IPT 4

Chapter 4 – Warm

 

The road was uneven, the vehicles were jolting, and the windows were full of rolling dust. Although Chu Ya was sitting in the closed carriage, he still smelled the smell of earth.

 

He swept his gaze in the rearview mirror and saw what seemed to be a small black shadow that had fallen, but when he turned his head to look, the back window was blocked by heavy dust.

 

“This place is on the edge of the Aysara Special District, and there is a lot of dust. However, our inspection mission has been completed, and now we are on our way to the Tuta Passage back to the top of the clouds. Colonel Gu, who was sitting next to him, looked at Chu Ya with a smile in his voice: “Can’t you wait to go back?” 

 

“I’m fine.” Chu Ya turned around and sat quietly on the back of his chair.

 

As the convoy drove a few hundred meters, the road became wet, the windows were free of dust, and the view became clear.

 

Chu Ya looked to the right, and there was a gray mountain in the distance, and it was Keke Mountain. On the other side of the hill is the residential town of Keko, in the district of Aysara.

 

“Aren’t we going to the town of Keko?”

 

“I’m not going.”

 

Chu Ya asked suspiciously: “Father said that we are going to inspect the entire Aysara Special District, why won’t you be going to Keko Town?”

 

Colonel Gu said casually: “I have to go around to the other side of the mountain, it’s too late.” They’d seen the welfare homes and mines here, don’t those orphans and workers represent the Abyssal Essarath Special District?

 

A pair of black pupils suddenly appeared in Chu Ya’s mind, followed by a dirty face.

He remembered that the dirty boy was wearing a big cotton coat that didn’t fit, and he was shivering with cold while singing loudly. And he stood in the playground, looking at the two children who had been taken away with a sad face, crying with his mouth open.

 

“By the way, what are you doing with those two kids?” Chu Ya asked.

 

Colonel Gu looked down at the information on his intercom: “They have entered the differentiation period, and they are about to become sentinel guides, so they must not stay in the abyss.”

 

Chu Ya knew the preciousness of the sentinel guides, and the people at the top of the clouds would definitely not let them stay in the abyss. Still, he asked: “If there are no ordinary children who have entered the differentiation period, can they be selected to go with us?”

 

“How is that possible? In fact, not only in the welfare institute, but also other people in the abyss who have entered the differentiation period will be taken to the top of the clouds. It’s just that other regions and cities are too far away from here, and Cloud Peak can only take care of this area.” Colonel Gu accentuated his tone, “It’s the people who only enter the period of differentiation.”

 

Chu Ya pursed his lips and didn’t ask any further.

 

The convoy continued to move forward, and on the left side of the road was no longer a wilderness. A deserted building appeared. The buildings seemed to be intact, but they left traces of wind and rain, gloomy and gray, like a large patch of asphalt.

 

Closer, you can see that there is a well-veined street between the buildings, cracked pavement with metal street lamps lying horizontally, and many of them are lined with faded signs, showing that this was once a prosperous town.

 

But the town was deserted, surrounded by a barbed wire fence that stretched out as far as the eye could see, enclosing the whole town from it.

 

“This used to be the town of Mixin, and there is a big garbage dump on the edge of the town, where the garbage from the top of the clouds and the abyss is sent for disposal.” Colonel Gu also looked in that direction.

 

“Mixin Death Town?” Chu Ya looked at the skull sign on the barbed wire fence that was forbidden to enter.

 

“You should know that in the past, there were no abyss and cloud, and everyone lived on the same place.” Colonel Gu pointed to the soles of his feet, “That’s where we stepped on our feet.”

 

Chu Ya said: “I know that the mainland has experienced a plague, many people have died, the soil has also been destroyed, and the food grown is inedible. Cloud Peak is a floating city created only fifteen years ago, where the soil has been purified and can grow food, so some people moved up, and this continent that was left behind is called the Abyss.

 

“Yes, so the abyss is getting more and more barren.” Colonel Gu nodded, “Twenty years ago, Mixin Town was very lively. There were many people, there was a pasture outside the town, and there were countless good horses. And farther away are the mountains and the sea, you can go across them to Linya City.

 

“What about the town of Keko on the other side of the mountain?”

 

Colonel Gu shrugged: “It’s much stronger than Keko Town.”

 

He looked at Chu Ya again, and his tone was a little strange: “Do you want to know why Mixin Town is forbidden to enter? Why didn’t the people of Keko Town move here? These tall buildings are much better than their low houses.

 

Chu Ya felt that Colonel Gu’s expression and tone made him feel uncomfortable, but he still asked, “Why?”

 

“Because of the plague in the town, the people in the town are almost dead…… Men, women, the elderly, and children. The patients died a painful death, their bodies festering and dripping with black water, their limbs deformed, and their bodies covered with tumors of all sizes. The dead in the town could not be buried, so they piled them up and burned them in the central square. Their ghosts have not dissipated until now, hiding in those houses, huddled in the slits of the gutter. Wailing and screaming could be heard at night, echoing across the ruins—”

 

“Alright.” Chu Ya’s discomfort in his heart became more and more intense, and he immediately interrupted Colonel Gu’s narration, “You don’t have to go into such detail.”

 

Colonel Gu stared at Chu Ya and suddenly laughed: “Are you afraid?”

 

“No, It’s just disgusting.” Although Chu Ya said this, he didn’t want to look at those hollow windows anymore. His hands were secretly clenched.

 

“You’re such a child.” Colonel Gu smiled even more happily, “It is said that Mixin Town is the source of the plague, so many people died, and Mixin Town has become a Mixin Death Town that has been banned and blocked. It has also become a place to dispose of garbage.”

 

He pointed to the distance: “There is a garbage disposal site, and every day there will be a flying machine to send the garbage, which will be compressed and processed into metal blocks by the equipment, which will become the manufacturing material of some civil machinery.”

 

Chu Ya had actually heard his father talk about this a long time ago, but he still asked: “Although the plague has passed, will the people of the abyss be infected again?”

 

“Well…” Colonel Gu tilted his head in thought, “Of course not.” 

 

Chu Ya didn’t say anything more. He just looked out the window silently.

Before he came, he had a conversation with his father Chu Chengyu. After Chu Chengyu told him with some precautions, he suddenly said with feeling: “Actually, your mother and I lived in Keko Town, Building 75 of Wushan Street. I don’t have time to look at it later, I don’t know what happened to that house……”

 

It’s a pity that he wasn’t able to go to Keko Town this time, and only saw the town of Mixin Death.

 

Half an hour later, the convoy stopped in a small square, and a towering metal building appeared outside the window. It has a tower-like shape and a dark outer wall painted with silver moire, and the upper end is hidden in a thick mist.

 

“Get out of the car, it’s time to pass the Tuta Passage.” Colonel Gu said.

 

Chu Ya got out of the car and walked to the tower with the others who were talking and laughing. They arrived at the abyss in the middle of the night last night, and went directly to visit the mine and then the welfare home. The trip was too rushed and he didn’t have time to observe the surroundings.

 

The small square was heavily guarded, with a power grid erected on the fence and two teams of armed soldiers guarding the gate. But even so, when Chu Ya looked at an abandoned building outside the square, he found that someone had painted a line of words on the wall in a certain window.

 

– Bastard at Cloud Peak, you can’t escape hell!

 

That line of writing is usually not noticed, so it is kept on the wall, and Chu Ya only found it when he looked at the old window.

 

He retracted his gaze aside, pondering who left those words as he followed the others into Tuta.

 

Although the Tuta is called a tower, it is actually a large elevator connecting the abyss to the top of the clouds, and it is also the only passage between the top of the clouds and the abyss, except for the flying machine.

 

The left and right sides of the tower are respectively the upward area and the downward area, and when Chu Ya and his party walked to the upward area, the military vehicles they had just taken also stopped on the upward freight platform one after another. Once they were in the passenger compartment, the elevator hummed slightly, and the car climbed rapidly.

 

“This Dean Liu made a welcome party very impressive, which is very good.”

“It’s not for the thousand pounds of yams. He sits in the Yunding Resources Department every day, and he doesn’t leave if we didn’t give him food. I get headache every time I see him. This time it’s finally going to be in hand, so he can get his way.”

“He’s not wrong, as the dean, I must think of ways to keep the children fed and clothed.”

 

In the midst of everyone’s discussion, Senator Wu suddenly asked Chu Ya, who was standing silently: “Xiao Chu, how do you feel about visiting the abyss this time?”

 

Without waiting for Chu Ya to answer, he said: “After you go back this time, you can write a related article, the content is the current situation of children in the welfare home. They are not only well fed and clothed, but also rich in spiritual knowledge. The welfare home has TV, entertainment room, books and so on. When you write it, it will be published in a journal, and by the way, the title of the article will be …… The abyss in my eyes at the age of twelve.

 

The others echoed and smiled: “Then we will wait to appreciate Chu Ya’s article.”

 

Chu Ya also had a smile on his face, but his heart was complicated and difficult to understand.

 

The trembling lips of the mine worker appeared in front of his eyes: “…… I know that I am already luckier than everyone else to work in the factory, and there are no other requirements…… But if you can eat enough, it will be even better……”

He once again thought of the dirty child in the orphanage who was so cold that the tip of his nose was red and his eyes were red and swollen from crying.

 

When Chu Ya was leaving, his father Chu Chengyu told him meaningfully, asking him to take a look and think more after coming to the abyss.

But he felt that he had come to the abyss once, and he still didn’t know what it was like.

 

。

 

Shen Qianqian by a welfare institute manager with his back collar. His toes were half-touching the ground and walked through the playground. Nonetheless, he was still holding his iron box tightly in his arms.

 

A passing handyman and manager greeted him and asked, “What’s wrong with this kid?”

 

“The door wasn’t closed, and he snuck out.”

 

Shen Qianqian raised his head to explain to himself: “I didn’t sneak out, I just ran out for the car.”

 

“You’re still stubborn? How many times has the hospital said that you are not allowed to leave the welfare home without permission, no matter how you get out, it is called leaving without permission.” The manager shouted.

 

Shen Qianqian didn’t dare to talk back, but he was not convinced, so he lowered his head and rolled his eyes to the ground.

 

The manager said to the handyman: “Don’t look at him as young, he is an old criminal, and there is no one here who does not know him. He admits mistakes faster than anyone else, has thicker skin than anyone else, is not afraid of punishment, and makes mistakes as soon as the punishment is over.”

 

Shen Qianqian couldn’t help but defend himself again: “I don’t have it. I’m afraid you won’t let me eat.”

 

“Okay, then you won’t eat at noon today.”

 

Opposite the dormitory building is a three-storey teaching building. The ground floor is occupied by two small classes. When the administrator curled up into the passage with Shen Qianqian, the students in the small class poured out of the classroom in an uproar and followed behind.

 

“Qianqian, Qianqian.” A few children in the dormitory whispered to him in fear and closed their mouths in horror when the manager turned his head to look.

 

Shen Qianqian knowing that he had no food to eat at noon, lost the strength to continue walking and only dropped his head and body, letting the management carry him. He dragged his two feet on the smooth ground.

 

The hut on the far right of the ground floor is the punishment room, and the manager carries him with one hand and opens the door of the punishment room with the other. But the door could not be opened, so it was pushed roughly.

 

Shen Qianqian hung his head and said listlessly: “The small stick of this door is on the top, you have to take out the small stick to lock me in.” 

 

The manager looked up and saw that the latch of the door was indeed on the top.

 

The punishment room is an empty room of a few square meters. After the door was opened, Shen curled up and walked in by himself, picking a familiar corner and squatting.

 

The manager looked at him for a few seconds and said in a cold tone: “Because you violated the rules, you will be locked up until noon, and you will be released to lunch after two hours.”

 

“Oh.” Shen Qianqian’s response before he could react and his eyes suddenly lit up: “I can have lunch?” 

 

The management ignored him and only stretched out his hand to close the door. Shen Qianqian hurriedly rushed to the door and put his mouth on the gap: “Can I have lunch? Will I be able to have lunch?”

 

The management did not respond, but a few children who had been following behind replied, “Yes, yes, you can have lunch. I heard you.”

 

“Let’s go, let’s all go back, and whoever stands here again will be locked up with him.” The manager began to drive the crowd away.

 

Now that it was confirmed that he was going to be able to eat lunch, Shen Qianqian regained his spirits, returned to his corner and sat down before opening the square iron box.

 

The contents of the tin box were very messy, and he had just picked them up from the road before he was taken away by the manager. He sorted out the wrappers, the scoops, and vials and began to count the glass balls.

 

“One-two-three-one…… One, two, three, one……”

 

Shen Qianqian counted several times and finally determined that he was missing two and three.

 

Frustrated and sad, he stared at the box for a long time before he got up, moved the only stool in the room to the wall and window, stood up, and leaned against the window railing to look outside.

 

From here, he could see the road outside the orphanage, and he pondered waiting for the punishment to be over. He then sneak out quietly and go to the place where he had fallen to find his glass ball.

 

Shen Qianqian thinking of this naturally thought of that person. The tall boy who looks good and treats him very well.

 

What Shen Qianqian is most afraid of is not management, but the students in the orphanage.

The senior students will rob the junior students of their good things, beat and scold them, and threaten them not to tell the management.

Although there are not many such large class students, and more large class students ignore them, no one has ever been able to deny to give them food and cloth belts.

 

Shen Qianqian reached into his pocket and took out the long narrow tie.

 

He had never seen such a delicate and smooth fabric, and there were moving patterns. He stretched out his fingers, touched them lightly and cherishedly. He rubbed them against his face to feel the soft touch. Finally, he hung it around his neck and circled it several times.

 

The silk tie was attached to his skin, slightly cool, but Shen Qianqian felt that his body had become warmer.