29: The Bunker I

After one of his three problems was solved because his teenage parents gaslit themselves into thinking that their baby's strange behavior was just him growing up and having a trauma response.

Actually, that kind of made sense.

Saying that trauma makes people change is like saying water is wet. He doesn't know how much adult psychology applies to a literal baby, but he's glad that his caretakers bought into it.

Nonetheless, Jay was still hung up on this Eugene person. The two teenagers didn't talk about anything else after that topic came up, and they ate in silence, leaving the transmigrator to think about their backstories and how the pieces of the puzzle fit together with what the System told him.

Still, it's good to have another piece of the puzzle that made up the Red King's and JJ's backstories. JJ had a living brother in the original novel, and unfortunately, Jay couldn't recall the man's name, only the fact that the guy worked for the United Earth. His superpower was the water-downed version of Kade the Golden Boy's, which led to a few hilarious encounters and passive aggressive fights between the two of them. Like who uses telekinesis better? The entire grown man who can ride on flying swords or a teenage who can bring down entire buildings?

Sadly, since JJ's brother worked for the UE and had super powers, he ended up getting killed by Kaon half way through the novel. The original novel didn't touch on how JJ grieved even though her younger brother was an important figure in her life who got her into the USC headquarters as a scientist in the first place, and the douchebag made it known every minute he could.

Now they have the tackle the problem that is the cabin's basement. The sun was setting, and as soon as Jay finished his pastries and his parents finished their bread, all of them decided to torture themselves by going downstairs.

"Aap, haaaap." Jay reached for JJ's flashlight, trying to help out with their grim situation.

"Awe... Yes!" JJ gave him her mini flashlight, earning her a huge smile from the baby. "Kaon is in his imitating stages! So, don't cuss, Jay."

"No promises, Jay." The man holding the transmigrator chuckled as he watched the baby taking a hold of the flashlight. He himself was also holding the flashlight. "He'll forget it anyway, right? As long as we don't tell him his first word was 'fuck', then we'll be fine."

As soon as the teenage boy finished his sentence, Jay had a huge grin on his face. "Fuck! Fucka!"

His baby babble sounded adorable even though he was doing what his care taker tried to avoid making him do. JJ's frown eventually melted into a smile, and she petted his head before she turned around to walk into the darkness.

His male caregiver followed her, and Jay couldn't help but swing his flashlight around to look at the room in curiosity. The walls were definitely made of reinforced concrete, and the blotchy paint job of sad beige made everything worse.

Thankfully, the steel furniture was rather modernly tasteful, and the shelves were stocked with plastic boxes of stuff. Jay could see recent activities of the crates being moved, and a lot of expired canned food littered the food. His violet eyes softened when he saw empty jars of baby food sitting on some shelves.

Whoever occupied the bunker before them must had a baby, or two. The thought of having a baby in this fucked up world is just... Sad. They had to go through the third World War, then deal with the aftermath, and within their lifetime, they had to witness the Superpower war.

Besides, growing up in the bunker can't too mentally healthy for anyone. Hell, Jay was so sick of eating canned good that he fell love in the first pastry he ate.

"Here it is! I melted the lock." JJ's arms pointed at the steel door, showcasing her work to her partner. "Last time I was down here, I think it's a bedroom."

"Really?" The Red King made his way closer, but he stopped in his track when he realized that he's holding Kaon.

His partner nodded at him, and she quickly pulled out another flashlight from her pants' pocket. With a new source of light, she pushed open the door with her foot. A walf of antiseptic smell came through the door, a stark contrast to the dusty atmosphere of the bunker.

The teenage boy's flashlight was brought into the room too see what's in there, and the sight was rather strange. There's a few light switches in the room, but it didn't work as JJ turned it once three times in a row.

Well, flashlight it is.

There's a queen sized bed in the middle of the room, with a mattress that's still covered in plastic. Sheets and pillows were no where to be found, meaning that the people who planned to live here never got to move in.

In one corner of the room, there was a huge fancy crib, one which had a change pad and three drawers. The object caught the Red King's attention since he began walking towards it. Once Jay could clearly see what's hidden behind those prestine white safety rails, he almost choked on his spit.

He was right, the previous occupants of the bunker must had babies. The baby mobile, which was supposed to be hanging from a stick on the crib, was a tangled mess on the untouched crib mattress, which was also covered in a thin layer of plastic.

A distinct shape of a father, a mother and two children were hung from the baby mobile. Upon closer look, the materials were skillfully crocheted. However, everything was in a shade of brown or pale yellow or flat out white.

Good lord... It's a bunker made by a sad beige mom and her family who never got to move in here.

"Jay, look at this!" The Red King called out for his partner, who was playing with the plastic covering queen sized bed's mattress.

JJ snapped her head towards him, and she moved her flashlight their way.

The teenage boy's flashlight hovered an inch over one of the crib's railings. Jay squinted a little since it's harder to see things from his angle. There was a line of engraving on the material, and it's on the side of the railing, so one can't see it from the front or the back. It took quite a bit for him to realize that it was letters printed on the sturdy plastic.

However, the letters were in another language, definitely an east Asian one, like Chinese or Japanese or Korean—

"You can read it, right?" The Red King wiggled his flashlight around to make his point.

His companion leaned closer to the letters, pointing her own flashlight at it. Her blue eyes scanned over it, but her partner gave her his translation.

"It said 'middle country system create'?" The Red King's confusion was evident in his tone, and a laugh escaped JJ's lips.

Meanwhile, Jay tried to take a look at it. System! What does the system has to do with this?

"It's 'manufactured in China', dummy." She ran her fingers on the printing, and she tired to point out each of the letters. "Zhì can also mean regulate, so yeah, regulated creation means manufacturing."

Oooh... Jay let out a sigh of relief internally. Those letters basically mean 'made in China.'

"What's China?" The teenage boy's words was genuine, which made a laugh erupted from the transmigrator.