Love Code at the End of the World

The peaceful night descended on Noah City again. There was only the moon in the sky, huge and round just like during Mid-Autumn. The silver moon was covered in a layer of yellow, which made her look extremely heart-warming.

Arsenal and I sat back to back on the city gate. I had short hair and was in my black battle uniform, with one leg bent and a hand resting on my knee. She had long, curly hair and her long dress was hanging over the city gate, swaying slightly in the night breeze. The moonlight drew out our long shadows, and we looked like a guy and a lady.

Actually, this wasn’t considered as the city gate. It was at most three meters tall, and could only be referred to as the entrance to the underground city. A short way after the entrance, the tunnel branched out into many different pathways. Hence, the tunnel that the people here normally used was different from the one Xing Chuan had entered from.

Second Sis started howling at the city gate again.

“What is she doing?” Arsenal looked at Second Sis curiously.

I glanced at her and answered, “She is most likely calling for her mates.”

“Calling for other flying corpses?!” Arsenal turned around slightly, sounding worried.

I turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?

She turned back before answering, “Nothing.” Although she had said nothing, I could tell from her tone that she was concerned. Flying corpses were mutated humans that were highly offensive after all. Her concern was right and proper.

“Don’t worry. Second Sis can communicate with us. If the other flying corpses are here, she will talk to them for us.”

Arsenal nodded. “This is our first time taking in a flying corpse. Although we are not enemies, we would usually keep them at a distance. Luo Bing, thanks to you we’ve gotten to know the flying corpses again. You’re right. They are humans.”

Arsenal’s kindness and tolerance of my action to keep the flying corpse regardless of others’ safety made me feel bad. “I’m sorry, Arsenal. Back then, I didn’t take the safety of the people from Noah City into consideration.”

“Luo Bing, in this world, a monster might be more reliable than a human. You don’t have to apologize because what you’ve brought to us is worth far more than all these.”

What Arsenal said made me feel even worse. She was such a beautiful and kind girl. Plus, she was far more mature. In front of her, I was simply an insensible child.

“How do you feel today?” she asked with concern, “Did the members of the scouting troop bully you?”

“No, they are very nice to me.” I looked up into the night sky. The night sky didn’t look as desolate and lonesome as before. The sky was covered in stars, and the milky way spanned across the night sky above us. It was beautiful.

“I’d like to go out.” I was dying to go out. Especially after I had joined the scouting troop, my desire to go out grew even stronger. I wanted to look for more resources to repay Noah City for saving me.

“Mm, I understand.” Arsenal smiled gently. “I want to go out too. But I can’t. On the other hand, you can now. You can go out to see the world for me. Luo Bing, I am so envious of you for being able to head out.” She leaned back on my shoulder. “I’ve heard Harry say that there is a historical site to our west. It is located in the center of the radiation, so no one could go there before. Luo Bing, if you go there, can you help me to see if there are any rose seeds?”

“Rose?” It turned out that Arsenal liked roses. I looked sideways and asked her out of curiosity, “Would there really be resources in the center of the radiation? I mean, I forgot but I saw that the pollution in the radiation zone is so bad."

“It’s different, Luo Bing.” She explained with a calm smile, “At the center of the radiation, the radiation is so intense that other pollutants can’t enter. On the contrary, the historical site is well-preserved. The way I see it, radiation acts as a guardian. It guards the historical sites so that other things can’t hurt it nor can any living things get close to it.” Arsenal’s words were always beautiful, just like her. Everyone was afraid of radiation but in her eyes, it was a guardian.

“I see.” I tried to understand what Arsenal had said in my own way. It should be like a powerful virus that other viruses couldn’t invade; a kind of pollution that so happened to not cause corroding damage to a dead item.

“However, the resources that you bring back would contain high radiation too. But as long as you can bring it out and keep it away from the radiation, we can cleanse it and make use of it,” Arsenal said with hope. “I wonder if I can get a bouquet of fresh flowers for my adult ceremony.”

I turned around and looked at her. She was watching the stars with a hopeful smile on her face. I smiled. “I’ll look for rose seeds for you in the future, but I have a sunflower seed now. Do you want it? At least you can have a sunflower on your adult ceremony.” I couldn’t help but laugh. I couldn’t imagine the sight of her holding a sunflower at her adult ceremony.

“Really?” Arsenal turned around in surprise and held my arm. “You really have a sunflower seed?!”

I nodded. “I forgot about it earlier. I’ll go and pass it to Raffles later.”

Arsenal laughed happily and held my shoulder. “Luo Bing, you always surprise me. Elder Alufa said that you are Noah’s Treasure. He is right!”

I smiled bashfully.

“And, you’re beautiful when you smile. I thought you didn’t smile, just like Xue Gie.” She leaned on my shoulder, looking up at a shooting star.

I’d been so tense before, I hadn’t dared to relax. Now, I looked up into the sky, and the twinkling stars were like bright eyes. I will face everything with a smile. Mom, Dad, don’t worry. Your daughter who is as tough as a cockroach will live happily here.

Because the purification and recycling of water required resources, to save on the limited resource we would brush our teeth and wash our faces using cold water. That was perfectly acceptable to me because my retired dad had been training me in outdoor survival skills from long ago. Besides eating raw food and eating worms, I had basically survived all the other tasks.

Hence, cold water wasn’t a big issue for me.

I washed Second Sis’ face as well. She cared a lot about hygiene too. If it wasn’t because I’d stopped her, she’d actually wanted to take a shower at Noah City’s reservoir. The place where we drank water earlier was really Noah City’s reservoir.

When we returned to Raffles’ warehouse, Raffles was repairing the circuit board. He said as he wrote, “Harry, Luo Bing is going to sleep here. Don’t come in and out as you wish at night.”

Raffles had mistaken me as Harry while Second Sis walked to her nest by herself. Raffles continued to write but the speed at which he wrote slowed down. “Harry, why did you bring Second Sis back? Where’s Luo Bing? That’s not right. Why are you so short?” He looked in the direction where I stood. The moment he saw me, he was stunned. His hand also paused. He looked at me blankly, just like the first time Harry had seen me. It was as though he had seen a different person.