To the Start of a New World

3.5

Hong Sheng was staring at the windows.

Every now and then, like an agitated cat, he got into these moods where he stared, anxious and fretting, at the things that unsettled him: the large french windows, the open lawn of the villa's outdoors. Lu Hao knew he felt unguarded. If zombies came, they could break into the villa in seconds.

Since Hong Sheng couldn't relax like this, Lu Hao took it upon himself to gently probe, "Do you want to redecorate the villa?"

Hearing this, Hong Sheng looked at him with a bit of helplessness and tried to refuse, as if he wasn't scratching out of his skin from the anxiety of being in such a large, open, unguarded space.

So Lu Hao had to insist. He brought Hong Sheng around the villa, asking Hong Sheng to detail what modifications he'd make, what sort of redecorating he'd prefer. And after enough probing, Hong Sheng finally started to mutter out all the changes Lu Hao had already been planning to make to the villa: adding shutters to the windows, including barricades, blocking off exits and entryways... Things that would return the villa to how it had been nearly a decade later.

Hong Sheng's keen memory of each of the villa's changes fascinated Lu Hao. It was like he'd saved a blueprint of the villa into his brain and could point out exactly how to modify it according to the plan. Just how smart was he to remember all this?

He even suggested some improvements to increase the base's security even more. Not wanting to waste any time, Lu Hao promised, "Alright, we'll get this done," and set out to hire a construction crew to reshape the villa to their needs.

They wouldn't be able to live in the villa while construction went on. Lu Hao looked up places he could rent for a few months, and even vacation areas; it would be nice to head out and enjoy the world with Hong Sheng while they still could. In the end, he narrowed down three places for them to stay temporarily, and took Hong Sheng to go check them out.

Each of the rentals were well-maintained, secure, and located in quieter neighborhoods. Although Hong Sheng stood behind Lu Hao as they visited each one, Hong Sheng didn't seem to have much of a preference. He stayed expressionless throughout the realtors' showcases, not reacting a bit even as one realtor demonstrated the water jets in the suite's hot tub.

In the end, Lu Hao decided a simpler, cozier place would be better. With all of their real estate visits finished, Lu Hao brought Hong Sheng to a restaurant so they could eat and discuss which of the places they should take.

The hotpot restaurant they went to had separate rooms for each party of guests, letting people eat and talk with their friends without having to worry about the noise. In their case, the extra privacy and isolation doubled as a way to keep them from feeling exposed. The restaurant had an older look to it, with dark wood furnishings and aged decorations, but the food and flavors were among the best in the city.

The bubbling split hot pot had a vibrant red, chilli pepper-filled soup on one side and a creamy white bone broth on the other. Succulent shrimp, marbled slices of thin beef, juicy ground fish and beef balls, and bouncy fried tofu all boiled in the pot, fished out when steaming hot and ready to eat.

The two of them tacitly kept the hot pot stocked, giving each other their favorites when the food was cooked. It was a comfortable, intimate meal. As they shared their food, it reminded Lu Hao of when they were kids. Hong Sheng had never eaten hot pot before, and when Lu Hao had taken him to a restaurant with his other friends, Hong Sheng had been so paralyzed with nervousness that he hadn't made a single move to take any food for himself.

Lu Hao had ended up sending the cooked food to Hong Sheng's bowl, making sure he had plenty to eat. After that, Lu Hao and Hong Sheng had gone to hotpot just by themselves so that Lu Hao could show Hong Sheng how the hotpot worked, what he could order, and how long it took for some things to cook. Once Hong Sheng got the hang of it, he would stare in deep concentration at the pot, seeming to keep track of how long each item had been cooking so that he could scoop it out as soon as it was done and give it to Lu Hao.