Chapter 69 Beijing Ruins - 5 Surprisingly, it's in the lottery...

"It's actually downstairs from the lottery shop?" Tang Bufan was somewhat surprised. Wrapped in a wolf skin, he hunched his neck and looked up at the sign in the heavy snow.

"What are you doing following me down here?" Anderson said with some disdain. "Go back to the car."

The old streets are lined with low-rise buildings, and many dark spaces are hidden in the small, dilapidated shops. There are also many basements, which are places where drug addicts like to hide out to escape the winter, making them quite dangerous.

Lu Yi had also considered this, so he turned to the two people by the car door and said, "I can go in by myself. Anderson, you stay and take care of the teacher."

Tang Bufan hesitated for a moment, thinking about his terrible physical condition, and then decided to obediently go back to the RV, but Anderson was unwilling.

"I'll go in, you stay and take care of him."

Lu Yi looked at Anderson's neck, where the red marks hadn't completely faded, and insisted with a slight frown: "Your injury isn't healed yet, is it? I'll go."

Anderson casually raised his hand and touched his neck: "What kind of injury is this? My allergy symptoms have long since subsided."

As he spoke, he lifted his foot to walk towards Lu Yi, but was suddenly grabbed by Tang Bufan behind him.

Anderson was surprised and turned to look at Tang Bufan. He saw that the man's head was covered with a thin layer of snow, his nose was red from the cold, and he was looking at him with dark eyes.

"You can stay and take care of me," Tang Bufan said seriously, hinting with his eyes, "I haven't measured your shoulder width and sleeve length yet."

He needed to discuss with Anderson how to get rid of Lu Yi, and now was a good opportunity to talk.

"..." Anderson saw through his intention, clicked his tongue in annoyance, and helplessly turned around to go back to the RV with him.

Tang Bufan felt relieved and released his grip on Anderson's clothes, then turned around and laboriously stepped into the RV.

"..." Lu Yi watched the car door slowly close. Standing on the dilapidated street, a strange emotion slowly arose in his heart.

He was thinking about how Tang Bufan had grabbed Anderson's shirt hem earlier, and how he had said he wanted to measure Anderson's shoulder width and sleeve length... He had no idea that Tang Bufan was already so close to Anderson.

He had been measured by Tang Bufan. The short man stood in front of him, holding a measuring tape and wrapping it around his body. Their bodies were very close at the time, and his fragrance wafted over, like a flower...

Lu Yi suddenly wanted to hurry back to the car and tell Tang Bufan not to take any more measurements or knit a sweater for Anderson. The sweater was meant for him, and Anderson wouldn't want it anyway...

Lu Yi's mind suddenly turned to Anderson's attitude. Although the silver-haired, silver-eyed man looked impatient, he resigned himself to returning to the RV after meeting Tang Bufan's eyes... He didn't seem to be very resistant.

Lu Yi stood there, blinked, and unease suddenly sprouted in his heart, watered by jealousy, and spread everywhere in an instant.

"Lu Yi." Kai Ge's gentle electronic male voice suddenly came from the light-screen glasses in Lu Yi's hand, "Aren't you leaving?"

Lu Yi snapped out of his daze, glanced at the RV with its doors closed, and then put the light screen glasses on his face.

Don't overthink it, go find supplies for the teacher first. Lu Yi calmed himself down, turned around and quickly went into the lottery shop.

Inside the RV, Tang Bufan reached out and wiped the frosted glass. He looked carefully outside to make sure Lu Yi had disappeared before turning to Anderson, who was sitting on a camping chair.

"Now that we have gasoline, when would be a good time for me to leave?" Tang Bufan asked Anderson, feeling both melancholy and anxious.

Anderson casually crossed his long legs and said indifferently, "Now."

Tang Bufan was stunned: "Now?"

After saying this, he hesitated and stood up from the folding chair, feeling somewhat lost: "Then...then should I go to the driver's seat and drive away now?"

Anderson couldn't help but laugh, his gaze filled with mockery: "Are you stupid? This distance is too close; little Louis will definitely be able to hear it once the RV leaves."

Orcs have keen senses, and the RV is heavy, so it doesn't make a quiet noise when it starts.

Tang Bufan sat down, his face pale, realizing that he had been toying with him.

"Do you want me to leave or not?" Tang Bufan asked, somewhat annoyed. "Haven't you always complained that I'm useless?"

Anderson leaned back in his camping chair, looked up at the dilapidated roof of the car and thought for a moment before slowly saying, "Now we have gasoline and food. The only thing we can do to get rid of Louis is to find some clothes... Have Louis find you some down jackets tomorrow. Just say that the wolf skin is too heavy for you and you can't stand it. Louis will feel sorry for you and will definitely go to the mall to find you some down jackets."

Tang Bufan looked down at the heavy, rough wolf pelt on his body and thought Anderson's reason was good.

But I felt even more melancholy.

He forced himself to compose himself and said gratefully to Anderson, "Okay, then I'll trouble you to wake me up tomorrow at noon."

Tang Bufan wasn't sure if he would be able to wake up on time at noon tomorrow; he had been sleeping until the afternoon quite often lately.

Anderson turned his head, looked him up and down, and gave a slight smirk.

"Just don't fall asleep like a log." His tone was somewhat harsh.

"..." Although Tang Bufan had always known that Anderson had a bad personality, he still felt that Anderson's attitude towards him had become worse recently.

He frowned and thought for a moment, then calmed down and apologized to him in a gentle voice: "Anderson, I shot you before and kicked you in the face. I apologize to you, but I am really grateful to you now."

After he finished speaking, he walked to the corner of the carriage where the storage boxes were stacked and went to find a measuring tape: "I will still try my best to knit you a sweater. Let me measure your shoulder width and sleeve length..."

"No thanks." Anderson coldly refused, bringing up the floating screen.

Tang Bufan squatted there feeling a bit aggrieved, but since Anderson refused, he stopped trying to turn the measuring tape over.

Because he was in a bad mood, Tang Bufan got up and thought for a moment before deciding to go out and collect tree branches.

"Where are you going?" Anderson asked him, frowning.

"Gather firewood," Tang Bufan said to him, stepping out of the RV.

Anderson got up from the camping chair, opened the window and leaned out, looking impatiently at the man outside: "Don't cause me any trouble, what if we run into danger..."

"I'll have to live alone sooner or later." Tang Bufan turned around and shouted at him, his tone turning hostile: "I can live without you and Lu Yi!"

Anderson was annoyed by his shout and couldn't help but sneer: "You'd better be carried off by wolves right now! Bitten to death! You can save yourself the trouble of deceiving little Louis!"

Tang Bufan squatted down, grabbed a clump of snow from the roadside, and threw it forcefully at Anderson. Anderson didn't even dodge because Tang Bufan's force was too weak, and the snow shattered in the air.

Tang Bufan was furious. He turned around and continued walking towards a dead tree not far away. However, his legs gave way and he fell to the ground, landing on his hands. Anderson's heart tightened slightly, but then he saw Tang Bufan get up from the ground as if nothing had happened.

"Like an idiot," Anderson muttered under his breath. "He's hurting others and himself."

Lu Yi returned a dozen minutes later, carrying two boxes of nutritional powder and several other boxes of other items.

Lermontov concealed the cellar again, making it take Lu Yi some time to find the entrance, which was under a pile of garbage in the small courtyard behind the lottery shop, covered by a broken wooden plank.

But once the wooden planks were removed, all that remained was a dirty warehouse, with high-end storage cabinets on all four walls, filled with exquisite anime figurines.

Following the dust marks, Lu Yi walked to the corner and moved the high-end storage cabinet, revealing the true hidden door to the refuge room.

The cellar's owner was still lying on the wooden bed in the corner, his bones now gone. He was holding a life-sized body pillow with an anime girl printed on it that Lu Yi didn't recognize. There was a magic circle drawn on the floor next to the bed, with traces of dried blood on it. Lu Yi thought that this man must have chosen to end his life, leaving behind his longing for the otherworldly realm of anime.

Because it was a haven for otaku, the shelves were stocked with snacks like instant noodles, potato chips, and sunflower seeds. No wonder Lermontov looked down on these foods. Lu Yi glanced around and spotted two well-sealed cans of nutritional powder in a corner of a shelf. His eyes lit up; this was exactly the kind of food Tang Bufan needed.

Nutritional powder can replace three meals a day. It contains a very balanced amount of trace elements. You just pour water on it and stir it before eating. It started to become popular in the 21st century. Some people who find eating a meal troublesome rely on it to get by. It is also used in military rations and hospitals.

Lu Yi immediately carried the two boxes of nutritional powder and several other boxes upstairs, and then saw Tang Bufan picking up wood in the heavy snow.

Anderson sat by the window watching the floating screen.

Lu put the tall stack of boxes into the car, then frowned and questioned Anderson, "Didn't I tell you to look after the teacher?"

“He wanted to go out and pick it up himself.” Anderson didn’t even lift his eyelids.

Lu Yi was angry and turned around to walk quickly to Tang Bufan's side.

"Teacher, let's get back in the car, it's cold outside." Lu Yi took the firewood from his arms.

Tang Bufan refused his help, exhaling hot breath in the snow: "You carry yours, I'll pick up mine."

Tang Bufan thought to himself that he would be leaving at noon tomorrow, so he should take advantage of this time to gather some firewood for future use.

Seeing his insistence and knowing his stubborn nature, Lu had no choice but to let go. Thinking of the food still in the basement, he turned around and went back into the lottery shop, hoping to finish moving it as soon as possible.

So one of them carried food while the other gathered firewood. Tang Bufan was so tired after two trips that he could no longer walk and sat down at the door of the RV, panting. Lu Yi, on the other hand, was still carrying food. There was quite a lot of food in the basement, and he also discovered two new boxes of canned fruit.

After resting for a while, Tang Bufan built a stove and started a fire under a tree outside to brew his medicine, hoping to buy himself some time.

His plan was to leave tomorrow at noon, but if Lu Yi set off for Taicheng tonight, the plan would be difficult to carry out.

Or should I ask Lu Yi to find him a down jacket later? No, that's too rushed. It gets dark before 5 p.m., and Kai and Anthony can't drive at night without internet access.

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow." Tang Bufan thought anxiously, then lit the fire and went back to the car to find Anderson.

"Why don't you wake me up in the morning tomorrow?" Tang Bufan pleaded, suppressing his temper. "I've thought about it, and getting up at noon is still a bit late."

Anderson sneered, "You sleep like a dead pig, who can wake you up?"

"Then push me..." Tang Bufan suddenly saw Lu Yi carrying several boxes over out of the corner of his eye, so he quickly shut up and pretended nothing had happened as he left Anderson's side.

But Lu Yi had already seen it. Through the window, he noticed that Tang Bufan's eyes darted away after they met, and he immediately became very concerned.

Tang Bufan pretended to go to the kitchen to get a medicine pot and herbs. Lu put the box on the ground, looked at him, and then turned to look at Anderson. He wanted to ask some questions, but his chest was tight and he couldn't bring himself to ask them.

Fortunately, most of the things in the basement had been moved out. Lu Yi went down to check one last time before returning to the surface and focusing on staying by Tang Bufan's side.

Tang Bufan sat on the iron bucket facing the fire, boiling medicine. Next to him was a protruding roadside brick. Lu Yi reached out and brushed away the snow on it before sitting down.

His golden-green eyes looked at Tang Bufan, hesitant to speak, his mind a jumble of thoughts, while Tang Bufan was also looking at him.

The two looked at each other across the fire, each with something on their mind, yet both pretended to be normal, not wanting to worry the other.

After hesitating for a while, Lu Yi casually asked, "Teacher, have you... finished measuring Anderson's body?"

"...I measured it." Tang Bufan lied, of course. "His measurements are about the same as yours."

Lu Yi felt a pang of sadness in his chest, and he didn't want to think about the image of Tang Bufan embracing Anderson.

The orc boy was very sad and aggrieved, but he couldn't show it. He didn't want Tang Bufan to think he was petty.

Lu Yi then reached out and picked up a dry branch from the ground, lowered his head and threw it into the fire.

After being poisoned, Tang Bufan's reactions became slower than before, and his mind became more desensitized, but he still noticed that something was wrong with him, so he stared at him blankly through the fire:

Why are your eyes red?

Lu Yi quickly wiped his eyes, forcing a smile to cover it up: "Maybe my eyes got dusty, that basement is really dirty."

After saying that, afraid that she might reveal her emotions again, she stood up and said, "I'll go and organize the food. There are a lot of canned goods in there. I'll open a can of fruit for you tonight, teacher."

Tang Bufan watched him get into the car quickly, still unable to understand why he suddenly looked like he wanted to cry.

However, Lu Yi was not in a hurry to leave, which saved him the trouble of finding an excuse to delay.

The snow gradually stopped, and the surroundings gradually darkened. As the three of them were having dinner around the campfire outside, they encountered two stray dogs that looked a bit like Alaskan Malamutes, but were much larger, even bigger than Tang Bufan. They were panting and watching them from a distance.

Tang Bufan guessed they were hungry, so he threw them bones with meat on them. Lu Yi nervously moved closer to Tang Bufan to prevent them from suddenly rushing over.

But the two dogs were very well-behaved, and seemed a little afraid of the beastmen. They took the meat bone that Tang Bufan had given them and ran away, their figures disappearing into the darkness.

"You can't even survive yourself, yet you have the heart to feed dogs?" Anderson mocked him sarcastically.

Tang Bufan suppressed his anger, pretending not to hear, got up, hugged the medicine bowl with his arm, picked up the iron bucket, and went back into the house.

Lu Yi looked at Anderson with a sinister gaze through the fire.

Anderson noticed, frowned, and narrowed his eyes in confusion: "What are you looking at?"

“…It’s nothing.” Lu Yi lowered his head and continued eating his meat.

Anderson thought for a moment, understood, and immediately became annoyed. So he smirked and said, "What, you feel sorry for your teacher just because I said a few words to her?"

Lu Yi didn't respond; he didn't want to argue with Anderson.

Moreover, he still hadn't figured out whether the relationship between the two was good or bad... It looked good, but it also looked bad, it was strange.

Tang Bufan wanted to stall for time that night. He didn't know if the RV would leave Beijing if he drove through the night, so he used the excuse of checking on the lettuce to climb onto the roof of the vehicle, preventing Kai Ge from driving.

As night fell, Beijing grew increasingly cold, with temperatures dropping to below minus forty degrees Celsius. Lu Yi then summoned Tang Bufan back so he could check on things.

Tang Bufan was shivering from the cold on the car roof. In a moment of panic, he crawled into the plant cultivation box to warm up. The warm light inside made him feel very comfortable.

When Lu Yi realized something was wrong, Tang Bufan was half asleep inside the incubator, his face pressed against the soil.

Lu Yi was heartbroken and immediately and carefully pulled the person out, quickly carrying them into the RV.

Anderson wasn't stupid; he understood that Tang Bufan was stalling for time to leave Beijing. Looking at the man who had frozen unconscious outside, he couldn't help but feel a strange pang of sympathy, mixed with a frustration he couldn't quite explain. So he spoke to Lu Yi:

"Go to the clothing store tomorrow and see if they have any down jackets. His leg muscles have atrophied quite badly, and the wolfskin is too heavy for him."

Lu Yi reached out and removed the wolf pelt from Tang Bufan's body. The thick wolf pelt was indeed very heavy, and he had seen Tang Bufan suddenly collapse to his knees while walking. So he nodded heavily.

"I understand." He said, and gently helped Tang Bufan into bed.

The RV was dimly lit, and it was pitch black outside, so Anderson got up from the camping chair and planned to lie down and sleep as well.

Lu Yi turned to look at him, and asked in a deep voice:

What did you talk about with your teacher today?