Lin Zhongrong was very disgusted, especially when his mother began to secretly mention his wife's faults in his ears and introduced women to him. His two sisters-in-law's younger sisters-in-law always came to their home, and they especially loved to bring their nephews and nieces to him, praising how well-behaved this one was and how smart that one was.

Lin Zhongrong knew very well what they were planning, so he reduced the number of times he went home, until one day he overheard a conversation between his mother and his second brother.

His mother said, "Your brother is so stubborn. He's been estranged from us since he was a child, and he still doesn't understand the principle of family support. He treats his subordinates better than you two brothers, but he lets others take away all the benefits. He even takes in several children. What do you think he's up to?"

Second Brother Lin sighed pretentiously: "Those guys all have special abilities. If you want to blame someone, just blame the fact that none of our kids have special abilities."

"So what if they don't have special powers? They're all his nephews and nieces, sharing the same blood as him. How can they compare to those wild kids picked up from outside? How come he's the most promising one in our family? We have to be on guard against him every day. Luckily, that damn woman Chen Yu is dead. Otherwise, he would only have his own little family in his eyes. How could he even take your father, me, and you two brothers seriously?"

The mother's voice was sharp and nagging, echoing in the limited space of the kitchen. Lin Zhongrong, who was outside the door, felt a chill in his heart.

He has been very opinionated since he was a child and did not like the life arranged for him by his family. When his father and eldest brother had limited prospects and his second brother was born with deficiencies and could only do other things, he was forced to join the army. At that time, he had a big quarrel with his elders. Although he had no choice but to compromise later, he could no longer be close to his family.

Afterwards, he stubbornly refused his family's arrangement and married Chen Yu, which made the already tense relationship even worse.

But he hadn't expected his own mother to talk about him like this behind his back with his own brother. The way she spoke of his wife was filled with gloating and even gratifying gratification, which struck a chord in Lin Zhongrong's heart. He hadn't known his mother hated his wife so much, and could say such things at this moment. But what really drove him crazy was the conversation that followed.

Second Brother Lin said nervously, "Mom, please don't mention Chen Yu. If I accidentally let it slip, my younger brother will go crazy if he knows that we harmed Chen Yu like that."

Lin's mother, however, was undaunted. "Who harmed her? Your grandfather received top-secret information at the time, saying there would be a global disaster. Was it wrong for us to call him back for your brother's sake? His return coincided with an important mission abroad, which wasn't something we could have decided. It was also Chen Yu's bad luck. Who knew the disaster would be zombies, the end of the world?"

"But before I left the country, someone sent a message to us asking us to take care of Chen Yu, but we did nothing. When Chen Yu called me, you gave her a perfunctory response. You even lied to me that you thought the situation was bad and wanted to take Chen Yu with you, but she refused. If I knew about this, it would be a disaster."

"The situation was already like that, what else could I do if I didn't lie to him? I did it for you guys!"

As Lin Zhongrong listened to these words, all the blood in his body rushed to his head. Then, he kicked the door open and broke up with her.

…

After hearing all this, Lin Man's expression gradually grew colder. After Lin Zhongrong finished speaking, she looked up and asked, "So, you actually came back that year?"

Lin Zhongrong paused and nodded.

Lin Man sneered. The first time he was tricked into going back and went abroad without knowing it, that would have been fine, but he had clearly come back before, and in the end he still chose his family and his parents, a group of people who wished his mother was dead.

Lin Zhongrong couldn't say that he really couldn't find anyone at the beginning, nor could he say that he chose to return to the capital because he thought it would be easier to find talents with more people.

Because when he made that decision, he did believe to a certain extent that Chen Yu was dead, and he did put the safety of his parents and relatives before finding his wife.

After knowing that Chen Yu was still alive, he had thought countless times that if he had not left at that time, with his special abilities and the small group of people he had gathered at that time, he would have continued to run the business, and he would have been stronger than Nanming. He also established a base in his own name and took in unlimited survivors. Chen Yu should have known this.

That way it wouldn't have to wait seventeen or eighteen years. He could reunite with his wife sooner, see his daughter sooner, and even witness her birth with his own eyes. Everything would be different.

"My mom..." Lin Man said, "She took me to several settlements and bases. None of them were reliable. They were either completely destroyed by their own people or attacked by zombies. We had no choice but to move further and further away. Finally, when I was almost two years old, she followed others to take refuge in the Peace Base."

Two years old, that means two to three years... In two to three years, he would be fully confident in establishing a solid and strong base. Or, after the situation in the capital was settled, he could bring his men to develop in the south. Perhaps there would still be time.

Lin Zhongrong only felt a pang of heartache. It was he who ruined this opportunity with his own hands.

"Xiaoman..."

Lin Man turned his face away: "I don't want to talk to you now."

Lin Zhongrong's hand, which was about to reach out, stopped halfway and was pulled back powerlessly.

When Lin Cheng came in, he immediately noticed that the atmosphere was wrong. The father and daughter, who were always talking and laughing, had no communication at all. Looking closely, both of them had red eyes. The little girl's face showed suppressed anger and indifference and dissatisfaction, while his superior was a little at a loss, and full of guilt and helplessness.

He knew that nothing good would happen if the Lin family showed up.

They both looked up. Seeing it was him, Lin Man lowered his head again. Lin Zhongrong stood up and said, "Lin Cheng, please sit with Xiao Man for a while. I have something else to do."

"yes."

Lin Zhongrong said to Lin Man with some restraint: "Xiao Man, Dad is leaving first. Don't worry, you and your mother are the most important to me now. Those people are nothing."

Lin Man still kept his head down and said nothing.

Since the reunion, Lin Man had barely shown any resistance to Lin Zhongrong. She had some complaints about him, out of sympathy for her mother. She had always loved her father, but now, she felt she no longer liked him. Whenever she refused to cooperate, Lin Zhongrong was completely bewildered. He had no experience in coaxing a daughter with a bad temper, especially when he was in the wrong.

All he could think of was to leave first and not make her angrier.

Lin Zhongrong walked away, looking back every step of the way, and whispered to Lin Cheng, "Tell her something happy and comfort her."

Lin Cheng, who had absolutely no experience in coaxing girls, said, "...Okay."

Lin Cheng, like Lin Man, sat on the floor and pushed the things in his hands in front of him: "I have asked someone to make the machine. It will be available in about two days. This is what I made in the past two days."

Lin Man looked up at the thing. It was another box of bullets. A quick glance revealed nearly a hundred bullets. She couldn't help but look up at Lin Cheng: "Don't you have anything else to do?"

It’s good that you are willing to talk, Lin Cheng thought.

“I’ll do it when I have free time.”

"Then you must have a lot of free time." Lin Man picked one up and looked at it. It had a rich emerald green color and was polished to a smooth and round shape. It was particularly beautiful.

She sighed and asked him, "You also know what happened to my father back then?"

Lin Cheng nodded.

Lin Man said gloomily, "I just feel sorry for my mother. Some people wish she were dead. Not only did he fail to protect her, but he gave her up for those people."

She recalled her mother toiling day and night when she was a child. She had done the work that strong men did, even the dirtiest and smelliest jobs. She had to calculate over and over how to eat the little food she earned. To save enough firewood for the winter, she had to climb a mountain, only to return after dark carrying a bundle of branches taller than her. Her hands and feet were covered in scratches, and she had to endure harassment from men...

And what was Lin Zhongrong doing at that time? He was protecting the Lin family.

Lin Man felt like there was a fire burning in his chest.

Lin Cheng thought about it and felt that he didn't have the ability to make a girl happy. Since Lin Man brought up the topic, he simply continued: "Given the situation at the time, it can't be said that it was the boss's fault."

Lin Man snorted coldly: "He couldn't protect my mother, couldn't put my mother first, and had a bunch of ill-intentioned, disgusting and hindering relatives, and he was deceived. To me, this is his fault!"

Ahem, okay, these are all original sins.

Lin Cheng thought for a long time and said, "This matter mainly depends on Aunt Chen's attitude."

Lin Man frowned and glared at him. Lin Cheng smiled and said, "Aren't you feeling sorry for Aunt Chen? Instead of sulking here, why not go back and ask her what she thinks? In fact, it was already a great honor for the commander to go back and look for Aunt Chen at that time."

"What's the matter with that..."

"He was a soldier. As one of the few and powerful psychics, he was assigned a very important mission when the country was in trouble. But for his wife, he became a deserter. Afterwards, for a long time, his superiors were accused of being guilty."

"Treason."

Lin Cheng sighed softly. "For years, the commander was consumed by remorse and completely dependent on drugs to sleep. He chose to stay in the capital to build the base, doing his utmost to rescue everyone and taking countless lives as his own responsibility, all as an atonement for his sins... I can't empathize with him because I'm not a soldier, but I can see how much he's suffering."

"If he had obeyed orders and completely abandoned Aunt Chen, would you have blamed him?"

Lin Man moved his lips and finally said, "It's different for the country, and he didn't expect that the country would collapse like that."

Seeing that she was softening, Lin Cheng continued, "Let's not discuss whether his actions were right or wrong. From his personal perspective, this result was caused by three reasons. First, before the apocalypse, his superiors weren't strong enough. He couldn't access the top-secret information that the old man of the Lin family could get, so he was deceived by the Lin family."