"No way! I can run fast, they can't catch me! I'm not with them!" the child retorted loudly.
Li Ke left after saying "That's good, then"
The child stared at Li Ke's back for a while before crouching down and crawling back into the wall. He curled up on the mat, listening to his empty stomach growling. He closed his eyes and began to imagine the delicious food his mother had told him about.
The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. He reached for a jar beside him, stuck his finger inside and scraped it, then put it in his mouth and sucked on it. But the jar had already been licked clean by him, and after drinking water over and over again, it had no taste left at all.
He recalled the image of the woman eating earlier; her lunchbox was truly amazing—it looked small, yet it contained so much food.
He was too far away to see clearly, but just by looking at it from a distance, he could tell that the food there must be delicious.
Not long after Li Ke lay down, he heard a very faint rubbing sound again, which felt like someone was crawling very carefully on the ground and approaching.
She turned her head and could see through the glass that the child was carefully huddled against the wall. If he crawled forward a little more, he could stick his head out and see her.
Li Ke lay quietly, watching the child slowly crawl forward a little more in the reflection of the glass.
When the little head peeked out and saw Li Ke propping his head up and looking at him, the child was frightened and immediately shrank back, then retreated a short distance against the wall.
Li Ke yawned. She was used to taking a nap after lunch. After eating, she would feel particularly refreshed when she woke up.
The child crawled over again, poked his head out a little, and tentatively asked, "Could you give me something to eat?"
Li Ke asked him, "How old are you? Where are your parents? How did you survive all by yourself?"
The child said, “Last time, my mom told me that I was six years old and that she died in the sewer because she was sick. I used to live with my mom in the sewer, but after she died, I was too scared to stay down there by myself, so I ran up here.”
Li Ke: "When did your mother die?"
The child thought for a moment: "It's been a long time, I can't say for sure, maybe three months or five months, I can't remember the exact date. Anyway, it was very hot back then, and nobody was out walking around. That's when I came to the surface. My mother's face and body are rotting, and I'm too scared to stay down there. Do you have any food? Will you give me any? I'm so thirsty, I don't want to talk anymore."
Li Ke took out a bag of toast and a bottle of water: "You can have these. After you finish eating, tell me what's going on with those people in front of you? Why are they arresting people?"
The child looked at the water and the food that looked delicious in front of Li Ke, and slowly crawled out. He seemed to have forgotten that he could stand up and walk.
After climbing up to Li Ke, he looked at the toast bread and asked cautiously, "What is this? I think I've seen it before, but I also think I've never seen it before."
Li Ke: "This whole bag of toast is for you. It's a bit dry, so eat it slowly."
The child's dirty little hands had already grabbed the bag. He carefully opened the bag, first smelled it, and the aroma of bread made his eyes light up. He immediately took a slice and put it in his mouth.
The child was very obedient. Although he was very hungry, he ate in small bites. After glancing at Li Ke, he took the water bottle to himself, opened the cap, and began to drink it in small sips.
When he stopped, he had only eaten three slices of bread, and the bottle of water was only one-tenth full.
"Can I keep the rest of this?" the child asked, holding the remaining bread and water.
Li Ke nodded: "Okay, it's yours now that I've given it to you."
If what this child said is true, then he is only six or seven years old. If we calculate it that, the disaster had already happened when he was a little over one year old.
If he and his mother hadn't entered the shelter and received proper assistance, their lives would have indeed been very difficult. And once the child had memories, all he would remember was the devastation after the disaster.
“That neighborhood over there is the best place in the city. They still have lights on at night, and the people there, like you, have these big guns. My mom said there are bad guys there and told me to hide. I’ve seen them shoot people down and then drag them into a car and drive them away.”
"That kind of gun is different from yours. When it hits someone, they scream and fall down. Mom said it's a stun gun, and it hurts a lot. They only arrest people who live near the neighborhood. If someone is far away from the neighborhood, they won't come out to arrest them. That's all I know." The child's vocabulary was limited, and the information he provided was vague.
Li Ke: "Is that all you know?"
The child looked at Li Ke and thought for a moment before speaking again: "Are you leaving tonight? I can lead the way for you, around the neighborhood ahead, so they won't come out to arrest you."
Li Ke didn't answer his question, but asked him instead, "How did you survive after your mother died? Where did you get food?"
The child said, “There are bugs in the sewers that you can eat, and you can also find some food in these buildings. I even found candy once. If you can’t find food, you go hungry. I’ve also eaten grass outside, but eating that grass makes my stomach hurt. Once I thought I was going to die from the pain and I even vomited blood. But I woke up later, and I never dared to eat that grass again. It doesn’t taste good and it hurts a lot.”
The grass the child was talking about was a newly sprouted, mutated plant. Many of these plants are poisonous and cannot be eaten at present, but if they are allowed to develop for a few more years, they will be able to support animals and provide humans with some materials and useful extracts.
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