Axolotl Translations

Dusk settled over the land, casting long shadows as two large buses—painted in alternating shades of white and platinum—trailed closely behind a sleek black van. The convoy moved steadily along the highway, pushing forward through the waves of oppressive heat.

The city’s ruined outskirts receded into the haze, leaving the empty highway stretching ahead like a forgotten relic, devoid of vehicles, devoid of life. Barren trees lined the road, their skeletal branches reaching out into the air, stripped of all life.

Beep beep—

A turnoff appeared ahead on the right. The black van honked twice as a signal before slowly veering off the main road, descending a sloping path that wound its way through the landscape.

The bus drivers hesitated only briefly before carefully following suit.

Down one slope, then up another. Though the track remained narrow, vast fields of farmland soon spread out on either side.

Scorched by the relentless sun, the once-thriving cornfields had withered into brittle husks. Gu Mengran rolled down the window, then, without hesitation, wrenched the wheel and floored the accelerator, driving the van directly into the field.

The drop from the track to the farmland was uneven, and the van’s undercarriage scraped against the hard ground as it plowed through the parched soil. The heavy buses, however, wouldn’t make it.

Seeing Gu Mengran exit the van, a perplexed Zheng Yijie braked and pulled his bus to the side of the road. He leaned out the window and called, “Aren’t we headed to Jincheng? What are we doing out in the middle of nowhere? If we keep driving, we can make it by tonight.”

“Turn off the engine and get out,” Gu Mengran said, standing firm on the hardened soil, gesturing for him to disembark without further explanation.

“What, you lured me out here just to kill me and bury the body?” Zheng Yijie half-joked, yet still obediently rolled up the window, shut off the engine, and grabbed his backpack before stepping out.

Gu Mengran smirked. “Congratulations, you guessed right.”

The second bus rolled to a halt behind the first. Grandpa Meng stepped out, his pace measured, his sharp eyes scanning the scene. He first glanced at Zheng Yijie, who stood by the roadside, still looking somewhat lost. Then, his eyes shifted to Gu Mengran, who was casually chatting and laughing as if nothing was out of the ordinary. His brow furrowed slightly.

He was well aware of Gu Mengran’s plan. But revealing this in front of an outsider…

“Ahem.”

The old man cleared his throat, about to call Gu Mengran over to discuss how he intended tohandle the situation. But before he could speak, Gu Mengran suddenly reached out and placed his hand on the massive bus.

In the blink of an eye, the enormous vehicle vanished.

Both men froze, stunned.

Grandpa Meng immediately assumed Zheng Yijie was oblivious to Gu Mengran’s ability. Had the boy lost his mind? Displaying his spatial powers in front of an outsider like this?

Meanwhile, Zheng Yijie had technically witnessed Gu Mengran use his ability before—but seeing it at such close range was a completely different matter. Watching an entire bus disappear without a sound sent a shiver down his spine.

This is insane… Two hundred push-ups. That was it. He was starting tonight.

The two of them stood there, dumbfounded, while Gu Mengran doubled over in laughter, thoroughly enjoying their reactions.

But his amusement was short-lived.

The moment Grandpa Meng’s icy gaze settled on him, a chill ran down Gu Mengran’s spine. He instinctively stepped back, waving his hands in surrender. “Relax, Grandpa! He already knew! He saw it happen before, it’s not my fault—”

“Gu Mengran, you stop right there!”

……

Three days wasn’t exactly long, but it wasn’t short either.

With everything out in the open, no more secrets between them, Gu Mengran took his grandfather and Zheng Yijie up the mountain for a wild feast. They grilled, ate, slept, and repeated the cycle, carefree as could be. For three full days, they indulged themselves.

Unfortunately, the scorching heat made camping out impossible, so they had no choice but to sleep in the car. By the end of it, all three of them were stiff, sore, and suffering from leg cramps.

At the peak of noon, the black van, parked in the center of the field, rocked slightly. A moment later, the front passenger door creaked open, and Gu Mengran hunched forward as he climbed out, stretching his arms lazily.

A wave of heat washed over him. He switched on the small fan hanging around his neck, rubbing at the stiffness in his neck before leisurely pulling open the back door.

The sudden blast of hot air rushed into the van, hitting Zheng Yijie like a physical blow. Having been curled up in the second row, dozing off, he was jolted awake in an instant—like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.

“Damn! What’s going on? Fire?!”

Startled awake and in full panic mode, Zheng Yijie frantically scanned his surroundings.

Gu Mengran, the culprit, rubbed his nose sheepishly. “No fire. Just wake-up call.”

“For what?” Zheng Yijie grumbled, his voice growing softer with each word. “We’ve got nothing to do anyway… just let me sleep a bit more…”

His eyes fluttered shut again, and he slumped sideways, ready to drift back to sleep.

Before he could, Gu Mengran grabbed his arm and yanked him upright.

“Sleep? Again? Dude, do you even know what time it is? The wheat still isn’t loaded onto the truck!”

“Wheat?” Zheng Yijie blinked, confused. “What whea—oh! Right! We’re supposed to head back today.”

Gu Mengran shot him an exasperated look. “Wow. Glad you finally remembered.”

With business back on the agenda, Zheng Yijie forced himself to sit up. But he barely lasted two seconds before his shoulders slumped, and he leaned weakly against the seat, as if all his energy had drained away.

“I feel like three days isn’t a reasonable timeframe. That’s three whole trucks of wheat. We don’t even have proper tools—unloading and reloading everything by hand would take at least five days, don’t you think?” He struggled to keep his eyes open, seizing the chance to negotiate for more time.

Gu Mengran chuckled. “Who was whining and begging not to come in the first place? Now you’re having too much fun to leave? Get up. Time to work!”

“Ughhh!” Zheng Yijie groaned dramatically, reluctantly slipping on his shoes and dragging himself out of the van. Noticing that Gu Mengran had no intention of waking up the old man, he took pity and thoughtfully shut the car door behind him.

“Ugh, it’s so hot!”

Barely two seconds after stepping onto the ground, Zheng Yijie was already complaining again.

Gu Mengran strode toward the highway without looking back. “Talking less makes it feel cooler.”

Getting a chatterbox to shut up was no easy feat. By the time Gu Mengran reached the road and summoned the two buses back into place, Zheng Yijie was still standing nearby, rubbing his stomach.

“I’m kinda hungry… I don’t think I’ve got the energy to work.”

“Heh.”

Gu Mengran chuckled and casually tossed him a massive tear-and-share bread roll.

Seeing something tossed his way, Zheng Yijie grinned and reached out to catch it. But the moment he realized it was just bread, his face fell, and he sighed dejectedly. “You know this isn’t what I wanted. We still have ribs from the other day, and grilled meat from last night. C’mon, share a little.”

“Forget it. You’ve already eaten plenty—that’s for Liang Zhao.” Gu Mengran didn’t even glance back as he opened the bus door and stepped inside.

Zheng Yijie muttered under his breath, “Liang Zhao again? Do you know how many times you’ve mentioned him in the past few days? You two are real close—practically joined at the hip. Too bad you don’t look alike.”

Look alike? Now that would be a disaster.

Gu Mengran smirked but didn’t bother explaining.

With his spatial ability, loading a few truckloads of wheat was a breeze.

The extra-large woven bags he had stockpiled before the disaster finally came in handy. Gu Mengran pulled out a thick stack and started filling them with wheat from his space, carefully transferring it little by little from the back rows of seats onward.

The wheat was from Heng Rong Sheng—the shipment that had gone under when the ship capsized, leaving everything soaked. Storing it in his space hadn’t dried it out, so in between eating, drinking, and relaxing these past few days, they had also taken time to spread it out and let it dry.

Dividing the work made things easier. Gu Mengran focused on filling the bags, while Zheng Yijie sealed them with zip ties at the back, ensuring nothing spilled during transport and unloading.

For once, Gu Mengran was feeling generous. He packed every seat and aisle of both buses to the brim, reducing his wheat reserves by nearly two-thirds.

If he’d gathered this wheat himself through hard work, he wouldn’t have been so willing to give it away. But since it had practically fallen into his lap, and they couldn’t possibly eat it all, it was better to donate it to those in need than let it sit in his space indefinitely.

Well, it was just passing on gifts that weren’t his to begin with.

After over two hours of hard work, the buses were packed to the brim. By then, Grandpa Meng had woken up. The three of them grabbed quick meal to fill their stomachs before turning their attention to loading wheat into the van.

The final bag of wheat was wedged into the aisle, leaving the van so crammed that, aside from the front row, there wasn’t a single seat left.

It was just past 3 p.m.—still early.

Closing the van door, Grandpa Meng glanced at his watch, then walked around to the driver’s side window and tapped twice on the glass.

Within two seconds, the window rolled down, revealing Gu Mengran, looking refreshed and energized. Hands gripping the steering wheel, he leaned out with a bright smile. “What’s up, Grandpa?”

The corners of his mouth curled up, his eyes shone with anticipation—his entire demeanor practically screamed excitement. His face might as well have had the words “can’t wait to go home” written across it.

Grandpa Meng saw right through him and sighed helplessly. He lifted his left wrist and held his watch up to Gu Mengran’s face. “It’s barely past three. Isn’t it a bit early to leave?”

“It is early. The drive’s only about an hour, so we’d be back before five,” Zheng Yijie chimed in as he strolled over, casually fanning himself with Grandpa Meng’s palm fan.

The moment those words left his mouth, Gu Mengran’s smile began to fade. He rubbed the steering wheel absentmindedly, his voice losing its confidence. “It’s fine… just a few hours ahead of schedule. Whether we get back at four or seven, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Grandpa Meng didn’t say anything more, but Zheng Yijie, oblivious to the change in mood, leaned against the window and began analyzing, “No, no, no—you’re totally wrong. There’s a huge difference.”

“Think about it—we spent three days hauling all this wheat. We should be dead tired, right? We should be rolling into Shancheng late at night, exhausted and covered in dust, not cruising in at four in the afternoon looking like we had a relaxing vacation.”

“Covered in dust?” Meng Gaoyang repeated, turning the phrase over in his mind. Then, suddenly, realization dawned. He slapped the car door. “Damn, I almost forgot!”

“What?” Gu Mengran and Zheng Yijie asked in unison.

The old man clicked his tongue, turned around, and pointed at the two-toned buses parked on the road. With a hint of smugness, he asked, “Notice anything wrong? They’re way too clean. Do they look like they just made a long trip to Jincheng and back with a load of wheat?”

Zheng Yijie squinted at the buses, then gasped. “Oh, you’re right! What do we do? Drive around in circles a few times?”

“No need,” Gu Mengran said, pushing open the door and stepping out. He gestured towards the farmland where the van was parked. “Bring the buses in here and let the tires spin for a bit.”

“Oooh, smart thinking, Little Mengran! You’ve got a real talent for deception!”

The buses couldn’t drive onto the field? No problem. Gu Mengran simply stored them in his space and reappeared them in the farmland. Then, with the drivers behind the wheels, they pressed the brakes and revved the engines, kicking up enough dust and mud to give the previously spotless vehicles a proper weathered and worn look.

Go big or go home—if they were going to fake exhaustion, they were going to do it right.

After half an hour of deliberate “weathering,” the three vehicles rolled back onto the main road. The van led the way, followed closely by the now appropriately dirtied buses, setting off for home.

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