When Meng Chao turned around to look, he saw a woman in her thirties with a full figure.
She had a baby face that was always smiling. If it were not for the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and lips, people would mistake her for a girl who had just graduated from university. At that moment, she carried a rather large and heavy wooden box in her hands. There was a Blue Home’s emblem on her arm.
When she saw Meng Chao staring at the emblem on her arm, Xiao Fanghua’s face turned red. She explained herself with slight embarrassment.
“Club Leader Meng, I’m really sorry for not showing up in the club for the past few months. It’s just that I’ve been too busy with work. When the fog descended, a group of monsters snuck into a school in the east of the city and destroyed the entire place. Many of the teachers sacrificed their lives to protect the students living in the school…
“Over the past few months, I’ve been teaching at my own school in the south during the day, and at night, I come with my colleagues to teach the children here. I just don’t have the time to come to the club. Honestly, I have a few questions regarding cultivation that I would like to ask you! As for this…”
She swung her arm to show off her emblem. “My husband is a member of Blue Home. He also has an event here today, so I came here to help him.”
“It’s fine, Ms. Xiao,” Meng Chao said. “You don’t have to tell me this. The Broken Star Club is similar to Blue Home. In any case, it’s fine as long as we all help the people.
“Also, please stop calling me Club Leader Meng. The members developed the Broken Star Club together, and I didn’t do much. We’re not at the club, either, and you’re older than I am. You’re even a teacher. You can just call me Little Meng or Meng Chao.”
“That won’t do.” Xiao Fanghua barely suppressed her laughter. “Aren’t you calling me Ms. Xiao?”
Meng Chao thought about it and went along with the flow. “Big Sis Xiao!”
“Well then, I won’t be so polite with you anymore, Meng Chao.” Xiao Fanghua grinned and approached him. “Speaking of which, I’ve been wanting to go to the club to look for you, Meng Chao. There are a few academic questions I’d like to ask you.”
“Oh? Please, go on, Big Sis Ya.”
Xiao Fanghua’s face turned red, and she whispered, “I’m pregnant. I’m three months along now. Can I still continue practicing the Ultimate Style?”
“Is that so? Congratulations! That’s great!”
‘It’s no wonder why I thought Ms. Xiao is… rounder than a few months ago,’ Meng Chao quietly thought to himself.
He was sincerely happy for Xiao Fanghua.
But when he thought about it, Ms. Xiao’s child would be the blood of Zhao Feixuan, one of the ten great lost people of the future Dragon City.
His expression turned a little strange when he thought about that. To hide it, he cleared his throat and grabbed the big wooden box from Xiao Fanghua’s hands.
It was rather heavy, so he curiously asked, “What is this?”
“Teaching tools for the children. They’re simulation models of guns and monsters,” Xiao Fanghua said. “Meng Chao, I’ll do it. I’m over the three month mark now, so I’ll be fine.”
“It’s fine. We’re just distributing canned food and drinkable water, anyway. I’m not necessary there. I’d like to see the children in the class with you.” While walking alongside her, he asked, “So, you didn’t come to the club because you’re pregnant?”
Xiao Fanghua’s cheeks turned red, and she said, “Honestly, I’m not that fragile. But it’s the first time my husband will become a father. When he heard that I’m pregnant, he was so happy that his head stopped functioning.
“He treats me like I’m made of glass and thinks that I’ll break if I fall on the floor. He’s even worried that I’ll crack when he holds me. Forget about practicing the Ultimate Style, he even wants me to immediately resign from being a teacher and just stay at home to take care of the child.
“I’ve argued with him a few times, saying that the girls in Dragon City aren’t as fragile as the women on Earth. Even when hearing the roars of monsters, we will still give birth to our children, and when they’re born, they won’t be missing even a single finger.
“After I used everything at my disposal to persuade him, he finally agreed to let me go to work and organize these classes. But I have to take a step back and set aside practicing the Ultimate Style for the time being.
“Now, I’m over the first three months. The doctor said that the baby is strong and stable. There shouldn’t be any problems with me going through basic training. I don’t care about what my husband says anymore. Meng Chao, the Ultimate Style cultivates the branch meridians, and it’s a neutral and peaceful cultivation method. It should be fine for the baby, right?”
“Um…” Meng Chao was stumped by this question. He thought about it and said, “Big Sis Xiao, don’t be in a hurry to go back to high-intensity training yet. Let me go back and ask my tutor. We’ve never encountered pregnant ladies who wish to practice the Ultimate Style before you.
“Even though the Ultimate Style is a relatively gentle cultivation method, we use bioelectricity to stimulate the spirit meridians. I don’t know if we need to make some minor adjustments in terms of the strength of the shock and the formula of the gene medicine. After all, the baby’s vitality magnetic field will overlap with the mother’s vitality magnetic field.”
They chatted like that while they walked. In a while, they reached the depths of the shelter.
The tents were all connected with each other over here, and there were more than five citizens in each tent. Since there were no spots for them to hang their laundry, they could only place their clothes, sheets, and washed bandages on the paths between the tents for them to dry. Meng Chao and Xiao Fanghua had to occasionally lower their heads to move past the clothes, and they felt like they were moving through a complicated maze.
The citizens staying in the tents were not in a very good mental state.
When the fog descended, most of them came under mind attacks and saw really terrifying scenes. Their mental strength indices had fallen to the point where they were at the verge of breaking down.
Even after resting for a lot of days, many people still had bloodshot eyes. There were also people with fearful and confused expressions. It was as if they were still trapped in the nightmare of that night and could not remove themselves from it.
Besides, the environment here was bad. The air was foul, and many people had their nerves high strung. Their negative emotions spread to others as rapidly as viruses.
Meng Chao looked in through the gaps in the tents and saw a lot of families that were similar to one another.
Most of the women held a handful of items they had managed to save from their old homes. Their expressions were numb while they mumbled under their breaths. It seemed like they were recalling the beautiful moments in the past.
The men were like fighting dogs with bombs strapped to their backs. The smallest conflict turned into a bloody fight.
Many people ended up in fights even though they did not really hate each other. They were just venting their despair, because they did not know when they could live in new houses and return to their normal lives.
While they were moving through the area, Meng Chao had already seen three fights, and he whispered to Xiao Fanghua, “The citizens here are in a really bad psychological state, huh?”
“Anyone in their place wouldn’t be in a good mental state.” Xiao Fanghua smiled wanly. “With the help from the Survival Committee, the Supernatural Tower, and many public welfare organizations, the citizens can finally settle down. If they don’t crave tasty food, we can supply them with the synthesized food and recycled drinkable water. We can still satisfy their basic needs.
“But humans are never satisfied with just being able to survive. Many of the citizens didn’t bring anything when they fled in haste, and all the valuable stuff is still in their homes. It was burnt or corroded by monsters.
“A lot of the residential areas and factory areas were damaged badly, so they lost their jobs too. The Survival Committee has arranged them to clear the debris, level the ground outside the city, dig trenches, or develop Dragon City.
“But these jobs can be done by large runic symbol machines and the army, and they’d be more efficient at them too. Letting the citizens do these things is just the government granting relief to the citizens by giving them employment.
“It doesn’t give them a lot of money, though. They’re just able to get a few more nutritious food cans for their families or some drinkable water that has been recycled fewer times.”
Meng Chao nodded and sighed.
“Honestly, the adults can still overcome this. Once the difficult times end, they could go out and look for work slowly. The problem is the children.”
Xiao Fanghua was never able to move the conversation away from her work. “Many of the children who lost their homes are adolescents, and it’s their golden cultivation period. If they don’t seize the chance to build their foundation, it’ll be very hard for them to awaken to supernatural abilities in the future.
“There are dozens of third year middle school students in the classes we organize. They’re going to take their high school entrance examinations next year.
“The school they originally studied in was normal. The teaching resources there weren’t great and their cultivation machines were only decent, so only a few of them could get into First High School, Second High School, or Construction High.
“But now, the school and all the cultivation machines have been destroyed. Many of the teachers also died during the fog.
“Even though the government has mobilized a batch of teachers to come to the shelter to form a temporary school, the teaching space and cultivation resources here aren’t satisfactory.
“Besides, there are pests in the shelter. Viruses often bring trouble and zombies causing havoc. Full-on disinfection of the area has to be conducted often, so there’s no way that the children can learn like other normal students during the day.
“We can only give them extra classes at night to help with that. They’re all good students, and it’s a waste if their talents are left uncultivated like this.”
As Xiao Fanghua spoke, she led Meng Chao into an especially large double-layered tent.
It was different from other tents. There was no stench from household waste fermenting there, only the faint fragrance of ink and chalk fusing together.
Dozens of teenagers stood in stances and meditated inside it.
They were serious and gave off a quiet and level-headed air. It was a huge contrast to their parents’ fearful and frustrated expressions. It was as if the tent contained a different world from the one outside.
Meng Chao looked around and noticed that even though the class was small, it had everything. There was a blackboard at the front of the class, and another at the back. The blackboard in front had the secrets of the Nine Great Stances and the most basic general knowledge of runic symbol studies and spirit energy studies. The blackboard at the back was decorated with rows of skyscrapers covered in plants, along with colorful smiling faces.
It also had two words: Our Home.
Meng Chao felt warmth in his heart.
No matter how hard their current circumstances were, as long as the children were still full of hope, Dragon City would have a future.
Xiao Fanghua and Meng Chao placed the teaching tools in a corner, then she tapped her waist lightly and looked around. She frowned a little and asked a girl with a ponytail, which was next to them,, “Class rep, where is Li Jue?”
“Li Jue was called back by his father just now,” the class rep replied timidly. “I heard… that his father won’t let him join the class.”