Chapter 20.2 - Let's do this the mortal's way!

By the time Li XinWen returned with his disguise, he saw that Sun Xiao was nowhere in sight. Li JingHua had also left for her job, but he clearly told Sun Xiao to wait for him earlier. "Mom, where's Ah'Xiao?" Li XinWen asked as he approached madam Li.

"Ah'Xiao? He should be outside waiting for you," his mother replied as she looked up from the newspaper that she had been reading.

"Alright. Thank you, mom. I'll leave now," Li XinWen said with a chuckle. Leaning down, he planted a kiss on her cheek before walking to the front door. Although Li XinWen wasn't actually used to such intimate gesture, the original made it a habit to do so. Remembering the original's fate made Li XinWen sigh. Shaking his head, he opened the door and saw Sun Xiao patiently waiting for him outside.

"Why did you wait outside? You could have just waited inside and stayed comfortable," Li XinWen said to Sun Xiao.

"I... just wanted to feed the neighbour's dog before I go..." Sun Xiao answered as he looked down on the ground.

Li XinWen compared this Sun Xiao to the Sun Xiao in Li JingHua's memories. Though his appearance then was different, his personality remained the same. He remembered seeing how Li JingHua always had to save Sun Xiao from being bullied during the apocalypse. 'This won't do. I should help this boy gain some confidence,' Li XinWen thought as he hooked an arm around Sun Xiao's shoulder.

"Right. Shall we go? I remember your school is only a fifteen-minute walk from here," Li XinWen said as they started walking. They left the main gate of the house and quietly walked through the neighbourhood. All the while, Li XinWen was thinking how he can make Sun Xiao gain his confidence.

"Ah'Xiao, do you still remember what Hua-jie talked about last night?"

"En. About the apocalypse and such... right?"

"Yes. And you said you want to learn martial arts so you can protect your elder brother, right?" Li XinWen turned his head to face Sun Xiao, flashing him a big grin.

"En! En! I will work hard and make sure to protect Xin-gege! Hua-dajie said that Xin-gege doesn't have any ability and since Ah'Xiao has two abilities, then Ah'Xiao must protect Xin-gege!"

"Good, good. Then your Xin-gege will wait until Ah'Xiao is strong enough to protect me! So, you should hurry and grow up," Li XinWen pinched Sun Xiao's cheek playfully and the two started laughing. After a while, they stopped and Li XinWen ruffled Sun Xiao's hair. "You look better when you smile. So, smile more, okay? I'll be very happy if my Ah'Xiao smiles more!"

Sun Xiao stared at Li XinWen's smiling face and he suddenly felt his heart race. He quickly shook his head and took a few steps back. "Xin-gege, up until here is enough. Ah'Xiao is running a little late so Ah'Xiao is going to run now! Xin-gege is still injured so you cannot run with me!" Sun Xiao said before he turned and quickly dashed away. Even after he reached the school, his heart still hadn't calmed down.

Meanwhile, Li XinWen who was suddenly left alone was confused. "Late? But there's still thirty-eight minutes left before the school closed its gates! Or was the original's memory wrong? I wonder what's gotten over that boy? Hmmm…" Li XinWen mumbled as he stared at the time displayed on his phone. After a while, he slid his finger across the screen, quickly opening the chat app. He saw several unread messages from Xue Rui from the night before and smirked.

"This little puppy really doesn't want to give up…" he said as he tapped on the chat. The most recent message from Xue Rui was just this morning, greeting him for the day. Li XinWen kept scrolling, ignoring most of the messages and only stopped when he saw the message that he wanted to see.

It was the location of the shop where Xue Rui acquired LanYu from. Tapping on the link, the phone's built-in map application displayed the different routes available.

According to the app, it was approximately 30 kilometers away from his current location. It would take around half an hour if he drove a car, around an hour by train and two and a half hours if he decided to walk.

"If this was in LongXing, I could have easily reached thirty kilometers in ten breaths time. Being a mortal is so inconvenient. I guess I'll have to do this the mortal's way!" Li XinWen lamented, especially the fact that he could not use any of his skills to get to his destination.