About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"Welcome party..."

Chen and Tallulah thought about this for a moment.

——Are you in the same room with Orson and his sister? It feels... not bad.

——Are you, Orson, and my sister in the same room? It feels... not bad.

"I happen to be free tonight." "I'm looking forward to it, Orson~"

Chen Huijie and Talu agreed in unison, and at the same time, they had already begun to think about how to get rid of the "other extra guys" so as to create a precious space for the two of them to spend time together.

————Night, Orson's room————

"Hey, the new house looks pretty nice inside, Orson! It reminds me of my dorm back in Rutland."

"...Stay away from me, Lappland. Are you coping well, Orson?"

"Hehehe, what's the matter, Texas? Anyway, how about trying to push Coyotito down here?"

"If my thunder magic had been able to work faster, I might have been able to stop that man. As a sister, I really lost my composure...!"

"Can all of this be eaten for free... Orson? Woohoo... You're so kind. I, I'm afraid I can't repay this kindness even if I give myself to you—"

"What a bad luck today! The 180W piano suddenly disappeared - um, this fried steak is amazing...!"

"Two more pounds of white wine, thanks, Orsen~"

…………

……

"What a lively welcome party, Huijie."

"Yes, Sister Tallulah."

In the bustling room, Chen Huijie and Tallulah sat together, sipping juice and smiling with a carefree expression.

There must be something wrong in my and Orson’s understanding of the [Welcome Party]...!

87. The Snow Rabbit

The slums, separated from the Longmen urban area by a wall, are different from the urban areas under the jurisdiction of the Guard Bureau and have their own set of operating rules and mechanisms.

The "Rat King" and his minions check and balance the various forces in the slums, maintaining a delicate yet solid balance in this seemingly ownerless and chaotic place.

However, with the intervention of the Sicilian Gang, under the leadership of a man called "The Godfather", the situation in the slums was overturned for a time. These exiles from Syracuse used the slums as a cover to continuously win over and encroach on the already chaotic area, and finally accumulated strength to carry out a terrorist attack on the Guard Bureau.

Although judging from the results, the attack was eventually resolved by the boy named Orson, Chen Huijie and the "unnamed girl named Ta", this was the last straw, and Wei Yanwu finally decided to completely clear out the slums.

Just before the situation got out of control, Black Snake put forward a suggestion that could temporarily delay the liquidation of the slums, and might even completely resolve all the conflicts and barriers that had accumulated between the slums and urban areas since the beginning.

And this opinion is...

"Haha, stupid white rabbit, it's too easy for you to steal your wallet if you don't keep a close eye on it!"

In an alley somewhere in the slums, a Carters girl wearing black stockings and long purple hair was walking through the alley laughing. In her left hand was a grappling hook with a black wallet tied to it.

The girl was none other than Anso, a thief known in the slums and even throughout the entire Guard Bureau. After she'd stolen something, she made a face at the person she was stealing, then immediately darted through the alleys at a speed no one could possibly catch.

"Wait a moment--"

The girl with long silver hair, who had her wallet stolen by Anso, also belonged to Carters, and reached out to try to stop him. After hearing what he said, Anso actually stopped on the balcony at the edge of an apartment building.

"Haha, I can tell right away you're new to the slums. Lungmen has been blocking access lately, but you somehow managed to sneak in. You must be a wealthy 'refugee,' right? In that case, consider this wallet my tuition for class. First lesson—never trust anyone in the slums."

Ansuo waved the wallet in his hand, stuck out his tongue to laugh at the other party, then swung the grappling hook onto the protruding beam of the apartment next to him and disappeared from sight in an instant.

"...Haha, this is truly a unique welcome ceremony."

Seeing that Ansuo had no intention of returning his wallet, White Rabbit sighed with a wry smile, then gently stroked his hair and looked in the direction where the other party disappeared.

On the other side, An Suo, who had successfully stolen the wallet, ran away and came to a sparsely populated corner near his home.

"Let me see how rich that stupid-looking white rabbit is~"

An Suo happily took out her wallet, but she suddenly noticed that the wallet, which looked extremely ordinary before, was covered with a thin layer of frost at some point.

“What’s going on… Uwaaa!?”

An Suo had initially tried to touch the wallet out of curiosity, but the moment his fingers touched the frost-covered wallet, a sharp chill emanated from the tiny wallet. An Suo could even clearly feel the surrounding temperature dropping rapidly.

“Damn… What the hell is this?! We need to get out of here right now— wooooo!”

Sensing something was amiss, Ansuo quickly tossed her wallet aside and turned to leave the alley. However, just as she reached the alley's entrance, her incredibly flexible limbs, which she prided herself on, were suddenly entangled by an indescribable, twisted black substance, lifting her whole body into the air.

"What the hell is this... Damn it, put me down now!?"

An Suo panicked and twisted his body to try to break free from these things, but the black tentacles only tightened around him.

Just when the thief rabbit was extremely panicked, the voice of a girl that she had just heard before came out.

"Sorry to disappoint you, there are no Lungmen coins in that wallet. There are only blizzards in the north."

"It's you……!"

An Suo widened his eyes. The person who appeared in front of him was the White Rabbit whose wallet he had just stolen.

"Haha, there's no need to be so nervous. I know this kind of behavior is not uncommon in the slums, but I have to say, you picked the wrong person, okay?"

The white rabbit showed a seemingly kind smile, but to An Suo, this guy with such a shocking wound on his nose always gave people a cold and disgusting feeling no matter how he smiled.

"People always make wrong choices, but how to pay for these mistakes is something worth discussing, isn't it?"

White Rabbit extended his right hand, clad in a black leather glove, and gently placed it on Ansuo's face. Goose bumps instantly covered Ansuo's skin. Even with the glove as insulation, Ansuo still felt a sudden chill, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"You...what do you want? I...I'll make it clear first, I don't have anything valuable on me...it would be meaningless even if you kill me!"

Although An Suo was a little trembling, she had struggled all the way from the slums since she was a child. She still gritted her teeth and did not let her fear show.

"Don't scare Anso, Froststar."

Just as An Suo closed his eyes and thought about what it would feel like to be frozen into an ice cube, the voice of another boy who was more familiar to him was heard.

"Ah... Orson!"

An Suo looked at the young man who walked out from behind the white rabbit and recognized his identity at once.

"Long time no see, Ansuo."

Orson put away the rest that bound the secret rope and greeted the other party with a smile.

"It's been a long time since we last met... What brought you to the slums this time?"

After being put down, An Suo sighed that it felt so good to have his feet on the ground, and asked Orson curiously.

The first time Anso and Orson met was in the prison of the Guards Bureau. It was the first day Orson arrived at Longmen. He swaggered towards the Guards Bureau with a knight's sword on his back. As expected, he was captured.

The second time Anso and Orson met was in the prison of the Guards Bureau.

The third time Anso and Orson met was at the Guards Bureau...

It must have been fate, these two had forged a comradeship while working together. Of course, once Orson and Chen became closer, he wasn't used as intensely to boost his performance and get gang-raped. As for An Suo, after the relationship between Longmen and the Slums deteriorated, he never had any dealings with the Guards again.

Later, Orson and Anso would occasionally contact each other, mainly to exchange information about the slums.

"This time I'm... uh, just think of me as being exiled to the slums."

Orson responded with a wry smile, while Anso gave an expression that said 'I expected this'.

"Anyway, this is Shuangxing. She's my friend. We might have to interact with you a lot in the future, so let's get along well."

"Hmm... What bad luck! I thought I'd find a good meal ticket, but it turned out to be just an acquaintance? An Suo, he doesn't have any special skills. As you can see, he just makes a living by doing this in the slums."

Ansuo ruffled his hair, then reached out to Froststar with his arm wrapped around the rope to introduce himself.

"Froststar, as you can see, I've just arrived in the slums and I'm not very familiar with anything here. There are just rabbits everywhere."

Frost Star responded with a smile and held Ansuo's hand. This time, Ansuo did not feel the bone-chilling coldness.

"So Ansuo, how is the situation in the slums lately?"

After introducing each other, Orson asked Anso about the situation in the slums during this period.

"It's as bad as ever, but... it seems to be even more chaotic recently. I heard that the Royal Guard was severely bitten by the Sicilian Gang, and now the whole slum is in panic. Ha, everyone knows that Longmen will kick us infected people out sooner or later. The only question now is how these people plan to kill us."

Ansuo shrugged, and Orson frowned slightly when he heard her words.

——Sure enough, the hostility between the slums and Lungmen has lasted for a long time. This place and Lungmen are like two powder kegs, which may be completely detonated with just the slightest spark.

Orson was somewhat glad that he had chosen the identity of "exiled from Longmen". At least as an "infected person kicked out of Longmen City", he would not be subject to too much prejudice from the infected people in the slums.

"I don't know what you're up to, but the slums are more restless than usual right now. Find a way to survive, Orson. I have something else to do, so I'll be leaving now."

After telling Orson about the current situation of the slums, Anso waved his hand and slipped away through the alley.

After watching Ansuo run away, Orson stood there with his head down, thinking.

"It seems the situation is even more dire than expected... Uh, Frost Star?"

Before Orson could ponder for long, he noticed that Frost Star, who had previously maintained the image of a "cold and mysterious girl", immediately showed an unconcealed smile and stuck to him after confirming that Anso had run away.

"It's been too long! Seriously, whether it's you, Orson, or that idiot Tallulah, their actions are completely illogical! Do you know how upset I was when I found out you suddenly ran off to Longmen without a word? Anyway, since we haven't seen each other for such a long time, let me... well, let me give you a good rub!"

Frost Star stuck close to Orson and kept touching him with her gloved hands.

"Wait, wait a minute, Frost Star... wuwuwu, it's so cold!?"

Although Orson was very happy to meet Frost Star, the other party's cold attitude (physical meaning) still made Orson somewhat overwhelmed.

And Orson also noticed one thing, that is, Frost Star's "level of reserve" seemed to be decreasing as the "number of times the door was locked" increased.

At the beginning, Froststar and Tallulah were somewhat similar, both of them couldn't even express themselves clearly.

But since the time he was recuperating in Rhodes Island, Froststar's attitude towards Orson has become much more proactive.

After that, the big rabbit, who had tasted the sweetness of the marrow, suddenly awakened the talent of "locker" and became more and more "feminine". His attitude when getting along with Orson also gradually became more "at ease". The patriots saw the snow rabbit's appearance and exclaimed that the little cotton-padded jacket was finally taken advantage of by the pig.

Realizing that things were not going well, Tallulah felt the pressure for a while, and this pressure, coupled with her affection for Chen Huijie as a silly sister, eventually made Tallulah act recklessly, that is, sending Orson to Longmen.

"Huh—refreshing. So, Orson, about that thing you mentioned when you contacted me earlier..."

After touching Orson all over, Xuetu breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and then finally started talking about business with Orson.

"Well, we need to find a way to change the slums. To do that, I must first carefully confirm the current conditions of the slums."

"And since I happen to be in the slums, I'm the perfect partner, right?"

"Yes, it is like that."

Orson nodded to indicate that Frost Star was right, while Snow Rabbit secretly clenched his fist and shouted YES in his heart.

What are the ups and downs of life? Yesterday, Shuangxing was still feeling sad because she couldn't go to the "party" hosted by Orson (later found out it was a welcome party for Tallulah), but today she suddenly learned that she would be traveling with Orson for a long time to come.

The stimulation of this gap is like baking bread in Tallulah's arms one second and taking a cold shower on Frost Star's chest the next second.

"Then let's continue on to the residence that the Yeti Squad has found. We were delayed a bit by running into your friend on the way."

Froststar smiled and took Orson's arm. While imagining Tallulah's deflated expression, she took happy bunny hops and headed with Orson to the more marginal area of the slums.

Not long after, Frost Star and Orson arrived at an apartment building that looked shabby.

"There aren't any weird gang fights around here. At least it's relatively peaceful."

As Frost Star spoke, she reached out and gently opened the door.

"It reminds me of my time in the guerrillas. Back then, being able to occasionally live in an abandoned room like this was already a rare luxury."

Looking at the dilapidated house in front of him, Orson sighed softly.

"Yes, from the concentration camp in the infected mines, to the guerrilla camps and abandoned ruins, to the castle of the old nobles of Che City, the warm operator dormitories of Rhodes Island, to the newly built, bright and beautiful residences in the cities surrounding Che City...all of this sometimes feels like a dream to me, Orson."

Frost Star also closed her eyes slightly and sighed. From the moment she met the boy, to how he lost his "real voice" for her, to now having a clean and tidy residence that would not be attacked by the cold disaster and the patrol team... All these experiences are like snowflakes to Snow Rabbit. They are her most precious crystals, and they are also the treasures she is extremely afraid of losing, so she has to carefully protect them in her hands.

"This isn't a dream, Froststar. This is something we've earned step by step, with countless sacrifices, right... Uh, what are you doing, Froststar?"

"Click~"

With a crisp sound, the door lock suddenly snapped shut.

"Uh... that, Froststar... I, I just arrived in the slums here--Puff!"

Orson realized something, but before he could finish his words, Xuetu threw him directly onto the sofa.

"It doesn't matter that I just arrived, right?"