Chapter 63—A tail following
by Bocchan13
“Shut it!” Lan Zhou once again smacked Wu Ding on the head. Wu Ding whimpered but otherwise kept kowtowing, his excited voice apparent.
“You guys are all reborn right? You guys know what happened in the apocalypse, right? Hahahh! Me too! I’m one too! I’ve been looking for the broadcaster because I thought he was the only person reborn, but you guys are too! I’m so fucking lucky! Hahahahahaha”
Wu Ding’s handsome face was so alight with such happiness, it made everyone awkward. Wu Ding stopped kowtowing and smiled mischievously before shock overtook him.
“Oh my God,” pointing to Lan Zhou. “I RECOGNIZE YOU NOW! You obliterated B Base! I remember the blue fire! Damn. What a coincidence I’d find you here.”
Lan Zhou’s hand twitched. He wanted to smack him in the face this time.
He dragged Wu Ding to the small safe house. The mouth on this guy was way too loud and if he continued to yell, he would attract zombies.
“Yu Ci and Wang Cheng can go rest; can Song Yu and Xiao Zi take the next watch? Lu Jingxiu and I still need to interrogate this guy.”
Song Yu and Xiao Zi had no complaints, but Song Yu was still a bit jittery from the recording. He was happy that Wu Ding didn’t recognize him. It was to be expected since the only time they met, Song Yu was delirious with pain and almost passed out. His gaunt body was a stark contrast to what he was now.
Lan Zhou and Lu Jingxiu took Wu Ding into the safe house. Wu Ding’s clothes were still filthy with blood and smelled horrible, so Lan Zhou didn’t let him on the bed but dumped him on the floor.
“Ouch! Gentle please!” Wu Ding’s roped hands wasn’t pulled off, so he didn’t have a good balance. Lan Zhou and Lu Jingxiu didn’t really care and squatted down so they were eye level.
“When where you reborn?”
Wu Ding’s eyes sparkled. He was right! They are all reborn!
“Not technically…but I had a dream a day before the apocalypse. In the dream, I was a B Base entry-level guard hiding from the researchers.”
Lu Jingxiu’s eyes lit up.
“Where you there when the pure ability user escaped?”
“ Pure…? I only had contact with the leader of the rebels. I just helped open the doors and let them escape.”
“So you helped them leave the base, what happened to them. Where did they go?”
Wu Ding lowered his eyes, the energetic feeling completely gone.
“I was caught and was taken into the research facility. I don’t know what happened to them after that. I stayed in the facility for the next few months before this guy blazed it to the ground.” Wu Ding pointed to Lan Zhou.
“I stayed in B Base until I died.”
Lan Zhou tightened his lips. His eyes that had narrowed in dubiousness was now filled with a certain guilt.
“I’m sorry.”
Wu Ding shook his head.
“No, it’s okay. If you hadn’t done it, I would have stayed in the research facility far longer and might not have been sound of mind. It was me who decided to stay back and die there.”
Lu Jingxiu was also quite sorry. When they broke into B Base, they never took in account the innocent civilian lives they sacrificed to bring B Base down.
Lu Jingxiu took Lan Zhou aside, worry on his face.
“Lan Zhou, the recordings…is it the pure ability user?”
Lan Zhou had already known the minute it played that it was Song Yu. Song Yu had more generosity than anyone could possess, because even though he became scared of the outside world…he still tried his best to save it.
If Lan Zhou acknowledged that the recordings belonged to the pure ability user…would those lead back to Song Yu?
“It’s possible.”
“It’s more than possible. The pure ability user wasn’t there when we went to B Base, and we searched all around the place. The pure ability user could’ve also been reborn like us and didn’t want to stay around B Base.”
The more Lu Jingxiu talked, the more the arrow pointed to Song Yu. Lu Jingxiu hadn’t connected those dots yet, but it wouldn’t take too long. Lan Zhou…needed to talk to Song Yu. But he wouldn’t do it until they were back home.
“For now, we are still going to N City and getting stuff. Let’s think on this for the time being.” Lu Jingxiu furrowed his brows but conceded.
“Then what should we do about him? He might have more info on the pure ability user.”
Lan Zhou looked back to Wu Ding, who was fiddling with the ropes on his wrist. Sighing, he shook his head.
“Just let him go when morning comes. If he wants to follow us that’s fine, but we won’t be responsible for him.”
Lu Jingxiu wanted to argue, but felt that it was hypocritical. Taking prisoners wasn’t uncommon, but Lu Jingxiu and co, did not condone those acts. So Lu Jingxiu nodded and posed no further questions.
“You can stay in this room until morning, then we’ll let you go.”
Wu Ding did not like this one bit!
“Please let me follow you! I swear, I’ll be good. I won’t do anything to you!! I’ll…I’ll wash your backs, how’s that? I can fix cars! I can even sleep—“
“No need. It’s not up to me to keep you. We’re just on a raid, and will head back to our own base. Do you want to follow us all the way there?”
“Yes!”
“Then, I will only let you come with us with Song Yu’s permission. Song Yu is the true leader of this group. If you can convince him, then you can convince me.”
Lan Zhou was adamant that Song Yu would refuse this dunce. It took him so long to have Song Yu open up to him. So Wu Ding with his weird attitude would most definitely reject him…
.
.
.
“Yeah, you can come with us.”
Lan Zhou’s eyes popped out of their sockets. Song Yu nonchalantly folded the bedding and got rid of the evidence of their visit. Everyone else was packing up their tools as well. Wu Ding had just crawled on his hands and knees in front of Song Yu. His dirty and crusty clothes still didn’t dim the handsomeness Wu Ding possessed.
The stark contrast between the debonair flirty bartender to a giant puppy was too big. Son Yu could swear he saw a tail.
“I…I can really follow you guys??”
Song Yu nodded.
“Mmn.”
Wu Ding cried and tried to hug Song Yu, but was smacked hard by Lan Zhou.
“Hands off!”
Wu Ding didn’t care and with a euphoric laugh, he found the nearest person to hug, practically throwing himself into Yu Ci’s arms. Yu Ci stiffened when this mulchy person wrapped his arms around his torso. Looking down at this overgrown puppy, he couldn’t eradicate the horrible smell from his nostrils.
“Get cleaned first. Put some ice in a bucket, Lan Zhou will heat it up to make water. Your size in similar to Lu Jingxiu, so ask him for some clothes. We’ll leave in 20 minutes.”
Wu Ding smiled and nodded, getting off Yu Ci. Lu Jingxiu sighed and took out some spare clothes,
“It’s a good thing we’re going to get new clothes. This is my last pair.”
Wu Ding was getting undressed inside the safe house, whilst Lan Zhou heated up the ice. He knelt next to Song Yu with a pouty disposition.
“Why did you let him follow us? And it was so easy too…”
Song Yu hesitated before telling him in half-truths, “He saved my life one time…and I want to repay him. He was looking for someone to understand him, and travelled so far because he was lonely…I can sympathize with that. He is…just as kind as he was when he saved me.”
‘Besides…you are here now to protect me.”
Lan Zhou nodded and didn’t pry any further. He could understand Song Yu’s thought process pretty well now.
Song Yu was guilty.
Last night, their conversation wasn’t necessarily quiet, so Song Yu most likely heard what had happened to Wu Ding after their escape from B Base. Although Wu Ding didn’t show it, there were indelible scars left on him from his previous life…and the pain of loneliness in a desolate place.
Lan Zhou could only fathom how much Song Yu was feeling. In order for him to escape, someone was sacrificed and hurt in the same way. Wu Ding and Song Yu were the same in a sense where they didn’t trust people anymore. If Song Yu had met Wu Ding later in this life and realized he was reborn and suffered that much, Song Yu would have taken Wu Ding in a heartbeat.
“The water’s boiling.” Song Yu gently patted Lan Zhou’s hand. Lan Zhou chuckled and withdrew his ability, taking a sneak smack to Song Yu’s lips.
When this raid is over, I want to ask about Song Yu’s life.
Song Yu retaliated with a much more fulfilling kiss. Their mouths were pressed together in tandem, smiles alighting their faces. One small thought broke through his mind.
When this raid is over, I want to tell Lan Zhou about my life.
Finally!!
You know, I like this book it has good writing but what I don't like is the trauma dumping, like why does everyone have a dark past, it not even light but always something so heart wrenching, like come on, how can wu ding last life be so miserable for only one act. It really painful for me, I know it's a novel and it's not real but then it is still a novel and shouldn't have such amounts of traumatic build ups, like I don't feel good reading it because I know there will be more characters with more horrible past. It's just a sad novel to me at the end of the day. It's so heavy themed for me 😭😭😭😭