Blood seeped from the cracks at the corners of his mouth again, but he did not wipe it away.
A gray haze clouded his eyes, as though he had long since accepted this outcome.
"I know full well. Surviving that catastrophe already gave me a life I shouldn't have had."
He raised his head.
Beneath the gray haze in his eyes, a glimmer of defiance flashed.
Like the last spark in a dying bed of coals.
"But I don't want to die such a pathetic death."
"I still want to see... when this apocalypse will finally end."
Yang Yong fell silent for a moment.
His tongue swept around his mouth, tasting a faint bitterness.
He was weighing his options.
Leaving the man on Back Mountain amounted to abandoning him.
But bringing him back to the village posed a very real risk.
Cao Xianming, all his companions in the village...
If the restless power inside Zhao Hu underwent a mutation, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Yet Yang Yong could not simply ignore him, either.
It was not out of sympathy.
Someone of the Berserker Sequence, even with a damaged foundation, still had value as long as he remained useful.
"Can you still move right now?"
Zhao Hu tried to brace himself against a rock and stand.
His body swayed, and his knees buckled sharply, almost sending him headfirst into the fire.
He barely managed to settle back into a half-sitting position, panting heavily, his chest wheezing like a pair of bellows.
He shook his head.
"Moving is very difficult."
"The slightest exertion makes every bone in my body feel like it's falling apart."
"Right now... I can barely fight at all."
The Evil Eye between Yang Yong's brows throbbed faintly.
He forcibly suppressed that power.
He carefully examined Zhao Hu's body...