Chapter 68 is never over, and will never be at ease.
He greedily savored every moment he spent with her, even if it was just watching her from afar.
He witnessed his sister's "power" once again—a power that transcended reason and possessed a destructive charm.
This did not reassure him; instead, it was like pouring cold water into a boiling oil pan, causing his emotions to churn and his possessiveness and an almost pathological desire to protect him to grow wildly.
How could he be at ease?
The jackals who covet her will only retreat temporarily out of fear, but they will never disappear.
All he wanted was to be the fiercest mastiff by her side, to bite off any claws that reached out!
"elder sister……"
Xie Yunze's voice was somewhat low and hoarse, with the unique clarity of a young man, yet it suppressed a thick, unyielding emotion.
He looked at Xu Zhili deeply, his gaze incredibly complex—it contained admiration, infatuation, resentment, and an almost obsessive persistence.
"Then I'm leaving."
Xu Zhili nodded slightly, her gaze returning to the boundless night, as if his departure or stay was nothing more than a trivial matter.
Xie Yunze turned around and strode towards the courtyard gate.
His back looked exceptionally upright in the dim light, yet taut like a fully drawn bow, brimming with power that could erupt at any moment.
The night wind ruffled the stray hairs on his forehead, but it couldn't dispel the restless energy emanating from him, a mixture of blood and violence that hadn't yet subsided.
Are you not worried?
A voice inside him was sneering.
How could he possibly feel at ease?
He wanted to crush Wang Laizi's family into the mud, so that they wouldn't even dare to look up at their sister.
He wanted to become the sharpest knife in his sister's hand, stained with the filth and blood of everyone who dared to approach her.
His sister's "power" fascinated him, and made him even more obsessed with possessing all the vulnerability and danger behind that power.
The figure disappeared into the darkness, and the sound of footsteps faded into the distance.
But that aggressive aura belonging to a young beast still seemed to linger at the entrance of the educated youth compound, silently proclaiming that his "guardianship" had never ended and would never be at ease.
——————
Half a month passed in sweat and anticipation.
When the last clod was compacted and the last plank was nailed in place, the little house that carried all the hopes of the siblings finally took root firmly in the yellow earth.
It is as simple as an uncarved piece of jade—mud walls, thatched roof, and small wooden lattice windows.
But in Xu Zhili's eyes, it surpasses any steel fortress in the apocalypse.
The gentle glow of the setting sun spilled onto the brand-new earthen walls, gilding them with a warm, golden edge. Xu Zhili stood in the courtyard, taking a deep breath; the air was filled with the fresh scent of new wood and the fragrance of earth.
She looked down at Xu Zhian, who was nestled close to her, and a warm, almost aching feeling welled up in her chest.
She crouched down, her gaze level with his bright eyes, her voice so soft it was as if she were afraid of disturbing this hard-won peace:
“An’an,”
Her fingertips brushed against her brother's soft cheek, a slight tremor barely perceptible. "Look, our home. From now on, this roof and this land belong only to us. We no longer have to depend on others, no longer have to squeeze under someone else's eaves."
Xu Zhian's eyes lit up instantly, as if they were filled with crushed stars.
He nodded his little head vigorously, clapped his hands excitedly, and jumped up and down: "Home! We have a home now! Sister is so great! An'an is so happy! So happy!"
The pure joy was like the clearest spring water, instantly washing away all the gloom in Xu Zhili's heart.
She took her younger brother's warm little hand in hers; the soft touch was the most real anchor point at that moment.
The two slowly walked into their new home.
The interior is minimalist, with every corner spotless and every piece of simple furniture arranged meticulously, reflecting the owner's almost obsessive dedication and piety towards "home".
"Come on, An'an, let your big sister show you around."
Xu Zhili's voice was softer than ever before, as if she was afraid that even a slight increase in volume would shatter this fragile beauty.
She led her younger brother from the sun-drenched main room to the bedroom, which was covered with thick hay and smelled of sunshine, and then to the small but well-organized kitchen.
She pointed to the brand-new iron pot, a gentle smile spreading across her eyes: "From now on, I'll be right here, cooking fragrant rice and making warm soup for An'an."
She imagined the scene of smoke rising from chimneys and the aroma of food filling the air—the simple, everyday life she had desperately longed for countless times in the ruins of the apocalypse.
Xu Zhian looked around curiously, tiptoed to touch the smooth earthen wall, and then carefully touched the edge of the table, his big eyes filled with novelty and satisfaction.
"It's so beautiful and clean here! An'an loves it! Thank you, sister!" He looked up with a bright smile that could melt ice and snow. Although this place couldn't compare to his home in Hunan Province, wherever his sister was, that was An'an's home.
Xu Zhili's heart was soothed by that smile.
She raised her hand, her fingertips filled with boundless affection, and gently ruffled Xu Zhian's fluffy hair.
The soft, warm touch spread from her fingertips to her heart, bringing her a sense of peace and satisfaction that almost brought her to tears.
At this very moment—
The sensation of the hair on my fingertips eerily overlapped with another cold and desperate memory.
In the post-apocalyptic ruins, the air was thick with the stench of blood.
The mother was tripped by the scumbag and violently pushed into the surging horde of corpses.
Xu Zhili's eyes were bloodshot. She rushed over like a madwoman, using all her supernatural abilities to cut a bloody path and grab her mother's cold, sticky wrist tightly.
They had just broken through the encirclement and hadn't even had time to catch their breath when the man who was supposed to be their "father," with greed and malice in his eyes, suddenly shoved their mother from behind. Their mother's frail body staggered and fell towards the hideous zombies rushing towards her from the other side!
"mom--!!"
Xu Zhili's scream tore through her throat, filled with a despair that seemed capable of destroying the world.
She watched helplessly as her mother was violently grabbed by several rotting claws.
The mother turned around abruptly.
That face, identical to the one from this life's promise, now stained with blood and dust, erupted with astonishing power.
She wasn't looking at the zombies, but staring intently at Xu Zhili, screaming with her last ounce of strength, "Lizi—run!! Run! Run! Don't worry about me! Live...live on! Mom...loves you forever..."
Before she could utter the word "you" in "I love you," several drooling, rotting maws were already viciously biting at her fragile neck and shoulders.
Scalding blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining Xu Zhili's vision red.
"No—!!! Ahhh—!!!"
Xu Zhili's screams were no longer human voices; they were the wails of a soul being torn apart.
The world collapsed before her eyes, leaving only her mother's eyes, filled with endless love and reluctance, before she was engulfed by the horde of corpses...
She no longer had a mother and became a child who could no longer feel her mother's love.
Later, overwhelming hatred consumed all reason.
She found that so-called selfish and cold-blooded "father".
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