Chapter 30

An Zhe lowered his eyes slightly. The feeling of being touched on te head by the Judge was wonderful. He felt that Lu Feng was currently in a very soft state. He would be very happy if he comforted this man with his previous words. Thus, he smiled at Lu Feng.

Then he saw Lu Feng’s eyes become awful. The fingers that were originally touching An Zhe’s head lowered and pinched his face. An Zhe felt it was better for this person to be in a bad mood. At least then he wouldn’t casually bully people. An Zhe escaped from Lu Feng. “I’m going to check the pot.”

“Hmm.”

An Zhe returned to the kitchen and found that it had already started to boil, foam rising up and almost pushing off the lid. He had mastered enough cooking skills these days. He lifted the transparent lid and evaporated the water, the foam quickly subsiding. The bacon had been cooked in the boiling water and the small potatoes had become soft. The small amount of milk made the soup slightly white. The salty smell was sweet and fragrant. It was a smell that An Zhe really liked.

He took a spoon from the side and crushed the softly cooked potato pieces with the bottom of the spoon. The small pieces gradually dissolved in the soup under his stirring and grinding, the pot of potato soup becoming more intense to the naked eye.

He didn’t know when Lu Feng also came into the kitchen but this person leaned against the door frame and spoke lightly, “Can I help?”

An Zhe naturally didn’t expect the colonel to be familiar with working in the kitchen and replied, “No.”

However, Lu Feng didn’t leave. He just looked at An Zhe before glancing around the small kitchen. Finally, his eyes stopped on the silver tap at the sink. “It is leaking?”

“En.”

The kitchen tap had been leaking from the first day he moved in. No matter how tightly An Zhe closed it, water would drip down. The sound wasn’t obvious during the day but at night, when everything was silent and even the lights of the distant Twin Towers were off, the sound of dripping would echo through the room, sometimes disturbing his sleep. Disturbing his sleep was nothing. The important thing was that he was afraid to pay for more water.

Then An Zhe saw Lu Feng take off his coat and put it to one side. Lu Feng rolled up the sleeves of his uniform shirt and raised his hand to turn off the black sluice above the water pipe, a place that was out of An Zhe’s reach. Then he unscrewed the tap.

An Zhe watched silently. He felt that Lu Feng’s move had only two possibilities. One was to completely destroy his tap while the other was to help him repair it. He felt intellectually that it was the former but he emotionally preferred to believe it was the latter.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Lu Feng was unloading the eight pieces of the tap and didn’t raise his head. “Go.”

His tone made it seem like he was the master of this place. The real master An Zhe put down the spoon and went to the entrance to a soldier in a military uniform. The man looked around the living room and said, “Colonel Lu asked me to come here.”

He had a loud voice.

Lu Feng’s calm voice was heard from the kitchen, “Here.”

The soldier walked to the door of the kitchen and saluted. “Colonel Lu, I’m a logistics officer. I was negligent about the matter of your ID card. It was our mistake—”

He suddenly paused, his eyes shifting to the tap parts in Lu Feng’s hands as he looked like he saw a ghost. Then he continued, “…For this, we sincerely apologize and—”

“Talk less nonsense.” Lu Feng’s cold voice interrupted.

The soldier said, “…I’ve sent you a new ID card.”

“Thank you.” Lu Feng didn’t look at the soldier as he reassembled two parts together in his hand. “Put it down.”

There were potato skins piled up next to the sink along with a kitchen knife. There was water in the sink. The colonel was holding tap parts in his hand. The soldier held the ID card for a moment, not knowing where to put it.

An Zhe could only say, “Give it to me.”

After receiving the ID card, it was to send off the guest. At the door, the soldier glanced at the colonel in the kitchen and then An Zhe. He deliberately lowered his voice but due to the loudness, his low voice wasn’t very quiet. “…What is the colonel doing?”

An Zhe stated, “Fixing the tap.”

“The Judge will fix the tap?” The soldier looked at him suspiciously. “Then you and he are…”

“We are now neighbours.”

“What about the past?”

“Before…” An Zhe thought of how they once slept in each other’s beds and said, “We could be considered friends.”

The soldier’s mouth flattened unnaturally. “…Oh.”

He didn’t seem to believe it. It might be that Lu Feng rarely disassembled other people’s taps. An Zhe calmly sent away the soldier. Once An Zhe returned to the kitchen, he saw that the tap had been put back in place.

Lu Feng twisted the sluice. The tap didn’t drip water anymore.

“Wow,” An Zhe exclaimed.

Looking at the tap, he felt that the Judge didn’t always stand superior to others. In addition, this person seemed to know how to do everything.

“You’re so good.”

His voice was soft and charming. The aroma of the potato soup had completely spread out and the room was filled with dense water vapour. Lu Feng calmly replied, “You are also good.”

Once the potato soup was thoroughly cooked, An Zhe divided it into two bowls and served it with two packets of compressed biscuits as a staple. Lu Feng ‘s mood seemed very happy, although An Zhe didn’t know if it was because of the food. He racked his brains to try and get information on the Lighthouse from Lu Feng’s mouth so he asked Lu Feng many questions.

“What are you going to do next?”

“Wait for the arrangement.”

“Will you work in the Twin Towers?’

“Probably.”

“Is the Lighthouse in regular contact with the military?”

“Not often.”

“The doctor who works in the Lighthouse… do you know him well?”

“Not familiar.” Lu Feng’s face was expressionless.

The obvious indifference made An Zhe dismiss the idea of continuing to ask but it would seem more suspicious to stop at this point. Thus, he continued to ask, “The little girl today…”

The next second, Lu Feng glanced at him.

“Don’t ask.” He stated. “In addition, don’t talk at dinner.”

An Zhe shut up in disappointment. He didn’t get anything about the spore by the time dinner ended but the Judge seemed to have a much better attitude toward him. An Zhe opened the door and sent Lu Feng back.

Lu Feng told him, “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

He saw Lu Feng put the new ID card on the sensor. The green light turned on and the door lock opened smoothly. Lu Feng pushed open the door. Then he suddenly didn’t move, his entire body seemed still.

This performance was very rare so An Zhe quietly poked out his head to look into the room. Then he also became overwhelmed.

The room wasn’t empty. There was a huge open box next to the sofa right in front of the door. On the sofa sat an officer in black uniform. The office with black hair and green eyes was looking coldly at the door.

Standing at the door, Lu Feng turned his head and looked at An Zhe with the same eyes.

An Zhe, “…This wasn’t me.”

It really wasn’t him. The Judge’s doll had never been seen since An Zhe was captured. He thought this evil thing had been blown to pieces in District 6. How could it appear in Lu Feng’s house?

Just then, Lu Feng’s communicator rang and the person on the other end had a loud voice. It was the logistics soldier who came to deliver the card. “Colonel, have you returned to your place? Can the new ID card be used normally?”

“Thank you, yes.” Then Lu Feng questioned, “I’m just wondering what is going on with the doll in my living room?”

“Doll?” The soldier was slightly puzzled before suddenly realizing, “Previously when the Trial Court evacuated, they saved important materials and items. The soldier in charge of the evacuation saw this and thought it might be a piece of important military equipment, so he brought it as well. We didn’t know how to deal with it so we placed it in your place.”

Lu Feng repeated, “Important military equipment?”

“Yes, although we are in the main city, we know there are some organizations in the outer city who oppose the Trial Court. We judged that the doll might be a prop for the Trial Court to attract enemies, not to mention that the cost of manufacturing seems to be very high…”

Lu Feng said nothing.

The man finally found that something was wrong. “Colonel, was I mistaken?”

“No, thank you.” Lu Feng hung up the call.

After hanging up, he ordered An Zhe, “Come here.”

An Zhe was desperate. He hadn’t been convicted for his previous case. The sudden worm attack meant he was able to leave the prison. Did this person want to repeat old things and convict him?

He walked over.

Lu Feng roughly picked up the doll from the sofa, put it back in the box and pushed the suitcase toward An Zhe. An Zhe was confused as he grabbed the lever handle.

“I’ll give it to you.”

An Zhe, “……”