Vol 9: Chapter 9-2.

When the time the girls came back with a full basket of mushrooms, ChengXiao was sent to identify the poisonous ones. Everyone else began preparations for cooking.

“I despise you guys! Kicking your bro away when the girls are here. You little…”

Suddenly, his girl came over to him and he said tenderly. “Girl, don’t run around. Go back, I will be over when I am done with this.”

She cleaned a few straws of grass off his body then kissed him on the face and ran back. ChengXiao stopped the cursing then started counting the mushrooms with a smile.

Skewered the fish onto a stick then sprinkled with spices. The fish was then left beside a firepit to cook. A large pot was boiling mushroom and fish soup over another firepit.

Ran tasted the soup with a little plate and nodded. The others cheered and immediately filled themselves with a bowl. Although simple, the fresh flavor was more natural than anything else. Something people in the polluted cities would never get a chance to taste.

After the soup and grilled fish, it was as though everyone had forgotten about the movies as they chatted. Forgotten about the team battle coming up and the possibility of death. Everyone had a smile and the rare opportunity of feeling relaxed.

No one wanted to move during this afternoon as they lay on the grass. By the time they woke up from their naps, the stars had filled the sky. Fireflies flew over the river. The girls laughed as they ran over, even Yinkong seemed interested.

Heng muttered. “When I was together with her, I brought her to the village every time I visited my grandma. She said she liked fireflies. The tiny lights glowed like the eyes of a lover. Haha, I am the sinner who ruined this lover’s eyes.”

Zheng sighed. He had learned from the conversations that Heng’s lover was the woman who died in The Grudge. He never expected that slut like woman was caused by Heng running away. Who was the one to blame? Heng was a kind man but that cowardice personality ruined him and the one he liked. No wonder he was so happy when he obtained the Focused ability. He probably hated himself so much.

Zheng said. “Why don’t you create another her? Someone the same as her.”

Heng immediately replied. “No, it’s not that same. It will never be her. I know the principle of creation, creating a person according to your mind. But the her in my mind should hate me. I don’t have the courage to face her if I created her. Let her live in the real world peacefully. I hope she can forget everything, and forget me. I hope she can find happiness.”

“Happiness?” Perhaps the peace after death was also happiness for this couple.

Zheng noticed Honglu sighed then rolled his body around and asked. “Honglu, what’s wrong? Why are you feeling down?”

He said. “Nothing, why would I feel down all of a sudden?”

Zheng touched his head and said. “What is there to be worried for a kid. Is it because you didn’t get any insects today?”

Honglu slapped his hand away. “Stop the nonsense, who made the rule that kids can’t have their worries? Yet what does saying it out do? Someone that’s been lost will never come back. I know the human creation is fake. No, not fake, but it’s not the same person you knew. This is just a mean to comfort myself. I am such an idiot.”

“I was an orphan. There was a crease on the back of my head when I was born. I don’t know who my parents are. They abandoned me in the hospital. I know you are pitying me, but for what? The real ones you should pity are them. They lost a genius kid.”

“Then the doctors determined it was due to abnormal growth of my brain and will return to normal as I grow up. Since this case is rare in the world, along with the intelligence I had shown, the hospital decided to keep me in a research institute and assigned a nurse to take care of me. She was 22 and I was 6.”

“Life was peaceful for several years then suddenly, the institute caught a huge fire. The fire reached my room. She was the first one to came into my room. She smiled with a can of oxygen on her hand. Then she knocked me out. When I woke up, I was already in a hospital.”

“That fire blocked the hall leading up to my room. The room was in the eighth floor so I couldn’t jump out through the window. The stairs were also covered in fire. She found a can of half empty oxygen. But the storage room for it was actually not in this floor. She put the mask on me and died to the smoke. She gave away her chance to live. I hated myself. Why was I a kid! Why didn’t I have the ability to save her? How can you call yourself a man when you put the women in danger? Wah…”

Honglu curled up and started crying. The other three men didn’t know how to comfort him. Who would have thought this genius boy had such a childhood?

Zheng sighed. “It’s in the past. This is your home now. We are your family. We live and die together. We depend on each other! I don’t have much to say, but live on with the happiness you now have!”

Honglu stopped crying and looked at Ran at the distance. Her smile was so beautiful at this moment.

Everyone did their own things the following few days. Heng liked MMOs, so he exchanged a computer from God. The NPCs in the games all had artificial intelligence. They could interact like real humans.

Yinkong’s interest was reading, from world classics to novels to magazines. She enjoyed all types of literature. She also liked to sit in the platform alone and read the poems out. Who would have guessed that she was an assassin?

Honglu and ChengXiao researched recipes containing insects. Some of them were mind blowing, like termite sashimi, lettuce with maggots, or cabbage worms. These recipes were enough to give normal people heart attacks, but they seemed to be enjoying them.

The rest of his time, Honglu studied the designs of various weapons. He didn’t have the knowledge to begin with, so he had to learn on his own starting from the basics. This process wasn’t something that could be done in a few days.

Zheng went on walks with Lori in the prairie everyday. Then he spent most of his time training without exhausting himself. He needed to be strong for the upcoming battle after all. The others could slack but as a leader, he had to be responsible for himself and for the team. He was the strongest member of team China!

On that day, everyone stood in the platform waiting for the beams quietly.

“Enter the beam within thirty seconds. Target locked. Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Beginning transportation.”