Chapter 44
Crack—
Shi Nuo sat on the small stool, using the nutcracker to open the nuts, two bowls in front of him.
The oval-shaped nuts were easier to crack, yielding whole, smooth, white kernels, rich and flavorful.
The round nuts had harder shells and contained two halves with a thin membrane separating them. These had a unique, slightly salty, milky flavor.
During his hurried trip to the black market, he and Shi Nuo hadn’t thought to buy nuts.
Now, with both chestnuts and nuts, they had plenty of snacks.
He cracked several nuts at once, then began peeling them, finding it more efficient than cracking and peeling one at a time.
The nutcracker was made by Hugh. He had rummaged through Long Xu’s spare parts and tools, then tinkered in the basement for a while, creating a handheld nutcracker.
As for himself, after making the nutcracker, he had shifted into his white wolf form and gone hunting, leaving Long Xu behind.
Forty-five days of hibernation, although successful in absorbing the beast heart’s energy, had left him hungry. He had been thinking of Shi Nuo and hadn’t gone hunting yet.
He was accustomed to eating large quantities of fresh meat, and although the meals he shared with Shi Nuo were filling, his long-held habits were hard to break. He craved meat, his body instinctively seeking the nourishment of flesh and blood, especially in the cold of winter.
Hunting was also a way to release pent-up energy.
In the snow, the white wolf’s fur provided a natural camouflage, though it didn’t bother with stealth, running swiftly across the snow-covered plains, its keen sense of smell quickly leading it to its prey.
Beneath the thick layer of snow, a four-legged animal, its burrow partially covered by snow, twitched its ears nervously.
It sensed danger and silently moved towards another exit, its plump body squeezing through the narrow tunnel. It cautiously poked its head out of the snow, its white winter fur blending in with the surroundings.
As it emerged, a massive shadow fell over it, and it leaped, startled, trying to escape, but its neck was snapped in a swift, decisive bite.
As always, the white wolf was a picky eater, consuming only the cleanest, most tender parts of its prey.
This creature, similar in size to a small sheep, was capable of both running and burrowing, resilient and adaptable, its population thriving due to its high reproductive rate. In winter, their meat was more flavorful.
After catching three, the white wolf was finally sated.
It turned back, its white ears twitching, hearing the sound of running water beneath the thick ice of the nearby river.
Shi Nuo had just finished peeling all the nuts, about one hundred and twenty, enough for a while. He stood up, stretching his stiff limbs, when the giant wolf suddenly appeared at the doorway, carrying something in its mouth.
A gust of cold wind blew in, ruffling Shi Nuo’s hair and clothes, but the house was warm.
The white wolf dropped its burden onto the floor: two strings of fish and large crabs, strung together with dried, but still flexible, grass stems.
The crabs, their claws snapping, a dozen or so of them, were large, their pincers even larger, and those whose claws hadn’t been tied were trying to sever the stems.
The fish were also alive, a dozen or so of varying sizes, strung through their mouths, thrashing and flapping on the floor.
The doorway was suddenly a scene of chaotic activity.
The white wolf glanced at the fish, suppressing the urge to swat them with its paw. The Omega should see them alive before he decided how to prepare them.
As expected, Shi Nuo’s eyes widened in surprise.
He knew people fished in the winter, but there were no fishing boats or tools here, the ice was thick, and the snow was deep. With their current food supply, he hadn’t considered asking Hugh or Long Xu to break through the ice to catch fish, let alone crabs.
The last time he had eaten crab was when Hugh brought back a few from the black market, only five.
Things were different now. A few crabs were a luxury.
“So many! Didn’t you go hunting?” Shi Nuo asked curiously, crouching down to look at the crabs. Seeing food, regardless of the circumstances, always made him happy.
“I ate already,” the white wolf replied. It didn’t shift back into its human form yet. It glanced at the spot where Shi Nuo had been sitting, saw that all the nuts had been peeled, and there was no need for its assistance, then turned its attention back to the Omega. “These are for you.”
Testing the waters again, Hugh Elvis felt a surge of nervousness, his gaze fixed on Shi Nuo.
Shi Nuo had noticed before that Hugh didn’t like the smell of seafood and rarely ate fish, shrimp, or crabs, even when cooked.
The crabs, plump and tempting, their claws snapping, scurried across the floor.
Shi Nuo reached for one, then quickly pulled his hand back, afraid of being pinched. “Ouch!”
Before he could find something to subdue the crabs, the white wolf’s massive paw pinned two of them down.
The other two continued scuttling, their claws scraping against the floor, the sound irritating. Annoyed, and perhaps still slightly frustrated by Shi Nuo’s earlier reaction, it instinctively opened its mouth, a burst of white flames incinerating the two crabs.
Their shells turned red in the intense heat.
Before they were completely reduced to ashes, Hugh Elvis regained control, and the flames vanished abruptly.
Already annoyed, and having almost ruined the Omega’s food, the white wolf twitched its ears irritably.
At three meters tall, its presence in the confined space of the house was overwhelming.
Shi Nuo heard a soft fluttering sound and looked up to see the wolf’s large, fluffy white ears twitching. He instinctively swallowed, his fingers twitching slightly, wanting to touch them.
Realizing how ridiculous that would be, he blushed, quickly looking away, his gaze falling on the two charred crabs.
A delicious aroma of roasted crab meat reached his nose.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
The white wolf, which had been watching him intently, noticed his gaze.
His ears?
It twitched its ears again, instinctively, realizing they had caught Shi Nuo’s attention.
It was confused. It didn’t understand. What was so special about ears? All creatures, both beast and human, had ears.
Should it let him touch them?
No. It didn’t like its head being touched. It was annoying.
The white wolf frowned.
Shi Nuo squatted down and poked one of the charred crabs. It was dead, motionless, and still quite hot.
The white wolf tried to lower its head, bringing its ears closer to the Omega, but the two crabs under its paws, still alive, struggled.
With a crack, both crabs were crushed under its weight.
Its head, as it lowered it, missed Shi Nuo, who had bent down to pick up one of the roasted crabs.
Shi Nuo, holding the crab by its leg, looked up, puzzled. He didn’t understand why the white wolf had suddenly moved closer. “What’s wrong?”
The white wolf froze, then quickly recovered its composure. “Nothing. Just checking if the crabs were cooked through.”
Its tone was so casual, its usual air of confidence and strength so reassuring, that Shi Nuo didn’t question it. Always mindful of food safety, he asked cautiously, “Are they fully cooked?”
“Yes,” the white wolf glanced at the two crabs Shi Nuo was holding, confirming they were indeed cooked. “You can eat them.”
The crabs were still warm, emitting a delicious aroma. Faced with such readily available food, Shi Nuo couldn’t resist.
He cracked open the shell, revealing the bright yellow crab roe and the white, succulent meat, the aroma making his mouth water.
The crabs were large and satisfying to eat. He had started eating simply to avoid wasting food, but he quickly became engrossed, his hands covered in grease, happily devouring the crab meat.
He ate without any regard for appearances. Hugh Elvis, having shifted back into his human form, didn’t care. He was accustomed to the messy eating habits of wild beasts, and Shi Nuo’s delicate bites seemed almost…refined in comparison.
However, he noticed the smile that gradually spread across Shi Nuo’s face as he ate, his enjoyment evident.
Hugh wanted to say something, then hesitated, and instead went to the kitchen to process the remaining crabs and fish.
The world was covered in white. The temperature had risen for a few days, and the snow had begun to melt, only to be replaced by another light snowfall.
Just as Hugh had said, winters here were characterized by frequent snow.
Shi Nuo stood at the doorway, catching snowflakes on his outstretched hand. The delicate ice crystals were beautiful but quickly melted. The ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, crunching under his feet.
The large snowman Long Xu had built had partially melted, then refrozen, no longer its perfectly round shape.
Hugh Elvis emerged from the house, the terminal on his wrist. Seeing Shi Nuo standing there, gazing up at the falling snow, lost in thought, he activated the terminal’s camera and silently took a picture.
Hearing footsteps, Shi Nuo turned his head.
The white-haired man’s expression was indifferent, his surreptitious picture-taking unnoticed. He walked over to Shi Nuo and placed a pair of adjusted holographic visors over his eyes. The constant glare of the snow wasn’t good for his eyesight.
Shi Nuo adjusted the visors, and the snow-covered landscape seemed less harsh, easier on his eyes.
“I was looking through Long Xu’s logs earlier. You took pictures when you were building snowmen?” Hugh Elvis asked casually, his expression unchanged, as if just making conversation.
Shi Nuo paused, then nodded. “Yes.”
Seeing that he wasn’t hiding anything, Hugh’s mood improved slightly. So, it was just Long Xu that hadn’t relayed the information, not a secret between Shi Nuo and the mecha.
“I haven’t seen them,” Hugh Elvis said directly.
Shi Nuo pursed his lips and asked hesitantly, “Do you…want to see them?”
He hadn’t looked at the pictures himself after taking them, assuming it was a trivial matter, and since Hugh didn’t seem interested in such things, he hadn’t mentioned them.
“Yes,” Hugh Elvis nodded, trying to maintain a casual air.
Shi Nuo opened his optical brain and displayed the pictures, a sudden wave of self-consciousness washing over him.
The white-haired man pulled the optical brain closer, studying each picture. The Omega in the photos was smiling shyly, his posture slightly stiff, as if uncomfortable in front of the camera.
But he was beautiful, adorable.
As he scrolled through the pictures, he noticed other, older pictures of Shi Nuo stored in the optical brain.
“Those are from before,” Shi Nuo said, slightly embarrassed, not knowing how to ask Hugh to stop looking.
The images showed a younger, more innocent Shi Nuo, the dates clearly visible.
Hugh Elvis quickly scanned the directory and realized it contained pictures of Shi Nuo from infancy to adolescence, a complete visual record of his life.
After birth, everyone’s personal information and data were stored in their optical brains, a convenient and efficient system. The optical brain was essentially a record of a person’s life.
Hugh Elvis’s own optical brain had been destroyed when he was nine, and he hadn’t had one since, though Long Xu’s core database contained all his information, including pictures from his childhood.
Shi Nuo had never had anyone look through his optical brain’s photo album, so he hadn’t bothered to lock it. Now, he could only watch, his face burning, as pictures from his childhood appeared on the screen.
He was so embarrassed that he reached out, trying to close the album.
Hugh Elvis moved the optical brain out of his reach, then, seeing his reluctance, opened his terminal. “These are my pictures. An exchange.”
Shi Nuo’s curiosity was piqued.
He took the terminal, opened the photo album, and saw a picture of a young, white-haired boy sitting primly on a chair in a garden.
Hugh had been beautiful as a child.
Even surrounded by colorful flowers, he was the center of attention.
It was clear he was a boy, but one couldn’t help but admire his delicate features.
Shi Nuo checked the date and calculated that Hugh must have been nine years old.
He remembered that age clearly. He had grown up hearing about the prestigious Elvis family, and Hugh, the heir, had seemed like a distant, almost mythical figure, the center of attention from birth.
Then he had fallen ill, another frequent topic of conversation, and Shi Nuo had heard many stories, the details imprinted in his memory.
He tried to scroll forward but found no pictures or videos of Hugh after the age of nine. He had his answer and, without commenting, continued looking at the pictures.
The nine-year-old Hugh’s features were similar to his current ones, only less sharp and defined.
As he scrolled backwards, Hugh became younger, eight years old, seven years old, his features becoming increasingly androgynous, but his delicate beauty remained.
Suddenly, Shi Nuo paused, his gaze fixed on a picture.
A small white wolf, its fur fluffy and thick, its body plump and round, was chasing butterflies in the garden.
It was a moving image, and Shi Nuo clearly saw the small Alpha pounce into the flowers, then sneeze from the pollen, its fluffy ears twitching.
