Chapter 7- Qiu Chen is a good kid
It was a specially modified jeep with dual protective layer outside and frequency based trackers and navigators along with various communicating devices of the same kind but different ranges available inside. The floor of the Jeep was equipped with arms and refills while some ration was stored at the back. Eleven people got on the car. Ji Anming sat in the driver's seat due to his ability of sight. Yan Changyi, as the Captain, sat in the passenger's seat with one Qiu Chen squeezed between him and the window. The cause of this as the Mighty Brigadier announced, "Not enough place for everyone due to the ration stacked".
After going for about four hours the van stopped. Yan Changyi spred a map which was marked in red and blue ink. All the teammembers had seen it previously. It was a copy of the map that An Qing followed. Qiu Chen glanced at it casually, "So, this is where they were last traced?" It was not a question, so one answered him. All looked out the window as if to see any clue of the lost team.
"Cai Xiang, follow me out," Yan Changyi said as he got down from the van. Qiu Chen got down before him to make way for him.
After the three left the van Cai Xiang was ordered to use his psychic ability to locate any zombie or human movement. Qiu Chen was not quite sure about the ability of Cai Xiang, so he used the syste, panel to search. Not after long he found the existence of a herd of zombie about 10 kilometers ahead in the north-east direction. The problem is that the zombies are rather developed. According to the data stored in the system, it should be level three. After finding what he needed to know Qiu Chen kept silent and waited for Cai Xiang. If he really could not do it, he would find a way to lead the team to that direction.
(A/N: I am changing "mind power" to "Psychic Ability")
After waiting for about 15 minutes Cai Xiang opened his eyes. He reported to Yan Changyi, "I can sense some zombie presence in the north-east but I can't say how far it is. Something is strage about the zombies. It feels like they're surrounding something but I can't sense it."
Yan Changyi gave a short nod and signaled him to get in the car. He also hopped on with Qiu Chen with him and commanded Ji anming, "Head north-east".
After going for about 20 minutes Cai Xiang asked them to stop, "The zombies seem to have developed. If we go any further, the zombies will sense us."
So they parked the van there. Leaving Wu Jing and Guan Shi behind to keep guard the rest marched to the zombies. It was a long walk and they did it as quite and fast as possible. Not long after they saw the zombies. And the zombies sensed them too. They rushed towards them in an unbelievable speed for their rigid limbs.
This was the first time for Qiu Chen to see such horrid creatures in broad daylight. Last time he saw them was in the night so he overlooked many things. He felt nauseous looking at those things and had the urge to hide behind Yan Changyi. As if he saw through the disgusted expression of Qiu Chen, Yan Changyi took a step forward shielding the boy from the view.
"What the f*ck you think you're doing! MOVE AWAY!" Qiu Chen scolded in an irritated tone, and at the same time rushed forward.
Yan Changyi saw the teen throw a tantrum again and was about to call him back. But then he saw what he missed the other day. The boy was running forward with fire in one hand and water in other. He shot two zombies at the same time. But the zombies this time were stronger than the previous ones. As a result, instead of turing into a mush of rotten flesh, they were only losing a bit of while moving forward. Yan Changyi furrowed his brows and rushed forward with striking down the zombie who almost reached Qiu Chen with a thunder bolt. After it fell down Qiu Chen used fire to burn it all the way. Other members also joined the fierce battle.
The zombies were nearly 30 in numbers. It took around forty minutes for the members to kill each of them. Some used their powers while others used guns and rifels. After the fight was over, they sat down to catch a breath among the zombie remaings.
After a while Qiu Chen proposed, "We should go and see what the zombies were surrounding."
Lu Qiao was already exhausted after fighting for so long and healing the injuries on there bodies. She was too tired even to talk. Yao Zhen, the other healer was about the same. Ji Anming and Su Xi also did not want to get up. So at the end, it was Qiu Chen, Yan Changyi, Cai Xiang, Meng Yuan, and Zhou Chuan were the ones who went.
After walking about 50 meters they reached a point where they could see a protective barrier but could not see what's inside. Meng Yuan was about to hit it with his fire but was stopped by Qiu Chen. He asked Cai Xiang to try invade the barrier. At this time they were much closer and the barrier seemed weaker. So Cai Xiang could invade it after trying for a while. He sensed three humans present inside among one who also had psychic ability. But it was so weak that it felt like he had none. But Cai Xiang still tried to convey his message to him to withdraw the barrier and that all the zombies were killed, it was only humans outside. After a minute or so, the barrier vanished and three people on the verge of death appeared in front of them.
"Cousin!" Qiu Chen shouted as he ran forward.
An Qing kept up the barrier for so long. At the moment he saw the blurry human figures and was sure that they were safe, his body gave up. So, by the time Qiu Chen reached to him, he already passed out. The other two members, although did not pass out, were in no better situation. Yan Changyi took out his walkie talkie and contacted others. Before long the jeep arrived with all other remaining members.
It was already afternoon, so they decided to stay the night there. Tents were set up, food was being prepared, and Qiu Chen went back to his spoiled temper refusing to do anything without scolding everyone around. Unlike the situation Wen quan faced, Qiu Chen was getting laughed at by his teammembers as if they were enjoying teasing a kid.
"Hmph! I won't do anything!" throwing this sentence he went to the car where Yan Changyi was busy with something. Seeing him stomping away the members laughed loudly again.
"They all laugh at me! I won't be near them!" These were the first thing he said to Yan Changyi. Then he changed his tone and asked normally? "Did you contact them in the base?"
"Soemthing is wrong here, no signals could be found." Yan Changyi put down the the receiver and the antenna. Then beckoned Qiu Chen to sit down next to him, "If you don't want to be near them, don't." It's even better this way, he added in his heart.
Qiu Chen sat down by his side. He was also very tired after this long day. He put his head down on his knees and closed his eyes. Once he is beside his man, he caould completely let his guard down. Yan Changyi looked down at the boy. He looked so soft and tender, nothing of the fierceness remained. If he hadn't seen with his own eyes, may be he would not believe that these two people were actually the same.
Yao Zhen's voice broke the atmosphere who shouting from a tent where the three patients were kept, "Captain, Brigadier An is awake!"
Qiu Chen's drowsiness was gone in moment as he hurried to the tent. An Qing was leaning on a box that was placed behind him to make it easy for him to sit. The healers did their best to heal him, but he was still too weak.
"Why are you here!" An Qing could not expect Wen Quan to be here even in his most impossible dream.
"I generously came to look for you and this is your reation!" Qiu Chen said snnering.
"Did I ask you to?" An Qing just heard one sentence from him and already felt tired. "You brat, should not be here, it's too dangerous."
"Oh? So who killed the zombies and who was hiding behind a barrier? Huh?"
"I was not HIDING!" An Qing shouted at him, his eyes going all red.
Qiu Chen hurriedly took a step back. He did not expect this reaction from An Qing.
Yan Changyi took a step forward blocking Qiu Chen from An Qing's view, "Brigadier An, do not be excited. Xiao Quan came because he was worried about you. And he is well capable."
Qiu Chen peaked from behind Yan Changyi and gave An Qing a haughty look, who shook his head in frustration.
Yan Changyi looked between the two cousins in helplessness. Then he continued, "Can you elaborate on what's going on here? What was the barrier made of which is even tough for a psychic abilty user to penetrate? And why there is no radio signal here?"
"These two are actually connected. The barrier was created with my abilty. I was a psychic abilty user at first. But something happened later. Zhuang Jun, a member of our team discovered that the zombies of level three or above have something like a crystal inside their head. This thing, like a nucleus, holds the power in itself. If an abiity user absorbs the nucleus, it would help them level up. We all strated searching for this nucleus. Everything was going okay until we lost our healer to the zombies. We met higher level zombies but we lost manpower. In a dier situation I started absorbing all the nucleus we had. This resulted in me waking a second ability which is radiation. But I did not have any fever. I don't kow if it was because of it, my two abilities mutated. Now I have Mutated Psychic Radiation as my ability which means I can control radiation with my mind. The barrier was made of this radiation and this high radiation is also the cause of the radio frequency to fail around here," An Qing was frustrated. He felt guilty as well. If it were not for his quest for the crystal nucleus, his teammates would not have perished.
Yan Changyi heard it silently. Giving An Qing a nod of acknowledgement he turned to Yao Zhen, "Take two with you and go search for the crystal nucleus from the zombies we killed today."
Yao Zhen gave him a military salute and went out.
Yan Changyi faced An Qing, "You take some rest here, I am sending another healer. I won't disturb you anymore." Saying this he headed out.
Qiu Chen also followed him but was stopped by his cousin, "You idiot, stop right there. Don't think about running away without explaining yourself."
Qiu Chen puffed his ckeeks and returned to him. An Qing looked at Yan Changyi who also stopped in his tracks. Yan Changyi gave a nod and went out. After An Qing made sure that Yan Changyi left, he spoke again.
"Is your fiancé here? What about that adopted brother of yours?" An Qing asked seriously.
Qiu Chen looked down as he was heavily wronged and spoke in a small voice, "They are not here. They always bully me. When I was sick they didn't even check on me. On top of that, they cursed me! So I drove them out. I live with uncle now." Then he proceeded to narrate what happened after the apocalypse began.
An Qing looked at his silly cousin wondering who bestowed wisdom on this silly guy. Qiu Chen stole a glance at him and spoke in a small voice, "Don't call me idiot. I won't be an idiot anymore."
Only if this kid was this adorable and understanding all the time, it would spare them a lot worry. An Qing kept looking at Qiu Chen.
"Stop looking at me like that! I told you I won't speak for them again!" Qiu Chen snapped at An Qing, nothing like his well-behaved self awhile ago.
An Qing laughed out, "That's more like you, you idiot."
Qiu Chen got up and threatened An Qing, "I told you not to call me idiot! I am going to complain to my Aunt!" After saying this he stomped away. Behind him An Qing's even louder laughter sounded.
After going out of the tent he saw Yan Changyi standing with Yao Zhen, Ji Anming, and Sun Xi. He walked up to them.
"Have you got the crystal nucleus?" He asked them.
"We found about 15. The rest were damaged and lost the srystal like texture. But we still took a few to bring them to the research center," Ji Anming answered.
"En. Let's go have a meal," Yan Changyi dragged Qiu Chen by hand and separated from the three.
Sun Xi And Yao Zhen were dumbfounded by this, "What happened? Have we offended captain somehow?"
Only JI Anming looked at the back of the two people with interest and answered his colleagues, "You'll know later."
Early next morning they left for the base. Now, with three extra people the van was really crowded. All the additional things were placed on the roof of the jeep. It took around five hours to return to the base. Everyone got busy upon their arrival. An Qing and others were taken to the medical center. An Zi and his wife also rushed there. Some senior researcher came to talk to An Qing regarding the nucleus and its details. After going through it multiple times and a proper check up, he was released. But his two companions were kept for more observation.
Aunt An cried until her eyes were swollen. She thought she would never see her son again. But here he stood in front of her. The memory of the fear she felt made her cry even more. She wiped her eyes once more and turned to her husband, "Go call Xiao Quan. We are having family dinner tonight. Tell him to pick up A-Li too. That boy always forgets to eat."
Before An Zi could say anything An Qing first, "Who's A-Li? Why are you inviting him for dinner if it's a family dinner?"
"It's a boy Xiao Quan picked up. Poor thing. You'll know when you see him," Aunt An sighed as she replied.
"We are having dinner at the General's mansion. I'll ask someone to take care of Ruan Li. General only invited the four of us," An Zi replied.
Sorting out everything after returning to their team's camp consumed a lot time. So Qiu Chen did not return home before he headed to the general's mansion for dinner with Yan Changyi. He was a little nervous about meeting Yan Changyi's grandpa. Although they are not together yet he is, after all, Yan Changyi's only remaining family. He thought of taking some gift with him, but dismissed the idea. Given the present circumstances it would be too exaggerated to gift him something. But again, although General Yan lived a well disciplined life did not mean he would not appreciate a gift from someone of younger generation. After thinking about it over and over again he decided to check the system panel for general information about the General.
Yan Changyi was walking beside Qiu Chen. He wanted to talk to him but seeing the boy thinking to himself so absent mindedly, he could not bring himself to disturb him. He would just look at him time to time as to sink in the tender charm his beloved was radiating all around himself.
By the time they reached the gate and Yan Changyi rang the bell Qiu Chen sorted out what to give to General Yan. Good thing that he had it in his space due to Father Wen's similar habit. After a while the housekeeper came to open the door.
"Welcome home Young Master," after greeting Yan Changyi he turned to Qiu Chen, "Welcom Young Master Wen."
"You know me?" Qiu Chen felt it a bit unexpected.
The housekeeper gave an elderly smile, "Everyone around here knows you. Especially because you rescued Young Master, we are grateful."
Qiu Chen felt a bit overwhelmed, "oh."
The housekeeper looked the definitely flustered child and smiled amiably, "Come in, General is waiting."
As they were following the housekeeper, Yan Changyi whispered to Qiu Chen, "Uncle Dong was grandpa's subordinate. After he was injured in a battle, he returned to his hometown. But not long after his wife passed away. He had no children and never wanted to marry someone else. So, he came back to follow grandpa. Grandpa appointed him as the housekeeper. He has been with us since then. Don't look at his old age, he is a superb soldier. It was he who trained me."
As Qiu Chen listened to Yan Changyi, he paid attention to this Uncle Dong who's right leg seemed stiff as if it were wooden. But his back was still straight, like a qualified soldier.
Uncle Dong led them to the living room. An elderly strict looking handsome man was sitting in the main seat whose face closely resembled Yan Changyi's. He should be General Yan.
Sure enough, Yan Changyi greeted the man, "Grandpa."
General Yan just nodded and indicated that he should take a seat. Then he looked at Qiu Chen. Looking at General Yan's cold and distant attitude he felt even more nervous than before. He hesitantly introduced himself, "Hello, General Yan. My name is Wen Quan."
Saying this he stopped awkwardly, he did not know what else to say. A battle-worn deep cold voice sounded, "I have heard of Young Master Wen, Major An's nephew."
Seeing Qiu Chen almost hugging himself in panic Yan Changyi shook his head helplessly, "Grandpa, stop scaring him."
General Yan suddenly laughed out loud, "This kid is so well behaved, nothing like the rumors. I could not help myslelf, hahaha. Xiao Wen, come here, sit by Grandpa, come come."
Seeing the sudden change of General's attitude Qiu Chen also relaxed. This seemed like General's true personality. He walked to General Yan to hand him the gift, "General Yan, I did not know what you prefer so took courage to select a random gift." He can't help it, being courteous became a habit of him since the previous world.
General Yan accepted the box and opened it. "You say you did not know my taste and brought this? That stinky boy helped you?" he looked at Yan Changyi and answered himself, "No, he won't. That stinky boy can't even stand the smell of smoke. This pipe is really good." He appreciated the exquisite handmade wooden pipe and praise it again, "Good, really good. Come, sit here," he told Qiu Chen, "Don't call me General, just call me grandpa like Xiao Yi does."
General Yan could not be happier with the gift he received, "An Zi, your nephew is really a good child!"
Only now Qiu Chen noticed that his uncle, aunt and cousin all were there. He greeted them, "Uncle. Aunt. Cousin."
If the three members of the An family said they were not astonished by Qiu Chen, they would be lying. They knew their kid the best. Wen Quan was never a considerate kid. An Zi sighed. The kid really grew up all of a sudden.
They all talked for few minutes. General Yan recounted every single detail of their last missions. He wanted to know more about Qiu Chen encountering the swamp of zombies but he could not give a satisfactory answer as he "did not think much about it and only used his intuition". Another thing General An gave huge importance to was An Qing's discovery of the crystal nucleus. If it was proven to be harmless it would be a huge benefit to mankind.
As they were talking Uncle Dong came to inform that the dinner was served. So they went to have dinner. As they were starting, Uncle Dong brought another person.
Commander Xiao gave a military salute, "General!" Then he turned to salute An Zi, "Major!"
Genral Yan called him to sit, "Do not stand ceremony. Come and eat."
Commander Xiao was gratified to be invited in the General's abode. He bowed and went to sit. After sitting down he smiled at Qu Chen who was sitting at the opposite of him. Although Yan Changyi did not like this Xiao, there was nothing he could do. He could only bite down his food forceflly.
Qiu Chen noticed the man's sour mood and when no one was looking he placed a piece of braised pork in his plate. This almost made Yan Changyi smile ear to ear. He restrained himself with much effort. He also returned the favor by giving dishes to qiu Chen time to time. Although they thought what they did went unnoticed, some people noticed it.
After dinner it was time for them to leave. General Yan spoke more seriously than before, "Changyi is the only relative I have left on earth. When he was missing this old man was on verge of death from worrying. I don't know if I could live on if something happned to him" He raised his hand to stop Yan Changi who wanted to interrupt, then continued, "Xiao Wen, Commander Xiao. You did this old man a huge favor. From this day onward you will be my benefactors. If you encounter any problem, ever, come to this old man. This old man will help you with every mean I have."
Qiu Chen and Commander Xiao gratefully accepted General Yan's favor. Especially Commander Xiao, if it were not for his years' training as a soldier, he might have cried on the spot.
After the guests left General Yan called Yan Changyi for a talk, "Sit," he was nothing like the smiling elderly figure that he was in front of Qui Chen.
"Yes, Grandpa." Yan Changyi sat down in front of General Yan.
"You like that Wen boy," it was a not a question.
"I do," Yan Changyi did not deny it.
General Yan observed his grandson for a while. Just as Yan Chanyi thought his grandfather was displeased with him liking a boy and was about to convince him, General Yan spoke first, "A stinky wooden face boy like you, do you even know how to pursue people other than putting food in their bowls? Oh, that was also initiated by him."
Yan Changyi was stupified although it did not show on his face. General Yan looked at his grandson displeased even more, "He is a good kid. If you like him, pursue him, but do not overstep. And certainly, do not bully him."
Yan Changyi, "You don't have any problem with me liking men?"
General Yan sighed, "Aiyah! It is troubled times. As long as you are with someone with good character, I am happy. Xiao Wen is better than most of young peple I have seen. Do not loose him."
Yan Changyi replied with determination, "I won't."
After that he was shooed away by his grandfather. It seemed like he was about to lose his grandfather's favor. It was fine to him, as long as the other person was someone he loved.
A/N: I am really sorry for the long gap. Got a little busy with life. Lots and lots of love for my sweet readers who asked for an update. You guys made me feel so loved ð¥¹ð«°