"Nostalgia? If you ask if there's anything to be nostalgic about, there actually is..." Ye Tianchen paused, seemingly lost in thought as he spoke.
"Then, what is it that you miss the most?" Han Jie couldn't help but ask, her heart racing.
"It seems when I left home, I forgot to take the little pig my sister gave me. Should we go back and get it?"
No sooner had Ye Tianchen finished speaking than Han Jie's face, which had held a touch of shyness, darkened, and she revved the motorcycle to its maximum, speeding towards the airport...
Han Jie stood at the airport, watching the plane to Capital City take off, feeling an inexplicable sense of loss. She didn't know if it was because of Ye Tianchen's departure, or the thought of not seeing him again in the future that made her heart ache a bit, leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
After a three and a half-hour flight, Ye Tianchen arrived at Kyoto Airport.
The first thing he did upon coming out of the airport was to buy a bowl of tofu pudding, eating as he walked. If people from the same flight saw Ye Tianchen, their jaws would surely drop.
Because this guy started calling for food the moment he boarded the plane, eating nonstop for over three hours until the pretty flight attendant who served the meals was almost rolling her eyes. He was like a starving ghost reincarnated, eating incessantly.
Ye Tianchen was carrying a military backpack in his left hand and holding a bowl of tofu pudding in his right, slowly stirring and feeding himself, feeling quite satisfied.
In the apocalypse, everywhere was ablaze with war and gunpowder. Between countries, between people, even among people and exotic beasts, there was constant fighting. Moreover, with the environment so heavily polluted, where could one find such delicious food? To have a bottle of clean mineral water was an absolute luxury.
The struggles for mineral water that pitted powerful fighters against each other were numerous, such was the dire state of the apocalypse.
Walking and eating, Ye Tianchen gradually lost track of where he was going.
Looking around, he found himself in a small alley. In Capital City, there were many alleys like this. Ye Tianchen knew where his home was but wanted to take a leisurely stroll back, not in a hurry, preferring to fill his stomach first.
Suddenly, as Ye Tianchen was just reaching the middle of the alley, a tall and fashionable woman with dark sunglasses and a black hat came running towards him, nearly colliding with him head-on.
Before Ye Tianchen had a chance to turn his head for a glance, the woman had already grabbed his arm.
"Handsome, someone's trying to kidnap me. Cover for me while I call the police," she said urgently.
"Hmm?"
Ye Tianchen paused, giving the tall woman behind him a once-over.
The woman, around 175 centimeters tall and half a head shorter than him, wore large dark sunglasses and had an air of celebrity about her. Although he couldn't see her face, he could sense her beautiful aura.
At the same time, while the woman was pulling out her phone to dial, over ten black-suited bodyguards poured into the alley from both ends, with some even jumping down from the walls, encircling both Ye Tianchen and her.
Before the woman could make her emergency call, one of the black-suited bodyguards snatched her phone away and cruelly smashed it.
"What... what do you want?" the beautiful woman asked, fear evident in her voice.
"Miss Feifei, please come with us. Otherwise, don't blame us for being rough," said one of the bodyguards, also wearing dark sunglasses and looking rather cool.
"You… I… don't you see my boyfriend here? If you dare to kidnap me, he won't let you off!"
In a moment of desperation, not knowing what else to do, the woman clung to Ye Tianchen's arm and shouted loudly.
The lead black-suited bodyguard glanced at Ye Tianchen. Ye Tianchen felt a bit frustrated, having been nonchalantly assigned the role of her boyfriend in a situation that looked to be troublesome.
Ye Tianchen was not one to seek out trouble. He hated complications the most. To play the hero and rescue a damsel in distress, with so many beautiful women in the apocalypse, he would be exhausted if he had to save every one he encountered.
"Don't look at me. I don't even know her, goodbye!"
Ye Tianchen shrugged and walked away, leaving the beautiful woman who had grabbed him so frustrated she could have bitten him.
She thought to herself, what kind of person is this guy? Here she was, a super beautiful woman in danger of being kidnapped. Usually, men would risk their lives to play the hero, but not the guy she had encountered, who seemed to lack any emotional intelligence.
"Hey, are you even a man? I was so wrong about you!"
Hearing the woman's shouting, Ye Tianchen continued without looking back, eating his tofu pudding and planning to slip away from the encircling bodyguards, unwilling to get entangled in the mess. It wasn't that Ye Tianchen was afraid, but he had no connection to the situation and preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble.
But just as Ye Tianchen was about to step away, the leader of the black-suited bodyguards blocked his path and knocked the bowl of tofu pudding from his hand to the ground, saying dominantly,
"Did I say you could leave?"
To this group of bodyguards who didn't take Ye Tianchen seriously at all, he was just someone they could easily dispose of.
As the lead bodyguard spilled Ye Tianchen's tofu pudding on the ground and reached for the beautiful woman, laughing coldly, he said,
"We won't hurt you; we just want to find an opportunity to talk to your father."
Bang!
The lead bodyguard in a black suit had just reached out his hand when he was kicked in the butt and sent flying several meters, landing face-first as if he were eating dirt.
Everyone was startled, all turning their heads to look at Ye Tianchen, not expecting him to make a move.
"You can hit me, you can scold me, but when you spill my tofu pudding and leave me hungry, that's when you really provoke me!"
Ye Tianchen pointed angrily with his right index finger at the lead bodyguard in the black suit.
"Damn it, kid, you think you're being smart? What are you all just standing there for? Kill him!"
The lead black-suited bodyguard shouted loudly, his mouth full of blood from the fall.
Over a dozen bodyguards in black suits rushed towards Ye Tianchen, prompting the beautiful woman standing nearby to hurriedly move aside.
Ye Tianchen was already somewhat angered, and with his skills, these black-suited bodyguards were no match for him. He simply disdained to act and wasn't in the mood to play the hero and save the beauty, but now that they had enraged him, he decisively struck out, sending bodyguards flying with each punch while roaring:
"Give back my tofu pudding, give back my tofu pudding..."
The lead bodyguard's face was covered in blood, and the beautiful woman standing on the side were both looking at Ye Tianchen as if he were a monster.
No one expected him to suddenly strike with such ferocity, with over a dozen bodyguards unable to get close, almost all of them were sent flying with a single punch, screaming in agony on the ground, unable to get back up.
In less than two minutes, all the bodyguards in black suits were lying on the ground, none able to stand again.
Ye Tianchen's face showed a saddened expression as he looked at the bowl of spilled tofu pudding on the ground, sighed deeply, picked up his shoulder bag, and walked out of the alleyway.
The beautiful woman snapped out of it and hurriedly chased after Ye Tianchen. As a woman who couldn't fight at all, if any of the bodyguards who had been planning to take her away managed to get up, they could easily capture her.
"Hey, hey, wait for me, wait for me... My name is Su Feifei; what's your name?"
The beautiful woman was running after Ye Tianchen and shouting at him from behind.
Ye Tianchen didn't look back and quickly crossed the street, vanishing from sight, which irritated Su Feifei to the point of grinding her seductive little canine tooth and pouting her cute cheeks, saying:
"Am I worth less than a bowl of tofu pudding to you? Such an unsympathetic bad guy."
The incident was nothing for Ye Tianchen to worry about; honestly, if the lead bodyguard in black hadn't spilled his tofu pudding, he would never have lifted a finger.
He hailed a taxi and went straight home. In his past life, he had been an orphan with no parents or siblings, but in this new life, he had a family and was somewhat looking forward to the warmth of home.
The taxi stopped outside a villa that was neither luxurious nor shabby.
Looking at the two-story villa, Ye Tianchen's lips curled into a smile as he approached the front door. Just as he was about to knock, he heard crying from inside the villa's hall, and his raised right hand paused as he decided to listen.
"Mom, stop crying. If the Qi family wants to break off the engagement, then let them; our Ye family doesn't care about that." Ye Tianchen recognized that it was the voice of his younger sister, Ye Qianwen.
"Qianwen, I'm not worried about the Qi family breaking off the engagement; I'm worried about your brother's safety. I've heard from your uncle that during their mission, they ran into an ambush, and your brother might not come back."
Ye Tianchen's mother was named Luo Yan, a typical housewife, and the Luo family was a moderately influential family in Capital City.
"Don't worry, mom, brother will be fine; he will definitely come back. If the Qi family wants to break off the engagement, let them. Brother will certainly find someone even more beautiful." Ye Qianwen tried to comfort her mother while fiercely frowning, speaking somewhat indignantly.
Luo Yan sighed and wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
Her son had been a worry since he was a child, always getting into trouble, fighting, and chasing girls. After the incident with the Liu family, he was like a changed person. He refused to attend university and insisted on joining the army, who knew it would end up like this.
"Your grandfather and uncle said that if the Qi family comes to break off the engagement, we should leave Capital City and never return. The incident with the Liu family has already caused the Ye family enough shame. If the Qi family also breaks off the engagement, we really won't have the face to stay in Capital City..."
"Mom, if we have to leave, then we leave. We are a family; we don't care about living in the old house. No matter what happens, he's still my brother, and we're a family."
Ye Qianwen was doing her best to comfort her mother, not wanting her to be too heartbroken.
Feeling a little sore in his heart, Ye Tianchen forced a smile, took out the keys from his pocket, opened the villa's door, and walked in...
[PS: The first update for today is here. There will be another one around 8 o'clock this evening. Please add this to your favorites; I really need the support. Thank you, everyone!]