Chapter 851: Kamirate (5)

Kamirate, Third Mining Zone, Dust Lung Town residential unit at night.

The mining zone management "generously" increased the ration quota to compensate for the "mental distress" caused by the interruption of the gladiator channel.

For the foreman Bulake and the garrison soldiers, this might be a little extra fun, but for a miner like Tuoke, it was a rare "gift" that allowed a temporary escape from reality.

Dragging his exhausted body, Tuoke stood in a long line, using the ration points he had earned from his hard labor that day to exchange for an extra small bottle of pale purple liquid in a cheap, transparent plastic bottle—this was the Xiaoyao Agent.

He returned to his "home," a cramped space of less than five square meters, large enough only for a hard cot and a crude storage locker.

Tuoke unscrewed the cap, and the sweet, cloying chemical odor grew more intense, rushing straight into his nasal cavity; he tilted his head back and poured the small bottle of liquid into his mouth.

The taste was spicy, carrying a fake sweetness like artificial flavoring.

Soon, a warm current began to rise from his abdomen, spreading to his limbs and bones.

The fatigue and pain in his body began to recede, and the sounds of the outside world gradually drifted away, becoming blurred and indistinct.

His consciousness began to drift, and the scene before his eyes twisted, spun, and finally reassembled.

... The sky was no longer a suffocating, dim yellow, but a blue-purple tinged with the faint glow of the evening sunset.

The air was fresh and cool, carrying the fragrance of soil and plants, so refreshing to inhale into his lungs.

"Daddy! Look!"

A crisp, cheerful voice rang out.

Tuoke turned his head, his heart almost stopping.

It was his son! Xiao Kai!

So young, so vivid, his face beaming with a brilliant smile.

He was holding a crude wreath woven from wild grass and wildflowers, running toward Tuoke.

"Kai..."

Tuoke's voice was hoarse, trembling with disbelief.

He reached out his hand, wanting to touch his son, but as soon as he extended it, he pulled it back, afraid that this was just a bubble that would shatter at a touch.

"For you, Daddy!"

Xiao Kai laughed, stood on tiptoe, and placed the wreath, still carrying the scent of green grass and dew, onto Tuoke's graying hair.

The cool touch was so real.

"Tuoke, dinner is ready."

A gentle female voice came from behind.

Tuoke turned again, tears instantly blurring his vision.

It was his wife.

She was wearing a clean apron, standing at the door of a warm little wooden cabin, with dried herbs and corn hanging under the eaves.

The windows of the cabin emitted an orange glow, and cooking smoke rose from the chimney, blending into the twilight.

It was how things looked before their home was destroyed by the looting fleet of the Fengqi Star Alliance.

"Ah... home..."

Tuoke murmured, walking step by step toward that light, toward everything he had lost.

He could smell the aroma of food coming from the house.

Home. Warmth. Safety. Love.

These words and feelings, long sealed in the deepest parts of his memory, overwhelmed Tuoke.

He felt a happiness that was almost painful, wanting only to drown in it forever and never wake up again.

He reached out his hand, almost touching his wife's warm hand...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A burst of rough, savage pounding on the door shattered this beautiful illusion!

The warm wooden cabin before his eyes, his wife's smile, his son's figure, the fragrance of green grass... all fell apart, dissolving into countless fragments!

Tuoke woke up with a start, his heart beating wildly, almost breaking through his thin, gaunt chest.

A severe headache struck, his throat was parched and burning, and his mouth was left with the nauseating, fake-sweet and bitter taste of the Xiaoyao Agent, mixed with the sour liquid surging up from his stomach.

The cold bed frame pressed against his back.

All around was the familiar darkness.

The narrow, cage-like room.

The air was still filled with that pungent smell of rust, machine oil, and mold.

Outside the door, there was the never-ending sound of wind and sand, and...

"... You old bastard! Open the door! Get out here!"

A drunken voice was shouting, accompanied by even harder kicks against the door.

It was the voice of a garrison soldier!

The warmth and happiness remaining from the illusion were drained away, replaced by a deeper despair.

The huge psychological gap made Tuoke dizzy; he dry-heaved a few times, but could spit out nothing, only sour bile burning his throat.

He struggled to crawl off the bed, his legs too weak to stand, and tremblingly opened the door bolt.

Standing outside the door were two Fengqi garrison soldiers, the very same two he had met at the crossroads during the day.

Carlson and the younger garrison soldier.

Neither of them wore helmets; their faces were flushed, they reeked of alcohol, and they were holding half a bottle of low-quality, high-proof liquor.

Clearly, they had "entertained" themselves in their own way.

"Dilly-dallying, looking for death?!"

Carlson shoved the door open, nearly pushing the weak Tuoke to the ground.

His three eyes swept across the room, which was as bare as a monk's cell, and a look of disgust appeared on his face.

"Of... officer..."

Tuoke lowered his head and said in a stuttering tone.

"Damn it, what kind of dump is this? A dog kennel is better than this!"

The young soldier fanned the air in front of his nose with his hand in disgust.

"I heard you scum got an extra share of Xiaoyao Agent today? Hand it over! Ours are all finished!"

Tuoke's heart tightened, and he subconsciously glanced at the empty plastic bottle he had already tossed into the corner.

Carlson followed his gaze and cursed.

"Fuck! Drank it all already? What a waste!"

He kicked the water storage bucket by Tuoke's bed, which emitted a hollow sound.

"Where's the water? Bring it out!"

Tuoke walked silently to the corner and picked up the bucket that only provided a small portion of purified water once a day.

There was only a tiny bit left at the bottom.

The young soldier snatched the bucket, took one look, and cursed as he dumped the precious water inside onto the ground.

"Damn it, just this much? Who is this supposed to satisfy!"

The water stain was absorbed by the dry ground, leaving only a dark mark.

Tuoke watched the water disappear, his lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.

"Poor wretch!"

Carlson seemed to feel there was no fun to be had, looked around irritably, and his gaze finally landed on the work clothes Tuoke had worn back during the day, which were covered in rock dust from the B Zone collapse.

Besides dust, there was a faint trace on them that hadn't been completely washed away.

A cruel smile appeared on Carlson's face as he pointed at the work clothes.

"Hey, old man, I heard you went to clear the B Zone today? You touched that guy Ake's 'stuff', right? Bad luck! Fucking bad luck! Hurry up and get this filthy thing out of here, it's disgusting just looking at it!"

Tuoke's body stiffened. He walked over silently and picked up the tattered work clothes.

"Throw it far away! Don't leave it in the camp to pollute the air!"

The young soldier added, a hint of mockery on his face.

"Or why don't you eat it yourself? Hahaha!"

Amidst the drunken, malicious laughter of the two soldiers, Tuoke lowered his head, clutched the cold work clothes tightly, and walked step by step out of the room toward the wilderness outside the settlement, which was piled high with industrial waste.

The cold night wind whipped against his thin clothes, making him completely sober from the afterglow of the Xiaoyao Agent.

Headaches, fatigue, hunger, thirst... all the physical pain returned twofold.

And more painful than the body was his heart, which had just been briefly warmed but had now fallen into an even deeper ice cellar.

The more beautiful the hallucination, the more hideous reality appeared.

He walked to the side of the trash heap and mechanically threw down the work clothes.

He raised his head and gazed at the Tianqiong of Kamirat, which was shrouded in dust clouds.

There were no stars, no moon, only endless oppression.

In the distance, the faint sound of other soldiers' boisterous laughter and the pleading of some miner being beaten and scolded drifted over.

This was the night in Dust Lung Town.

After the brief, illusory dream brought by the Xiaoyao Agent, there was only a more naked and desperate reality.

They could not resist, and there was nowhere to escape.

Just like the dust on this planet, stirred up by the wind, scattered at will, and finally falling silently, to be crushed into the mud by larger rocks and Steel treads, disappearing without a trace.

Tuoke hunched his body and stood in the cold darkness for a long, long time.

Not until the garrison soldiers left out of boredom, and not until only the sound of the wind remained, did he slowly, step by step, shuffle back to that cold, cramped metal box he called "home."

Closing the door could not shut anything out.

He curled up on the hard bed and closed his eyes, trying to capture the faces of his wife and son in the hallucination again, only to find that only blurred outlines remained.

A drop of murky tear finally slid from his dry, stinging eye corner and disappeared into the dirty pillow, leaving no trace behind.