CHAPTER 183: CHAPTER 174 SI YAN’S MEMORIES_1

Memories of her last life enveloped her.

As a child, her father would hold her mother and call her "wife."

She and her brother Si Jie grew up in a household rife with bickering and physical confrontations.

It could be said that her combat skills were largely honed through the fights at home.

But if she did something wrong, her brother would step forward to take the blame, and if she tried to confess, he would intimidate her into silence with his fierce gaze.

Later, he would bribe her with snacks.

When did everything change?

She remembered, a few days before the apocalypse, videos of people biting one another surfaced in the news.

Her brother, a government clerk, had made a call home, instructing their parents to stock up on water and food, and secure the doors and windows with steel plates.

He also called me at university, urging me to hurry home.

Fortunately, her university was local, so she didn’t need to take a train or plane.

But by then, there were no taxis or buses on the road.

She rented a shared bike and rode home.

However, on the way home, a crimson rain began to fall, drenching her thoroughly as she rode the shared bicycle.

This rain gave her a high fever and also granted her special abilities.

Si Yan closed her eyes, as blood-red memories shrouded her.

She had bought numerous medicines from the nearby pharmacy and returned home. Her mother brought back bags of food from the supermarket, but she could only carry two or three jugs of water due to her lack of strength.

Her father was busy nailing steel plates to the windows.

As her mother shouted, "We don’t have enough water!" she began filling buckets with tap water.

The tap water, however, was red.

Si Yan hurriedly pulled her mother away, urging her not to use it.

She and her mother planned to go downstairs to buy more water, but the queues were long, and the supermarket’s water and food quickly sold out.

There were people biting others inside the supermarket.

Si Yan hurriedly took her mother back home...

As soon as they got home, their father nailed the door shut with steel plates.

Looking at the limited supply of water and food at home, enough for only two or three days, Si Yan called Si Jie.

"Bro, people have started biting each other in the neighborhood, and Dad has nailed the door shut," she said.

"We’re running out of food; we can only last four or five days. When are you coming back?"

Si Jie’s worried voice came through, "Yan Yan, hang in there. I’ll find a way to get back."

"Bro..."

From the other end of the phone, Si Yan seemed to hear a groan.

Si Yan anxiously asked, "Bro, what happened to you?!"

Her parents crowded around her, suddenly exclaiming in alarm, "Yan Yan, what happened to you? Your face is so red, and you’re burning up!"

She had a fever and lay in the house for three days and nights.

She remembered, during this time, hearing groans through the phone, Si Yan actually suspected Si Jie had been bitten and infected.

「Three days later.」

Si Yan awakened two Special Abilities: the Wood-based Ability and Spatial Ability.

Feeling reassured by her newfound chances of survival, she was excited to share the news with her family. As she stepped out of her room, she saw Si Jie standing before her family, apparently unharmed.

Si Jie looked up at her with a smile. "Yan Yan, I heard you got a fever. Humans who get a fever after the red rain awaken Special Abilities. What abilities have you awakened?"

He looked the same as before, yet Si Yan felt that something was slightly off.

In the end, she instinctively held back.

She answered with a smile, "Bro, I’ve awakened the Wood-based Ability."

...

"Yan Yan, Yan Yan."

Si Yan was brought back to her senses by Wàng, her arms tightening further around him.

Could it be that her brother, who had always been at odds with her since childhood but took care of her when things went south, was replaced by someone else at that time?

「Day three.」

Yin Hong and the others were finishing up making tables, chairs, and benches in the tavern. They had also dug a pit a bit farther away, making a toilet as instructed by Si Yan, and hung a sign with the shape of a Beastman on it, distinguishing between the male and female restrooms.

Three days had passed, and Tai Seng hadn’t brought Xi Qing and Bei Ji back, which made Si Yan worry.

In a world where science wasn’t advanced, it wasn’t easy to find people.

Luckily, Beastmen had a keen sense of smell.

She took Wàng and walked around Myriad Beasts City. Maybe if Xi Qing and Bei Ji caught her scent, they would come back to her.

Walking on the streets of Myriad Beasts City, Si Yan saw some Beastman cubs running around and playing.

Si Yan stopped some of them to ask about Xi Qing and Bei Ji.

The Beastman cubs didn’t know.

Si Yan felt a bit disappointed, sighed, and then took out some dried fruits she had prepared earlier, coaxing them like the Wolf Grandmother, "Kids, help Aunty with a favor, and these snacks are all yours, okay?"

These dried fruits were made by Si Yan herself and looked particularly appetizing.

The Beastman cubs drooled.

Si Yan smiled and said, "Help Aunty with two things. First, if you see two Sen Ran serpent Beastman cubs, one of them wearing a silver mask, tell them their mother is looking for them."

The Beastman cubs nodded their heads.

"Second, Aunty will teach you a nursery rhyme. Remember it, then sing while you play. Can you do that?"

"Yes, yes!" The Beastman cubs replied happily.

Si Yan smiled and taught:

"In the west city corner, a little tavern stands,

Sweet and mellow, a taste so grand.

Burp some wine, let a fart slip through,

A moment of joy, oh so true."

After thinking a bit more, Si Yan continued teaching:

"In a west city nook,

A two-story shop you’ll find.

A bowl of wine, for three coins,

Bliss like a deity, so divine."

"Got it?"

The cubs cheerfully said, "Got it!"

Si Yan handed out heaps of dried fruits to them.

The cubs didn’t feel shortchanged at all, happily singing the nursery rhyme and playing.

Perhaps because the rhyme was catchy, it soon spread through Myriad Beasts City.

"Have you heard? There’s a tavern in the west city."

"Nonsense, this world doesn’t even have brewers; where would there be a tavern? Stop messing around. Ah, what a pity for me, never having tasted a bowl of wine in my life. If I get the chance, I’ll definitely save up, at least to drink one bowl of wine."

"I envy the description of wine’s taste by those who’ve drunk it. Tsk tsk tsk, I really want to get drunk once. Too bad, with no brewers left, there’s no wine to be found."

"But it’s true! Listen to what the kids are singing: ’A little tavern in the west city corner, a moment of joy, oh so true.’"

The Beastman suddenly sat up. "You mean, there’s a new brewer in Myriad Beasts City? This... this can’t be possible."