Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 43
How to be a guardian
Ji Jiu was awakened by the enticing aroma of food. He groggily opened his eyes and saw a table full of dishes.
“Is it mealtime?” he asked.
Si Yin Yuan, gripping his pen, looked over and nodded indifferently, “Yes, it was just delivered.”
Ji Jiu was now fully awake, his messy black hair sticking up. “Isn’t it from the cafeteria?”
Si Yin Yuan recalled his conversation with Li Chao and how to keep his little white cabbage from being easily tempted.
First, he needed to raise the little cabbage’s standards so that it wouldn’t be easily swayed by small favors.
Setting his pen aside, Si Yin Yuan explained, “The cafeteria food isn’t good.”
These dishes were intentionally requisitioned from the Logistics Management Group, a proportion that belonged to him as a person in authority. Each person in authority could receive a certain proportion of high-quality food daily. But Si Yin Yuan had always been indifferent; he was used to eating in the cafeteria or consuming nutrient solution. As a result, he never claimed those allowances.
Now that he had Ji Jiu, the situation was different. He not only needed to claim them but also recover the ones he hadn’t claimed before.
Ji Jiu tilted his head in confusion. Hunter Guild’s cafeteria was one of the best in the post-apocalyptic world, and the Logistics Management Group would never shortchange the Guild.
To Ji Jiu, all that food was incredibly delicious.
However, since his Master said so, he accepted it cheerfully.
There were many snacks inside, many of which Ji Jiu hadn’t tasted before. They included various chocolate beans and milk candies, all produced before the apocalypse. Now, these had become luxuries in the post-apocalyptic era.
In the post-apocalyptic world, nobody cared about the expiration date as long as the food hadn’t gone bad. Ji Jiu had even fewer worries in that regard.
Si Yin Yuan was very satisfied. “Is it delicious?”
“It’s great,” Ji Jiu said, his cheeks filled, resembling a hamster hoarding food.
The tension that had built up over the past few days was entirely swept away. Si Yin Yuan gently patted his head and spoke in a low, seductive voice, “If someone strange offers you food recently, don’t accept it.”
He almost mentioned Lan Fei’s name directly.
Ji Jiu chewed and swallowed, hesitating for a moment. “But…”
Si Yin Yuan took out a point card. “I’ll take you to eat something delicious tonight.”
Ji Jiu’s eyes brightened as he raised his small hand. “I promise not to eat anything strange from anyone.”
“Very obedient,” Si Yin Yuan said, smiling at the corner of his mouth.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have to wait until the evening. They received a sudden communication from Hu Yan, informing them of an emergency.
The research institute had captured an extremely weak signal from overseas. This was the first time they had received a signal from the sea, and the island was located in the nearest sea area to their base.
The research institute had been trying to communicate with people from other countries to capture signals from farther regions. Due to issues with the magnetic field after the apocalypse, they only occasionally received fragmented distress signals. Although they didn’t know much about the current situation abroad, based on the existing clues, they could infer that their situation would only be worse. The whole world was overwhelmed by its own problems.
The reason this captured signal was classified as an urgent task was because of its content.
Hu Yan pushed up his golden-rimmed glasses. “This distress signal was sent by a group of wealthy people from before the apocalypse.”
Saying this wasn’t unjust at all. This signal was sent at an unknown time, probably early in the apocalypse, and at the end of the distress signal, they mentioned being willing to offer money, a lot of money.
It seemed that they hadn’t used money since losing contact with the outside world, even from the beginning of the apocalypse.
Ji Jiu, still thinking about the delicious dinner, was quite straightforward. “They probably got eaten a long time ago, right?”
Hu Yan shook his head. “Do you know why this signal is special? It mentions that they had channels to learn about the disaster before the apocalypse occurred, which is why they fled to a private island for refuge.”
They had chosen to take refuge on a private island, so even if they received the message before the apocalypse, it certainly wasn’t precise.
However, the situation had turned out to be far worse than they had imagined, trapping them on the island.
People who had the means to take refuge on a private island probably had some pre-apocalypse disaster preparedness measures in place, so the chances of surviving weren’t small.
Hu Yan said, “People who could afford to take refuge on a private island, I don’t believe they didn’t make some disaster preparedness plans in advance. There’s a good chance they managed to survive. Do you remember what the Seer Granny said? She told you to go west.”
The island is located to the west.
Si Yin Yuan twiddled his fingers and didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he asked an unrelated question, “What happened to the person who turned from the Luminous Lilies?”
“He lost his memory,” Hu Yan paused, then continued, “He’s like a blank sheet of paper.”
Si Yin Yuan seemed lost in thought. “Can mutants really transform into humans?”
When it came to a topic that Hu Yan was interested in, he became excited, no longer the refined person he was at the start. “You find it incredible too, don’t you? The fact that a mutant can transform into a human, could this be a form of evolution? Is it only Luminous Lilies that has the potential to become a human, or could other mutants also possess this potential? You must be curious…”
Si Yin Yuan was beginning to regret bringing up this topic.
In reality, he was better informed about Luminous Lilies’ current situation than anyone else. A mutant capable of transforming into a human had attracted significant attention from the research institute and the other five factions had also dispatched people to monitor it, fearing that they might miss any information.
As for the incident where Luminous Lilies had killed a person, it had been handed over to the Judiciary Team.
Under deliberate concealment, Chen Ke’s death didn’t receive much attention. Hu Yan had erected a gravestone for him, and many colleagues in the research institute had gone to lay paper flowers at his grave, folding them to resemble how Luminous Lilies’ flowers blossomed.
Uninterested in the serious conversation between the two, Ji Jiu lowered his head, growing absentminded. He pulled out a large gray rabbit-shaped piece of milk candy he had concealed in his pocket and put it in his mouth.
In no time, there was a small pile of candy wrappers on the table.
He blew at them, watching with a playful smile as the wrappers fluttered around.
One of them was blown too far and fell under the table.
Ji Jiu bent down to pick it up and noticed a suspicious pink object peeking out.
He decided to pull it out and shook it in his hand.
Hmm, it was a letter.
It had “For Ji Jiu’s Eyes Only” written on it.
Ji Jiu’s eyes widened slightly as he tore it open.
A soft rustling sound filled the room as he read. Hu Yan’s voice during his explanation had been drowned out.
It wasn’t until Ji Jiu had read more than half of the letter that Si Yin Yuan felt something was amiss.
The person who had just been making tiny, delicate sounds like a little hamster had suddenly become so quiet.
It was too quiet, and there had to be a contrast.
Si Yin Yuan rose from his chair, signaling for Hu Yan to stop his lengthy discourse, and walked over to Ji Jiu, saying, “Why are you squatting on the floor, playing…”
As he got a good look at what Ji Jiu was holding in his hand, his pupils instantly contracted.
He hadn’t expected that there would still be a love letter that had escaped attention.
And it had been discovered by Ji Jiu, who knew nothing about these matters.
Si Yin Yuan’s voice was obscure as he said, “Good boy, don’t read that.”
Many possibilities flashed through his mind, including the words of analysis from his conversation with Li Chao this morning.
【People who haven’t experienced much in life are easily swayed by flowery words and sweet talk.】
【If the guardian is too forceful, they will also be disliked.】
His veins popped on his arms as he found himself unable to control the surge of anger. Just the thought of Ji Jiu being deceived by sweet words made him unable to restrain the desire to obliterate those possibilities, even if it was just shyness.
Si Yin Yuan’s golden eyes gradually darkened, like an icy abyss. His restlessness lasted for less than half a minute before being abruptly interrupted when something was thrust into his hand – the letter.
Ji Jiu’s reaction was unlike the shyness or surprise he’d imagined; it was only full of doubt. After handing the letter to his guardian, he looked up with a little face and asked, “What’s written on it?”
As if a fierce beast was instantly soothed, Si Yin Yuan lowered his head and quickly scanned the contents of the letter. His lips unconsciously curled up.
It turned out that Lan Fei didn’t know how to write a love letter at all. After writing for so long, it was full of flowery poetry from who knows where, mixing both modern and ancient styles. Throughout the entire letter, there wasn’t a single “I love you.”
The pink envelope with the heart sticker was sufficient to indicate it was a love letter, but Ji Jiu didn’t understand these societal conventions.
When he was rescued, he’d already lost many memories and couldn’t even recognize himself. He was bewildered and didn’t understand anything.
But, this was a small child; how could he possibly understand romance?
Si Yin Yuan became more and more convinced, completely ignoring the fact that Ji Jiu had already reached adulthood.
He looked at Ji Jiu, who was gazing at him with trust on his face, and calmly said, “It’s nothing important, just a piece of paper.”
Ji Jiu nodded and said, “Alright.”
It had nothing to do with food, so he wasn’t interested.
Hu Yan leaned closer, wanting to see, “What are you two looking at?”
Before a single word was read, the paper instantly turned to golden flames in the palm of Si Yin Yuan’s hand, leaving not a trace of ash.
Hu Yan asked, “…Does this paper have some kind of grudge against you?”
Si Yin Yuan gave him a sidelong glance. “Do you know if there’s any means of transportation to that island?”
As soon as he heard this question, Hu Yan knew there was progress. He quickly nodded. “The Logistics Management Group has a damaged ship, although it has some issues due to parts, it’s not a big problem.”
“Finding replacement parts for the damaged core components isn’t going to be easy in the short term,” Si Yin Yuan acknowledged.
A ship wasn’t a survival necessity, and nobody would gather such things while collecting supplies.
Hu Yan suddenly smiled, raising his hand to push up his glasses once more. “I foresaw this issue before you came, so I took the liberty to inquire about Og…”
He then veered the conversation. “…’s younger sister.”
Hearing a somewhat familiar name, Ji Jiu looked at him, slightly curious.
Si Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow. “An Guoguo?”
“Yes!” Hu Yan snapped his fingers. “Her ability is very suitable for scientific experiments. She can actually strike sparks with a matchstick and materialize fantasies.”
In the post-apocalyptic world, they lacked everything, from parts to medicine. They needed an Awakened like An Guoguo. Hu Yan had been actively trying to recruit her, hoping that the young girl would join their side.
With the Guild’s psychological counseling assistance, she had nearly fully recovered from her dreamworld experiences. The scars she carried had been healed by a healing-type Awakened, and she had become close friends with Rumeng, who had died dozens of times in the dreamworld during their therapy sessions.
Perhaps it was the experience of being pushed to the brink of death that enhanced An Guoguo’s powers, similar to Rumeng’s experience.
Now, An Guoguo only needed a blueprint, and she could easily recreate something with just a matchstick.
Si Yin Yuan pondered briefly.
Ji Jiu became a little upset, poking his owner’s arm repeatedly and lengthening his words in a coquettish tone, “Is it not over yet? I’m so hungry.”
Si Yin Yuan immediately changed his tone. “Hungry? I’ll take you to eat right now.”
He finished his sentence and ruffled the little guy’s hair.
In response, Ji Jiu happily nuzzled him.
While Hu Yan was still waiting for a reply, he was unexpectedly force-fed dog food. His facial expression gradually numbed.