Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel

Volume 1 Chapter 4

Xi Wei has no fixed residence, so finding a safe place has become a major concern. Aimlessly wandering around is the most stupid choice they could make.

If it were only him, it wouldn't be so difficult. Adding on a baby suddenly makes safety a bigger issue. The first step is to find a way to accommodate this change.

Xi Wei carefully walked along the streets while making frequent stops. One of the reasons is to try to avoid the crowd, and the second, more important reason, is that for him, Zeno is very heavy. He needs to constantly adjust the position to prevent his arms from growing tired, and he also needs a moment to catch his breath.

Although Zeno cannot see Xi Wei that does not mean that he cannot feel what is happening. The protagonist’s breathing is laboured, and being position next to his chest allows him to hear the intense beating of his heart. This causes him to worry, as well as stirring up some feelings of guilt.

Finally, when his surroundings have becoming silent, Xi Wei stops. With a small adjustment to the swaddling cloths, he exposes Zeno's face to the open air. He quickly tucks the wrappings around the baby’s neck to allow him to breathe freely without letting cold air into the rest of his body.

Zeno had been concerned about a lack of oxygen, but for fear of further imposing on the protagonist he dared not vocalize his discomfort. Now that he was more satisfied with his position, he sat quietly and turned his eyes to take in the surrounding environment.

Ye Sa City is very rich in water resources. With all kinds of rivers criss-crossing through, it is comparable to the city of Venice in form and function. There are a large number of boats, be they on the water or docked. Some of the boats are privately owned, some are for businesses, some are gorgeous and others simple. The only feature that all these boats can be said to have in common is that they are small. Because the width of the river is on the smaller side and the height of the arched bridge is lower, an oversized boat is not free to pass into Ye Sa.

Their stop is just under a bridge spanning over one of the waterways where a crude boat is docked.

The boat is very humble to say the least. In fact, the boat is very small, the hull is woody, and the length is about twice the height of Xi Wei and Zeno put together. The width is approximately equal to the height of Xi Wei, giving the impression of a miniature model rather than an actual boat.

The hull is peppered with scrapes and scratches, as if it had been through many collisions, the edge is full of deep and shallow dents, and the awning has many holes. If it rains, it may be difficult to tell the difference between being underneath or not because of how little cover it provides.

When Xi Wei carried Zeno onto the miniature boat, Zeno found it difficult to believe that this boat that should have been discarded eight hundred years ago was going to be their future home.

From the outside, the boat appears broken and small, and when you head inside it turns out that it is a level three dangerous ship. There are visible traces of repairs to the bottom of the ship, although it gives off the feeling that it could start leaking at any moment.

If Zeno could only speak, he wanted to shake Xi Wei with all his strength to wake him from his delusions. Hey protagonist, even sleeping in the snow would be better than this boat, at this rate we're setting ourselves up for a water burial!

Apparently Xi Wei did not share in his concerns. Returning to the familiar spot allowed him to relax and release some tension, before getting Zeno settled in and getting to work.

He first placed Zeno down gently on the dirty, shabby blanket in his cabin, which had long its original color. Secondly, he actually pulled out the cloak that Zeno's mother had wrapped him in, laying it aside, and then carefully brandished the old, rusted little dagger. With this he begins to cut the cloak into various strips and chunks of cloth.