Chapter 58

Su Ximu, who was being held by Big Brother, looked at the pretty Fairy Tale Candle that Big Brother placed in his hand and asked doubtfully, “What’s this?”

He knew it was a candle; what he wanted to ask was why Big Brother could suddenly produce a candle out of nowhere and give it to him.

As the recipient of the item, 241 naturally knew how to use the candle and its effects.

It was just that he didn’t quite understand what ‘lighting it’ and ‘cake’ meant.

However, even though he didn’t fully grasp these things, he did understand one other thing: this item was the reward he received for returning alive from that place.

Reward—a very good word.

It represented only good things.

Therefore, the researcher and manager who sent him there would want it too.

He lowered his head to meet the gaze of the little one still looking up at him expectantly, and 241 avoided talking about his own confusion. Instead, with the attitude of casually handing a toy to a child, he gently grasped the little one’s hand that held the candle.

The unspoken meaning was: just play with it; how it’s used isn’t that important.

Then, Su Ximu really stopped thinking about it and truly treated this pretty candle as a toy that Big Brother had given him. He would occasionally hold it up to look at it.

He had collected many treasures during this time, but none seemed as pretty as this little candle.

“Big Brother, is this a candle from a fairy tale?” After asking, the little one didn’t expect Big Brother to answer and solemnly nodded to himself, figuring that it must be.

Because ordinary candles couldn’t be slowly conjured by someone.

Big Brother held his little brother without letting go. Considering that Big Brother hadn’t been back for several days, 242 endured it again and again before finally dropping the grudge along with 243.

Su Ximu, who had obtained a new treasure, adored the candle solidly for several days. However, what concerned him most was still whether Big Brother would suddenly be taken away again.

Because of this, for those few nights, the child’s sleep became lighter. Even the slightest noise would wake him up.

On the fifth night after 241 successfully returned home, the three brothers were startled awake by a soft whimpering.

242 was no longer the iron-hearted person who could watch the little one cry for half a morning right in front of him during their first meeting. Even before his eyes were fully open, he recognized whose crying voice it was. He subconsciously tightened his arm around the child before opening his eyes to look.

With the enhancement of his abilities, the night could no longer hinder his clear vision.

He saw the little one, who hadn’t cried in a long time, sniffling and sobbing in his arms. His eyelashes were wet and clumped together, making him look utterly pitiful.

Crying like this while half-asleep, even with his awakened brother patting and soothing him, he still couldn’t sleep soundly.

After a bout of coughing, Su Ximu finally woke up in a daze. He rubbed his eyes with his hand, only to open them and find two dark shadows beside him.

He instinctively wanted to retreat, run, or crawl away, but he realized he was being held in his brother’s arms, and his brother had already sat up.

The two dark shadows he saw upon opening his eyes were Big Brother and Third Brother, who were also looking at him.

With this realization, he immediately calmed down and stopped fidgeting, continuing to obediently stay in his brother’s arms.

242 patted and soothed him for a good while longer before asking, “Why… cry?”

After another two or three months of learning, 242 had preliminarily mastered two languages, though he didn’t usually talk much.

“Can’t… remember.” Fresh from crying, even his voice sounded pitiful.

Since he couldn’t remember, 242 naturally didn’t pursue it. He gently rocked the child in his arms and asked, “Want to… keep sleeping?”

“Mm.” The little one, who had woken up in a daze anyway, nodded. With red eyes, he fell asleep again under his brother’s rocking.

Meanwhile, the other three people in the room maintained their current positions for the rest of the time and didn’t move back to sleep.

It was as if they were evil dragons guarding the most precious treasure in the world.

Perhaps because he had cried awake at night, Su Ximu looked a bit listless the next day when he woke up.

It had been a long time since he last thought about his childhood.

For a five-year-old child, three or four years old counted as childhood.

When his mind was clear, Su Ximu slowly recalled and finally remembered the dream he had the night before on the second evening.

He dreamed of his fourth birthday.

That day, Mom was very happy, probably because Dad had made money from doing business.

Dad was happy too and bought him a very, very big cake that no other kids had.

When Mom and Dad fought, Grandma would feel a bit sad too.

When Mom and Dad stopped fighting and celebrated his birthday together, Grandma was happy too.

Everyone was happy.

Thinking of birthdays, the little one paused and couldn’t help but count on his fingers.

Was he about to have a birthday?

It seemed like it.

He had almost forgotten that birthdays existed.

The last time he asked Grandma, she said there were 270 days until his birthday. 270 days meant picking one little stone every day—until he had two hundreds and one seventy.

After he died and came here, little stones were easy to find. Each one was a bit transparent and very pretty. So he picked a very small one each day.

With that thought, he walked to his treasure bundle, opened it, took out his little stones, and counted them one by one.

Third Brother watched him count and helped count along.

One, two, three…

He even miscounted twice during the process.

But the little one was very patient and didn’t blame Third Brother for leading him astray. If it was wrong, they recounted.

Finally, on the third try, he counted the number of little stones.

There were 270.

Today was his birthday~

Birthdays meant eating cake and blowing out candles.

There was no cake here, but he had a candle.

The little one ran over with pattering steps, dragged another treasure bundle from the corner, and took out the well-preserved candle.

He had the candle, but what about fire?

Su Ximu looked around the room with the candle in hand and finally fixed his gaze on Third Brother.

He picked up a little stone, walked forward, and handed it to Third Brother. “Little Brother, can you help me with something?”

243 naturally agreed.

Thus, under his little brother’s direction, he picked up the little stone and rubbed it forcefully against the metal wall.

Normally, an ordinary person doing this wouldn’t achieve much.

But seeing his little brother standing beside him expectantly with the little candle, the word ‘impossible’ didn’t exist in 243’s mind.

If asked, it was possible!

243’s hand rubbing the stone against the wall almost created afterimages.

It even attracted Big Brother and Second Brother to come over.

Finally, 243’s hand speed reached its current peak. In a flash of sparks, a bright spark appeared in the gap between the stone and the wall.

Su Ximu’s eyes lit up too. He raised the candle in his hand and brought it close.

Having roughly understood his little brother’s intent, 243 naturally wouldn’t let his too-fast movements hurt him. With a highly skillful pause, a spark flew out and landed precisely on the candle’s wick.

Almost the instant it touched the flame, the candle ignited. A warm orange flame flickered and danced.

The candle burned very slowly, with almost no wax dripping. Su Ximu carefully protected the candle as he walked to the center of the room and said to his brothers, who had gathered around him, “Big Brother, Brother, Little Brother, I remembered.”

“Everyone has birthdays.”

“On birthdays, you blow out the candle, make a wish, and then eat cake~”

The brothers didn’t understand, but they listened very seriously.

Seeing this, Su Ximu didn’t explain further now that the candle was lit. Instead, he first clasped his hands and closed his eyes. “Anyway, now everyone closes their eyes like this.”

“Then silently think in your heart of the thing you most want to come true.”

In addition to remembering his own birthday, the little one also thought of his brothers’ birthdays.

He thought that his brothers probably never had birthdays.

Today was his birthday, so he could share his wish with his brothers.

241, 242, and 243 didn’t understand but followed suit.

The thing they most wanted to come true?

To realize meant to turn it into reality, something that existed forever.

241 thought carefully and closed his eyes.

He wished for ‘unchanging.’

242 lowered his head and closed his eyes. Thinking of the little one crying last night, he wished for ‘no crying.’

243 found the wishing process very novel and smiled. He perfectly mimicked his little brother’s actions.

He wished for it to always be like this forever, which he liked the most.

It was ‘eternity.’

Su Ximu closed his eyes and made a wish for everyone, hoping everyone would be happy.

After making the wish, everyone opened their eyes together. Su Ximu made a blowing motion, having his brothers join him.

Hoo~

The little candle was extinguished by the four gusts of wind blowing from all directions.

Su Ximu thought the ceremony was over and was about to put the candle away again when a flash of firelight appeared. A three-layer, exquisitely styled giant cake suddenly materialized before his eyes.

When he sat down, he was only a little taller than the cake.

With his prior experiences and being a child to begin with, Su Ximu had a high acceptance of all sorts of magical things.

He looked at the candle, then the cake, then Big Brother.

Then back at the candle, the cake, Big Brother.

After several rounds, the little one finally figured it out.

So the candle Big Brother gave him really was a fairy tale candle.

Only fairy tale candles were this pretty and could turn into cakes~

The cake was as pretty as the candle, a style he had never seen before. On the top layer stood a Little Prince Sugar Figure wearing a crown.

Afraid the cake was just an illusion, he picked up the accompanying fork and gently poked the bottom edge of the cake, scooping up a bit of cream.

Then he put the fork in his mouth.

The sweet, milky fragrance—that was cream.

243, ever the quick learner, saw his little brother do this and picked up a small fork too, scooping some cream into his mouth.

In that moment, a volcano erupted, the Wasteland World exploded, and fireworks burst in 243’s head.

He gasped, pointing at the cake in front of him.

In this moment, 243 felt he had a second favorite thing.

His first favorite was his little brother.

The second was this thing right in front of him!