Chapter 2: Ushatos
Yu An decided not to use his last hundred yuan. He cautiously tucked the money under his pillow, then, feeling uneasy, moved it again, stuffing it inside the pillowcase.
The little guy sat on the edge of the bed and pondered for a while. He was already a big three-year-old boy; he had to support himself with his own two hands!
Yu An nodded firmly. His gaze swept across his four bare walls before landing on a plastic bag on the floor. He immediately jumped off the bed and picked it up.
Now, he was going to pick up plastic bottles to earn money!
Yu An remembered the supermarket auntie telling him that he could take empty water bottles to Grandpa Wang at the end of the street to exchange them for money. The money could be used to buy ice cream.
Yu An had bought ice cream once when he had more money. It was delicious, but very expensive.
If he could get a lot of money by picking up bottles, he would reward himself with an ice cream. Thinking this, Yu An walked forward along the roadside with his bag full of energy, his small head lowered as he looked around for empty bottles.
Soon, his bag contained two or three bottles. On his way, he encountered an old grandpa who was also carrying a bag and picking up bottles. The grandpa’s bag was much larger than his plastic bag—it was nearly full of plastic bottles.
Yu An stared enviously at the grandpa’s urea bag, then looked at his own plastic bag with only a few bottles. He decided to follow the grandpa to see how he found them and learn from his experience.
He watched as the grandpa used tongs to rummage through a trash can, pulling empty bottles out from a pile of refuse, crushing them flat, and tossing them into the bag.
Once one bin was finished, he moved to the next.
Yu An followed cautiously. After observing for a while, he realized this method wasn’t suitable for him because he wasn’t even as tall as the trash can.
Sigh… I can only pick up bottles from the ground.
Yu An turned to leave dejectedly. Just then, the grandpa suddenly spoke up to stop him.
“Kid, where’s your family?” The grandpa looked at his faded clothes and the plastic bag in his hand, his brow furrowing. “Giving birth but not raising? Young people these days…”
Yu An could hear the grandpa’s dissatisfaction with his family. He only had a grandma, but Grandma was a very good grandma. Yu An couldn’t help but speak up for her. “Grandma is very good.”
“Then where is she? Why isn’t she looking after you? And where are your parents? Letting you pick up trash outside?”
“I don’t have a papa or mama. Grandma… Grandma died.” Yu An’s little mouth pursed, his lake-blue eyes misting over. “But Grandma loved me very much. Grandma liked me the best…”
No matter how much time passed, Yu An could not reconcile with his grandmother’s death. The memories of that night were too tragic; every time he touched upon them, they would bleed. It was a wound that even time could not heal.
The grandpa froze, his expression one of shock. He put down the urea bag, hurriedly wiped his dirty hands on his clothes, and patted Yu An’s head. “I’m sorry, child. Grandpa said the wrong thing. Grandpa…”
The grandpa choked up. Facing such a pitiful child, what could he, an old scavenger, do? He stood frozen in place.
After a long time, the old man took several empty bottles from his own bag and put them into Yu An’s plastic bag. A flash of difficulty crossed his sun-blackened face. With a sigh, he picked up his bag and continued scavenging.
Yu An watched the old man’s back, then looked at his now-full plastic bag. He ran forward and bowed his thin back solemnly. “Thank you, Grandpa.”
The old man smiled and waved for him to go.
Yu An carried the bag of plastic bottles to find Grandpa Wang at the street corner. He held the bag high, gathered his courage, and spoke to Grandpa Wang at the top of his lungs. “Grandpa Wang, can I exchange these for money?”
Grandpa Wang looked at the child. He knew who Yu An was; in fact, there was no one in the vicinity who didn’t know this kid. The home invasion murder case from back then had caused quite a stir in this small mountain village. As a survivor who had lost his family, the people nearby helped him whenever they could.
“Come, let me weigh it.” Grandpa Wang placed Yu An’s bag on the electronic scale. It showed less than half a kilogram. Grandpa Wang smiled. “Mhm! Very good. Little An, come, here is five yuan.”
Yu An didn’t know that his bag of bottles wasn’t even worth one yuan. He joyfully accepted the five yuan, stroking it repeatedly. His lake-blue eyes were sparkling, his tone shy yet excited. “Thank you, Grandpa Wang.”
Grandpa Wang laughed heartily, his calloused hand ruffling Yu An’s hair. “Next time Little An has more of these, bring them to exchange with Grandpa, okay?”
Yu An nodded heavily and left with his five yuan, feeling content. On the way home, as he passed a patch of grass by the road, he heard a weak whimpering coming from within.
[So hungry…]
He stopped in his tracks and curiously parted the branches. A small puppy was lying in the grass, its body soaking wet as it pitifully licked its fur.
Seeing Yu An, the puppy instinctively arched its back and hissed at him. Yu An had never seen such a fierce dog and stepped back timidly.
The puppy bared its teeth: [Go away!]
Yu An had been able to understand the inner thoughts of animals since he was small. Grandma told him this was his own special ability and he must not tell others.
He looked around to make sure no one was there, then said in a milky voice, “Puppy cub.”
The puppy froze. Sensing his harmlessness, it slowly approached him, wagging its tail and making pleading whimpering sounds. [You won’t hit me?]
Yu An shook his head. The puppy happily hopped around in circles.
Yu An tentatively stroked the puppy’s head. The dog obediently looked up, nuzzling his small hand and enthusiastically licking his fingers.
Yu An’s eyes were full of smiles. Seeing the puppy’s skeletal frame, he stood up, looked around, and used the five yuan he had just earned to buy two yuan worth of ham sausages at a nearby shop.
He struggled to peel the packaging off the sausage, swallowed his saliva, and held it out to the dog. “Little doggy, eat.”
[Like!]
The puppy wagged its tail joyfully as it ate. After finishing, it enthusiastically circled Yu An’s legs. No matter how he tried to shoo it away, it wouldn’t leave, following him all the way back to the tin shack.
Having a puppy whose eyes were only for him was a very happy thing. After being nuzzled by the puppy several times, Yu An’s eyes crinkled into crescents.
He leaned over to pick up the puppy and whispered into its ear, speaking to it kindly, “I don’t have a lot of money, okay? Little doggy can’t eat ham sausages every day… but I can pick up empty bottles to raise you.”
Yu An hesitated for a few seconds before changing his tune. He didn’t have good things to eat because many tasty things were expensive, but the sausages for the puppy were cheap. As long as he picked up more bottles, he could afford them.
Thinking this, Yu An’s gaze became firm, and he clenched his small fists. He had to work even harder at picking up trash!
The puppy’s tail wagged rapidly. [Love you!]
The dog nuzzled Yu An’s chin with its head, its eyes filled with its little master. The dog didn’t care if its master had money; it only knew it had a home.
With the puppy’s company, Yu An’s mood improved significantly. He gave the puppy a name: Monday, because today was Monday.
A story Grandma once told him mentioned a protagonist who named those who accompanied him after the days of the week. Little Yu An didn’t know many words and couldn’t think of a better name, so he simply copied the story and named the dog Monday.
On the night he adopted the dog, Yu An was sleeping in a daze when he heard Monday, who was sleeping beside him, let out a fearful low growl. He sat up sleepily. “Monday, sleepy~ go to sleep.”
Monday’s amber eyes were fixed on the iron door. As if sensing a dangerous aura, its back arched, and it hissed toward the entrance.
Yu An realized something was wrong and immediately sharpened his focus on the door. To his shock, a slender arm with no bone support crawled in through the crack in the door.
Yu An’s breath hitched. He scrambled to hide at the back of the bed. Seeing that Monday was still growling at the arm, he hurriedly pulled the dog close and shrank under the quilt. “It’s a bad guy. Monday, don’t go. Be good.”
The dog’s perception of danger was much sharper. Though it was also terrified, it bared its teeth and barked at the arm to protect its little master.
“It’ll be okay soon…” Yu An was so scared his eyes were squeezed shut, his tiny body trembling uncontrollably. “We’ll go to sleep, and it’ll all be gone when we wake up.”
He had encountered this several times before. As long as he closed his eyes and waited a while, the monsters would disappear by the time he opened them again.
Yu An silently counted in his heart: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
At that moment, massive organisms drifting through various parts of space wiggled their tentacles. They were entirely gray, with concentric circles of eerie black patterns scattered across their bodies. Even time and space distorted slightly around them.
Powerful tentacles ignored the radiation of space, easily snatching up nearby organisms and tossing them into mouths filled with pointed teeth. Nothing living could escape where they passed.
All kinds of space-faring lifeforms scattered in terror, screaming through their respective racial communication frequencies: [The Ushatos are coming! Run!!!]
[Help! Help! There are Ushatos here too! What did I do to deserve meeting them!]
The Ushatos were dangerous and mysterious. Most of them hunted alone. The probability of encountering an Ushatos in the vast universe was infinitesimally small. The miserable, unlucky souls could only wait in despair for the tentacles to crush them.
But suddenly, all the Ushatos froze. The fearful whimper of a cub echoed in their minds—so frightened and helpless it could break a heart to pieces.
The Ushatos were collectively shocked. Their race actually had a cub? And the cub was crying?!
The powerful long-lived species were incredibly astonished, but the love for a cub was etched into their genetic sequence. The Ushatos began speaking in the racial communication channel.
[Whose kid is crying? Go comfort them, quickly.]
[Can’t even take care of your own cub? Truly useless. If I were that parent, I’d definitely strangle myself in shame.]
[How can you let a child be afraid?! What use are you all?! If you can’t take care of a cub, send them to the clan!]
[…]
The cub’s parents never responded. The Ushatos expanded their massive mental domains to search, but they found nothing, as if the cub had no parents looking after him at all.
The Ushatos were stunned for a few seconds. Realizing a certain possibility, joy welled up in their hearts. They waved their tentacles and rushed toward the cub’s location.
A cub without parental supervision could be cared for by other clansmen. First come, first served!
When the Ushatos arrived near the blue planet, they were shocked to find that an Ushatos was already there, and its aura was incredibly strong.
The Ushatos who didn’t make it first were very depressed. They all hovered around the planet, their countless tentacles swinging irritably. In their hearts, they envied and cursed that fellow clansman who was already by the cub’s side hundreds of times.
Failing to snag the cub, today was a depressing day.
The Ushatos did not rashly enter the near-Earth range. They discovered that the planet’s space was very fragile; it could only bear the descent of one Ushatos’s power. One more descent would cause the space to collapse.
It didn’t matter if the planet broke, but it would be bad if the little cub got hurt.
The parents, worried for the child, cursed the irresponsible parents while simultaneously racing back to the ancestral home of the Ushatos race.
Inside the massive divine hall, several black-and-white monstrous beings floating in mid-air called out to the master of the hall.
[Boss, we found a pitiful cub without parental supervision on a remote planet. I want to be its guardian. May I?]
[Get lost! I’ve raised a cub before. This little cub should be given to me to raise!]
[You’ll only raise an unruly brat. You can’t touch this cute cub!]
Even though they hadn’t seen the cub once, several Ushatos parents had already imagined an adorable little angel based on Yu An’s soft, weak milky voice. To fight for guardianship, the Ushatos swung their tentacles, whipping one another with a crackling sound.
But as they fought, the Ushatos realized that the Boss, who usually hated noise the most, hadn’t appeared. They stopped their fight, and their lake-blue eyes met one another’s gaze.
[Boss, are you there?]
[…]
There were only so many members of the Ushatos race; it was obvious who was missing. With a change of thought, the identity of the clansman who was already by the cub’s side became self-evident.
The Ushatos fell silent, pretending they hadn’t proposed anything just now. They sheepishly ran back to the vicinity of the cub’s planet, continuously reinforcing its tattered space.
Cub, wait just a bit longer. They’re coming to fetch him very soon!
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