Chapter 5

After that day, Fang Yuan’s attitude towards Jiang Heng showed some subtle changes.

At the dining table, Jiang Heng would still talk endlessly about the memories he remembered every day. But Fang Yuan no longer just lowered his head to listen, he started to respond to more words besides “en” and “oh”.

A one-sided conversation became mutual conversation.

It was Jiang Heng who recovered his memory in his dreams, but when Fang Yuan listened to him talk about the past, he felt that his memory was also coming back. From the black and white, gloomy past to one filled with colors again.

　　 Not only bad experiences, but bizarre, funny, and even unimaginable things came back.

　　Occasionally, when he wakes up, Fang Yuan would remember how he learned the self-consoling methods in his last days-at least now, he no longer had to get up early. There was no overtime and no work pressure.

Jiang Heng complained more about this. The burden on ability users are too heavy. His life after the apocalypse was more tense and stressful than before. When working, he would wake up at 8 o’clock every day, but the ability users often took turns to keep night vigil. Getting up at 6 or 7 o’clock is normal.

He didn’t know if it was because of Jiang Heng or what, but after a week passed, Fang Yuan suddenly had the mood to go out and have a look.

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　　 High mountains and running water, the sound of insects and birds, all kinds of creatures, vines and weeds occupied the city.

When he walked to the entrance of the village, Fang Yuan sat down at a tea shop. Jiang Heng sat down and suddenly realized that the scenery Fang Yuan wanted to see was not the natural scenery.

But people.

The tea shop was in the middle of a food market. Sitting here, you can see the whole market bustling with activity. People came and went, in a rush or leisurely. In this remote place, you can even see bullock carts and horses. They snorted and a man led the horse to move the goods forward.

Fang Yuan sat there, slowly eating melon seeds, drinking tea, and watching people speak in different dialects. They bargained with vendors selling coriander, celery, and rice. He watched an old man with his children throwing sandbags around, listened to the cries of those selling candied haws, watched people riding bikes as they yelled something while slowly riding from one end to the other.

He saw the smoke from the small houses, the rotten vegetable leaves and garbage scattered on the ground, saw someone arguing vigorously with another because of the broken eggs, and saw women gesturing at clothes one by one at the five-yuan store.

He listened to those melodious folk songs and beggars playing the erhu on the street. He watched the stall owner gossiping with the guests at the next table, chatting about the neighborhood.

He watched with delight and finally reached the bottom of the plate of melon seeds. When he touched it again, he didn’t touch a melon seeds but Jiang Heng’s hand.

The two raised their heads and looked at each other.

“Want more?”

“I want to eat peanuts.”

　　 So the two ordered another dish of peanuts and a dish of edamame. The boss took the opportunity to promote their homemade dishes and grilled fish, and asked them if they would like to try a beer or drink other than tea.

Fang Yuan didn’t want beer, so he sat at the tea stall until the afternoon when the sun set, and then left with Jiang Heng.

　　On the way home, Jiang Heng had a thought out of the blue and suddenly suggested that they could also set up a stall.

　　 Fang Yuan looked at him in surprise. “Set up a stall? Are you finally going to help me deal with the supplies in the warehouse?”

　　 “No,” Jiang Heng shook his head, “I think I can set up a stall to perform magic tricks.”

After speaking, he did it in front of Fang Yuan. He made the item in his hand disappear before making it appear again.

“You’re cheating.”

“I have an extraordinary talent~”

Jiang Heng really started preparing magic props that night.

Only, when he got up the next day, his expression wasn’t good.

“I dreamed of the most unlucky thing.” When Jiang Heng had his breakfast, he didn’t seem to have slept well and was tired. “So I couldn’t fall asleep…”

“What’s the matter?” Fang Yuan was a little nervous and suddenly thought, his memory couldn’t have ended here, ba?

　　 For example, he had dreamt of the last moment in his life…

Do you remember the super zombie wave a year after the apocalypse started?”

　　 Jiang Heng took a sip of his coffee, but did not say what was bad.

　　 “Of course I remember,” Fang Yuan recalled. He couldn’t forget this kind of thing.

　　 “During that wave of zombies, many zombies evolved. Their jumping power, attack power, and agility improved. Large-scale attacks caused many deaths and the refuge bases fell one by one…”

He had been lucky, hiding in a warehouse underground and managed to escape.

“At that time, I was a soldier, although not at the forefront,” Jiang Heng said slowly, with a leisurely tone as always, “At that time, the most powerful weapons against zombies were bombs and flames. I was in that incident. And… was burned.”

　　 “Burned? Was it serious?”

　　 “It’s not serious, but I was disfigured,” Jiang Heng gestured to his face, covering almost half of his face, “Probably, this whole area was burnt out, I was extremely ugly!”

“…”

Fang Yuan fell silent.

When Jiang Heng said this, he spoke lightly, as if he was afraid that Fang Yuan would be worried. “It was really scary! I mean, when I woke up in the hospital and looked in the mirror, I was shocked! When I faced the zombies, I wasn’t scared, but I almost died from how ugly I was. Don’t you think it’s infuriating?”

After joking, Jiang Heng continued to eat a big mouthful of burger, sighing with narrowed eyes, “Ai, it’s a pity that my handsome and charming face was lost since.”

　　 “Is that the point?” Fang Yuan couldn’t help but ridicule him.

　　 Jiang Heng blinked, “Who else to blame but the fact that none of my other teammates were as good-looking as me?”

Fang Yuan lowered his head and ate the fried eggs instead of chatting like he did before. With this distraction, he almost sprinkled sugar instead of salt.

　　 He remembered where he had met Jiang Heng.

　　 Before his rebirth, he met Jiang Heng after he had been disfigured, so he always felt that Jiang Heng seemed familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him.

　　 Just…

They met at that time when Jiang Heng found him at his wit’s end, and had given him a helping hand.

　　 Fang Yuan was penniless, and didn’t have enough food and water. He encountered robbers who stole almost everything he had. When he was about to starve to death, he ran into Jiang Heng’s team.

　　 He has no abilities, no supplies, no information, and a sprained ankle. The team originally didn’t want to accept a new member like him. No, it was a burden to be precise.

　　 It was Jiang Heng who suddenly stood up to protect him and let him stay.

　　 “Didn’t he want to go to E City? We will pass it, so let’s take him along the way. When we get to E City, we will just go separate ways”

　　 Fang Yuan didn’t know where he was at the time, or how far the distance was, but when he saw Jiang Heng appear, he knew that he was saved.

He didn’t know Jiang Heng’s name, he didn’t know that he was also an able user, and even after getting help, he didn’t dare to talk to him for fear of being mistaken for someone who was greedy and wanted more benefits.

　　 At that time, Jiang Heng was disfigured and wore a mask. He looked vicious and terrifying but left a tall, calm, and solemn hero image in Fang Yuan’s mind.

　　 As for the Jiang Heng in front of him…He was also a great hero though.

Fang Yuan really couldn’t connect him to the silent masked man from his memory.

　　 “Fang Yuan?” Jiang Heng said as he said, he finally realized that the big landlord was in a daze, and raised a hand in front of him, “What’s the matter?”

　　 “…It’s nothing.” Fang Yuan glanced at him and decided not to tell him the truth first.

　　 Jiang Heng didn’t even think of it anyway, so he acted dumb for a few days.

　　 Fang Yuan looked at him and asked tentatively, “Then do you feel better today?”

“What are you referring to?”

　　 “Your…PTSD? Have you found the root cause?”

　　 He still remembered that Jiang Heng said in the beginning that he had a bad mental state because of the apocalypse and he needed to live in his fortress to feel safe.

　　 Jiang Heng also said that if you remembered everything, he might be able to trace the root cause and heal his symptoms.

Now, he even remembered the matter of his disfigurement, and Fang Yuan hopes that this was Jiang Heng’s worst experience.

“This…” Jiang Heng thought seriously, and shook his head after a few seconds, “I don’t have any special feelings. Although the burns are terrible, I feel that I was still strong, not to the point of leaving a trauma.”

You are really amazing.

　　 Fang Yuan sighed.

However, when you think about it, the masked Jiang Heng in his memory didn’t look like he was worried. Although he was calm and tall, he appeared reliable and gentle.

　　 It’s really strange. Jiang Heng was unsmiling at that time, and his face was cold all day but he seemed very kind. Fang Yuan had hid in the dark and peeked many times on the way towards E City.

　　 He once thought that Jiang Heng was an uncle who was many years older than himself, and had beautiful fantasies about him. Later, after he parted ways, he dreamed of the masked man several times…

No, this kind of thing, this type of thoughts, absolutely cannot be known by the current Jiang Heng.

　　 Fang Yuan silently lowered his head to drink his soy milk, and once again decided to keep the secret to the end. If only he could bury this secret in the deepest place.

　　 “Huh, why is your face red? Have you caught a cold?”

“No, I’m just hot.” Since it was summer, Fang Yuan found an appropriate excuse, got up and walked to the refrigerator as if nothing had happened. With an extremely calm expression, he took out two cans of Coke, and threw one to Jiang Heng while he pressed the other against his cheeks.

　　 Fang Yuan looked at the refrigerator for two more seconds, and suddenly felt that even after drinking a lot these days, the refrigerator was still full.

　　 Fortunately, it didn’t take long for this question to be answered, and the case was solved at night.

With a click, Fang Yuan stood by the wall. He had turned on the overhead light in the living room, and squinted at the person in front of the refrigerator.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Heng was holding two cans of Coke in his hand, his face was innocent, “Stocking up…you haven’t slept?”

　　 “Stocking up?” Fang Yuan was shocked and puzzled, “Is this from the warehouse, or did you just buy it? So you have been ——”

　　 “Yes, I bought it from the snack kiosk.” Jiang Heng put the last can of Coke in the last row, filling the refrigerator perfectly, and smiled calmly, “Don’t you think this looks very satisfying?”

　　 “…” Fang Yuan touched his forehead helplessly.

I don’t, you OCD hoarder.