Chapter 29: WuYi is three years old this year

Nie Xiao’s face was red as he sat up from the ground and pulled off the “koala hamster” hanging around his neck. Regardless of his struggle, he carried and placed him gently beside him.

Xiao WuYi looked at Nie Xiao and unconsciously stretched out his hand, wanting to go over and hug with teary eyes.

Nie Xiao held the youth’s forehead in his big hands to keep the other person from coming close again. His face was grave and serious but his reddening ears exposed his true emotions

“In the future, you can neither kiss me nor can you kiss others as you please.” Nie Xiao said it with the intention to curb the boy’s behavior from then on.

However, that was no less than a bolt from the blue for Xiao WuYi. The young boy’s eyes widened, his eyes full of grievance and disbelief.

“But Daddy has to be kissed when he is lying in bed!”

Nie Xiao: “……”

Nie Xiao became comical, he dared not to look at the expressions of the people around him who were wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh and their nearly dying appearance from stifling their laughs.

The sticky little fairy in front of him was really sent by the Heavens to test him.

The others were watching the good show at this time. Although they were shocked by the scene they witnessed earlier, once they thought about it carefully they quickly realized that the young boy was still that illogical non-human hamster fairy. They became open-minded and calmed down, and afterwards continued to crack open melon seeds and watch the show while eating them.

It was quite interesting to watch such a tall, dark, and handsome lady-killer like Nie Xiao being forced to give in. It was a bonus that Xiao WuYi was also attractive, making the pair very pleasing to watch indeed.

“You’re already three years old; a grown-up baby. Therefore, according to the humans’ method of calculation, you are now 18 years old, and can no longer kiss others indiscriminately.” 

Nie Xiao, with a serious face, decided the human age for the little hamster on his own. The people around them heard Nie Xiao’s deadpan and groundless words, and their stomachs started to hurt due to laughter.

Headmaster Yuan, because of his strict style when it comes to academics, wanted to say something but hesitated. In fact, basing it on the average hamster’s age, the youth might be the oldest among everyone there.

However, looking at the childish youth in front of him, Headmaster Yuan swallowed his words decisively.

Forget it… 18 years old? Then just leave it at 18 years old. Where it’s not too high, not too low.

Xiao WuYi tried to calculate as well with his fingers but he really didn’t know what kind of arithmetic it was and immediately became confused. He turned to Nie Xiao pitifully. “Why can’t I kiss you because I’m 18 years old? Then can’t I just change into a hamster?” 

“That way I will only be three years old.”

Xiao WuYi raised his three little fingers and looked at Nie Xiao with bright eyes. At that moment, he only felt that he was the most quick-witted little hamster in the world. In any case, any kind of kiss was no different to him.

Nie Xiao: “……”

With that said, Xiao WuYi turned himself back into a little hamster while everyone was watching and cheerfully jumped on to Nie Xiao’s body. He leaped up to Nie Xiao’s shoulder and leaned softly on Nie Xiao’s earlobe.

Afterwards, the little hamster slid into Nie Xiao’s coat, his two claws clinging on Nie Xiao’s chest, and made a cute, lovely, little sound.

“Chi!” Daddy, Baby is sleepy.

Nie Xiao stretched out a hand to support the hamster’s small body that was on the verge of sliding down. After experiencing the vicissitudes of life for a while, he finally let out a long sigh.

That melancholic and worried back of a father seemed strong and profound in this dark night.

Everyone looked at this scene and laughed without mercy yet again. Nie Xiao’s cold and solemn image now felt amiable and approachable to everyone’s point of view.

Xiao Yan and Duan Wenyu looked at Nie Xiao’s appearance with a smile in their eyes. It was also their first time to see such a lively and energetic side of Nie Xiao.

He was usually very calm and reserved. Even Wu Wenqi unconsciously regarded him as the boss, thus, they all somewhat forgot that Nie Xiao’s actual age was one or two years below theirs.

Nie Xiao looked down to look at the little guy lying on his chest. The small hamster had been listening to his heartbeat and had already fallen asleep in seconds.

The small ball looked well-behaved and cute. Watching him like this, Nie Xiao’s eyes couldn’t help but show tenderness, with his heart softening immediately afterwards.

Forget it, let’s take it one step at a time ba.

Nie Xiao hadn’t thought of it at that moment but as a result of his ‘let’s take it one step at a time,’ he would be compensating with his body and mind for the lost time in the end.

***

In the middle of the night, while everyone was fast asleep and the quiet room was filled with the sound of shallow breathing; Bai Mei, who was staying quietly in the corner, got up.

He nodded toward the people in charge of the night watch and cited the toilet as an excuse to leave the room.

As he left, he couldn’t help but glance towards the direction of the little hamster. He saw the latter curled up as a tiny ball nestling in Nie Xiao’s neck, asleep. Hindered by Nie Xiao’s existence, Bai Mei could only take a look before he turned to leave.

Nie Xiao slept lightly. Seeming to have felt something, he opened his eyes and looked in the direction where Bai Mei went as he left.

It wasn’t known when exactly Jiang Qiu opened his eyes but his line of sight soon interlocked with Nie Xiao in the dark night. Afterwards, both men very quickly averted their eyes.

Bai Mei left the room, entered the bathroom of the private house, locked the door from the inside, and then flipped over from the window to the outside.

The skin on his hand accidentally scraped against the iron net on the window and it immediately festered. Bai Mei seemed unaware of it. He walked straight into that direction where he was hearing a call.

The surrounding zombies didn’t seem to regard him as a target to attack.

Waiting for him was a black-clothed man whose facial features couldn’t be clearly seen. Bai Mei seemed as if he had just awakened from a big dream as he realized what was happening. He lowered his head in respect and fear, a complex emotion igniting in his eyes.

“My lord.”

Without saying a word, the man in black stretched out a hand that was so pale his blood vessels could be seen. He obviously had no sharp nails but he was able to stick his hand straight into Bai Mei’s head as if there weren’t any barriers blocking him from doing so.

He nonchalantly searched Bai Mei’s head to find the space-system ability core. He then took the ability core in his hand and after some investigation, he finally opened his mouth. There were no fluctuations in his tone but it exuded a strong sense of cold killing intent.

“Not only did you fail to get that metal-system ability core, you even lost the previous one?” 

Bai Mei was so terrified that he did not dare to raise his head, shivering, he bashed his head straight to the ground.

“My lord, spare this one’s life.” Bai Mei was incessantly terrified so he told everything that had happened today.

Hearing this, the man in black temporarily let go of his thoughts of taking out the crystal nucleus in Bai Mei’s brain.

Bai Mei who was able to escape with his life was drenched with cold sweat from head to toe.

“You said there are many ability users around you right now?” The man in black squinted his eyes under his broad cloak.

“Yes! Wind, lightning, water, fire, ice, and more variants that I haven’t figured out yet. I will do my best to collect more ability cores for my lord!”  

Hearing these words, the man in black didn’t seem to have expected that so many natural system abilities would appear at the same time, so he couldn’t help taking a thoughtful look at Bai Mei. Then he put the space-system ability core in his hand back into Bai Mei’s head.

One crystal nucleus and one ability core lay tightly adjacent to each other.

“You are quite good, my loyal servant.”

With that said, the man in black took out a dark green glass tube out of nowhere and handed it over to Bai Mei.

Bai Mei caught it like a treasure, and then swallowed the entire tube of liquid eagerly into his stomach.

Gradually, his skin that had begun to rot returned to its original smoothness and fairness.

“Work hard and I will grant you a whole new world.” The man in black’s pale and ice-cold hands stroked Bai Mei’s smooth and pretty cheeks like a snake’s forked tongue.

Bai Mei lowered his eyes in fear and trepidation, flashing through his mind were all kinds of scenes that had occurred since the arrival of the apocalypse.

A meteor shower that shocked the entire world caused an astonishing change all over the world. His parents were bitten and killed by his grandfather and grandmother and he himself also became a zombie.

He wandered the streets like all ordinary zombies but he was still able to keep a thread of his consciousness until one day, he seemed to hear a voice calling him.

So he started looking for an ability core muddle-headedly, and soon, he had successfully dug out a light gray ability core. He then held it up to the man like a treasure.

He clearly remembered that day, when the other party poured him a tube of the same green liquid. His then chaotic consciousness became completely sober, his memory became completely vivid, and the world before him regained its original colors.

He seemed to have become a normal person again.

Afterwards, the man in black in front of him not only didn’t take away the ability core that he found, but instead gave him another space-system ability core for storage.

Bai Mei felt that he had met his savior at that time. However, the man later informed him that if he wanted to continue to maintain this appearance, he had to keep collecting ability cores for him.

He didn’t know what collecting ability cores was, but he didn’t care.

No one wants to be in between a human and a ghost, and he naturally doesn’t want to be that as well…

“I pledge my loyalty to my lord.”

Bai Mei’s words finished and the man’s figure disappeared in place like a ghost, as if it was never there in the first place.

Bai Mei looked at the place where the black-clothed man had stood. He prostrated once and then stood up and walked back.

Subsequently, various countries around the world staged such a scene one after another.

The black-clothed man stood amongst the clouds, at last, overlooking the beautiful blue planet. He was extremely satisfied with this fertile breeding ground.

Bai Mei returned to the bathroom the same way. He opened the door softly, and quietly and returned to the room.

The male student who was keeping the night watch couldn’t help sighing, “You took a really long time, ah!”

“After the apocalypse, I had a little diarrhea.”

Bai Mei blushed in embarrassment, his pale and pretty face seemed to glow in the dark of the night, as he looked at the male student’s face.

“Eh, oh, then please take a good rest.” The male student embarrassedly scratched his head.

Bai Mei turned around and the shy and bashful look on his face instantly turned into indifference.

Soon after, the room became quiet again.

Nie Xiao opened his eyes, gently took a glance at Bai Mei, and then closed it again. Although Jiang Qiu who was sitting across had his eyes closed, his eyeball rolled slightly before he turned over.

The little hamster nestling in Nie Xiao’s neck was ignorant of everything that happened tonight. He twisted his small body and flipped over, making a cute, little sound as if talking in his sleep.

Nie Xiao’s heart instantly melted.

“Chi!”

Daddy smells like strawberry!

Nie Xiao couldn’t help but stretch out his fingers and softly rub the little guy’s head.

***

Early the next morning.

The sun rose as usual, and everyone moved together and continued to find relatives in the houses of the several students from Fengcheng.

Nie Xiao had found WuYi, and Wu Wenqi had found his sister. Now that they were reunited, there was no need to continue going south.

As for their next course of action, it seemed that they can now think about doing something with regards to this apocalypse.