Chapter 600, Contaminated Zone 6 (Twenty-Four)

He Guanghai's back visibly stiffened for a moment.

“…They…” His voice was hoarse, as if it had been worn down by wind and sand for too long, “They’re all busy.”

Yun Zhao's slightly reddened eyes instantly welled up with tears again.

He Guanghai was at a loss.

Yun Zhao was very strong and had never cried in front of them. He frantically searched his body and pulled out a piece of candy that had been sitting there for who knows how long.

The sugar had melted a bit, and rough parchment paper stuck to the sugar cubes, its edges tinged with a worn yellow.

"Zhao Zhao, be good, don't cry, have some candy."

Her uncle still treated her like a child, just like back then when she would pretend to be surprised and take out candy from his pocket whenever she threw a tantrum.

Uncle Qin would also deliberately hold the candy high above his head, making her jump up to grab it.

Yun Zhao's tears flowed even more fiercely.

A burly, bearded man stood in front of her, holding up the candy, looking bewildered.

He wanted to say something, but his throat felt like it was blocked by yellow sand, and he could only make soft hoarse sounds.

Xie Tu walked over and wiped away her tears. "It's okay. As long as she's in the contaminated area, we can look for her. Let's go in first. Don't you have a lot to say to your uncle?"

Xie Tu had already spoken with He Guanghai before he arrived.

He is Zhao Yan's husband, the second oldest among his cousins, and the cousin of He Guangyang, who works as a stall attendant at the farmers' market.

He Guanghai said he only knew the whereabouts of two of them.

But they were all under the control of the gatekeeper and could no longer recognize each other.

As for why he retained his sanity, it should be related to the crystal he found.

Xie Tu had already seen it, and he recognized at a glance that the crystal stone and the crystal key in the box were made of the same material.

That's something from Yun Jue.

Yun Zhao's biological father's belongings inadvertently saved her 'adoptive father'.

"Yes, let's go inside and talk..."

He Guanghai turned and walked towards his familiar home. "I watched our town appear before my eyes and ran here like a madman. Luckily, no one was there. Everyone was gone."

"Later I moved here, and everything in the town is still the same as before..."

Yun Zhao looked at his uncle's profile, which was trying to appear calm, and at his slightly trembling hands hidden in his sleeves. His eyes reddened as he followed.

She hadn't forgotten Xie Tu, so she tugged at the man's arm and led him towards home.

Behind him.

Xia Mingang drove his armored vehicle into the town, parking it by the gate for easy escape.

The sentries got out of the vehicle and joined the other six men to check on their three wounded comrades.

Fu Mou watched the three people walk away, but did not choose to follow them. Instead, she turned to Jiang Mu and said, "Just in case, let's search the town."

This is, after all, a polluted area.

Yun Zhao's family member is already a mutant, so safety is the most important thing.

Jiang Mu sighed, "I finally get a chance to rest, and I have to go?"

Without saying a word, Fu Mo picked up the Gatling gun with the muzzle pointing upwards.

Jiang Mu surrendered, "Go."

A sentry ran over and closed the town gate.

The rest of the group began a thorough search of the town.

...

Yun Zhao, along with Xie Tu, followed Uncle He back to their familiar home.

The mud-brick houses are still the same as before.

The walls are made of rammed earth, and the edges are worn and mottled by the years. Near the roof, there are dark water stains, which are the marks left by rain in the past.

Several yellowed pieces of paper were still pasted on the wall.

It was a crooked little figure she drew when she was a child, with curled edges, but it was carefully glued back together.

Yun Zhao stared at the furnishings in the room, momentarily lost in thought.

When she left with everyone in the town, she never imagined that she would be able to come back one day.

The little bluebird was eager to come out.

It used to despise the town's living environment and would curse and grumble at the townspeople every day.

But since leaving, the little guy has missed the time he spent living here with his original self.

"There are only two rooms in the house. One is Zhaozhao's bedroom. You can find a place to stay outside, just don't touch the furniture in the house."

He Guanghai's expression was complicated as he looked at the sentry who claimed to be Zhao Zhao's boyfriend.

Time seems to stand still in the polluted area.

In his eyes, Yun Zhao was still a child, so how did she suddenly have a boyfriend?

Xie Tu stood at the door, his gaze sweeping over the piles of canned meat on the cabinet, and said, "They'll stay outside; I'll just sleep on the floor in her room."

He Guanghai's facial muscles twitched slightly, and his hand, which could barely maintain a human form, unconsciously clenched into a fist.

"No way." His voice was hoarse but firm. "There are plenty of empty rooms in town. What kind of behavior is it for a grown man like you to stay in her room?"

He's just my boyfriend, not my husband, and I don't know how to behave in front of him.

Xie Tu's voice was calm, with a barely perceptible insistence, "This is a contaminated area, and I'm worried about leaving her alone."

He Guanghai, however, interpreted it as him being worried about Zhaozhao being with him. The canned meat on the shelf gleamed coldly in the silence, making his half-polluted profile look even more ferocious. "You think I would hurt Zhaozhao?"

"Second Uncle, that's not what he meant."

Yun Zhao had just released the little bluebird when he explained, "We were separated by the gatekeeper because we lived separately before. He was just afraid that something else might happen."

The implication was that she did not object.

An eerie silence fell over the room.

He Guanghai, his back hunched, recalled that when he arrived, he saw Yun Zhao going through a breakdown, and it was this man who calmed her down.

He turned around, rummaged through the cabinet, pulled out a yellowed old quilt, and roughly threw it to Xie Tu.

"You better behave yourself. If you dare to bully her, I don't care if you're an S-class Sentinel or not."

Xie Tu reached out and caught the blanket. "Thank you."

Knowing that the two of them had a lot to talk about, Xie Tu put the quilt aside and looked at Yun Zhao with gentle eyes, "I'll go out and get something to eat first, you two can chat."

Yun Zhao nodded, her eyelashes trembling slightly, the corners of her eyes still tinged with lingering red.

Xie Tu took out a strawberry milk from his bag, handed it to her, touched the corner of her moist eyes, and then walked out of the house.

The kitchen is outside.

Yun Zhao watched him walk out of the main room.

Her sudden joy at seeing Uncle He made her overlook Xie Tu.

She even forgot to ask if he had encountered any danger after they separated, and how Huo Feng was doing...

"Is this Zhao Zhao's spiritual body?" He Guanghai asked, looking at the creature running around in the room.

Yun Zhao snapped out of her daze and nodded obediently: "Yes, it's called Little Bluebird, and it's a phoenix."

The little bluebird was excitedly hopping around the house when it suddenly heard its uncle mention it. The little guy immediately folded its wings and proudly raised its head.

He Guanghai suddenly became somewhat silent.

He was once a Class B Sentinel, and also possessed his own spiritual entity...

Yun Zhao realized that the death of the spiritual entity was irreversible, and his uncle must be very sad.

"Uncle, you've become a father! Your two children are named He Pingping and He An'an. They're very well-behaved and are currently attending school at the Dawn Base..."

She had so much to say to her uncle, and wanted to tell him more good news.