Chapter 51: Meeting

On the other side.

Wen Chu was wearing a black cloak, moving rapidly through the alleyways.

His boots splashed water as they stomped in the puddles, while a squad of patrol officers chased relentlessly behind him.

[Remaining Lifespan: 1 Year, 123 Days, 11 Hours]

Reviving Dorothy and the cabbage just now had consumed twenty hours of his lifespan. Coupled with the fact that his lifespan drained ten times faster while in human form, Wen Chu’s remaining time was plummeting.

Fortunately, Xiu had fed him quite a bit of life force beforehand; otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have had the chance to lure the patrol officers away for Dorothy.

“Freeze!!” A patrol officer’s voice shouted from behind.

Gunshots rang out densely. Luckily, almost everyone in the main urban area was gathered at the central plaza, so there were no innocent bystanders to get hurt.

As for Wen Chu—bullets couldn’t hurt him at all.

Bang—

Another gunshot rang out, and a bullet shot precisely toward the back of Wen Chu’s head.

Wen Chu only felt something bump against the back of his head, and a small lock of white hair fell in response.

He kept running without looking back, even deliberately slowing his pace.

Shaking off the patrol officers would be effortless for him, but his current goal was to draw fire for Dorothy.

Although Xiu talked about destroying the world, Wen Chu still felt that Xiu hadn’t changed.

If he watched someone die right in front of him, Xiu would still be sad.

He didn’t want Xiu to be sad.

The rain was getting heavier.

The acid rain couldn’t hurt Wen Chu, but it completely soaked his hair. He looked as if he had just been fished out of the water, with the ends of his hair and the edges of his clothes dripping wet.

Rising along with the curtain of rain was a thick white mist—droplets formed by the pollutant particles condensing within the acid rain.

As Wen Chu ran, he glanced back from a distance.

From this position, the Central Plaza was no longer visible.

With Xiu and Minnie there, Dorothy should have already taken advantage of the chaos to escape.

He had left his main body at the Central Plaza. Xiu should have already evacuated holding his main body by now and wouldn’t come looking for him at this time.

Thinking this, Wen Chu suddenly stopped and turned around.

The patrol officers behind him didn’t expect him to stop so suddenly. Caught off guard, they braked hard, and quite a few slipped and fell as a result.

“Hey! Show your ID!” A patrol officer raised his gun, aiming at the youth with disheveled white hair before him.

The youth’s cheeks were wet, with long white hair sticking to them. His bangs covered most of his face, so the officer could only see that this was an overly slender white-haired boy.

But no one dared to let their guard down.

Letting a little girl escape and allowing a girl to publicly say such treasonous things in the Central Plaza was already a capital offense. If they didn’t bring Wen Chu back, they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves.

Wen Chu looked at the crowd quietly. Only after the last fallen officer stood up did he speak softly: “I don’t have one.”

“What?” His out-of-the-blue comment stunned the officer.

Wen Chu was very patient: “ID cards and such, I don’t have one.”

“Fuck!” Someone swore. “Are you playing with us? If you don’t have an ID, just come with us immediately. You made us run all this way just to talk about whether you have one or not.”

“Damn it, he’s really good at hiding. I fired several shots on the way, and not a single one hit!”

“Don’t waste time. Just break his legs and take him away. If we delay any longer, we’re all done for,” someone advised.

The moment his voice fell, several gunshots rang out, bullets aiming straight for Wen Chu’s knees.

Clang—

Clang—

Clang—

The crisp sound of bullets hitting the ground entered everyone’s ears.

Wen Chu stood in place unharmed; the skin on his knees wasn’t even broken.

The air went silent in that instant. Aside from the sound of the torrential rain hitting copper pipes, there wasn’t a single human sound around.

“M-Monster…”

Finally, a patrol officer spoke up, trembling.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Who knows if he’s wearing high-simulation prosthetics—”

“Excuse me,” Wen Chu interrupted politely. “I’m leaving now, but before I go, I have a question to ask you.”

He reached out and lifted his rain-soaked bangs, revealing a small face so exquisite and beautiful it didn’t look human.

“Do I still look good right now?”

For a moment, everyone present even forgot to breathe.

In the dark alley, surrounded by the white mist of acid rain, the mysteriously appearing white-haired youth stood in the fog, revealing an innocent, soft, and perfectly eerie face, asking them:

—Do I look good?

The urban legend of the white-haired beautiful ghost that had been rampant since last night suddenly appeared in everyone’s minds.

Almost at the same time, everyone felt a chilling dread rise spontaneously from the bottom of their hearts.

“There’s a ghost!!!”

It was unknown who shouted first, but that single cry stirred up a thousand waves. Many people dropped their guns and fled in a panic, scrambling on hands and knees.

Some even screamed at the top of their lungs while running: “You look good! You’re beautiful! Don’t come looking for me!!!”

Wen Chu, maintaining the pose of lifting his bangs: ?

Was he that scary?

Wen Chu put down his bangs in disappointment.

He just saw that Dorothy’s makeup looked quite horrifying after getting wet in the rain, so he wanted to confirm if he also looked terrifying when soaked.

Judging by their reaction, he was indeed terrifying; they even directly mistook him for a ghost.

Better to turn back into a cat before seeing Xiu. He hoped to always look pretty in front of Xiu.

The patrol officers’ escape speed was remarkably fast. In just a moment, there was no one left in front of Wen Chu, only scattered guns on the ground.

Wen Chu sighed and squatted down to pick up the guns.

Bad people littering.

He was going to pick up the guns and sell them to Minnie.

Today he revived Dorothy, revived the cabbage, lured away the patrol officers, and now collected weapons for Minnie. Minnie should pay him four times the wages.

The rain showed no sign of stopping, but since he was already soaked through, Wen Chu didn’t care.

Just as he picked up the third gun, he suddenly felt the space above his head darken.

The raindrops that were falling straight onto him disappeared.

Did the rain stop?

Wen Chu looked up in confusion, arms full of guns.

He was caught off guard and crashed into a pair of transparent blue eyes.

It was Xiu.

Wen Chu’s heart skipped a beat.

W-Was he discovered?

Xiu was holding the large black umbrella from the morning. He had taken off his hood, letting his long golden hair cascade down. He stood in front of him, looking down from above.

Holding the black cat in his arms, Xiu narrowed his eyes, sizing up the youth whose face was mostly covered by bangs, revealing only a pointed chin.

So thin.

That was his first impression of the boy.

The second impression was that he was so small, like a cat soaked by rain—quite pitiful.

Such a distinctive kid; he shouldn’t have no memory of him.

Thinking this, Xiu asked calmly, “Kid, what’s your name?”

While hugging the guns tightly in nervousness, Wen Chu let out a sigh of relief.

Xiu didn’t seem to have realized who he was yet.

He shook his head repeatedly, shrinking into a tighter ball, terrified that Xiu would discover a clue.

In Xiu’s eyes, it looked like the squatting child was frightened by him and was trying to curl himself up even smaller.

Xiu pursed his lips and stroked the cat in his arms, which felt much lighter.

This was why he always delegated tasks involving children to Minnie.

But Minnie was busy leading the evacuation and obviously couldn’t attend to this place, so he had to come personally to check on this variable that had suddenly appeared.

Xiu stiffly softened his tone: “I won’t hurt you. Give me the guns in your hand first? Otherwise, they might misfire.”

Wen Chu hesitated for a moment, and between making money and Xiu, he decisively chose to listen to Xiu.

He stood up and suddenly shoved all the guns in his arms into Xiu’s hands.

The black cat originally nestled in Xiu’s arms had all its territory squeezed out. Letting out a dissatisfied “Meow-wu,” it jumped onto Xiu’s shoulder.

After shoving the guns, Wen Chu took advantage of Xiu’s moment of distraction to turn and run.

“Wait—”

Xiu only had time to say one word before that white figure disappeared into the mist, vanishing completely into the rain and fog.

It was only after the other person stood up that Xiu realized the white-haired youth was at least 1.7 meters tall—hardly “small.”

But for some reason, even recalling how the white-haired youth looked curled up just now, Xiu still felt the other party was exceptionally weak and small.

Such a frail life couldn’t survive long in this world.

Xiu was silent for a while.

He gripped the handle of the umbrella.

He should have left the umbrella for the child just now. In acid rain like this, such a small child couldn’t possibly be safe and sound.

The large, silent black umbrella stood in the rain.

Wen Chu, having turned back into a small wisp of black mist, hid guiltily in a corner.

He hadn’t looked up or spoken the entire time. Xiu shouldn’t have noticed… right?

He didn’t want to either, but looking ugly after being rained on was unacceptable. Meeting Xiu in human form for the first time, he hoped to be pretty.

Wen Chu’s guilt, reflected on the little black cat, manifested as the tip of its hanging tail twitching.

The fluffy black tail brushed against the back of Xiu’s hand. Xiu finally snapped out of it and looked at the cat on his shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you just now. Did I hurt you?”

Wen Chu hummed and whined while lying on Xiu’s shoulder, letting the small wisp of black mist he had separated return to the tip of his tail, while saying, “It hurt. The guns smashed me, it hurt.”

Feeling the change in weight on his shoulder, Xiu paused.

How did Wen Chu come back at this time?

Such a precise timing—was it really just a coincidence?

A glint of deep thought flashed in Xiu’s eyes, and because of this, he didn’t answer Wen Chu immediately.

Wen Chu rubbed against the side of Xiu’s face in dissatisfaction, emphasizing, “I hurt.”

“…Sorry.” Xiu came back to his senses and probed tentatively, “I’ll make you cabbage-wrapped chicken when we get home?”

Wen Chu extended a paw to bargain: “I also want to eat one extra candy—by the way, pick up the guns. Take them back for us to use.”

Xiu chuckled, picked up the guns on the ground, and walked back with Wen Chu. “Okay.”

Wen Chu carefully observed Xiu’s expression the entire way. Seeing that Xiu really seemed to have discovered nothing, he finally relaxed.

Just as he was pondering which candy to choose when they got back, Xiu suddenly stopped walking.

Hmm?

Wen Chu tilted his head to look at Xiu.

Was there something else?

Xiu bent down slowly and picked up a lock of white hair from the ground.

It was the lock of hair that had been shot off by the bullet when Wen Chu was running away earlier.

Holding the lock of white hair, Xiu looked thoughtfully at the cat on his shoulder. “You are a black cat.”

So, was he really overthinking it?

Wen Chu guiltily shrank his cat head back, playing dumb. “What?”

He was a black cat, black mist. This kind of white stuff definitely had nothing to do with a cat.

Xiu said no more, simply putting the white hair into his pocket and continuing to carry Wen Chu out of the city.

.

West District, Rebel Army.

Minnie was listening to the doctor’s report.

“There are no wounds on Dorothy’s body, not even traces of acid rain corrosion. We only found residual bloodstains on her clothes.”

The doctor looked confused as he spoke. “According to this amount of blood loss, she should have gone into shock and coma from losing too much blood. But strangely, she doesn’t show any symptoms of anemia. All vital signs indicate she is very healthy.”

“…Was it done by that god they talk about?”

The doctor couldn’t help but ask at the end.

Fewer than five people knew Minnie’s plan; the vast majority of the Rebel Army members were kept in the dark.

Because of this, as Minnie led the personnel safely out, the story of Dorothy’s resurrection and the cabbage growing in the acid rain spread mysteriously into the base.

Minnie was concise: “Ask less.”

The doctor shut up immediately.

Dorothy poked her head out from behind the medical room curtain. “Sister Minnie, can I go back now? Catherine and the others must be waiting anxiously.”

Minnie nodded gently. “Go ahead. Remember to use an umbrella.”

Having changed into clean clothes, Dorothy immediately grabbed the umbrella at the door and skipped over to open it.

The moment the door opened, Dorothy froze in place.

“Sir.” Dorothy lowered her head, her face pale.

Outside the door, Xiu, wearing black robes, put away his umbrella. Holding more than a dozen guns, he stared coldly at everything inside the room.

“Are you okay?” He spoke to Dorothy, which was unprecedented.

Dorothy nodded frantically. “I’m okay, Sir.”

Xiu said nothing more but walked up to Minnie and threw all the guns in his arms onto the ground.

Clatter—

Xiu: “Patrol officers’ guns.”

He dropped this sentence and left with the little black cat on his shoulder.

Leaving only Minnie, the doctor, Dorothy, and the guns on the floor staring at each other.

After a long while, the doctor asked hesitantly, “Are the owners of these guns still alive?”

Minnie: “…” I don’t know.

As one of the very few insiders who knew Wen Chu’s identity, she could clearly piece together the whole process:

Wen Chu saved Dorothy, conveniently revived the cabbage, then turned into a human to lure away the patrol officers.

At that time, Xiu looked in the direction the white-haired youth left, then looked at the cat, hurriedly told her to leave first, and chased after him.

So what was the situation now? Was Wen Chu exposed? Did the Sir kill everyone because his cat got bullied by others?

What kind of tyrant and demon cat dynamic was this?

Dorothy didn’t know the specifics either. She thought everything fantastical she experienced was done by the Sir. She picked up a gun from the ground in confusion. “Why did Sir suddenly confiscate so many guns?”

Minnie changed the subject. “Dorothy, go play first. Take these guns and distribute them to everyone. Once the operation in the South District starts tonight, the entire ground level won’t be safe.”

“Okay.” Dorothy agreed obediently.

The late autumn rain was bone-chilling, and a layer of moisture formed on the brass gun barrels, making them even colder.

Hugging a pile of guns, her small hands red from the cold, Dorothy trotted off to distribute the guns to the children.

Meanwhile.

Inside the stone tower, the furnace fire was lit.

Indoors, Xiu took off his black robe and tied up his long golden hair simply. He squatted down to add firewood to the stove.

This was the last autumn rain; after it finished, winter would begin.

The stone tower was not only dark but also damp and cold. He had to prepare the furnace fire in advance; otherwise, the kitten would wake up freezing from the cold wave tonight.

Wen Chu, who had never experienced winter, didn’t know Xiu’s thoughts at all. He curiously leaned close to the furnace fire to look, but after a short while, he started evaporating from the high heat.

Watching the black mist drifting before his eyes, Xiu’s brow twitched. “Stay away from the fire.”

“Oh.” Wen Chu obediently backed away.

Since he couldn’t watch the fire, Wen Chu found a piece of hazelnut chocolate for himself from the candy box and carried a piece of milk candy in his mouth for Xiu.

He pushed the candy next to Xiu. “Eat.”

Xiu worked hard today too; Xiu should eat candy too.

Xiu finished adding the wood, picked up the milk candy from the floor, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth.

He looked at the tiny black cat, then at the furnace behind him, instructing uneasily, “You are not allowed near the stove in the future. Tomorrow I’ll find James to modify the stove so it can be powered by a Steam Heart.”

“Okay.” Wen Chu was cherishing his chocolate, eating it in small bites, and agreed subconsciously.

After a while, he realized what Xiu had said.

Steam Heart?

Shouldn’t Xiu dislike anything related to the God of Steam?

Wen Chu suddenly looked up at the expressionless Xiu.

He whispered, “It doesn’t need to be modified. I’m very obedient; I won’t go near the stove anymore.”

Xiu’s expression didn’t change as he bent down and lifted the ten-catty kitten.

“No. You can’t rely on me to add firewood for you your whole life.”

So he wanted to leave Wen Chu a fully automatic heater that would never go out for a lifetime.

Wen Chu blinked, feeling Xiu’s words were strange, but before he could think too much, Xiu brought up the next topic: “Do you still want to eat cabbage-wrapped meat? I’ll have Minnie send someone to buy chicken now.”

Wen Chu, holding the chocolate in his mouth, mumbled vaguely, torn between craving and hesitation, “Is that okay?”

Would it be too much trouble?

Xiu tapped his head. “It’s fine.”

“There are cookbooks on the bookshelf on the second floor. You can flip through them yourself when you have nothing to do.”

“While it’s not dark yet, let’s go to the field to pick the vegetables, cook the rice in advance, and make the dish.”

A faint sense of strangeness rose again.

Wen Chu looked at Xiu, wanting to say something, but Xiu didn’t give him a chance to speak. Picking up the umbrella and the cat, he went out again.

The cold wind blew over.

Xiu lowered his eyes to look at the tiny Wen Chu.

“I should knit a few sweaters for you,” Xiu muttered to himself.

He thought he had prepared thoroughly enough for Wen Chu, but now that parting was imminent, Xiu still felt he hadn’t prepared anything well.

Leaving too much money, he feared Wen Chu wouldn’t know how to spend it and would get scammed; leaving supplies, it seemed like no amount was ever enough.

He didn’t feel at ease entrusting him to anyone.

At this moment, Xiu even entertained the idea of splitting himself apart and leaving half behind to personally take care of Wen Chu.

But this was obviously impossible.

In the end, Xiu could only say, “Sorry, it’s my first time raising a cat too.”

Wen Chu looked at Xiu uneasily. “Xiu, what’s wrong?”

Xiu withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward with Wen Chu. “Nothing, just thinking that for a cat as stupid as you, surviving isn’t easy.”

Wen Chu: PVP?

Why the personal attack on the cat?

Night.

Wisps of smoke rose from the chimney of the small stone tower, accompanied by the faint scent of meat spreading out.

Passersby couldn’t help but stop and sniff out the source of the aroma. Upon discovering it came from the Sir’s stone tower, they invariably revealed shocked and confused expressions.

In the vegetable patch in the backyard, a cabbage that hadn’t fully ripened met a tragic end, becoming a dish on a plate.

Wen Chu sat on the dining table, looking at the cabbage-wrapped meat on the plate in front of him. Happily wagging his tail, he lowered his head and took a bite.

The cabbage served as the outer skin, wrapping the meat filling. The meat juices had soaked into the cabbage during steaming. It was crisp when bitten into, followed by the dense, mellow fragrance of the meat filling.

Ignoring the heat, Wen Chu immediately took another bite.

“Delicious!” His eyes sparkled, his mouth still chewing away.

Better than candy.

Xiu sat beside him, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the meat-eating kitten. “Eat slowly. If you eat too much, you’ll get indigestion again. I’ll make it for you tomorrow too.”

Wen Chu, with vegetable soup smeared all over his face, mumbled indistinctly, “The day after tomorrow too!”

Xiu: “Mn. Come here, let me wipe your face.”

Wen Chu obediently put down the meat in his mouth and presented his face to Xiu.

While wiping his face, Xiu reminded him, “Eat slowly. There’s more rice coming in a bit; no one is fighting you for it.”

Wen Chu turned his head and rubbed against Xiu’s hand. “You eat too.”

Xiu agreed with a faint smile.

The kitten’s face was wiped clean, and the rice was cooked.

Just as Xiu was about to get up to serve the rice, the rumbling sound of vehicles approached from the distance.

Not one car, but what sounded like an entire convoy, coming from afar and heading straight for the small courtyard.

Then came hurried footsteps. In just a moment, the door of the stone tower was knocked on urgently.

“Sir!” Minnie’s voice rang out from outside the door. “A group of people has arrived outside. They say it’s the Chief of the General Patrol Bureau inspecting in person. They got news from somewhere saying we are harboring the girl from the plaza today, and they want to enter the courtyard to check everyone’s ID!”

Xiu put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up, and went to grab the black robe hanging on the rack.

Wen Chu didn’t continue eating either and quickly jumped onto Xiu’s shoulder.

The wooden door opened, revealing Minnie’s anxious face. Xiu pulled his hood tight, looked at the night sky where the rain had stopped, and said coldly, “Take me to the front gate.”

Minnie quickly turned to lead the way. Countless people walked past hurriedly as Minnie explained the situation with rapid speed. “We are surrounded outside. I had James take all the children to hide in the basement. The ones remaining on the surface now are adults, posing as workers here. But the basement entrance isn’t hard to find; I’m worried they’ll barge in to search—”

As she spoke, they neared the front gate, and Minnie’s voice stopped abruptly.

At the front gate, several adults dressed as workers were holding shovels, vigilantly facing the steam four-wheeled vehicles encircling them outside.

“You say you’re the Chief, so you are? I say you’re a bandit. I’m going to report to the patrol officers right now that someone is trying to rob the Steam Heart from our boiler room.”

The leader was a pot-bellied middle-aged man. The Chief was so angry at this unreasonable entanglement that his face turned red. “Are these not patrol officers behind me? If you block me again, you’ll all be treated as rebels and shot!”

The two sides were arguing fiercely. Countless steam four-wheelers had their night lights on, shining on this small area at the gate like gathered stage lights.

Xiu walked out quietly into this light.

It was as if he carried a mute effect; the moment he appeared, everyone stopped arguing, and their gazes gathered on this mysterious figure in black robes.

Even the Chief was no exception.

But he quickly recovered, looking at the black-robed man with a disdainful tone. “Are you the one in charge here? Someone reported seeing the kid who was playing tricks at the Central Plaza today run towards your place. We’re going in to search.”

“Tch, wearing a black robe and hiding your face. As expected, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I want to see what kind of thing that trickster is.”

As the Chief spoke, he tried to flip Xiu’s hood off with the gun in his hand.

Xiu took a light step back.

The Chief lunged at empty air. With his center of gravity unstable and the rainy ground slippery, he slid forward several steps before stopping clumsily.

His gaze toward Xiu became even more unkind. “Who told you to dodge? A coal worker putting on airs. Men, hold him down! I’m going to strip off his hood today.”

Wen Chu bared his teeth and let out a growl.

Where did this ugly freak come from, daring to touch Xiu with such dirty hands?

Truly—

Minnie, who was already stunned in the background, suddenly heard a gentle, youthful voice in her ear.

“That Chief… will there be any consequences if he’s killed?”

Wen Chu’s voice was like the person himself—very soft. Because he habitually left enough thinking space for his next sentence, he would drag out the ending syllable.

Light and airy, like a piece of stretching taffy.

Minnie, however, shuddered all over.

“Calm down,” she whispered.

“I am very calm.”

Wen Chu chuckled lightly.

“No matter how calmly I think, I can’t find a reason to let this piece of trash continue breathing.”

---

Author’s Note:
Chu: ^^