Chapter 75: Entrusting His Son on His Deathbed (Second Bonus Chapter)
"Waaaaaah! Sister Fan, my mom got bitten by them, waaaaaah!" Pan Duole's pitiful cries came through the air. Hearing her strong voice, Zuo Shan's tense heart finally relaxed a little.
"Can you open the door?" Zuo Shan asked loudly.
"I can't open it, the door's stuck! Waaaaah! Sister Fan, am I going to be trapped inside and starve to death?"
"No, I'll save you!" Zuo Shan turned to look at Mao Li, stretched out his mechanical arm, straightened the door frame, and then gently pushed it open with a "bang".
Under the soft glow of the nightlight that Mao Li had turned on, the room was a mess, with broken pieces of the hardened floorboards scattered all over the floor, mixed with furniture, dried vegetables, and bits of dried fish.
A strong smell of blood filled the room, and in the corner lay a woman missing half an arm and a leg.
She was covered in blood, and the bloodstains flowing from the ground beneath her formed a winding line.
She lost too much blood, and even though an ambulance is on its way, it's unlikely she'll survive.
"Mom, Mom, wake up! Sister Fan is here to save us!" Pan Duole squatted down beside her, shaking her excitedly and shouting.
The woman struggled to open her eyes and looked at Zuo Shan standing in front of her. She managed to utter a weak voice, "Miss Zuo, you must be the Miss Zuo who helped my family! It's so good to see you're alright!"
"Miss Zuo, as you can see, I'm not going to live anymore. This child shouldn't have come into this world to suffer, but I have no choice. The authorities won't allow abortions!" The woman stared intently at Zuo Shan, glancing occasionally at her daughter with a hint of disdain, but mostly with deep affection.
“Miss Zuo, I know about your family. Your parents are good people. They adopted Qi Yang, although that child is quite heartless, abandoning you to pursue his own future.”
But your parents' good intentions have been rewarded; otherwise, you, a pregnant woman, certainly wouldn't have escaped safely.
Miss Zuo, I'm about to die. Please take in my Yu family. I don't ask for food or water, just please look after her when you go out to scavenge, so that her food won't be stolen by those shameless adults.
Besides, aren't you about to give birth? After the baby is born, she can help you take care of it. She's very capable; she's been helping with gathering since she was four years old. She won't freeload, really! *cough cough cough*
The woman coughed up a mouthful of blood, gasped for breath, and could no longer speak.
With difficulty, she pulled a property certificate from her pocket, stuffed it into Zuo Shan's hand, then grasped her hand, aligned her wristwatch with Zuo Shan's, brought up the transfer page, and transferred the last 1204 silver coins to her.
Then, she looked at Zuo Shan with pleading eyes and slowly breathed her last. Even in death, her eyes remained wide open, that pleading look frozen in the last moment of her life.
Pandora burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
Zuo Shan looked at the balance in her account: 124,002. Could she really support two children with this money? But the woman was already dead, and she didn't even have a chance to refuse.
Looking at the frail girl who had just lost her only relative, she could even imagine that without her mother's protection, this ten-year-old girl would either starve to death by having her food stolen or be tortured to death by some pervert in this wasteland.
Well then, let's take her in for now and see how things go. If things really come to a head, she'll naturally protect her own baby, Ah Chen, first.
Zuo Shan hugged her tightly, patted her back gently, and after a while said, "Pack your things and come with me!"
Screams continued to echo around her, but she couldn't care less about burying Pandora's mother; after all, being alive was the most important thing.
Pandora's furniture and stove were almost entirely eaten by gold-eating ants, leaving only some scraps. Only two cutting knives were saved by the mother and daughter, who used them as weapons.
Zuo Shan noticed that there were several fresh, mutated chive leaves in the corner of the wall, each as tall as a person, enough to wrap around the thin Pandora.
"Why didn't they eat it?" Zuo Shan asked, pointing to the few mutated chive leaves.
"Oh, I almost forgot about this!"
They were crawling out of the ground one by one. My mom and I were fighting them with a knife. I tripped and fell, and a big ant's mouthparts were aimed at my head. My mom rushed over and blocked the attack for me. Ouch!
Her arm was bitten off, and then a big ant appeared and bit off her leg too. There was blood everywhere, sob sob sob!
At that moment, I was determined to fight them, forgetting my fear, and I don't even know how I killed those two big ants.
Later, I remembered that chive leaves have hemostatic properties, so I grabbed a leaf, chewed it up, and applied it to my mother's wound.
Later, more large ants emerged, but they never attacked us again, as if they couldn't see the corner where we were hiding. After eating everything in the house, they left only these few chive leaves.
Finally, they all left. I guess they probably hated the smell of chive leaves. As Pan Duole expressed his guess, his tearful eyes suddenly lit up.
In the end, Pandora left with only two cutting knives and four mutated leek leaves.
Just before leaving, she glanced back at her mother lying in a pool of blood, wiped away her tears, and then gritted her teeth and ran quickly alongside Zuo Shan.
Zuo Shan was naturally worried about Xiao Bao being home alone. She ran back home, but all she could hear were pitiful cries. She had no choice but to harden her heart and ignore them.
She hated herself for being too weak to save them. After returning home, she quickly logged onto the basic network and sent several messages to the administrator with the title "Massive invasion of gold-eating ants! Urgent! Help!"
This was the only thing she could do for the disaster victims in District 50.
"Sister Fan, what should we do now? The hardened layer is completely destroyed, and the mutated rats and other mutated insects can easily burrow in from underground."
"Our home is no longer safe, waaaaah!" Pandora cried even more desperately when she saw that her home was also in a mess.
"There will be a way. As long as we persevere and don't give up, we can survive!" Zuo Shan looked at her with a determined expression.
The attack by the gold-devouring ants has temporarily come to an end, but no one knows if there will be another wave. Without the barrier of the hardened layer, their next attack will only be faster.
"Sister Fan, will you... kick me out in the future?" After a moment of silence, Pan Duole asked anxiously.
"I think we should have a good talk about this. You probably know my situation; I'm not a wealthy person."
The government has resettlement policies for orphans like you who were left behind after a major disaster. I heard that the resettlement area for orphans is in District 45.
The underground mines there are always short-handed, and children over the age of twelve are assigned to work underground.
Children under the age of twelve would be sent to the charity hall in District 47 to do odd jobs for skilled technicians and learn various skills so that they could be chosen and bought by wealthy people in District 40 to become their servants.
But before that, the orphans' lives were very difficult. The staff would cut back on their food, especially during the coldest weather when food was scarce, and going hungry was a common occurrence.
Those with weaker constitutions simply couldn't survive; the mortality rate was very high.
Of course, if they survive and are later bought by a wealthy and kind-hearted person, as long as they are loyal and hardworking, they can live a very good life.
But if you come with me, life may be relatively tough, but I promise that as long as I have food to eat, you won't go hungry, provided that you work hard enough and never betray me!
Now, the choice is yours: come with me, or go to the official resettlement center? It's your freedom, and I will not interfere.
When Zuo Shan said these words, he didn't treat her as an immature child. Children in the wasteland should and must learn to be independent and responsible at the age of ten.
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