Knights of the Wasteland Fortress

Chapter 2 The Shelter Boy
"Cripple! Cripple! Dead Cripple!"

"There's no water for you to drink here!"

"Go to hell! Dead cripple!"

Cheorwon Shelter, the tenth floor underground, the frame floor.

In front of the crowded water intake room, a group of children with an average of five or six years old were yelling and throwing broken tiles at a teenage black-haired boy.

The black-haired boy who was besieged by them also wore the same style of unlined clothing and old cloak, but he was slightly older and his body was thinner.

Just like the children were yelling at, the black-haired boy had a disabled left foot, holding a long wooden stick more than one meter long in his left hand, and an old and cracked pottery kettle in his right hand.

Facing the children's siege, the boy silently raised his cloak and protected the water bottle in his arms, as if he was protecting the most precious thing, and also as if he was waiting for someone to speak out to stop this silly farce.

Finally, after about four to five minutes, a middle-aged woman in her 5s pushed away the surrounding shelter residents and squeezed in angrily.

The moment she saw the little ghosts, she opened her eyes wide in surprise, then waved her arms and roared loudly:
"You little bastards! Have you had enough trouble?! Didn't I say it? Don't disturb the order of the water room!!"

Her voice was like thunder, shaking people in the water room to cover their ears.

And the little ghosts also shouted one after another, and scattered:

"Run! It's the old fat woman, Aunt Wang!"

The woman called "Aunt Wang" by the little ghosts watched them disappear into the crowd angrily, then turned around, looked at the messy black-haired boy, and continued to shout:

"Why is it you again?!!! What about the rest of your family? What about your adoptive mother Hera and elder sister Hena?! And that brat Heda! He's almost six years old now?! Why are you the cripple? Get water?!"

The woman's roar shook the dust on the ceiling, and even a small piece of the tiles on the wall cracked.

But the young man didn't make any rebuttals, he just smiled softly, lowered his head and explained:

"I'm sorry, Aunt Wang... Hera—my mother is sick, and Hena has to go to school today, so I can only come."

The boy's head was lowered, and he couldn't see the expression on his face clearly, and the residents of the refuge around him also looked at all this as a matter of course, and had no intention of complaining about him.

The woman looked at him with disgust, until she thought for a while, then turned around, and shouted loudly:

"Come here! I'll finish your 'water quota' first! Lest those brats come back and beat you! Get out of here after fetching water! Don't do it again next time!"

"Thank you, Aunt Wang! Thank you!"

The boy didn't pay attention to the taunt from the woman's mouth, but limped along.

As he made his way through the crowd, some of the Vault residents cast him disgusted glances.

But the young man didn't seem to notice this, and with a smile that he didn't know was hypocritical or numb, he followed behind the woman to the sink at the front of the queue, and put the kettle in his hand and a small piece with "one liter" written on it. The wood chip was handed to her.

"Aunt Wang, this is my 'water quota' for today."

The boy said in a low voice.

The middle-aged woman did not speak. As the "water worker" of the refuge, she turned on the water valve with a cold face, allowing the dirty, turbid, rust-smelling circulating water to flow into the kettle.

She turned off the tap just after half of the muddy water in the kettle.

The woman stuffed the kettle back into the boy's arms, and waved her hands in disgust:
"Okay! Let Hena come over next time! Or that brat Heda! I don't want to see your face again! After being beaten for so long, don't you have a long memory?!"

The boy didn't speak, but silently said "thank you" to the woman, then limped and disappeared into the crowd.

The woman looked at his back and was taken aback for a moment before she thought in confusion:

"Although he's a little trash, he's quite polite..."

Then he came back to his senses amid the urging voices of others:

"Hurry up! Are you rushing to die?! Don't be a mother-in-law! Hand over the water card! Get the water and get out!"

In the center of the crowd, there was another angry shout from a woman.

.

Holding the kettle in his arms, the boy wobbled along the dilapidated corridor.

The smile on his face has disappeared, his eyes are staring at the shelter residents around him vigilantly, and he keeps recalling his experiences in the past three years in his heart——

It has been three years since the boy came back from the dead.

In the past three years, he has completely erased the innocence of time travel, and he has also thoroughly figured out what kind of world he is in now.

It may be too much to describe it as "the weak and the strong", but compared with the real "the weak and the strong", it is only a thin line away.

In this shelter that has been in operation for an unknown number of years, there are countless dilapidated cameras of unknown quality.

Under these "random effect" cameras, it is almost impossible for other shelter residents to kill for the "half jug of water" in his hand, but the possibility of beating him up and taking it away is not low.

For those who are dying of thirst, the so-called "order" in the shelter has no meaning at all.

Because they are penniless and unable to compensate for anything, "they" will not be afraid of any "punishment" at all.

They would snatch the jug, drink it down in front of the teenager, and then threaten to smash it and other valuables in his home if he sought help from the "guards" broken.

As early as a year ago, a "neighbor" next to the boy was forced to "desperate" by such "shelter rogues".

Yes, "cornered".

For the residents of the "tenth floor" shelter, things like "water bottles" can already be regarded as "precious items" passed down from generation to generation.

Although the situation in the boy's family is slightly better than others.

But that's just "slightly better".

So if possible, he still wants to avoid these risks——

Get back home as safely as possible.

"I am back."

The young man lowered his head and got into his old patched tent.

He was lucky today, and he didn't encounter any danger along the way.

And the moment he heard his voice, a red-haired boy who was only five or six years old in the tent stood up, looked at him with some joy, and said:

"Brother Jiatu! Welcome home!"

With an innocent smile on his face, the boy greeted the boy.

The boy also smiled and handed the kettle to the little boy's hand, and vigorously rubbed the little boy's crimson soft curly hair.

Compared to when he was fetching water, anyone can tell that at this moment, he is really smiling.

"Oh, our Heda is so much cuter than the kids outside."

The boy squatted down and squeezed the cheek of his younger brother, then he was distracted by the coughing sound from the depths of the tent.

"Ahem...Jiatu...you're back? When you were outside...were you bullied?"

On the floor deep in the tent, dark brown bedding was spread.

And on the only thing that could be called a "bed" in that tent, lay a pale red-haired woman.

Her long hair was like fire, but it was so dull and yellow that she couldn't see any luster.

She coughed hard, but propped up her upper body on her elbows, and looked towards the door—obviously she was concerned about the boy's experience when he fetched water.

"I told you not to let you go to the water room...but you still went..."

The woman frowned and asked softly.

When facing the little ghost, the boy didn't show any timidity, but the moment he saw the woman, he showed a trace of worry. He limped to the side of the mattress, pressed the woman's shoulders, and asked her to lie back. On to the futon.

"I'm fine..." the young man said softly.

He touched the woman's rough, pale palm, and comforted her in a low voice: "You're not seriously ill this time, so don't talk... Hena will borrow some 'medicine' from the training school tonight... Other things are still in order." With me and Heda, you can rest well..."

"But 'medicine'... how can 'medicine' be so easy to borrow..."

The red-haired woman followed the boy's movements and lay back on the bed, but subconsciously stretched out her hand to caress the wound on the corner of the boy's eye, her weak eyes were full of confusion:
"If I could have gotten the 'medicine'... your left foot would be fine..."

"What's the matter!"

The boy's voice raised slightly, he didn't care what the woman said, but comforted her softly:

"My left foot was necrotic during the 'Great Plague', when even adults kept dying, let alone my one foot... If you hadn't dug me out of the dead, I'm afraid I wouldn't even My life is gone, I don't even have time to thank you now, so don't think about it so much..."

"But...if I can get 'medicine'...if I can afford a doctor..."

The red-haired woman murmured, wanting to say something else.

But the voice is getting lower and lower.

Eventually disappears completely.

Jiatu felt the woman's pulse and heartbeat, and confirmed that she was just asleep. Then he breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and walked towards the corner of the tent.

There, there are some "clutter" - according to the boy's previous life, it may be called a "clump of debris".

In the "heap of debris", in addition to the "ceramic kettle" that was taken away before, there were also some rags, some rotten ropes used to wrap clothes, an uneven steel water cup, and several An unfinished dry food bar.

If you count this dilapidated tent with only seven or eight square meters, it is the "total property" of the Hera family.

Calling it "poor and white" may not be enough, but it is enough to represent the family situation of the vast majority of residents in the shelter.

The boy walked to the pile of debris, put a piece of half-dried wet cloth inside the water cup, watched the rust in the water cup gradually settle on the surface of the wet cloth, and then nodded with some satisfaction.

"Okay, when Hera wakes up, you can give her a drink..."

Turning his head, Jiatu looked at the little boy who was staring at him with some worry, and rubbed his little head with some relief.

The little guy narrowed his eyes and showed a puppy-like expression, but seeing his chapped and bleeding lips, Jiatu realized that in order to treat his adoptive mother, Heda, like himself, had not drank water for several days up.

The half jug of water he just brought back is already the last "recycling water quota" for his family.

"...I can't go on like this..."

The boy thought silently in his heart.

"If this continues, the water and food at home will be used up..."

He looked at the only two dry food sticks left at home, and finally made up his mind.

"Hedda."

Jiatu squatted down, looked at the little red-haired boy in front of him, and said as calmly as possible: "I'm going out for a while, and I won't be back until very late. Remember not to run around, do you understand?"

However, the little guy seemed to see what Jiatu was thinking, and couldn't help asking:

"But Brother Jiatu, it's very late now... Where are you going?"

The young man thought for a while, and still truthfully explained:
"The house is running out of water and food, and if Hena doesn't 'borrow' water and medicine, we'll have to figure it out..."

Otherwise, you will die of thirst or starvation...

Jiatu didn't say everything in his heart.

But Heda still felt his uneasiness.

The little guy tilted his head, and suddenly suggested happily:
"Then let me go too! Anyway, my sister will be back soon! I can help my brother! My sister can also help take care of my mother!"

Jiatu did not immediately agree to Heda's proposal.

Instead, I remembered the experience when I fetched water——

"If it was Heda who went to fetch water just now instead of me... would those little bastards still attack us? Would the residents of the shelter next to me be indifferent?"

The boy thought.

Then, with some sadness, he discovered that for those shelter residents, Heda might really be more valuable than himself, a "little cripple" who was just "picked up from the pile of dead people".

"Okay, come with me, but don't talk for a while, I will do all the negotiations."

Jiatu figured everything out, touched Heda's little head, and whispered to him.

And the little guy covered his mouth happily: "Okay! I will shut up obediently!"

Although for the little guy, he doesn't quite understand why Jiatu said that, but in his heart, among his family, the boy's words "have the most backup"——

"After all, Mom and Sister Hena both 'trust' Brother Jiatu the most!"

(End of this chapter)