Chapter 241 The Amnesiac Child Three days isn't a long time...
Three days is not a long time, but it was enough for Sang Zhitao to persuade the As siblings.
"Don't worry, I'll show my badge if anything happens." Sang Zhitao stood in the pipe, pointing to the exquisite badge on her chest. "Isn't it said that the Mutual Aid Association's badge is protected in the pipe world?"
"That's only the first level. If you want to enter the world below, you must find someone to protect you. It would be best to send us a message, and we'll go with you." As, who was usually quiet, was now nagging like a mother hen.
"Understood." Sang Zhitao nodded emphatically. "I've always been lucky. I was able to meet you when I fell into the pipe, and I'm sure I'll be able to find my father soon."
"Yes, be sure to contact us if anything happens. If there's danger, throw the supplies out. Make sure you keep your communicator with you." Shana squatted down in front of her, a communicator the size of a watch face hanging from her collar.
“I’ve prepared some food for you, and some change too. Remember to exchange the money for smaller denominations before you spend any.” Lillian tied a wallet around her waist.
"I've reforged your dagger and made you two new sets of clothes," Ruyue said, leaning against the pipe wall, her voice slightly hoarse.
"Thank you all, I will definitely pay attention." Sang Zhitao glanced at the group of people whose eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night preparing supplies, and nodded again in agreement.
No matter how reluctant we are to part, there will always be a time for separation.
As helped Ruyue up, while Shana and Lillian embraced each other, and the four of them watched as Sang Zhitao's figure disappeared into the distance.
"The most recent mutual aid group is March 25th, right? Did you notify them in advance?" Shana wiped away her tears and asked Yas.
Yas nodded: "I made a copy of the map for Peach, and marked the gathering places of the forces we know. I also notified everyone who had their contact information, so don't worry."
"Mm." Shana nodded and said nothing more.
As Yas said, although this is a relatively remote corner of the Pipe World, because of this, the surrounding area is mostly comprised of smaller teams with lower numbers from the Mutual Aid Association.
Because everyone was relatively weak, they got along fairly well, and as Sang Zhitao was a lonely little girl, she didn't arouse much suspicion, just as she said.
"Boss, Squad 773 sent a message saying that their newest member is out looking for relatives and they hope you can help him if you run into him." A dozen pipes away from Squad 773's gathering point, in a brightly lit pipe, a burly middle-aged man respectfully spoke to a young girl.
The girl rubbed her temples and put the newspaper back on the table: "It's rare for them to be so attentive."
"The Seven Seven Threes are still a bunch of kids, and kids are always kind-hearted," a refined-looking man in his mid-twenties said with a smile.
The girl sighed: "Kids are good...they don't do stupid things or cause trouble."
The refined-looking man's expression darkened.
The burly man paid no heed to his gloom and continued, "I heard it's a child."
"Goodness, have they disturbed the baby's nest?" a woman teasingly remarked from another corner, who was playing with a blade of grass.
"He's just a kid~" the refined man couldn't help but reply with a smile.
The girl frowned slightly and looked at the burly man: "Just lend a hand if you encounter someone, no need to pay too much attention to this."
“Those kids may be young, but they’re quite capable. If we could recruit a few of them…” The refined man raised an eyebrow, a calculating glint in his eyes.
The girl shook her head: "Their friendship from their youth is difficult to maintain unless they are unified and merged..."
The woman teasing the grass next to her threw the branch she was holding onto the table and couldn't help but say, "If all else fails, just take it all!"
"That won't work much. Children are better suited to gentle methods, not your rough approach." The refined man held up one finger and waved it.
"We'll see. I don't have time to deal with them right now. Come and take a look at the information in this newspaper." The girl waved for the burly man to leave, then called the refined man and the woman teasing the grass to her side.
After the burly man left the room, he went outside and found a group of people gathered around a fire, eating and chatting.
"What did the captain say?" A similarly burly woman approached him.
The burly man smiled and took the water glass handed to him by the other party: "The boss said to lend a hand when you encounter problems, and not to get too involved."
"That's good." The burly woman nodded with a smile.
"Come on over, it's time for barbecue!" Someone called out to them from across the street. The two smiled and responded, quickly walking over.
Not long after Sang Zhitao left the gathering point of Squad 773, she started to feel disoriented.
She looked down at the hand-drawn map and carefully examined it for a long time, but still had no clue. She could only turn on the communicator.
It seemed that As had been waiting in front of the communicator the whole time. The phone rang for less than once before a voice came from the other end: "Peach?!"
Sang Zhitao gave a soft "hmm".
"What's wrong? Have you encountered any difficulties?" Hearing her calm voice, Yas knew that she was probably not in any real danger, and he felt a little relieved.
"Hmm, I can't tell east from west or north from south..." Sang Zhitao's sweet voice carried a hint of grievance.
The sound of that voice softened As's heart, and he quickly asked, "Can you see any landmarks nearby?"
"I didn't see it..." Sang Zhitao said aggrievedly.
After thinking for a moment, Yass smiled and reassured him, "It's alright, don't worry."
"Hmm...look at the lower part of both sides of the pipe, there are rows of metal nails."
After hearing this, Sang Zhitao began to search carefully everywhere.
Fortunately, she was a child and not very tall, so finding the row of nails was easier for her than for an adult.
After searching for about four or five minutes, she finally found a row of nails about the thickness of a thumb about ten meters away from where she had just been.
“Found it…” As hadn’t hung up the communicator, which gave her a sense of security.
"Can you count how many nails there are?"
"Sixty-two." Sang Zhitao counted for a long time before she could count them correctly.
“That’s in Pipeline 62 in the East District. You can see it marked on the map.” Yas’s laughter came through the communicator.
Sang Zhitao looked down at the map for a long time before finally finding the location of her path.
"Yes, I found it. Thank you." Sang Zhitao's voice became lighter after she felt relieved.
Yass replied with a smile, "Okay, I'll hang up now. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay." Sang Zhitao obediently turned off the communicator.
She looked at the map and saw that the nearest mutual aid society was Team 325. After thinking for a moment, she decided to go there and investigate.
"Hello, are you Team 325?" Just as the members of Team 325 were happily eating by the campfire.
A tiny head peeked out from around the corner.
"You are...?" The burly man looked down at the doll, who was only about the height of his calf, and was completely bewildered.
The doll licked its lips at the campfire behind it before speaking, "I want to find your captain..."
"How did a little kid like you end up in the world of pipes?" The girl frowned as she looked at the child brought by her subordinate.
"I...I..." The doll was surrounded by the crowd, and she couldn't help but feel a little scared. Her eyes even welled up with tears.
"Alright, don't scare the child." The refined man tapped each of them before squatting down and saying to the doll, "Little one, what are you doing here?"
"I don't remember," the doll said, shaking her head with a hesitant expression.
"What's your name?" the refined man continued.
The baby was still shaking its head.
The girl took a deep breath and interrupted the man's questioning: "Alright."
The girl looked down at the doll, which was covered in mud, had messy hair, and torn clothes in several places. Only the badge on its chest still vaguely showed the shape of the mutual aid society.
"It's probably some mutual aid group that escaped by accident. Let's clean it up first."
The burly man picked up the doll with one hand and strode towards the bathroom with a powerful stride.
It's called a bathroom, but it's actually just a small, isolated pipe.
There were no shower heads inside, only a few large basins and buckets.
"Water is very precious." The burly man smiled and patted Sang Zhitao's head, then placed a large basin in front of the bucket and scooped out two ladles of water with a ladle.
He was about to put the water ladle back when he turned around and saw the baby covered in mud. He sighed silently, picked up the ladle again, and scooped two more ladles into the bucket.
"Come on, let me help you take off your clothes." The burly man squatted down and beckoned to the doll.
The child instinctively covered his chest with his hand, then looked at his hand with a puzzled expression, seemingly wondering why he had just done that.
The burly man only thought the child was scared and didn't think much of it, then smiled and greeted him a few more times.
Looking at the man's gentle smile, the doll's imposing and muscular body seemed to lose some of its terror and gain a sense of security.
The burly man did not urge the doll any further.
The doll also slowly and tentatively approached, dawdling for a long time before finally moving in front of the man.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't grab me! You're wasting water! Ahh!" The burly man grabbed him and was about to take off his clothes and put him in the basin of water.
"Aaaaaaahh ...
"Enemy attack?!"
"What's wrong?!"
When everyone found nothing outside, they looked at each other blankly, not knowing where to go.
A loud bang!
The burly man rushed out of the bathroom in a panic, the bathroom door slamming against the pipe wall with a loud bang.
He was still clutching a child's clothes covered in mud in his hand.
The burly man rushed out and saw his companions all looking at him with puzzled expressions, and he froze on the spot for a moment.
"What's wrong?" He looked blankly at the woman who was teasing the grass and rolling her eyes at him.
The woman turned and went back to her room with a look of disgust.
Instead, the refined-looking man raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Didn't I tell you to give the doll a bath? Why are you yelling?"
The burly man seemed to regain his senses only then, his face once again showing panic: "It's a little girl!!"
"Huh?" Everyone who had seen the mud doll looked at the bathroom behind the burly man with disbelief.
The refined man couldn't help but rub his temples.
Before he could say anything, a girl's voice came from behind him: "Alright, find a female team member to help her clean up."
An hour had passed by the time the dolls were cleaned up.
"Captain." The burly woman picked up the cleaned girl and carefully placed her on the office floor.
The girl looked down at the mutual aid society badge marked with the number 773 on the table, and then glanced at the girl with a puzzled look.
"You don't remember anything?"
The girl nodded fearfully.
The girl sighed heavily, rubbing her temples, and said to the refined man, "Contact 773 and ask them to help take their child away!"
The refined man smiled and nodded, then got up to contact someone.
As he brushed past the girl, he couldn't help but tease her, "This 773 team has really become a little kid squad, the members they recruit are getting younger and younger, is this one even six years old?"
"Go quickly!" the girl urged.
The refined-looking man shrugged and turned to leave.
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