Chapter 9

The cousin he had never met before had inherited that woman's beautiful appearance, and even though he had only met her once, he could easily find traces of her on Reinan's face, and knew that this teenager was really her son.

"Drink this water." Steve handed one of the glasses to Reinan.

"Thank you." When Reinan picked up the glass, he looked cold. His hands seemed to tremble slightly after touching the hot water, but he looked calm, his senses were too much for Steve to think about whether to face him head-on or talk about the situation. That world had even turned a child into this.

It's very cruel.

"Have you had dinner?" asked Steve.

Reinan's body froze slightly, and after a while he shook his head, "I've been here since this afternoon, and I haven't left because I'm afraid that you'll come back suddenly."

"The person who told you to come here didn't tell you I was at work?" asked Steve in surprise. Steve handed Reinan his lunch box which he brought home for dinner. "Eat it."

"But isn't this yours?" Reinan asked, feeling bad.

"I'll take more after this." Steve pointed towards the second bedroom next to him, "You can stay in the second bedroom from now on, until you become an adult."

Reinan blinked, apparently not expecting this to go so well. He remained silent for a few seconds before finally picking up the lunchbox containing his dinner on the table and starting to eat it. Steve turned and walked out of the room. He was used to living alone, so there was no extra bedding in the house. Hopefully, the convenience store in the neighborhood next door hasn't closed yet.

The autumn breeze was so cold that Steve tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket, but even so, his hands still felt cold and white smoke came out of his mouth along with his breath.

'The current temperature has already reached below zero, right?' Steve thought about it.

He thought the Survivors would be far away from him. After all, he had always been alone since he was very young, going to school alone and working alone, and he even thought he would die alone. He never thought that, two days in a row, there would be three Survivors around him.

A missing neighbor, a childhood friend and ex-boyfriend who was 'sick and dead', and a cousin suspected of being involved in the se* trafficking.

Survivors should not be common.

He bought new sheets and toothbrushes before the convenience store closed. Steve asked for two servings of fried dumplings that were cold and on sale. For a young man of Reinan's age, he would likely eat large portions, so the lunchbox shouldn't be enough for him. Bringing home some things he bought at the convenience store, he had just stepped out of the elevator door when Steve's footsteps stopped.

Milo Miles was standing in front of his house, as if he was looking at something interesting.

"Mr Milo?" Steve.

"Good afternoon." Milo Miles smiled and Steve greeted him back, then he very naturally walked towards the door of his house "It must be really hard coming home from work so late at night, you've worked hard." Milo said to Steve.

Steve shook his head, "Did Mr. Milo just plan to meet me?"

"No, I just feel a little bad." Milo Miles smiled gently as he pointed towards Steve's door, "Looks like there's a sinister man in there. Did Steve pick up a vicious beast?"

"Sinister man? A vicious beast?" Steve repeated Milo's words in confusion.

"Just a parable, don't mind it." Milo Miles opened the door with his key. "Anyway, good night."

Steve felt a little confused by Mr. Milo's words when he opened the door to his room, Reinan was still in the sitting position as before, just a little nervous. The television in front of him was on, but his attention was not on the television that was on, instead, his attention was on the other side of the wall of the room, the wall closest to Steve's neighbor, Milo Miles.

"You are back." Said Reinan, who quickly stood up from the sofa.

Steve put the things in his hands on the table, then went to the kitchen to warm up the cold fried dumplings. Reinan followed Steve into the kitchen, and he helped Steve unpack the things he had brought and also clean the kitchen before he finally asked, "Brother, is there a Survivor next to your house?"

"Yeah, he's the neighbor who disappeared three years ago." answered Steve casually.

"Three years ago?" Reinan muttered in a small voice, looking like he was deep in thought.

Steve turned his head to look at Reinan, "What's wrong?" asked Steve.

"That's fine, but brother, what about that neighbor of yours?" Reinan asked doubtfully.

"He used to be a teacher, now he is getting ready to start a flower shop, he has a good personality and has always been a popular teacher in elementary school." Steve timed one on the microvawe, "Can all the Survivors sense each other? Just now Mr Milo seems to feel you too." said Steve curiously.

Reinan shook his head slightly, "Generally, among the Survivors we won't be able to sense each other, as some games will have ghosts and monsters hiding among the group, thus requiring the Survivors to find the fakes. If we can sense each other, the game won't continue. To be able to detect that something is wrong can only mean that there might be some attribute mismatch between the two of us." Reinan explained to Steve.

'Attribute mismatch?' Steve thought confusedly.

Steve didn't quite understand, but he didn't feel curious about the Survivors, so he didn't ask anything else.

At 10 p.m., the news broadcast announced the distribution of the rankings to the Survivors. The number of Survivors who returned was overwhelming and the information couldn't be kept secret, so to prevent rumors from spreading irregularly, the government opened a dedicated forum for Survivors and posted the most important information on it.