Chapter 148: Sharp
"Why is it so cold in your West District? It's such a hassle to wear so many clothes."
In the dormitory, Anno watched as Anaiya struggled to put on her clothes for a long time without success. Finally, she simply threw away the thick combat suit and put on only the simplest fur shawl. "That's fine, it's just a shift anyway."
Anno sighed and went over to help her put her combat suit back on, fastening all the straps and snaps. "Sister Nai, even if it's your turn to be on duty, you still need to be careful. The West District gets colder at night than when you were in the East District."
Anaya looked at Anno, who was carefully helping her put on her combat suit, put her arm around her, and stroked the back of her head repeatedly. "I know, Anno is the best."
Anuo saw that Anaiya was starting to touch her again, so she grabbed her hand and turned her face away in embarrassment. "Anaiya, please stop touching me."
Looking at Anno's reddened ears, Anya asked in confusion, "Why do your ears turn red every time I touch you?"
Anno's ears turned even redder after hearing this, and she asked in confusion, "Why do you like touching me so much?"
Ever since she met Anaiya, she always liked to stick to her. This stickiness was different from that of those who coveted her and had disgusting thoughts about her. Her eyes looked at her clean and pure, without any ulterior motives.
In the West District, the two of them shared a bed and had a small private room, instead of having to squeeze into a large dormitory with others. These were benefits they earned by contributing points. But every time they slept, Anaiya would hug her like an octopus and always liked to pat her head, just like she would pat those mutated dogs.
She was naturally shy and used to be very resistant to being touched by others, but strangely, she didn't feel any resistance when facing Anaiya, though she still felt very embarrassed.
After spending some time with Anaya, she figured out her personality. Anaya had always lived in the East District and was taken in and raised by her father when she was a child. Her father raised her to be simple and straightforward, but he also trained her very harshly. So, as an ordinary person, Anaya possessed much stronger fighting skills than her, and she was much calmer and rarely suffered losses at the hands of mutants.
She's a shy person, but when she encounters someone as shameless as Anaya, she can only let her "get her hands on her" as she pleases.
Anaya wrapped her arms around Anno's neck, looking at her with bright eyes, and answered her question very seriously: "You feel so soft and fluffy, it's so nice to touch, I can't help it."
Anno looked at her with a strange expression after hearing her evaluation.
Her temper was notoriously bad in the base, and this was the first time I'd heard someone use the phrase "fluffy and soft" to describe her.
“Really,” Anaiya said. “I always think you’re like a cute little animal. I even saw you grow little horns last night.”
As she spoke, Anaya tapped her forehead, "Are you about to mutate?"
Anuo touched her smooth forehead and couldn't help but laugh. "Sister Nai, you're talking nonsense again."
Anaya: "I really saw it. It even glowed, appeared briefly, and then disappeared."
As she spoke, she showed a regretful expression. She wanted to touch those soft little tentacles a little longer. Although they would be tested every time they returned from a mission, and the test results showed that they were both ordinary humans, Anaya firmly believed that Anno was definitely not an ordinary human and might mutate one day.
She really liked Anno's aura; she felt that Anno was different from humans.
At night, Anno and Anaiya patrolled the high city walls. They sat on the edge of the walls, looking into the dark distance.
Anno looked at Anaiya holding the thermos of hot water, which was still cold and shivering, and shook out his shawl to wrap her up.
Anaya put down her cup, unfolded her shawl and wrapped it around the two of them, then put her arm around their waist: "It's still warmer this way."
Anno: "...You can hug me, but you can't touch me."
Anaya nodded: "Okay, okay."
Then he kept stroking her back, and Anuo simply grabbed her restless hands, which finally calmed her down.
The two huddled close together, their bodies radiating warmth that brought a comforting comfort to the cold night.
After a long while, Anaya's voice rang in Anno's ear: "Nono, if you're sleepy, go to sleep. I'll make sure you don't fall."
"I'm not sleepy."
Anaya added, "There's another lottery tomorrow. I heard that a herd of beasts is coming from the north, so we need to start relocating some people."
Anno said casually, "It's just a relocation for the base's higher-ups. I'm not going to draw lots; I'm staying."
Anaya patted her head. "They should all be going together."
Anno hummed in agreement and said nothing more. They were all used to this nomadic life. She hoped that Anaiya would draw lots and leave first. Anaiya was different from her; she still had her loving father in the East District.
She was always alone, so it didn't matter to her where she went.
Thinking of this, she looked up at the night sky again. The night was dark and the stars were numerous, so tomorrow would be a good day.
Her eyes searched among the stars. Over the years, she would often look up at the night sky, trying to find something among the stars.
Anaya also looked up at the night sky, put her arm around her and rested her head on her shoulder, and whispered as she looked at the starry sky in front of her, "Nono, do you think there are other creatures on these stars?"
Anno: "The universe is so big, it must exist."
Anaya: "It's strange, I always want to go to other stars and see them, as if I don't belong here."
Upon hearing this, Anuo's expression shifted slightly. She shared the same feeling, as if her home was elsewhere and she had always been a wanderer.
Anaya turned to look at her, touched her cheek, and said, "You feel the same way, don't you?"
Anno said, "I have never felt a sense of belonging. I feel like a drifting duckweed, wandering around and never finding my way home."
Anaya gently stroked her long hair and comforted her, "It's okay. If you can't find your way home, just look up at the starry sky. So many stars will guide us home."
"No matter how long we wander outside, we will eventually find our soul's home."
Anno's lips curved into a smile. Anaya's words inexplicably gave her a sense of hope.
"Sister Xiaoya, Sister Nuonuo!"
A little girl carefully climbed up the city wall, carrying an iron box, and walked up behind them.
"I secretly brought you some meat broth, it's still warm, you can drink it to warm yourselves up."
Anaya's eyes lit up as she took the tin box from the girl. "Thank you, Xiaocha. I'm actually quite hungry."
Anaya opened the lid, and a meaty aroma wafted out. She handed it to Anno first: "Drink it quickly, it won't taste good when it's cold."
Anno took it, drank a sip of the hot broth, and then handed it to Anaiya. The hot broth dispelled much of the chill from their bodies.
They sat on the city wall, taking turns drinking their last meal together.
As Anuo looked at her memories in the consciousness network, a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips. The six months she spent with Anaya, the wolf mother, and the days in the small base were all precious warm memories from her years on ancient Earth, offering some comfort to her battered and bruised state.
Anno watched the scene before her shift. The next day was the West District lottery for relocation, but they couldn't wait for the lottery to be held one by one. The beast tide came faster than they had imagined. She and Anaya were separated in the chaos. After she survived the dangerous beast tide, when she went to find Anaya again, she learned that Anaya had died.
In order to protect a group of ordinary people, she was forced to lure away the mutated beasts and jump off a high cliff.
Xiao Cha held her knife, hugged her, and burst into tears.
Anno’s consciousness was pulled out of the crystal tree, and he could still hear Xiao Cha’s crying.
Anaya was the last warmth she felt in the apocalypse.
She still remembers that day when Sister Nai said that after this relocation, she would take her directly back to the East District.
Before they parted, Sister Nai even sharpened her knife for her.
"Nono, the knife is the most important thing. The knife must always be sharp, and so must you."
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