Chrysalis

Chapter 657: Pretend To Be A Boy

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

“Xiaoying, time to go! We’ll get no food if we’re running late.” A man who looked around thirty leaped off the bunk bed and said to Bao Xiaoguo’s sister, Bao Xiaoying.

Bao Xiaoying stayed silent but nodded, then took an old stainless lunch box out of a bucket under her bed.

The man who called her seemed to have gotten used to her reaction. He took out his own lunch box, then walked out of the dorm along with Bao Xiaoying.

It was only about seven in the morning. However, they weren’t going for breakfast.

Lin Qiao followed behind them. She found that the man didn’t know about Bao Xiaoying’s real gender.

The two of them walked side by side, looking weird. The man was about thirty years old, tall and strong, nearly 1.9 meters tall. Unlike him, Bao Xiaoying was only around 1.55 meters in height.

As they walked across the hallway, the others looked at them without talking to them, with colds eyes or fear. They didn’t even dare to approach the two of them.

Lin Qiao looked at the people around and then at Bao Xiaoying. She was surprised.

It wasn’t the tall man who scared those people, but the short Bao Xiaoying.

Interesting!

With that discovery, Lin Qiao smiled faintly while following behind Bao Xiaoying.

Before long, the two of them arrived at a square. Before the square, quite some people were waiting in queue in the cold wind. The square was large; even though it was early in the morning, many people had already crowded in this place.

At the end of those queues, were a series of long tables placed in lines. Those tables stopped those people from entering the other side of the square. On the other side of those tables was a two-story building.

Seeing that, Lin Qiao figured out what was going on.

That square was where the base dispensed food. During the winter, many people had no work to do. Therefore, the base would provide them with some stored food, such as steamed buns and pancakes. Each person could get one or two steam buns a day.

However, because of the huge population, the food was never enough. Therefore, to avoid being starved, many people got up early in the morning to wait in the lines for the food, which would be distributed at noontime.

Lin Qiao had, of course, seen how the food would be distributed to the poor. She was a base leader after all. Those works were mostly done by her subordinates, but she would occasionally go to the spot to see how things were going. On one hand, she needed to see if there were any improvements to make, and on the other, she needed to know if her subordinates could do their jobs well.

Normally, a lot of soldiers would come to the spot to maintain order during the distribution of food.

Even though it was still very early in the morning, and the food distribution hadn’t started yet, some soldiers with real guns were already standing on the square.

The place had to be guarded, as many people would gather there.

“Xiaoying, put on the hood. Even looking at you makes me feel cold!” The man stood behind Bao Xiaoying and looked at her head. He couldn’t help but ask her to put on the hat.

The hood which was attached to Bao Xiaoying’s coat was right before his eyes, yet he didn’t reach out to put it on for her, but only reminded her.

Bao Xiaoying turned around and gave him a bland glance, then took her hands out of the pockets and pulled the hood forward to cover her head.

“If only you were taller, you could have joined the army. You’re as fierce as a wolf. You’d certainly earn a decent future in the army. Sadly, you’re not tall enough.” The man stood behind her and murmured with pity.

Bao Xiaoying didn’t say anything, neither did she turn around again. She had no interest in joining the army, so she had nothing to complain about her height. After all, if she joined the army, people would find out that she was a girl.

Lin Qiao fixed her eyes on the empty left sleeve of that man while thinking. ‘They seem to be good friends .’

Many people were gathering in the square, so Lin Qiao couldn’t make any direct moves. Besides, Bao Xiaoying was with that man. To avoid unnecessary troubles, she had no choice but to wait.

She stepped out of the square and climbed onto a tree nearby, laying on a branch to wait for them to get the food and leave.

About eleven in the morning, the square was already filled with people. The place became very noisy, as people’s sounds could be heard from every corner. The unruly ones had even started scuffles. But soon, the soldiers nearby pointed their guns at the head of those people and told them that they would not get food today. They wouldn’t be allowed to come back for three days.

When the base staff carried out the steam buns, the crowd was immediately stirred.

“Be patient! Be patient! We have food for everyone!” Some administrators were shouting as loud as they could behind those base staff through loudspeakers.

Bao Xiaoying and the man who had waited on the square for a couple of hours waited for another half an hour in the line, and then each got two steam buns made from coarse grain. After that, they walked to the side. A series of large buckets were placed in that area, filled with boiled water.

Bao Xiaoying put one of the two steam buns into her coat and held the other in one hand. With her other hand, she filled her lunch box with boiled water.

The man behind her only had one arm. He put his lunch box in his mouth, then took over the steam buns, and then quickly put both steam buns into his coat. After that, he went to fetch the water with his lunch box.

As they exited the square and headed back, Lin Qiao followed behind them.

When they returned to where they lived, Lin Qiao sensed a few vibes from their room. She recognized those vibes, as she had sensed them last night in the zombie prison.

‘They came pretty fast,’ Lin Qiao thought. She could tell that those people had arrived at dawn.

Bao Xiaoying and the man didn’t know that some strangers were in their room. So, they walked to the door. Bao Xiaoying prepared to open the door. However, when her hand was on the doorknob, she suddenly paused.

“What’s wrong? Just open the door! It’s freezing out here. Let’s get in so we can eat. The steam buns will become too hard to bite if they get cold.” As Bao Xiaoying didn’t open the door, the man behind her instantly started hastening her.

Once he started talking, Bao Xiaoying put her hand away from the doorknob, then suddenly turned and threw away the box of water in her hand. Next, she pushed away the tall man and ran toward the stairs.

Boom! The man was pushed to the side. Before he could react, he saw that the door was opened from the inside, and a few armed soldiers rushed out of the room, following Bao Xiaoying to the stairs.

They completely ignored the tall man who was sitting on the ground.

“Stop, or we’ll shoot you!” The group of soldiers swiftly rushed out of the room and saw Bao Xiaoying flash across the stairs before disappearing in the hallway.

Bang! Following a gunshot, those soldiers disappeared after Bao Xiaoying.

The tall man was left stunned, gazing where they disappeared.

He had no idea what just happened. However, he could clearly tell that Bao Xiaoying was their target.

Thankfully, Bao Xiaoying had keener observation than the others. She felt that something was wrong when she was standing by the door.