Bai Xiaolu was prepared to be mocked, berated, and even drunk by Boss Gold Tooth.

But after a moment of silence, Boss Gold Tooth answered his question.

“Was.”

The dominator of the Wasteland replied, “There was.”

“Then…”

Although Bai Xiaolu did not know how to talk, she knew that she should not ask further.

“She was the most beautiful girl in all the farms. A hundred times more beautiful than Old John’s wife. She could sing a lot of songs. When she sang, her hair was shining like the most brilliant sun.

The gold-toothed leader said, “She is also an expert at doing chores. She can do anything in the farm. She has always wanted to have her own winery. It doesn’t need to be big or famous. Even a winery will do, as long as it is her own.

“We’ve saved a lot of money. The winery is safe now. As long as I finish the task of ‘capturing Yuri’, I will be able to leave the army and start a new life. Last night, she told me that she was pregnant. Everything will be different when I come back.

“However, hehe, you already know what happened next. I became—like this.”

The gold-tooth leader opened his index and middle fingers and pointed at his two crimson eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

Bai Xiaolu lowered her head.

“There’s no need. Even if I had not been captured by Yuri, the outcome would’ve been the same. A nuclear war would’ve broken out. Our winery would’ve been razed to the ground, if not worse.

“At least for now,” Boss Gold Tooth said in a low voice.

“What about them?”

Bai Xiaolu blurted out and immediately regretted it.

“I don’t know.”

Boss Gold Tooth shook his head slowly. “I was locked up in Camp X of Yuri for ten years and struggled in the wasteland for another ten years. When I returned to this place, the farm and the wilderness had already turned into rolling sand. All the familiar things were gone. My wife and… my children. Who knows?”

“Don’t worry.”

Bai Xiaolu did not know how to comfort him. She replied clumsily, “Heaven helps the weak. They must be alive. You will find them.”

“Alive, hehe, alive.”

The gold-tooth leader said, “That’s why I said you were stupid. Kid, you are ‘living’ in the desert, too. Do you really think such a life is better than death?

“I don’t want them to be alive. I want them to be long dead. The moment the nuclear war breaks out, they will be melted in the high temperature of thousands of degrees in their sleep. It is the happiest outcome.

“Maybe, they escaped to the underground in time and lived a carefree life there.

Bai Xiaolu’s mouth was dry. “You are an elite Navy Seal, a martyr who sacrificed himself for the dangerous missions of your motherland. Your family should be given preferential treatment, shouldn’t they?”

Hearing that, Boss Gold Tooth almost choked on his wine.

“Hahahaha, sacrifice, hahahaha, martyr, hahahaha, preferential treatment!”

He threw away the bottle and stared at Bai Xiaolu. The redness in his eyes turned into extremely dangerous flames. “Kid, didn’t you hear what I said just now? For several years, I was brainwashed by Yuri and became his minion and killing machine, helping him carry out the dirtiest and bloodiest missions! Therefore, in the eyes of the ‘uppers’, not only am I not a self-sacrificing martyr, I am also a despicable ‘traitor’ and the most dangerous ‘betrayer’. How could I give any preferential treatment to my family?

“Besides, hehe, hehehehe, even if they are the family of the victims, they will not be able to enter the underground metropolis and become an underground demon without special circumstances.

“Why?”

Bai Xiaolu found it odd. “That’s not fair!”

“Fair?”

The leader of the Gold Tooth Legion sneered, “As the scale of the war grows larger and larger, the casualties of the countries involved in the war will be calculated in the tens of millions. How many family members do they have? The space of the underground metropolis is limited. The resources are limited. What will happen to the families of the victims?”

Bai Xiaolu asked, “Who—who are they?”

The leader of the Gold Teeth Gang bellowed, “The people on Wall Street, the 1% of them, the people who are waving flags, the sanctimonious people in suits, the people who are sitting comfortably in their offices, the people who are operating their computers, the people who are talking about ‘motherland’ and ‘sacrifice’!”

Bai Xiaolu didn’t know what to say. He was truly not a talkative person.

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about me.”

Boss Gold Tooth waved his hands in frustration. “What about you, kid? Other than your brother who shares a body with you, what other family do you have? Where are your parents?”

“I also have a twin sister. She is normal. I mean, she is separated from us, but right now, her legs are not very good. As for her parents—”

Bai Xiaolu was not supposed to talk about it, but he hesitated for a moment and said, “Our mother died a long time ago, just like many other women in the desert. As for our father, we—we don’t have a father.”

“You don’t know who your father is?”

The gold-tooth leader smiled. “It’s alright. It’s perfectly normal. Most of the children in the desert do not know who their father is.

“No.”

Bai Xiaolu shook her head. “We either don’t know who our father is or we don’t have a father. At least, that’s what our mother said when she was alive.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean by ‘no father’?”

“A very strange meteorite fell from the sky near the village where we lived a long time ago. The plants near the meteorite were very lush, and many strange animals that we had never seen before often appeared.

Bai Xiaolu said, “One time, my mother went to the depths of the ‘meteorite forest’ by accident. She seemed to have taken a nap below the meteorite. When she came back… we were born.”

“Ha!”

Boss Gold Tooth couldn’t help but laugh.

“We thought it was absurd, too. We didn’t know why our mother made up such a lie.

Bai Xiaolu blushed and said, “Such things are very common in the Wasteland. People are born like animals, die like animals, and reproduce like animals. Nine out of ten children don’t even know who their father is. Does it matter? At the very least, there is bound to be a father. I really don’t understand why a mother would lie like that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

“My sister and I have asked my mother repeatedly—it doesn’t matter who it is. We can accept whoever it is. Even if she doesn’t remember, at least tell us that there is a father. We will be satisfied.

“But my mother insisted that there was no such person. She got pregnant because she touched a meteorite. She said that the three of us were all ‘Children of the Meteorite’. It’s true. Sigh. Since then, she has been a bit crazy. She died soon after.

“Did you know, Boss, that there was a time when I hated my mother and her crazy words? Why did she have to deceive us with such an absurd joke? Why did she have to say that we ‘had no father’?

“If we have a father, even if we don’t know who he is, we can imagine him to our heart’s content. He might be an invincible hero, he might be a villain who commits crimes, he might be an evil and terrifying devil king, he might be a wandering traveler, or he might be a handsome and confident Underground Clan member. That’s all good. Right? That’s all good.

“But ‘Children of the Meteorite’? A broken stone that fell from the sky? That’s not funny at all!

“It is not funny.”

“But don’t hate your mother,” the leader said. “Maybe she has her reasons.

“Of course, we don’t hate her anymore. We just feel sorry for her.

Bai Xiaolu sighed. “After all, we have nothing in the desert. It doesn’t matter even if we don’t have a ‘father’.”

The two of them fell silent again, not knowing what to say.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but they both turned to the center of the carpet where Old John and his son had played ‘Strong Chess’.

His gaze was very sticky, unable to break away for a long time.

“Kid, if you find your father one day…”

The gold-tooth leader asked, “What do you want to talk to him about?”

“I don’t know. What about you?”

Bai Xiaolu shook her head. “If you find your child, what will you say to him and what will you do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought of such a thing. They should be long dead.

Boss Gold Tooth finally retreated his eyes and took a long breath. He waved his hands helplessly and said, “You should rest. I should rest, too.”

“…Alright.”

Bai Xiaolu moved inch by inch to the door. She held the door frame for a long time, before she suddenly turned around and asked in a trembling voice, “Bo—Boss, is ‘Strong Hand’ fun?”

“…Maybe.”

Boss Gold Tooth sat up and looked at Bai Xiaolu. “It might be fun.”

“Then, then can you teach me how to play?”

Bai Xiaolu felt that she was about to cry.

He thought that Boss Gold Tooth would refuse, or at least hesitate.

He didn’t expect that Boss Gold Tooth’s lines would suddenly become soft.

“Come here, brat.”

Boss Gold Tooth waved his hand and smiled. He tapped the carpet next to him and said, “Sit down. I’ll teach you how to play.”

…

They had played ‘Strong Chess’ for a long time.

They said that they would only play one game, but they ended up playing one game after another. Maybe ‘Strong Chess’ was really fun.

“This is an ‘Opportunity Card’. This is a ‘Public Fund Card’. When you reach this question mark, you must draw a card. Do you understand?”

“Ha. I have a water factory and a railway company. You are dead for sure, kid!”

“How about this? If we buy all three plots of the same color, the rent can be doubled, right, Boss? Then you will have to pay me, right, Boss?”

“Hey hey hey, get out of jail!”

“What are you talking about? Pay income tax? Is there such a thing?”

“I won. I won this time, right, Boss? Hahahaha. Boss?”

They played one game after another. The two chess pieces wandered on the ‘streets’ that had been demolished long ago. They lost possession time and time again. Bai Xiaolu was so engrossed in the game that she forgot that she was in a purgatory in the depths of the desert.

“Again! Again!”

The boy’s face was flushed. He waved the toy bills and the title deed and shouted excitedly, “I’m going to beat you this time!”

But this time, Boss Gold Tooth opened his hands, grabbed the chess piece and the die, and shook his head at the boy.

“Enough, brat. It’s over.”

Boss Gold Tooth smiled, his voice coarse.

Bai Xiaolu was dazed. The smile and redness on her face gradually froze and disappeared.

“Can’t we play another game? Just one!”

The boy begged. He wanted to cry again.

“One more game will have to end eventually.”

Boss Gold Tooth opened his hands and let the chess pieces and the die roll and collide. He mumbled, “Everything is coming to an end. Listen. The music is over.”

The song ‘Yesterday Again’ had stopped at some point. The only sound in the small living room was the sobbing of the boy.