Chapter 24: You two squeeze in and sleep together.
An Wujiu regained his composure, shaking his head. “I must have zoned out.”
After saying this, he glanced at Shen Ti.
“If something like this scares you, then the patterns on my body must be even scarier, right?”
Shen Ti was slightly taken aback but quickly curled his lips.
They were not even close to being comparable.
The patterns on his body, rather than being scary, could be described as dangerous.
An Wujiu turned around, suppressing the fluctuations in his chest as he clicked on the query button with gloved hands and wrote his mother’s name.
[An Congnan]
Shen Ti stood beside him and asked in a low voice, “Who is this…?”
“My mother,” An Wujiu replied, then looked up at the results on the consultation screen.
[There is no patient with this name in this hospital.]
He furrowed his brow.
He thought it might have been too sloppy, so he tried writing it again, this time with great care.
[There is no patient with this name in this hospital.]
This result left An Wujiu puzzled, and he stood there contemplating.
As a nurse passed by, An Wujiu immediately stopped her and asked, “Excuse me, can this consultation screen query all the patients in the hospital?”
The nurse had initially intended to walk away, but upon seeing An Wujiu’s face, she couldn’t help but stop and reply in a friendly tone, “Yes, it can query all of them, but due to privacy considerations, we won’t disclose any information other than the name. And not just anyone can come in and make inquiries.”
“You can’t check?” Shen Ti asked, “There must be someone here who manages the hospital’s data, right?”
The nurse’s face carried a hint of pride. “Our database is completely autonomous. I’m sorry, but there are thousands of patients here, and I can’t help you verify them all unless you can provide a specific ward number.”
An Wujiu fell silent; he couldn’t remember the specific floor and ward number.
So he had no choice but to nod, thank her, and then turn to leave.
“You don’t know which ward it is?” Shen Ti followed.
“My memory is a bit fuzzy.” An Wujiu walked out of the main entrance, and the wind blew a nearby trash bag to his feet. “But I remember this hospital very clearly.”
He stood still and subconsciously looked to the left side of the street.
“Exactly.” An Wujiu pointed in the direction he was looking. “And that red mailbox over there, I remember it too. There’s a little black figure engraved on the other side of the mailbox.”
As they approached, sure enough, this end that had been hidden from view had a small iron figure engraved on it.
“That’s strange,” Shen Ti whispered.
While the two of them were standing on the side of the street, a whistle sounded. An Wujiu turned his head towards the opposite side of the road, where Wu You was leaning against the wall, holding a Rubik’s cube in his hand.
After they joined up, it took three more streets before they boarded Wu You’s flying vehicle. Along the way, Shen Ti even spent a dollar to buy five lollipops, all filled with artificial sweeteners and thickeners.
Following An Wujiu’s request, Wu You set the destination as the home of Zhong Yirou. This location was a bit far from Philadelphia, and the estimated flight time exceeded half an hour.
An Wujiu was worried about his mother and couldn’t find peace. But as soon as Shen Ti got on the flying vehicle, he fell asleep. His long legs were folded up, and he looked like a cat curled up.
He slept with his head tilted and mouth still holding a lollipop, and his fluffy hair swayed with the aircraft’s movements. In the end, he couldn’t help swaying and leaned on An Wujiu’s shoulder.
An Wujiu, who had been looking out the window all along, suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder and glanced sideways, only to find that it was Shen Ti.
His eyelashes were excessively long and light brown, and they trembled slightly. When he was asleep, he was very quiet, giving the illusion of being very approachable.
An Wujiu immediately cautioned himself, telling himself that the other party was just a peculiar fraud.
When they arrived, Wu You even thought he had made a mistake.
The place was clearly an abandoned chemical factory, not at all like a place where people could live.
[Destination reached.]
The flying vehicle landed steadily on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. An Wujiu looked down, and Shen Ti was stuck to his shoulder, sleeping soundly without any movement.
“Wake up,” An Wujiu’s voice was always soft, so it didn’t carry much authority. Whatever he said sounded like a suggestion.
Shen Ti remained motionless.
An Wujiu had to nudge his own arm and push Shen Ti again. Finally, the old rascal stirred, like a snake coming out of hibernation, stretching his body.
“…So soon?” He scrunched up his face vigorously, then relaxed, like a child, and lightly patted An Wujiu’s shoulder, saying “Thanks” cheerfully.
This abandoned factory didn’t seem very large, more like a small chemical manufacturing plant with its steel gate now tightly closed. An Wujiu got off the flying vehicle and immediately noticed the cameras on the upper edge and corners of the gate.
He walked over and waved at the cameras.
It looked a bit funny, and it made Shen Ti laugh, but An Wujiu couldn’t see it himself.
Soon, the heavy gate was pushed open. Zhong Yirou had changed into a baggy T-shirt and shorts, her long hair pulled up, and a facial scraping device fastened to her head, with two small scraping boards moving steadily on her cheekbones.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Zhong Yirou tilted her head back to maintain the stability of the scraping device. “I haven’t even put on makeup!”
Shen Ti, with a lollipop in his mouth, said casually, “It’s okay.”
He didn’t say anything like, “You’re naturally beautiful.”
Instead, he said, “Anyway, I don’t like girls.”
Zhong Yirou rolled her eyes and stepped aside to make way for them to enter.
“Yes, how could I not know that?”
An Wujiu entered the gate, not expecting that inside this abandoned chemical factory there would be something different. On the ground floor, several containers had been placed as separate rooms, and the assembly line operation tables on the outside were stationary, with a large pile of prosthetics placed on top. There were separate arms, various artificial eyes placed in transparent containers, and mechanical leg bones waiting to be filled with artificial muscles and skin.
On the second floor, a half-drawn curtain revealed Zhong Yirou’s row of clothes, probably her living area.
“Did you modify all of this yourself?” Wu You looked around. “That’s awesome.”
“Of course,” Zhong Yirou removed her scraping device, and her fair cheeks were marked with red imprints. She patted her face. “After all these years, I couldn’t have been doing nothing.”
In the Holy Altar, she portrayed herself as a charming and mischievous woman, but in real life, Zhong Yirou was just like an ordinary girl.
Well, not entirely ordinary; she could ride a motorcycle and make prosthetics.
“Let me take a look at you.” Zhong Yirou didn’t bother with small talk and grabbed An Wujiu’s arm, leading him to the worktable. “You’re infected all over; I’ll clean the wounds first and then suture them. As for the mechanical bones, I’ll have to scan them.”
She looked up at An Wujiu. “I need to scan the issues with the mechanical skeleton.”
“Hmm,” An Wujiu nodded.
Zhong Yirou immediately put on a pair of glasses and, leading An Wujiu, entered a container that had been converted into an operating room. Before entering, she shouted to the two guys who were wandering around, “Find a place to sit yourselves. There are beds in the containers if you want to rest, but don’t go to the second floor; my undergarments are there.”
“Got it,” Wu You responded and walked towards one of the assembly line operation tables, his curiosity piqued as he observed an unfinished mechanical leg bone.
Shen Ti finished one lollipop and opened the wrapper of another, stuffing it into his mouth. Then he walked over to An Wujiu and Zhong Yirou.
“Aren’t you tired at all?” Zhong Yirou, with a needle in her hand, pushed it into An Wujiu’s wrist, then glanced at Shen Ti. “Usually, people who come out of the Holy Altar can sleep for over ten hours straight.”
Shen Ti pulled up a chair, turned it around, and sat down with his arms folded on the chair’s back. He rested his chin on his arms and observed intently while holding his lollipop.
He was quite contradictory. He looked apathetic, but at times he was overly energetic. Like right now, he insisted on watching the suturing.
Zhong Yirou had become independent at the age of sixteen, falsified her age, and opened a small clinic in the slums. Later, she was driven away and had to move to different places, operating like a guerrilla. In this line of work, she had honed her medical skills for about ten years. Setting aside everything else, her medical skills were top-notch. She quickly sewed up An Wujiu’s hand with precision.
“Look at these sutures, so elegant,” she praised herself.
Shen Ti clapped his hands in agreement. Watching An Wujiu being led into another sealed white container by Zhong Yirou.
With a single step, he was ready to follow them inside, but Zhong Yirou blocked him.
“I need to perform a full-body CT scan on him; don’t get in the way.”
The door was suddenly closed, and after some thought, Shen Ti had no choice but to turn his back and squat down. He saw an ant passing by in front of him, so he extended his index finger to block its path.
The little ant was blocked and decided to crawl onto Shen Ti’s finger instead. This startled Shen Ti, who almost jumped and frantically shook his hand.
When he finally wasn’t scared by the rule-breaking ant, the door suddenly opened from the inside and slammed heavily onto Shen Ti’s back.
“Ah, it hurts…” Shen Ti stood up, touching his back. He saw An Wujiu coming out, his expression as calm as ever.
“How did it go?” Shen Ti asked, holding his waist.
“The results will be out tonight.” Zhong Yirou clapped her hands and, while locking the scanning room, placed her hands on her waist. “It’s almost noon; do you guys want something to eat?”
Shen Ti was the first to raise his hand high. “Yes!”
Zhong Yirou immediately put on a smile. “Then I’ll cook for everyone!”
An Wujiu looked at her and felt that things weren’t so simple.
“As for lunch, just give me $200 each, okay? If you want to have dinner too, then add another $200. Oh, if you don’t have anywhere to go and want to stay here to sleep, I’ll give you a discount, $500!”
The way she spoke, An Wujiu felt like he could see the dollar signs in her eyes.
Wu You walked over from the assembly line area. “I agree. Eating out will only be more expensive. I don’t care what we eat; as long as it fills our stomachs.”
“It’s on me!” Zhong Yirou immediately extended her hand and collected $500 from each of them. Since An Wujiu didn’t have cash, he transferred 50 points to her.
When converted like this, it didn’t seem too expensive.
But when they sat down at the dining table and saw the dishes on it, they all fell silent at the same time.
“Eat up, eat up!” Zhong Yirou put down the enormous steel pot and took off her heat-resistant gloves. “Eat while it’s hot!”
Wu You let out a long sigh and poked the mush in front of him with his chopsticks. “Sis, are you from India?”
“How could that be! I’m a pure Chinese beauty!”
Shen Ti used a soup spoon to scoop some of the dark, floating, eye-like soup in the pot and cleared his throat. “You didn’t put artificial eyes in here, did you?”
“This is a limited-edition Halloween plant-based meatball that I bought! Very expensive!”
An unidentifiable charred object was placed in front of An Wujiu. He poked it with his chopsticks. “This should be charcoal-grilled steak.”
“Oh… that’s the fried egg I made.”
Before they even started eating, everyone’s expressions turned green. Zhong Yirou clapped her hands like a kindergarten teacher, giving them encouragement and clear instructions. “Eat up! Eat up! You need to eat well so you won’t go to bed hungry at night!”
“Wu You, you’re small in stature; sleep in the red container with the sickbed!”
Wu You took a bite of the bouncy meatball, missed his mark, and the meatball rolled around in his mouth.
“Shen Ti and Wujiu, you two…” Zhong Yirou pondered for a moment, as if there weren’t enough sickbeds, “I just sold one last time. How about you two squeeze together and share one?”
An Wujiu’s chopsticks slipped from his grip, dropping one on the table. It rolled and fell right to the edge, but Shen Ti caught it with his hand.
Zhong Yirou showed an expression of “I’m beautiful and kind, like the Virgin Mary,” placing her hands over her heart.
“Just consider it as me being generous and providing the space for you two.”
The next moment, she became serious, extending her index finger. “But you guys need to keep your voices down.”
“I have a nervous condition; I won’t be able to sleep.”
Chapter 24: You two squeeze in and sleep together.
An Wujiu regained his composure, shaking his head. “I must have zoned out.”
After saying this, he glanced at Shen Ti.
“If something like this scares you, then the patterns on my body must be even scarier, right?”
Shen Ti was slightly taken aback but quickly curled his lips.
They were not even close to being comparable.
The patterns on his body, rather than being scary, could be described as dangerous.
An Wujiu turned around, suppressing the fluctuations in his chest as he clicked on the query button with gloved hands and wrote his mother’s name.
[An Congnan]
Shen Ti stood beside him and asked in a low voice, “Who is this…?”
“My mother,” An Wujiu replied, then looked up at the results on the consultation screen.
[There is no patient with this name in this hospital.]
He furrowed his brow.
He thought it might have been too sloppy, so he tried writing it again, this time with great care.
[There is no patient with this name in this hospital.]
This result left An Wujiu puzzled, and he stood there contemplating.
As a nurse passed by, An Wujiu immediately stopped her and asked, “Excuse me, can this consultation screen query all the patients in the hospital?”
The nurse had initially intended to walk away, but upon seeing An Wujiu’s face, she couldn’t help but stop and reply in a friendly tone, “Yes, it can query all of them, but due to privacy considerations, we won’t disclose any information other than the name. And not just anyone can come in and make inquiries.”
“You can’t check?” Shen Ti asked, “There must be someone here who manages the hospital’s data, right?”
The nurse’s face carried a hint of pride. “Our database is completely autonomous. I’m sorry, but there are thousands of patients here, and I can’t help you verify them all unless you can provide a specific ward number.”
An Wujiu fell silent; he couldn’t remember the specific floor and ward number.
So he had no choice but to nod, thank her, and then turn to leave.
“You don’t know which ward it is?” Shen Ti followed.
“My memory is a bit fuzzy.” An Wujiu walked out of the main entrance, and the wind blew a nearby trash bag to his feet. “But I remember this hospital very clearly.”
He stood still and subconsciously looked to the left side of the street.
“Exactly.” An Wujiu pointed in the direction he was looking. “And that red mailbox over there, I remember it too. There’s a little black figure engraved on the other side of the mailbox.”
As they approached, sure enough, this end that had been hidden from view had a small iron figure engraved on it.
“That’s strange,” Shen Ti whispered.
While the two of them were standing on the side of the street, a whistle sounded. An Wujiu turned his head towards the opposite side of the road, where Wu You was leaning against the wall, holding a Rubik’s cube in his hand.
After they joined up, it took three more streets before they boarded Wu You’s flying vehicle. Along the way, Shen Ti even spent a dollar to buy five lollipops, all filled with artificial sweeteners and thickeners.
Following An Wujiu’s request, Wu You set the destination as the home of Zhong Yirou. This location was a bit far from Philadelphia, and the estimated flight time exceeded half an hour.
An Wujiu was worried about his mother and couldn’t find peace. But as soon as Shen Ti got on the flying vehicle, he fell asleep. His long legs were folded up, and he looked like a cat curled up.
He slept with his head tilted and mouth still holding a lollipop, and his fluffy hair swayed with the aircraft’s movements. In the end, he couldn’t help swaying and leaned on An Wujiu’s shoulder.
An Wujiu, who had been looking out the window all along, suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder and glanced sideways, only to find that it was Shen Ti.
His eyelashes were excessively long and light brown, and they trembled slightly. When he was asleep, he was very quiet, giving the illusion of being very approachable.
An Wujiu immediately cautioned himself, telling himself that the other party was just a peculiar fraud.
When they arrived, Wu You even thought he had made a mistake.
The place was clearly an abandoned chemical factory, not at all like a place where people could live.
[Destination reached.]
The flying vehicle landed steadily on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. An Wujiu looked down, and Shen Ti was stuck to his shoulder, sleeping soundly without any movement.
“Wake up,” An Wujiu’s voice was always soft, so it didn’t carry much authority. Whatever he said sounded like a suggestion.
Shen Ti remained motionless.
An Wujiu had to nudge his own arm and push Shen Ti again. Finally, the old rascal stirred, like a snake coming out of hibernation, stretching his body.
“…So soon?” He scrunched up his face vigorously, then relaxed, like a child, and lightly patted An Wujiu’s shoulder, saying “Thanks” cheerfully.
This abandoned factory didn’t seem very large, more like a small chemical manufacturing plant with its steel gate now tightly closed. An Wujiu got off the flying vehicle and immediately noticed the cameras on the upper edge and corners of the gate.
He walked over and waved at the cameras.
It looked a bit funny, and it made Shen Ti laugh, but An Wujiu couldn’t see it himself.
Soon, the heavy gate was pushed open. Zhong Yirou had changed into a baggy T-shirt and shorts, her long hair pulled up, and a facial scraping device fastened to her head, with two small scraping boards moving steadily on her cheekbones.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Zhong Yirou tilted her head back to maintain the stability of the scraping device. “I haven’t even put on makeup!”
Shen Ti, with a lollipop in his mouth, said casually, “It’s okay.”
He didn’t say anything like, “You’re naturally beautiful.”
Instead, he said, “Anyway, I don’t like girls.”
Zhong Yirou rolled her eyes and stepped aside to make way for them to enter.
“Yes, how could I not know that?”
An Wujiu entered the gate, not expecting that inside this abandoned chemical factory there would be something different. On the ground floor, several containers had been placed as separate rooms, and the assembly line operation tables on the outside were stationary, with a large pile of prosthetics placed on top. There were separate arms, various artificial eyes placed in transparent containers, and mechanical leg bones waiting to be filled with artificial muscles and skin.
On the second floor, a half-drawn curtain revealed Zhong Yirou’s row of clothes, probably her living area.
“Did you modify all of this yourself?” Wu You looked around. “That’s awesome.”
“Of course,” Zhong Yirou removed her scraping device, and her fair cheeks were marked with red imprints. She patted her face. “After all these years, I couldn’t have been doing nothing.”
In the Holy Altar, she portrayed herself as a charming and mischievous woman, but in real life, Zhong Yirou was just like an ordinary girl.
Well, not entirely ordinary; she could ride a motorcycle and make prosthetics.
“Let me take a look at you.” Zhong Yirou didn’t bother with small talk and grabbed An Wujiu’s arm, leading him to the worktable. “You’re infected all over; I’ll clean the wounds first and then suture them. As for the mechanical bones, I’ll have to scan them.”
She looked up at An Wujiu. “I need to scan the issues with the mechanical skeleton.”
“Hmm,” An Wujiu nodded.
Zhong Yirou immediately put on a pair of glasses and, leading An Wujiu, entered a container that had been converted into an operating room. Before entering, she shouted to the two guys who were wandering around, “Find a place to sit yourselves. There are beds in the containers if you want to rest, but don’t go to the second floor; my undergarments are there.”
“Got it,” Wu You responded and walked towards one of the assembly line operation tables, his curiosity piqued as he observed an unfinished mechanical leg bone.
Shen Ti finished one lollipop and opened the wrapper of another, stuffing it into his mouth. Then he walked over to An Wujiu and Zhong Yirou.
“Aren’t you tired at all?” Zhong Yirou, with a needle in her hand, pushed it into An Wujiu’s wrist, then glanced at Shen Ti. “Usually, people who come out of the Holy Altar can sleep for over ten hours straight.”
Shen Ti pulled up a chair, turned it around, and sat down with his arms folded on the chair’s back. He rested his chin on his arms and observed intently while holding his lollipop.
He was quite contradictory. He looked apathetic, but at times he was overly energetic. Like right now, he insisted on watching the suturing.
Zhong Yirou had become independent at the age of sixteen, falsified her age, and opened a small clinic in the slums. Later, she was driven away and had to move to different places, operating like a guerrilla. In this line of work, she had honed her medical skills for about ten years. Setting aside everything else, her medical skills were top-notch. She quickly sewed up An Wujiu’s hand with precision.
“Look at these sutures, so elegant,” she praised herself.
Shen Ti clapped his hands in agreement. Watching An Wujiu being led into another sealed white container by Zhong Yirou.
With a single step, he was ready to follow them inside, but Zhong Yirou blocked him.
“I need to perform a full-body CT scan on him; don’t get in the way.”
The door was suddenly closed, and after some thought, Shen Ti had no choice but to turn his back and squat down. He saw an ant passing by in front of him, so he extended his index finger to block its path.
The little ant was blocked and decided to crawl onto Shen Ti’s finger instead. This startled Shen Ti, who almost jumped and frantically shook his hand.
When he finally wasn’t scared by the rule-breaking ant, the door suddenly opened from the inside and slammed heavily onto Shen Ti’s back.
“Ah, it hurts…” Shen Ti stood up, touching his back. He saw An Wujiu coming out, his expression as calm as ever.
“How did it go?” Shen Ti asked, holding his waist.
“The results will be out tonight.” Zhong Yirou clapped her hands and, while locking the scanning room, placed her hands on her waist. “It’s almost noon; do you guys want something to eat?”
Shen Ti was the first to raise his hand high. “Yes!”
Zhong Yirou immediately put on a smile. “Then I’ll cook for everyone!”
An Wujiu looked at her and felt that things weren’t so simple.
“As for lunch, just give me $200 each, okay? If you want to have dinner too, then add another $200. Oh, if you don’t have anywhere to go and want to stay here to sleep, I’ll give you a discount, $500!”
The way she spoke, An Wujiu felt like he could see the dollar signs in her eyes.
Wu You walked over from the assembly line area. “I agree. Eating out will only be more expensive. I don’t care what we eat; as long as it fills our stomachs.”
“It’s on me!” Zhong Yirou immediately extended her hand and collected $500 from each of them. Since An Wujiu didn’t have cash, he transferred 50 points to her.
When converted like this, it didn’t seem too expensive.
But when they sat down at the dining table and saw the dishes on it, they all fell silent at the same time.
“Eat up, eat up!” Zhong Yirou put down the enormous steel pot and took off her heat-resistant gloves. “Eat while it’s hot!”
Wu You let out a long sigh and poked the mush in front of him with his chopsticks. “Sis, are you from India?”
“How could that be! I’m a pure Chinese beauty!”
Shen Ti used a soup spoon to scoop some of the dark, floating, eye-like soup in the pot and cleared his throat. “You didn’t put artificial eyes in here, did you?”
“This is a limited-edition Halloween plant-based meatball that I bought! Very expensive!”
An unidentifiable charred object was placed in front of An Wujiu. He poked it with his chopsticks. “This should be charcoal-grilled steak.”
“Oh… that’s the fried egg I made.”
Before they even started eating, everyone’s expressions turned green. Zhong Yirou clapped her hands like a kindergarten teacher, giving them encouragement and clear instructions. “Eat up! Eat up! You need to eat well so you won’t go to bed hungry at night!”
“Wu You, you’re small in stature; sleep in the red container with the sickbed!”
Wu You took a bite of the bouncy meatball, missed his mark, and the meatball rolled around in his mouth.
“Shen Ti and Wujiu, you two…” Zhong Yirou pondered for a moment, as if there weren’t enough sickbeds, “I just sold one last time. How about you two squeeze together and share one?”
An Wujiu’s chopsticks slipped from his grip, dropping one on the table. It rolled and fell right to the edge, but Shen Ti caught it with his hand.
Zhong Yirou showed an expression of “I’m beautiful and kind, like the Virgin Mary,” placing her hands over her heart.
“Just consider it as me being generous and providing the space for you two.”
The next moment, she became serious, extending her index finger. “But you guys need to keep your voices down.”
“I have a nervous condition; I won’t be able to sleep.”
