31: The Bunker II

Jay couldn't help but laugh, and it took him a but for him to gather his composure and pretend that he's laughing at something else. With one hand holding the flashlight to his body, his other chubby hand reached for the baby mobile, grabbing a string and swinging it. Strangely, the baby mobile wasn't dusty, just like the crib.

His female caretaker grinned as she moved her flashlight to the baby mobile in the crib. "You like that, Kaon?"

To keep his cover, Jay babbled back to her. His male caregiver looked at the baby, and he didn't think much of it. The transmigrator couldn't help but think about the ridiculousness of it all. Do they not have China here? Well, he did get some lore from the System that after the third World War, all countries became one with the United Earth.

"Jay, what's China?" The Red King's voice didn't change, so he really didn't know what China is, or was. "In this context, I'm pretty sure it didn't mean porcelain pots and pans."

"China was a huge country in the eastern continent." JJ bit down on her lips to keep herself from laughing. "You could read that, but how come you don't know what Chinese is? That's written in Chinese."

The teenage boy shook his head, and he shrugged. "My mom called the language Mandarin. She never told me anything about countries except the world 'country' itself and where she's from."

"Did she ever told you where she learned it?" JJ's eyes met her partner's, and those dark blue eyes shined a little.

"She said she picked it up from her grandma, and it came in handy when she and her mother traveled across the sea to here." The Red King loosened his hold on the baby so that Jay could have better access to the baby mobile that he pretended to play with. "Her family's from the east continent, too, but down south."

"Oh!" JJ nodded her head, but the smile didn't drop from her face. "Mandarin is just one language that came out of that country. China was a huge country! I can draw it on a map if we ever get a world map." Her excitement was infectious, and her hand reached towards her partner's forearm. "It's where half of my ancestors are from! And PANDAS! It's where pandas are from!"

As soon as the bear was mentioned, the Red King's stoic composure crumbled. Thankfully, he didn't drop the baby, but Jay could feel his enthusiasm radiating from his being.

"Black and white bears that exclusively eat the least nutritious specie of bamboo. I was so upset as a kid when I heard they went extinct. Those poor fuckers are so cute, but they have zero survival instincts. Them being declared extinct ten years ago made them a mythical creature now."

"Ten year is quite recently, too." JJ's energy matched her partner's as she began pacing around the room. "There were taxidermied ones at Equinox Academy. I'll break in there again just to show you how badly those poor babies were done."

"Wonderful." The teenage boy agreed, and he looked at the baby in his hands. "Kaon, do you wanna see terrible horrible no good stuffed bears? I sure do."

Oh, to be a baby in a post apocalyptic world where your teenage parents are talking about pandas while the three of you are in a pitch black bunker.

________

All three of them were sleeping on the couch. JJ deemed the dark basement too dangerous to sleep in because of the inactive ventilator system. They'll have to fix that problem along with the plumbing if they want to use the bunker.

Jay was laying right on top of his female caretaker while she's trying to get comfortable on her partner, who's knocked out cold on the couch.

Honestly, the transmigrator didn't blame the Red King for falling asleep so easily. He did drive them all the way out here after all.

Eventually, JJ did fall asleep, and Jay was left alone in the darkness once more. At least this time, he was hearing owls hooting echoing through the woods, and insects were buzzing around outside the cabin.

At least the sound of nature was back, unlike that haunted cabin in the woods where Armani Wolfwood's corpse was literally still frozen under the house.

'Hey, System?' Jay called out to the darkness. 'When is my next mission? It's not gonna be too crazy, right?'

[ SYSTEM CANNOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, USER JAY. ]

Fine, fine.

'Is there anything for me to do right now? In this cabin?' The transmigrator asked out of boredom.

[ THERE'S A SHORT MEMORY FUNCTION HERE. ]

[ ACTIVATE MEMORY FUNCTION? ]

[ YES ] [ NO ]

Better than nothing.

With one click of his finger to confirm his action, Jay's eyes widened when his surroundings changed again. It felt like the first time when he was transported to Evergreen's memories.

The rundown cabin that they were in changed into a clean living room, where the furniture's beige paint wasn't scrubbed off by the weather and the couch was still brand new and covered in a plastic wrap.

Jay pushed himself off the couch, and once again, he couldn't see his own nody even though he could move around.

Of course, this cabin was a sad beige mom's dream house. Everything was in a shade of pale lifeless yellow and brown, with a few lucky appliances being splashed with black and white.

The transmigrator made his way through the house, and he wondered if this is like last time, where the System just leave him be to fuck around and find out.

Before his mind could wander any further, the door to the cabin was kicked open by a blond man in his mid thirties, and a pregnant woman. She seemed to be in her second trimester judging by her maternity dress.

Her brunette hair bounced as she walked across the living room into the kitchen. Meanwhile, her husband pulled away the rug and opened the basement door.

As soon as his wife saw that, realization settled into a terrified expression on her face.

"We're not staying here!" The woman yelled at her husband, who's still holding the basement door open.

"Where else can we go?!" The man snapped back at his wife. "A war's starting!"

"You're delusional! All your friends are delusional!" She began stomping out of the cabin. "It's just a small regional conflict. World War Three isn't happening. Not in our life times."

From their conversation... The bunker was built before World War Three. Great.

"Why can't you just trust me for once!" The unnamed man followed his wife out of the cabin, not bothering to close the door behind them.

While the husband and wife was arguing outside, Jay made his way down into the basement. The lights were on, so the transmigrator could see the bunker in its glory days.

Huh, the unnamed husband was really prepared for everything. Out of curiosity, the transmigrator reached for a jar of baby food on the shelf. That's the same one that the Red King brought back on Jay's first day of transmigration...

As soon as he felt his invisible hand touching the jar, his surroundings began melting. Jay yelped as he pulled his hand away from the jar, but it's too late.

"System!" He screamed as darkness took over the landscape.

[ SHORT MEMORY ENDED. ]

[ RETURNING USER JAY BACK TO REALITY... ]

Oh, great! The System won't even let him hang out in the void anymore.