Cave Refuge

After seeing the two off, Dong Tianyu, carrying his backpack and helmet in one hand, followed his father, Mr. Thompson, into the refuge center.

Because of his clothing, as soon as he entered the center, Dong Tianyu attracted the attention of others. Gradually, their focus shifted from his clothes to his backpack.

However, it was just like that; because the Thompson family had a strong influence in the refuge center, under his father's lead, no brainless villains came to obstruct them.

As they ventured deeper into the center, Dong Tianyu noticed a fence gate in the corner. Looking at the direction his father was heading, he roughly guessed where his mother was.

"Zachary? You're finally here!" Dong Tianyu heard his brother-in-law's voice before they even got close.

"Bro, I'm back to see mom and dad." Dong Tianyu didn't say much, only briefly greeting his brother-in-law.

He wasn't aware of the situation in other families, but as for his brothers-in-law, Dong Tianyu directly addressed them as 'bro', not 'brother-in-law'. They felt closer to him because of this, so they didn't fuss over the title like the older generation did.

"Your younger brother just returned; I'm going to take him to your Aunt first. We can all gather together later in the evening."

Hearing Mr. Thompson's words, the brother-in-law didn't say much or offer to help carry Dong Tianyu's bag. He only pushed the fence gate open for them.

"Dad, what's the meaning of this?"

To Dong Tianyu's question, Mr. Thompson smiled at his son and explained: "Didn't I tell you before that we found a good spot at the subway station? When we first moved in, it was quite spacious, but your second uncle, seeing the topography of the place, installed a fence gate to make it more secure."

"Impressive!"

Hearing his son's praise, Mr. Thompson felt a sense of pride in his heart, though he didn't show it on his face.

Once the two of them entered the L-shaped corridor, the brother-in-law closed the door from the outside.

Seeing his brother-in-law's action, Dong Tianyu was confused.

Seeing the puzzled expression on his son's face, Mr. Thompson laughed it off without explaining: "Don't think too much about it. We leave a person outside to prevent getting locked in by others."

Hearing his father say that, Dong Tianyu knew there must have been some past incident to warrant this precaution of leaving a person at the door.

The children playing inside heard the sound of the door opening. Seeing Mr. Thompson and Dong Tianyu entering, they immediately ran over.

There's a saying that nephews are closer to their uncles, and it's not unreasonable at all.

The uncle is usually younger in age. When the nieces and nephews are young, the uncle is not married and also young at heart, at an age where he enjoys playing. Thus most uncles would enjoy spending time with these little ones. Therefore, in most families, nephews and nieces fancy their uncles.

Seeing his preschool-age niece drop her toys, open her arms wide, and run towards him with stuttered steps, Dong Tianyu couldn't help feeling moved.

Immediately, Dong Tianyu knelt down, his hands directly under her armpits. With a slight lift, he raised her above his head.

"Did you miss your uncle?"

The niece, held high by Dong Tianyu, wasn't scared. She laughed and kicked her legs in mid-air, managing to respond: "Missed."

Dong Tianyu, holding his niece, made a circle then abruptly let go, only to catch her again the moment she began to fall.

This action didn't scare his niece, for Dong Tianyu had been playing with her like this since she could walk. So, she's not only unafraid but often asks for him to do it again.

After gently setting his niece down, he took off his backpack and called out to his nephews and nieces nearby: "Young masters and princesses, come here. Your uncle brought some treats for you."

Oddly enough, the one-child policy in the Thompson family seemed to only affect Dong Tianyu's generation. In his parents' generation, every family had several siblings, and in the younger generation of nephews and nieces, it was normal to have second or third children as well.

So he always said to his nephews and nieces, "If there are tasty treats, I get to eat first. You all have brothers and sisters, but I'm the only child."

Seeing Dong Tianyu undoing his backpack and hearing his call, all the younger generation ran over.

Dong Tianyu took out a box of chocolates from the backpack and handed it to Xie Mingshu, the eldest of his eldest sister's children, who was the one who helped open the door earlier.

"Mingshu, you take this and share it with your brothers and sisters."

There's a significant age gap within the younger Thompsons, the youngest being Oliver with whom Dong Tianyu played earlier. Oliver was the third child of his second sister's family and was just starting kindergarten this year. On the other hand, the oldest was Xie Mingshu from his eldest sister's family. She just turned 18 this year.

Xie Mingshu happily accepted the chocolate from Dong Tianyu's hand and excitedly said, "Got it, Uncle. Leave it to me."

Although the majority of the Thompson family lived ordinary lives, they did an excellent job in terms of education. Without any traces of princess syndrome, they were neither overly generous nor stingy, so Dong Tianyu was confident about leaving the task of chocolate distribution to Xie Mingshu.

After handing the chocolate box to Xie Mingshu, Dong Tianyu was prepared to stand up, but seeing his little niece tugging at his pants, he reached into his pocket and took out some loose candies.

First, he gave one to his little niece. Then he called over his oldest nephew from the second sister's family, "Harry, take these candies and distribute them to your siblings."

After Harry took the candies, Dong Tianyu didn't bother to check if the candies could be evenly distributed. He just stood up and left.

The little niece, who had originally been tugging at Dong Tianyu's pant leg, let go and ran to her brother when she saw the candies in his hand. She stood beside her brother with eager eyes, wanting more candies.

Although he'd brought gifts for his nephews and nieces before to their delight, seeing their excitement now made Dong Tianyu sigh nostalgically.

Although the Thompson family had ample time to relocate to the refuge center, the elders mainly brought practical items. They might've thought of bringing some snacks for the young ones, but the amount was minimal and finished within a few days of entering the center.

Forget about the others who hastily sought refuge here, even within the younger Thompson generation, once they moved into the refuge center, snacking became a luxury. If they were picky eaters, they'd go hungry.

Initially, some children, upon encountering foods they didn't like, would refuse to eat in protest. However, the adults couldn't do anything about it; they couldn't go out and buy their favorite foods.

So the scene where the adults had to coax the children to eat was gone. Now it was, 'don't eat, and you'll starve.' Eventually, when the little ones had starved enough, they stopped being picky eaters.

Watching the young masters and princesses surrounding his eldest sister and second brother, Mr. Thompson continued to lead Dong Tianyu further into the refuge center.