Chaos: Looking down on people like a dog. A real dog.

The ability user exchanged a glance with them, then looked away and lowered his gaze to his wounds. His mission had been canceled. What was he supposed to do next? Go back? Could he make it back to City A safely on his own while injured?

As he stood lost in thought, an emotionless voice came from beside him.

"What about you? Aren't you coming to City S? If you are, how much are you planning to pay for an escort?"

The ability user jerked his head up and met a pair of placid eyes. Their owner was leaning on the open car window, watching him indifferently from the passenger seat.

The ability user opened his mouth. "...I can come too?"

Ye Jiang said, "If you don't want to, forget it."

The ability user said, "I do!"

Being alone would have been one thing if he hadn't been injured. Now that he was, he probably wouldn't get far before the polluted flayed him and swallowed him alive. Traveling with this expert meant he wouldn't be going back to City A, but if his wounds healed along the way, he would have more options.

He hadn't expected the expert to let him tag along. Letting two ordinary elderly people who couldn't even truss a chicken come along was one thing, but he was an ability user of no low level. Any other ability user would surely have been wary of him, yet the expert wasn't. Was that perhaps because of... the expert's confidence?

The ability user didn't know that it was actually because the person he considered an expert didn't have a particularly complicated mind. She had lain there for too long and had no concept of scheming against others. Besides, she had her own way of thinking.

The ability user named a price that pleased Ye Jiang, and she told him to get in. He said he could just follow behind in his own car, and Ye Jiang let him. Seeing how things had turned out, the two elderly people in the back seat secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling even more grateful.

Away from the highway, someone was taking in this scene.

Inside the Green Forest Exclusion Zone, the nurse stood atop a towering tree. She had been standing there for many days. She liked it here. Along this stretch of highway, humans competed to put on performances: scenes of highway robbery, scenes of infighting and vicious brawls over trifles, and scenes like this, where merciful humans extended a helping hand to their unfortunate fellows without hesitation.

The nurse toyed with a few candies, everything within a hundred-mile radius laid out before her eyes.

"Oh, it's her."

A flicker of interest crossed the nurse's eyes. It was that interesting human.

She put away the candies and pushed off with her toes, leaping effortlessly through the forest toward the human who interested her.

After a few leaps, she remembered something and stopped. She turned and headed in another direction.

Beside a stretch of highway, a frail old man was covered in blood. He held the little girl in his arms tightly as a polluted creature's claws plunged into his body and pulled out, again and again, sending blood splattering. He shielded the child completely, until his hands slid down, powerless, exposing the little girl's face. The girl in his arms stared blankly, her eyes unfocused. Even when blood dripped into her eyes, she didn't blink.

They were grandfather and granddaughter. The grandfather was too old, and the granddaughter too young. Because she suffered from a strange illness they couldn't afford to treat, they had been forced to set out for City S in search of a chance. But this was clearly unrealistic. They had encountered a polluted creature.

Blood slid from the corners of the little girl's eyes like bloody tears.

"Ah, just in time."

At that sigh, the little girl's lashes trembled. A tall figure gradually took shape in her eyes. A beautiful woman had appeared from nowhere, a gentle smile on her face.

"Poor thing."

The woman gently lifted her from her dead grandfather's arms and wiped her face. The puppetlike girl finally reacted. As though she had found someone to rely on, she grabbed with all her strength, her tiny hand clutching the woman, clutching the god who had saved her.

"Ah, ah!"

The little girl burst into loud sobs.

The nurse gently patted her back, saying, "Don't cry, don't cry, you poor little thing. I'll take you away."

A gust of wind rose, and the nurse vanished with the little girl.

Near City S, Ye Jiang's car encountered another two people: a beautiful woman and a little girl who might have been unconscious or asleep. They were hiding in a wrecked car, surrounded by signs of battle, human corpses mingled with those of the polluted. Seeing a car pass, the woman hurried out with the little girl in her arms and pleaded tearfully, "Help, please help us!"

Hearing her, Ye Jiang glanced outside and saw a familiar face. It was Nurse Ding, who had once looked after her.

The car braked abruptly. Ye Jiang called out, "Nurse Ding, what are you doing here?"

"It's you, the patient from bed 312!" The nurse looked pleasantly surprised. She hugged the little girl tighter. "I don't know either. I was taken hostage and brought here. The people holding me wanted me to identify medicines for them and treat some of their wounds along the way. I think they were going to City S to steal medicine, but they ran into vicious polluted creatures here. They died, they all died. The polluted creatures died, and so did the people holding me hostage. Only this child and I are left. She seems to have been taken hostage by them too. I don't know what use they had for her."

An ordinary nurse and a little girl no older than four were hardly likely to arouse suspicion. The elderly couple in the back seat couldn't bear the sight, and even the ability user following behind had little to say about such a pair. A woman alone might have made them wary because of her youth, but there was a child too. Such a frail little creature naturally inspired pity.

Ye Jiang was even less suspicious. This nurse had once looked after her, and she had even eaten the can-

dies she had given her. She had a very good impression of her.

"Get in first," she said.

Crying and smiling at once, the nurse scrambled into the back seat with the little girl in her arms.

Ye Jiang turned to look at them, her gaze finally settling on the little girl. The girl clutched the nurse tightly, utterly dependent on her.

The little girl had been knocked unconscious. She didn't know that the nurse she clung to had brought her to this preexisting accident scene, made up a story, and used her to lower some people's guard, successfully joining a group.

Because it was fun.

It had never been a god who saved her. It was a monster.

The car carried the group steadily onward. The city was right before them.

Chapter 38: Chaos: Looking down on people like a dog. A real dog.

[The moment the person I loved deeply became polluted, I had a premonition. I would have to start fighting.

Kill the judgmental neighbors.

Kill the friends who don't understand me.

Kill the strangers who try to interfere.

It is time to raise the sword in my hand and fight to protect my love.

For my lover, for my dearest love, I am willing to stand against the world.

Today, too, my hands are drenched in blood, scalding hot, but I have no fear. I fight to protect. The hot blood within me is churning magma, and my pride is an undying blaze, a blazing sun that rises high and never sets. I will uphold the vow between us and protect you forever!

There is just one thing. In the still of the night, a tiny question rises in my heart-

Why do I love this person so deeply?]

Past the abandoned security checkpoint, they reached City S. It was a quiet city, dilapidated and desolate, with ruined walls everywhere. The whole place had a lifeless gray cast, and the sky seemed veiled, hazy and gray.

The car stopped, and they got out one after another. Ye Jiang stood beside the car and looked up at the city, at her former hometown. The two elderly people gazed at it too, and as they looked, tears slowly streamed down their faces. At last, they were finally home. Nurse Ding Xuan stood behind them with the little girl in her arms. Neither of them was from City S, and the sight of this wounded city stirred no particular feelings in them. In fact, Ye Jiang felt nothing either. Her amnesia seemed remarkably thorough. Looking at her supposed hometown, she found it difficult to feel what the elderly couple felt.

Ye Jiang's gaze lingered for a few seconds on the tears streaming down the elderly couple's faces. She was instinctively interested in the richness of human emotions.

As though she had none herself.

Only after watching quietly for a good while did she turn to survey their surroundings. They had just entered the city, and the buildings nearby were relatively low. The remains of various factories were still visible in the distance. It wasn't very habitable. Dissatisfied with the surroundings, she had no intention of settling in this area. With that thought, she immediately withdrew her appraising gaze.

She looked at the nurse. The little girl in her arms was awake now, her tiny body curled up, both hands desperately clutching the clothes at the nurse's chest. She looked as pitiful as a fledgling fallen from its nest, full of fear toward the outside world. Because of that terror, she was utterly dependent on the nurse.

Ye Jiang's gaze drew the nurse's attention. When she looked over, Ye Jiang said, "We're in City S."

The nurse whom the little girl depended on so deeply didn't seem strong herself. Faced with unfamiliar surroundings, she looked frightened too. A faint flicker passed through Ye Jiang's eyes, and she asked, "What are your plans?"

The nurse looked lost and slowly shook her head. "I don't know. I..."

She had been taken hostage and forced onto the road, so she had no plans at all for City S. She struggled to think of what to do. "I might look around the city and see if there's a kind ability user willing to take this child and me back to City A."

Ye Jiang stared at her. The nurse looked bewildered, her beautiful face shadowed with gloom. She hugged the little girl tightly, her whitening knuckles betraying how uneasy she felt about this unfamiliar city.

This was a ruined city. No one knew how many polluted creatures or humans were inside, or whether humans' moral standards would slip in such a city. The nurse's plans were quite idealistic.

Ye Jiang's thinking wasn't complicated, but even she could see how much uncertainty there was in that. A faint ripple stirred in her dark eyes, and she suddenly asked the nurse, "Do you have any candy?"

"What?"

"Did you bring any candy?"

Not understanding, the nurse fumbled in her pocket and took out a candy in a shiny wrapper. She held it, unsure what to do next. Ye Jiang held out her hand, and the nurse placed the candy in her palm. Then she understood: she wanted candy. With a soft laugh, she took out more candies and gave them to her.

Ye Jiang closed her hand, accepting the candies, and said, "Payment received. Follow me. Once I finish my mission, we'll go back to City A together."

The nurse froze. "Can I?"

Ye Jiang turned to ask her employer, Mr. Ji, "Can she?"

The refined man couldn't bring himself to be harsh toward a vulnerable woman with a child. "As long as it doesn't interfere with our operation."

A few glimmers of light broke through the bewilderment in the nurse's eyes. "I'll do my best!"