No Time

He had warm hands.

"Nice to meet you. As a representative for the group, you must know some things."

He smiled lightly and looked careless but dropped a bomb, "Yes, for instance, I know that we don't have anything you want. You want the old fogeys though."

I raised one of my eyebrows. This boy was smart.

"It seems this will go easy."

I smiled politely and motioned to the door of the office building.

We waited in the elevator for a little while and got to my office.

I unlocked the office by confirming my identity with my core device.

Before I even said anything, the dirty boy sat down on the sofa and laid back in comfort.

"..."

He didn't notice my look of... disdain? Not really, I just felt this smart young man wasn't well versed in mannerisms, quite like a young child.

"If you'd like, I have a bathroom. You can take a shower and I can get you a change of clothes."

"Ok!"

So the young man went into the bathroom happily.

I could hear the sound of water being turned on and quickly heard a yelp of surprise.

I knocked on the bathroom door and asked, "Is everything alright?"

"The water stung me! Why is it so cold!"

"May I come in?"

"Yes!"

When I came in, I saw that the showerhead was still spraying out water while the freezing youth was huddled up into a shivering ball.

I tested the water temperature. It was indeed cold.

Turning the knob for hot water, I tested it several times.

"It should be good now. Please rotate the knob left for hotter temperatures and right for colder temperatures."

"Ok! You can go now!"

...It actually felt like he owned this place, not me. And I wondered why this person did not know how to use a shower. Was the method too old? Maybe he used the type with buttons to increase water temperature?

I brewed some tea and cleaned the sofa that he got dirt on while waiting for him to finish his shower.

Just as 14 minutes had passed, the water stopped. I heard a bit of shuffling and finally, the youth came out.

He dripped water on the floor everywhere and shivered a little from the cold floor tiles.

I immediately got him a pair of slippers and a towel to dry his hair.

Xia Jiayi hung the towel around his neck and sat down on the sofa cushily once more. This time, he even crossed his legs and looked -well, tried to- overbearing.

This teenager, who was probably about Xiao Lai's age, was very strange. Either he didn't know common sense or had immense confidence.

Later, I would know that it was both.

Xiao Lai was 16 now, so this boy was...?

"May I ask, how old are you?"

"I'm 15!"

Apparently younger than Xiao Lai, but why would the scientists trust such a young boy?

"I'm a genius!"

...Well.

"So, Xia Jiayi, what ar-"

I was cut off as the teenager asked, "What about you?"

My smile was strained, but I replied politely, "I am 18."

The boy started asking questions with a curious gaze

Perhaps because he was so young, and near the age of my younger siblings, I answered them. I let down my guard so to speak.

"Do you have siblings?"

"Yes, three."

"What are their ages?"

"14, 16, and 20."

"What are their names? Are they all weathers too?"

"No, it's Shui Bing, Shui Lai, and Shui Jing."

"You have two sisters and a brother?" he asked.

"No, two brothers and a sister. Our parents had wanted girls but gave up after three boys. When a fourth child was announced, they thought it was a boy and gave a manly name."

My ex-parents, at least my mother, had believed in superstitions and didn't check on our gender after they had named us. It used to be a bigger superstition back then, but due to technology, there wasn't really a choice but to find out the gender of your child. So the least she could do, as she thought, was to name the child before finding out.

Our name meanings, besides our surname Shui(Water), were all varied and without a theme. I knew a pair of siblings who had their names coordinated. Fan Wenbo and Fan Bowen. They didn't like it and heard it often being called as cute.

Jing meant Crystal or Sparkling, Yu meant Rain, Lai meant Future. These were all considered girl names.

Bing meant Soldier or Ice. Quite a tough guy first name actually.

Anyways, after I mentioned having two brothers and a sister instead of two sisters and a brother, as well as explaining the name situation, Xia Jiayi had a confounded expression on his face.

He stayed quiet and seemed to want to say something but kept it back several times.

Seeing this, I started the conversation back up.

"What does your name mean?"

"My surname means Summer, and my first name means Auspicious one."

He stayed quiet for a while after that.

Seconds ticked by and finally, the boy seemed to find the words to say.

"What do your family members do?"

"Our parents disowned us and are now at one of the bases far away from our territory. My younger sister works as a martial arts tutor. My younger brother is an ability counselor at one of the academies here. And my older brother is now a stay-home dad."

I asked a question this time, "What about you? Where is your family?"

"I got separated from them. I was out on a trip when the zombie apocalypse struck."

We made some more small talk.

After a while, the young man started to look drowsy.

We were probably not going to get to make a deal at this rate. I had talked too much. It was partially due to trying to sound the kid out, but mainly because I wanted to talk. Having company was nice. I didn't have time to hang out with friends or family much now, so having a long talk was enjoyable.

It was nearing morning and it didn't seem right to put Xia Jiayi in the same rooms as his group members since they needed to not be disturbed. They would have to wake up in a refreshed manner to make proper attendance and regroup.

Besides, Xia Jiayi was a regular human, he wasn't a threat.

So, I made the sofa go into its bed mode and going through familiar routines, got out a pillow and comforter. They were washed frequently, and I hadn't used them the past few days after its last wash.

This was my usual routine if I had too much work and couldn't go home.

Lying comfortably and all warmed up, the teenager went straight to sleep.

I decided to finish up some work. The neverending pile was going to shrink. It was hard to put all this work on the other office workers as well, especially to Secretary Jing who worked very hard.

By the time yesterday's guards arrived with the group in tow, I had finished all the work for the next two days.

There were a few files and folders left, but those were for the office workers and Secretary Jing to check over.

I had already sent out a message to all of them, saying: "Good morning, everyone. After work today, please go home, have a nice rest. Tomorrow is also a day off."

Xia Jiayi still wasn't up yet, he only got a few hours of sleep, so I decided not to wake the kid up.

To the guards, I commended their hard work and gave them the assignment of introducing the base to the group. I especially mentioned to show them around the research center. The pharmaceutical scientists should be able to see the benefits of the base after seeing it.

A little while later, a groggy sounding Xiao Lai called.

"Yu Ge, where are you? Aren't we supposed to go pick up Xing Xing?"

Whether it was for better or worse, Xiao Lai seemed to accept that Zhang Xing was "alive" once more.

"I have a situation here. Are you able to go pick him up on your own? If you meet any trouble, call me."

"Ok, I'll do that then! I'll be off now!" Xiao Lai's peppiness had returned.

I hoped that Zhang Xing being an intelligent zombie with memories would help Zhang Xing feel better. But since zombies didn't have emotions, it could backfire instead. Either way, Xiao Lai would learn something from it.

The office was now full of people rushing about. If it weren't for my office being soundproofed well, Xia Jiayi would have awakened the moment everyone rushed into the building without a doubt.

I got out a decorated bag of butter cookies from a cabinet. The cabinet was full of such snacks and treats. They were all gifted by the employees here.

I munched on them as quietly as I could and sat down on the sofa and stretched out my legs.

While the sofa was in bed mode, it lengthened and I could sit with my legs out and not dangling.

To paint an image, there was a larger than king size convertible sofa bed that had a teenager sleeping on it. As for me, I had my back rested on the back of the sofa and was stretching my legs out. Xia Jiayi's head was near my stomach as I was slouching a little. To explain better, it was like a lap pillow moment with the person laying down away from the lap.

...That probably didn't help.

Anyhow, the rest of the morning was pleasant as I read webnovels that I had finally caught up to and ate snacks.

Xia Jiayi woke up at about 11:30 AM.

He didn't speak and just rubbed his eyes.

He raised his arms and stretched.

He also yawned a silent yawn that had his mouth wide open.

He then looked around at his environment and stopped his sight on me.

"Good morning."

"...It's almost lunchtime."

"Oh."

He stared at the numerous snack packages inside the trashcan next to the sofa.

"I'm hungry."

"Ok, I'll take you out to eat."

The clothes I handed the teenager yesterday was a white shirt, grey linen pants, and ...underwear. They were all new. The teenager was scrawny but tall, near Xiao Lai's height. He just had to roll up the pants a bit.

They were comfortable to wear and were suitable as pajamas and outwear.

Xia Jiayi didn't seem surprised by the advanced city-like atmosphere of the base anymore. Was he surprised in the first place last night?

This kid was a little strange, but he seemed decent.

We went into a buffet restaurant and the owner greeted us with a wide welcoming smile.

She looked inquiring towards me as Xia Jiayi hurried off to pick out food.

"Chief, who's this youngster? His hair's so long and unkempt. I heard that some outsiders were brought in yesterday, is he one of them?"

Gossip sure is a powerful thing.

"Yes, he is their representative. I'll have to go visit a barbershop I guess."

"No no, go to , remember the woman who cut your hair and even lent you a wig, she opened up a shop and doing well. She does great hair cuts for everyone. You know my son who's one of the researchers here? He looked like a different person after she worked her magic!"

Oh, there was that Aunty.

"My son was her son's friend, so she gave us a discount! I'm sure she'll give you a discount too! Although you don't need it!" the owner laughed loudly and smacked my back as if she was making a joke. Well, it was true that I had no worry about points.

Oh, so this was advertising.

Well, first, food.

I already had snacks before coming, so I only took two plates of the owner's specialty dishes.

Xia Jiayi, however, brought in 5 dishes with stacks that were more like hills.

He did eat them all, a tremendous feat, but unfortunately, he all of a sudden retched and ran to the restroom.

...He had eaten too much and his previously starved body couldn't take the huge amount of food. I should have advised him but I had been momentarily stunned by his huge food intake.

After lunch, we headed out to a nearby park and sat down to rest and digest.

Although Xia Jiayi hadn't been surprised by the structure and advancements of the base, he was surprised to see people walking their pets.

Well, people would definitely be surprised to see people walking butterflies, peacocks, lions, and other strange pets at a park.

Before he could ask, I felt his stare and answered, "People are allowed to keep an animal or plant companion if they've established a contract with them through a process similar to the red phase's. Outsiders don't know the method."

This got his curiosity ready to burst out.

"Well, after your group decides on matters, I might tell you. But, first, let's go get a hair cut."

The Aunty who had cut my hair last time really was the boss of . And she did give us a discount.

She gave me a trim and admired my long hair that had now reached past my thighs.

"It's beautiful. How long are you going to grow it?"

"Actually, I can cut it whenever I've just gotten used to tying it up."

We were talking while Aunty was cutting Xia Jiayi's hair.

He probably got bored sitting there just waiting, so he wanted in on the conversation too.

"You aren't some immortal cultivator, why do you need such long hair? Just cut it to shoulder length or something! Isn't it heavy?"

Aunty sighed, "But it's such beautiful hair."

"I don't mind. Could I get a shoulder-length hair cut then?"

"Yes, but you'd better not regret it!"

After she finished with Xia Jiayi's haircut which in her words made him look like "a pretty boy idol", she started on mine.

Xia Jiayi seemed satisfied with his haircut and his whole face could be seen clearly now.

He really did look like a pretty boy idol. He had a nice smile and bright eyes. His eyebrows were nicely shaped and he had good skin despite the terrible conditions outside.

As this was a salon, he was taken away by other stylists, masseurs, and others to be given the full treatment.

By the time my haircut, which Aunty had worked very meticulously on, finished, Xia Jiayi was still somewhere in the salon.

I looked in the mirror for a quick look and was satisfied with my haircut. Then I went to look for the teenager.

...The kid was in a bathrobe and getting a foot massage while wearing a cucumber face mask.

He seemed to be enjoying this too much.

For the rest of the afternoon, we ran around the city and went into lots of shops. I had been too busy to go around for fun, so this was a novel experience.

Xiao Lai later sent me a text saying that he was staying over at Ge's house. There were lots of pictures of my niece and a postscript of him saying that he'd explain Zhang Xing later. Ge had also sent a similar message about the stay-over, so I told them to have fun.

Xia Jiayi and my last stop was the grocery store as I was lacking some ingredients to make my signature hotpot.

This time, Xia Jiayi remembered his mistake and ate in moderation. But his stomach was still impressive for eating a lot. His moderation wasn't a moderation for regular folks.

We played video games after eating dinner and then washed up. I prepared a guest room and we said our goodnights.

Right before he went into the guestroom, Xia Jiayi asked, "Shui Yu... are we friends now?"

This kid sure was strange, but he had his good points.

"Yes, we can be considered friends."

"Ok! Good night!"

"Good night."

The next morning, the group had gathered again at the office.

One of the scientists eagerly asked, "Have you two come to a conclusion?"

Xia Jiayi looked at me for less than a second and lied, "Of course."

The scientist and others then looked down.

They probably had other conditions to add after touring yesterday.

Xia Jiayi also understood.

"But there could be more conditions."

The group looked happy and started discussing.

Whew, one crisis passed.

Everyone started talking at once and the office was full of talking.

Suddenly, the door opened and Xiao Lai stood with zombie Zhang Xing behind him.

"What's going on here?"

The guards knew of Xiao Lai, so they only looked and stood still at rest. But the others didn't know so they became quiet.

"I heard the rumors. They were true?"

"Yes. But I have conditions, so nobody needs to worry about outsiders coming in freely."

"Ok, then after finishing, come to Jing Ge's house. I need to talk to you about something."

"Alright, go along now."

After Xiao Lai left the murmurs came back.

"Was that your brother?" Xia Jiayi asked.

"Yes, my younger brother," I said with a smile.

"Isn't he supposed to be older than me? He seems so childish!"

...I wonder who's the childish one here.