I looked at him and I looked at my battle uniform, then I looked at him again. "I joined the scouting troop and I will be training every day." He continued to stare as I walked back to Second Sis"s nest, where she spread her arms for me to lie in her embrace. Then, she lay down again and covered us with her uninjured wing. It was warmer than a blanket.
"Raffles," I called him as he was still dumbfounded. "Are you not going to continue your work?"
Raffles startled and blushed. He quickly turned back to look at the complicated circuit board. "I, am I disturbing you? And you are sleeping here now, I, I…"
"It"s okay." I looked at his stiff back. "I feel more secure with someone around me." Yes, I would fall asleep faster hearing Raffles talk to himself because he was a living person. In this strange world, it had become extremely hard for me to pa.s.s the night. Hence, during night-time at the end of the world, I didn"t need silence but a living person"s voice near me. Coincidentally, Raffles always worked until late at night.
"Okay, alright."
"I"ll move out once I"ve adapted. Sorry for disturbing you," I said before I closed my eyes.
The entire warehouse was quiet. There was only a buzzing sound of electricity running through the cables. In the buzzing noise, Raffles spoke again, "Er… I washed your clothes."
"Huh?!" I lifted my head from under Second Sis"s wing.
He turned around hastily and looked at me as he blushed, "C-can"t I? I saw them and they were really dirty. I have OCD. I couldn"t focus when I saw the dirty clothes. I really couldn"t control myself."
As he rushed to explain, I was lost in my thoughts. As soon as Raffles became anxious, he would ramble on continuously without pause, using a bunch of complicated theories to explain the smallest things.
I looked at Raffles"s exquisite face that was hard to differentiate as male from female. At that moment, he was blus.h.i.+ng and his cheeks were tainted with a faint pink, which made him look like a bashful girl. Suddenly, I felt that his behavior was normal. He was just like a young maiden was.h.i.+ng clothes by the stream, which I didn"t find myself disposed to but I didn"t find it repulsive either. If the other guys were to complain about my dirty clothes out of the blue, I"d definitely scold them, "None of your business!"
However, to me, Raffles was like a harmless bunny. I could never say that to him because he had been taking care of me all along. Since Second Sis and I had started taking over the place, it was like he had made it his duty to take care of us. For instance, when he mistook me as Harry, he even wanted to chase me out.
"I watched them for an hour while hesitating. However, they made me really upset," he said as he blushed. His grayish-blue eyes were filled with agony when he mentioned my dirty clothes.
"Thank you," I interrupted him directly. Otherwise, he would keep talking. Stunned, he finally stopped.
I looked at him and smiled, "Thank you, Raffles." Then, I lay down again. Regardless, I had to thank him. My school uniform really was very dirty.
He let out a breath of relief. "You have to wash your undergarments yourself though," he pouted. I didn"t need to look to tell that he must have been blus.h.i.+ng hard.
"Okay," I was blus.h.i.+ng too. There"s no need for him to say that, okay?!
Raffles was really hardworking. Even when he was busy repairing the circuit board of the escape pod, he took the time to wash my clothes too. Although it was an awkward feeling, it was heartwarming as well. I was grateful for everyone"s care and it made me experience the warmth of a big family.
*Scribble.* In the silent warehouse, Raffles started scribbling again. Along with the scribbling noise, Raffles muttered to himself softly.
After I pa.s.sed the sunflower seed to Raffles the next day, I started a.s.similating into Noah City"s daily life.
Ever since I had been abandoned in this world, I had cried, I had feared, I had panicked, I had been lost. But I told myself, Luo Bing, you have to survive. Crying won"t bring you home nor would it bring you to your family. It also wouldn"t bring you any miracles.
Hence, I had to pull myself together to face the reality. I had to get busy in order to go through the most difficult adaptation period. I had to exhaust myself in order to forget the agony from missing my family in another world. My dad had taught me to stay strong no matter where I was. Only the strong would survive.
I had to thank Sis Ceci for making me a military instructor. As a military instructor, I was able to focus on teaching everyone about martial arts and close combat skills. I had to thank Uncle Mason for giving me a chance to join the scouting troop so I could be occupied with training. The scouting troop gave me the opportunity to learn how to use guns, as well as drive a flying vehicle and s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. I had no time for distractions.
I also had to thank Harry for being annoying. Whenever I was free and start to daydream, he would appear in time for me to hate him, to scold him, to beat him up. Hence, I had no time to drown myself in sorrow and hopelessness.
My life gradually fell into a routine.
I would wake up at five every morning to bring Second Sis out. She only goes to the toilet twice daily. Every time she heads out, she would howl a little. It was as though she was calling for her mates. I would also seize the chance to breathe some fresh air and jog. Jogging was the best method to forget about my worries.
Then, I would collect the daily provision at seven and start training at eight. By nighttime, the high-intensity training would help me fall into a deep sleep sooner. There was no need for me to miss home in the dark nights and in the silence.
As the training advanced, my desire to head out became even stronger.
However, Harry and the troop didn"t go out to look for resources on a daily basis.
This was because they had to make a lot of preparations before a mission commenced. They first had to travel through the border of the radiation zone, which would be more than a hundred kilometers or sometimes even further. It was just like traveling from one city to another back in the world where I came from. Plus, it wasn"t certain if they could enter a historical site. Among the teammates, only Harry had level five radiation resistance while the others were only on level four.
Once they had found a historical site where they could enter, they had to head in to search for necessities or explore other newer and bigger historical sites. The process would be very long. It normally lasted for ten days to half a month. If they were to be looking for a new historical site, it would require about a month"s time.
Hence, Raffles had to inspect and repair the flying vehicle and s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, and also prepare sufficient resources. Even then, their current resources wouldn"t last them for more than half a month. They always had to hurry back before their resources ran out. There weren"t any petrol stations where they could purchase more resources.
Uncle Mason and Harry had happened to save me during one of those times when they were on their way back from a mission. In this world, people didn"t usually pa.s.s by such a place. If it wasn"t for the coincidence, I would have been recaptured by Xing Chuan for further interrogation. And if Xing Chuan hadn"t found me, I would have been left utterly exposed in the wilderness.