Hearing the boy's answer, Shang Jianyao abruptly turned his head and looked at him.
Silently gazing for two or three seconds, Shang Jianyao suddenly laughed and refocused his gaze on the LCD screen in front.
"So, you're Xiao Chong," he asked with great interest. "Do you know an old woman who wears a dark woolen hat? An old woman with a face full of wrinkles and a long black woolen dress?"
Xiao Chong earnestly manipulated the controller, playing the game, and casually replied:
"Yes, I know her.
"She was a good person. When she was alive, she always helped me guard the door, preventing others from disturbing me.
"Hehe, I told her that I liked to play games and read various books in peace and quiet, and I didn't want others to bother me, and she really did that."
Shang Jianyao, not quite understanding, looked at the game screen and said:
"She could understand what you were saying?"
"Can't you understand?" Xiao Chong felt that the other party's question was very strange.
"That's true." Shang Jianyao nodded, actually agreeing with the little boy's statement. "After she died, no one guarded the door for you?"
"Yes, there are..." Xiao Chong had just started to answer when he closed his mouth, his attention focused on the game in front of him.
Shang Jianyao only saw that the screen seemed to have become a little more intense.
After the sudden "battle" ended, Xiao Chong continued:
"There are also a few uncles and aunts, older brothers and sisters, helping me guard the door.
"They also do cleaning and maintenance regularly, and they take me out to ride horses so I can breathe some fresh air. Ah, have you seen my cat? I picked up a stray cat and raised a pond full of fish for it. Amazing, right?"
"That's your cat?" Shang Jianyao slapped his thigh. "The one that doesn't seem to have any fur?"
"Yes, yes, yes, it's a special breed. You can't discriminate against it," Xiao Chong nodded repeatedly.
"But it always makes me sleep," Shang Jianyao complained.
"It just likes to play pranks." An obvious smile appeared on Xiao Chong's chubby face. "When it comes back, I'll tell it not to let you sleep."
"You even understand cat language?" Shang Jianyao was very curious.
"I don't understand, but it's very smart and can understand human language," Xiao Chong replied.
Shang Jianyao immediately adjusted his posture to make himself more comfortable.
"What do you usually eat?" he asked, changing the subject.
Xiao Chong suddenly fell silent and turned his head to look at him.
His chubby face was alternately illuminated and darkened by the flashing light of the LCD screen, with shadows shifting.
Shang Jianyao, unwilling to admit defeat, met Xiao Chong's gaze very frankly.
Xiao Chong quickly returned his attention to the game:
"I eat very little. Sometimes it's canned food, sometimes it's birds, rats, and insects that they catch, frozen meat and wild vegetables that they find, and sometimes it's the fish that I raise myself."
"You're so young. Isn't eating raw food bad for your stomach?" Shang Jianyao earnestly discussed this academic issue.
Xiao Chong "hehe" smiled and said:
"I taught them how to bake things and cook things.
"Awesome, right?"
"Awesome!" Shang Jianyao clapped his hands.
Xiao Chong became embarrassed by his applause:
"They actually already knew how to use a lighter. I just told them that they could use fire to bake things and cook things.
"Do you want some?"
Shang Jianyao was not at all polite:
"What do you have?"
"I don't know, it depends on what they bring back. I'm not picky, really!" Xiao Chong emphasized.
Shang Jianyao thought for a moment, then raised his hand to wipe his mouth, forcefully changing the subject:
"How long have you been here?"
"I don't know." Xiao Chong thought for a moment. "I don't have a calendar. Anyway, it's been a very, very long time. The old woman changed from an aunt to an old grandmother."
"Has staying here all the time affected your growth?" Shang Jianyao asked with concern.
Xiao Chong frowned:
"You're so annoying. Don't ask such questions."
Before Shang Jianyao could respond, he happily said:
"Actually, isn't it nice to always be a child? You don't need to think about a lot of things, you don't have any worries, you just need to play games and read books, and there are no parents to interrupt you or control your playtime."
Shang Jianyao was silent for a moment and then said:
"Don't you miss them?"
Xiao Chong pursed his lips for a few seconds:
"I do.
"But what's the use of missing them? They're already dead."
Shang Jianyao fell silent, not speaking for a long time, while Xiao Chong seriously played the game, not caring about his abnormality.
After an unknown amount of time, Shang Jianyao looked at the LCD screen in front of him and said:
"How is there electricity here?"
"They specially pulled a wire from the underground machine room. Hehe, I guided them!" Xiao Chong was very proud.
Shang Jianyao pondered for a moment, looked at the colorful game screen, and picked up a controller next to the black machine:
"How do you play this?"
Xiao Chong's eyes immediately lit up:
"Come on, I'll teach you.
"This button is for jumping, this button is for rolling, this button is for blocking. After blocking, you can counterattack..."
...
Inside the corridor.
Jiang Baimian, who had been waiting for a long time and hadn't found any signs of a second wave of attacks, returned to her original position.
She carefully sensed the electrical signals and said loudly:
"Come out, the attacker has left."
Bai Chen and Long Yuehong successively left their original hiding places and cautiously walked to Jiang Baimian's side.
"This place is very strange. We have to leave as soon as possible," Bai Chen didn't hide his thoughts.
Long Yuehong looked around and said:
"Where's Shang Jianyao?"
Jiang Baimian was also puzzled:
"There are electrical signals here...
"No, two clusters of electrical signals almost overlapping each other.
"Was Shang Jianyao forcibly put to sleep?"
This was the most reasonable explanation she could think of, combining the environmental factors and the previous encounters.
If he wasn't being controlled, Shang Jianyao, who was still alive, shouldn't have no response at all.
Long Yuehong, who knew Shang Jianyao better, said with some nervousness:
"It's also possible that he encountered 'danger' and is having a staring contest with 'danger'. Whoever blinks or speaks first loses."
"I believe Shang Jianyao would do that, but why would 'danger' indulge him?" Jiang Baimian said as she took a step towards the wooden door with a human-shaped hole.
After approaching, she saw a light flickering inside.
"Maybe it's the ability of 'Reasoning Clown'..." Bai Chen said in a low voice.
Jiang Baimian "hmmed" and said:
"No matter what the situation is, let's rescue him first."
Wake up whoever needs to be woken up, and interrupt the "no-blinking contest".
Bai Chen and Long Yuehong immediately provided cover for their team leader, following the training content.
Jiang Baimian first raised her hand and fired a shot through the hole in the door, hitting the floor tiles inside.
In the echo of the bang, she slammed into the doorknob position, rebounded from the crackling sound, and leaned against the side wall to avoid attacks.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen, at diagonal positions, aimed inside. As soon as there was any movement, they would immediately fire.
However, no reflexive gunfire sounded in the room, and no figures other than Shang Jianyao flashed, only strange hitting sounds were faintly heard.
Looking at the constantly flickering light leaking from the room, Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen became more and more puzzled about Shang Jianyao's current situation.
Without wasting time, Jiang Baimian rolled into the room under the cover of her two team members.
She then jumped behind a table and, through the gaps, looked at the situation away from the door.
What first caught her eye was Shang Jianyao with a focused expression and a seven- or eight-year-old boy, then two controllers, a black machine, an illuminated LCD screen, and finally the strange images on the screen that changed from time to time.
Jiang Baimian's gaze instantly froze a little.
She had imagined many outrageous scenes, but the scene in front of her still exceeded her expectations.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Baimian asked loudly without showing her head.
"Playing games," Shang Jianyao said without turning his head.
Jiang Baimian's mouth twitched slightly, and she stood up with unusual vigilance, but nothing changed in the room.
Seeing this, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen slowly approached and were simultaneously stunned speechless by the scene in front of them.
"...Is it fun?" Jiang Baimian deliberately chose a less sensitive question.
"It's fun!" Shang Jianyao answered without hesitation.
A moment of blankness appeared on Jiang Baimian's expression, which then bloomed into a smile:
"Who is this next to you?"
"Him?" Shang Jianyao stared intently at the characters in the game. "My new friend."
Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen didn't relax their vigilance because of this and still maintained a posture of being able to evade and attack at any time.
What a joke, in this urban ruin, in the basement of this building, even if a grown man claiming to be a relic hunter appeared, it would be worth questioning and must be guarded against, let alone a little boy who was only seven or eight years old.
How did he survive?
At this time, Shang Jianyao continued to introduce:
"His name is Xiao Chong."
Xiao Chong... Long Yuehong was stunned for a moment, then felt a cold air emerging from the base of his spine, rapidly rising and heading straight for the top of his head.
The hairs on his body stood on end, and the old woman's whisper seemed to echo in his ears again:
"You...are disturbing...Xiao Chong..."
At this moment, Long Yuehong almost pulled the trigger directly.
Fortunately, the next second, Shang Jianyao said with considerable grief:
"Ah, I died again.
"Xiao Chong, I have to go. See you when I have the chance."
Xiao Chong turned his head, his face full of disappointment:
"Stay a little longer? It's been a long time since anyone played games with me.
"They can't learn it."
Jiang Baimian was thinking whether this was a common dream or hallucination when she suddenly sensed several electrical signals approaching.
"Be careful!" she quickly reminded, and single-handedly picked up the grenade launcher.
While Long Yuehong and Bai Chen were on guard, Shang Jianyao looked at Xiao Chong and said thoughtfully:
"Why don't you come out with us and play games together at our place?
"It's good to breathe some fresh air."
Xiao Chong thought for a few seconds and showed a smile:
"Okay!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Baimian found that the electrical signals that were approaching had stopped moving forward and then moved away.
This... Jiang Baimian cautiously closed her mouth and said nothing more.
Xiao Chong took out a red schoolbag from somewhere and put the black machine, game controllers, and other items into it.
Wearing a set of yellow clothes, he quickly put on the schoolbag and looked up at Shang Jianyao, who had stood up, and said:
"Let's go."
Shang Jianyao looked at him twice and suddenly smiled:
"You look like scrambled eggs with tomatoes like this."
"..." Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen were all speechless.
They never expected that Shang Jianyao would say such a sentence to such a strange little boy in such a scene.
ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~