Chapter 175: Chapter 175: The Invisible Little Boy
Qin Shen suddenly shook his head. "None of you go in. I’ll go first."
Jiang Si was visibly taken aback. Qin Shen would never stop her from entering unless it was dangerous.
She quietly lowered her voice and asked him, "What’s wrong?"
Qin Shen’s expression was grave. Staring at the dark entrance, he said, "There’s someone still alive in there."
It had been so long since the apocalypse began, yet someone was still alive inside.
On second thought, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
With enough supplies, a large space, and sufficient warmth, survival was a possibility.
Jiang Si squeezed his hand. "I should still go with you."
She was afraid it would be tricky inside.
Qin Shen didn’t speak. He squeezed her palm reassuringly and walked straight inside by himself.
Jiang Linhai called out a reminder, "Qin Shen, you forgot your headlamp! Turn it on so you don’t hurt yourself."
Bo Xi stared after Qin Shen for a few extra moments. ’Monkeys can see in the dark,’ he thought. ’Could Qin Shen have night vision too?’
’Now that would be a super cool Superpower!’
Qin Shen walked slowly into the ground-floor hall of the hot spring cave. He immediately felt that the temperature inside was higher than outside. As he continued along the first floor, he could hear the gurgling of hot spring water, and the temperature gradually rose to over ten degrees Celsius.
There was a continuous hot spring running through the place, branching out into several pools.
The schools of fish trapped in here were much larger than the ones in the hot spring pools outside.
They swam freely in the shimmering water, but on the stone slabs lay both old and fresh fish bones, as well as human feces.
He continued upstairs. In the dark environment, the slightest sound was magnified thousands, even tens of thousands, of times in his ears.
The footsteps were very light, as if they belonged to a child.
’But can a child who survived alone in a confined space for so long really still be just a child?’
’Unlikely.’
The sounds grew closer, the breathing seemingly right in front of him. His light shone on a cabinet at the end of a room. He opened it, only to find thick, smelly, rotten blankets. And though no one was on the blankets, there was a distinct depression.
The next second, a bestial roar echoed in his ear.
Qin Shen shot out his hand and grabbed something by the neck. But when he looked, the spot illuminated by his light was empty.
This surviving child possessed the Superpower of Invisibility.
Qin Shen gripped its neck tightly, preventing it from moving or breathing. Under duress, a skinny, disheveled little boy with pale skin, blond hair, and blue eyes magically and slowly appeared before his eyes.
He was naked and looked even younger than Niu Niu. His body was covered in filth and burns from the hot spring water.
Aside from one half of his delicate face, there wasn’t a single unblemished spot on his entire body.
It was a heart-wrenching sight.
Qin Shen knocked him unconscious, wrapped him in his jacket, and after a moment’s hesitation, carried him straight out.
As soon as they descended to the second floor, the faint light touched the little boy’s skin, and he uncontrollably turned invisible again.
Afraid the boy would wake up and run, Qin Shen bit him gently. His sharp fangs injected a trace of his essence into the boy’s blood, allowing him to sense the child’s presence at all times.
Qin Shen had been inside for a long time, and everyone was getting anxious waiting for him, especially Jiang Si, who was on the verge of rushing in.
Soon, Qin Shen appeared in their line of sight, carrying something strange wrapped in his jacket.
As he got closer, they saw that even though his hands were empty, he was cradling them as if holding something, like a performance artist.
Jiang Si had seen and heard of people with Invisibility before. Seeing the shape in Qin Shen’s arms, she understood at once.
It wasn’t just her. Bo Xi also sensed that Qin Shen wasn’t putting on a performance but seemed to be holding a living creature.
He knew because he got too close and brushed against it.
The shock nearly made his jaw drop to the floor.
’Is this another person with a strange, special ability?’ he wondered.
’It seems in this world, it’s not just monkeys and eagles that can mutate. It’s normal for humans to become Mutants, too.’
Only Jiang Linhai and the others were still in the dark. He asked in confusion, "Xiao Shen, why are you holding your arms like that?"
Qin Shen glanced at Jiang Si and said bluntly, "Because I’m holding a child with a special ability. You can’t see him. Let’s head back for now and wait for him to wake up."
Jiang Linhai and the others were horrified. They suddenly recalled what Jiang Si had told them about Mutants and superpower users from her past life.
They never expected to actually meet one today.
It took Jiang Linhai a long moment to process this. "Quick, quick! Let’s go back then."
Lu Zhifeng and Niu Niu, however, were completely bewildered. They stared in disbelief at the empty space cradled in Qin Shen’s arms.
’Is there really a child in Qin Shen’s hands?’
’Why did he become like this?’
Jiang Chengwu stayed behind to temporarily cover the cave entrance while everyone else returned to the Icebreaker.
Qin Shen felt for the boy’s body and asked Jiang Si to bring a basin of hot water. He began to wash the boy by feel.
The others watched, intrigued, and couldn’t resist reaching out to touch him as well.
The child’s soft, cold skin felt like a corpse, and the touch sent them recoiling several steps in fright.
Niu Niu cried out in terror, "Dad, there really is a person!"
’To think someone could really become invisible.’
Bo Xi, on the other hand, looked surprised. ’It seems like they don’t know Qin Shen has a superpower.’
’To be precise, it’s like Lu Zhifeng and his daughter have no idea at all.’
’The Jiang family, however, just seems surprised.’
He looked at Lu Zhifeng’s wary expression and suddenly felt a bit fortunate that he hadn’t revealed his true form in front of them yet.
’If they saw it, they’d be even more scared of me, wouldn’t they?’
The towel turned miraculously black after one wipe. They went through basin after basin of warm water.
Qin Shen sniffed the air. When he felt there was no more odor, he asked Niu Niu to find a set of her old sweats for the little boy.
Niu Niu scampered off and brought back several outfits. She then asked curiously, "Is he a girl? Is he as old as me?"
"Was he all alone in the cave?"
As she spoke, she started to feel how pitiful the boy was, and her heart ached for him.
’If I had to live in a cave all by myself, without my dad, I’d rather be dead.’
After dressing the boy, Qin Shen said, "He’s a boy, probably a little younger than you. And yes, he was all alone in the cave."
Everyone felt pity for the child and started asking about his condition.
"Besides being able to turn invisible, is he... normal?"
’Trapped alone in a dark place for so long, with his body like that... he must be terrified of himself.’
Qin Shen sighed. "He’s probably not normal. He can’t speak, only screams, and he’s aggressive. When he wakes up, none of you should go near him."
They exchanged glances. "Well, is there anything we should do for him now?"
Jiang Si shook her head. "Just not disturbing him is enough. Let’s leave the rest to Qin Shen for now. Or... Mom, maybe you could go make some easily digestible food for him."
Shen Baoying immediately said, "I’ll go right now."
Everyone left the room. Qin Shen then took out a pair of goggles and put them on the boy. After being in a dark environment for so long, his eyes would need a great deal of time to adjust to the light.
He also suspected the boy’s eyes were damaged and that he could only navigate by sound. He’d have to wait for him to wake up and become visible again to examine him properly.
