The reason

All along the way, Meat Tower Chen's loud wails drew quite a crowd of onlookers. Even Nan Shao's thick skin, toughened by life in the apocalypse, could not quite withstand it, and his face grew slightly hot. But between carrying something heavy and the blazing sun and hot weather, he was already drenched in sweat, so no one noticed. Zhang Yi, on the other hand, looked as calm as ever, utterly unaffected.

It was not until they reached the shacks, when even Zhang Ruiyang was woken by those miserable cries and emerged from Li Muran's shack holding her hand, rubbing his eyes and calling sleepily for his daddy, that Zhang Yi gave a quiet, sharp command: "Enough."

The wail Meat Tower Chen had been about to let out abruptly died, leaving those whose ears had grown accustomed to his racket momentarily uncomfortable. He gave a huge, sobbing hiccup and looked at Zhang Yi with tear-filled eyes. "Captain Zhang, my legs are ruined... Captain Zhang, I'm going to die, waaah..." As he spoke, he started howling again.

Looking at his face smeared with tears and snot, Zhang Yi could not help recalling the first time he had seen him over a decade ago: a fat young man in his early twenties, decked out in glittering gold chains and rings, smiling so broadly that his eyes disappeared, his belly jiggling like a Maitreya Buddha's. Yet he had been full of nasty tricks, so slippery and crafty that you wanted to scrape a couple of layers of fat off him before you could feel satisfied. Only after getting to know him had Zhang Yi realized that he was really just a big boy at heart: afraid of death, lecherous but lacking the nerve, yet loyal to his friends. Later, when Zhang Yi went to prison, he alone had run around trying to get him out, and had also helped look after his elderly mother from time to time.

"Uncle Fatty." Yangyang finally recognized Meat Tower Chen, who had slimmed down considerably. He pulled free of Li Muran's hand, walked over, crouched down, and called softly to him.

"Hic..." Meat Tower Chen was still lying on the ground. Though he was crying bitterly, his hearing remained sharp, and the voice startled him. He blinked hard, squeezing the tears out of his eyes, and finally made out the concerned little face. "Sweetie, you're not dead..."

Everyone present except Zhang Ruiyang felt the corners of their mouths twitch, first at that very odd endearment, "sweetie," and then at a remark that hardly sounded like anything nice. Was that any way to greet someone?

Zhang Ruiyang tilted his little head, not understanding what "dead" meant, but still answered obediently, "Uncle Fatty, my daddy came back. Grandma went..." He wanted to bite his finger, but glanced at Zhang Yi and held back. Then he raised his little hand and very solemnly pointed far into the distance. "Went over there to get her sickies treated. There were lots and lots of monsters. Daddy carried Yangyang on his back, fought monsters, rode in cars..." The little fellow babbled away for ages before remembering to ask, "Uncle Fatty, why are you crying?"

Meat Tower Chen looked in the direction the little hand pointed, trying hard to work out where "over there" was. Unable to think of any major hospital in that direction, he guessed the little fellow was pointing at random and surely did not know where it was himself. Still, he had more or less understood what had happened to Zhang Yi's family. He was regretting that, for fear of upsetting Zhang Yi, he had never asked whether the child and his grandmother were still alive, when he heard the little fellow's question. Grief welled up in him at once, and tears spilled from his eyes. "Sweetie, Uncle Fatty is going to die... Uncle Fatty is going to die, boohoo..."

"Why is Uncle Fatty going to die?" Zhang Ruiyang heard that word "die" again, and seeing how upset Meat Tower Chen was, he could not help asking. At the same time, he reached out his little hand to wipe Meat Tower Chen's tears. "Don't cry, Uncle Fatty. Don't cry..."

Watching that fat face become even more unbearable to look at under the little hand's wiping, Zhang Yi finally could not stand it any longer. He bent down, picked Yangyang up, and handed him to Li Muran. "Be good, Yangyang. Go play over there with big sister. You can come see Uncle Fatty again in a little while."

"But Daddy, Uncle Fatty is crying so hard." Zhang Ruiyang had always obeyed Zhang Yi, but he also liked Meat Tower Chen very much and was reluctant to leave, his little face full of conflict.

"It's all right. Daddy's here." Zhang Yi's expression was gentle as he stroked his son's head reassuringly, then signaled for Li Muran to take Yangyang away. The state Meat Tower Chen was in beneath the sheet was really not fit for a woman or child to see.

Only once the two had entered Li Muran's tent did Zhang Yi sit down on the ground beside Meat Tower Chen and scold him irritably, "Look at you! What a sorry sight!"

Chapter 17: The reason

As he spoke, he lifted a corner of the sheet and examined the wounds carefully. Both were above the knees. One passed through the outer thigh, a frightening-looking mess of torn flesh and blood. The other was close to the thighbone; the wound was small, but it would not stop bleeding, and the bullet was probably still inside. A chill rose in Zhang Yi's heart, but his expression did not change. "You won't die," he said calmly.

Nan Shao gave him a surprised look but did not interrupt.

The weather was hot, and there were neither doctors nor medicine. They did not even have clean water and cloth to wash and dress the wounds, much less adequate nutrition. Quite apart from anything else, an infection alone could kill the fat man.

But Meat Tower Chen believed him. He stopped howling and looked at Zhang Yi, his eyes full of hope. "Really?"

"Yes." Zhang Yi's answer was unequivocal. Then he turned to Nan Shao. "Get me two towels." He had seen Nan Shao bring back quite a few towels, and right now those were the only reasonably clean things they had. Whatever else happened, he needed to stop the bleeding first.

Only after watching Nan Shao go inside did he ask, while cutting a slit in the sheet with his knife, "How did you end up like this?" He had to admit that mutants had strong constitutions. After taking two gunshots, the man still had so much energy, so his earlier answer had not been entirely meant as reassurance.

At the mention of this, Meat Tower Chen's mournful face instantly turned savage. The folds of flesh bunched together spread out, and raging fury and hatred blazed in his little eyes. How could he still remember the pain in his legs?

"Fuck Zheng Kun and his whole damn family, that son of a bitch..." He opened his mouth and let loose a string of filthy curses.

Zhang Yi did not stop him. With two ripping sounds, he tore two strips from the sheet. Just then, Nan Shao came out with three towels. Zhang Yi took one, folded it, and pressed it against the wound that would not stop bleeding, then wound a strip of sheet tightly around it. As for the other leg, because the wound was too large, he overlapped and folded two towels together before covering and bandaging it. Nan Shao crouched beside him to help.