Chapter 131 – Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (10)
After finding that the dream control card he’d initially put in had disappeared, Chi Xiaochi pulled out another card from his storage, set it up the same way as before, and put it into the usage slot.
When he was finished with this task, Chi Xiaochi fell asleep to the sound of 061 reading books, the little baby leopard held in his arms like a warm water bag.
The little baby leopard wasn’t very well behaved, climbing up and down on his body for a while before finally choosing to nest on his chest, his four limbs splayed out comfortably.
With this little ancestor nestled against him, Chi Xiaochi slept very well.
When he was kissed awake by the baby leopard early in the morning, Chi Xiaochi was still in a confused daze and thought of Dog Meat.
Sometimes, he would tease Dog Meat and mess around by toppling over on the ground at home and playing dead.
Dog Meat was a very loyal dog. It couldn’t see, so it would use its nose to b.u.mp against him. When it found that the situation wasn’t right, it would immediately start jumping up and down on his body, trying to forcefully restart Chi Xiaochi’s heart and almost making him cough up blood.
Thinking of the past, he smiled slightly and held up the little baby leopard in front of him. He tugged at its front paws, wiped it with a wet towel, and then kissed the soft, plum-shaped paw pad.
The little baby leopard was stunned.
This little fellow that had clearly been a cheeky little brat earlier actually grew shy and hid inside the quilt.
Chi Xiaochi easily caught the little leopard and lifted it up, setting it on his shoulder and against his neck. He scratched his fingertip from the leopard’s ear all the way to the back of its body, stroking the little leopard until its ears flattened back.
The little baby leopard was stroked again and again, and its neck, eyebrows, and cheeks were rubbed all over, making its fluffy tail swish back and forth. It couldn’t help making a comfortable, low, purring sound.
Chi Xiaochi was still playing with the little leopard when 061 spoke up.
His voice held a strange trace of forbearance, “Xiaochi.”
Chi Xiaochi’s thumb was currently rubbing at the fleshy part of its stomach, “What’s up.”
061: “… Get up, it’s time to start cooking.”
Chi Xiaochi picked up the little baby leopard, burying his face against its soft and fluffy belly and sucking in a deep breath.
061: “……”
Chi Xiaochi put the little baby leopard back against his neck and gave 061 a caring recommendation, “Liu-laoshi, this leopard smells particularly good.”
061 suppressed his fluttering and numb abdomen, his voice holding a smile, “Does it?”
Chi Xiaochi: “Come out and give it a try if you don’t believe me.”
The little baby leopard hugged its own tail and licked it, expressing that its scent was only so-so.
Chi Xiaochi heated up the pot, taking out three fresh eggs and tossing them into the boiling water to cook.
He Wanwan, who had finished washing up, led Jing Yiming, who just recovered from his illness, over to watch Chi Xiaochi cook and roast food.
Chi Xiaochi glanced over at the two little dumplings who looked like they were made of carved jade and took the initiative to say to He Wanwan, “Do you want to eat soft boiled eggs or normal boiled eggs?”
He Wanwan replied in a soft voice, “Soft boiled eggs.”
Jing Yiming wanted to know, “Big sister, what’s a soft boiled egg?”
He Wanwan acted very mature as she stroked his hair, saying, “Big sister will tell you later.”
After saying so, she turned towards Chi Xiaochi and threw the question over, fully intact, “Uncle Ding, what’s a soft boiled egg?”
Chi Xiaochi patiently answered the children’s 100,000 curious questions, “It’s an egg where the egg yolk isn’t fully cooked.”
He Wanwan and Jing Yiming: “Oh––”
Jing Yiming lifted up his face and asked He Wanwan, “If the egg is cooked fully, will the egg hurt a lot?”
He Wanwan had long pa.s.sed the age where she would worry about this kind of problem, but she still continued to gently coax this younger child, “Probably.”
Jing Yiming’s voice was milky and childlike as he said, “Then, I also want to eat soft boiled eggs so that the eggs won’t hurt.”
Chi Xiaochi looked back and was just about to say something when he noticed that Jing Yiming wasn’t wearing gloves. He’d stuffed his two small hands into his pocket, and the small portion of his skin that was out in the open was red from the cold.
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Where are your gloves?”
Jing Yiming answered obediently, “I couldn’t find them when I got out of bed.”
Chi Xiaochi didn’t offer to help him look for them immediately. Instead, he first gloated, “Let’s see if your mother scolds you later, hahahaha.”
061: “……” What kind of mudslide style uncle was this?
Jing Yiming unexpectedly accepted a soft and warm thing, holding it in his arms. He had a bit of difficulty hugging the baby leopard, but after observing it carefully for a while, he spoke in surprise, “Oh, it’s a little leopard. I’ve seen you in picture books before.”
… 061 was a little moved.
From the moment he’d come into this world, this was the first creature to recognize his ident.i.ty as a leopard without having to rely on a tag.
He Wanwan kindly taught the little brother some general knowledge, “This is a dog.”
Chi Xiaochi’s expression didn’t change at all as he said, “Not, this is obviously a hand warmer.”
Jing Yiming, who originally had a normal world outlook, suddenly fell into chaos.
061: … Sigh.
If he was a hand warmer, then he was a hand warmer. He couldn’t let Chi Xiaochi sweep the floor with his dignity while he was acting as an uncle in front of the children.
He let Jing Yiming hold him in his arms and dutifully cosplayed as a hand warmer for half an hour. During this period, Jing Yiming looked around his fur in all sorts of ways, trying to find out where his switch was.
When the ‘hand warmer’ was about to be returned, Chi Xiaochi pinched the thin whiskers that had just started to grow out from around its mouth and asked, “Yiming, what is this?”
Jing Yiming replied obediently, “Hand warmer.”
061: “……” This was a crime, hey.
When all was said and done, it wasn’t good for children their age to eat uncooked eggs.
Chi Xiaochi took out the lamb bone soup that had been made two days ago and used it to cook noodles, then served it to everyone hot. The eggs were placed into the bowls of the women present.
He cooked easily digestible steamed eggs for the children, and didn’t even forget to add some sesame oil and scallions on the top.
As he ate, he took out a pen and a piece of paper from the rest area and began to draw out a design for a basic earthen stove.
Halfway through drawing, he called out, “Liu-laoshi, Liu-laoshi.”
061 answered mildly, “Hm?”
Chi Xiaochi: “This is the thing we’ll be using for cooking food so we need to put some effort into it. Can you help me check how big the opening for this firewood stove should be and how the bellows should be installed? I only saw it when I went back with my parents to my hometown to visit relatives when I was young, so I only remember the general idea.”
061 replied, “Let me have a look.”
While they were talking, 061 had been computing non-stop.
A few days ago, he’d used the baby leopard virus to destroy several base stations. However, he’d never planned to rely on this temporary virus program to paralyze all the AI in the whole world.
The virus had been stopped when it reached an AI that was close to the core center. The surveillance AI had then traced it all the way back through its transmission path.
Although 061 had designed an anti-tracking program for the virus, at the end of the day, he was still facing a whole army of AIs.
To be able to hold out for two days before being discovered was already the limit of 061’s abilities.
Soon after they started eating breakfast, his program had come under siege. Countless AI viruses that could poison him into self-destructing continued to attack from outside his firewalls.
Fortunately, 061 had been careful, and the first thing he’d done was to lock down his own positioning system. He’d at least managed to block out the possibility that they would be able to track where Chi Xiaochi was.
He pulled up an internal line and sent out a message to 023, “Requesting emergency a.s.sistance.”
023 replied instantly, “No.”
061: “Requesting for 089 to write me a virus.”
023: “He is the biggest virus in the world. Do you want him?”
… And then, there was nothing else.
061 laughed briefly. He continued dealing with the viruses while waiting for 023’s reply.
About 30 seconds later, 023 came back online again, but it appeared that the person 061 was chatting with had changed.
Because the first four words that the other side sent over was, “Your daddy is here!!”
If it wasn’t that he was being surrounded and attacked by viruses until he was short on breath, yet still needed to help Xiaochi set up a stove, 061 would be able to deal with this matter on his own.
After explaining his basic requirements for the virus, 061 asked, “Fifteen minutes?”
089: “Ten minutes.”
061 laughed, “Thanks.”
After closing his chat window with 089, 061 quickly fortified the firewall and dealt with the fiercest viruses based on the data feedback he’d received. Meanwhile, he seriously discussed the construction of a stove with Chi Xiaochi, “The bellows should be installed to the right of the stove. The specific parameters can be measured and determined when it’s being built. However, where do you plan to obtain the sand and cement from?”
Chi Xiaochi flipped the pen with a flourish, “We have a truck, we can transport anything.”
061 really liked this energetic appearance of his and smiled as he said, “Mm, anything can be transported. But, don’t forget to design a chimney for heat dissipation.”
Chi Xiaochi clapped his hands together, “Oh, right, a chimney.”
He bowed his head to draw in a chimney.
Jing Yiming, who’d been beside him, looked out the window and suddenly called out, “Snow!”
It was snowing heavily outside, the snowflakes floated around like goose feathers, spinning and dancing. They acc.u.mulated on the horizontal oil pipelines and seemed to make the entire world turn quiet.
Jing Yiming wanted to go out and play in the snow, but his fever had only just subsided and he was only allowed to rest inside his sleeping bag. Even so, the child’s playful nature flared up and his pair of watery eyes stared outside fixedly.
Chi Xiaochi hugged his little baby leopard and continued his sketch.
Jing Zihua was talking with the newly arrived Sun brothers.
His parents were holding mugs of hot tea and discussing what to do in the future.
He Wanwan remained by Jing Yiming’s side.
Yan Lanlan pulled on gloves and a scarf and ran outside, planning to make a small s...o...b..ll for Jing Yiming to play with.
Yan Lanlan didn’t dare to go far. She gathered up a pile of snow by the side of the building, planning to shape two small rabbits, one big one and one small one, for the two children to play with.
n.o.body would’ve thought that this small service station would welcome an unexpected guest at such a time.
Yan Lanlan didn’t even realize that something was approaching until it had come near and opened its mouth to speak.
She was busy shaping the rabbit’s ears when she suddenly heard a pleasant young voice sound out from near her feet, “Excuse me.”
Yan Lanlan startled and immediately looked down––
The visitor was a small, mechanical guide dog.
It had been made to look like a Samoyed. It was fluffy and furry, but its body was really too small, so small that the central AIs hadn’t bothered putting in the extra effort to force it to turn off.
Quite a lot of snow had acc.u.mulated on its body, making it seem a little bloated. Its figure was a little awkward and embarra.s.sed, but its att.i.tude was very gentlemanly.
It raised its head and asked Yan Lanlan, “Miss, may I ask if you’ve met a lady named Xu Jingyuan? She’s eight years old, wearing a camel windbreaker and red leather shoes. She has a silver b.u.t.terfly hairpin on her head, and her eyes are very big but her eyesight is poor.”
Yan Lanlan calmed herself and chatted with it for a while. Only then did she learn from its mouth that this Xu Jingyuan was its master.
The little guide dog had been out of the factory for three years and had been purchased by an ordinary family that lived in the next city.
For the past three years, it had been the guide dog for Xu Jingyuan, who was the daughter of the Xu Family.
When the disaster struck, it had been in a temporary hibernation state. Mother and Father Xu had quickly fled with their blind daughter, but while they were in a panic, Miss Xu had left her guiding bracelet on the bedside table.
By the time it woke up, its little master was no longer there.
So, it had come out to search, and made its way here step by step.
When it learned that Yan Lanlan didn’t know where its little master had gone, the little guide dog nodded gently, as though bowing to Yan Lanlan.
It turned to leave, setting foot on the public road again. Its small claws left little paw prints in the snow that were soon covered up by new snow.
Yan Lanlan didn’t come back to her senses until the small guide dog had disappeared completely.
In this world, there were still operational AI that hadn’t gone on strike.
Did they also have ‘love’? Or was it because their programming had set up a ‘love’ function for them?
Snowflakes flew into Yan Lanlan’s face. She stood there in the whiteness that covered the skies and the earth, and suddenly, she finally experienced a real sense that the apocalypse had truly arrived.
Who said that the apocalypse had to be filled with blood and fire, with people slaughtering cities?
It could be like right now, in this vast, white land, where she couldn’t see even half a person’s shadow. On the contrary, it made people feel more lonely and desolate.
Yan Lanlan stabilized her mood and quickly finished shaping the two small rabbits, holding them as she returned to the house.
When she stepped into the house, shutting out the ice and snow behind the door, the hot water in the pot had just started to boil and steam was puffing up against the lid of the pot. They were cooking salted peanuts inside, and when she lifted the lid, the smell of star anise and aniseed drifted up her nose.
Yan Lanlan stilled briefly, then burst out into a peaceful smile.
… No matter what, at least she now had a small home and new friends.
She happily set down the two rabbits beside the sleeping bag and received the two children’s surprise and praise.
On the other side, 061 had also put the virus that 089 had created directly into use.
The AIs that were collectively attacking 061 received a piece of data feedback from their attacks.
Although they’d suffered a loss from such a method before, they’d been attacking for so long that they had already figured out 061’s upper limits.
It had been estimated that since 061 had been attacked into pa.s.sivity for so long, it was impossible for 061 to temporarily create a virus that could counter attack. Moreover, the information file that was sent back was very small and similar to the size of other scattered feedback data. Therefore, they directly accepted the data without hesitation.
In the next second, all the attacking systems fell into a state of black screen paralysis. The new page that popped out couldn’t be closed at all.
On the screen, a complex mathematical problem involving geometric transformations popped up. To one side of the geometric diagram, the auxiliary lines, vertical lines, and other various lines all intersected messily, and just one glance was enough to make people’s scalp explode.
The requirement of the question was to calculate the Archimedes spiral in the blank area. A full score was 100 points, and there were a total of 20 questions.
If they answered a question correctly, the virus would randomly delete a file in their system. If they answered the question wrong, 5 points would be deducted. If they didn’t get 80 points, the virus would automatically reformat all the programs, which was basically the so-called ‘spiral up to the sky and self-destruct directly’.
All systems: “……” F*ck me.
Half an hour later, 089 couldn’t wait anymore and sent a message asking how the virus had worked out.
061’s physical ‘body’ was currently lying in Chi Xiaochi’s arms, getting his fur gently combed with a small brush. When he heard this, he replied, “It’s a virus that you wrote. Of course the effect was good.”
089 was excited, “How many did it kill?”
061 swayed his tail comfortably, “All of them.”
089: “What? Are they so noob?”
061 answered patiently, “It’s like this. There were quite a few good answers. But they all forgot to write ‘QED’.”
089: “……”
061: “There were twenty questions in total. ‘QED’ was missing at the end of every question, so one point was deducted for each question. So they failed.”
089 thought to himself, was there any need to be so strict?
061 squinted his eyes comfortably, his tiny teeth nibbling at Chi Xiaochi’s fingertips until Chi Xiaochi curved his knuckles and tapped on his head. His grey blue eyes opened, and he looked out of the window at the heavy snow, feeling at ease.
The newly inserted dream control card had been used up again.
Chi Xiaochi put in another card from his stock.
061 couldn’t help but ask, “Xiaochi, are you planning to have him experience a repeated nightmare?”
Chi Xiaochi, who was wrapped up in a small blanket, inhaled a breath filled with the leopard’s scent and felt very comfortable, “Yes. Before I meet him, he’ll repeat that same dream.”
“Will it work?”
“It will.” Chi Xiaochi smiled slightly, pinching the baby milk leopard’s paws before gently kissing the paw pad. His voice was filled with nostalgia, “Dreams have a great impact on people’s spirits. I know this.”