Chapter 36: Older brother will give you a family

Long Zhanye pulls Huo Zaiyuan inside before turning around and closing the armoury's door in order to prevent zombies interrupting them when they are selecting what to take with them.

Looking at the magnetic card in Long Zhanye's hand, he inquires. "How did you get your hands on the armoury's access card?"

While he knows Long Zhanye is a soldier, he also knows for a fact that not any ordinary soldier is given an access card for the armoury, and not just anyone is permitted to enter.

"Oh, I was going through the pockets of a dead zombie wearing military attire and found this card. That guy was probably the boss of this district." Long Zhanye replies flippantly, shoving the card into his breast pocket. "Little Yuan, do you know how to use a gun?"

"Nope." Following the taller man closely, Huo Zaiyuan shakes his head, answering honestly.

"That's all right. This older brother will teach you later." Shooting a smirk over his shoulder, Long Zhanye reaches out to remove an AK from the stand, resting it on his shoulder. No matter how one looks, that posture is just like an army riffraff, a delinquent, and a rather handsome one at that.

Huo Zaiyuan's head is filled with black lines[1], his heart thinking: The him before me is this guy's true self, right?

Listening to Long Zhanye's suggestions, he selects an MP5, a submachine gun with the least recoil. Touching a firearm for the first time in both lives, he finds it really interesting. Because Huo Zaiyuan wants to learn how to use a gun right now, Long Zhanye proposes to stay in the armoury for the time being. Since there is a large store of weapons in this warehouse, and there are over a thousand zombies on the first floor, there are sufficient targets for him to practise shooting at. Without hesitation, Huo Zaiyuan gleefully agrees.

Since it is decided that they will stay here temporarily, then their first priority is safety. Hence, the two of them begins a clean-up of the entire building, from the topmost floor to the second floor, methodically searching from room to room. Eventually, they discover and eliminates a total of ten plus zombies in military uniform, as well as the district's canteen, which still holds a large quantity of food.

"It seems this military base has really fallen into enemy hands. Not even a single living person remains." Assault rifle resting on a shoulder and following Huo Zaiyuan docilely, Long Zhanye exhales a helpless breath.

After clearing the building of zombies, they finally decide to make the canteen their stronghold. Due to security reasons, Huo Zaiyuan sets up a boundary on the second and third floor. Even if right now those zombies on the first floor still cannot walk up staircases, it is hard to say if one day they can suddenly figure out how to do so. And when that time comes, wouldn't the two of them be sitting ducks?

"Un." Huo Zaiyuan murmurs. "Judgement Day came too abruptly, so a lot of people was not given enough time to deal with it." A talisman gripped between two fingers saturated with spiritual energy, he sends it shooting towards a corner of the wall to complete the Five Elements Eight Trigrams barrier.

This time's apocalypse came more suddenly compared to the previous life's one, resulting in an even greater number of people being turned into zombies.

"When I was small, my grandfather once told me that humans are a uniquely adaptable species. The viler an environment they are faced with, the tougher and more resilient they will be." Long Zhanye says as he approaches Huo Zaiyuan, reaching out to rub his soft hair. "Is Little Yuan worried about your family?"

The hand reaching for another talisman pauses, a forlorn look crossing his eyes. That fair and delicate face exposes a trace of distress, causing Long Zhanye's heart to skip a beat. However, Huo Zaiyuan's expression smooths over a second later, a picture of calm as he continues performing his task.

"I..don't have a family anymore." This one sentence is delivered blandly, as though it has nothing to do with him.

Seeing the expressionless Huo Zaiyuan, Long Zhanye reaches out and pulls him into his embrace. "What foolish words. Who doesn't have a family? If you really feel you don't have a family, then this older brother will give you one."

The magnetic, calm voice that states these words aloud without the slightest hesitation really warms every corner of Huo Zaiyuan's heart. It is as though a boulder crushing his heart is suddenly lifted, and a flood of water washes clean his worries. A sparkling teardrop wells up at the corner of his eye and slips down his pale cheek.

It seems he really is lonely..

Although his constant cultivation enables him to suppress volatile emotions and keep him in a tranquil state, but that seed of loneliness has been planted in his heart long ago, deeply-rooted and difficult to displace..it takes more than a few shakes to clear the dirt and expose the roots, but this one sentence of Long Zhanye's really hit the crux of his loneliness.

It isn't his heart becoming more serene, but rather, it is he himself refusing to confront his emotions.

(Author's notes: And thus this is how Long gong successfully snags his little shou ~ )

Footnotes:

[1] Basically this bird's reaction: