Pick Up Your Weapons! (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets) (Continued)

Shao Qing smiled at me.

"That's right~ We all really like Sister Yuxuan~"

A hero?

Looking at the bodies strewn across the ground, after such a massacre, could I still call myself a hero?

Heh...

But since you all expect that of me...

Feeling the weight in my backpack, I couldn't help murmuring as I gazed up at the sky.

"What does it matter if I become a hero...?"

Whether I succeeded or failed, if heroes weren't judged by success or failure, then couldn't I try too?

Thinking about everything I'd been through since the apocalypse began, I wondered: if I'd been tougher, if I'd seized power, if I'd had enough people at my side, if I hadn't lived with a just get by attitude, would things... have been different?

I got lost in thought.

"Yuxuan!"

A shout jolted me out of my thoughts. I turned around and immediately saw Bai Chi looking at me with eager anticipation.

"It really is you! Is it really you?"

Seeing how excited Bai Chi was, I really didn't want to spoil the moment.

"Heh, what? You don't recognize me after three years?"

"Yuxuan!"

"Wait, wait..."

As soon as I finished speaking, Bai Chi pulled me into his arms. Before I could react, the scent of a man filled my nostrils.

"Thank goodness! I'm so glad you're alive! Really..."

Hearing his choked voice by my ear, I couldn't bring myself to push Bai Chi away. But it was so hot out—could he not hold me quite so tight?

I patted Bai Chi on the back.

"All right, all right. Don't cry..."

"I... I'm not crying~"

His voice reached my ear, gritted teeth and all, as he fought back tears. I couldn't help giving a bitter smile.

"Yuxuan, it really is you. You're not dead?"