Chapter Two: Phoenix!
When Tang Ye returned home carrying his "prey," the old man and the chubby boy were busy breaking stones.
To be more precise, the old man was sprawled on a battered rattan chair, soaking several large tree roots in a hefty iron mug, while directing the chubby boy to shape the massive stones—hauled down from the mountains by the boy himself—into neat, uniform blocks with a heavy hammer.
Shameless old scoundrel!
These stone blocks were destined for house-building—sturdy and solid, excellently sealed, able to withstand the onslaught of monsters, shield against solar storms, and resist acid rain erosion.
After the Great Cataclysm, less than one in ten humans survived. Those with the means migrated to New Star—the Red Moon Base that scientists and magnates had begun developing long ago.
Those without, like Tang Ye, were left as orphans amid the ruins.
To guard against terrifying beasts—or compatriots even more dreadful than beasts—people, by instinct, gathered together, forming human enclaves one after another.
Huddling for warmth is human nature, but one must always beware the snake or porcupine in the fold.
Every day, people died in these enclaves, while new wanderers arrived from somewhere else. Thus, an endless demand for stones to build shelters arose.
Stonemasonry, nearly obsolete before the Cataclysm, had suddenly become a coveted trade, the top choice for young job-seekers...
“Big brother, you’re back?” The chubby boy stopped his hammering, wiped sweat from his brow, and greeted Tang Ye with a simple, honest smile.
That wipe was his undoing—the dust on his palm mixed with the sweat on his face, leaving several streaks on his cheeks and turning him into a painted clown.
The old man pointed at the boy and unleashed a tirade, roaring, “How many times have I told you? Don’t wipe your face when you’re working! Look at the state you’re in—where am I supposed to get water to wash you up?”
“When have you ever let us wash our faces with water?” Tang Ye stood up for the chubby boy, snorting coldly. “Isn’t it always just a wipe with the sleeve? None of us remember the last time we actually washed up.”
“The last time I washed my face is the last time any of you washed yours,” the old man retorted unceremoniously.
Tang Ye and the chubby boy always washed their faces with the water left after the old man had finished. The old man went first, Tang Ye—being half a year older—was second, and the chubby boy was third.
Though only two ahead, with such infrequent washing, by the time it was the chubby boy’s turn, the basin was little more than a bowl of mud.
Who knew if it was clean, but it was certainly nourishing...
Otherwise, how could they work and live every day exposed to the harsh sun and wind, yet still be plump and fair-faced like a steamed bun?
After the Cataclysm, water resources on the planet’s surface were heavily polluted—even groundwater was corroded by acid rain and toxic gases.
That wasn’t water, it was sulfuric acid. Finding clean, usable water was like searching for the moon in the sky.
“You call that washing? And you have the face to say so?”
“You little brat, you’ve got some nerve! I send you out hunting and look what you’ve brought back?”
“A person,” Tang Ye replied.
The old man shook his head, peering at Tang Ye with grave seriousness. “How many times have I told you? We don’t eat that. Not before, not ever.”
“Human flesh is sour,” the chubby boy chimed in with a goofy grin.
...
Seeing Tang Ye and the old man staring at him in horror, the chubby boy hurriedly explained, “I’ve never eaten it! I heard it from Granny Wang at the village entrance... I wouldn’t eat it, not even if I starved.”
“It’s not for you to eat. I picked her up outside...” Tang Ye smacked the woman’s full hip and called out, “Hey, wake up.”
He had carried her back slung over his shoulder like a sheep, her torso dangling behind him, while he gripped a two-headed sheep in his left hand and used his right to rouse her.
It was, admittedly, a convenient position for a slap...
The moment he’d locked eyes with this woman who’d fallen from the sky, she’d fainted dead away.
It left Tang Ye feeling a deep sense of defeat—he even briefly doubted his own looks.
Of course, remembering his own name, he brushed away such nonsense immediately.
“Picked up? Where?”
“Hate Mountain,” Tang Ye replied.
“How did you find her?”
“I was carrying the two-headed sheep home... Suddenly, a white light flashed in the sky, and a big iron box fell down... She crawled out of it.”
The old man got up from his rattan chair, approached, and scrutinized the woman’s clothes and features with a grave face. “She must be from New Star. Who knows what disaster she’s been through... We can’t keep someone like this. Send her away at once.”
“All right.” Tang Ye didn’t think much of the old man’s character, but he trusted his survival instincts. Otherwise, their little trio would have been devoured, bones and all, long ago.
Tang Ye hefted the woman and headed for the courtyard gate. “Where should I send her?”
The old man’s face twisted into his familiar constipated expression. After a long moment, he waved his hand. “Since you picked her up, she’s heaven’s gift to you—your private property. Keep her or toss her, it’s your choice.”
With that, he took his mug of roots and went back inside.
...
Tang Ye was dumbfounded.
The old fox had neatly washed his hands of the matter!
“Brother, keep her,” the chubby boy sniffled, offering his advice. “She can help us break stones.”
...
—
When the girl opened her eyes, she saw Tang Ye pulling a clump of dark green, viscous matter out of his mouth and smearing it onto her exposed calf.
Smack!
A perfect hit.
The unknown substance landed squarely on a wound, the cool sensation instantly soothing the burning pain. Only then did she catch the herbal fragrance.
“What are you doing?” the girl rasped, her voice hoarse as if she hadn’t drunk water in ages.
“Treating you,” Tang Ye replied. “You’re injured—eleven wounds. Three large, eight small... Oh, nine small...”
“...No tools to grind the herbs?”
“There are,” Tang Ye said, “but they’re outside, and I couldn’t be bothered to fetch them. Besides, there’s no water to clean them...”
...
“And my mouth’s been inflamed lately... The juice of snake-leaf tree is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial—I didn’t want to waste it.”
Fair enough!
...
“Thank you,” the girl managed.
At death’s door, details became trivial.
When you’re starving, it’s foolish to complain the bowl isn’t clean.
She glanced at Tang Ye’s bruised lips, thinking, at least that’s not the bowl I’ll be eating from...
“Who are you? Where is this place?” she asked.
Tang Ye looked at her. “I should be the one asking you, shouldn’t I? I’ve taken in a woman of unknown origin—there’s a lot of pressure on me...”
The old man wouldn’t care, the chubby boy couldn’t handle it, and his own safety was his own responsibility.
He’d already sacrificed his precious daily ration of clean water, and even his long-cherished snake-leaf collection—he might have to give up more still...
He needed to know exactly who this woman was.
“I’m from New Star,” the girl said, meeting his gaze.
That made her answer all the more sincere.
“I can tell,” Tang Ye nodded. Her clothes, her high-tech escape pod—her origins were obvious...
No one in these ruins had access to such products.
And her skin—so pale...
Here, it was acid rain or solar storms, hunger and thirst, brutal conditions—who could have such skin?
Apart from the chubby boy, of course.
“We came to Blue Star to explore, but the starship malfunctioned. In a moment of crisis, I fled in an escape pod...” the woman explained.
“What’s your name?”
“Phoenix,” she replied.
“Phoenix?”
“Phoenix.”
“Liar,” Tang Ye scoffed.
...
“I told you, you have eleven wounds—two from swords, one from a bullet... the rest are scrapes from your fall. If it was a starship accident, where did the sword and bullet wounds come from?”
“Besides, I know there’s a Phoenix Empire on New Star... You must be from there. You just woke up and didn’t have time to make up a fake name, so you blurted out Phoenix...”
Phoenix glanced at Tang Ye in surprise. This boy, who’d just bungled simple arithmetic, was so astute and perceptive?
A chill ran down her spine. What if he’d made those mistakes on purpose?
What if he was only pretending to be an ordinary youth, to lull her into lowering her guard and reveal more valuable information?
Terrifying!
Phoenix sighed softly. “My name really is Phoenix. There are many girls named Phoenix in the Phoenix Empire—I’m just one of them.”
Tang Ye nodded. “That reason I can accept.”
Accepting and believing are two different things.
“As for the sword and bullet wounds... I hadn’t meant to mention this. I’m a student at the Royal First Military Academy of Phoenix Empire. We came to Blue Star, led by our instructor, to search for legendary ruins...
“At first, all went well. But when we found a royal tomb, another group tried to seize it for themselves. There was fierce fighting... I barely managed to escape into the pod and get away.”
“And the others?” Tang Ye asked.
“Most are dead...”
“The survivors—the ones who wanted the tomb for themselves—they might hunt you down to silence you, isn’t that so?”
Phoenix nodded. “Yes.”
She couldn’t hide that—and had to be prepared...
“But don’t worry. Once I recover, I’ll leave in the escape pod. I won’t bring you any trouble.”
“And when will you recover?” Tang Ye asked hopefully. “Could it be tonight?”
Phoenix glanced outside. “What time is it now?”
“Nine thirty-five in the evening,” Tang Ye said, glancing at the ‘found’ digital watch on his wrist. “Or maybe forty-five. It’s accurate to within ten minutes... so you don’t have much time left.”
...