Chapter 10 - Wherever There Is Warmth, There Is Anya’s Home

"The style is quite unique." Anger remarked, watching the girl walk out, a corner of his mouth twitching.Xu Xiaoyou was expressionless, carrying a small, koala-like figure on her head, with sharp shark-like teeth, gnawing on her head.

"Did you manage to bring her out?"

"You’re bleeding."

"I asked if you brought her out?"

"Are you sure it’s okay? Your head is gushing blood!" Anger looked horrified.

Noticing his own lapse, Anger cleared his throat, his expression calming slightly.

"Since you’ve brought her out, I’ll keep my promise; she’s yours now."

Xu Xiaoyou extended her hand to Anger: "I’m taking a loss on this, so show me some kindness."

Anger wanted to say something but, looking at the girl’s bloodied head, held his tongue. After taking her to the front of the shop, he lay back on the rocking chair behind the counter, puffed on a pipe, and after a satisfying draw, said:

"Pick something from here and take it."

Xu Xiaoyou nodded, her eyes searching around the shop until they slowly moved upward along the counter...

Snap—

Xu Xiaoyou’s hand landed on the little pig cash register on the counter.

Snap—

Anger’s hand came down on top of hers.

The atmosphere plunged into a bizarre silence.

"You never said this couldn’t be picked."

The veins on Anger’s forehead throbbed wildly:

"I’m begging you, have some decency."

Eventually, after some bargaining, Xu Xiaoyou left the slave shop with a large bag of ’85% Animal Source Protein’ dog food. Looking at the innocent and bright smile on the face of the human child lying on the packaging, Xu Xiaoyou smiled slightly.

But then she thought that perhaps the packaging wasn’t highlighting the warmth of ’family love’ but was indicating to the buyer the raw materials used to make the dog food. Xu Xiaoyou’s smile faded.

Kids, it’s not funny.

Anya seemed exhausted from the commotion and finally fell asleep on Xu Xiaoyou’s back. Her small hands wrapped around the girl’s shoulders, her head resting on her back, and her face pressed against the back of her neck. She held on tight, as if afraid the girl would disappear from her sight in an instant.

"Home..."

Listening to the snoring and faint murmurs close by, Xu Xiaoyou’s expression softened. The two walked forward through the alleyway. Occasionally, a breeze from the darkness would make Anya’s small face shiver, causing her to hold the girl in front of her even tighter. She opened her sleepy, misty eyes slightly and saw, from the corner of her eye—a dirty, worn-out homeless man.

What exactly is home?

Anya was too young to understand such questions.

Long ago, when her mother was still around. In winter, when snowflakes danced in the air and the temperature on the snowy plains plummeted, wolves would huddle together to keep warm through dense fur during the long cold nights.

Anya’s favorite moments were when she snuggled tightly between her mom and dad during these times. When the furry feeling enveloped her, everything felt reassuring, and her fears of the dark, cold world melted away, allowing her to sleep peacefully with her eyes closed.

Anya thought home was a place of warmth.

And the girl in front of her was indeed warm.

Seeing the message pop up, Xu Xiaoyou paused, glanced at the rugged homeless man, and observed the cloudy, weathered eyes with some contemplation.

A few coins clanked into the beggar’s bowl in front of him, and his dust-covered eyes flickered slightly, like a near-burnt-out wick reigniting. When he lifted his head, his gaze was clearing through the mist; at the alley’s end was a blonde girl with a young figure on her back, walking farther away.

If you ask city dwellers where they’d most want to be, undoubtedly, it would be Zone One. Here, the streets are pristine, and traffic flows along well-planned elevated routes. Bridges crisscross the city, skyscrapers abound, glass facades rising like towers to the sky; at certain moments, when you look up, the line between day and night becomes obscure.

Business tycoons conduct themselves with decorum; even street dogs seem fluent in multiple languages here.

Whenever a tram traverses this area on the ring city track, especially at night, witnessing the neon night sky moving among the towering edifices invariably inspires awe.

Even the poorest of the homeless, when hearing the name ’Domino District,’ involuntarily straighten their backs.

Thanks to the minimal impact from the war, Cosmic Heavy Industries took the largest slice of the pie here, and under well-organized management, this place’s postwar economy rapidly rebuilt, turning into the most prosperous area in the entire metropolis. The GDP contribution of the ecosystem centered around Cosmic Building—’Domino District’—exceeded 85% of the entire city.

Under the shadow of the Cosmic conglomerate, violence and bloodshed no longer thrive, yet the forest grows more lush. Here, rather than predators raiding weaker prey, they use a more refined term—exploitation.

"Cosmic Enterprises Employee, ID 1793—Xu Nian. Your employee apartment has been allocated, and can be activated with your personal info card. After activation, a monthly rent of 1500 credit points is required. If you have any objections to the housing setup or require additional accommodations, you may file an appeal through Cosmic Heavy Industries’ website, according to Cosmos Regulation Article 153..."

Riding the ascending elevator, with the screen glowing on her phone, Xu Xiaoyou skimmed over the message and rolled her eyes.

Receiving a company-allocated apartment still required paying rent each month; she got a sense of the company she was about to join.

Nevertheless, at 1500 credit points monthly rent, living in a three-bedroom, one-living room apartment with complete amenities and exquisite decor in the most secure Zone One, could indeed be considered an employee benefit from another perspective.

"Su Leshuang! Full of fruit chunks and vitamin C, bringing you a different drinking experience! Take a sip during leisure time, a sip when tired at work, a sip during joyous moments. More Su Le, more fun!"

La, la, la, la, la~ Upbeat music*

Anya opened her mouth wide at the elevator’s holographic advertisement.

"Oh, don’t drink that." Xu Xiaoyou took her hand and exited the elevator. "Drink too much, and you’ll become brain dead."

Anya tilted her head, the ears atop her head twitching, with a ’?’ appearing.

Xu Xiaoyou couldn’t bring herself to dampen the child’s curiosity but wasn’t sure how to explain it to her. She had long heard that this beverage contained ’Dream-Walking Fish.’

This was an uncanny creature born from people’s dreams of ’bliss,’ resembling a fish encrusted with gold and covered with insect limbs. Adding it to drinks could elevate spirits and energy; consuming a little is refreshing, but a lot induces hallucinatory dizziness.

In the more technologically advanced Nest City, this bizarre creature already had a complete production line, and the manufacturing process was simple; gather a bunch of life-desperate souls into a factory; electrifying their cerebral cortexes to produce euphoric visions; and you get a continuous supply of Dream-Walking Fish.

The mass-produced Dream-Walking Fish are shipped to countless factories within Nest City of various sizes, ground, and extracted into a golden liquid, becoming one of the most common beverage additives.

Numerous authoritative studies have shown this liquid gold is harmless to the human body. Yet, under the shadows of the all-high-rise buildings, each year, there are those SouLeshuang brain-deads, aimlessly wandering, blank in expression, stiff in movement, resembling zombies.