Black Sky - Chapter 48

Today was the tenth day that Bai Zi had moved into Meng Yilan’s house.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, it was still pitch black outside. A small, rechargeable electric lamp illuminated the living room.

Mao Mao was lying lazily on its side on the sofa, taking a bite of an apple and scratching its butt, enjoying itself.

And Bai Zi was sitting on the floor, flipping through an old magazine. Next to her was a large cardboard box that she had brought back from the art museum, filled with Bai Zi’s personal belongings.

Whether it was because she had been bitten by a mutant or had undergone some horrifying experiment, Bai Zi’s hair grew very quickly. In just over ten days, her bangs had already reached her eyebrows.

When she had a buzz cut, it wasn’t obvious, but now that it had grown out, it became clear that Bai Zi’s hair was naturally curly.

Even though it hadn’t been trimmed yet, because her head was very round, her hair, although fluffy, didn’t seem too messy, and even gave off a cute and lazy feeling.

These days, Bai Zi had gradually become familiar with some of the new basic rules in Bei City.

Every morning at eight o’clock, the radio would sound a whistle, lifting the curfew, and people could go out and move around.

Every night at nine o’clock, the radio would sound a whistle again, the curfew would begin, and ordinary citizens, except for special personnel, had to stay at home and couldn’t go out.

Between nine and twelve o’clock every night, some areas with the conditions would provide a limited amount of water and electricity, while other areas would need to fetch water or charge their devices themselves.

Every three days, citizens had to go to specific locations for virus testing, otherwise they would be wanted by the government.

Therefore, Bai Zi also followed Meng Yilan to get tested for the virus several times, and the results were always negative.

Bai Zi consciously didn’t ask too much about this.

In addition to these large and small new regulations, due to the large number of deaths and the severe damage to some buildings, the government had re-divided Bei City into different areas, and had also formulated strict control measures, such as not being allowed to carry weapons into the entertainment district, or, as Meng Yilan had mentioned before, having to report in advance if you wanted to drive a car on weekdays.

Another thing that Bai Zi found very novel was that recently, the government had started encouraging citizens in Bei City to use the points on their ID watches to make purchases. People could exchange their original “money” for points at a certain ratio, or earn new points by working, and then use the points to exchange for various supplies.

The old Bei City had made Bai Zi feel suffocated, while the new Bei City made Bai Zi feel lost.

But what made her even more awkward was Meng Yilan herself.

Ever since returning from the art museum, Bai Zi had clearly felt that Meng Yilan had become very strange.

She was always frowning, her expression colder than before, and she would occasionally stare at Bai Zi blankly.

Apart from occasionally taking Bai Zi out to run errands, she always locked herself in her room, seemingly busy investigating something, staying there for several hours at a time.

For example, today, Meng Yilan hadn’t left her room all morning. After finishing lunch, she went back inside without saying a word.

Although she was curious, Bai Zi never asked. Unless the other party asked for help, she would never interfere or secretly pry into Meng Yilan’s privacy.

She only hoped that Meng Yilan’s gunshot wound would recover quickly, so that she could leave Bei City and go to Lingnan City to find her parents and older brother.

Sometimes, Bai Zi even felt that it was a good thing that Meng Yilan stayed in her room and didn’t come out, because it gave her time to herself.

These days, Bai Zi had taken advantage of her free time to rummage through everything she had brought back from the art museum—including the old magazine she was currently flipping through.

But Bai Zi soon realized that 80% of these so-called “personal belongings” that had once belonged to her were related to Meng Yilan, such as various magazine interviews she had done seven or eight years ago, or news articles she had written, or behind-the-scenes footage from documentaries she had filmed.

And the information related to Bai Zi herself was almost non-existent.

Although the current Bai Zi still didn’t know why her eyes had been injured, or what the scene she had seen after closing her eyes in the RV was, or why she had regarded Meng Yilan as “light”—at least, she had thoroughly relived how she had once regarded Meng Yilan as “light.”

That kind of deep-seated obsession was simply crazy, and even a little abnormal.

Thinking of this, Bai Zi couldn’t help but sigh softly.

At this time, she saw her watch flash. There was an unread message from Hou Saiwen—this was a new feature that had recently been introduced on the watches. Although they could only communicate with text, they didn’t need to carry bulky communication devices with them, and they were more energy-efficient, which made things much more convenient.

That day, before leaving the art museum, Hou Saiwen had secretly exchanged watch IP data with Bai Zi behind Meng Yilan’s back, so that they could exchange text messages through their watches.

Bai Zi had originally wanted to refuse, but then she thought that she should take the initiative to get to know more people, and couldn’t always revolve around Meng Yilan, so she agreed.

“Do you and Lanlan really not have anything else going on?”

Looking at this message, Bai Zi frowned, and then replied simply: “No.”

They probably…weren’t even friends.

After the message was sent, Hou Saiwen didn’t reply for a long time. Bai Zi couldn’t help but ask: “Can I ask you a question?”

Soon, Hou Saiwen replied with a long string of words: “You’re from the South, right? I knew you were going to ask this. I’m an only child, I don’t have a brother or sister named Hou Sailei, thank you.”

Bai Zi: “…”

“No, I wanted to ask, are there any places in Bei City where I can access the internet?”

The other party only sent a question mark: “?”

Before Bai Zi could press on, the other party sent another message: “Did you lose your memory?”

“?” Bai Zi also sent Hou Saiwen a question mark.

“It’s the end of the world, sis, the entire internet has already collapsed, and you’re still thinking about getting online?”

Bai Zi raised her eyebrows, but saw the other party send another message: “Who exactly are you?”

After considering for a few seconds, Bai Zi deliberately ignored her last question, replying: “I naturally know that the internet has already collapsed, but weren’t the previous network data saved at all?”

After a while, Hou Saiwen replied: “I heard that the government did save most of the data, but it will only be reopened to the public when the conditions are right in the future.”

Bai Zi thought for a while, and thanked the other party: “Thank you for letting me know.”

The other party sent another message: “I should have a way to help you find out about this, but there’s a condition.”

“?”

“I want to know more about Lanlan.”

Bai Zi replied without thinking: “Sorry, I can’t.”

The other party was also very straightforward: “Never mind then.”

Just at this time, there was a knock on the door behind her. Mao Mao on the sofa immediately jumped up, jumping onto Bai Zi’s back warily.

Bai Zi threw the magazine into the cardboard box next to her, got up and walked to the door, looking through the peephole.

Standing outside the door was a man, Lin Quwei.

These days, Lin Quwei had come here two or three times. Meng Yilan seemed to be discussing something with him all the time.

Obviously, apart from Lin Quwei, Meng Yilan had also met some other people during these ten days, but it was always with Lin Quwei accompanying her, driving to specific locations in the entertainment district to meet them.

This showed that Meng Yilan trusted Lin Quwei very much.

The two would stay in the room together for a long time. Once, Bai Zi accidentally heard their conversation.

It seemed to be about some work content that the two had collaborated on many years ago. Meng Yilan seemed to want Lin Quwei to help her investigate something, and each time they talked for two or three hours.

Bai Zi could clearly feel that Lin Quwei enjoyed spending time with Meng Yilan, while Meng Yilan was still very strange, always deliberately avoiding her.

It seemed that the two had a very good relationship.

Therefore, Bai Zi was even more certain, Meng Yilan really didn’t like women.

Although Meng Yilan had emphasized to that bald official that Lin Quwei wasn’t her boyfriend, judging from the current development, she and Lin Quwei were very likely to become a couple.

Bai Zi had just opened the door when she heard the door to the room behind her open at the same time. Turning her head, she saw Meng Yilan walking out. She glanced at Lin Quwei: “You’re here?”

Lin Quwei walked into the house, smiling and holding up a small package in his hand: “This is the incense I asked someone to find for you, it’s the one you used to like.”

After Meng Yilan took the package, Lin Quwei said: “About the thing you asked me about before…”

“Let’s talk about it in the room,” Meng Yilan suddenly interrupted him, and turned her head to look at Bai Zi, “Bai Zi, please make us a pot of tea, thank you.”

After Bai Zi nodded, Meng Yilan led Lin Quwei into the room, closing the door.

Bai Zi had become accustomed to this kind of situation, and didn’t feel anything wrong.

She felt that it was definitely a good thing that Meng Yilan and Lin Quwei had such a good relationship.

While making tea, Bai Zi received a new text message. The sender wasn’t Hou Saiwen, but Old Mao: “Little Bai, are you free today?”

That day, after Hou Saiwen had secretly exchanged watch data with her, she had turned around and gone to Old Mao, exchanging data with him as well.

Now, her watch had three contacts: Meng Yilan, Hou Saiwen, and Old Mao.

[“What’s wrong?”]

[“I’m off today, want to chat in the entertainment district?”]

Bai Zi originally wanted to refuse, but then she thought of something, so she carried the freshly brewed tea and quickly came to the door of the room. She happened to hear Lin Quwei’s voice coming from inside: “I seem to have been abroad at the time, and missed your twentieth birthday…”

To avoid hearing more conversations that she shouldn’t hear, Bai Zi knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Meng Yilan responded immediately.

Bai Zi walked into the room, and saw a laptop placed on the table. She had only glanced at it when Meng Yilan closed the laptop with a slightly guilty expression.

“Um,” Bai Zi didn’t leave immediately like before. She hesitated for a moment, and asked, “Can I go out for a while? I’ll be back before dinner.”

Meng Yilan, who had been hoping that Bai Zi would leave immediately, suddenly frowned: “Where are you going?”

Bai Zi replied truthfully: “Old Mao, the person I told you about before, he wants to meet me in the entertainment district.”

Meng Yilan’s eyebrows furrowed even deeper, and she asked quickly, “How did he contact you? With the watch? When did you exchange data? Did you agree?”

“I haven’t agreed yet,” Bai Zi didn’t expect Meng Yilan to react so strongly. The series of questions made her unable to react. “I just wanted to ask you…”

But before she could finish speaking, Meng Yilan said decisively, “No, you can’t go.”

Bai Zi, who had thought that Meng Yilan would definitely agree, was stunned: “Why?”

Meng Yilan’s tone was slightly harsh: “Do you trust him? Do you know how complicated the entertainment district is? Don’t you know that you…”

Lin Quwei suddenly interjected, “Just let her go, she’s bored staying inside all the time.” Saying that, he said to Bai Zi with a hint of apology, “Yilan doesn’t mean anything bad, she’s just worried about you.”

Meng Yilan seemed to finally realize that her attitude wasn’t quite right. She paused, as if taking a breath, and then said, “Okay, you can go, but every hour, you have to send me a message, okay?”

Suddenly, Bai Zi felt that there was a bottomless chasm between herself and these two people.

But she didn’t think too much about it, only nodding, and then left the room.

“Yilan,” after the door closed, Lin Quwei asked casually, “Why are you so nervous about her?”

Meng Yilan replied lightly, “That’s none of your business.”

Lin Quwei smiled awkwardly: “Where were we, oh right, nine years ago…”

Meng Yilan, who was absent-minded, listened to him for a while, and then suddenly stood up and walked out of the room. When she saw Bai Zi standing by the door, she breathed a slight sigh of relief: “Bai Zi, send me a message every half hour, if I don’t receive it, I’ll come find you.”

This time, Bai Zi clearly saw the worried expression on Meng Yilan’s face. Although she didn’t know why, she still patiently comforted her, “I’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry.”

Meng Yilan asked her again, “Every half hour, okay?”

Bai Zi paused slightly, and then nodded: “Okay.”

Only then did Meng Yilan show a hint of a smile, but then asked, “Can you drive? You can take my car.”

“I can just run over there,” Bai Zi said as a matter of course. “It’ll be quick.”

With Bai Zi’s current superhuman strength, Meng Yilan definitely had reason to believe that she could run from here to the entertainment district in less than twenty minutes, even though it would take at least half an hour to drive a motorcycle.

But Meng Yilan frowned, walked to Bai Zi’s side, and said in a low voice, “You can’t let others find out that you…”

She turned her head and glanced at the room, and then pulled Bai Zi a few steps further away: “You can’t let others find out that you’re different from others. If you easily expose your abilities, it will attract trouble, understand?”

So she was worried about attracting trouble. Bai Zi nodded: “Then I’ll drive there.”

Meng Yilan’s expression finally relaxed a little. She turned around and took a set of keys from the cabinet, handing them to Bai Zi: “Be careful on the road, remember to send me a message every half hour. If you encounter an emergency, notify me immediately.”

Bai Zi took the keys and nodded, and then reached out her hand to Mao Mao. After the latter jumped onto her back, she turned around and left home.

Meng Yilan, who was left alone in the living room, stood there for a while, and the nerves that had just relaxed began to tighten again. A sense of uncertainty, as if she was suspended in the air, suddenly surged in her heart, making her feel very uncomfortable.

At this time, Lin Quwei was flipping through documents on the computer in the room. Suddenly, the door behind him was pushed open forcefully, and then Meng Yilan’s slightly anxious voice came: “I feel a little stuffy at home.”

Lin Quwei turned his head, and saw Meng Yilan taking the coat hanging on the door and putting it on: “Let’s go find a place to talk, you drove here, right?”

“Ah?” Lin Quwei was stunned. “…Yeah.”

So, just as Bai Zi pushed the burgundy motorcycle to the front of the building, she ran into Meng Yilan and Lin Quwei walking towards her.

Before she could open her mouth to speak, Meng Yilan said, “It’s a little stuffy at home. We discussed it and thought it would be good to talk things over in the entertainment district. We’ll give you a ride too.”

Lin Quwei was stunned. When did me and Meng Yilan discuss this?

A few minutes later, Bai Zi and Mao Mao were sitting in the back seat of a blue car.

Lin Quwei was driving, and Meng Yilan was sitting in the passenger seat.

Bai Zi couldn’t understand how things had suddenly developed like this.

An extremely awkward atmosphere permeated the car. None of the three spoke, and even Mao Mao was sitting quietly by the window, looking outside.

About half an hour later, Bai Zi was sitting in a coffee shop, while Mao Mao was sitting at her feet, playing with its empty left sleeve intently.

Meng Yilan was sitting next to Bai Zi, and Lin Quwei was sitting across from them.

The awkward atmosphere in the car hadn’t dissipated, and the three were silent.

At this time, Bai Zi’s watch flashed. It was a message from Old Mao: “I’m at table 107 in ‘Sleepless’.”

“Old Mao is at ‘Sleepless’,” Bai Zi, who had been enduring for a long time, immediately stood up. “You guys talk, I’ll go over there first.”

After saying that, Bai Zi led Mao Mao and left the coffee shop in a hurry.

Meng Yilan frowned, and was about to call out to her, but was stopped by Lin Quwei: “That bar is nearby, less than five minutes away. Don’t worry, don’t you have a GPS tracker?”

Before Meng Yilan could reply, Bai Zi had quickly left. She had no choice but to close her mouth and take out her laptop.

On the other side, Bai Zi quickly led Mao Mao through the deserted streets, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

Bai Zi didn’t know what she was panicking about, but she always felt suffocated when the three of them were in the same space.

Soon, she arrived at the entrance of the Sleepless Bar with Mao Mao.

The bar was located on the first floor underground. The exterior looked very simple, and even the door wasn’t two meters wide, but the inside was a different world.

The space was very large. Although the psychedelic lights that a bar should have had been replaced with slightly monotonous candles or kerosene lamps, the shop’s careful decoration gave it a bit of a medieval tavern feel, and many citizens would rush here to drink and have fun on holidays.

A few days ago, Bai Zi had come here with Meng Yilan to meet with people from the Black Bridge Company.

Meng Yilan had talked to them about what had happened at the prison—strangely enough, even though Meng Yilan was the one who had tricked them, the people from Black Bridge thought that they were in the wrong, and even offered a large sum of points as compensation.

Bai Zi, carrying Mao Mao on her back, walked to table 107. Old Mao, who was drinking beer, immediately pointed to the chair opposite him, telling Bai Zi to sit down quickly, “We only have beer here, I’m treating tonight.”

“Another glass of boiled water,” Bai Zi pulled Mao Mao off her back, letting it sit next to her, “She’s thirsty too.”

The lights in the bar were very dim. Only now did Old Mao see clearly that Bai Zi had actually brought a red orangutan, and almost spat out the beer in his mouth, “Where did you get this monkey?”

“It’s an orangutan,” Bai Zi corrected.

“That’s great,” Old Mao handed his beer to Bai Zi, “Want to give it some?”

Bai Zi immediately refused, “She’ll definitely pee on me if it gets drunk.”

Hearing this, Old Mao laughed heartily.

Old Mao’s real name was Mao Lu. He was of medium build, and although he wasn’t even thirty years old, he looked very mature. Coupled with the fact that he didn’t like to dress up, he always made people think that he was a forty-year-old uncle.

While Old Mao was laughing, Bai Zi suddenly felt that someone was staring at her, so she immediately turned her head to look, but didn’t find anything unusual.

“I’m surprised you still remember me,” Old Mao suddenly sighed with emotion, “At the art museum, I didn’t even dare to recognize you.”

Bai Zi turned her head back, asking in confusion, “Why?”

“You know someone like Miss Meng, so you must be doing well,” Old Mao said, taking another sip of beer, “I’ve been working myself to death these past few months, and only managed to find a job as a guard. How would I dare to bother you?”

Bai Zi was stunned, “You work for Hongya?”

“You didn’t know?” Old Mao asked back, “That art museum is now managed by the Hongya Group… Hey, forget about the art museum, there are Hongya people everywhere in Bei City now, you don’t have to worry about the rest of your life.”

Bai Zi frowned, and explained with a serious expression, “I’m just an assistant that Miss Meng hired temporarily. I don’t have any special relationship with her. Don’t say things like you wouldn’t dare to bother me. Back then…if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even have been able to eat.”

Hearing this, Old Mao’s expression became complicated, “There’s no need to thank me. The reason I was willing to hire you in the first place was because I thought you really had the qualifications, and you really helped me a lot,” saying that, he sighed again, “What’s more, you and I are the same, having lost our parents at a young age, it’s nothing to take care of you a little.”

In that instant, Bai Zi felt her heart skip a beat.

“Ouch,” Old Mao suddenly frowned, “My stomach hurts a little, I shouldn’t have eaten that bread just now…Little Bai, I’m going to the bathroom first, I’ll be right back!”

After Old Mao left, clutching his stomach, Bai Zi was still sitting blankly in her chair.

At this time, Old Mao’s words, “having lost our parents at a young age,” were constantly echoing in her mind—just a few words made Bai Zi feel that everything around her was instantly moving away, leaving her alone falling into the endless deep sea.

In a daze, Bai Zi felt someone suddenly sit down opposite her.

It wasn’t Old Mao.

Before she could raise her head to look, she heard that familiar voice, with a hint of charm, coming over, “Wild Rabbit?”