Chapter 1493: Holy Tire

Your Eminence the Divine Envoy... would you like to hear our past?

Inside the simple tent, Old Pu Te cautiously asked Lin An, his rough hands, with nowhere to place, rubbing up and down his body.

Unlike the first time he had seen Lin An, this time he changed into his cleanest set of clothes and even washed his hands and face.

Just one day without seeing the tent set up, he and his companions were like ants on a hot pan, unable to sleep all night.

They were afraid, afraid that the miracle from the day before was merely a dream of theirs.

"That's right, you can pray to the statue of the god, and the god will hear your voices."

He nodded slightly, and Lin An spoke calmly.

As his words fell, Anduyin, who was playing the assistant role beside him, solemnly brought over a tire and placed it before everyone.

Hmm, that is indeed a tire, a black one, taken off a truck and washed clean.

"This is... the image of the god!?"

"A... circle?"

The former Marine Corps colonel and previously most hot-tempered scavenger, An Ge Si, now like a frightened child, caught the tire that Anduyin almost dropped.

Without further explanation, Anduyin glanced at everyone's expressions and gave a light cough.

"The image of the god is not something we can see! Or it cannot be understood!"

"The symbol of the god Ling An is the sun, representing hope!"

"Circle! That is..."

"The circle is the sun!? A black sun, representing the darkness before hope arrives!?"

Without waiting for Anduyin to fabricate a reason, Old Pu Te, the former professor staring at the tire with awe, directly supplied the meaning for him.

Seeing him suddenly enlightened, he excitedly knelt before the tire.

Exactly! We, being too vulgar, always thought the god's image should be a person!

How could a true divine spirit be understood by mortals!?

For some reason, looking at the black tire before him, Old Pu Te felt it was so divine, somewhat like the eye he had seen in the miracle, covered at the very beginning!

Seeing that the others still seemed not to understand, still looking at the tire with strange expressions, he suddenly turned his head to his companions and said, word by word:

"The circle represents reincarnation! The circle represents the eye! The circle represents the sun!"

"Black represents the god's eye watching! Black represents the darkness before dawn! Black represents death!"

"The hollow circle looks like a tire, but this large inner ring, this great emptiness, is actually everything we see!"

"To see hope from darkness is to receive salvation!"

Chattering on, Old Pu Te, as if possessed, spoke more and more fluently.

Under this stream of improvised doctrine, even Lin An, who had merely picked up a tire as a statue, couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

This old professor seems to understand 'Ling An' even better than he...

What Lin An didn't know was that, while he was thinking about how to scrounge more food and test the Faith Power that night, Old Pu Te was weeping tears streaming down his face at his wife's grave, crying all night.

He wailed loudly, hating himself for having no power. He hated himself for fearing his wife's corpse would be cremated in the Safe Zone, not daring to erect a tombstone.

He also actually hated the god for not appearing sooner, for not letting him become an Awakened One earlier.

On that night of cursing, condemning, and sorrowful weeping, he, as if self-hypnotizing, gave himself a new explanation.

Perhaps, in this world someone must always endure and comprehend a certain hardship, only then can they realize the preciousness of hope. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately. Maybe he is that person, or maybe one of those people.

Seeing the crowd seemingly stunned by Old Pu Te's explanation, Lin An gave a light cough and no longer wasted time.

He had thought for a long time, deciding to start from traditional religious methods.

He could see that, besides Old Pu Te being a bit obsessed, the others, rather than believing in a god, were more afraid of having no god, afraid that their only hope of becoming Awakened Ones would also vanish.

They feared themselves, rather than revered them.

"What you said makes a lot of sense."

Lin An appropriately praised Old Pu Te, then turned and calmly looked at An Ge Si.

"You really want to gain power, right?"

"Then, before the god, speak of your suffering."

"The god will listen. He will know what you want."

As his words fell, the strongest scavenger, An Ge Si, suddenly froze, staring blankly at Lin An.

Speak..

Your past?

Say how he survived this damned Apocalypse until now!?

Although he didn't quite understand why Lin An wanted to do this, but since the Divine Envoy said so, he would comply. He couldn't give up the chance to become stronger.

He slowly knelt before the tire, although he could barely accept this thing, after all he also saw how impoverished 'Ling An' was.

But seeing the crowd of scavengers surrounding him, An Ge Si opened his mouth and finally managed to blurt out a sentence, his face flushed red.

"You.."

"I.."

"Can I speak alone?"

"Before the Apocalypse broke out, I was a Marine Corps colonel."

"Hmm... that's not strange; the Houston Rocket Launch Center also needed security personnel. And as a retired officer, I was naturally transferred here."

Haltingly, An Ge Si watched Lin An calmly listening to his account, and suddenly felt somewhat unaccustomed.

He was not as fragile as Old Pu Te.

He is a soldier, a genuine tough guy, a hardened soldier even before the Apocalypse!

"After the Apocalypse broke out... uh... my daughter and wife first turned into zombies."

Afterwards I was just by myself, and I ended up like this.

An Ge Si feigned indifference, spreading his hands; his sturdy frame swayed slightly, unaccustomed to the gesture.

As a soldier, he actually didn't really believe in gods.

Although the experience the day before had given him a tremendous shock, making him realize this was their only chance, only then did he become willing to "listen".

More, as Lin An thought, he was merely afraid, just scared.

Silence, oppressive.

Seeing Lin An still silent, not speaking, merely gazing calmly at him, An Ge Si cautiously lifted his head and spoke again.

"Um, Divine Envoy."

"Can I hear the voice of the gods again?"

"My experience is actually just like this."

His scorching gaze fixed on the stone mortar behind Lin An; compared to recounting his experience before others, he cared more about when he could lie down in it.

However, a few seconds later, just as An Ge Si was growing impatient, Lin An's voice suddenly rang out.

"Your eyes tell me."

"Not only that..."

"They, how did they become zombies?"

He was suddenly stunned.

An Ge Si looked in astonishment at Lin An's eyes.

In that instant, he felt that those ordinary eyes, hidden beneath the black robe, suddenly became as deep as darkness.

"I...!"