Chapter 100: Old Friends

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The hotel provided dedicated service and had prepared well-fitting clothes for them. Yi Chen washed off the bloodstains and changed out of his old, bullet-riddled clothes. He put on a black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers. The outfit was quite ordinary, but comfortable enough. Yi Chen hadn’t looked at himself in a mirror for a long time. The person reflected back had sharp features, a cool, distant gaze—almost unfamiliar. His red left eye seemed like an endless pool of blood that could drag a person into hell; even he found it frightening. Yi Chen covered his left eye with an eye patch. Unfortunately, without a hat, he couldn’t hide his white hair. But in the inner city, there were many young people with brightly colored hair, so white hair wasn’t much of an issue.

“Hey, handsome!” Ling Zhe commented on his new look from the side.

“Don’t exaggerate. It’s just a pretty ordinary outfit,” Yi Chen replied indifferently.

“With a figure like yours, you can wear anything and still stand out. You could wear a sack and still blind everyone in the crowd,” Ling Zhe joked.

“Are you complimenting me or mocking me?” Yi Chen playfully slapped Ling Zhe’s shoulder.

“Ow! You’re killing me! I’m injured!” Ling Zhe yelled, his brow furrowed and face contorted. The noise was so loud it seemed like he was about to roll on the ground in pain.

Yi Chen gave him a deadpan look. Ling Zhe’s gunshot wound was clearly on the other side, but his acting was off the charts, making Yi Chen wonder if he had actually slapped the wrong spot.

Leaving the hotel, Yi Chen boarded a bus heading toward Victory Street—where his family lived. The closer he got, the more nervous he became.

Just a glimpse from afar would be enough, he thought. He couldn’t appear before them. His parents and younger sister surely wouldn’t accept the fact that he was now neither fully human nor ghost. If they knew what he had done since the apocalypse began, they’d probably faint.

Bai Ge had once told him that when his handwritten letter was delivered to his mother, Chen Hong, she cried openly. Chen Hong had pulled Bai Ge aside, frantically asking about Yi Chen’s situation. Bai Ge had no choice but to claim ignorance, saying she was just the messenger.

Hearing this broke Yi Chen’s heart. He knew his actions were cruel to his family, but he had to bear everything alone; he couldn’t drag them into it.

The bus stopped, and Yi Chen opened Baidu Maps on his phone. He wasn’t very familiar with the inner city and needed to check the route. The map showed he still had some distance to Victory Street. Just as he took a few steps forward, he suddenly received an abnormal alert from a nearby lynx.

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“Detected a lurking presence! It’s moving quickly!”

Yi Chen immediately went on high alert, gripping the special spiritual link tightly and using the lynx to carefully sense the intruder’s location.

As the situation became clearer, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

It was right nearby! What did that mean?

The intruder must know where his family lived. What was it planning to do?!

Yi Chen dared not waste any more time and sprinted fiercely toward Victory Street.

Boom—a loud explosion shook the ground. People on the street gathered around the source of the noise. The outer wall of a shop at the corner suddenly exploded, sending dust and debris flying!

Yi Chen rushed to the scene, only about a hundred meters from his home. Two or three layers of onlookers had already formed.

The crawler either sensed Yi Chen’s arrival or didn’t want to attract too much human attention in broad daylight. It had fallen silent again.

Perhaps it hadn’t gone far and was just waiting for the show. Yi Chen remained vigilant and sent the lynx to conduct a thorough search.

There was a faint scent of blood in the air.

“Wah—” A girl’s cry shattered Yi Chen’s mental composure. It was his sister Yi Lin’s voice!

His heart pounded wildly, and he wanted to rush through the crowd to see what was going on.

“Alright, alright, don’t cry. Brother will buy you some snacks later,” came another cheerful male voice, patiently comforting her.

Yi Chen paused. He recognized the voice and breath—it was familiar.

“Was it a gas explosion?” someone asked.

“These two kids are really lucky…” a woman buying vegetables murmured.

A tall, fair-skinned boy wearing a summer school uniform carried Yi Lin out from the crowd. Both of them were dirty and dusty, having just narrowly escaped death in the explosion.

The boy’s arm was scratched by debris, but the wound was shallow—just a scrape. Yi Lin’s clothes were dirty but her skin was unbroken; it seemed the boy had protected her.

Some passersby kindly suggested the boy get the injury checked at a hospital, but he politely declined.

Yi Chen looked closely and confirmed his suspicion.

The boy’s name was Lu Yu, his childhood friend.

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They had been classmates and inseparable companions from kindergarten through elementary and middle school.

This closeness lasted until the third year of middle school when Lu Yu moved away from their small town. Afterwards, they mostly stayed in touch online and hadn’t seen each other in person.

Was Lu Yu also in Nanchuan now? Yi Chen understood—it made sense, since Nanchuan had accepted survivors from several nearby cities.

Lu Yu had safely escorted Yi Lin home and was now leaving.

The shop where the explosion had occurred was now cordoned off, and Future Security personnel were investigating the cause.

Lu Yu, who disliked trouble and feared being questioned, turned to walk away in another direction. After a few steps, he felt someone following him.

“Hey, thanks for earlier.”

Lu Yu turned surprised and saw Yi Chen smiling with his hands in his pockets.

“Holy crap, it’s you?!” Lu Yu was stunned, then broke into a broad smile.

“I heard from your family you’re not in school anymore and working now. Why don’t you even go home? That’s harsh!” Lu Yu punched Yi Chen playfully.

“It’s complicated,” Yi Chen sighed.

“Complicated my ass. Stop pretending. How did you get white hair? So cool!”

“I wanted to dye it before. Now that I’m not in school and no one’s watching me, I just did it,” Yi Chen lied.

“I think you should go back to school. People your age should be doing what’s appropriate. Getting into society too early isn’t good,” Lu Yu sincerely advised.

Yi Chen smiled wryly. He thought that was easier said than done.

“Have you eaten? I know a barbecue place ahead that’s pretty good. Come on, let’s grab some skewers,” Lu Yu said, slinging an arm around Yi Chen’s shoulder. He was half a head shorter, making the gesture seem a bit funny.

“You haven’t grown at all in these few months,” Yi Chen laughed.

Although he couldn’t eat human food, he couldn’t refuse his friend’s invitation, especially since he wanted to talk and find out exactly what had just happened.

“Hmph, as a point guard, being this tall is already good for me. I’m not like you, a forward who only knows how to drive in,” Lu Yu shot back.

Both loved basketball and had been on the school team, but Lu Yu was different. His academic performance was excellent as well.