Night Talk

The little girl named Sansan answered with two words, full of conviction.

"Brother."

"Uh, I mean a name or something. Like, what's my surname...?"

"Brother is brother. You've always told me to call you that. You never told me your name."

Zhou You fell silent.

He hadn't even told her his own name?

This no longer seemed like a matter of being uneducated. There had to be more to it... But if this guy really had some kind of background, how had he ended up as a scavenger?

Looking at his scrawny hands, then at his legs, Zhou You could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

"Forget it. Right now, I should be worrying about how to stay alive."

"...Brother, what did you say?"

"No, nothing." Seeing the little girl's puzzled expression, Zhou You hesitated before asking, "Um, what happened to your eyes?"

At that, Sansan revealed a sorrowful expression.

"Brother, you... No, you should see for yourself."

With that, she untied the white cloth around her head and opened her eyes.

Zhou You frowned.

When they were closed, there had been nothing visibly wrong with them—she looked like an ordinary fair and clean little girl—but once opened, they were as crimson as blood.

That was right. There was only red.

It was as though her entire eye sockets had been soaked in blood. There were no pupils or whites to be seen, only two vermilion eyes staring at him blankly.

He waved a hand in front of them.

There was no reaction. It looked like she had gone completely blind.

Zhou You patted Sansan on the shoulder and sat back down.

Only after she tied the white cloth back on did he speak again.

"Contaminated?"

Sansan nodded gently.

"Since last year... It was an accident. You thought