Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Lengzhou City was now occupied by the rebel army, and quite a few rebels were patrolling the streets within the city.

Xie Licheng, wanting to get a better read on what was happening outside, didn't want to clash head-on with the rebels.

If he'd picked a fight with them right away, he didn't know much about them yet, and they'd have caught on to him instead—which would've been bad news for him.

Xie Licheng didn't head down the main drag of the city but instead poked around the quieter back alleys.

Then, as he passed by a small courtyard, he saw a snot-nosed little kid crying.

At first, the kid didn't notice Xie Licheng and just bawled his eyes out, head tilted to the sky, like something had really broken his heart.

Xie Licheng wasn't a fan of loud kids, so he pretended not to see him and made to walk right on by.

But right at that moment, the kid spotted Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng was tall and strapping, and he didn't look like the kind of guy you'd trust.

The kid's first instinct was to be scared, figuring Xie Licheng was one of those rebels too.

But it didn't take long for him to see that Xie Licheng wasn't going to mess with him, or bust into his house to steal stuff.

The boy was confused for a second, then suddenly spoke up and asked Xie Licheng, "Mister, you're not one of those rebels, are you?"

Xie Licheng, just barely in his twenties and still thinking of himself as young, wasn't too thrilled about being called "uncle" by someone.

At his current age, in a later era, he'd be a bright-eyed college kid—how the hell did he end up as some kid's uncle?

Xie Licheng turned to look at him, wanting to set the record straight on what the kid called him.

But before he could get a word out, the kid wiped his nose and went on, "Uncle, you're not one of those rebels, right? Uncle, can you take me with you? There's nobody left at my place now, and everything we had got taken."

Xie Licheng found it kind of funny and said to him, "You don't even know who I am, and you wanna come with me?"

What if he was a bad guy? The kid would be screwed, right? Kids are kids—naive and ridiculous.

The boy said between sobs, "If I don't go with you, I'm gonna get killed soon anyway."

Xie Licheng: "Who's going to kill you?"

He said his whole family was dead, and the fact that they hadn't killed him meant they didn't think he was worth killing. So he should be pretty safe for now.

The boy: "The guy next door sided with the rebels. Now that he sees there's no grown-up left in my house, he wants to kill me so he can grab our house."

He was outside now 'cause someone else was living in his house—that someone being the neighbor's kin.

He wouldn't leave, so the whole bunch of them said they'd kill him. But he didn't know where else to go, so he just sat there crying alone.

The boy, still sobbing, told Xie Licheng about his family's situation and the neighbor's wicked deeds, just wanting Xie Licheng to take him with him.

He figured Xie Licheng looked tough and mean. If he stuck with him, even if life wasn't great, at least he probably wouldn't get beaten to death.

After listening to him, Xie Licheng said, "I can take you along."

A kid like this wasn't a threat, and bringing him into the pocket world was no big deal. Anyway, there were already plenty of old folks, women, and kids in Peach Blossom Village—one more wouldn't hurt.

Besides, he'd come out not just to scope things out, but also to rescue people and bring them into his pocket world.

This kid had nothing tying him down, so bringing him in wouldn't cause any trouble. Xie Licheng was happy to take him along.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If there's anything you wanna grab, I can help you carry it."

The boy had a lot of stuff he wanted to bring, but since his house was taken over, he figured he couldn't get them anyway.

The boy said, "They took over my house, so those things are probably... forget it, I don't want any of it. I just wanna live."

Xie Licheng smiled at that. "Don't be scared of them. If there's anything you want, I'll go back with you to get it."

There was no more farmland left in his pocket world to give him, plus the kid was still really young, so he'd have a hard time surviving without bringing some stuff.

Hearing Xie Licheng's words, the boy said quietly, sounding unsure, "But... there's a lot of them. You sure you can take 'em all?"

The neighbor had three sons and two daughters, and the neighbor's relatives were four people. No matter how tough this uncle was, there's no way he could take on that many people alone, right?

"Quit yapping. If you wanna grab something, go now, or I'm outta here."

The boy scrambled to his feet, no time to be afraid, and sprinted toward his house, with Xie Licheng trailing slowly behind.

A big guy who'd taken over his house saw he dared to come back and grabbed a broom to chase him off.

But then the guy spotted an adult trailing behind the kid, and he froze mid-swing.

The guy pointed at Xie Licheng and yelled, "Who are you? This is my house! Get the hell out!"

Xie Licheng turned to look at him. "You sure... this is your house?"

The guy said without a shred of guilt, "Yeah, this is my house!"

Xie Licheng looked at the boy and said, "But he says this is his home."

The guy shot the boy a vicious glare. "This is my house. He's just a little street rat. Kids are always lying."

The boy immediately retorted, "You're full of it! This is my house! My family's lived here for over ten years, and all the neighbors can back me up on that. My grandparents, my dad—they were all killed by those rebels. They saw there were no adults left in my family and shamelessly took over my house, and threatened to kill me too!"

The boy then tried to dash into the room, wanting to get his father's portrait.

He looked just like his father, and once the uncle saw the portrait, he'd know the kid wasn't lying.

But the guy wouldn't let him in and even raised his hand to smack him.

Scared of getting hit, the boy quickly turned and ran over to Xie Licheng.

He said, "Uncle, Uncle, there's a portrait of my dad in there! That'll prove I'm not lying!"

The guy cursed, "You little brat, talking out of your ass! If you two don't get out of my house now, we're gonna get rough with you!"

Xie Licheng said coolly, "Alright, I'd like to see you try."

Seeing that Xie Licheng wouldn't take the hint, the guy swung the broom at him.

Xie Licheng grabbed the kid behind him and easily sidestepped the hit.

Before the guy could swing again, Xie Licheng kicked him hard.

The man was kicked flying, his face a perfect picture of confusion.

He'd been in fights before, but after just a brief encounter with this person, he could tell right away this guy wasn't your average person.

He was way out of his league—even if his whole family jumped in, they probably couldn't defeat him alone.

Knowing full well how outclassed he was, the man scrambled up and bolted out of the yard.

Xie Licheng watched him go, didn't bother to react, and headed with the boy toward the back house.

They entered a room where a middle-aged woman and a young man were already there.

The two were tearing through the boy's stuff. The woman had squeezed into a dress that didn't fit and wasn't hers, while the young man was slathering on rouge that wasn't his, staring at himself in a mirror.

The two chattered away, all worked up, as they tore through the place.

The woman said, "The man of this house had good luck and bad luck all at once—so many beautiful clothes but no chance to wear them. Let me enjoy this blessing for him."

The young man added, "Those soldiers only cared about cash and food, so they left all this makeup behind. Lucky for us, mother and son. Mother, look—does this rouge look good on me?"

The woman shot a look at her ugly son, secretly disgusted, but still praised him, saying, "Pretty, pretty."

By now, in Lingzhou City, anyone with even a shred of looks had been hauled off by the soldiers.

Her son was ugly, and before this, they'd even tried paying a dowry to marry him off, but no one would take him.

They figured that with the world falling apart and fewer women and pretty boys around, their son would finally have an easier time landing a man.

But to their surprise, when they walked the streets, neither the bandits nor the soldiers wanted anything to do with them.

One soldier even thought they were so ugly he almost drew his sword and killed them on the spot. Luckily, her brother had joined the rebels, which was the only thing that kept them alive.

Seeing them pawing through his father's things, the little boy flew into a rage and shouted, "What are you doing? Are these yours? You two ugly monsters—keep your hands off my father's stuff!"

And with that, he charged at them like a wild thing.

The young man shot him a look, hiked up his skirt, and went to kick him.

But he missed, and Xie Licheng, who'd followed them in, kicked him instead.

As he hit the ground, the young man finally got a good look at Xie Licheng's face.

Xie Licheng's looks were above average among men. This young man was flat-out ugly and had barely seen anything of the world. So when he suddenly laid eyes on a man like Xie Licheng, even after getting kicked, he felt no anger, no fear. Instead, he blushed, scrambled to his feet, and tried to hug Xie Licheng's leg.

Xie Licheng had lived through two lifetimes and had seen all kinds of people.

He'd seen women who, even during the apocalypse, refused to cling to men to survive—and ended up starving to death alone in some hiding spot.

He'd also seen women nobody wanted before the apocalypse, who then went on killing sprees against other women, thinking that if all the women died, men would finally want them.

Now, this young man in front of him struck Xie Licheng as just as bizarre. He didn't even know if Xie Licheng was good or bad, and Xie Licheng had kicked him square in the chest the moment they met—yet here he was, blushing at the man's face.

Xie Licheng kicked him away again before he could grab his leg. This time, the young man didn't foolishly lunge at him again.

He was hurt—kicked twice, it would be strange if he weren't injured.

He clutched his chest and took a long while to catch his breath.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng sat down on a nearby chair, watching the little boy pack up the things he wanted to take.

The boy was young and eager to leave with Xie Licheng, so he was running around in a fluster.

He wanted to take this, and he wanted to take that.

He found his father's portrait and pulled out a bunch of his father's clothes as well.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng said to him, "Why are you taking so many of your father's clothes? Better to bring more things you can use yourself."

Like his own clothes, pots and pans, food, money...