Chapter 1500: The Strong's Trap

Moments later, without waiting for Lin An to softly ask, the just-recovered Anduyin gave a bitter laugh and began to introduce him.

Ling An, sir... she is Aodaili..

She is... one of my friends.

As if fearing Lin An might misunderstand, Anduyin tidied the girl's bangs and let out a long sigh.

She is 13 this year, and we go to the same school.

Her parents are aerospace engineers, and my father is a truck driver who delivers supplies to the launch base... so we've known each other since we were little.

Like caring for a younger sister, Anduyin spoke bitterly while bringing over the iron can.

All he saw was him suddenly squatting beside the girl and speaking seriously:

Aodaili, I bought milk powder back; feed it to him and he won't cry.

There's something I want to tell you, your younger brother..

Anduyin hesitated to speak, glanced at the infant, but the words in his mouth just wouldn't come out.

The iron can was opened; inside was half a can of milk powder.

Lin An came to his senses, looked at the already somewhat yellowed milk powder, and realized that what Anduyin had brought back was actually milk powder.

She glanced at the girl, still wooden and motionless like a puppet, and also noticed the foul-smelling urine stains and feces on the bed.

Lin An sighed inwardly and instantly understood why Anduyin was so anxious.

The girl was emaciated; with no milk to be found, expecting one child to care for another was tantamount to waiting for death.

Younger brother? Is this child Aodaili's younger brother?

As if thinking of something, Lin An looked around.

You all, why don't you bring them back? This place is not safe.

His brows furrowed slightly.

Even staying in the room, Lin An could hear the commotion next door.

Although living conditions here are better than Anduyin's place, it's obvious that Aodaili cannot care for her younger brother. It would be better to return with Anduyin and the others; at least they could look out for each other.

Are you worried that Aodaili's mind isn't quite normal? If we take her back to the tin house, we won't be able to keep her confined?

Faced with Lin An's question, Anduyin slowly rose to his feet in silence.

All I saw was him patting a few children's shoulders, then turning to look at Lin An.

Sir... we should go outside to talk.

With sorrow in his eyes, Lin An nodded after hearing that, but for some reason he always felt something was off...

After going downstairs, Anduyin glanced back at the building behind him, confirmed the children were frantically mixing milk powder, and then spoke bitterly.

Sir, the reason we left Aodaili here is because this place is relatively safe.

There are many women here. If Aodaili went back, her mind would be even less able to accept it.

He clenched his fists slightly; before Lin An could instantly realize what, Anduyin took a deep breath and spoke again.

At first, Aodaili lived with us in the tin house, but later she was raped by workers there.

She can't go back there, or she'll go crazy.

As his words fell, Lin An's heartbeat skipped.

Since losing his power, these past days he has found it hard to be as before, constantly controlling his emotions like a third-person observer.

Especially, he suddenly realized what felt off.

Younger brother? That child...

As expected.

The next second, Anduyin continued speaking with a trembling breath:

Sir, that child is her child.

After the apocalypse broke out, I and Aodaili fled here with the other children. At first it was okay; there were kind adults who looked after us.

But as food became increasingly scarce, many people began to starve to death.

One day... Aodaili was raped by drunken workers... Those people... after doing that to her, left her food.

At first we were all outside and didn't know about this. Aodaili didn't say anything; she just silently shared the food with us.

That period... was extremely difficult... we couldn't make bullets; the hardest times were actually when Aodaili was...

Suddenly her emotions broke down.

As Anduyin spoke, his whole body trembled, his mouth opened, and large tears poured out uncontrollably.

She gave up on herself, she gave up...

We were really starving... so starving!

Do you know! When people are hungry, they actually think of nothing; in fact they can deceive themselves about anything! In fact I guessed it, in fact I guessed how the food came about..

But I can't do anything; I'm a worthless piece of trash, I can't find anything to eat ah ah ah!

I pretended not to know, I thought it wasn't like that...

Until one day, Aodaili's belly slowly swelled, people lost interest in her, and could no longer get food back.

Incoherent, Anduyin seemed unable to bear today's events any longer. He plopped down on the ground and burst into tears like a true teenager.

He actually knew it; he was a coward.

Other children might not understand these things, but he does.

Only when Aodaili's 'secret' could no longer be hidden could he feign sorrow and anger to face it. But in reality, after each time he ate the food obtained from Aodaili, he would hide under the covers, clench his fists, and despise himself.

Sir... sorry, I truly don't want anything to happen to Aodaili... she really can't hold on any longer...

That child cries every day, but we can't do anything. I thought, if we could get some milk powder, maybe Aodaili would feel a bit better, she would feel a bit more comfortable!

Just like explaining again why he risked going out to buy things.

Anduyin looked at Lin An with pleading eyes, unable to bear all this, he felt he was about to go crazy.

He regarded the Lin An who descended from the sky as hope, and he dared not offend the mysterious Lin An.

Even though Lin An seemed not intending to blame him, he was still afraid. Having no choice, he could only tell Lin An why he did that.

Seeing the painful, fearful Anduyin, Lin An's heart also rose a feeling of extreme complexity.

Only at this moment did he clearly realize how much hope was contained in the question the children asked after rescuing him.

Lin An gave a bitter smile, sighed, and crouched down.

Just looking at Anduyin's current broken state, he really wanted to tell Anduyin that they might have done something wrong.

In Anduyin's mind, they might think Aodaili had no way to raise the child, so they chose to kill that child.

But from Lin An's adult perspective, he could see that Aodaili essentially treated herself as a tool; after saving everyone and enduring that period, she no longer wanted to live.

That child, rather than saying it was her child, was more like her most painful memory.

Whenever she saw that child, Aodaili would recall everything she had endured.

But just as Lin An hesitated, intending to make Anduyin understand this, in an instant he suddenly froze, immediately recalling another matter.

Wait...

Younger brother?

Anduyin had just wanted to speak about the younger brother, if it weren't for that infant.

"The child killed by the stone was Aodaili's younger brother!!"

"You just wanted to say this but couldn't speak!? You made those children tell her!?"

Lin An's face slightly changed, and he immediately felt a strong sense of unease.

The next second, without waiting for Anduyin to instinctively nod, he wiped away a tear.

"Bang!"

A sound of a heavy object hitting the ground and the children's panicked shouts suddenly came from behind.

Late night.

The night curtain was cold, gusts of howling cold wind stinging people as if their bones began to ache.

Alone sitting on a deserted rooftop, Lin An silently gazed at the sky above.

Although his body now hardly could dispel this chill, no matter how cold the wind, it was not as cold as his heart.

In just a few days, everything he had seen made him feel a suffocating oppression.

Although he had seen too many such tragedies, knowing the apocalypse was originally like this. Some things, after seeing too much, become numb.

Even.... he was the cause of the alien species civilization tragedy.

But at this moment, he was not only angry, not only feeling a hard-to-describe destruction weighing on his heart, feeling the world's disgusting destruction. More so, it was a sense of confusion and helplessness.

And self-doubt.

He suddenly realized that as he grew stronger, especially after resolving the alien species crisis, he felt something was missing from himself.

He feared death, he felt he was more important than anyone else.

He dared not take any risk, preferring to spend this month in the safest way possible.

Even though he knew he could actually already "manufacture" Awakened Ones.

He even dared not hasten the fanatics, let people send messages to Long An! Not even dare to reveal his own location!

Letting Long An's people come find him was also risky!

Therefore Lin An clearly knew what his deep-down thoughts really were!

For just one month, he only needed to guarantee his bare minimum survival! He only needed to hide like a mouse, completely ignoring others' misfortune!

It's nothing big, anyway so many tragedies, anyway it has nothing to do with him! Anyway he will be able to save more people later!

From reason and logic, this is indeed the correct choice!

"It's just one month... even if I'm angrier, even if I want to save some people, I can wait until I regain my strength. I can descend like a god from the sky, then kill all evil! People will cheer just the same, thank me just the same!"

"Faith Power actually doesn't need to be figured out, or rather we can do it later."

"...... These are clearly not wrong, indeed should be like this... not tolerating small kindness ruins great plans, this is correct!"

"But..."

"But why is my 'heart' telling me this is wrong!!"

For a long time.

In the bone-piercing cold wind, Lin An repeatedly struggled within himself, suddenly realizing where the problem lay.

One month and one year, a hundred years, there is no difference.

Having fled, it's just fleeing.

If one thinks current strength is insufficient to change these, then is Fourth Stage strength really enough?

The stronger, the more cowardly.

At this moment, Lin An seemed to understand why the fugitives fled.

In the apocalypse, there is also a trap aimed at the "strong".