Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 138

“Brother, I’m a bit scared,” Qingzhi tightly grasped his brother’s sleeve, unwilling to let go of the candied hawthorn in his other hand.

“Don’t be afraid. Brother is here.”

Qingke patted his younger brother’s hand, calmly observing the surroundings. This was a strange room, completely different from the temple they had entered.

The dilapidated sign of the temple had the characters “Guanzizai Bodhi” written on it, but the temple itself was desolate, uninhabited, and overgrown with wild sunflowers, becoming a refuge for stray cats.

This current place also looked like a temple, but the architecture was completely different, with some furnishings he did not recognize at all.

The windows were lavishly made from a whole piece of transparent crystal, which let in a lot of light and provided excellent wind resistance. A temple with such extravagance?

“Brother, I think there’s a stinky smell.” As Qingzhi spoke, he took another lick of the candied hawthorn in his hand.

The more scared he was, the more he wanted to eat. He couldn’t help it. Qingke bit the candy carefully, not daring to make a loud sound. He could only hold on to the corner of his elder brother’s clothes tightly.

Qingke also smelled it—a faint rotten odor in the air, like a dead chicken left uncleaned for too long.

“Let’s go outside and take a look.”

Holding the candied hawthorn in his hand, he didn’t throw it away. Although their family was well-off, their father never wasted food and always taught them to cherish it.

Qingke always listened to his father, so even though it was cumbersome to hold, he didn’t discard the few sticks of candied hawthorn. Qingzhi held all the candied hawthorn in one hand, while the other hand was held by his elder brother. The two of them walked forward cautiously, not daring to let go.

They didn’t know how they ended up in this place, but at least the brothers were together. As long as they held onto each other, they felt somewhat reassured that they won’t be separated.

Pushing open the old door with a creak, they found themselves in an extremely desolate temple. It was very empty and quiet, so quiet it made them uneasy.

Hand in hand, they walked out of the temple, and suddenly the rotten smell became extremely strong.

Outside the temple was a small forest, dark and shadowy, like it was filled with ghosts. To leave the temple, they had to pass through this forest. Beyond the forest, Qingke seemed to see tall buildings in the distance. He muttered to himself that the buildings here were excessively tall.

Gradually, the ghostly shadows in the forest became more apparent, revealing their true forms bit by bit. Qingke frowned, looking at the stiff, blood-stained “people” with pallid faces.

Having inherited Yan Cai’s life-abilities, Qingke could sense the force of life. However, as these “people” approached, he didn’t sense any at all, which clearly indicated that these were not humans.

Or rather, not quite humans.

They were more like the zombies he had read about in storybooks, a name he had heard before.

Qingzhi was very scared. Ever since he saw those things, his palms were all sweaty.

“Are these the things Father talked about?” Qingzhi poked his head out.

“Probably,” Qingke replied. Father had mentioned them in his stories.

Those things advanced aggressively, yellow foul-smelling liquid dripping from their teeth. One of them moved quickly, lunging straight at them.

Qingke remembered his father’s instructions on how to kill such things: aim for the forehead.

A dark green branch extended from his sleeve, swaying left and right but hesitating to shoot out. Qingke just pulled his brother to the side, dodging the attack.

At a crucial moment, Qingke’s aversion to filth kicked in. He had inherited Jiang Manyue’s finicky habits without fail.

The thought of his branch piercing that dirty head was too disgusting. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, and his younger brother had no offensive abilities whatsoever.

The creature missed them with its lunge and came after them again, moving as fast as lightning.

Qingke grabbed the candied hawthorn from his brother’s hand, took one, and with all his might, hurled it like a meteor crashing to earth, straight through the creature’s head.

Dong-dong, bang-dang, , three sounds followed.

The sound of the hawthorn hitting the ground was one, the creature falling was another, and the third was something falling out of the creature’s head.

Crystal clear, like a piece of crystal stone.

Qingzhi blinked, then silently handed all the candied hawthorn to his older brother. Qingke was a bit reluctant to give up the candied hawthorn; his action earlier had been out of urgency. He squatted down to pick up some crystal stones, finding them more fulfilling than the candied hawthorn.

Those creatures stood no chance against Qingke. They all fell.

But this didn’t make Qingke relax at all. There was no other father, no Father, no Uncle Zhu, Aunt Hong Yu, or Uncle Chi here…

He was the older brother, and he had to protect his younger brother.

Compared to these things that didn’t emit any life energy, the overwhelming energy approaching next made Qingke a bit nervous. He didn’t know the term “energy,” but he could instinctively sense a unique power.

And now, the life force approaching him was very strong, even comparable to his father’s. Qingke had always been able to sense this; the stronger the person, the more pronounced their energy.

They were very strong.

The newcomers revealed themselves, looking strange and bizarre, both men and women. They looked too weird. Their hair was very short, their clothes were odd, and nothing about them seemed normal. Seeing the two brothers, the newcomers were clearly very surprised and started whispering among themselves.

Qingke could understand their speech, though the accent was a bit strange. It sounded somewhat like his father’s accent, he noted internally.

A bald man suddenly shouted, “Everyone, come and look! There are two kids here!”

You’re the kid! I’m not a kid; I’m thirteen! Qingke thought indignantly. He knew this wasn’t the time to assert himself. There were too many people on the other side, and many of them were very powerful.

Unlike the bald man’s focus, someone else noticed the zombies lying all over the ground, with zombie crystals scattered everywhere, yet no one was picking them up.

There were no other people around.

“Kids, did you kill them?”

Qingke remained silent. His younger brother followed his lead and also stayed quiet. Seeing they couldn’t get the brothers to talk, the man who spoke turned his head and shouted again.

“Brother Yan, come over and help us check. Are there really only two people here?” The man was afraid that these two brothers were just a distraction and that there might be an ambush behind them.

Their team had recently gained a new member with a useful ability. Although they weren’t entirely clear on his full capabilities, they knew he could sense people’s energy and determine how many living beings were present.

That person walked over from the back, responding, “Coming.”

A familiar clear voice rang out, and Qingzhi immediately showed an expression of joy, excitement, and relief.

“Father! Father!” Qingzhi was about to run over but was held back by the cautious Qingke. Since arriving here, Qingke had become noticeably more cautious than usual.

Father wasn’t here, so he had to take care of his brother. However, even he recognized that it was indeed their father’s voice. If he hadn’t felt that something was off about the situation, he probably would have rushed over too.

When the man came into view, Qingzhi’s eyes lit up, and the tension Qingke had been holding onto since their arrival finally relaxed.

It was Father, it really was Father.

Qingzhi couldn’t help but want to rush into their father’s arms, not caring if this father looked a bit different from usual.

He knew this was his Father.

Qingke didn’t stop him, but the man stepped back, looking at them warily.

Their hearts sank. It was over; Father didn’t recognize them.

“There really are only these two kids here,” Yan Cai responded coolly to their question.

“Then these kids are pretty impressive.”

Seeing their father talking to others without acknowledging them, Qingzhi panicked and started to cry. Qingke felt a dark cloud form in his heart. This father looked the same as their father but was also different. His hair was short, and his clothes were strange.

“Father…”

Hearing the child cry and call Yan Cai father, the bald man laughed teasingly.

“Brother Yan, the kid’s calling you father. You should respond.”

Yan Cai ignored the man and looked at the two children. Their clothes were unsuitable for surviving here, and both were clean and tidy.

In the apocalypse, few people remained clean. They either lived deep in the mountains or had a powerful ability.

“No need to go further. I’ve checked, and there’s nothing inside. No zombies, no people. Let’s go back. It’s getting dark,” Yan Cai said.

“What do you mean nothing? Aren’t there a lot of crystal cores on the ground?” A chubby man laughed and squatted to pick them up, but the wild grass on the ground suddenly hardened like iron, stabbing into his palm.

“Yan Cai, what are you doing?” There is no one else in the team who can use this ability.

“They’re not yours. They belong to those two,” Yan Cai said, glancing at the children.

Qingke felt a warmth in his heart. Even if their father didn’t remember them, he was still kind to them.

“Father… no, I mean, you can have all of these.”

The others were instantly envious. Some of these fallen zombies were of a pretty high level, and Yan Cai was getting the crystals for free.

“Giving them to me?” Yan Cai raised an eyebrow. These kids were too naive. If they encountered someone ruthless, they’d be left with nothing. Didn’t they see how his team was itching to pounce, held back only by fear of him?

“Yes, all for you.” Father, Qingke whispered in his heart.

“Alright. But I won’t take them for free. In exchange, I’ll give you better clothes. In a place like this, you can’t wear clothes like those.”

So, the two children changed into clothes they found very strange. As for their original clothes, Qingke didn’t throw them away but tied them around his waist.

They wanted to leave; neither of the brothers wanted to stay there. Although Father didn’t recognize them, being near him gave them a sense of security.

The team members looked at the two brothers trailing behind but didn’t stop them. Someone even teased, “Brother Yan, you’re not that old, but you’ve got two sons now.”

They had heard the kids call Yan Cai “Father.”

And to be honest, the two of them did look quite a bit like Yan Cai, resembling a family. However, no one seriously believed they were his sons.

After all, everyone knew that those with abilities had lost their fertility and couldn’t have children.