Chapter 34 The Spring That You Couldn’t Enter in the Past
“Hiss… hum hum hum…”
Waves of pain came from the back of his neck. Lancelot groaned in pain twice before realizing that he was not in animal form. He immediately pursed his lips to suppress the embarrassing groan.
He sat up from the sofa, held his neck and turned around, looking at the surrounding furnishings in the dim light of the sky. He could barely make out that this was Colin's lounge in the Inspection Office, and his flying ears suddenly stood up straight.
Lancelot quickly stood up and walked to the door. When he was about to press the button to open the door, a sound of even breathing came from the center of the big bed a few meters away.
The dwarf rabbit orc, who was still in a coma, was breathing deeply, curled up into a semi-arc, holding a corner of the pillow in his hand. He looked well-behaved and docile, not at all like the stubborn guy he had just been.
Lancelot watched quietly for a while, then brought a clean thin blanket and covered him with it.
Even though the movement was very light, it still made the person on the bed frown slightly and let out an uncomfortable groan.
Lancelot was afraid of waking him up, so he patted his back and coaxed him softly, "Go to sleep... go to sleep..."
Youan soon calmed down, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He smacked his lips and fell into a peaceful sleep again.
Pretty easy to coax.
Lancelot's expression relaxed a little. He dimmed the lights in the room, fixed his long hair in front of the mirror, and then left the room.
As he expected, Colin was sitting behind the desk that represented power, supporting half of his face with one hand and fiddling with the mechanical bomb made by Youan with the other hand.
Seeing Lancelot's gloomy expression, Colin raised an eyebrow and greeted him: "Are you awake?"
"I suspect you hit me so hard on purpose." Lancelot rolled his eyes.
"Disobedient children don't deserve your patience." Colin leaned back in his chair, glanced toward the lounge, and chuckled softly. "Don't worry, I've always had a soft spot for bright and excellent students, so I was able to control my strength well."
Lancelot perfunctorily squeezed out a "You are so thoughtful" and took the laptop from Colin's desk, and opened the use of the aircraft to himself with ease.
Colin was slightly surprised, his tail wagging slightly beside the chair leg. He asked loudly, "Are you leaving? Aren't you afraid that I'll put you in the interrogation room?"
"If you really wanted to do that, he wouldn't still be lying here." Lancelot waved his hand lazily, and the relaxed expression on his face disappeared completely until he walked out of the office.
He just thought that when Youan woke up, he would not want to see him.
The high-profile and somewhat flashy aircraft shuttled through the concrete jungle at high speed and soon disappeared from Area A.
Youan was born in District E of Granton. After Granton was rebuilt, the economic facilities in this star area were not top-notch. Later, the success of the pilot project of new crops promoted the development of tourism. The overall development momentum was quite good. Whether it was more than ten years ago or now, it is a particularly livable place.
Lancelot spent nearly two hours driving the aircraft and successfully arrived at the apartment address shown in his student records.
He thought that the quarrel with Youan was caused by his inability to empathize with the other party, so he wanted to trace the root of this guy's past.
The residential apartment building in front of me is quite tidy, with residents coming and going for work or school, and it is full of a lively atmosphere. It is also equipped with a security system.
Lancelot just stood downstairs for a while before the apartment manager came out to ask his identity.
Lancelot gave a polite smile and said that he was just passing by his classmate's house and took a look.
Unexpectedly, the apartment manager frowned in confusion: "Yuan? We don't have such a person here."
Lancelot frowned: "Are you sure?"
"I can't be wrong..." The administrator pulled up the resident information and took a look, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "Oh, I remember now. A long time ago, a family named You lived here, and their child was named this!"
He pointed to an open space not far away and said with a smile, "That kid is a bit noisy. He just plays on the swings and plays in the mud over there. He doesn't bother to wipe his face when it gets dirty. He just hides behind a tree and waits to scare the other kids."
Lancelot looked relaxed, squinting his eyes and looking in the direction of the other person's finger. For some reason, the lively figure described in his mind always seemed a little out of place with the current Youan.
Before he could be distracted for too long, the administrator's sigh brought him back to reality.
"Unfortunately, the couple became addicted to drugs, lost their jobs, and spent their days in casinos. Later, their house was mortgaged, and the family had to move out."
Lancelot was stunned: "...Where to move?"
"It seems to be in Area G... I heard they have a small house there." The administrator shook his head regretfully. "Tsk, tsk, they're both teachers. Who would have thought they become completely different people when they're high? It's terrifying."
The administrator was still muttering on and on, but Lancelot had no desire to listen any further. He turned back to the aircraft and pushed the joystick again.
The further back in the star region you go, the fewer these private aircraft there are. Apart from large cargo starships, there are only patrol boats.
Lancelot was stopped and checked several times by patrolmen. The patrolmen stared at the noble surname on the information card, and their expressions became more and more puzzled.
Area G is an industrial area, and scrapped aircraft and starships are almost piling up here. Even though Lancelot grew up in Granton, he had only seen them on the screen that quickly flashed across in class.
At this time, dusk shattered the light of the sky and sprinkled it on the slowing aircraft. The messy streets were hung with crooked and rusty signs everywhere, and the neon lights with broken electricity flickered. There was almost no shadow of green plants in the entire star area.
The environment here can be described as terrible. Even the dungeon is a hundred times better than here.
Lancelot had to choose to land in the block closest to the address because the narrow distance between the high-rise buildings here made it impossible for him to allow the aircraft to continue passing.
When the hatch opened, air filled with dust and a fishy smell of rust rushed in, and Lancelot inevitably frowned.
He tried his best to restrain himself and ignore the overturned trash cans on the roadside and the scavengers looking for food, and walked into the high-rise building with a pale face.
Lancelot never thought of himself as a stupid fox who would get lost, but the rusty house numbers and the maze-like staircases still trapped him in a building. Just as he was about to jump over the railing to the opposite building, he was hurriedly stopped by someone.
"Oh, you're Euan's classmate?" The kind, plump lady looked Lancelot up and down, wondering, "Why did you decide to come here? What happened to Euan?"
"No." Lancelot was almost overwhelmed by the mixed smells. He rubbed his temples and said perfunctorily, "The school has a scholarship to distribute to poor students. I came to verify his specific situation."
"Oh, so that's it! A good school is so humane!" The fat lady clapped her hands excitedly and enthusiastically led the person in a direction. "He sold the house to me before he left, and I'm just getting ready to rent it out. Come with me. That kid is really not easy to get. There's absolutely no deception."
Lancelot followed her upstairs again. The steps covered with rust and moss made a "clacking" sound under his feet, each step louder than the last, and occasionally he would encounter a pool of dried vomit.
Oh My God……
To prevent himself from blurting out something rude, Lancelot closed his eyes and addressed the woman as if to divert her attention: "Are you familiar with him?"
The fat lady laughed: "Yes, of course I do. I was his temporary guardian before!"
Lancelot frowned, "Guardian? Doesn't he have parents?"
"Oh my, if you ask me, his parents might as well be dead. They're drug addicts and gamblers. When they moved here, they pretended to have a decent job, but soon they went back to the casino and stayed out all day and all night."
The fat lady explained that she was the neighbor across the street and couldn't bear to see Youan so she helped take care of him. "That kid is sensible. He picks up scrap and sells it after school. After his father took away the hard-earned money, he got smart and secretly kept it with me."
Lancelot looked up in shock. After careful calculation, he realized that Youan was only seven or eight years old at that time.
The fat lady said a lot. Seeing that the student in front of her had an extraordinary temperament, she thought he must be from a wealthy family. She was afraid that these people would look down on Youan, so she quickly asked, "Does anyone bully him in school? He comes from a small town and his family is in the same situation, but he has a good character! He is sensible and responsible... Oh, and Youan has a younger brother, did you know that?"
Lancelot responded dryly, "Yes, You Tuan Tuan."
"The child has a genetic disease and can't transform into a human form. The couple was so inhumane that they just threw the child into a street trash can. Youan picked it up and said he could support it, but he was beaten up for it."
"Then his mother met a space pirate dealer and planned to sell Tuantuan. Some star systems are particularly fond of orc cubs. If Youan hadn't discovered it, he would have succeeded."
"But it was also about this incident that he reported to the Supervisory Bureau, and his parents were sent to prison. But for Tuan Tuan's sake, he refused to go to the welfare home. At first, he picked up scrap and did odd jobs everywhere, and later he ran to the garbage dump..."
The investigation data would not reveal these bitter pasts. The woman's few words were enough to make Lancelot realize why the lively and cheerful Youan had become so calm and quiet now.
It was like sharp stones rolling into his heart, causing Lancelot to feel pain. When he was taken to the corner of the first floor and told that this was Yuan's home, his mind went blank.
The small house in front of me has been in disrepair for a long time. The walls have been soaked and peeled off due to water leakage, revealing large areas of gray walls. There is a cold, damp and musty smell everywhere. The floor makes a sticky sound when stepped on. The bathroom tiles are covered with a layer of yellow dirt. There are no large floor-to-ceiling windows, no smart central control system, and no soft sofas... The whole space is filled with a decayed smell like a cage.
Lancelot didn't know how he walked out. The fat lady didn't expect these noble children to be so pampered. She rubbed her hands awkwardly and turned back to her room to make a cup of hot tea for them.
When the messy footsteps creaked and disappeared on the corridor floor, Lancelot buried his face in his hands to hide his extremely ugly expression.
At that moment, Youan's calmness in joining the gambling, his desire for food, his indifference to being insulted and isolated, his persistent hatred towards Yinchuan... every single thing emerged in his mind.
It turned out that it wasn't Youan who was in the greenhouse, but himself. And what right did he have to say those words in such a high and mighty manner...
After a long time, the embarrassed red-haired noble slowly raised his head.
The old, dirty, and black metal buildings in front of him stood like high walls, as if spring could never get in. Lancelot would feel uncomfortable if he stayed there for even a second longer, but Youan had lived here for almost ten years.
＊
“Hmm…”
You Tuantuan had a dream. He dreamed that he and his neighbor's sister-in-law went to pick up his brother from get off work, and then saw him being scolded mercilessly by his boss with a fat face at the door.
He was very angry and kept shouting, "Don't bully my brother." He kicked his hind legs quickly, and then suddenly woke up. He saw a exploded ball of fur sitting on the rocking bed in the mirror.
You Tuantuan licked his paws and combed his fur. After a long time, he found it was still a mess. He thought in despair that it was okay. It was his fault that he was short-handed. He jumped out of the crib silently.
It was getting dark, but neither his brother nor the fox boss had returned. You Tuantuan sent many messages on his laptop, but received no reply, so he simply squatted at the door and waited.
There were many footsteps outside the door, but none of them were my brother's. After a few hours, the footsteps disappeared.
"Tuan Tuan, go to the sofa and watch cartoons." Fiona checked the time and comforted him, "They may be back tomorrow."
You Tuantuan shook his head, because Fiona said the same thing yesterday.
He waited quietly until late at night, then gradually crawled down from his sitting position and curled up into a small ball, all alone in the hallway light at the door.
When the reminder sound of the dormitory building's downstairs door closing sounded, You Tuantuan finally couldn't help it. He was afraid that Miss Fiona would worry, so he cried secretly, trying not to make any sound.
Just as You Tuantuan was wiping his eyes, he suddenly felt his nose itchy. He paused, moved his paw away, and found a strand of red braid falling in front of his eyes.
Lancelot squatted down with his face supported, lifted up his braid and shook it, and the end of the braid swept back and forth on Yu Tuantuan's head.
You Tuantuan stopped crying instantly, hugged the soft ends of her hair to wipe away her tears, then tilted her head back, blinking her round eyes full of grievance.
Lancelot stared at him and said, "My dear, your ears are as short as a bear cub."
You Tuantuan pricked up his ears anxiously: "It's a rabbit! A rabbit!"
Lancelot laughed out loud at his serious look, grabbed him and put him on his head: "Let's go."
You Tuan Tuan lay between the two huge triangular ears and asked in a low voice, "Where are you going?"
Lancelot chuckled and said, "I'll take you to find another rabbit."
You Tuantuan's eyes lit up instantly. He grabbed the tips of his ears, one on each side, and shook them, then shouted excitedly, "Go! Boss Fox, let's go!"
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