ATDIWR Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Do you know me from before? You are very kind

While the children were frightened and helpless, the old beggar suddenly seemed to be struck by something invisible. A red and swollen mark suddenly appeared on his dirty skin. The pain caused the old beggar to let out a cry, and he involuntarily released the hand that was grasping Little Rose.

Even though they were scared, the children bravely swarmed forward and hugged Little Rose. Little Stone protected Little Rose tightly behind him.

Two figures, one tall and one short, appeared at the door of the dilapidated house. They were well-dressed, starkly contrasting with the surrounding dirt and chaos.

But none of the beggars dared to approach them or beg from them. They knew they were Power Users, killing them was as simple as crushing an ant.

“Come with me,” Ji An squatted down and spoke softly, as if afraid that even a slightly louder sound would frighten these children.

But despite this, the little beggars still huddled together, trembling, not daring to move, not daring to speak, not even daring to look at what the person who saved their companion looked like.

After the Apocalypse, they had witnessed too many ugly sides of human nature and no longer dared to hope that there were good people left in the world, or people willing to help them unconditionally.

Finally, Little Stone moved first. He said to the children around him, “Let’s go with him, he’s a good person, he’s the kind big brother who gave me food and water.”

The little beggars did not believe in human nature, but they trusted their leader – Little Stone – unconditionally. Or rather, they were at their wits’ end.

“Then can we bring Little Rose?” Several children looked at Little Stone.

The little beggars didn’t know what this Power User wanted to do with them, but they could still run and jump. Little Rose looked like she was about to die, and they didn’t know if this person would dislike Little Rose and not let them bring her.

But if they left Little Rose behind, she would die. Her body after death might be divided and eaten by these beggars whose eyes were green with hunger.

Little Rose’s hand clutched the hem of Little Stone’s ragged clothes tightly, so hard that even though she was Dying, she tore another hole in Little Stone’s already broken clothes.

Little Rose seemed afraid that Little Stone would really leave her behind and follow this Power User. She whispered softly in Little Stone’s ear, “Little Stone brother, don’t leave me behind, take me with you. I promised to be your wife.”

Before, when they were wandering together, Little Stone had asked Little Rose if she was willing to be his wife. At that time, Little Stone saw that other children had homes and was very envious, so he said he was the father, Little Rose was the mother, and the other little beggars were their children. This way, they wouldn’t be wild children without parents; they would have a home too.

Little Stone looked at Ji An, “Let us bring Little Rose, no matter what you want us to do, we will do it well, as long as you are willing to give us a sip of water, a bite of food. Please, please, don’t leave Little Rose behind, if you leave her, she will die.”

Little Rose also looked at Ji An with her large, pleading eyes that were about to extinguish.

“Okay.” Ji An agreed without any hesitation.

He walked over and picked up Little Rose, who was lying on the ground unable to move, not minding that she was filthy.

The children followed Ji An and walked out smoothly. Not a single beggar dared to make things difficult for them.

After leaving the dilapidated house, Little Stone seemed relieved. He tilted his head and asked, “Brother, can I go back and get that half-drunk bottle of water?”

Ji An looked back at the emaciated beggars and said, “Forget it, I have more there.”

When they reached an open area, Gu Jinsheng released the car, and the children exclaimed in surprise, “A Space-type Power User?”

Ji An said, “No, just a Space Storage Item.”

These little beggars didn’t know what the outside world had become. They just used all their strength to survive each day, so they didn’t know how rare Space Storage Items were, only thinking it was something common outside.

Many of these children had never seen a car since birth, and those who had seen one had never touched it. Looking at the clean and tidy car, and then looking at themselves, who were dirty, they hesitated to get in.

“Get in,” Ji An said softly.

The little beggars looked at each other, then looked at Gu Jinsheng, who seemed very difficult to mess with. They didn’t see any expressions of dislike, annoyance, or impatience on Gu Jinsheng’s face or in his eyes. Only then did Little Stone dare to climb into the car first, followed by the other little beggars.

“Find a hospital.” Ji An held the little girl in his arms and could feel her life draining away in his hands.

Ji An used his mental power to get out about half a bottle of Spirit Spring Water from his space. He fed some to the little girl and let the remaining little beggars share the rest, one sip each.

It wasn’t that Ji An was stingy and reluctant to give more water to these little beggars. It was because Spirit Spring Water had miraculous healing effects, even capable of healing Power Users. For ordinary people, it was a sacred medicine.

Giving such a good curative effect to several children to drink too much and healing them excessively at once, causing Little Rose to jump up from his arms on the spot, even an idiot would realize something was wrong.

So Ji An gave these little beggars just the right amount, enough to cure all their old chronic illnesses, but without attracting the attention of others.

To save Little Rose’s life, Ji An gave her a few extra sips. These sips were enough to save Little Rose’s life. When she was examined at the hospital, they could only find that Little Rose was like this from starvation.

This was very normal; starvation could kill people.

About an hour later, Gu Jinsheng drove the car into the nearest hospital. To help Little Rose get checked quickly, he stated his identity.

When the medical staff examined Little Rose, the children gathered around her nervously, afraid that she would be found to have some bad disease and be declared a death sentence by those doctors in cold white coats.

Ji An and Gu Jinsheng stood far away. Gu Jinsheng asked, “Are you planning to take in these children?”

“Yes, I’ll find a place for them to live first, and we’ll talk about the future later,” Ji An replied.

Gu Jinsheng didn’t persuade him, nor did he say anything else, only saying, “You are too busy. Should I find someone to help you, or will you find someone yourself?”

“Do you have a reliable person?” Ji An asked, as he had too many things to do daily and no one to help him.

These children would all be supported by him in the future, with all expenses paid by him. He had to find someone with reliable character to take care of them. That person could be an unawakened Power User, but they had to be patient with these children, have empathy, and not be greedy for small gains.

“Yes,” Gu Jinsheng said.

Gu Jinsheng’s dark eyes were as deep and mysterious as a dangerous galaxy. “Ji An, after experiencing that kind of betrayal, you are still you.”

Ji An was stunned for a moment. What did he mean “you are still you”? Did Gu Jinsheng know what he was like before?

Ji An thought this and asked it.

Gu Jinsheng’s eyes, as deep as a cold pool, seemed to have myriad emotions surging within them. Ji An thought he was about to say a lot, but Gu Jinsheng only said, “You are still so kind.”

This made it sound like he knew him from before, but seeing that Gu Jinsheng didn’t plan to explain, Ji An didn’t want to pry and just smiled, “You are also very kind.”

Kind?

Gu Jinsheng had been described with many adjectives: cold and heartless, cruel and vicious, cold and resolute. This was the first time someone had used the word “kind” to describe him. He had never thought that one day these two words would be placed upon him.

Ji An explained, “You could have easily injured that old beggar, but you didn’t. You were afraid he might have open wounds, and if he accidentally came into contact with something, he could be infected with the zombie virus and then bite others.

You also didn’t kill him, not for any other reason, but out of respect for every life that is still struggling to survive in the Apocalypse.”

Gu Jinsheng didn’t speak, but his deep eyes were surprisingly bright, brighter than the moon last night.

Not long after, a Water-type Power User appeared in the hospital.

Gu Jinsheng said, “She is Yuan Ming’an, a Water-type Power User. This is Ji An.”

After a simple introduction, the two met. Ji An briefly explained the situation, “I need a place to live. It doesn’t need to be too good, but it must be safe.”

Yuan Ming’an’s hair was completely white, not a single strand of black could be seen. Her eyes were cloudy, with some of the slowness unique to the elderly. Her appearance made others think she was already sixty or seventy years old this year, but in reality, her true age was only forty.

At this moment, Yuan Ming’an stared directly at Ji An with her cloudy eyes, “You plan to raise them? There are countless poor people in this world, you can’t pity them all.”

Ji An said calmly, “Let’s talk later.”

Yuan Ming’an added, “What about other children? What if you meet them again? This is a bottomless pit? How long can you support them?”

“I have money.”

The Space Storage Item was a sure profit and enough for him to support these children.

“If one day I go bankrupt and can’t support them, then I won’t. What does it matter? At least these children will have lived a few more days, months, or years. At least they will have grown a few more days, months, or years, and will have gained a little more ability to protect themselves.”

Ji An said, “I will open an orphanage. I will raise these children from now on. As long as there are children, I will raise them, however many days I can.”

Yuan Ming’an’s gaze was no longer so sharp and gradually relaxed. She said, “You can’t afford it.”

Gu Jinsheng suddenly said, “The Base will support them.”

Both Ji An and Yuan Ming’an were stunned.

Gu Jinsheng said, “I am the Base Commander, this is my responsibility. The birth rate at the Base is less than ten per thousand now. Without these children, the Base will eventually perish.”

In the Apocalypse, many people were unwilling to have children anymore. Especially Power Users, they risked their lives and dared not have children. They were afraid that if they died one day, their children would not have grown up yet, and how would they survive in such a terrifying world without them?

Ordinary people dared even less to have children. They themselves struggled to survive, how could they raise children?

The only ones still willing to give birth were those women who used their bodies for business. In fact, they also didn’t want to give birth, but they had no choice. They had no money to buy contraceptives, no money for abortions if they got pregnant, so they could only give birth.

Born and unable to be raised, they became these beggars.

If this continued, the Base’s birth rate would be low, and perhaps in the future, there would be no people left, not destroyed by zombies, but because there were no newborns.

Gu Jinsheng had seen these problems long ago, but there was nothing he could do. In such a harsh living environment, he could barely protect himself, how could he have the right to ask others to have children?

He wanted to use policies and preferential treatment to promote the birth rate, but the Base was not economically prosperous enough to support that.

Ji An said, “Okay then. You go back and discuss it in a meeting. If it doesn’t pass, then I will personally fund an orphanage.”

It wasn’t that Ji An’s saintly heart was overflowing. As the ancient saying goes, “When poor, perfect oneself; when prominent, benefit the world.” He was now considered prominent and had the ability.

To put it another way, Ji An himself came from an orphanage. If everyone only perfected themselves and swept the snow from their own doorsteps, then he wouldn’t be in this world long ago.

‘Taken from the people, used for the people’ applies to him here as well. Countless kind people funded the orphanage, so he survived. Now that he had grown up and had the ability, it was his turn to help others.

Rather than saying he was helping Little Rose and the others, it was more like Ji An was helping his past, young self.

Gu Jinsheng said, “Okay, I am willing to contribute all the profits from our cooperation.”

Ji An smiled, “Seventy percent is enough, you also need to live well.”

This incident showed that Gu Jinsheng was a very, very good Base Commander. Ji An hoped he could eat well, drink well, take care of his health, and live well. As long as he was there, the Base would be stable.

After the medical examination, the children were all healthy, including Little Rose. They were just underfed and hungry. They would be fine after eating a few good meals.

This was something Ji An had expected, but Little Stone and the others were unsure in their hearts. Knowing the result, they all jumped up with joy.

“Little Rose, did you hear? You’re perfectly fine, just hungry. You’ll get better as long as you eat a few good meals,” Little Stone said, pulling Little Rose, smiling widely.

Little Rose’s eyes sparkled, “I won’t die, that’s great. I must live well from now on.”

“Yeah,” Little Stone nodded vigorously.

After getting the results, Ji An handed the children over to Yuan Ming’an, briefly explained some things, and then left with Gu Jinsheng.

By this time, it was already bright outside, and people were rushing on the streets.

Gu Jinsheng opened the car door for Ji An, placing his right arm on the door specifically, as if afraid Ji An would hit his head, acting very gentleman.

Honestly, when someone treats you so attentively, even if they are just an ordinary person, you can’t help but be touched.

Moreover, this attentive person was the distinguished Base Commander. Usually, others would proactively flatter him. Now that he was willing to lower himself and do these things for him, Ji An’s heart couldn’t help but flutter.

After Ji An got in, Gu Jinsheng closed the car door for him and then walked around to the driver’s seat.

“I’ll take you home.”

“Okay.” Ji An was not tired after staying up all night.

Gu Jinsheng drove fast and steadily, and soon arrived downstairs. Ji An got out of the car and realized Gu Jinsheng had no intention of getting out. He paused, “Aren’t you going home?”

Gu Jinsheng said, “I still have work.”

Ji An felt guilty, “I’m very sorry, I didn’t know. I kept you busy all night yesterday, I…”

“My pleasure.” Gu Jinsheng’s four words blocked all the words Ji An was about to say.

Ji An was stunned, and it took him a long time to recover. “Be careful driving on the road, and be cautious with your work. If you can, find a chance to get some sleep.”

“Okay,” Gu Jinsheng responded softly.

Ji An stood there quietly, watching Gu Jinsheng leave, before turning around and going upstairs.

After a quick shower, Ji An lay in bed. He thought after staying up all night, he would sleep well on the comfortable soft bed, but as soon as he closed his eyes, old memories pierced through the fog, dark recollections, a scrawny little boy, and Little Stone’s face intertwined.

Ji An couldn’t sleep at all. He turned over, sat up, got dressed, and went to the laboratory.

Having come on impulse, Ji An thought there would be no one in the lab, but unexpectedly, everyone was there.

These people were doing experiments while discussing Space Storage Items.

One student said, “I heard that Researcher Han contributed his Space Storage Item for research. I wonder if they’ve figured anything out? Back then, they said they wouldn’t need as much time as Boss Ji, just half a month or a few days to figure it out.”

Another student said, “I don’t know, haven’t heard anything.”

“Then they definitely haven’t figured it out. Otherwise, they would have been celebrating long ago, they wouldn’t be so low-key.”

“We’ve defected to Boss Ji’s side now, I wonder if we’ll have the honor of touching space technology.”

“You really dare to think! That’s core technology! We are just a bunch of students.”

“Of course I don’t dare to covet core technology, I’d be satisfied just touching the edge.”

Similarly, in Han Yaokun’s laboratory opposite, Han Yaokun, who had just finished a set of experiments and was taking a break, asked Zhao Zhen, “How are they doing? Have they gotten any results?”

Zhao Zhen’s face flushed red, and he said stiffly, “Yes, there’s a little progress.”

“It’s been a month already, and only a little progress?” Han Yaokun frowned, looked up at Zhao Zhen’s incorrect expression, and said sternly, “What is the actual progress?”

Zhao Zhen tried to argue again, but a researcher below blurted out regardless, “Professor Han, we have no clue.”

Han Yaokun’s face immediately darkened.

That Bo Yu came out at this time to smooth things over, “This is a completely new field for us. Slow progress in the initial stage is very normal. If Researcher Han is not busy, you can come and give us some guidance, and I believe we will have a breakthrough soon.”

Han Yaokun’s face softened a bit, “Alright, I’ll go into the lab to take a look later.”

Zhou Fanxiu and Bai Na felt that their identities were awkward at this time and it was inappropriate to say anything, so they simply shut up and said nothing, only communicating silently with their eyes.

After truly getting in touch with space technology, they realized that this technology was not as simple as they thought, and might even be very difficult, so difficult that without guidance, they could spend their entire lives without ever entering that door.

The students who didn’t leave with Wu Youyang due to various concerns were still very optimistic at this time. They didn’t have access to the core technology and only assisted the professors, so they didn’t know that the professors were currently trapped in numerous puzzles.

One student named Meng Chang’an said optimistically, “The professors have been experimenting for a month, and I believe there will be experimental results in a few days.”

“Definitely. The leaders on our side are top researchers like Professor Han and Professor Na. On the other side, there’s just a student who just started out and has no scientific research achievements like you and me. How profound can the technology they’ve come up with be!”

“I don’t know what Professor Wu was thinking, going so far as to offend Professor Han and being completely infatuated with following a student!”

“I don’t know, maybe he wanted to prove himself too much, so much so that he was blinded by the immediate small gains.”

“It’s just a pity for those classmates who left with Professor Wu. Their lives were ruined just because of Professor Wu’s personal selfish desires.”

“On the contrary, it was a good deal for us. We changed professors and instead followed a better professor than before.”

“Actually, I originally wanted to follow Professor Shi Jun, but his student quota was full, so I followed Professor Wu Youyang.”

“Professor Shi Jun is similar to Professor Wu Youyang. He has been suppressing Professor Wu Youyang for these years, almost making Professor Wu Youyang bald. Now that we are following him to study, we will definitely learn much more than we would have with Wu Youyang.”

“By the time we all graduate and can participate in experiments, they will probably still be students and learn nothing.”

“They’ll regret it then. I wonder if Professor Han will still accept them when they want to come back?”

“Probably not, this counts as betrayal.”

“What a pity for Rong Fan. He was the most talented and diligent student in our batch. He should have had a great future, but it was just ruined like this.”

“Sigh…”

Several students sighed softly, as if lamenting the life of the student named Rong Fan.

Wu Youyang was in the laboratory leading students to do previous experiments and answering their questions. He looked up and saw Ji An, and quickly came forward to explain, “Boss, you’re here. We’re doing previous experiments here, we haven’t touched your research results.”

Unauthorized use of someone else’s experimental data without their consent is a serious crime in the field of research. Taking something without asking is considered theft, and stealing someone else’s scientific research results can be sentenced.

Important experimental data had all been stored in Ji An’s space. He waved his hand and said, “It’s okay, I asked you to come here precisely to help me with the Space Storage Item. I definitely can’t manage it by myself.”

Wu Youyang immediately became excited, his face flushed red, and his eyes were as bright as the light bulbs in the lab.

From the moment Ji An took these people in, he never thought of hiding anything. He couldn’t fight alone forever. He wanted to go very far in the field of scientific research and needed a team of confidantes who were absolutely loyal to him.

It just so happened that Wu Youyang was the first to proactively surrender, so Ji An planned to entrust him with important tasks, also as a test. As long as Wu Youyang quietly and steadily followed his pace without causing trouble, he would cultivate him well.

“Boss, don’t worry, I will study hard, follow your pace closely, and absolutely not hold you back,” Wu Youyang patted his chest and promised.

Wu Youyang’s students also looked excited. This was simply an unexpected joy for them.

Whether they could participate or not, as long as their teacher could participate, that was enough.

They were all students studying under Wu Youyang. Only if Wu Youyang knew more would he teach them more.

Several students who had followed due to trust in their teacher now felt that their decision back then was absolutely right. Otherwise, they might never have had the chance to understand space technology in this lifetime.

Thinking of the few students who were unwilling to come, disliking Boss Ji’s shallow qualifications and lack of experimental results, several people felt a secret sense of superiority.

“Meng Chang’an always liked to compete with Rong Fan before. This time he stayed there, and Rong Fan came here with Professor Wu. Meng Chang’an will definitely compete even more, and I don’t know how he’ll badmouth Rong Fan.”