Chapter 121: Aberrant 11

Holding her little sister’s soft hand, Chen Cailing finally breathed a sigh of relief after leading her out of Tianzi Building and turned back to answer her question.

“You only need to spend money to buy things outside. Here, you don’t.”

Chen Cailing didn’t know much about this place or what dangers they might face. She only clearly remembered one teacher saying that ordinary Players like them were just “bait” in an S-grade Domain.

She instinctively hugged her little sister, who still didn’t understand what was happening, tightly and warned her nervously, “You must stay close to me. Don’t run off.”

“Okay.” Qian glanced back at Tianzi Building and nodded obediently, then urged, “Sister, let’s go to the supermarket.”

The reason she obediently followed the older girl out was because of that promise to go to the supermarket and get some food. As a little chubby girl with a sweet tooth, Qian had never lacked snacks, but in recent days, she hadn’t eaten anything good.

Seeing Qian’s hopeful expression, Chen Cailing looked at her round little belly and hesitated before asking, “Are you hungry?”

Though Qian wasn’t really hungry, she nodded decisively.

“Then let’s find something to eat first.” Chen Cailing held the red brick still stained with dirt in one hand and Qian’s hand in the other as they headed toward the street near Tianzi Building.

That street looked cleaner than other places, not as rundown.

Any experienced Player would have immediately steered clear of this street, just like avoiding Tianzi Building.

But Chen Cailing had no experience and didn’t realize that cleaner streets meant greater danger here. She simply thought honestly that the chance of finding food here was higher.

Indeed, there was a small supermarket on that street—and it was even open.

Chen Cailing looked at the supermarket sign and said with surprise and a bit of joy, “This is called Meijia Supermarket! There’s one called Meijia near our school too.”

Because of the shared name, she felt an involuntary sense of familiarity and closeness, as if her feet had a mind of their own, wanting to walk inside.

Qian looked at the supermarket sign, which was mostly covered in red paint and unreadable.

But Chen Cailing had already pulled her inside. Qian was instantly attracted by the shelves and forgot about the sign’s problem, happily following along.

The small supermarket took up three storefronts. The inside wasn’t very large—about seven or eight aisles at a glance. Shelves lined the walls, and a large counter made the space feel cramped.

The moment Qian stepped inside, the heavy, bulky figure that had been sitting on the chair behind the counter seemed to melt, flowing down from the chair like a puddle of sludge onto the floor.

Even sensing the prey had entered its mouth, it remained silent and showed no sign of presence.

Chen Cailing stood at the door for a moment. Finding no danger, she quickly led Qian to the two aisles closest to the entrance, where drinks and snacks were displayed.

Pulling off a red plastic bag, Chen Cailing said, “Quick, let’s grab as much as we can. Once we’re done, we leave.”

For kids, being able to grab whatever they want off the shelves was always incredibly exciting.

Qian grabbed some brightly packaged candy from the shelves and then went over to the drinks aisle. Unfortunately, there was no yogurt she liked, so she hesitated among the remaining drinks.

Chen Cailing, quick and efficient, already packed a big bag of food and came over to urge Qian to hurry. Reluctantly, Qian grabbed two rows of yogurt and followed her out.

Neither entering nor leaving the supermarket was met with any obstacles or danger. This smoothness, just like when she led Qian out of Tianzi Building before, made Chen Cailing feel both incredulous and happy.

Seeing Qian peeling the plastic wrapping off the yogurt while walking, Chen Cailing took a pack from her and put it into the plastic bag, then opened a bottle and inserted a straw before handing it to her.

Qian eagerly took it and gulped down two big sips, smacking her lips happily as she said, “Thank you!”

Chen Cailing patted her head. The child’s hair was messily tied, probably from waking up and not being combed.

That was true—before meeting Chen Cailing, Qian had just gotten up, and her Aberrant “mother” was still asleep, so no one had helped comb her hair, leaving it a tangled mess.

“Since you’re hungry, here—have a little bun.” Chen Cailing pulled a small bun from the plastic bag.

Qian held the bun without moving and kept drinking the yogurt. Chen Cailing took the bun, tore off its wrapper, and helped her. She was used to taking care of younger kids.

“These foods are from when the Aberrant Domain first appeared—food that was already in the supermarket. Even though it’s been a long time, time in the Aberrant Domain stops, so the food is basically preserved and still edible.”

Chen Cailing had heard this from the older sister who had led her around a D-grade domain to find food. Now she was passing it on to the younger sister.

Though Qian probably only understood that the food was safe to eat.

Qian took a bite of the bun, then another sip of yogurt, her eyes squinting happily.

The surrounding street was quiet, and the sun hadn’t set yet.

Chen Cailing tidied Qian’s hair and felt a little annoyed. “I should’ve grabbed a comb at the supermarket earlier so I could fix your hair.”

“I have a comb,” Qian mumbled, pulling a small comb from her skirt pocket.

She had found it in a room somewhere in the building, liked it, and kept it with her.

While Qian ate, Chen Cailing untangled and combed her messy hair.

In this, Chen Cailing was an expert. In their Orphanage, there were few older girls, so she often combed the little sisters’ hair and was very skilled.

Compared to the Aberrant mother’s usual braided pigtails, Chen Cailing naturally braided her into twin ponytails.

She worked quickly, and once done, clipped the bougainvillea hair clips back into Qian’s hair—one on the left, one on the right—and even added an extra clip.

“Where should I put the other clip?” Chen Cailing held up the bougainvillea f

When Qian first picked those bougainvillea flowers to clip in her hair, they kept moving rebelliously. But after the Aberrant had ruined several of them each time she combed her hair, the remaining ones became incredibly obedient, quietly holding onto Qian’s hair like hair clips.

Now, Qian looked at the extra clip, then glanced at Chen Cailing’s loose bangs and grabbed the clip, placing it on her head.

“For you.” She let go, and the bougainvillea clip automatically fastened itself in Chen Cailing’s hair.

Chen Cailing reached up to touch it, found nothing unusual, and smiled, saying thank you.

She didn’t know that in this Monster Domain, there were only four hours of daylight. Watching the sun gradually tilt westward, a sense of urgency grew inside her.

“Are you full? We need to find somewhere to hide.”

Qian shook her head. “I want to drink one more bottle of yogurt.”

Then she asked, “Why do we have to hide?”

Chen Cailing opened a new bottle for her and coaxed gently, “Because we’re playing a game. Soon, someone will come to catch us, so we have to hide.”

At the mention of a game, Qian understood.

“Hide-and-seek! I’ve played that with Daddy Tong and the assistant sister.”

“Right, exactly hide-and-seek.” Chen Cailing coaxed her just like she did with the little girls back at the Orphanage, pulling her along briskly.

Seeing how quickly the sky was darkening, Chen Cailing found what she thought was a safer spot—a small building on a street corner—and ran inside with Qian, firmly closing the door behind them.

It was a tiny storefront—an unmanned shop.

Less than three square meters in size, there was barely any space left once the two kids squeezed in.

“Why does it get dark so fast?” Chen Cailing lifted the curtain on the door, peering through a small corner of glass at the darkening sky outside. She bit her lip anxiously, then turned and hugged Qian tightly.

The two sat close by the door, one big and one small. Chen Cailing was tense, but the rustling sound of Qian eating snacks in her arms reminded her of a little sister sneaking food at night in the same room—a mouse-like noise—and her attention shifted.

She held Qian and chatted with her.

“My name’s Chen Cailing. What’s your name?”

“I’m Qian.”

“Qian, do you know about the System? What’s your System Mission?”

Chen Cailing worried that if Qian’s Survival System also gave her a special Mission, like hers to bring things out of Tianzi Building, then she could share the brick with her.

Qian thought for a long time, then tilted her head uncertainly and said, “To stay alive?”

Chen Cailing relaxed—it was just the basic survival mission.

Although the Systems they mentioned weren’t the same, nor their Missions identical, communication posed no problem.

Holding Qian’s small body tightly, Chen Cailing felt a deep pity and sympathy for her. Compared to Qian, who at just three years old had to face such things, she felt how lucky she was.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you,” Chen Cailing said solemnly.

Qian’s mouth was full of crumbs; she stuck out her tongue to lick them. Suddenly Chen Cailing heard a noise outside, quickly shushed her, pressed the plastic bag in Qian’s hand, and whispered, “Don’t make a sound!”

It was already completely dark outside. A few people ran past from down the street, and others were running toward them.

Qian heard the noise, stood up, and poked her head outside the curtain, pressing against the glass to look out. Chen Cailing hurriedly pulled her back, covered the curtain, shook her head pale-faced, and whispered, “Don’t look.”

The people running past were Players, but Chen Cailing already knew that sometimes in these Domains, Players were as terrifying as the monsters. So she dared not be noticed.

“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared.” After the runners faded away, she told Qian.

Qian squatted in Chen Cailing’s arms, feeling her trembling slightly, so she stood up, hugged her neck, patted her head, and said the same, “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared!”

Chen Cailing suddenly felt strength flowing into her from Qian. She took a deep breath, picked up her red brick, crouched by the door, and looked outside.

She saw someone enter Tianzi Building and vaguely heard screams coming from there.

Suddenly, she felt something scratching her foot—ticklish. Thinking it was Qian, she looked down only to see strange, gray-black things crawling out of the ground.

Chen Cailing didn’t know what they were, but she knew for sure they weren’t good.

Without hesitation, she slammed the brick down hard.

The wriggling gray-black things turned to black ash under the brick.

Looking again, Qian was curiously about to step on them, her shoe pressing down with a soft squish, but those things didn’t turn to ash.

“Qian, come quickly, get on my back!”

Chen Cailing’s voice was trembling, but she still lifted Qian onto her back and kept smashing the things oozing from the ground with a brick, not stopping for a second.

While she was focused on dealing with these low-level creatures, a massive, eerie shadow passed by outside the door. The strange being, upon smelling the scent of food, also sensed the presence of an Aberrant’s aura and hurriedly left the area.