Chapter 147: The Scent of Meat

Lu Xin, along with his Mom and Sister, walked down the town’s beautifully paved concrete path.

They passed row after row of cramped houses, heading towards the back of the small town where Mom had pointed earlier.

Behind them, the number of followers grew, forming a sizable crowd that trailed them silently.

Whenever Lu Xin turned, the crowd would abruptly stop, their eyes gleaming faintly at him from the darkness.

Soft rustling sounds emerged from the houses lining the path.

Behind the dark windows, they could feel pairs of eyes warily tracking their every move.

Sister would occasionally turn and bare her teeth fiercely at the dark windows, but Mom strolled casually onward, seemingly enjoying the attention. It almost felt like she was walking down a runway.

Although, it seemed the town’s residents were only focused on Lu Xin.

“Good thing Mom and Sister are with me…”

Lu Xin couldn’t help but think.

Entering such a quiet yet eerie small town alone would have been terrifying.

Like facing a crowd of abnormal people where he was the odd one out.

But having his family with him made it feel completely different.

…

…

Watched by all those eyes, they reached the back of the small town without incident.

Mom vaguely remembered seeing a light here earlier, but it had gone out after Lu Xin entered the town.

The houses here looked much like the others, quiet and dark. A few were joined together, standing out slightly from the tightly packed rows because they were on the edge.

“I only roughly remember the location. I honestly don’t recall which specific house it was!”

Mom said, sounding a little self-reproachful, as she took the scissors from her satchel and snipped lightly behind Lu Xin.

*Snip…*

The sound of the scissors was crisp.

Lu Xin felt Mom must have cut something, but it was too hard to see clearly in this small town under the Red Moon.

Trusting that Mom had her reasons for whatever she did, Lu Xin stopped worrying about it.

He carefully surveyed the houses, wondering if Qin Ran might be inside one of them.

After a moment, he sniffed the air and suddenly asked, “Do you guys smell something fragrant?”

Mom and Sister looked at him curiously.

Lu Xin said, “It’s the smell of meat.”

As he said this, he recalled meeting Qin Ran for the first time in the Second Satellite City. Qin Ran had eaten steamed buns, dumplings, and a small dish of pickles with such meticulousness and greed, as if he could never get enough.

There were no strange smells in this small town, only the scent of flowers drifting from the fields.

It was only when they reached this row of houses that Lu Xin caught the distinct smell of meat.

And so, he became certain of something.

…

…

“So, what should we do now?”

Mom smiled at Lu Xin, perhaps testing him, or maybe just mischievously wanting to see him worry.

“We just need to push open the doors of these few houses to see if they’re inside.”

Lu Xin glanced at the row of houses. Pushing open just these few doors was clearly much easier than checking every house in the entire small town.

The smile on Mom’s face deepened.

Lu Xin added, “But I feel like if we push open these doors and don’t find them right away, something bad will happen immediately. Then, whoever is hiding in these rooms could escape in the chaos.”

Mom nodded lightly and looked into the distance. “Not just that…”

Lu Xin followed her gaze and saw the crowd of town residents who had followed them had grown quite large. They huddled together, a dark mass in the shadows, clutching various tools. They watched him with a mix of agitation and urgency. Although they hadn’t rushed forward yet, there was no telling when they might lose control.

“Brother, I discovered a secret…”

Sister’s voice sounded mysteriously in Lu Xin’s ear.

Lu Xin glanced up at her.

Her eyes were bright with excitement and mystery. “There’s something really fun here…”

She gestured with her small hands, emphasizing the word ‘really’. “Really fun!”

Lu Xin and Mom both looked at Sister as if she were an idiot:

“We already knew that…”

…

Barging in wasn’t good, but waiting didn’t seem right either…

Lu Xin fell into thought.

…

…

“Uncle…”

Just then, a clear voice interrupted Lu Xin’s thoughts.

From the nearby crowd, an eight or nine-year-old boy suddenly emerged. He stumbled as he ran towards Lu Xin, holding out his small hand. “Uncle, eat jujubes…”

Lu Xin saw several red sour jujubes clutched in his little hand.

The little boy was quite cute, though his face was smudged with dirt as if it hadn’t been washed.

He wore a faint smile, looking a bit more lively than the others.

Lu Xin looked at this kind little boy and slowly smiled.

Then he crouched down, looked earnestly at the boy, and whispered, “That’s very impolite. Who are you calling Uncle?”

The little boy’s expression stiffened slightly.

Not only did Lu Xin smile while crouching before him, but Mom and Sister behind Lu Xin also smiled at him.

His voice instinctively became timid. “Bro… Brother?”

Lu Xin’s smile became more genuine. He accepted the sour jujubes and patted the boy’s head.

“Good boy…”

The little boy shivered, darted back into the crowd, and disappeared.

…

…

“They’re definitely here. And I’ve figured out what to do.”

Lu Xin stood up, smiling at Mom and Sister.

As he spoke, he circled the houses and looked towards the back where a hillside was covered in patches of pine and cypress trees. “Those pines burn easily,” Lu Xin said. “Let’s gather some, place them next to these houses, and set them on fire. That way, we won’t have to force the doors open. The people inside will come out on their own…”

Hearing this, Sister’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her small hands. “Brother is amazing…”

Mom also showed a gentle smile.

Lu Xin handed the sour jujubes to Sister and decided to head to the hillside to gather some dry pine branches.

“You wouldn’t actually do that, would you?”

Just then, a somewhat resigned voice sounded out.

Immediately, the door of one of the nearby houses opened, and a man in camouflage emerged.

The man looked to be in his thirties, with a gun holster at his waist and a red beret on his head. His skin was rough and dark, the kind typical of someone who spent long periods trekking through the Wasteland. A scar ran next to his left eye. He had a sturdy build. His right hand was empty, while his left held a half-eaten roasted ear of corn. He leaned against the doorframe, giving Lu Xin a wry smile.

Qin Ran.

Lu Xin stared intently at his face. It really was Qin Ran.

He looked exactly the same as the Qin Ran he’d met at the Sifang Transport Company, even his expression was similar.

And he was certain this was the Qin Ran who had ambushed him and Chen Jing and stolen the painting.

Found him.

…

…

Lu Xin slowly lowered the bag in his hand, his expression growing serious.

He glanced at Mom and saw her smiling. Her form seemed to blur, like countless shadows overlapping, and then her elegant figure appeared at every intersection, every blind spot around them.

He looked at Sister. She ran over excitedly, grabbing his hand with her small one.

She was still munching loudly on the sour jujubes.

Her small body tensed slightly, and beneath the black hair falling over her face, her eyes shone with excitement.

Only then did Lu Xin feel reassured. He looked at Qin Ran and smiled. “I’ve been looking for you for days.”