Between the two options, the two children thought for a moment and decided to just do both. While hiding, they planned to find Lele.
***
After Ningning’s alarm went off, the teacher not far from him immediately rushed in his direction.
These young children were too young, and even though the teachers had checked for dangers in the forest before their arrival, they still discreetly followed behind the children to ensure their safety.
The teacher in charge of Ningning’s group walked towards Ningning while continuing to communicate through the walkie-talkie, asking, “Teacher, how is it on your side?”
The teacher responsible for Savi and Lele’s group, after mentioning a situation ten minutes ago, had gone silent.
He called the teacher several times on the walkie-talkie, and seeing no response, he sent a message to the team leader.
“I can’t reach the teacher; please check on him.”
After sending the message, the teacher, feeling uneasy, walked briskly towards Ningning.
The signal was not very reliable here, so teachers communicated with each other through walkie-talkies or messages.
The children had signal display devices on them, and each child’s location was clearly shown on the device held by the teacher.
The small red dots on the device represented the children.
Although this ancient Earth site was not open to the public, the winter camp had chosen it as the main location for two consecutive years. During these two years, there had been no safety concerns.
Despite the teacher’s unease, he forcefully suppressed it and continued walking forward.
It was unclear how long he had walked.
The teacher noticed that the red dot representing Ningning was getting farther away.
“What’s going on?”
The teacher furrowed his brow slightly. “Is Ningning running?”
***
The teacher’s speculation was correct; Ningning was indeed running at the moment.
“Wagner, hurry up!”
The chubby child with a backpack, using his short legs, exerted all his effort to run forward. With each step, his chubby little face swayed, making one feel an inappropriate urge to poke it.
Wagner didn’t need to be told; he ran quickly.
The two children heard Lele crying and calling for them.
They both ran in the direction of the sound.
Lele, who was crying and calling Dad Ningning, was now lying on the ground, watching Savi fight with a bug.
The bug was quite large, larger than Savi by a margin.
Lele had seen this kind of bug before. He couldn’t remember if it was in a dream or in reality, but he had seen it.
His mom said he had a nightmare, that’s why he dreamt about bugs. But he didn’t like dreaming.
“Brother Savi.”
Lele watched as Savi gradually fell behind. He got up and rushed over, saying, “Hurry, run, the bug wants to catch Lele, run!”
As long as he didn’t run, the bug wouldn’t chase Savi anymore.
Savi couldn’t run on his own. His hand was bitten by the Zerg, and it was bleeding.
The scent of blood made the Zerg’s eyes glow green, and a slimy substance drooled from its mouth.
Savi squinted, looking at the greedy Zerg. He pulled out a pair of black gloves from the innermost part of his backpack.
After putting on the gloves, he pushed Lele aside, telling him not to move. Then he clenched his fist and pounced on the Zerg.
There was only this one Zerg in front of Savi, but not far away, more than one Zerg intercepted the teacher responsible for their group.
Savi knew the teacher had shouldered all the pressure. He needed to quickly finish this Zerg and leave with Lele.
The bug-killing expert wasn’t only Ningning; Savi had clearly killed Zergs, too.
Soon enough, Savi, with determination, killed the Zerg.
He carried Lele on his back and continued running forward.
Lele was now lying on his back, not cooperating much. “Brother, Savi put Lele down. As long as Lele is here, Brother Savi will be chased.”
Savi scolded, “Shut up, lie down properly!”
He didn’t want to feed this crying little guy to the Zergs. If this crying little guy was eaten by the Zergs, Ning, who was obsessed with being a dad to the crying little guy, and Wagner, would definitely come after him.
Lele was carried on Savi’s back, feeling both scared and anxious. In the end, with tears streaming down his face, he called out for Dad Ningning.
When Lele slept beside Dad Ningning, the other had whispered to him—
“All children will encounter adults who protect them. As long as the child is in danger, the adult will surely come.”
At that time, Lele honestly confessed to Dad Ningning, “Lele only has a mom, no other adults.”
Since he could remember, his mom had kept him inside, not letting him go out or attend school. While the other kids were in kindergarten, he sat in the room, listening to his mom lecturing from the kindergarten textbooks.
Sometimes, his mom loved him so much, kissing his little face and saying he should be a pampered little child. However, at other times, she feared him, afraid of his eyes that were different from other kids.
After hearing that he had no other adults, Dad Ningning corrected him seriously, telling him, “You have many adults now. You have grandpa, uncles, and many other adults who can only be called by shaking a rattle. Lele, don’t worry, they will protect you in the future.”
Thinking of Dad Ningning’s words, Lele clung to Savi’s neck, choked up, and said, “Grandpa Zhang, Uncle Caesar... save Lele.”
Lele didn’t want to die; he had finally found adults who could protect him, and he didn’t want to die.
Savi, carrying Lele on his back, stumbled when he heard the title ‘Uncle Caesar.’ Almost tripping on the spot, Savi knew Caesar.
They had even simulated battles before. Thinking of Caesar, who was still so young, suddenly becoming an uncle, Savi couldn’t help but be amazed.
Despite the terrifying situation, he couldn’t help but feel amused because of a chubby child who suddenly elevated their status. The always serious expression on the chubby child’s face was almost comical.
Whether it was the chubby child or Lele on his back, they were truly remarkable children!
Both of them were daring in recognizing their relatives and agreeing to situations.
While Lele continued crying for help, the chubby child, who arrived in a rush, finally caught up.
“Lele!”
Hearing Lele calling for him, the chubby child responded loudly, “Don’t be afraid, Dad is here!”
Seeing Dad Ningning, Lele immediately struggled down from Savi’s back. Unsteady, he ran towards Dad Ningning and, upon reaching him, immediately hugged him tightly.
“Lele is so scared!”
The little chubby child patted his back, about to reassure him.
As he lifted his head, he saw the increasingly dense swarm of Zergs.
The little child held back his words, pulled Lele up, and started running.
Although he had been killing Zergs since he was little, there were too many this time, and he couldn’t handle them all!
Savi had carried Lele all the way earlier, and now he didn’t need to carry him anymore. His energy had recovered a bit.
Now, Wagner was the one carrying Lele.
Ningning and Savi, both experienced in Zerg-killing, were covering the rear while Wagner carried Lele in the front as they ran.
They needed to escape this forest and return to their previous dwelling.
As for their teacher... They couldn’t afford to look for their teacher right now.
Savi looked at the pursuing Zergs, feeling even more weighed down.
He recognized that some of these Zergs were the ones their teacher had been holding back earlier. Now, the Zergs had caught up, the teacher’s situation didn’t look optimistic.
Several children desperately ran, while Caesar, who chose a practical location, personally visited the winter camp before making his decision.
He knew that what he was doing wasn’t in accordance with the rules, but he still went to inquire about the winter camp’s itinerary.
His father had reprimanded this rule-breaking behavior in the past when Caesar couldn’t find the little child. His attempt to search through the personal data in the learning machine’s backend was met with his father’s admonition.
However, this time, knowing he was going, his father didn’t raise any objections.
The little child had been away for several days, and the adults at home were all worried.
His Majesty the Emperor recently, whether in work or daily life, would often find himself thinking about the child who was not at home.
He no longer had to hold the little child on his lap while working, rock his legs to make him sleep, or feed him during meals.
Ai Wei was the same. There’s no need to give the little child a bath before bedtime, no need to accompany him in reading picture books, and no need to sit together on the bed playing with toy bulldozers.
By saving these tasks, they should have felt more relaxed.
The couple didn’t feel particularly relaxed.
Even before going to sleep, Ai Wei muttered, “The duration of this winter camp is a bit long. If we had known, we should have taken Ningning to travel. Traveling is also a way to enhance Ningning’s life skills.”
Ludwig didn’t verbally agree, but his thoughts mirrored hers.
With Ludwig’s tacit approval, Caesar, who appeared at the winter camp headquarters, smoothly obtained access to the ancient Earth site.
Near this site, Caesar chose a practical location. Before leaving, he also visited Zhan Xi.
After meeting Zhan Xi, two “handy” individuals were added to Caesar’s entourage, and the Zhan family’s business of collecting scrap announced a temporary suspension.
