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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as Li Yan entered the space, he and Li Ming had not yet settled in. The space seemed to be like a sea surface that had been waiting for a long time, trying its best to absorb the spiritual energy from the Jade Bottle. The Jade Bottle was continuously growing larger and taller, while the spiritual energy inside it scattered through the air like a tide. That invisible and intangible energy was crashing everywhere, causing Li Yan to feel a painful pressure in his chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Li Ming also felt uncomfortable, rubbing his head, and when he saw Li Yan spitting blood, he hurriedly supported him, though his pale face clearly showed his discomfort.
Li Yan glanced at the Jade Bottle in his hand; in just this short time, it had become increasingly vibrant and green, and under the influence of a gas, it was actually floating in mid-air. Realizing that something was wrong, Li Yan wanted to take Li Ming out, but he found that he could not concentrate at all. The Jade Bottle was hovering above them, forming a circle of gas around them, making it impossible for them to escape.
The chickens and ducks in the space were in disarray, some lying on the ground, unsure if they were dead or unconscious. This was not good; the spiritual energy from the Jade Bottle was too overwhelming; the space might not be able to handle it. Li Yan struggled to hold onto Li Ming to prevent them from being blown apart by the gas. Suddenly, everything began to shake; the space almost twisted…
When Li Yan woke up, aside from the bloodstains at the corners of his mouth, he felt completely refreshed, with an inexhaustible energy within him. His body felt much lighter; he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong but had a sense of rebirth. Right! Mingming!
Li Ming seemed to be asleep. Li Yan tried calling out several times without waking him up, causing him to panic. The impact they had just experienced was so intense that he could barely endure it himself. If it weren't for Li Ming's normal breathing sound from his chest, he would have almost thought…
Wait a minute! If Mingming was truly seriously injured, how could his breathing sound normal? Li Yan listened carefully again; the healthy and strong heartbeat indicated that Mingming's body should be fine. Was he just knocked out?
Li Yan looked around and noticed that the entire space had expanded significantly; even the sky seemed much higher than before. The river had widened and deepened noticeably. Although the fields hadn't increased in size, a continuous range of mountains appeared not far away. Even though they were shrouded in mist, one could still feel that it was an expansive area.
Li Yan searched around for the Jade Bottle and finally found it in the Chicken Coop. However, the Jade Bottle had grown quite a bit larger now—about two meters tall—with many tiny "tadpole" characters on its surface.
Just as Li Yan was studying it further, Li Ming woke up as well, looking around in confusion and helplessly calling out, "Brother?"
"Mingming." Li Yan walked over to help Li Ming up and checked to find that the child was indeed fine before pulling him towards the Chicken Coop. When Li Ming saw the Jade Bottle too, he crouched down to look at it for a while before saying, "Hmm, Brother, I can't understand it."
"…"
When they came out, only Yu Tian remained in the house. Seeing them appear, Yu Tian finally showed a smile for the first time today. "Why were you two inside for a whole day?"
"We'll talk about that later; where's Zhou Miao?" Li Yan decided to bring Yu Tian in tomorrow to take a look since only this high-achieving student could understand those tadpole characters. "Nothing happened, right?"
"Well…" Yu Tian noticed that Li Yan seemed to be in a good mood and hesitated before speaking gently: "Your brother… no wait, Li Zhi came over at noon… um… wanting to eat; they probably didn't know how to cook…"
"Brother Yu Tian," Li Ming said, looking at the hesitant Yu Tian as he patted his shoulder. "My brother is really nice; he doesn't hit people." So there's no need to stutter.
Li Yan felt a headache coming on; his child was making things worse. "Yu Tian, I think there are some things we need to talk about." With his man not around, and seeing how protective Zhou Miao was, it seemed Yu Tian would never hear a harsh word in his life.
"I know you have a good heart and want to help the weak. But Yu Tian, have you considered that we are in an apocalypse now? You can help them through a tough time temporarily, but what about later? Are you going to take responsibility for them for life? You might think I'm being too realistic and cold-hearted, but that's the truth. Just like Mr. Li outside; do you think they are pitiful because they might freeze to death? Have you thought about why our relationship has become like this?"
"Why?" Yu Tian asked, genuinely curious.
"You were so smart when you were little; you could learn many words just by watching TV. But such a lovely child was abused and became mentally disabled. Why do you think that happened?" As Li Yan spoke, his inner hatred surged again, but he had to hold back; he needed to uproot these people completely.
Yu Tian thought of many possibilities but never imagined it would be like this. Looking at Li Ming's small, delicate face, Yu Tian didn't know what to say. If only he had known... if only he had known... but could he really let them go out and freeze to death?
"Many things aren't as simple as wanting to do good. Even with strangers, if you help them once, what about the second time? What if they cling to you? If you only have one bite of food left and they resent your cold-heartedness for not sharing it, what will you do? Will you sacrifice your own life for others? I don't want your kindness to bring us greater danger one day. Think carefully about it. Mingming and I will go out for something to eat." Li Yan knew he was being a bit harsh, but Yu Tian really needed to harden his heart; this apocalypse didn't allow for kindness.
As soon as Li Yan and Li Ming stepped outside, they saw Zhou Miao standing at the door. Li Yan had already heard his breathing. "Sorry for making your wife sad." This sounded insincere no matter how one heard it.
Zhou Miao sighed; this was something he should have said himself, but he couldn't bear it. He couldn't bear to let that child lose the last bit of trust in humanity. Ah, the wicked apocalypse. "He really needs to grow up." Even Li Ming knew that Teddy Bear Cookies shouldn't be shared with others, yet that fool only knew how to starve himself foolishly. Li Yan was right; if there was only one bite of food left, he hoped that fool would selfishly eat it himself. Even when together with him, he hoped it would be himself who starved.
At dinner, Li Yan had Yu Tian cook for four people. After thinking all afternoon, Yu Tian indeed cooked enough for four. When serving the rice, not even a grain was left over. When Jiang Yuejiao and the others came to eat, they saw some raw food and got so angry they started smashing plates and banging bowls—so loud that even Li Yan outside could hear them. At that moment, Li Zhi began cursing loudly, but it was useless; the only person here who could cook was probably Li Jingfeng, who came from a farming background. However, Li Jingfeng hadn't cooked in over twenty years; all those years of bureaucratic demeanor made him disdain cooking altogether. But his wife and children couldn't really go hungry either. Li Jingfeng frowned deeply; this Li Yan was truly too unruly, not even considering his own siblings.
That night a strange wind blew outside; things in the yard were likely blown over with clattering sounds. The sudden cold made people shiver; Yu Tian was frozen awake. The cold seemed to seep in from every corner, chilling him to the bone. Zhou Miao woke up immediately and pulled him into his arms for warmth; Yu Tian instantly felt much warmer. "Tian Tian, are you feeling better?" The two were close enough that their breaths collided in the air.
"You... let go of me quickly." Yu Tian felt that Zhou Miao was indeed much warmer; although he said to let go, he didn't make any move to escape. The hot water bottle under the blanket had long since lost its heat; Zhou Miao kicked it away. Yu Tian angrily bit down on Zhou Miao's mouth corner due to the suddenness of it.
Zhou Miao? Who was that? He had never been a good boy since childhood; now that he finally found an opportunity, how could he let it slip away so easily? He pressed Yu Tian down and directly acted like a rogue—kissing him was just basic procedure.
Yu Tian's face turned bright red as if it would explode; instinctively wanting to dodge away. But Zhou Miao wouldn't let him escape again—he lightly bit Yu Tian's sensitive earlobe while at the same time pushing open those red lips with his tongue... Yu Tian felt like he could hardly breathe as the other person recklessly ravaged his mouth without restraint; he didn't even have the strength to resist. Of course, by then he felt an overwhelming heat throughout his body; he felt completely soft and weak. He had never experienced such a feeling as if floating on clouds—his body gradually became hotter under someone's shameless advances...
Zhou Miao was so excited and thrilled; after guarding against the cold for over a year, he finally welcomed brightness into his life. "Tian Tian, is it okay?"
Yu Tian wished he could just find a crack in the ground to hide in. That jerk, even when he said no, never really stopped being a rogue; now he was pretending to be a gentleman. "No... no way."
"No, is it?" Zhou Miao smirked wickedly, moving his hands more eagerly. Zhou Miao was captivated by the sound of his wife's gasps and the moans that escaped her lips, letting Yu Tian release himself in his hands for a moment. Then he proceeded to take things further...
Yu Tian bit down hard on someone's shoulder, not expecting it to hurt this much. He felt as if he was being stretched open, able to sense every movement of that massive presence... "You... bastard." (Harmony, oh great harmony brigade)
Early in the morning, Zhang Zhong brought people over to find Li Yan. There were only about twenty households left in the village. The weather had been too cold lately, and many families were running low on firewood. Although they had gathered some wheat straw and chaff before, those were only good for cooking; they were nowhere near enough for heating. A few young people discussed it and decided to go gather firewood from the back mountain. After all, among those left were several elderly people.
They agreed that all the young men would go out, and if they gathered enough firewood, they would share some with the elderly living alone.
Although Zhang Zhong had some show-off intentions with this proposal, Li Yan did not oppose it. His family indeed had little firewood left, and with no idea when winter would end, it was better to stock up. Normally, Yu Tian would have eagerly responded to the call for organization, but right now he wished he could just stay in bed, so for once he didn't push himself.
All the men were present, especially since Li Yan and Li Ming had already established their relationship. Even with just a strand of hair, Li Yan could guess how Zhou Miao felt at that moment; no wonder everyone looked appealing earlier.
Li Jingfeng, who hadn’t slept well after freezing all night, heard the commotion outside in the morning and learned they were going to gather firewood from the back mountain. He immediately pulled Li Zhi along with him. At first, Li Zhi was reluctant to go; it was unclear what Li Jingfeng said to him, but eventually he followed along, glaring at Li Ming as they left. Li Ming immediately became displeased and shot a glare at Li Zhi's back—well... no loss there.
When everyone arrived at the mountain, they were truly taken aback; the entire mountain was thickly covered in snow. That wasn't all—the sudden drop in temperature had frozen the snow solidly in place. It was nearly impossible to pry it open. The vast expanse of snow made it hard to see any spots where trees might be stacked; even if there were any, they were buried under thick layers of ice.
Were they supposed to pry snow for wood? Clearly unrealistic; in the end, everyone could only circle around the mountain once, with only a few lucky individuals managing to gather some dead wood.
Li Jingfeng, exhausted and needing a break, found himself struggling to keep up with the group due to years of inactivity. Looking at Li Yan and Zhou Miao walking effortlessly ahead made him squint as he pondered something.
Li Yan, walking in front, glanced back at Li Jingfeng and Li Zhi. Ten days? They said ten days; did that mean the main group would soon arrive here or that the government couldn't hold out much longer? If that were true...
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