under the tower

"Hmm..." Yan Yi rubbed his eyes, he didn't seem to be quite awake yet, his body automatically gave way to the side of the bed, leaving a small space inside.

Yan Yi's bed is really not big, Ji Xi climbed up carefully, and the wooden bed made a creaking sound.

Yan Yi's eyes were closed again, he covered Ji Xi with half of the quilt, the bed was very small, Ji Xi lay in it, the two of them were almost stuck together, there was still residual heat left by Yan Yi in the bed.

The smell of a man and the warm and broad chest wrapped Ji Xi, Ji Xi didn't move at all, but all the messy thoughts in his heart disappeared with the powerful heartbeat of the person beside him, leaving only a warm blank.

He burrowed into Yanyi's arms slightly, and Yanyi, who was already asleep, instinctively hugged him tightly with his arms, hugged him in his arms, and patted him lightly twice, the movements were full of comfort .

Ji Xi closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

A peaceful night.

The next day, Ji Xi rarely got up late.

When he woke up, Yanyi had already gone out, and Yanyi left him a bowl of plain porridge on the table, and a small stack of pickled cucumbers that he had pickled himself.

Ji Xi touched the rim of the bowl with his fingers, the porridge was completely cold, he looked at the clock, it was 09:30, Yan Yi probably left just after dawn.

After Ji Xi's body recovered enough to be able to move around, Yan Yi no longer went home to take care of him halfway. Although the outskirts of the city were not far away, it took at least an hour to go back and forth. Time is also extremely valuable.

The cold porridge made Ji Xi feel a little depressed. The Yan family's kitchen utensils were still at the level of the last century, and they used a device called a "microwave oven" to heat food.

Ji Xi put the bowl into the microwave oven, and then let the machine run for 40 seconds—this is what Yan Yi told him, so he must keep it in mind, otherwise there will be danger, and even worse, the house may burn down.

Ji Xi didn't understand why even an ordinary tool for heating food was designed so strangely here, just because setting the wrong time would be dangerous.Is this thing a miniature bomb?So why transform it into a kitchen appliance?

The microwave oven dinged, and the porridge inside was already hot. Ji Xi brought out the bowl, and then faced the empty room and window sill, slowly ate breakfast mouthful by mouthful.

Usually, when Yanyi goes out, Ji Xi can only stay at home with nothing to do, but today he found a new joy.

After eating, Ji Xi began to try to awaken his new ability again.

He has an innate comprehension ability for this kind of invisible and intangible things, which may also be one of the results of the early experimental transformation. Ji Xi recalled the feeling he had when he used his other abilities, and slowly put Concentrate on a certain point in the void, and then mobilize the power flowing in the body bit by bit.

Soon, the fiery feeling started to sprout again, but it was not obvious. Ji Xi was overjoyed and stared at his palm, but then the things flowing in it dissipated again.

He failed again.

Ji Xi is not upset, he has already mastered the method of using this ability, and he just needs to practice more.

Soon it was late autumn, and one day, Yan Yi came in with large and small bags of vegetables and dry goods. During dinner, he casually mentioned: "I'm going to take a long trip next time, and I'll be back in about a week. I'll take the All the ingredients are processed and placed in the refrigerator, you can simply process it according to the instructions I gave you and eat it."

Ji Xi put down his chopsticks and raised his head: "Why do you have to go out for so long?"

"This is the rule in the industry. You can't go out of the city after it snows." Yan Yi said, "We have to save enough supplies for the winter before the first snowfall in Beicheng, so we will go a little further this time."

Ji Xi's expression was not very good when he heard the words: "Will it be very dangerous?"

"...No." Yan Yi silently touched Ji Xi's head with his broad palm, "I'll be back soon, don't worry."

"Oh." Ji Xi waved his hand sideways, "Then take me there."

Yan Yi frowned: "This is not fun, and your injuries are not..."

"My injury is healed." Ji Xi squinted, "You said it's not dangerous, why can't I go?"

Yan Yi's face turned cold: "It's impossible for me to carry a bottle of oil with me when I'm working, let alone take care of you all the time."

"Can't I help you kill the deformed person?" Ji Xi showed a dissatisfied expression, "Why do I hold you back, don't look down on people."

Yan Yi sighed helplessly: "I'm very tired, so don't cry when the time comes."

Ji Xi pursed her lips, her fair and delicate face straightened up, but there was really no deterrent effect: "I won't cry."

In the end, Yan Yi couldn't hold back the extremely persistent Ji Xi, so he took him along with him before going out.

"Hey, where did this handsome guy come from?"

"Yanyi, you can do it!"

As a result, when Ji Xi and Yan Yi met Mao Hei, Mao Hei's apprentice, and Yan San at the gate of the city, he received a warm welcome like a rare animal.

They both belonged to the mercenary group named "Cangmen". Yan Yi was picked up by a middle-aged man in "Cangmen" who called "Uncle Yan" when he was less than ten years old. Was attacked by a mutant and died in the suburbs.

Mao Hei's master is also Uncle Yan. His original name was Yan Er, but he changed his name later on, probably because he thought the numbers one, two, and three were ugly and not creative enough. Besides, he was still the second child of ten thousand years, so how could he be reconciled to it? .

Ji Xi seemed a little shy in front of outsiders, he stood expressionless, his back straight, motionless, like a beautiful but stiff puppet.

Mao Hei's apprentice greeted him first. He was about the same age as Ji Xi, and he had a natural sympathy for Ji Xi: "Hello." Stretching out an open right hand, "My name is Chi Miao, what's your name?"

"My name is Ji Xi, nice to meet you." He slowly raised his hand hanging by his side, shook hands with the other party, and left with the touch of a touch, his movements were dignified and elegant.

The feeling of the tentacles is very strange. The other party has a palm that is not as big as his own, and the skin feels obvious, and he can feel the rough and dry skin through the skin.

"Boss, who is this child?" Mao Hei put one arm around Yan Yi's shoulders, and put it close to his ear. He was not a normal person, with a gossip expression on his face, "Could it be your illegitimate child? Can't you see it?" Come out, you kid is young, you don’t want to learn anything, just mess around outside..."

"Go away." Yan Yi pushed his hand away with a cold face, "He and I are just like you and Chi Miao. We just picked it up by chance and gave him something to eat."

"Hehe." Mao Hei snorted from his nostrils.

At noon, a group of people had already reached the jurisdictional boundary of the Beicheng army. The flat grass was bordered by lush trees, and further out there were endless mountains and unexplored wilderness.

In addition to mercenary activities in the suburbs close to the city, there are also officers sent by the Beicheng base to conduct regular patrols to clean up hidden safety hazards, so it is relatively safe, but beyond this area of ​​jurisdiction, life and death are life and wealth. God.

A few people sloppily settled the lunch—it was nothing more than some dry food prepared in advance, and Ji Xi, who has always been delicate, frowned very cooperatively and ate up the unpalatable food, although his expression looked very unhappy .

Yan Yi patted him on the back, unscrewed the mineral water bottle for him, and handed it to Ji Xi's red lips. Ji Xi had long been used to being served by him, and took a few sips.

Chi Miao, who was holding a dry Wowotou and gobbling at the side, looked at Ji Xi with envy, grabbed Mao Hei's sleeve and asked very straightforwardly: "Brother Hei, you are also a master, why am I not treated like this? "

Mao Hei laughed, "Because you are not my own."

Chi Miao blinked her eyes: "Huh?"

Mao Hei immediately slapped him impatiently: "Fuck you, son of a bitch, you talk so much, don't you want to beat me?"

Chi Miao lowered her head and immediately stopped talking.

This time they are going to a wild mountain 79 kilometers away from the Beicheng base. According to the acquired information, there is an abandoned factory there, where a large number of abnormal people gather. A trip can earn at least tens of thousands of points.

According to their normal speed of travel, it would take at least two days to reach the designated place, because this time they also brought Ji Xi and Chi Miao two young ones, so they didn't walk fast.

The first day passed smoothly like this. They only encountered a few abnormal people along the way. With three experienced mercenaries in the team, it was easy to solve them.

At night, they had already entered the depths of the forest in the mountainous area, surrounded by tall trees. As soon as Yan found a suitable terrain for the night, they lit a fire with firewood and began to set up the simple tents they carried with them.

Ji Xi was already a little tired, this was entirely the result of his lack of exercise, Yan Yi asked him to sit by the fire to rest.

Chi Miao didn't want to set up a tent either, he saw Ji Xi sitting on the side, and ran to talk to him happily, Mao Hei in the distance rolled his eyes and didn't bother to answer.

"Hey, where is your home?" Chi Miao sat down on the dirt floor, "Brother Yan treats you well."

Ji Xi moved slightly to the side, revealing a small half of the newspaper underneath: "My home...is far away."

"Thank you!" Chi Miao moved her muddy butt onto the clean newspaper, "Where is that far away? I grew up in the skull hole, have you been there?"

"I can't remember clearly." Ji Xi said, "What is the Skull Cave?"

"Hey, you're not from Beicheng." Chi Miao said, "Skull Cave is our nickname. It's in the north of Bingmu District. I'll take you for a walk when I have time. Brother Yan and the others all grew up there."

Ji Xi was a little interested in the place where Yan Yi grew up, so he nodded.

"You don't seem to talk much." Chi Miao said, "Don't be nervous, Brother Yan and Brother Hei are good friends, we can also be good friends like them."

Ji Xi looked at him and said slowly, "I'm not very good at chatting."

"Your eyes are so beautiful, like the sky at night."

Ji Xi paused.

"Really, I've never seen such beautiful eyes in our place." Chi Miao said, "I've just never seen someone like you, who is completely different from us, so I'm a little curious, and I don't mean to offend."

Ji Xi frowned slightly, as if he didn't understand the meaning of his words: "What... are you the same people?"

"We are just a group of hungry ghosts." Chi Miao said with a smile, "I don't know where we came from, who are our parents. We live in an alley full of garbage, have no food, and sometimes go to the trash can, or go to the If you go begging where there is no army patrolling, you will be beaten if you steal something, and you will be beaten badly, because everyone is poor and hungry every day, really hungry.”

"Sometimes I feel that my life is not as good as those deformed people. They can eat too many things. People... as long as they are human flesh, they can eat them. I am quite envious."

Ji Xi looked at him with an unbelievable look.

"Looking at you, you shouldn't have experienced this, right?" Chi Miao didn't care much, instead she looked indifferent, "We are just such a group of...uh... people who live a bad life, but I don't think you are, You should be living a good life, just like this is completely different from us."

Ji Xi was silent for a long time, and said slowly: "...I'm sorry."

Chi Miao chuckled: "Why are you so heavy? I just chatted with you casually, telling my own story, and then we got to know each other after chatting. Isn't that normal?"

"Oh." Ji Xi said, as if he was trying very hard to adapt to this social mode.

"So tell me about you." Chi Miao asked with blinking eyes, "Did you experience any interesting things when you were young?"

Ji Xi felt that he should have great expectations for his answer, so he pondered for a long time: "I have a...friend."

He paused, and used the word "friend" in imitation of Chi Miao's way of thinking.

"She's a female my age, and my parents don't allow me to touch other people, only she can play with me."

"Once, I went with her to the zoo in the city, where there were many creatures that existed before the end of the world, such as a kind of fish called seahorses in the water, you can see them through the glass. But that day the glass suddenly It broke and we all fell into the water, the water was very salty, but she didn't look scared at all, and she taught me how to breathe in water. Do you know how to breathe in water?"

Chi Miao shook her head blankly, as if she didn't understand what Ji Xi was talking about.

"Anyway, it's quite fun." Ji Xi said, "This should be the funniest experience I had when I was young."

"Okay." Chi Miao said, "I believe now that you really don't know how to chat much."

"This... uh... girl, why can you only play with her? Are your parents not allowing you to make friends?"

"Because they said that when I grow up, I will only live with her, and they say that is called marriage." Ji Xi said, "I came here because of some accidents in my family, otherwise I should have married her gone."

Chi Miao stared at Ji Xi dumbfounded, her eyes filled with amazement that "you city people really know how to play".

And behind Ji Xi, he saw Yan Yi happened to appear there, and heard what Ji Xi said just now.