novelraw Chapter 72 : Grandpa
Chapter 72 : Grandpa
Chapter 72: Grandpa
「Your grandpa? Your grandpa was from the Third Front Unit?」 Drone-head asked with some surprise.
「No, I never heard anything about him being in the Third Front. He was just a pipefitter,」 Zhang Wenda said with certainty.
Remember the original release site: 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞
However, Drone-head clearly didn’t think so. 「Not necessarily. People like us usually hide our identities. Your grandpa's identity might not have been just a pipefitter.」
When he said this, Zhang Wenda really wasn’t so sure anymore. In a world this strange, it actually made sense for his grandpa to have a hidden identity.
But Zhang Wenda thought again and felt this didn’t quite add up logically.
「Wait, no. If my grandpa really had that kind of identity, would my family have been that poor when I was little? Would my parents have needed to get laid off?」
Hearing that, Drone-head glanced at Zhang Wenda. 「There were many like your grandpa in the Third Front. The old generation generally had high ideals—not everyone spent their lives fighting just for money. Their descendants didn’t get special treatment.
They were just ordinary people.」
「Damn, isn’t that just pure...」 Realizing he was talking about his own grandpa, Zhang Wenda swallowed the rest of what he was about to say.
Sure, he had high ideals—but did he ever think about how low his grandson’s ideals might be? If his grandpa hadn’t been so idealistic back then, maybe he wouldn’t have to work like a mule now.
「I don’t know. My grandpa died when I was young. Anyway, that’s what they told me. This was the only household appliance he had when he was young. He used it as a betrothal gift to marry my grandma,」 Zhang Wenda said while shaking the flashlight in his hand.
Maybe because of his grandpa’s identity, Drone-head’s attitude toward Zhang Wenda softened a bit.
「There were lots of old departments with transmitters. Your grandpa was probably working in one of them. When he retired, he just bought a flashlight and handed that in, secretly keeping the transmitter that had accompanied him for years as a keepsake.」
Zhang Wenda thought about it and immediately felt this did sound like something his grandpa would do. High ideals when it came to big profits, sly as a monkey when it came to small ones.
Once everything was clear, Drone-head had no time to continue chatting with Zhang Wenda. 「Alright. Since you’re not part of the Third Front, then this matter has nothing to do with you. You should go. This place is very dangerous now. The farther away you are, the better.」
Hearing this, Zhang Wenda’s eyes widened. 「Go? Where am I supposed to go? I can’t even leave—I'm still trapped here.」
But when he saw Drone-head in front of him, a lightbulb went off in Zhang Wenda’s mind. 「Wait, since you’re an undercover agent here, shouldn’t you have a way to send us back?」
The drone’s wings wobbled left and right with his head. 「No can do. I can’t send you back right now. I’m still on a mission—I can’t abandon my post.」
「The farther away you are from here, the better for what I need to do.」
After saying that, the drone opened the flashlight in his hand. A silver beam of light shone out, and a circular opening appeared on the wall. He lifted his foot and started walking toward it.
「Wait!!」 Zhang Wenda hurriedly blocked him. After finally finding someone who could communicate, how could he possibly let him leave?
Whether he could return or not depended on this guy.
「Move aside, I don’t have time to waste with you. If I stay away too long, they’ll get suspicious.」 The other had just walked to the side, but Zhang Wenda blocked him again.
「You can’t just leave me here alone! This place is in the past, right? I can’t stay trapped here forever!」
「However you came, that’s how you should go back. Technically, you’re not even supposed to be here. But for your grandpa’s sake, I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.」
If Zhang Wenda really could go back, he wouldn’t be blocking the door. Seeing that the other clearly didn’t intend to help, he spoke up: 「How about I help you? I’ll help! I’ll assist you, and you help me in return.」
「I’ll help you deal with them, alright? When it’s all done, just send me back. That’s all I ask.」
This time, Drone-head paused, hesitantly looking at Zhang Wenda. 「You?」
He rolled up Zhang Wenda’s sleeve. Seeing the red core and yellow core, he immediately let go. 「Forget it. The Third Front is still missing a first front—you think you can help?」
「Why can’t I help? I just snuck in there myself! Besides, isn’t your mission undercover work?
You’re just stealing intelligence, not going on a killing spree inside. The more people we have, the better. I can definitely help.」
Seeing him hesitate, Zhang Wenda added, 「And I’m not the only one here. I have two companions—they’re both very capable. They’ll definitely be useful.」
After hearing that Song Jianguo raised a bunch of cats, and realizing the enemy was probably already alerted, Drone-head finally agreed.
「Alright then, bring your people over. We’ll plan together.」
「I’m Zhang Wenda. What’s your name?」 Zhang Wenda asked.
「Classified. Call me whatever you want.」
「Which department are you from?」
「Classified.」
If he wasn’t out of options, Zhang Wenda really didn’t want to work with someone like this.
After finding Song Jianguo and Aunt Flo, Zhang Wenda briefly explained the situation to them.
「How much do you know about the Third Front?」 On the way back, Zhang Wenda asked the two.
He could currently judge that Drone-head was from the Third Front Unit, and his purpose was to infiltrate this organization and gather intelligence to destroy this place.
Since some were using the temporal anomalies to commit crimes, it made sense there’d be others overseeing and stopping such crimes. The Third Front was likely such an organization.
But the term "Third Front" was too broad—he needed more detail.
「Third Front? No clue,」 Song Jianguo replied bluntly. She seemed to know nothing except eating and sleeping.
Seeing Zhang Wenda looking her way, Aunt Flo, who was jogging along, shook her head. 「Damn, don’t look at me. I’m only here a few days a month. How would I know anything?」
「Sigh, I knew you two wouldn’t know anything useful,」 Zhang Wenda stopped asking. Once everything was over, he’d ask Drone-head directly.
Besides, he was genuinely curious about his grandpa’s identity. In his mind, the old man was just someone who liked to undo Go moves—an old man who liked to renege on his plays.
But thinking carefully, in his few memories, the old man only ever said he was a pipefitter. Back when he was working,
Zhang Wenda probably hadn’t even been born yet.
Since in this world, time could become weird, the sun could become weird, then it seemed perfectly normal...
for his grandpa to become weird too.