Eaten Ch.181

Chapter 181: Spark of Humanity

Xie Chongyi smiled and pushed Wu Heng’s wrist away. “Let the child eat first.”

The “child” stretched its neck and snatched the earthworm from Wu Heng’s hand, slurping it down like a noodle in one gulp. Then it kept staring eagerly at Wu Heng.

Wu Heng lowered his head and continued digging up food for the bird. In the past, he needed a shovel to dig for worms, but now using his ability made things much easier. Still, these weren’t the same worms as before, so he had to keep turning over the soil.

Beside him, Xie Chongyi yawned. “What do you think about what that old man said?”

“…I don’t think much of it. As long as you’re alive, that’s enough.” Wu Heng handed him a second worm, this one larger and thicker. Xie Chongyi could even see the worm’s head wriggling as it stretched and contracted.

“The child isn’t full yet.” After refusing the offer, Xie Chongyi added, “You don’t care whether the others live or die?”

“What he said might not come true.” Wu Heng suddenly lifted his head. “Smells good.”

Ao She’s duck was already stewing, and he had added a handful of dried mixed mushrooms, making the broth even more fragrant. Wu Heng and Xie Chongyi crept along the wall into the kitchen, with X tiptoeing behind them. But Ao She hadn’t left—he sat by the stove, silently shelling peanuts.

“How are things outside?” the man suddenly asked, clearly aware that someone had slipped in.

Wu Heng and Xie Chongyi exchanged a glance, then walked into the light and sat down on a long bench together with X (who stood on it).

Asking for the duck soup he was making for his father right after sitting down didn’t seem appropriate. Wu Heng grabbed a handful of peanuts, stuffed some into Xie Chongyi’s hand, and began shelling them just like Ao She.

Ao She had the build and face of a traditionally masculine man, his presence as steady and heavy as the earth itself. He stayed silent for a long time while shelling peanuts before finally speaking:

“A few months ago, my father said you were the spark of humanity… though I don’t see anything about you that’s different from other people.”

“If I’m different from other people, what kind of spark am I?” Wu Heng shelled a peanut and tossed it into his mouth. After just one bite, he expressionlessly spat it out—it was from before the apocalypse.

Ao She remained silent for a long while, then finally broke the silence with a smile. “I guess that makes sense.”

“But,” Wu Heng said, puzzled, “didn’t he say humanity would come to an end?”

“I’m not too sure,” Ao She replied. “But a lot of people will indeed die.”

“A lot of people have already died,” Xie Chongyi said. The peanuts didn’t taste strange to him, but they weren’t particularly good either.

“Not enough yet,” Ao She said.

“These peanuts were grown by our family before. We stored several big sacks of them. I’m planning to plant some tomorrow—when the season comes, we’ll have a good harvest.”

“I roasted some sweet potatoes. Want some?”

Without waiting for their answer, Ao She stood up and dug several large, blackened sweet potatoes out of the stove. He tossed them at their feet. “Careful, they’re hot.”

Xie Chongyi grabbed the tip of X’s wing. “You try—see if it’s hot.”

X shot him a fierce look.

“I want some duck soup,” Wu Heng said bluntly.

Ao She turned, took a bowl, ladled out a large serving of soup, and even added a duck leg. “I know you didn’t eat enough at dinner. This pot was meant to include your share anyway.”

Off to the side, X’s head followed the bowl of duck soup, its eyes full of confusion—very confused. Among all the creatures here, it was clearly the one most suitable to be fed, since it was a cute little pet bird.

“Creak—”

The wooden door was pushed open.

Turning back, they saw it was the greyhound. It nudged the door open with its head and walked in, glancing around.

Wu Heng tossed it the cleaned bones, then held his bowl and drank the soup in big gulps.

“Once you’re done, serve yourself. If it runs out, I’ll make more tomorrow,” Ao She said as he poured the unshelled peanuts back into a sack, tied it up, stored the shelled ones in a cabinet, and wiped down the stove. “I’m going to sleep. You two should turn in early as well.”

After Ao She’s tall figure disappeared from view and the door shut, X immediately flew onto the stove and began pacing back and forth. The pot on top had been covered tightly with a heavy lid.

X tested it with its claws, stepping and scratching at it, but the lid was both heavy and firmly sealed. After failing again and again, it looked at the two people sitting calmly nearby and said, “Eat.”

No one paid it any attention. It hopped down and quickly walked up to them. “Gege, eat.”

Wu Heng hadn’t even had time to react before Xie Chongyi reached out and pinched X’s beak. “Who taught you that?”

With its beak pinched shut, X naturally couldn’t speak.

Xie Chongyi let go and pushed it aside. “You’re not allowed to say that anymore.”

X spread its wings and flew up, circling above their heads. “Gege, gege, gege—” it shouted loudly.

Xie Chongyi didn’t bother arguing with a bird, so he turned to its owner instead, smiling as he asked, “You taught it?”

Between bites, Wu Heng replied, “It heard you call me that and learned it on its own.” X could say a lot of things—it wasn’t just mimicking sounds; it actually understood what it was saying and why.

Only then did Xie Chongyi look up at it. X was still flying around smugly, but suddenly its body froze and it dropped straight down, landing directly in the young man’s hand. X instantly realized the annoying human had used an ability on it and began angrily cursing.

Wu Heng slowly set down his bowl and turned to look at Xie Chongyi. “Doctor Chen said you shouldn’t be using your ability right now.”

“Got it,” Xie Chongyi said, leaning in to kiss Wu Heng.

In his arms, X stretched its neck as if it wanted to kiss Wu Heng on the lips too. Wu Heng dodged quickly, shooting X a wary look.

Xie Chongyi, however, seemed delighted. He hooked an arm around the boy’s neck and pulled him into a lingering kiss. When they parted, he pressed his forehead lightly against Wu Heng’s and murmured, “Very proactive. Very good.”

Meanwhile, over on the other side, the greyhound—clearly uninterested in their kissing—quietly stretched its head forward and dipped its dog-like snout into the bowl of soup Wu Heng had set down.

—

The insects in the fields chirped all through the night.

Ao She shook Wu Heng awake. When Wu Heng opened his eyes, he saw that Ao She still looked drowsy as well. Pointing outside, Ao She said, “My dad wants to see you.”

With messy hair, Wu Heng followed Ao She downstairs and sat beside the old man’s bed.

It wasn’t fully daylight yet, and the room was still dim, so Ao She lit an oil lamp. Not long after Wu Heng sat down, Ao She came out of the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of duck soup, clearly intending to feed it to the old man.

The old man leaned against a pile of pillows, looking even weaker than he had the night before. After taking a few sips of the soup, he slowly turned his head, his gaze settling on Wu Heng’s face.

“That place… is humanity’s hope. Protect it well.”

Wu Heng leaned closer. “Deathlands?”

“I don’t know what that place is called. I only feel that it must be a very beautiful place, with land and vegetation more fertile than any other country, yet also with a climate more unpredictable than anywhere else.” The old man’s hands, like withered branches, rested one over the other atop the blanket. “Before long, a disaster—one that could nearly wipe out humanity—will arrive.”

Wu Heng fell silent. He didn’t know how things could possibly get any worse.

“We need to start preparing in advance.” The old man lowered his head and took a spoonful of soup Ao She brought to his lips, but he couldn’t swallow it all—it trickled down from the corner of his mouth. Ao She’s eyes reddened, and he said in a low voice, telling him to stop talking.

The old man shook his head. “Stock up on large amounts of food. Defenses—strong enough to withstand anything.”

Wu Heng thought of the time a few months ago when Xie Chongyi had been busy with the northern base, and also what the bearded man had said—that the northern base was already gone. Clearly, human settlements were being destroyed. But to what extent would they be wiped out before this disaster ended? As the old man said—humanity would be nearly extinct.

“Take a few ducks with you. Take whatever you can—there will come a time when you’ll need them.”

The old man was visibly aging before their eyes; even his scalp had shriveled, resembling the wrinkled surface of a walnut shell.

As for ducks, there was no need to say more—Wu Heng had already planned to take some.

The old man clearly still had more to say. His withered lips struggled several times to open, and when he finally managed, he grasped Wu Heng’s wrist tightly with both hands. “Ao She—let him go with you. He’ll be very useful.”

Wu Heng didn’t hesitate and nodded immediately. “No problem.”

The old man finally seemed at ease. His small body sank into the pile of pillows as he turned his head, no longer drinking the soup. He looked as though he was smiling, his face still turned toward where Wu Heng sat.

“The disaster will come to pass. Any one person’s death is insignificant.”

After saying that, he gasped heavily for breath. Wu Heng had seen his grandmother like this before—breathing becomes extremely difficult at the end of life—so he moved a little closer.

At that moment, the old man actually raised his hand and gently patted Wu Heng’s head. But soon, his hand slid down along his hair. He looked at him with a gaze that seemed almost like that of someone who had personally witnessed the future, filled with a kind of relieved satisfaction, and said:

“Truly… you’ve worked hard.”

Although Wu Heng didn’t understand, he didn’t ask.

In his final moments, the old man turned his gaze to Ao She, whose eyes were filled with tears. “Be kind to others… only then can you endure.”

After saying that, his gaze lowered slightly. “Go… bring me a hotter bowl of soup.”

Ao She immediately stood up and jogged into the kitchen.

The house had poor sound insulation—Wu Heng could hear him pouring out the unfinished duck soup, then quickly ladling fresh hot soup. Amid those sounds, the old man’s eyelids slowly closed.

“Ao She!” Wu Heng called out, raising his voice.

Ao She rushed out with the steaming bowl still in his hands, spilling soup all over the floor. When he saw the old man lying motionless on the bed, his tears fell just as heavily.

Wu Heng couldn’t bear to stay any longer. After quietly offering a word of condolence, he slipped away and returned to the upstairs room where he and the others were sleeping.

Conditions were limited—Wu Heng’s room wasn’t just shared with Xie Chongyi, but also Lin Mengzhi, X, and the greyhound. And Xie Chongyi was sleeping right in the middle between him and Lin Mengzhi.

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