Chapter 18
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After the news finished playing, Lu Haoxiu took out his phone to show them, “I saw this news also trending locally, but it hasn’t reached the national trends yet. It seems someone is suppressing the publicity, apparently not wanting to attract too much attention.”
Lu Haoxiu said very seriously, “I suspect that there has been an Anomaly Resurgence in Liushu Village, and the chemical pollution is just an excuse for the higher-ups to suppress the news.”
Duan Zege took Lu Haoxiu’s phone and quickly glanced at the discussions in the hot search, “The discussion is still quite intense… The pollution pictures related to Liushu Village are all very common scenes, and it cannot be confirmed that the photos were taken inside Liushu Village. It’s very likely that the authorities are using photos of chemical pollution from other places to impersonate photos of Liushu Village.”
“Yes,” Lu Haoxiu nodded, then he pulled out another photo from his phone and placed it side by side with the first one to compare. It showed clear river water contaminated into plastic red color. “The picture on the left is from the news release of Liushu Village that I saved, but I found this picture very familiar, so I searched online and discovered that a similar chemical pollution incident happened in another place last year, and the river water was polluted to the same color, just like the picture on the right. I carefully compared these two photos, from the direction of the river flow, width, the plants on the riverbank, and their colors… I found that the locations in these two photos are the same, only the angles of the shots are different.”
Thanks to Lu Haoxiu being a high school student who was about to take the college entrance examination, he had to keep up with a lot of current events every day, so as not to miss any topics that might appear in essays or political questions. He happened to remember the chemical pollution incident that occurred last year, and his memory at this age was at its peak, which allowed him to connect these two photos.
Duan Zege carefully looked at the comparison picture and nodded in agreement with Lu Haoxiu’s conclusion, slightly surprised, “Indeed, it’s two pictures of the same location. Little Lu, you didn’t waste your time today.”
Lu Haoxiu smiled, revealing his small tiger teeth, and said embarrassedly, “The only thing I can do now is collect information… Brother Lou, do you think this is a result of the Anomaly Resurgence?”
“It’s because of the Anomaly Resurgence,” Lou Yan, who had been silent, gave a definite answer. “Only the Anomaly Resurgence would make them do this.”
“So what should we do?” Lu Haoxiu showed a worried expression. “The entire Liushu Village has been sealed off… the anomaly that occurred here must be very severe.”
Liushu Village was much larger than the residential area they had escaped from before.
Lou Yan looked at the television again.
After the news on TV repeated once again, it turned to commercials. Lou Yan pondered for a moment, digging out this incident from his distant memory. Yes, shortly after the arrival of the Anomaly Resurgence, he did see news about Liushu Village.
In his previous life, just like Lu Haoxiu, he suspected that there was an Anomaly Resurgence in Liushu Village. However, at that time, Lou Yan had just experienced the awakening of his talents and the arrival of the anomaly. His entire worldview was collapsing and rebuilding. When he knew that Liushu Village was dangerous, his first reaction was to escape and avoid, so he didn’t know what kind of anomaly actually arrived in Liushu Village.
Lou Yan tried hard to recall the outcome of the incident in Liushu Village from his memory… It seemed that a month later, the relevant authorities had lifted the seal on Liushu Village.
It should be that someone had solved the anomaly in Liushu Village.
No, according to the personality of the authorities, if Liushu Village was unsealed a month later, then the anomaly must have been quickly resolved, and the remaining time allowed the relevant authorities to create the illusion that “Liushu Village had suffered chemical pollution but had been rescued.”
Thinking of this, Lou Yan’s eyelids twitched slightly.
An anomaly that could endanger an entire village in the early stages of the Anomaly Resurgence would most likely grow into a terror above the B-level. In the early stages of the Anomaly Resurgence, even if there were talented individuals, they had just awakened and their abilities generally wouldn’t be very strong. Who could solve the anomaly in Liushu Village so quickly?
He already had an answer in his heart—Fu Xuezhou.
If Fu Xuezhou wanted to become stronger quickly, he wouldn’t let such a powerful anomaly go. Only Fu Xuezhou could eliminate the anomaly in Liushu Village so quickly.
Lou Yan suddenly felt restless.
“Oh, your frown is so tight it could crush a mosquito. Who has gotten into the eyes of our young master Lou again?”
The door creaked, and Li Sanxin walked in from outside. He placed the bag of meat, vegetables, and fruits he was carrying on the ground, then took off his thin windbreaker and hung it on the coat rack. At the same time, he couldn’t help but tease Lou Yan.
Lou Yan turned to look at him, his expression slightly relaxed. “I met someone annoying today.”
Li Sanxin picked up the groceries and walked into the kitchen, curious, “Is there anyone you don’t find annoying? Aren’t you meeting one or two every day?”
Lou Yan: “…”
Li Sanxin waved at Lou Yan, “Stop frowning, come and help me organize these things quickly.”
Lou Yan walked over with a gloomy face.
Li Sanxin resisted a smile and approached to help, saying casually, “Look at our young master Lou, even with a gloomy face, he still looks handsome. It makes people feel good just looking at him, I feel like smiling.”
Lu Haoxiu admired Li Sanxin’s boldness. This guy dared to tease Brother Lou like this.
Lou Yan said coldly, “Li Sanxin…”
Li Sanxin quickly grabbed an ice cream from the bag and stuffed it into Lou Yan’s mouth, “Alright, stop talking. Eat your ice cream quickly.”
Lou Yan bit into the ice cream, still wearing a gloomy expression, and then walked out of the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Li Sanxin rolled up his sleeves and neatly placed the bought items in the refrigerator. He didn’t let Lu Haoxiu help, but chatted with him, and learned about the Anomaly Resurgence in Liushu Village.
“Liushu Village…” Li Sanxin pondered, “This place produces a lot of wood, selling furniture, saplings, and raw wood materials, and there are also several veneer yards. I’ve been to Liushu Village before to buy furniture. The environment there is pretty good, and there are many people. If there really is an Anomaly Resurgence happening there, I’m afraid many people will be affected.”
Li Sanxin’s refrigerator was very neat, with vegetables neatly arranged in one section and meat cut and vacuum-sealed in another section. It was as meticulous as a set of building blocks.
Every time Lu Haoxiu saw Li Sanxin organizing the refrigerator, he couldn’t help but admire Li Sanxin’s patience. “That’s what I think too. This anomaly must be very severe… Brother Li, you bought a lot of ice cream. Isn’t it too early to buy them now?”
Li Sanxin placed blocks of ice cream into the drawers of the freezer and couldn’t help but smile at the words, “Don’t underestimate this thing. Even with just these small blocks, they can calm down the anger of your Brother Lou.”
Lu Haoxiu: “Does Brother Lou like eating ice cream?”
Li Sanxin nodded and handed the last ice cream to Lu Haoxiu, whispering, “Your Brother Lou has the temperament of a child. He looks scary, but it’s all bark and no bite. Just stroke his fur, and everything will be fine.”
Temperament of a child?
Barking louder than it bites?
Lu Haoxiu twitched his lips. Was this really about Brother Lou? Why couldn’t he believe it?
Lu Haoxiu didn’t argue. He opened the ice cream and happily stuffed it into his mouth, then sneaked a glance into the living room.
He saw Lou Yan sitting on the sofa eating an ice cream, his face expressionless as if lost in thought. Duan Zege was holding a comb and trying hard to comb his tangled hair in front of the mirror.
Lu Haoxiu felt a sense of warmth inexplicably when he looked at this scene. Knowing about another Anomaly Resurgence made him feel restless and anxious, but seeing this scene calmed his restless heart.
He chuckled softly, touched the gold ring on his neck, and leaned close to Li Sanxin, lowering his voice to ask, “Bro, why haven’t I seen Brother Lou’s mom and your parents these days?”
Li Sanxin paused his hands as he was organizing things, he sighed lightly, “Lou Yan’s parents divorced when he was in junior high school, and his mom went to live abroad.”
Lu Haoxiu widened his eyes in shock, and suddenly, the ice cream in his hand didn’t taste as sweet anymore.
The refrigerator door emitted a warning sound that it had been open for too long. Li Sanxin closed it and suddenly became talkative, gesturing with his hand in front of his chest, “Back then, Lou Yan was already this tall, just a half-grown teenager. The news of his parents’ divorce came when we were having our school sports meeting. Lou Yan and I were both mainstays of the long-distance running team. But before the race, a call came in, and Lou Yan’s eyes turned red.”
Li Sanxin vividly recalled the scene from back then.
Lou Yan had always been domineering since he was young, and he was good-looking too. He had been sailing smoothly since elementary school, a true child of heaven. Arrogant, flashy, dazzling—these words could all be used to describe Lou Yan. He wasn’t afraid of anything, with an appearance of someone who could handle anything. Everyone in the school knew him, and there were few who didn’t like him.
Li Sanxin remembered clearly that day, he and Lou Yan were both wearing white sports uniforms provided by the school, and they were putting numbers on each other’s backs before the race. But when the phone call came, it wasn’t words of comfort, it was just a notification. It was the first time Li Sanxin saw Lou Yan’s eyes turn red.
Standing close by, Li Sanxin heard Lou Yan’s mother’s voice on the phone, calm and gentle but very decisive and firm: “Mom is already at the airport, the boarding pass is ready. There’s no way to come and see you one last time. You take care of yourself with Dad. Dad will take good care of you.”
Lou Yan couldn’t believe it, “Mom…”
Lou Yan’s mother said, “Mom didn’t sleep well last night, and wants to rest for a while. Son, Mom will hang up first.”
After that, Li Sanxin accompanied Lou Yan as they escaped from the school together, took a taxi to the airport. They randomly bought two plane tickets and hurriedly ran into the waiting room.
Along the way, the two half-grown teenagers were both anxious and at a loss, fidgeting and discussing how to stop Lou Yan’s mother. When they found Lou Yan’s mother, she was already boarding the plane.
Li Sanxin would never forget that scene. He stood behind Lou Yan, watching the naive and proud Lou Yan kneel on the clean white tiled floor of the airport, crying loudly. His white sports uniform was soaked and stained with sweat and dust, the yellow square on his back was torn off one corner, swaying in the air… Lou Yan looked pitiful and expectant, hoping his mother would turn back, but the lady in the champagne-colored long dress walked coldly, without looking back, into the boarding gate.
Thinking of this, Li Sanxin’s face darkened. He slowed down and advised Lu Haoxiu, “Don’t mention this in front of your Brother Lou in the future.”
Lu Haoxiu’s face twisted into a grimace, nodding repeatedly, “I will never mention it in front of Brother Lou!”
After a pause, he looked at Li Sanxin with a hesitant expression, and asked carefully, “Bro, then you…?”
Li Sanxin raised an eyebrow and said bluntly, “My parents also divorced, and now they live separately.”
“….” Lu Haoxiu felt suffocated.
I’m such an idiot. I’m not a person. Lu Haoxiu felt like he would wake up in the middle of the night tonight and slap himself.
“It’s okay,” Li Sanxin laughed heartily a few times, “They divorced amicably, and their relationship is pretty good now. To be honest, I’m quite happy to see them divorce.”
Lu Haoxiu’s eyes were teary. He grabbed Li Sanxin’s hand excitedly and shook it vigorously, nodding frantically in agreement, “Yes yes yes, congratulations on the divorce, happy divorce!”
Great, he could be a decent person again!
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