Chapter 32

As the apocalypse progressed, the casualty rate among transport workers rose higher and higher. Yet theirs was undoubtedly an indispensable profession. Without them, building more Sea Cities and keeping more people alive would be nothing but empty words.

With no other choice, China issued a call for volunteers to everyone still alive.

"...Comrades, the battle we face is an immensely difficult one. I can say that our generation has suffered the most. But everything we do is also the hope for survival of our fellow citizens, our loved ones, and our children. We must devote all our efforts to building the Sea Cities. This takes priority over everything else!"

As part of his duties, Osamu Dazai passed the call down to those under him.

It had to be said that the benefits for transport workers were quite good, from living provisions to medical care. Most importantly, their families could all move into the Sea Cities currently under construction.

This was undoubtedly a guarantee of survival-for everyone except the transport workers themselves.

Still, Osamu Dazai did not think many people would sign up. There were certainly those who would volunteer for their loved ones, but the chance of dying was high. How many people could sacrifice themselves for others, even their own families?

Besides, Dazai knew all too well what state their minds were in. It would be perfectly normal for them to break down at any moment. They no longer wanted to face danger.

But when person after person packed up their pitiful few belongings, stepped out of their miserably tiny rooms, and headed for the registration point, Osamu Dazai was struck speechless.

There were too many. Far too many. Osamu Dazai even suspected that everyone who met the requirements had come, along with those who did not.

Countless people hurried past him. They knew perfectly well that once they left, they would never return. Yet those people he considered vulgar and ignorant still set out on that path.

Strange. How very strange.

Osamu Dazai's eyes widened. He could see it clearly: they did not want to go, they were afraid, they desperately wanted to run away. Yet their steps were so resolute, leaving themselves no chance to regret their decision.

"Why?" Osamu Dazai could not help grabbing someone hurrying past him. He looked up and asked, utterly bewildered, "You'll die."

Osamu Dazai's words were hardly pleasant. The man instinctively frowned, but when he saw how young Dazai was, his expression softened.

He ruffled Dazai's hair with the affection of an elder. "Don't think so much."

"I'm an adult, you know. Things haven't gotten so bad that we need children to shoulder the burden."

He looked at Osamu Dazai and thought of his own child, who was about the same age.

"Don't worry. As long as we're still here, you'll be all right."

With that, he turned and left. After a few steps, he glanced back, a smile spreading across his dark, weathered face, as though...he were shining.

Osamu Dazai did not know how to describe that smile. But he knew he would never forget it for the rest of his life.

That radiance was too dazzling. Osamu Dazai instinctively took a step back and bumped into someone hurrying forward.

"Are you all right?" The young man, who looked barely twenty, good-naturedly steadied Dazai.

He was still very young, but his face was already etched with hardship.

"Do you think humanity can win?" Osamu Dazai's voice was very quiet. He did not know whether he was asking the person before him or himself.

The young man thought the question was directed at him and smiled shyly, still a little boyish. "Of course. Humanity will definitely win."

Osamu Dazai gave a self-mocking smile. "What's the point? Even if we win, what difference will it make?" This world was already a complete wreck.

"Do you want your family to move into the new city?" Osamu Dazai looked him over. He was very young; Dazai could think of no other reason. Dying for one's loved ones...that, at least, Osamu Dazai could understand. Just like the man from earlier.

"They're already dead." His voice was calm.

Osamu Dazai paused. "Then you..." Why?

"What would winning do for you? Let you get married and have children?" Your loved ones are all dead. Are you doing this to carry on your bloodline?

Osamu Dazai looked at the young man before him. He was so ordinary, without a single distinguishing spark, just like all those unremarkable people who filled the world. In Dazai's eyes, once, they had been boring and foolish.

The young man merely smiled, a tiny dimple appearing in his cheek. "By then, I'll already be dead."

Osamu Dazai's face went blank. He could no longer say a word, only watch the man's retreating figure blend effortlessly into countless others leaving with the same resolve, until he could no longer find him.

Because they were so unremarkable, so ordinary, that there was no way to pick him out.

But shouldn't it have been put this way instead? Because they were too dazzling, they could no longer tell which one was shining.

An Xinyi quietly walked over to Osamu Dazai's side. "What do you think humans are like now?"

Osamu Dazai stood motionless for a long time, his voice very, very soft. "Humans are stupid, ugly, and beyond saving...That's what they should be."

This child, who had seen all the darkness of the world far too early because he was too clever, raised his head. A sudden light kindled in his reddish-brown eyes. "But why? How can they shine so beautifully in circumstances this ugly?"

"Humans really are strange."

They were all fools, yet they had defied his expectations.

Such resolve and sacrifice left him deeply ashamed.

Osamu Dazai felt that perhaps he was the foolish one, judging those people with such narrow-minded, malicious thoughts.

Could they succeed? As Osamu Dazai watched them, a flicker of anticipation suddenly rose within him.

He had not believed it possible before, but...a miracle with a one-in-a-billion chance was the one thing no one could predict.

"It would be such a shame not to see how it ends." Osamu Dazai seemed to be talking to himself. "At the very least, I have to stay alive until then."

I really want to see it. An unprecedented longing suddenly welled up in Osamu Dazai's heart. He wanted to see it. With humanity like this, with such resolve and courage, what kind of ending would humanity have?

Whether a tragedy or a comedy, it would be an epic unlike any other. How could he miss something so vast and magnificent?

"Then fight alongside me." An Xinyi patted his shoulder. "In three days, I'll be transferred to a Sea City under construction. Several countries are building it together, and it'll be one of the last cities to be completed."

"There will be danger, but I'll face it." An Xinyi held out his hand to Dazai. "Aji, do you want to come with me?"

He had always been a little overprotective of Osamu Dazai, but now he saw clearly that Dazai did not need that kind of protection. They were family, but also comrades in arms. An Xinyi decided to respect Dazai's choice. Even if there was danger, they would face it together.

"Of course." Osamu Dazai took that hand. "Wherever Yiyi is, that's where I'll be."

"All right. Together." An Xinyi's gaze was gentle.

Humanity's epic, the meaning of life-Aji, witness them with your own eyes.

Because you're human, too.