The man said, “I haven’t seen him in five years. His name is Bai Ye. Do you know him?”

An Zhe shook his head gently.

“Hopefully he is well.” This was the end of their conversation.

During the meal, the people of the institute sat in a circle, regardless of their position. Polly Jean sat among them and everyone was close to him.

They were equally close to An Zhe. During the meal, at least 10 people took the initiative to talk to An Zhe. Some of them were mercenaries from the outer city and some were soldiers of the base. They were curious about the process of his variation and asked what was happening at the base, or if he had seen their own relatives or friends. An Zhe didn’t tell them that the outer city had been abandoned. He just said ‘I haven’t seen them’ and ‘I don’t know.’ He had a type of melancholy feeling but no news seemed more comforting to the human heart than the real answer.

At the end of the meal, Tang Lan took An Zhe to an empty room. A young man with feathers on his body brought a quilt to the room.

“It was just dried yesterday.” He offered to help make the bed. “It is cold at night so you should remember to close the window.”

“Thank you.” An Zhe told him. Just like today’s uncle who gave him the meal,  the young boy’s kindness made him grateful and a bit confused.

After making the bed, the boy pulled a red fruit from his clothes and smiled. “I’ll give you something to eat.”

After that, he took out a wrapped piece of dried meat. “This is given to you by everyone.”

An Zhe took it. The dried meat was very heavy. He didn’t know what the living standards of the institute were but in this era, dried meat was precious no matter the place.

“Thank you. It is too much for me to finish.”

“Eat slowly.” Tang Lan, who was standing behind him, smiled and reached out to fix his collar.

“We will give all newcomers presents. I found this place a year ago and everyone was very kind to me.” The young boy said. “It is too hard to be a heterogeneous in this world, to hide from monsters and find something to eat by yourself, to remember that you are a person and that you can’t go back to the base when you’re homesick. Just go to the institute.”

He spoke while smiling at An Zhe. An Zhe also smiled back.

There was no wind in the room. It was very warm and the lamps on the ceiling were shining brightly. An Zhe held the jerky and remembered this month of trekking through the forest and swamp of the Abyss. It was like a dream.