Disappearance
After a long time Dudian had returned to slums. The smell of urine in the air made him nauseous. He was much more sensitive to smell different form his past self. For ordinary people there was faint smell of rot, urine and excrement. But for him it was unusually strong. Sometimes he felt dizzy because of the irritating taste.
Dudian slightly covered his nose, waiting for the body to adapt to situation. Moreover he realized that strong sense of smell was a fatal weakness at the same time!
“In the future, if I face a situation where I’m up against a hunter or beast with super sense of smell then I can deal with it using this approach. The advantage can be turned in a shortcoming. It seems that everything has two sides. ” A thought flashed in his mind as he was walking the street alleys.
Stay long enough in the toilet and the smell disappears. As Dudian walked more the feeling of discomfort gradually faded away. He didn’t directly go to Meishan orphanage but along the path came to the garbage field that he visited three years ago.
As he got close to the dump, Dudian saw that the previous accumulation of rubbish mountains have been leveled to ground. Although he had expected the garbage to be cleaned up but didn’t expect it so soon to be removed.
“I heard a plague broke out in the slums last year. It had caused a lot of people to be infected. ‘Black dead season’ has just come so the temperature have increased. I assume it has been long ago that the garbage has been cleaned up. ” Dudian was in regret. If he was not selected for scavenger training camp three years ago, relying on the leftover energy in the frozen storage capsule he should be able to learn a lot of knowledge from the super-chip. At that time he couldn’t resist and obeyed the arrangement. It was like the compulsory conscription from the old era, if you didn’t have any influential background you must serve in the army.
“The frozen storage has also been moved away. Most probably it was found out while handling the garbage. As long as the news have leaked to various consortia and military through intelligence network, then they would not have let it stay at hands of others. After all, a metal warehouse of such size would be eye-catching. It should have been moved to somewhere secret to be studied. Fortunately there is not photo of mine inside, or else I would be facing an unneeded trouble. ” Dudian secretly thought.
Suddenly he smelled few odors getting close to him.
This was the advantage of super smell. He could detect the advance of creatures before they were in his eye sight.
He turned around to see two middle-aged and one young man in ragged clothing come out from the back alley. They walked in different directions to outflank him. One was holding a wooden stick while the others had rusty machete and a dirty black stone in their hands. They approached step by step as they were staring at Dudian.
“Little guy!” The one in the middle with disheveled hair spoke out in low tone: ” Be sensible! Surrender your money and clothing! ”
“Three refugees.” He identified them when he saw their dresses. They were the lowest level of existences even in the slums. All of them were homeless. Main reason for their exclusion from the society was the excessive level of radiation accumulated in their bodies. No place would accept them for work as not to affect the health of others.
“Don’t you want to kill me? ” Dudian faintly smiled.
All three of them knew from the fine clothing on Dudian’s body that he was not from their slums. Their aim was to rub the money and leave. If they murdered him, they knew that there will be trail and investigations that would turn the slums up and down. However they didn’t expect Dudian to be so calm and fearless as he face them.
“Kiddo, less nonsense or I’ll waste you! ” Middle-aged man in the middle shouted.
Dudian’s body flashed.
Bang bang bang!
Dudian was lazy to listen to long-winded talk from them. So he took the opportunity to knock them out over the ground. He was preparing to inquire them about whereabouts of the rubbish when a thought passed by his mind. If the frozen storage was at hands of one of the consortia or military then they would start an investigation relating to find the people who knew about it existence.
He was anxious as he thought of the idea. If he asked about the frozen storage and this people leaked about him in the future, then it was equal to be asking the consortia or military to come over and arrest him. Dudian shouted as he kicked the middle-aged man: “I’m lost. Tell me the way to Meishan orphanage.”
Middle-aged man was panicking. It was hard to understand how such a little kid was able to summon such terrible speed and strength. He didn’t dare to think about anything as there were rumors of mysterious beings from commercial district: “Turn left from here and right after two street. Then ask someone else and you will be informed about the details.”
Dudan turned away to leave. He naturally knew the way to Meishan orphanage. However, if there was a person or force who was secretly observing the area then they would not doubt him. It was just to cover his tracks.
“The energy source to run the frozen storage has long been exhausted. It would be hard for the people who found to study it. But this is the only thing left to me from my parents. If later on I find it whereabouts, then I got to get it back. ” Dudian thought in secret as he walked away from the garbage area.
In about ten minutes, Dudian reached the front of the Meishan orphanage. Its building was dilapidated, and in the last three years it just got more old and unreliable.
Dudian saw a fat woman cleaning the sparse lawn in front of the orphanage.
“Auntie,” cried Dudian.
Middle-aged woman was surprised as she looked back. She was a bit puzzled: “You are?
“Dean,” Dudian smiled.
She was stunned. There were not so many children in the orphanage. So even three years had passed she hasn’t forgotten the boy. She was impressed when she had seen him the first time. A white skinned child.
She looked up and down at Dudian. The contours of his face overlapped with the boy in her memories, except the skin color. : “Dean?! You are back! How’s it going with your new parents?”
“Very good.” Dudian smiled and said: “I came back to see Barton, Joseph and the rest.”
“Joseph is still in the orphanage, but you won’t be able to see Barton. He was sent to Colin mine last year.”
Dudian frowned slightly. He remembered that Barton should have just turned thirteen years old. Even if he was sent to the mine, he would have to work through the ‘Black Snow Season’. However, saying anything right now would be pointless so Dudian said: “Alright, I’ll go to mine to find him later on. But, I would like to trouble aunt Dai to help call Joseph, Kroen and Barry. I want to redeem their household registration.”
Aunt Dai was startled as she frowned: “Dean, you haven’t secretly taken your parents money? Don’t be confused but if you want to redeem their household registration you must have some background to do so…”
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