How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 30.2 – Rainbow Sword

For most of the month after that, there were occasional sirens in the city.

Most of the time it was a low-level alarm. People hid indoors and waited for the alarm to end. Sometimes it was half an hour, sometimes it was two or three hours, and the longest was a whole day.

Occasionally, there were high-level alarms, and Shi Yuan followed the people to hide in the shelter.

As long as it was not a level I warning, there was no need for them to stay in the shelter for a long time, and they would mostly come out in two or three days.

Shi Yuan heard people talking about that day.

“…that’s the Alliance’s space-based weapon ‘Rainbow Sword’,” the middle-aged man in the same room with him said excitedly. “You know, it’s one of those laser weapons, launched by a space-based laser satellite. The last time the ‘Rainbow Sword’ was used was 11 years ago.”

Shi Yuan had seen these words in Lu Tinghan’s book, but he didn’t quite understand them.

He asked, “Is it very powerful?”

“Of course!” The man became even more excited. “The low-powered laser can hit an individual with such precision that sniping a person is a breeze, and the high-powered laser can destroy a large area – an outpost, for example. In addition to the ‘Rainbow Sword’, the kinetic energy weapon ‘Heavy Hammer’, the projectile body of ‘Heavy Hammer’ is a large-mass tungsten rod and titanium rod, which can fall from space, pass through the atmospheric combustion stage and hit the ground, its power is the same as that of a small meteorite… Have you ever seen a meteorite?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

“In short, it is very powerful. The ‘Heavy Hammer’ is 10 times faster than the speed of sound, and it can destroy the entire Gleaning City, leaving a huge crater.” the man explained. “This is the greatest military weapon in my opinion.”

Shi Yuan thought for a while: “Then why not use them to deal with monsters?”

This time, the man’s face was a bit embarrassed: “Um, because, because…they are disposable.” He paused. “These weapons are all in outer space and need to be loaded and maintained. We have no way to go to space, so use it needs to be used carefully.”

Shi Yuan asked again: “Why can’t we go?”

“Going to outer space needs a rocket,” the man replied. “Forty-seven years ago, the last space base of the Alliance fell, and since then, we have never been able to escape the ground.”

He was a military fan, and he was very excited when he talked about space-based weapons. When Shi Yuan asked these two sentences, his mood immediately became depressed, so he stopped talking too much.

Shi Yuan felt that he had done something wrong.

But he just wanted to know the answer.

He read the news and asked other people, knowing that the southeast outpost was destroyed that day.

At that time, a large number of monsters raided the outpost, the defense line completely collapsed, and everyone evacuated. But Lu Tinghan immediately activated the ‘Rainbow Sword’ and destroyed the entire outpost.

The outpost, which was built with the painstaking efforts of countless people, was wiped out, but the group of monsters also died, otherwise, according to their momentum, they would have broken into the city unstoppably.

After the alarm ended, Shi Yuan returned to the surface.

He breathed in the fresh air and looked up at the night sky.

They said that there was a huge spacecraft called “artificial satellite”, which orbited the planet, endlessly, overlooking all living beings.

He asked the military fan: “How many times can space-based weapons be used?”

“I don’t know.” The man lowered his eyes. “Maybe three or four times, maybe once or twice, the military didn’t give an answer.”

Shi Yuan went home alone.

Lu Tinghan still didn’t come back, and the last text message was from yesterday, which read: [The battle situation is uncertain, pay attention to safety]

Shi Yuan hugged the pillow on the bed, and rolled a few times, but was still listless.

He has not been stared at for many days, and he was very lonely, so he sent a text message to Lu Tinghan again: [you have to come back quickly ah]

After a long time, Lu Tinghan replied to him: [Okay]

The stage performance was suspended again, and Shi Yuan started working at the food distribution place again.

A few days later, he heard that Tracy was in the hospital again.

She was sicker than ever when Shi Yuan went to the hospital, her eyes were tightly closed, her face was pale, and several instruments were attached to her body.

Shi Yuan sat by the bed and looked up. The liquid in the dropper fell drop by drop, flowing from the infusion bottle down the hose into the body, like transparent blood. Tracy’s breathing was so shallow that he felt that as long as the infusion stopped, she would die.

Like a kitten, dying quietly.

Shi Yuan thought of the withered rose in Xia Fang’s hand.

Wolfgang was always with Tracy, unshaven and with dark circles under his eyes. During the war, there was not enough manpower to hire a nurse, so he could only guard her by himself.

He told Shi Yuan: “The doctor said that we should continue to observe the situation and not relax.”

Shi Yuan offered to help Wolfgang watch for one night, so that he could go home and rest, and stay by Tracy’s side. Wolfgang agreed.

The hospital in the middle of the night was not quiet. People in the same ward were coughing and gasping like broken bellows; people who had been infected by leopards were restless, scratching their long nails on the wall; people in the next room were arguing, cursing at the top of their voices, so viciously as if they had killed their fathers; and farther away, at the end of the corridor, came the sound of mournful cries.

This reminded Shi Yuan of outside the city.

The nights in the deep forests and wastelands were also very lively, with mushrooms singing, beasts howling, insects flying and buzzing, and the snakes of tens of meters swimming across the treetops with the sound of rustling leaves… They also had many different sounds.

Despite being out of place…

He missed being there and missed the monsters who didn’t want to make friends with him.

Probably because he hadn’t seen Lu Tinghan for a long time, he was feeling too lonely.

At three o’clock in the morning, the alarm went off.

Everyone woke up and waited in fear and anxiety. Shi Yuan heard the sound of monsters in the distance, the ground shook, and several handfuls of ashes were shaken off the wall.

Tracy started talking in her sleep, Shi Yuan leaned over to listen, but didn’t understand, probably talking about “Wolfgang” and “Ms. Isabella”.

He reached out and touched her forehead, which was burning hot.

It took Shi Yuan some effort to find a doctor.

The doctor looked tired and said, “She’s still getting the infusion, and I can only hope that her condition will improve after the infusion. There is nothing else I can do.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Is there no medicine?”

“It’s useless.” The doctor shook his head. “She can only endure this situation by herself.”

The doctor was hurriedly called away again by other patients.

An hour after the alarm went on, Wolfgang arrived.

The transportation facilities were out of service, so he ran over fast, covered in sweat, not even having had time to change his pajamas.

Shi Yuan poured him a glass of water, Wolfgang sat by the bed and waved his hands: “Fortunately, you are all right.”

“The monster is still far away,” Shi Yuan comforted him.

He heard it.

Wolfgang glanced at him in surprise, didn’t say anything, just said: “Shi Yuan, if you can fall asleep, rest, I will continue to watch.”

He wiped the sweat from Tracy’s temples with a tissue, and after sitting for a long time, he suddenly said, “It would be nice if there really was a savior.”

The alarm lasted for 3 hours and ended before dawn.

Tracy’s fever subsided the next morning, and Wolfgang was finally relieved.

After that, everything turned out for the better.

The number of alarms decreased day by day, and the scale of the fighting gradually diminished, by May, the fighting subsided.

Lu Tinghan came back too.

Unfortunately, on the day he came back, Shi Yuan had to work at the distribution office until 7 o’clock.

While distributing bread to others, he was distracted, wanting to find his human, until he heard a table of people chatting: “Hey, did you know that Yan Xiangnan died?”

Friend: “Which Yan Xiangnan…”

“The one from our northern outpost! Captain Yan!”

“Oh—” the friend reacted, “It’s him, what happened?”

“It seems that four or five days ago, when he led the team to retreat from the outpost to the city, he was attacked by the infection group of Abyss No.6.” The man shook his head. “He was the son of a distant relative of mine, I only heard about it yesterday, what a pity.”

Shi Yuan couldn’t hear what they talked about afterward.

But he was familiar with the name “Yan Xiangnan”.

Shi Yuan stayed with Lu Tinghan but he still didn’t know many people from the military department, and Lu Tinghan seldom mentioned anyone.

He knew Captain Yan because he was Lu Tinghan’s friend.

Lu Tinghan and Yan Xiangnan met at the military academy and kept in touch for many years.

Yan Xiangnan was also one of the few people who had been to Lu Tinghan’s house. At that time, he and Lu Tinghan were chatting in the living room. They were talking about old friends. Shi Yuan was afraid of people, so he hid in the room and observed secretly. He heard that they had a good relationship.

After Yan Xiangnan left, Shi Yuan asked Lu Tinghan, “How long have you known each other?”

“15 years,” Lu Tinghan replied. “We’ve known each other since the first day we entered school.”

15 years was like a blink of an eye for an abyss.

But for humans, that’s a long enough time.

As the saying goes, ‘old friends are better than new friends, just like that new clothes are better than old clothes’. Seeing old friends was like seeing all the joys and sorrows of the past. Shi Yuan could still remember that when Lu Tinghan and Yan Xiangnan chatted, their tone was smiling.

But Yan Xiangnan died.

The death knell tolled for him.

When it was time to leave work, Shi Yuan rushed home.

Pushing open the door, Lu Tinghan was sitting on the sofa, holding a terminal and reading. Shi Yuan rushed over and nestled beside him: “Touch my head!!”

Having not seen each other for many days, it took Shi Yuan a long time to get satisfied and calm his loneliness, the tip of his tail swayed happily. He told Lu Tinghan about his experience, chattering about everything in detail.

At night, he occupied Lu Tinghan’s bed, wrapped in a quilt, and watched Lu Tinghan sitting at the desk writing notes.

Only then did he remember about Yan Xiangnan.

Lu Tinghan didn’t show any abnormality, he was still serious and patient when listening to him, and said a few words from time to time; now he was sitting at the desk writing profusely, Shi Yuan observed his expression, trying to capture something, but failed as always.

The commander must remain calm at all times and not be disturbed by emotions. Lu Tinghan was even more resolute and courageous, standing still.

Perhaps, he has experienced many farewells.

Perhaps, when he entered the military academy many years ago, he was ready to face this day.

Such a person, it was impossible to lose control of his emotions, he hid everything tightly, and never needed others to worry about him.

But Shi Yuan wanted to talk to him about it.

He couldn’t say why, but he felt that he should do it. It’s like Lu Tinghan taught him a lot of things, and he finally had a little something to help Lu Tinghan.

Shi Yuan knew that he was not very good at talking, and he didn’t understand the twists and turns of human beings and many etiquettes, so he didn’t know how to speak.

After Lu Tinghan finished writing the notes and went to bed, he saw Shi Yuan wrapped in a quilt and staring at him.

Lu Tinghan asked: “Have you started observing people again?”

Shi Yuan: “No.”

Lu Tinghan asked again: “Then what are you doing, why are you staring at me like this?”

Shi Yuan replied: “I want to tell you something, but I don’t know how to say it.”

“What’s the matter?” Lu Tinghan rubbed Shi Yuan’s head – this can effectively reduce Shi Yuan’s IQ and easily set up a conversation.

“I haven’t figured out how to start,” Shi Yuan said. “Purr, purr, purr.”

“Tell me about it,” Lu Tinghan said. “I’ll help you figure out how to start.”

Shi Yuan: ?

Shi Yuan forcefully broke away from the pleasure of being touched in the head, and protested, “I’m not stupid.”

—He actually reacted.

Lu Tinghan chuckled.

Shi Yuan struggled for a long time by himself, but couldn’t think of a clever starting point for the topic.

Lu Tinghan said: “If you can’t figure it out, think about it tomorrow, I won’t run away.”

Shi Yuan gave up: “Forget it, I’m sure I can’t think of it, so let’s talk about it directly.” He looked at Lu Tinghan with his dark eyes. “I want to talk about Yan Xiangnan.”

Lu Tinghan was obviously taken aback.

Shi Yuan said: “I know you are very good friends, you must be very sad,” he said very seriously. “Lu Tinghan, if you are sad, you can hug me and cry for a while – I will absolutely, absolutely not tell anyone.”

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