by <unknown>
They all fixed their gaze on one corner of the house where what seemed like their parents were tending to a fire pit. Placed on top of a fire pit was a black iron pot with jagged edges and a broken handle.
Whiffs of smoke rose from inside the iron pot. Even from a distance Chen Chen could smell their delicious dinner.
"Lerigado is back?"
The young woman in the kitchen turned around upon hearing footsteps from the entrance. Her smile was picturesque, the warm and gentle smile only a mother was capable of. "Sit down, dinner is almost ready!"
"Okay, Mother!"
Chen Chen's stomach was rumbling with pangs of hunger. Even though he was not particularly hungry upon his return, his stomach was now growling with excitement. He gazed at the iron pot with wondrous delicacies inside and his mouth watered.
After digging cotton leaves the entire day, he was hungry...
The food was prepared after just a short while. Chen Chen picked up a bowl set on the floor and scooped up a sizable portion for himself, then squatted on the floor and dove into his meal. Although the bowl of rice was tasteless and dull, it felt so appetizing at this moment...
The sky had darkened by the time they finished dinner. Chen Chen pulled the sheets of curtain hung over the entrance that served as the door then went to a water well by the door. He took two pails of water and drank like a mule. He looked at the skies above after he drank.
The stars overhead shone radiantly in the cover of the night. The Milky Way was almost visible from his vantage point on Earth. As he basked in the moment, a strange sensation suddenly came to him.
"This is..."
Chen Chen frowned as if jolted awake from a dream. He suddenly recalled that he was entering the subspace with Zhao Shanhe just moments ago. How did he find himself in a place like this?
"Lerigado!"
Father was calling for him, his voice sounded harsh as usual. Chen Chen immediately snapped to his senses and sprinted back into the house.
"Gado, how many times do your mother and I need to repeat this to you? Don't wander off at night. Do you think we can save you if one of those vagrants gets you?"
Chen Chen's parents reprimanded him severely. He could not comprehend what was happening. A part of him wanted to leave and find out what sort of strange circumstances he was plunged into, but another part felt it was right to remain here and wait for his parents to finish.
"I'll just wait and see what happens..."
Chen Chen figured.
Chen Chen passed his days like clockwork. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed him by in this remote African village. What was once a thin and frail boy of six years old had grown into an able-bodied sixteen-year-old teenager.
Chen Chen spent the last decade like a passenger inside this body, observing the state of the world. He had a faint impression that time was flowing in an irregular pattern over the last decade. There were times where things happened in rapid successions, where many events seemed to occur all in an instant. This strange observation must have something to do with the subspace...
"I wonder how long it will take until I can snap out of this."
Chen Chen wondered.
Over the last decade, his siblings had all died in one way or another until he was the only one who remained of the original group of children. The good news was that his mother gave birth to a younger sister in this trouble-filled period.
One day, something terrible came upon them...
"A plague, it's a plague!"
The village chief stood wearily in front of Chen Chen's parents and watched helplessly as his parents coughed and vomited large clots of blood periodically. His parents at the time were still relatively young and could not be anywhere past their thirties yet but their hair was already freckled with large white spots. They lay on their bed, their strength almost completely drained from their husks.
Chen Chen froze as he saw the scene unfold before him. A thought suddenly occurred to him, could this be the terrible Blacklight virus plague that swept through the region so many years ago?
"This virus claimed hundreds of millions of people in the African continent, could this be..."
Chen Chen quaked inside.
"Lerigado..."
Mother raised her hand that was riddled with pores and made to grab Chen Chen's arm. "Get out of here, take your sister and leave! Leave the village and head to the Eco Science City some hundreds of kilometers away from our village. You may have a chance at survival if you can get there..."
"Mother..."
A bitter smile surfaced on Chen Chen's face. After all these years, he finally regained his awareness but still, he found there was nothing he could do except to follow along this predetermined trajectory of this young man called Lerigado who grew up in an African village. The realization of his parent's death, the parents that he had spent the last decade with pained Chen Chen.
This was nothing that he had ever experienced before. He had never realized that such heartache existed in the world. This sorrow, this unbearable urge to weep, this pain inflicted by the terrible hands of fate...
"Go! Hurry before it's too late!"
An enormous strength suddenly erupted within his withered parents. This was the last time his father would ever find the strength to sit up and belt at him, "Get out of here!"
Chen Chen clenched his teeth and took his only eight-year-old sister with him. He ran out the door and never looked back at the village that he had spent his entire life in.
'That's it. I'm Chen Chen. Even though I'm plunged into this dream state, the Eco Science City exists here as well, which means Little X is here as well. If I can get to Little X, I can get her to cure my dear sister…'
All of this may only be a mirage, a substance of illusion but still...
Chen Chen's mind raced as he made for the Eco Science City with his sister.
On the way to the Eco Science City, Chen Chen saw the roads paved with countless bodies that succumbed to the plague. These were the people who were trying to head to Eco Science City, just like himself.
All of them were thinking the same thing as himself. That their only chance at survival was the Eco Science City...
"Lerigado..."
While Chen Chen was dragging his numb legs with his sister on his shoulder, he heard a faint, familiar voice calling out to him from the roadside.
Chen Chen froze and stared at the owner of this voice in disbelief. It was his childhood friend lying weakly on top of a blanket of grass. There was a weeping baby on his lap.
"Gurunich!"
Chen Chen approached his friend and stared at him with fixed horror in his eyes. The young man who should be sturdy like himself had become drained and lifeless. Blood seeped out of the crevices in his nose and ears, and his gums swelled with blood as he talked.
"Buddy, I can't walk anymore."
Gurunich smiled soberly. "I can hear Death coming for me. I consider myself blessed to at least be able to see you before I go..."
"Stop that, I'll carry you!"
Chen Chen somehow mustered the Nobel sentence from his lips, then he clenched his teeth and tried to carry his sick friend.
"That's impossible, give up..."
Gurunich wrought himself free from Chen Chen and shook his head. "You won't get anywhere carrying me, we'll all end up dead by the roadside that way. I have a terrible favor to ask of you..."
Chen Chen immediately looked at the baby upon hearing this.
"My daughter..."
Gurunich's lips trembled as he presented his daughter to Chen Chen. "Take my daughter. Her life has barely begun. It's not right that she should die and rot into the soil like myself..."
Chen Chen looked at this child that he had never seen before until now. His feet were rooted to the ground.
"Please, I beg of you..."
Gurunich's voice was growing desperate. "This is the only wish I have. I... I beg you!"
As he said this, his arm gave out!
"D*mn it!"
Chen Chen howled and quickly reached for the baby before Gurunich dropped her on the ground. Then he grabbed his sister, pulled her on her shoulder, and ran toward Eco Science City like a madman!
Chen Chen ran and ran until he lost sense of himself before his sister's crying pulled him back. He panicked upon realizing something and quickly reached for his sister's forehead to feel her temperature.
Thankfully, thankfully...
Sensing that his sister's temperature was normal, he heaved a sigh of relief. Then he suddenly noticed that Gurunich's daughter's cries were getting weaker...
"Is this reality or not? Why can't I wake up..."
A wipe of regret surfaced in Chen Chen's eyes. He made a silent resolution and suddenly placed his finger in his mouth, and then chomped on it!
The terrible pain drilled deep into his body. It also served to alleviate the final trace of doubt in his mind. Before he would change his mind, he immediately put his finger into the baby's mouth!
"Glug, glug…"
The starving baby finally stopped her crying when Chen Chen did this. She greedily sucked Chen Chen's finger and nourished herself.
Chen Chen smiled upon seeing this. He lifted a finger again and bit down hard on it...
"Brother, what are you feeding the little girl..."
While Chen Chen was doing everything he could in his power to feed the baby, his sister suddenly asked.
Chen Chen trembled and looked at his sister who was looking at the baby curiously.
"Hold on, I'll let you eat something after I feed this little one..."
Chen Chen went back to feeding the baby.
...
Three days later.
There was a whistling wind blowing in the wasteland and a cloud of dust was flying in the sky but then, it dissipated again.
Mild gusts of wind blew across the desolate wasteland. Chen Chen trudged across patches of grass, his feet covered in blood and cuts from rocks. He held a fainted baby in one arm and held the hand of a similarly worn-out young girl with his other arm.
"Brother..."
Chen Chen suddenly felt her hand slipping away. He stopped and looked behind him and saw his sister collapsed on the ground. She did not make a fuss nor did she cry. She only whispered with lifeless eyes, "Brother, I'm so tired."
Chen Chen's young sister mustered the last of her strength to form a meek smile and said in a quiet voice, "I'm just going to nap for a short while... Don't leave me behind!"
With that, she shut her eyes.
"You're tired? Rest for a while then."
Chen Chen tried to crouch on the floor but his knees could not handle his weight anymore and threw his entire weight onto the ground.
"Wah... Wah..."
The sudden tremor woke the baby in his arms and she began to cry. Her cries were both frail and hoarse.
"Don't worry, you're the daughter of a friend of mine, I'll make sure to feed you..."
Chen Chen muttered and put his bloodied, ruined finger between his dry, cracked lips and crunched on it. Then he put the finger inside the baby's mouth.
"Eat, eat up..."
Chen Chen whispered dryly. He waited until the baby had her fill and fell asleep again before turning to his sister who was sleeping beside him.
"Wake up, Sister. We need to go to Eco Science City..."
Chen Chen nudged the little girl but she would not respond.
"What a lazy bug you are..."
Chen Chen forced a strained smile and slowly reached for her and tried to feel for a heartbeat.
Her body was cold.
There was nothing that would remotely resemble a heartbeat nor suggest a trace of life...
"....
"Ahhh!!!"
A dry, piercing scream shattered across the wasteland and soon became drowned out by the merciless wind blowing...
Chapter 595: Betrayal |
The setting sun signaled the coming of the night.
Chen Chen held the baby in his arms. He walked like the dead across the desolate wasteland, every step served as a reminder of what he had lost. However, when he looked at the snoring baby in his arms, he felt like there may be a glimmer of hope left.
Years of accumulated experience in the village had taught Chen Chen to scour for resources in his surroundings. He replenished his energy by drinking morning dew and eating wild vegetation. He did not know how long it had been since he embarked on this journey. The days felt like years. So much time had passed that Chen Chen had become numb to every pain in his body.
Just as his body was about to give out, he suddenly arrived at a long, winding highway.
The discovery of the highway brought forth another tiny slither of hope. He walked along the roadside and soon heard distant rumbling coming from behind him.
Chen Chen turned around and saw several vehicles with the Blacklight Biotechnology logo on their hood coursing down the highway. They passed him by as if they did not notice him at all.
Upon seeing this, he continued down the highway. He started to see more people along the highway the further he went. All the people were heading in the same direction.
There were even more dead bodies than there were travelers.
Chen Chen took out a water bottle and gulped it down to the very last drop. After ensuring that the bottle could not produce any more water for him, he carefully tucked it back in his pocket and continued down the highway.
In time, he saw a large crowd gathered in front.
He was filled with dread upon finally arriving at his destination. He saw numerous refugees like himself gathered by the fenced wall that stretched across the entire city. He recognized the sight at first glance. It was the wall he raised to prevent the refugees from storming the city. He even saw hundreds of Black Knights posted atop the wall.
The tables had turned. Once, he sneered at the weak commoners from above and now, he was one of the weak commoners.
Chen Chen slowly shut his eyes and lowered his head and touched the frozen corpse of the baby in his arms. A sense of despair greeted his eyes. In the end, he could not save anybody.
Soon, his world darkened as he collapsed on the ground lifelessly. Nobody around him paid attention to this dying young man as they continued heading toward the imposing wall. As far as they were concerned, Chen Chen was only one of the many fallen they had seen on their way here.
'Do you feel guilty?'
In the depths of his mind, Chen Chen heard many foreign voices. It felt as if the original owner of this body he resided in was questioning him sternly...
'All these years ago, could you have made a difference by simply extending an arm to those who need it?
'Do you feel regret?'
Chen Chen found himself at a loss for words. Could he truly be regretting the decision he had made all those years ago?
"Heh..."
Moments before he could feel his soul draining away from this lifeless shell, he chuckled ironically. From the depths of his feeling, he mocked everything with a sarcastic chuckle. His eyes suddenly shone with lucid clarity.
"To be honest?"
Chen Chen muttered. He looked at the young man called Lerigado who was both himself and not himself. Lerigado glared at him and repeated, "Don't you feel guilty? You could've saved me, saved my parents, my sister, and my best friend's daughter. You could've saved them all!"
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
A silent teardrop fell from the corner of Chen Chen's eyes but his expression was calm and he declared with fixed determination, "I'm myself. I'm Chen Chen, not you. If you have your sorrows then so do I have my own beliefs. Even if I had to experience your sorrow another hundred thousand times, I still wouldn't feel any remorse!"
"Hahahahha!"
After expressing this, Chen Chen exploded with laughter. Slowly, the world around him began to change and turned into a mirage, then became drowned in complete darkness!
Chen Chen could feel his s
trength returning to his body and his conscience sobering up from its previous state. Quickly, he used the psionic concentration in his mind to sweep through his surroundings and immediately detected Zhao Shanhe and Jenny standing right next to him. Just like himself, both of them rooted in place and their bodies trembled from time to time.
"Zhao Shanhe!"
Chen Chen never felt so awake before. He immediately wrapped his hands around Zhao Shanhe's neck and raised him off the ground!
"You dare plot against me?"
Chen Chen's eyes remained shut, but his anger could be clearly made out on his expression all the same. Zhao Shanhe, who was suddenly assaulted by Chen Chen, woke up as well. Despite the sudden interference, he made sure to keep his eyes shut while he cried out, "How is this possible? How did you wake up before me?"
The commotion they had caused woke Jenny, who immediately snapped her eyes open and looked at Chen Chen. "Let go... Let go of the boss..."
Moments after her awakening, she sensed a sharp pain!
"Ahh!"
Jenny cried out hysterically. Her body trembled endlessly while she wrapped her hands around her head then screamed.
Like ice melting under the sun, her body started to melt as well. Chen Chen saw everything happening with his psionic eyes. He saw Jenny beginning to melt from her head down!
In this very instant, Chen Chen suddenly felt his grip on Zhao Shanhe weakening. Zhao Shanhe released his palm and summoned the black slate which quivered in the air and emitted a shockwave that blasted Chen Chen away and filled his ears with an indescribable screech!
The sharp screech echoed in Chen Chen's ears. With his "eyes", he could see Jenny's head morphing into a puddle of yellow liquid. Despite that, she was still shrieking!
It was only until her neck had melted away with her throat when the shrieking finally stopped. It only took another ten seconds or so before she turned into a puddle of mud!
Was this the consequence of opening one's eyes?
Chen Chen, who saw everything unfold, turned to Zhao Shanhe who wrought himself free earlier and asked, "Whats' going on?"
"D*mn it..."
Zhao Shanhe seemed deeply troubled as well. He bit his lip and said, "She, she must've seen something. There must be something around us now! She must've seen that thing and..."
