Chapter 107: Reunion
The next morning, the sun rose earlier than usual.
Thuong Sinh woke up at the break of dawn, sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor beside the window, his eyes half-closed as the stream of true qi inside his dantian circulated slowly with each breath.
This was a habit he had kept for many years, regardless of how exhausted he had been the previous day.
Lam Thanh Moc woke up and saw the familiar silhouette sitting quietly by the window frame, the early morning sunlight casting a faint golden layer over his shoulders.
She did not make a sound, only silently picked up Thuong An, avoiding disturbing him.
By the time Thuong Sinh opened his eyes, a tray with white porridge had already been set on the table, still steaming lightly.
"Do you have any plans today?" She asked, feeding small spoonfuls of porridge to Thuong An.
"No specific schedule." Thuong Sinh stood up and stretched.
"Just taking a walk around the camp."
They left the white building in the middle of the morning; the outside air was chilly, completely different from the scorching heat of that summer year at the old dormitory.
Thuong An was slung across Lam Thanh Moc's chest, his head tilted to one side, his round eyes watching the stream of people passing by.
Walking past the training area, a familiar voice suddenly echoed out, loud enough for the entire corridor to hear.
"Hey! Is that Thuong Sinh?!"
Thuong Sinh paused in his tracks.
That voice, he did not even need to turn around to recognize it immediately.
It had been a very long time since he last heard that noisy, unrestrained voice.
In his mind, an image flashed of a certain morning far in the past, amidst the ruins of the Iron City, where Van Binh yelled behind him to warn of an approaching Zombie, his voice just as ear-splitting as it was now.
There are people who, no matter how long you haven't met, only need a single sentence to pull a whole span of time back.
Thuong Sinh turned his head back, the corners of his mouth faintly softening, if only for a brief moment.
Van Binh was standing on the practice field, his shirt soaked in sweat, still holding a wooden sword in his hand, running toward the two of them with a beaming face.
The person before his eyes was now far different from the skinny, clumsy young man who had just awakened his anomaly power years ago.
Van Binh's shoulders were now noticeably broader, the muscles on his bare arms bulging with every running step, and a faint, long scar ran from his temple down to his cheekbone, which Thuong Sinh did not remember being there before.
Only his smile remained exactly the same as before, not eroded by the years in the slightest.
Thuong Sinh secretly sighed in emotion.
Back then, they were both just young kids panicking in the midst of the apocalypse; now standing in front of him was a mature man, bearing the air of someone who had survived through countless battles of life and death.
"Oh my god, long time no see! I heard you came to the main camp, but I couldn't find you anywhere!"
He stopped a few steps away, his eyes glancing down at the baby in the sling, and his expression instantly froze.
"This... this is..."
"My son." Thuong Sinh replied concisely.
"WHAT?!"
Van Binh's shout echoed across the practice field, making a few people training nearby turn their heads to look over.
Thanh Dao also walked over from afar, pushing up her glasses, looking at the scene before her with a much calmer face.
Thanh Dao had also changed quite a bit.
Her hair, which used to hang shoulder-length, was now cut more neatly; the gaze behind her glasses remained as sharp as ever, but the youthful innocence had faded, replaced by the composure of someone accustomed to making split-second life-or-death decisions.
"Why are you being so loud?" She glanced at Van Binh, then turned to bow slightly in greeting to Lam Thanh Moc.
"Long time no see, Thanh Moc."
"Yeah, long time no see." Lam Thanh Moc smiled, feeling a bit bashful as she noticed the group's eyes all gathered on the baby.
So Sinh also appeared from somewhere, standing with his arms crossed and looking at Thuong An for a long moment, then burst out laughing.
His frame was thinner than Thuong Sinh remembered, but his steps were uniquely agile and light, like the movement habits of a wild beast that had seeped into his daily life, not just during combat.
"He has eyes just like Thuong Sinh's, thankfully he didn't inherit his cold face."
"Watch your words." Thuong Sinh glanced at him, devoid of any killing intent, yet enough to make So Sinh laugh off and step back half a pace.
So Sinh leaned closer down, carefully examining the tiny face looking back at him in confusion, his tone somewhat curious.
"What's the little guy's name?"
"Thuong An." Lam Thanh Moc replied, her hand gently adjusting the small hat on her son's head.
"Thuong An..." Van Binh muttered in repetition, nodding as if he understood.
"Thuong Sinh, Thuong An, is there any special meaning behind naming father and son like this?"
"May he be peaceful and safe." Thuong Sinh answered concisely, his gaze softening slightly as it swept over the baby.
Just five simple words, but enough to make Van Binh and So Sinh fall silent in unison for a beat.
For those who had lived through those years of the apocalypse, the words "peace and safety" sounded simple enough, yet they were the most luxurious thing anyone longed for.
Looking at the three people standing before him, Thuong Sinh suddenly realized that time had passed faster than he thought.
In the past, they were just people who had newly awakened their powers, trembling as they held their weapons and stepped out of the safe zone for the first time.
Now, each of them bore the marks of time and past battles, yet the friendship between them seemed to have not changed at all.
The group stood chatting right on the practice field, mixing old stories with new ones.
Van Binh still hadn't gotten over his shock, constantly asking about all sorts of random things, from childbirth to naming, making Lam Thanh Moc laugh several times.
"Our team was also recently transferred back to the main camp." Thanh Dao said, her voice dropping slightly.
"After the incident at Iron City, the old squad mostly disbanded."
Thuong Sinh nodded slightly without asking further.
Old matters, bringing them up served no purpose.
Yet in his heart, a few faces that had once stood in the same ranks back then quietly floated by—some were still alive, while others no longer had the chance to stand here with them.
He didn't speak it aloud, only gently squeezed Lam Thanh Moc's hand resting on his shoulder.
"Are you free tonight?" Van Binh asked, his eyes shining brightly.
"We managed to get some steeped liquor, let's have a few cups to celebrate you having a son!"
"We'll see." Thuong Sinh glanced at Lam Thanh Moc.
She nodded slightly, signaling that it was fine, then spoke up.
"How about everyone comes to our room tonight? It's cold outside, and with Thuong An around, sitting indoors is more convenient."
"Nothing could be better than that!" Van Binh nodded repeatedly.
"Where is your room?"
"The white building, tenth floor." Lam Thanh Moc replied, completely naturally, as if mentioning an ordinary matter.
The remaining three froze at the same time.
Thanh Dao was the first to react, the glasses on the bridge of her nose sliding down a bit.
"The white building? The one reserved exclusively for high-ranking officers and their families?"
"Yeah." Lam Thanh Moc nodded without thinking much of it.
So Sinh raised an eyebrow, looking at Thuong Sinh and then at Lam Thanh Moc, his tone half-joking and half-probing.
"Since when do you guys have the status to live in that place? We submitted applications to move to that area three times and got kicked out every single time."
Lam Thanh Moc paused slightly, realizing that the three people's reactions were more unusual than she had thought.
She glanced at Thuong Sinh, feeling a bit embarrassed about how to explain it concisely.
"It's a long story, I'll tell you inside later." She gave a coy smile, deflecting the topic.
Van Binh was still astonished, but seeing that Lam Thanh Moc did not intend to say more, he tactfully stopped pressing and only cast a meaningful look at Thuong Sinh.
Thuong Sinh said nothing, only raised an eyebrow slightly, taking it as a silent acknowledgment.
In the hearts of the three of them, a vague thought began to form: perhaps, Lam Thanh Moc's family background was not as simple as what they had known in the squad back in the day.
"Then tonight, your room!" Van Binh clapped his hands together with a loud slap, visibly thrilled, temporarily setting his curiosity aside.
That evening, the small room on the tenth floor became noticeably more crowded than usual, but warm in a different way.
A few chairs were brought in around the wooden table, with a plate of roasted peanuts and the jug of steeped liquor Van Binh brought placed in the center of the table.
Thuong An was already fast asleep in the cradle in the corner of the room, occasionally shifting his body before settling down again.
Van Binh sat down, his eyes still continuously scanning the room, from the thick window curtains to the clean wooden floor, and then stopping at a small photo frame placed on the shelf, inside of which was a picture of Lam Tich Khanh holding Thuong An while laughing heartily.
"Oh, this is..." He was about to ask, but Thanh Dao nudged his side lightly, so he let it drop.
Van Binh poured liquor into each earthenware cup, his hands slightly trembling with excitement.
"Come on, come on, cheers to Thuong Sinh and Thanh Moc!"
The group raised their cups.
Thuong Sinh only took a small sip, his gaze fixed on the warm yellow light in the room, feeling a rare sense of unfamiliarity inside his heart.
Peace.
So Sinh leaned back against the chair, resting his head on his hands, eyes looking up at the ceiling.
"To be honest, living up to this point, I never thought there would be a day where I could sit and drink liquor so leisurely like this."
No one replied, but everyone understood his meaning.
Thanh Dao sat beside Lam Thanh Moc, softly asking about raising a child, about sleepless nights, and about all the trivial matters that a single woman like her had never experienced.
Lam Thanh Moc shared, her voice gentle, occasionally breaking into laughter at Thanh Dao's surprised reactions.
Thuong Sinh sat silently for most of the time, only chiming in with a few brief sentences now and then, but his eyes never strayed from Lam Thanh Moc for too long.
As the night grew deeper, the wind outside began to get colder.
The jug of liquor on the table was more than half empty.
Van Binh stretched, looked at the wall clock, and then stood up.
"Alright, it's late, we'll head back first so the two of you can rest, you have to take care of the baby tomorrow as well."
So Sinh also stood up, stretching until his joints cracked.
Thanh Dao gently leaned over to look at Thuong An sleeping peacefully in the cradle for a moment, then straightened up and bowed slightly to Lam Thanh Moc.
"Thank you for dinner."
"It's nothing, I'm just happy that everyone came over to hang out." Lam Thanh Moc stood up to see the guests off, a smile still lingering on her lips.
As Van Binh walked past Thuong Sinh, he suddenly clapped him hard on the shoulder, his voice dropping significantly, no longer as noisy as before.
"Take good care of the mother and child. If anything happens, just call us."
Thuong Sinh nodded slightly.
"Yeah."
The three of them left the door one by one, the sound of their footsteps gradually fading down the corridor, mixed with the sound of Van Binh still rambling about something, making So Sinh tell him to keep his voice down lest he wake up the entire floor.
Thuong Sinh closed the door, the soft click of the latch sounding in the room that had returned to quietness.
Lam Thanh Moc tidied up the earthenware cups, neatly stacking them to one side of the table, her eyes occasionally glancing toward the cradle where Thuong An was still fast asleep.
Thuong Sinh walked over and draped an extra coat over her as she felt a bit cold, his eyes looking out the window where the moonlight cast a faint layer over the quiet rows of houses below.
"Were you happy?" He asked, his voice deep and low.
"I was." Lam Thanh Moc rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a soft sigh of relief.
"It's been a very long time since we had an evening like this."
The room was left with only the steady breathing of Thuong An, the wind gently swaying the window curtains, and the two silhouettes standing quietly by the window frame.
Tomorrow, perhaps everything would be as busy as usual again.
But tonight, just this was enough.