Abnormal survival in the end times

Chapter 251 Little Blue
"Where is your master?"

Liu Ying searched around but didn't see Ankar. Of course, it's also possible that he was waiting in line at the gate to register, while the black cat secretly ran off to find its little master.

She hoped it would be so, but...
Liu Ying sniffed the faint scent of blood in the air and sighed. Then she looked down at the thing the black cat had placed at her feet. It was a round pendant, bronze in color, giving off a strong sense of antiquity.

She bent down and picked it up from the ground, then clicked open the latch. Inside was a photograph, a close-up of Ankar and a man, their faces close together. Their features were striking and deep, and the man's eyes were a deeper blue than Ankar's.

Is this her man?
The child's father?
On the other side was a folded, slightly yellowed piece of paper. Because Liu Ying was still holding the child in one arm, she didn't take the paper out, but instead snapped the pendant back on.

Needless to say, this was brought to the child by the black cat.

It was probably Ankar's instruction.

Liu Ying glanced at the black cat with a complicated expression, then said to it as if it were a person, "I'll keep this for him for now, you don't mind, do you?"

What's the point of keeping this thing?

It's nothing more than knowing what your biological parents look like when you grow up, but besides adding to your worries, in her opinion, it's of no help whatsoever to the child.

However, Liu Ying also knew that she had this thought because she had taken her parental affection lightly, and felt that since 'parents' did not play a role in her growth, it didn't matter whether she had them or not.

Of course, she also knew in her heart that not many people were as unlucky as her and her brother. Most parents still loved their children very much and would do everything they could to provide them with a safe and high-quality living environment.

All I can say is that she and her brother were unlucky to be born into Zhou Mengxiang's womb.

Although Bai Li also came from her womb, she was luckier than the two of them because she had a good father.

After letting her mind wander, Liu Ying stopped paying attention to the black cat and the white cat. She was tired of holding the child and wanted him to sleep.

However, she looked at the monk's robe on the child. Although it didn't smell like milk, it still looked a bit dirty.

She may not be a germaphobe, but she can't let such a dirty child lie on her bed.

so.
Two minutes later, the child sat naked and looking bewildered in a wooden tub.

Although the temperature isn't as high as it used to be (forty degrees Celsius), it's still around thirty degrees. Next to the hand pump in the yard, there's a plastic bucket filled with water that's been sitting in the sun all day; it's lukewarm, not cold at all.

So Liu Ying roughly poured the bucket of water into the wooden basin. The child in the basin shuddered and almost cried out.

But a moment later, he raised his hand and patted the water that had hit his chest. With a splash, the water sprayed all over his head and face, but the child's eyes were bright and he grinned with a toothless smile.

I love playing in the water.

She had spent most of the day with him and this was the first time she had seen him smile. Everyone says that a child's smile is very infectious, so before Liu Ying could even react, she herself smiled with a slight upturn of her lips.

When Batong returned, he saw their vice-captain sitting in the shade of the yard on a small stool, a faint smile on his face, watching the children playing in the basin.

Her usually sharp and aloof features were now unusually gentle.

Ba Tong didn't move. He stood at the gate of the courtyard, quietly watching the two figures, one large and one small.

Only when Liu Ying turned to look at him did he close the courtyard gate, walk over calmly, and ask expressionlessly, "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Chef Cheng Le went to military school, so Ba Tong started cooking again. However, he usually only cooked for Liu Ying. The others were still at the temporary patrol team's residence outside the city, where another person in the team cooked.

It can't compare to Cheng Le's in terms of color, aroma, and taste, but the taste is actually quite good.

Ba Tong's cooking skills are slightly better than the chefs in their team, but only Liu Xu knows how long he secretly practiced to reach this level.

That was before the end times, not after.

"I don't have much of an appetite, so I'll just make you a bowl of cold noodles."

As Liu Ying spoke, she pointed to the cucumber vines in the corner of the yard, "It's just the right time to pick the cucumbers."

In the square courtyard, wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys, and strong men are busy at the stove. A slender woman sits by a wooden tub, her gentle eyes watching the children playing in the water. At this moment, the courtyard is quiet and peaceful.

until
"You...you had diarrhea?"

Liu Ying stared wide-eyed at the child who was looking at her innocently. The once clear well water in the wooden bucket had turned murky, and a strange smell wafted over, causing her to subconsciously hold her breath and back away.

No, we were playing perfectly fine, how did I suddenly poop?

If you're going to do it, why didn't you tell me beforehand?
Uh... it seems he had been looking at her the whole time, but little did she know that his gaze was meant to seduce her?

What to do now?
She needed to be made to fish out the child who was covered in feces.
After hesitating for only two seconds, Liu Ying decisively got up and headed to the kitchen.

"Batong, I'll start the fire. You go and get that child out of the water."

Batong was focused on cutting noodles and didn't notice anything outside. He just assumed the little guy had finished playing in the water and wanted to come out.

He spread the cut noodles out on the cutting board and told Liu Ying, "Call me when the water boils, I'll cook the noodles."

"Okay, okay, go clean him up and get him out."

After Batong walked out of the kitchen, Liu Ying called out again, "Put some soap on him, a lot of it." Otherwise, he'll stink.

Unaware of the situation, Ba Tong walked to the wooden basin and looked down, his eyes meeting those of the child who was looking up at him.

The child's skin was white and tender, his eyelashes were long and curled, and his light blue eyes were like glass beads, incredibly beautiful.

He glanced at the Eight of Bamboo, then tilted his head to look towards the kitchen, clearly looking for Liu Ying.

Ba Tong raised an eyebrow. This little brat is quite clever. No wonder Cherry picked him up.

His gaze shifted downwards, and when he saw the suspicious yellow lumps in the water, Batong's expression froze instantly, and he stood motionless as if struck by lightning.

Whether before or after the apocalypse, this group of people has done many things, but they have never done anything like retrieving a child from water stained with excrement.

He finally understood what Cherry meant by "washing soap".

Stiffly glancing back at the silent woman huddled in the kitchen, Ba Tong wiped his face, then resignedly turned and walked to the clothesline under the eaves. He took Liu Xu's towel, wrapped it under the child's armpits, lifted him out of the wooden basin with one hand, and then poured out the water.

Back and forth, rinsing the wooden tub and rinsing the child, I don't know how many times I rinsed it, until I put my nose close to the child and couldn't smell any feces or urine at all.

Then, she grabbed Liu Xu's bath towel and wrapped the child in it. After wiping the child clean haphazardly, she hung the towel and the child back on the clothesline without washing them.

Liu Ying peeked into the kitchen and, seeing that the child had been washed and treated, rushed over to get him clothes.

"Batong, you're amazing. You'll definitely be a great dad after you get married."

He took the clothes from Ba Tong, who was about to dress the child, paused, glanced at Liu Ying, and asked softly, "Do you really think so?"

"Of course! If you can clean up a child who poops in the water, what else can't you do?"

This statement comes from the bottom of my heart.

After all, the situation just now left Liu Ying completely helpless. It also made her even more certain that she wasn't suited to raising children. The very thought of raising a child was something she simply couldn't accept.

But after being praised like that, Batong felt it wasn't so bad. The main thing was that the child was too well-behaved, not making a sound the whole time, and not crying no matter how much she was fussed. After cleaning her up, she even yawned, and now she was squinting her eyes, looking like she was about to fall asleep.

Babies this age naturally need a lot of sleep, and today they were up and about all day, even crying twice. So now that they've finally had a break, the chubby little baby looks listless, and soon closes his eyes and his breathing becomes even.

Liu Ying put him on her bed, poked his fair cheek with her finger, and asked Batong with a hint of worry, "Won't he wet the bed?"

Before Batong could answer, Liu Ying continued, "I heard that the old baby stores used to have potty for children this size. When you search Ancheng again tomorrow, look for them. If you find anything else, like clothes, suitable for children this size, bring it along as well."

Batong asked in surprise, "Aren't you going to hand him over to the management office tomorrow?"

Why bother finding things for him when you're already handing it over?
Liu Ying said, "It's alright. We can give the things to the person in charge of taking care of him. After all, he's the child I brought back. Preparing more food and supplies for him is a way of fulfilling the fate that brought us together."

The child was sleeping inside, and two cats, one black and one white, were lying on the windowsill. In the kitchen, two people were eating cold noodles while discussing tomorrow's patrol and search plans.

As the night passed and dawn broke, Liu Ying opened her eyes.

The child had woken up at some point and had moved to Liu Ying's side, hugging her arm with his two chubby little hands.

The soft, squishy child nestled beside her gave Liu Ying a strange feeling.

She stared at the child for a while, then suddenly sat up, grabbed the child off the bed, and looked down at the sheets beneath him.

Then, I breathed a sigh of relief.

No map was found, which means there was no bedwetting.

She picked up the child, rolled out of bed, and quickly left her bedroom and then the living room. At the second-floor railing, she clumsily pulled down the child's pants, letting him urinate downstairs before the first rays of morning sunlight shone through.

Just as the child urinated, Batong's voice, filled with gritted teeth, rang out from downstairs, "Liu Yingtao, this is the main entrance to the main room!"

He had just gotten up and was about to leave when the urine almost splashed on his head.

"Oh dear, it's just a boy's urine, it's alright."

Liu Ying laughed heartily, "Our Xiao Lan is only seven months old, his pee doesn't smell."

Eight-tube black face, urine doesn't smell bad, why did you run away when he was pooping yesterday?

but
"Little Blue? Is that the name you gave him?"

After the little one finished urinating, Batong went upstairs to pick him up so that Liu Ying could go wash up.

"Yes, otherwise we can't keep calling him 'little kid' all the time. His eyes are blue, so let's just call him Little Blue."

What you call a name?
"When his mother gave him to you, she didn't say what his name was?"

"What can I say? I didn't want him at the time, but his mother put him on the ground and ran away. I had no choice but to pick him up. However, once this child is adopted by our people, he will definitely have to follow local customs and use our domestic name."

She thought the name Xiao Lan was good; it sounded nice, was easy to remember, and was also descriptive.

"Hold him for a while, I'll go heat up some goat milk for him."

After breakfast, Batong went outside the city to relieve Liu Xu.

After a busy week, Liu Xu needs to come back and rest for a day before going out again.

Liu Xu wasn't there, so Liu Ying was supposed to lead the team, but she was currently being pestered by a child, so she could only patiently wait for the management office staff to come and pick her up.

"Tsk, why is this kid still here?"

When Liu Xu returned, he saw Liu Ying holding a child and playing with a yo-yo under the eaves, with two cats, one black and one white, lying next to her.

He asked in surprise, "Qiqi's cat didn't go back?"

When Liu Ying looked up, her brother strode over to the clothesline and grabbed her towel to wipe his face.

Liu Ying's gaze lingered on his towel and his face several times before she finally swallowed and changed the subject, asking, "What's the situation outside?"

"No, we haven't found the runaway wolfhound or the runaway foreigner. The trails that Captain Xiao from the management office found all went west."

It's not heading north, it's heading west.

Of course, it's also possible to go west first, then north.

Regardless of where they go, the Pengcheng Management Office has already reported to Kyoto that the two foreigners are now wanted.

"The area in the eastern suburbs of Ancheng hasn't been searched yet. You need to send this child away as soon as possible and go there quickly."

Although the management office's patrol team also patrols Ancheng every day, the overall search and cleanup work is handled by their small team. Not to mention the hidden usable materials they found, the points given by the management office are also considerable.

Therefore, Liu Xu still values ​​and is very proactive in his current work.

In this situation, his sister not only didn't hurry up with her work, but also had time to pick up the child, which really made him very dissatisfied.

In the past, he was almost always the one doing these time-wasting things, and he was always the one being lectured by Liu Ying. Now, it's the other way around.

Liu Xu glanced again at the way his sister was holding the child and felt something was off.

"Bang bang bang!"

As the two were talking, there was a knock on the half-closed iron gate.

"Who?"

As the others entered the courtyard, Liu Xu and Liu Ying, the siblings, exchanged a glance.

Liu Ying looked at He Ningzhu, waiting for her to speak first.

Actually, there were two people who came, but the other young man was the driver from the management office. He followed behind He Ningzhu and was obviously only responsible for dropping people off.

He Ningzhu was surprised to see Liu Xu there. She glanced at him first and found that his expression was indifferent. When he looked at her, his eyes were calm and indifferent, almost like he was looking at a stranger. There was no trace of their past affection left.

She lowered her eyes, concealing the fleeting resentment within them, and said calmly, "Our director sent me to pick up the child. Give him to me."

"you?"

Liu Ying squinted at her, but didn't move.

She said bluntly, "You're not capable. I don't trust you with the child. Also, you need to tell me clearly where you want to put the child when you take him back and who will be responsible for taking care of him."

good night!