush toy tightly, his face pressed against the toy's chest, his eyelids almost unable to lift.
Despite Yu An's warning against fighting, Xiao Jiu and Xiao Ba maintained a superficial harmony.
Xiao Ba had just met his older brother and was reluctant to leave.
Xiao Jiu didn't stand on ceremony with him, reaching out to grab his tentacle and dragging him aside: "Come here, I have something to tell you!"
Every one of the octopus's tiny tentacles screamed rejection as he angrily declared, "I want my big brother!"
Xiao Jiu calmly and threateningly informed him: "Big Brother is very tired right now. If you continue to bother him, I swear Xiao Liu and I will team up to kill you!"
Xiao Ba, who was used to being reckless, was not afraid of this at all.
Xiao Jiu continued, "Big Brother already knows that you lost Qiuqiu."
Xiao Ba: "..."
Xiao Ba instantly became as quiet as a chicken.
Xiao Jiu dragged the heavy octopus to a corner. From this position, their eldest brother shouldn't be able to hear them.
The two creatures, who loathed each other, looked at each other, suppressing their mutual dislike, and began to exchange information.
Xiao Jiu told Xiao Ba everything about her eldest brother's condition: "My eldest brother's body is very special now, and human food can no longer provide him with nutrition."
"He can eat zombie crystal cores, or he can eat mutants directly. By the way, Xie Chiyuan's blood, and the milk that Xie Chiyuan got from somewhere, can both relieve Big Brother's hunger."
After Xiao Jiu finished explaining his older brother's situation in one breath, the octopus was stunned, and its little tentacles stopped flailing around.
"Xiao Jiu".
Xiao Ba suddenly seemed flustered; even his usually fearless expression showed signs of panic: "You mean, Big Brother is going to become like before—"
"You little brat, what are you saying?"
Xiao Jiu coldly interrupted him, her usually soft and cute face now showing a gloomy expression: "Big brother is not what he used to be. He has always been like this. He has no special abilities and is just like any other ordinary human being."
"He needs us to take good care of him."
As Xiao Jiu spoke, dense mycelium enveloped the space around them, ensuring that no one could hear their conversation.
Xiao Ba took a deep breath and calmed down: "Yes, Big Brother needs our protection and our care."
He began to think about the most important thing at hand: "We need to stay here for a few more days, Xiao Jiu, roast my tentacles for Big Brother to eat."
"Yes, I had this plan when I saw you."
Xiao Jiu happily agreed to the proposal.
We don't have to worry about food, but my older brother needs water.
The two little ones thought for a moment, and Xiao Jiu thought that while his older brother was in a daze, he might as well give him a good boost. He raised his eyelids and smiled: "Eighth cub, do you think crystal cores can be roasted and eaten? Sprinkled with cumin and chili."
Upon hearing this, the agile octopus turned around and grabbed a zombie with a crystal core.
The barbecue stalls have reopened.
The stall owner, Little Mushroom, skillfully flipped the octopus tentacles over and sprinkled them with chili powder.
Seeing that her older brother was still asleep, Xiao Jiu casually asked Qiu Qiu, "Didn't Qiu Qiu go to stay with you? Why aren't you two together?"
Eight-Zai sighed softly and reminded him, "Six-Zai also came to find me, but he left in the end too."
Chiu Chiu is the youngest of them and doesn't like to fight, but when it comes to vying for affection, she completely outclasses them.
His mimicry was clearly that of a snowy owl, but somehow, he didn't have the fierceness of a snowy owl at all; instead, he looked like a little spider that loved to weave webs.
He doesn't like going out, but he loves visiting the rooms of the C-sequence aberrations, because C66 really is a little spider that only spins webs.
Chiu Chiu gets along well with the little spider and always manages to get the strongest special spider silk.
C66's spider silk is beautiful, both beautiful and strong. Every time he spins his silk, Chiu Chiu's eyes sparkle as she showers him with compliments.
Bazai would occasionally overhear it when he passed by.
For example, something like, "Wow, you're so amazing!"
"66, you are my absolute favorite little spider!"
"66, you're awesome!"
Under the mindless flattery of Chiu Chiu, C66 always worked hard without complaint, spitting out all his spider silk for Chiu Chiu. In order to make the spider silk look better, he even ate paint in order to spit out colored spider silk.
In short, the shy yet compliment-giving Qiuqiu is a variant of many, and a little angel in the eyes of her older brother.
Thinking of this, Bazai snorted: "Chirp is such a scheming little chirp. When he fights with me, he bites me really hard!"
Moreover, that scheming little bird never flatters him!
When the stinky bird was weaving clothes for everyone, it complained that it had too many little tentacles and that weaving clothes used up too much spider silk.
"Eighth child, do you know who the eldest brother most wants to find right now is?"
"You mean that when you mention him, that's what you mean."
Xiao Jiu looked at the unhappy Ba Zai and calmly told him what had happened on the ship: "Chiu Chiu's wings were cut off and used to deal with Xie Chi Yuan."
Cut off the wings.
Bazai was stunned, and he blurted out, "Stinky chicks are afraid of pain."
They rarely feel pain, especially those with many tentacles that can grow back after being severed. They've lost count of how many tentacles they've lost in battles.
He wasn't afraid of pain; he remembered that Chiu Chiu was afraid of pain. Chiu Chiu's wings were different from an octopus's tentacles...
Eight-Eight imagined the scene Xiao-Nine described, and its tentacles began to change color: "I don't know where Stinky Bird is. After I left the research institute, I went to many places. Stinky Bird followed me at first, but I was tricked by cunning humans several times!"
"Later, word spread that there were cases like my brother's."
“The stinky bird left me a letter and then left.”
Bazai's literacy level wasn't high; he barely recognized the gist of the letter after seeing it. Anyway, Choujiu felt there was no future with Bazai, so he left.
Bazai was resentful at being rejected and refused to inquire about Qiuqiu's whereabouts.
“Cases like the one my brother had.”
Xiao Jiu astutely grasped the key point: "The person who coaxed Qiu Qiu away knows about Big Brother's condition?! He knows about Big Brother's illness, and he might be someone we know."
Bazaar: "Huh?"
Ba Zai didn't follow Xiao Jiu's train of thought. He only vaguely recalled, "At that time, Big Brother was still in Secret Shield. It's impossible for the people in Secret Shield to leak any information about Big Brother."
"Only we, the children who escaped, could possibly know..."
As Xiao Ba was talking, she suddenly exclaimed in horror, "Xiao Jiu, could there be a traitor among our children?"
Xiao Jiu couldn't answer.
There's also a hierarchy of discrimination among aberrations; aberrations at higher sequences naturally look down on those below them. Little Eight, Little Nine, and Little Ten—I haven't had much contact with the others mentioned above in my daily life.
Ba Zai claims to be the group bully, but it's actually just A01 and a few others who can't be bothered with him.
Xiao Jiu originally thought she could get clues directly from Ba Zai, but now it seems that the clues still need to be found in the North District, such as Xia Tianwu, who went missing in the North District.
"never mind."
Xiao Jiu flipped through the skewers in her hands, her expression obscured by the thick smoke: "Chiu Chiu isn't some ordinary mutant. If he gets the chance, he'll kill those people."
Besides, who among them hasn't suffered this kind of pain in the past?
Xiao Jiu's barbecue is quite good. Even the fish in question was a little tempted by the smell: "Why don't you grill me another skewer? I want to taste what I taste like."
Xiao Jiu looked at him and said, "No, I'm tired of grilling."