Chapter 69 The Promise: You Raised Me When I Was Young, I'll Take Care of You When You're Old
When the "father" tried to argue, she pierced his knee with a steel awl and pinned him to the ground.
With the same hands that had once combed her mother's hair, she gripped her "father's" neck tightly, listening to the sickening cracking sound of his throat bones breaking under her fingers, watching his bulging eyes and purplish-blue face, like a dying fish.
Then, with all her might, she threw him like a broken sack into the center of the densest horde of corpses, watching coldly as he was instantly torn to pieces, listening to his shrill screams drowned out by the sound of chewing, only then did she feel she had offered a small sacrifice to her mother's departed soul.
"elder sister?"
Xu Zhian's youthful voice, tinged with confusion and worry, was like a fine needle, gently piercing the bubble of those bloody and terrifying memories.
Xu Zhili suddenly snapped back to reality.
Her fingertips were still resting on her brother's soft hair, but her body was as stiff as iron. A cold, fierce aura flashed uncontrollably across her eyes, but she forcibly suppressed it.
A turbulent storm raged in my chest as the image of my mother's gruesome death in the apocalypse clashed violently with the innocent smile of my younger brother before me, bringing a sharp, piercing pain.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the metallic taste in her throat, and forced a gentle smile back onto her lips, though the smile was somewhat stiff.
"Hmm? What's wrong, An'an?" The voice was slightly hoarse.
"Sister's hands... are so cold," Xu Zhian whispered, wrapping her sister's slightly cool fingertips with her own warm little hands.
The warmth from her fingertips sent a shiver through Xu Zhili's heart.
She gripped her brother's hand tightly, as if grasping a lifeline.
Looking at the face before her that bore a striking resemblance to her mother from the apocalypse, a face that Xu Nuoyan might possess, a fanatical and insane thought took root in her heart.
"Go to the cowshed tonight."
She told herself that deep in her eyes lay a rock-solid determination and a hint of barely perceptible obsessive madness.
Regardless of whether she is or not... In this life, she is my mother. The promise of "you raised me when I was young, and I will take care of you when you are old" will be honored. If anyone dares to touch a hair on her head again, I, Xu Zhili, will grind them to dust and never let them be reincarnated.
The regret of not being able to protect it in the end times, I will do everything in my power in this life, even if it means becoming a demon, to firmly guard this lost and regained glimmer of light.
This new house is the starting point, and protecting the safety and well-being of all her recognized loved ones is a mad vow etched into her bones since she was reborn.
The night was as dark as ink, and the cold wind swirled withered leaves.
Xu Zhili's figure, like a raccoon blending into the night, silently approached the dilapidated cowshed at the end of the village, which exuded the smell of hay and livestock.
She stopped behind an abandoned haystack not far from the cowshed and cautiously scanned her surroundings.
After confirming that no one was around, she closed her eyes and focused her mind, trying to communicate with the space she relied on for survival in the apocalypse.
However, all she received in response was a sluggish, cold sense of obstruction, as if an invisible iron gate had been slammed shut.
She frowned.
Since arriving in this era, that vast space seems to have been mostly frozen, leaving only a narrow gap. Each time, the amount that can be retrieved is pitifully small, and it seems to require an enormous amount of mental energy.
She tried several times, her forehead beaded with sweat, and finally, a small cloth bag appeared silently at her feet.
She quickly opened it to check: a small handful of noodles, a few pounds of coarse mixed grain rice, a porcelain basin containing chicken soup made at noon (hot, the space seemed to keep it warm), and two heavy cans of yellow peaches.
This is the limit.
"Damn it!" Xu Zhili cursed under her breath, her fingertips turning slightly white from the force she exerted.
This damn lockdown.
But looking at the pot of warm chicken soup, she took a deep breath and suppressed her anxiety.
Fortunately, it's nearby, so we can only move things little by little, like ants carrying food.
She tied the cloth bag tightly and hid it under her large old cotton-padded coat.
"Tap, tap, tap."
The knocking was unusually clear in the quiet, cold night, even carrying a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
A series of rustling and suppressed coughs came from inside the cowshed, followed by an old, tired, and alert voice: "Who?!"
"It's me."
Xu Zhili's voice came through the door, clear and firm, carrying a power that pierced through the darkness, "Xu Zhili."
"Clang—!"
A sudden, jarring sound of a chair overturning rang out in the cowshed, as if the name were a thunderclap, shattering the stagnant silence within.
The door creaked open and was suddenly pulled open a crack.
The dim light of a kerosene lamp shone through the crack in the door, and the first thing Xu Zhili saw was a face weathered by time and marked by hardship.
His hair was disheveled, his eyes were sunken, and his lips were chapped.
But that look in her eyes, that look that suddenly lit up when she looked at her, a mixture of disbelief, ecstasy, and deep-seated pain.
Xu Zhili's heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, only to be melted by scalding lava in the next second.
"Mother……"
A sob, filled with endless grievances, dependence, and the ecstatic joy of regaining what was lost, shattered all of Xu Zhili's strong exterior.
That ruthless and decisive figure in the apocalypse, who instilled fear in the Xiangyang Brigade, vanished without a trace at this moment.
Standing in the cold wind was just a wounded and shivering young animal that had finally found its nest.
Xu Nuoyan trembled violently, and tears instantly streamed down her face. With all her might, she flung open the door, her voice hoarse and broken, filled with sobs and overwhelming joy at having found her again: "Lili! My darling Lili!!!"
Xu Zhili, like a cannonball thrown into her mother's arms, rushed in and hugged Xu Nuoyan's thin, bony body tightly.
She buried her face deep into her mother's neck, which smelled of hay and sweat from the cowshed, yet was incredibly familiar and warm, greedily inhaling the scent she hadn't experienced in two lifetimes.
"Mom...Mom..."
She burst into tears, her body trembling violently; all her strength and defenses crumbled at that moment.
"I miss you so much... I really miss you so much... In that awful place... I can't find you... I thought... I thought I'd never see you again... Waaah..."
Her tears were scalding hot, soaking Xu Nuoyan's thin clothes.
No longer the cold, ruthless, crazy girl, she is now just a pitiful child who has wandered for too long in endless darkness and despair and finally grasped the only light.
Xu Nuoyan used all his strength to hug his daughter back, his withered hands stroking Xu Zhili's hair and back again and again, as if to confirm that this was not a fragile dream.
Her tears flowed silently, her voice choked with sobs: "My baby... my darling... I miss you so much... my heart is breaking... God, have mercy... God, have mercy... that we, mother and son, can still see each other alive..."
The mother and daughter embraced tightly, as if trying to meld each other into their very bones.
After a long while, their intense emotions subsided slightly, but their cuddling posture remained unchanged.
Xu Zhili, like a small animal lacking a sense of security, clung tightly to her mother, absorbing the warmth she had regained.
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