ten minutes later.
Sitting on a pile of debris, Lin An's eyes flickered and he roughly understood his current situation.
North American Theater, next to Space Base Houston.
Thanks to the pre-apocalypse, the Houston area had a low population density and a large number of troops stationed there. Therefore, after the doomsday outbreak, the number of zombies and mutants will be very small.
After the military established a gathering place early to collect survivors, this pre-apocalyptic aviation industry area has now become a densely populated area in the North American war zone.
Naturally, as the apocalypse progresses, more and more survivors flood into this area. With the mixture of forces from all sides, this place has gradually evolved from an official gathering place controlled by the military to a gathering place for gangs and private individuals. A super large "safe zone" standing horizontally.
Wherever there are safe zones, there are slums. This is almost a standard feature in every war zone.
but..
"Where I am, it's not even a slum..."
"It's...a slave factory called the Black Gold Gang, with subordinates subordinate to subordinates."
Lin An subconsciously glanced at the depressed children sitting around him.
The fingers of these children are severely worn, and many of the younger ones have ulcers on their fingertips, and even their nails are pus-filled and peeling.
"It's child labor on the bullet manufacturing line."
"Because children's fingers are small, they can stuff oil and gunpowder into secondary recovered cartridge cases. So these children are responsible for assembling bullets and producing old-fashioned weapons..."
Children here always cough uncontrollably due to long-term exposure to chemical products and fuels.
Every finger is corroded and oozing pus, and the younger the person is, the more suitable he is for assembling bullets, the more serious the situation becomes.
As for Lin An's initial misunderstanding that these children wore miner's hats, maybe they looked like they were working in the mines. It was a complete misunderstanding.
Anduin and others wore miner hats, not to prevent themselves from being hit by rocks in the mine, but to prevent others from knocking their heads through during a fight.
"So, you are actually a useless awakened person, right?"
In the brief silence, Anduin learned that Lin An did not have any fighting ability now and could not even produce a small flame. Anduin couldn't help but look at him with some disappointment.
They dragged Lin An back and wasted precious food, hoping that the awakened person they picked up might be able to help them.
At the gathering place, they often heard drunken and bragging adults saying that there were always lucky people who met the Awakened Ones in trouble. After saving the opponent, the powerful awakened person will help them fight off the bad guys and teach them strength.
This is a post-apocalyptic fairy tale.
Although Anduin knew that most of the awakened people were not good people, this was his only hope.
"You can say that."
"I may not be able to help you fight now."
In the silence, Lin An spoke frankly.
He doesn't want to deceive the other person, or in other words, even if he wants to, he can't.
According to his judgment, he now needs help even to walk, and it will take at least a week to return to the most basic fighting ability. And a lot of food and medicine are needed, maybe to allow him to move freely.
However, it is limited to battles between ordinary people.
Now any level 0 awakened person can kill him.
Silence, still silence.
With Lin An's confirmation, the expressions on the faces of the children around him seemed to become even lower.
Many people began to look at Anduin for help, as if their hopes were shattered, and the illusions they had finally raised were shattered at this moment.
Facing his companion's gaze, Anduin hesitated for a moment, then stood up and looked at him disappointedly:
"In that case. Sorry, you can't stay here."
"We can't afford to feed you. You are an adult and you have a lot to eat."
"Leave you here and we'll be in trouble if you're discovered, and...we'll starve to death."
After saying that, Anduin looked at him coldly and signaled that Lin An could leave by himself.
Maybe it's a little cold-blooded, a little cruel. If you drive away the Asian in front of you now, he will probably die outside. But for Anduin, and for their small group, he needs to be responsible for his companions.
After more than a year of doomsday struggle, any innocent child has been turned into food.
He saves Lin An, who will save them?
An adult eats too much.
Looking at Anduin who wanted to get rid of him after realizing that he was a useless person, Lin An smiled bitterly in his heart and knew that this was the right thing to do.
However, if he went outside now, it was hard to say what he would encounter.
Anduin and the group of kids looked suddenly cold and unwilling to help him. But Lin An knew that this was a necessary disguise for these children to survive in the doomsday.
If he were an adult, he would have been tied up long ago. If they are awakened, they will be sold as slaves, or controlled and used as cannon fodder.
If not, the meat is sold and used as bait to extract the final value.
"Tell me about your troubles. Maybe I can help you?"
With a calm look on his face, Lin An looked up at Anduin and spoke seriously.
He has lost all his strength now, but that doesn't mean he can't do anything.
............
"Old Huck and those people want us to pay protection fees. They bully us without the protection of the awakened ones."
"But if we just pay the protection fee to the black gold people, we will have nothing to eat."
"If we fail to deliver this week, they will beat us to death, capture Hana, and capture Lilith and sell them to those big shots."
In the damp iron house, Anduin calmly grabbed his companions and led them one by one to Lin An.
He first asked the little monkey to stretch out his hand and show it to Lin An.
A little boy called Little Monkey, wearing a huge miner's hat, timidly stretched out his hand. At only eight or nine years old, he was probably the youngest among them all.
Under the firelight, the fingers had begun to fester from the fingertips, and white bones were faintly emerging from the flesh. The back of the hand was black, and smelly pus seeped out from under the fallen fingernails.
"If he keeps doing this, his hand will be chopped off."
"I have seen many people who are like little monkeys. After all their fingers are rotten, the poisonous blood will flow into the heart. Then they will die."
With a calm tone, Anduin seemed to be talking about ordinary facts, and turned to look at Lin An:
"He had to work for several days to save the bowl of porridge you ate."
"Sixteen hundred rounds of ammunition."
Without waiting for Lin An to speak, the boy once again pushed Hana beside him in front of Lin An.
"Hana is eleven and a virgin."
"So, she's worth more."
"But she would die and they would take her intestines out of her mouth and make an artifact out of her head."
"I've seen her in the store, her sister is in that store."
Looking at Hana, whose eyes were dull and indifferent even after hearing about her fate, Lin An was silent, not knowing what to say.
He could tell that Anduin was used to this kind of thing.
In other words, I have become numb and desperate.
He looked around and could only see a hint of death.
In the apocalypse, the awakened ones occupy the top of the food chain, the middle level are the military and managers of various forces, and the lower level are young adults. And at the lowest level, there are women and children.
No, I should say, the children are in hell.
