Chapter 33: A Strange Environment

My name is Charlie, I am 16 years old this year, and I live on this land enslaved by the Zerg. Every day, I must weave through the city that has already turned into ruins, scavenging among the broken walls for anything that might be useful, and then bringing them home to trade for food that can keep our family fed.

In this world, every five years, the Zerg launch search and capture operations for Humans in every region. I don't know where they take the people they capture, but I have never seen a single person who was taken away return alive.

Now, there are only three months left until the next Zerg search operation. This means I must face the threat of death once again. But I still hold onto a glimmer of hope, hoping that I can successfully escape the Zerg's pursuit just like last time and survive.

Just today, I suddenly discovered an unidentified object falling in the northern sky. Driven by curiosity, I decided to go and investigate. Perhaps that thing that fell to the ground will bring me an unexpected harvest?

When Charlie arrived at the place where the unidentified object had just fallen from the sky, his heart was filled with curiosity and doubt. He cautiously approached the crash site, expecting to see some kind of strange object or creature. However, when he finally reached his destination, the scene before his eyes left him shocked—what had fallen was actually a person!

"Hey! Are you okay?" Charlie shouted anxiously. He quickly ran to the side of this man, watching him with concern. The man before him was severely injured, his face covered in blood, and the clothes on his body were tattered. Charlie nervously extended his right hand, placing it gently under the man's nose, feeling his faint breath.

Still breathing! This is simply incredible! Charlie widened his eyes, looking at everything before him in disbelief. This guy actually fell from such a great height and still survived; what tenacious vitality! He couldn't help but develop a keen interest in this person, while also feeling a trace of awe.

Charlie looked around, searching for any items that might have been left behind. However, apart from a mess, he found nothing. Thus, he decided to take this man back first. Although this man was a head taller than him and had a sturdy build, Charlie still used all his strength to lift him up and laboriously place him onto the small cart he had brought.

After confirming that nothing had been left behind in the surroundings, Charlie pulled the cart and slowly left with his exhausted body. As he walked, he pondered the origin of this man and how to deal with him. After all, bringing a stranger home was not an easy matter.

After a long trek, Charlie finally returned to his dwelling. It was a shack built from discarded construction wood, simple and crude. He found some tattered canvas and covered the top of the shack to prevent rainwater from seeping in. Although this shack was barely habitable, it could collapse at any time, bringing danger to them.

Charlie carefully pulled the cart to his home and laboriously dragged the man, who looked severely injured, off the cart. At this moment, a sound of light footsteps came from the crude shack, and a little girl of about ten years old, with a bright smile on her face, ran out happily and exclaimed in surprise: "Brother Charlie, you're back! Oh! Why is this person so severely injured?"

Charlie struggled to hoist the man up, slowly brought him into the shack, and then gently laid him on a simple wooden board bed. Finally, he sat heavily on the ground, exhausted, gasping for air, and said: "I found this person in the north. At the time, I saw something fall to the ground over there, and I thought it was some parts that had fallen off a Human Alliance transport aircraft that had been attacked while harassing the Zerg. So I went over to check, and that's when I found this man lying on the ground, motionless."

Charlie took the faded towel handed to him by the little girl, wiped the sweat continuously seeping from his forehead, and continued: "However, after I checked carefully later, I discovered that he still had breath and a heartbeat, which means he is still alive. So I thought I would save him first and wait for Geerman to return before discussing how to deal with this guy."

The little girl looked at the man who occupied the entire wooden bed with curiosity in her eyes, and a hint of worry appeared on her face, "Aren't we going to save him? He seems to be injured very badly."

Charlie shook his head helplessly, "Marie, you know our situation. We are barely able to eat as it is; where would we get the supplies to hire a doctor? Besides, with his injuries, even if a doctor came, they might not be able to cure him."

As soon as Charlie mentioned a doctor, he thought of that man in the black robe. Last time, when Marie was sick and unconscious, after he cured Marie's illness, he demanded two whole flatbreads. That was his family's entire three-day ration.

Fortunately, Marie recovered; otherwise, he would have definitely made that guy pay.

The two waited at home until evening, when a magnetic voice appeared outside.

"Charlie? You're already back today? Why is there blood! Are you hurt!"

Following the entry of the voice, the canvas used as the shack's door was pulled open.

A man with a lean build and a face full of stubble walked in. When he saw Charlie sitting on the ground to the side without any abnormalities, and then saw the strong man lying on the wooden bed, he asked suspiciously, "Charlie, who is this?"

Charlie had no choice but to repeat what he had already told Marie. After Geerman finished listening to Charlie's words, he nodded thoughtfully, "So, what do you mean?"

Seeing that Geerman did not seem to object, Charlie said with a hint of excitement in his tone: "Geerman, I just checked this man's physical condition; he has recovered a bit since I first saw him. If we can feed him something, maybe he can pull through. Look at his build; next time we go out to trade, in front of that guy Ba'er, we'll have a bit more confidence, and make that guy deduct less of our food!"

Geerman looked at the strong man lying on the bed and nodded: "I don't object to you giving him food, but the food will have to be deducted from your share."

Charlie quickly said: "No problem, as long as he can wake up, those deducted rations are nothing compared to this."

Charlie nodded vigorously, his eyes full of anticipation. He knew Geerman was always cautious, but this time he also believed this man was worth the risk.

After a moment of Silence, Geerman nodded again, indicating his agreement with Charlie's idea. Thus, Charlie began to busily prepare food and carefully fed it to the man on the bed. Although the man had not yet woken up, his breathing seemed to have become much steadier.

Late at night, Charlie had his wooden bed occupied by that man, so he had to find an extra piece of canvas to spread on the floor and barely managed to lie down there.

The three people in the shack fell into a deep sleep, while the strong man lying on the bed suddenly moved his eyelids. Subsequently, he slowly opened his eyes, looked at the unfamiliar environment around him, and wondered in his heart: Where is this? Shouldn't I be at school?

The man tried to move his body, but the intense pain forced him to give up the thought. He could only lie quietly on the bed, observing the surrounding environment. He saw the sleeping Charlie, Marie, and Geerman, and realized that he had been saved by these people.