Chapter 50: Divine Birth Day

At night, Xiu opened his eyes on the bed.

Moonlight poured into the stone tower through the small window on the third floor. By this dim light, Xiu looked at the cat feigning sleep on his chest.

After these days of feeding, although Wen Chu still looked like a palm-sized kitten, he already weighed ten catties (approx. 5 kg).

Pressing on his chest, he felt heavy and substantial.

But Xiu still keenly perceived that Wen Chu had become a little lighter.

He sneaked out again.

In fact, Wen Chu had been sneaking out often these days. Xiu guessed that Wen Chu was probably going to discuss cooperation matters with the Rebel Army.

Intellectually, he told himself this was normal. Even if Wen Chu was a mass of fog, he was a mass of fog with thoughts and needed his own space.

But emotions were unreasonable.

Clearly, he was the one who discovered Wen Chu first and was raising him.

But because of his initial attitude, Wen Chu always kept a distance from him.

…He didn’t like this.

The past could not be changed. Xiu could only try to work hard to change his image in Wen Chu’s heart.

Tomorrow was Divine Birth Day, and also the day of the Rebel Army’s operation. According to the original development, it would be very chaotic. He had to protect Wen Chu well.

Xiu lowered his eyes and thought.

Just then, a small ball of black fog floated in leisurely through the window.

Wen Chu had originally intended to return aggressively to demand an explanation from Xiu, but upon floating in and seeing the awake Xiu, he instantly chickened out again.

He quickly merged into the darkness, sneaking onto the bed while thinking, Please don’t let Xiu discover me.

Last time he went out alone, Xiu got very angry.

Wen Chu felt guilty. The impulse to accuse Xiu after suddenly learning he was actually good-looking also disappeared.

The Xiu in this world had no memories and hadn’t lied to him; instead, he was the one deceiving Xiu.

It would be unreasonable for him to turn into a human to question Xiu now.

Thinking this, Wen Chu slowly crawled onto the bed along the sheets, carefully merging with his tail.

The little black cat returned to his normal weight.

Maybe I should just continue feigning sleep… I’ll wait until I think of a reasonable way to turn into a human in front of Xiu.

Just then, Wen Chu heard Xiu’s voice.

“Wen Chu,” Xiu said softly. “The cabbage in the field is about to ripen. Tomorrow we’re going to the main city area. Do you want me to buy a few chickens from Steam City while we’re there and make cabbage-wrapped meat for you when we get back?”

These days, Xiu had bought him a lot of food produced in Steam City. Wen Chu tried them; he wouldn’t vomit after eating, but he couldn’t digest them either. So each time he could only eat a tiny bit to taste, wrap it in the fog for a while, and then drop it out exactly as it was.

Wen Chu instinctively refused, “No need, it’s too expensive. I can’t eat it anyway, it’s a waste of money.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Wen Chu realized he should be asleep right now and couldn’t answer questions.

He blinked his eyes, looking innocently into Xiu’s gaze, and tried to cover for himself. “…I just woke up.”

Xiu chuckled softly, not saying whether he believed it or not, simply saying, “Not a waste. Spending money on you isn’t a waste.”

Wen Chu had no choice but to say, “Then don’t buy too much. I’ll just taste one bite, and you eat the rest.”

Speaking of this, Wen Chu remembered his box of gold coins that he hadn’t had a chance to bring out—after helping Minnie tomorrow, he would have two boxes.

If he turned into a human, he would have a legitimate reason to bring out the money.

He could say he earned it by working part-time.

Wen Chu looked at Xiu, his eyes sparkling. “Xiu, if I could turn into a human, would you be happy?”

Xiu thought about what a mass of black fog turning into a human would look like, only imagining a distorted black human shape with no facial features.

Sounds very creepy.

Xiu chose his words carefully. “I will like whatever you are; you don’t necessarily have to turn into a human.”

Xiu’s mouth, a deceiving ghost.

In the last world, Xiu only agreed to mate with him after he turned into a human. How could he like whatever he was?

The System also said Xiu liked good-looking ones. Xiu definitely preferred his human form.

Wen Chu’s gaze was burning. “Then if I turn into a human, will you like me more? Turning into that kind of especially beautiful, especially good-looking human.”

Hearing this, Xiu couldn’t help but zone out for a moment.

Not that he thought of any specific good-looking person following Wen Chu’s words, but he remembered a certain feeding session where the fog squeezed between his fingers, interlocking with them.

If Wen Chu were human…

Then every time during feeding, what he saw in his trance would no longer be the gloomy stone tower or the light from the window, but a person’s face.

A person with a body, a person he could hug and hold hands with.

Xiu wavered for a moment, then immediately couldn’t help condemning himself.

—Wen Chu is just a mass of fog. How can I have such thoughts about Wen Chu?

This is seducing an ignorant non-human.

“…Anything is fine.” Xiu turned his face away.

“Why do you suddenly ask this?”

Wen Chu took it for granted. “Because I want you to like me a little more.”

Like this again.

Xiu pursed his lips.

Wen Chu always said ambiguous things just when he was about to make up his mind never to have ridiculous, presumptuous thoughts about this mass of fog again.

His tone was so serious that he would believe it every time.

And then in the next moment, he would realize even more deeply that to Wen Chu, he was just food.

Xiu took a deep breath, then revealed a very forced smile. “Grow up well, and I will like you.”

This topic only made Xiu feel a dull pain and suffocation. After answering, he quickly changed the topic, trying to divert Wen Chu’s attention.

“—By the way, what candy do you want to eat tomorrow?”

Sure enough, Wen Chu was attracted by food.

The kitten wagged his tail. “I’ll eat milk candy. You eat too; you eat hazelnut chocolate.”

“Okay.” Xiu had no objections.

He patted the kitten’s head. “Alright, rest quickly. We have to be busy tomorrow.”

Wen Chu thought about it; he really should take the job worth a suitcase of gold coins seriously. He didn’t refute Xiu and obediently said, “Okay.”

He lay on Xiu’s chest ready to continue sleeping, his eyes about to close, then suddenly opened them again.

“Xiu, when we go to the amusement park the day after tomorrow, I have something to tell you.”

Xiu’s favorability toward him had stayed at 70 for a long time. Wen Chu wanted to test if turning into a human could increase the favorability a bit more.

If the favorability could be pulled to 90, he would confess to Xiu and invite him to mate.

Xiu was stunned for a moment, then said thoughtfully, “Okay.”

“Just right, I also have something I want to say to you.”

—

The next day.

Divine Birth Day. The weather was gloomier than usual. Dark clouds pressed down overhead, looking as if a cold rain could fall at any moment.​

Wen Chu had seen storms at sea, so his first reaction upon seeing the weather in the morning was to turn and remind Xiu, “It’s going to rain.”

“En, I’ll bring an umbrella.” Xiu said, bringing down a newly bought umbrella from the second floor.

Wen Chu circled the umbrella a few times.

Black, long handle, just like Xiu’s tightly wrapped black robe.

He didn’t like such a dreary umbrella.

But Xiu bought it, and as a moocher, he obviously had no right to pick and choose.

Wen Chu could only go paw at the candy box, pick out a piece of hazelnut chocolate, and push it in front of Xiu.

“Xiu, eat.”

Xiu picked up the chocolate, unwrapped it, and watched the kitten turn into fog to impatiently swallow a milk candy. He said amusingly, “Why don’t you eat the chocolate? Don’t like it?”

Wen Chu held the candy in his mouth, speaking indistinctly, “I’ll eat it tomorrow. Only one piece a day.”

So I want Xiu to taste the delicious one first.

Xiu felt the milk chocolate melt on the tip of his tongue, the sweet sensation transmitting through his taste buds, and couldn’t help thinking:

Actually, we could share one candy.

He was startled by his own thought and quickly shook his head to throw away these unclean thoughts.

Leaving aside whether it violated ethics, Wen Chu didn’t even have a mouth in fog form. How could they share?

Xiu quickly swallowed the remaining chocolate and said, “Let’s go.”

He picked up the umbrella. Wen Chu jumped onto his shoulder, and one person and one cat walked out of the stone tower.

Minnie had been waiting outside for a long time. Seeing Wen Chu on Xiu’s shoulder, she breathed a long sigh of relief.

Great, Wen Chu still remembers his mission.

Minnie drove her newly bought steam tricycle—after transporting back a small amount of Hearts of Steam, this tricycle had been modified by the Allen brothers into a long-range model.

Minnie said, “Get in. I put the cabbage you need to revive in the cart bucket. Dorothy and the others are ready, just waiting for you to arrive to start the act according to the plan.”

Wen Chu was startled upon hearing this: Why is it Dorothy?

Minnie looked at Wen Chu with a “I knew you were sleeping during the meeting and didn’t listen at all” gaze and explained, “Dorothy is the smallest and smartest. She also volunteered herself back then.”

Xiu was not surprised by this. He got into the car with Wen Chu.

The steam tricycle drove toward the main city area.

The sky remained ominously dark. Since it was Divine Birth Day, steam cars were coming and going at the entrance of the main city area. Minnie didn’t attract the guards’ attention and smoothly took Wen Chu and Xiu to the Central Plaza.

The Central Plaza was bustling with people today. A market had been set up under the faceless statue of the god. Not far away was the rebuilt Boiler Room 21. The ground around it still bore the charred marks left by the explosion, but new workers had already moved into the new boiler room to work normally.

This was the surface. People would cry and grieve, but they never thought of resisting.

Even though they had witnessed their compatriots die in hellish high-temperature steam less than half a month ago, new workers would fill the vacancies a few days later.

Minnie swept a cold glance over it and said nothing.

She knew she had no right to condemn these people from a high horse.

All children would be sent to the orphanage to receive Steam City’s education, and sent to factories upon adulthood. In such an environment, having thoughts of resistance was tantamount to a fantasy.

If she hadn’t been saved by Sir while fleeing, she might also have been one of these ordinary people.

Screech—

The tricycle stopped in front of a small stall selling tools at the corner of the Central Plaza.

The stall was run by a burly man who bore some resemblance to John between his brows; this was the leader of the Southern District.

Minnie picked up a shovel and asked, “How much?”

The Southern District leader crossed his arms, boldly sized up the mysterious “Sir” Minnie spoke of, let his gaze linger for a second on the particularly conspicuous little black cat, and then said, “Nine hundred and thirty, no bargaining.”

Nine-thirty. Proceed according to the original plan.

Minnie changed her expression on the spot and threw the shovel back. “So expensive? Aren’t you just scamming people?”

The Southern District leader didn’t have a good tone either. “Buy it if you want, or get lost.”

This kind of bargaining was common, and no one noticed the conversation at such a remote stall.

It was already 9:20.

Wen Chu received Minnie’s hand signal, jumped from Xiu’s shoulder into the cart bucket, picked up the withered cabbage in his mouth, and wagged his tail at Xiu.

I’m going to work now.

This time I greeted Xiu in advance.

Xiu nodded gently to him.

Only then did Wen Chu jump out of the car with the cabbage in his mouth, running sneakily to the base of the God of Steam statue.

Because he was sleeping during the meeting, Wen Chu only heard the gist of it.

He only knew that many people from the Western and Southern Districts had infiltrated the surroundings. His task was to revive the vegetable seedling when Dorothy faked her death and Dorothy’s “family” cried to heaven and earth. He hadn’t paid attention to the specific process.

Therefore, at this moment, Wen Chu could only wait boringly under the statue of the God of Steam with the cabbage seedling in his mouth.

Wen Chu looked up at the statue again.

For a palm-sized kitten, the statue was a colossal monster. Wen Chu’s neck was sore from looking up under the statue, and he could barely see Xiu’s chin.

Minnie said Xiu didn’t like the Central Plaza and the statue.

But Xiu still appeared here for him.

Although Xiu wore a hood and no expression could be seen, Wen Chu felt Xiu’s mood shouldn’t be very good.

He lowered his head, meeting the gaze of Xiu who was staring closely at him from the corner, and couldn’t help thinking: Why didn’t humans consider the god’s opinion when erecting a statue for the God of Steam?

Xiu clearly doesn’t like it.

When the surface falls into chaos because of the war, I’ll take advantage of the chaos to help Xiu destroy the Central Plaza.

Just then—

“Catch her!! There’s a child!!”

The voice of a patrol officer came from afar, accompanied by sharp gathering whistles. Wen Chu snapped back to reality and looked toward the source of the sound.

He saw a thin, small girl wearing a tattered grey cloak moving quickly through the crowd, followed by a squad of armed patrol officers.

“Make way, everyone!! Patrol enforcement!”

Patrol officers had already raised their guns.

The Central Plaza was in chaos. Vendors screamed and packed up their stalls. At the same time, the people Minnie arranged began to take advantage of the chaos to cover for Dorothy.

They had thoroughly figured out the patrol routes. Dorothy deftly dodged patrol officers from all directions, circling the Central Plaza, while the surrounding vendors popped their heads out from time to time, helping her block lines of sight.

Originally just a commotion in the Central Plaza, under Dorothy’s utmost delay, many people had started to gather here.

This was the effect Minnie wanted.

“What’s going on?”

“Seems to be a minor again. Did someone hide a child?”

“Move further away, careful not to get hurt by mistake.”

The crowd discussed animatedly, and Dorothy finally spoke at this moment.

“I won’t go back to the orphanage! Don’t send me to Steam City!”

Under her hood was a loudspeaker improved by the Allen brothers. As soon as this sentence came out, everyone present exploded.

“Steam City? She can go to Steam City??”

“She escaped from the orphanage? Isn’t the orphanage more than a hundred kilometers away from the main city area? How did she do it?”

“Why not go to Steam City?”

More and more people began to crowd toward the Central Plaza. Dorothy took off her hood while running, revealing a sallow and thin, delicate little face.

A grotesque scar ran across her entire face.

“I’m already disfigured. I don’t want to marry a sixty-something old man! Why should I be used to please the dignitaries of Steam City?”

Dorothy’s voice grew louder as she spoke.

The flesh trade between the orphanage and Steam City was conducted in secret. Most people went into work after adulthood and simply didn’t know such transactions existed. Even more people gathered around.

Even the few patrol officers showed expressions of shock.

Dorothy threw away the cloak, revealing her thin body clad only in a short-sleeved shirt.

Divine Birth Day was also the Winter Solstice. The cold wind blew, and the thin girl shivered in the wind, revealing bruises on her pale skin.

“Kill me then. If you kill me, I won’t have to go to Steam City.” Dorothy finally reached the statue of the God of Steam, staring burningly at the pursuing patrol officers.

“This…” The patrol officers held their guns, at a loss.

They were also natives of the surface. If what Dorothy said was true, they dared not shoot a girl fancied by a dignitary of Steam City.

Drip, drop, sizzle—

The gloomy sky finally made a move. A few drops of rain fell, hitting the onlookers and making sizzling burning sounds.

Acid rain.

People started looking for places to hide from the rain. Dorothy also froze for a moment, obviously not expecting it to rain at this time.

Her skin was reddened by the rain. Dorothy rolled her eyes, feeling the situation was just right. While the patrol officers and the crowd were at a loss, she shouted loudly:

“I didn’t plan to live when I escaped the orphanage. Why can’t we be literate? Why can’t we receive education? Why are we born to be separated from our parents and become slaves of Steam City?”

“What flows in those steam pipes is clearly our blood. We don’t even have the most basic right to survival, treated as gears, used as consumables.”

She stared at the patrol officers like a vengeful ghost.

“Not just us. Your children, your descendants will forever be consumables stepped under the feet of Steam City.”

“On the surface, even the rain is full of pollution. Kill me. I’d rather die in the square, under the statue of the god, than become someone’s wife or slave. If I am to live, then I want to eat normal food instead of canned food. I want to breathe clean air. I want to be showered by rain that doesn’t burn—if I can’t live like a human, then I’d rather die.”

After Dorothy finished speaking, she found the surroundings dead silent.

The crowd was silent, staring at her in deep thought or shock, as if they had seen a ghost. Even the armed patrol officers were the same.

…Huh?

Dorothy wiped the wet hair from her forehead. Seeing the red paint traces on her hand, she froze on the spot.

Done for.

The scar on her face was painted on. It had been directly washed away and smudged by the rain.

Dorothy slowly looked up. The scar on her face and the wounds on her body flowed down with the rolling rain, looking particularly horrifying.

Finally, a patrol officer reacted. “The wounds on her body are all painted!!”

“Crap.” Minnie immediately prepared to get out of the car and rush up to save her.

Xiu opened the large black umbrella, watching all this coldly.

Divine Birth Day, Torrential Rain.

Minnie rushed up to rescue the shot Dorothy, escaping with the dying Dorothy, thus exposing her identity as a minor and a rebel, and was pursued.

The Southern District leader steered with the wind, directly confessing all of Minnie’s plans. Steam City dispatched a robot army to the Western District of the surface.

This was the beginning of a bloody war between humans and machines.

…I should have bought the chicken first.

It’s going to get chaotic in a moment; I probably won’t be able to buy ingredients for Wen Chu.

Bang—

The gunshot in his memory rang out as expected. Blood splattered from Dorothy’s chest, and she fell vomiting blood in front of the faceless statue.

Sizzle—

The sulfuric acid rain poured down.

“NO!!” Minnie screamed and lunged forward, pulling out a gun from her chest.

Just a second before Minnie was about to rush into the heavy crowd, the huge wound on the chest of Dorothy, who had been shot down, healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the bloodstains at the corner of her mouth were disappearing.

The next moment, Dorothy sat up in the puddle of rain.

“Eh…?” Dorothy touched her intact chest in confusion.

Didn’t I just get shot?

“G-Ghost!!” The patrol officer who fired just now cried out in horror.

Minnie stopped her steps, watching all this in astonishment.

Unlike the crowd’s horror, another guess rose in Minnie’s heart—

Sure enough.

The next second, a tender green seedling broke through the soil beside Dorothy.

Even the sulfuric acid torrential rain couldn’t stop its growth. The seedling branched and broke through the earth at a visible speed. Vigorous leaves grew out, then bolted and bloomed.

A small yellow flower blossomed in the rain.

“This is…”

“It’s cabbage! It’s cabbage!!”

“Why did a cabbage suddenly grow? Wasn’t that girl shot dead just now?”

Dorothy finally came back to her senses.

She reached out, picked the small flower, and peeled open the cabbage in front of everyone. After a cry of surprise, she displayed the cabbage leaves to the crowd.

On the cabbage leaves were eight characters starkly written.

—Earth Born New Green, Army Tread Cloud City.

“It’s the God of Steam,” Dorothy shouted loudly. “It’s the God of Steam. Only God can do all this. God is on our side this time!”

Resurrection from the dead, sprouts in wasteland—all this was too weird.

For a moment, everyone couldn’t help looking at the statue of the God of Steam behind Dorothy.

The god bent down, maintaining the motion of handing the Heart of Steam to humanity, with no expression on his face, neither sorrow nor joy.

“Does God see all this too?” someone whispered.

Not only the people present, but even the patrol officers’ legs went soft. They looked at each other for a moment, at a loss.

“Still arrest?”

“Should we ask the chief first?”

“But turning a blind eye to a minor, we’ll all lose our jobs when we get back.”

“…No matter what, arrest first? No one is allowed to shoot.”

Dorothy held the cabbage leaf, retreating step by step, her eyes showing a calmness inconsistent with her age.

Just as she was thinking about which direction to flee to escape, a strange boyish voice suddenly came to her ear: “Run left in a moment.”

Dorothy was stunned.

Before she could react, a white figure flashed through the crowd on the right, knocking away a patrol officer and running into the alley beside.

The patrol officers were thrown into confusion again.

“Why is there another kid here?”

“Is it a kid? Doesn’t look very old?”

“It is a kid, right? Go, chase!”

Between publicly letting a minor go and accidentally letting a minor escape because of chasing another accomplice to lure the tiger from the mountain—the patrol officers could distinguish which crime was greater.

The former might cost them their heads, but the latter would at most get them scolded as idiots.

They had all clearly seen just now how that girl fell after being shot and how she resurrected and sat up in a few breaths.

And that suddenly growing cabbage.

They completely disbelieved that there were no ghosts or gods involved. Especially with the white-haired beautiful ghost countless people encountered last night—even if the patrol officers didn’t believe it, Dorothy’s words echoed in their ears like a loop.

“God is on our side this time.”

God—

The deity gazed at no one.

Under the large black umbrella, Xiu took off his hood.

Through layers of rain curtains, he looked toward that flash of white figure disappearing into the crowd.

Who was that?

---

Author’s Note:
Chu: I did three jobs; I should get triple wages.
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