Free Web NovelChapter 188: Chapter 176: Already Considered Family
Barto squatted in front of the storage cabinet, rummaging through ingredients to make breakfast.
Gu Ning looked up from her handiwork and glanced at it. "I’ve eaten. So has Cook."
She hadn’t known when Barto would wake up, so she had heated up some bread and sausages in the microwave, feeding both herself and Cook first. It was better to work on a full stomach.
Barto smelled the lingering scent of food in the room, checked the time, and glumly put the ingredients back.
It had slept too long, too deeply.
Usually, even if it didn’t wake up earlier than Gu Ning, the sound of her stirring would have woken it. It wouldn’t have missed the chance to make her a hot meal.
"Awooo." Cook had sidled up to Barto at some point. He placed his hand on its clawed one, stopping it from closing the cabinet door, and looked at it with an expectant gaze.
"...Go chew on some jerky." Barto slapped his hand away and closed the storage cabinet.
Gu Ning and he had both eaten breakfast, and it was in no mood to make a meal just for itself.
Besides, that wolf would definitely be bringing breakfast over.
"Woof." Cook opened the cabinet and started pawing through the ingredients inside.
"Don’t make a mess. Go play somewhere." Barto pushed him away forcefully, grabbed two pieces of jerky, and stuffed one into his hand.
Gu Ning watched Barto jump onto the sofa with a piece of jerky and start chewing on it. After a moment’s thought, she said, "Hungry. A little. Cook, ate little."
A moment later, Barto silently hopped off the sofa and took the ingredients out of the storage cabinet again.
Seeing that it was about to make something good to eat, Cook happily ran around it.
As long as the three of them were in this residence, Cook wasn’t particularly clingy with Gu Ning, except when sleeping. He had accepted Barto as a friend and already considered it family. It was safe for Ningning, and this place, which he had marked all over with his scent, was also safe.
When there was nothing to do, Cook would play by himself for a bit. Gu Ning had even made him toys and would play puzzle games with him when she wasn’t busy.
She was raising Cook exactly like a dog. Many of his behaviors were indistinguishable from a dog’s, and he had only managed to retain a sliver of his own self-awareness.
Gu Ning just treated it as if she were raising an incredibly smart dog. As long as they didn’t fall into danger and Cook’s aberration value remained stable, life with him wasn’t too difficult.
Barto watched Cook trailing behind it and thought silently, ’After Cook degenerated, Gu Ning had to take care of him, didn’t she.’
’Cook has a big appetite. Gu Ning probably went hungry with him for a while.’
Staring at the pot lid, which was gradually being obscured by steam, Barto’s thoughts drifted back to the first time it saw Gu Ning.
「About two months ago.」
Cook had been dragging a pile of scrap parts, and he brought her to the black market to sell things. She was wearing oversized, ill-fitting clothes with the sleeves and pant legs tied up. With a hat and a mask on, she had bundled herself up so tightly that almost no skin was visible.
Back then, she was still timid, hiding behind Cook and clutching the hem of his clothes, peeking her head out to look around curiously.
It had even thought, ’Where did Cook find this Dwarf hybrid? She’s so tiny.’
It had seen many Dwarf hybrids, but Gu Ning was the smallest one it had ever encountered.
Cook was very protective of the little Mixed Breed, not letting anyone get near or touch her. He even used what little money he had left to buy her a new terminal.
It had tried to persuade Cook to save the money for food. Why buy a terminal for a Mixed Breed? What was the use of a terminal anyway? They had already fallen so low as to end up in Zone 19; buying one was just a waste.
Besides, who knew what this Mixed Breed’s story was.
But Cook wouldn’t listen at all and even snatched two pairs of shorts from it.
’That guy! Didn’t he know his brother hadn’t sent any money in a long time? It was the one fronting him the money for Inhibitors now, yet he had spare cash to worry about someone else.’
It couldn’t do anything about him. Cook was just a stubborn dog. He was obedient when he wanted to be, but when his stubborn streak kicked in, even his brother couldn’t have budged him.
After that, Cook often brought Gu Ning to the black market. The two Mixed Breeds started hanging out and playing together every day.
After Cook was injured and degenerated, Gu Ning started coming to the black market by herself. Though she was tiny, she was very diligent, often dragging a pile of junk over to sell after getting off work.
All this junk was stuff she’d picked up from the junkyard. It didn’t sell for much.
’It was unbearable. Every day she’d dump junk on it. Cook could at least scrounge up some valuable parts, but her... she looked sharp and smart, so why did she only pick up heavy, worthless junk? And the stuff that wasn’t heavy was just plastic and cardboard.’
’Zone 19 has dedicated recycling stations to handle that stuff. Normally, no one bothers to pick it up to sell. What was the use of her collecting it?’
It shooed her away twice.
’It wasn’t a junk collector, much less a charity. That guy Cook had already run up who-knows-how-much of a tab with it. The cost of medicine and Inhibitors alone was a huge sum. His brother had probably died in the No Man’s Land ages ago, meaning it would never get its money back. It refused to do business at a loss; it had its own Inhibitor supply to worry about!’
But when it saw her take her junk to ask other shops if they would buy it, getting pushed to the ground only to get back up, dust herself off, and move on to the next one, it ended up taking her pile of junk after all.
However, the money was barely warm in her hand before she pulled out even more money from her pocket and stuffed it back into its hand. Along with it was an empty medicine vial.
She was saving money to buy recovery medicine for Cook.
’At that moment, it didn’t know what it was feeling. A thought popped into its head: some things are more important than money. It had lost that something for too long, and now it was seeing it in her again.’
After that, no matter what she brought, it took it all. It even taught her how to find more useful things in the junkyard.
Although it wouldn’t give her too much money, it was enough for her to buy medicine and food.
’Just this once.’
It told itself, just this one act of kindness.
’Consider it paying back the favor for Kaper saving its life. It would save Cook this one time.’
’Anyway, the two little Mixed Breeds were both working at the construction site. This year’s fortification project had a halfway decent foreman, so even Mixed Breeds were getting paid. It wasn’t too late to collect on their tab later.’
Thinking now of Gu Ning’s situation back then, Barto was filled with regret. It picked up a cleaver and swung it down hard.
A thick, meaty bone was split in two, one half flying to the floor.
"WOOF!" Cook snatched up the meaty bone and began chewing on it happily.
Barto: "..."
"Heartless." Barto put the other half of the bone into the pot. "You’re the only one who’s happy, you clueless, stupid dog."
Just as breakfast was ready, a familiar knock sounded at the door.
Cook dropped the bone and ran to open the door.
Seeing Cook show no hostility at all, just a happy, tail-wagging demeanor, Barto and Gu Ning knew it was Seth and his group outside.
A few days ago, they had all thought they would be following Alex to Zone 5, so Gu Ning had wanted Cook to get along well with Seth and the young wolves. They had eaten together almost every day.
Whenever they arrived, Cook knew there was food, so he had grown much friendlier toward Seth and the others.
Cook took the food, closed the door, and returned to Gu Ning’s side.
No one followed him in.
Gu Ning hadn’t gotten a clear look at the person outside. "Cook, who was that?" she asked.
Cook mumbled a name. It was one of the young wolves who usually followed Seth. He had just dropped off the meal and left without lingering.
Barto snorted. "They know their place."
They knew Gu Ning probably didn’t want to see them right now, so they didn’t come to make themselves unwelcome.
