Book 6 Chapter 38.3 - Embrace
Just like what it saw, most of the northern continent already became deathly still, to the extent where it was even more desolate than the first year after the nuclear war erupted. The Great Lakes Western Region was already a place where humans concentrated, but now, regardless of whether it was Steel Gate or the various inhabited areas, they had all already become ruins. These were ruins through and through, forget about humans, not a single creatures that was a bit larger survived, even the rats that had never been exterminated completely disappeared. If anyone entered those ruins, they would see large amounts of corpses piled up, among them including those of humans, as well as all types of other creatures, most of them still maintaining their postures before death. Disaster descended suddenly, to the extent where almost no one reacted in time.
The corpses had long rotted, yet there were no traces of scavengers to be found. Regardless of whether it were the vultures, feral wolves, or even rats, they all similarly became corpses.
It was already winter, the temperature long dropping below zero, corpses even frozen. As a result, the moment of disaster descending was also frozen. Only when spring came next year would the corpses completely rot, and then slowly turn into dried bones. Perhaps it was a misconception, but if one stood on this earth, they would obtain a particularly somber and desolate feeling. However, if one’s Perception Domain reached eleven levels or higher, they would feel that the environment had changed ever so slightly. The world was indeed becoming colder, and also darker.
The areas of the entire northern continent that still had life force were already extremely few, Dragon City one of the largest areas. Even though a small half of the city was already ravaged by the flames of war, more than half of the buildings still remained, Dragon City’s population still exceeding fifty thousand, most of them soldiers that gathered from outside Dragon City. After forcing back the last wave of terrifying bug swarm, the originally strictly guarded Dragon City completely loosened their restrictions, anyone could enter Dragon City and seek protection, but of course, in the future battle, they had to fight on the most dangerous front line. Regardless of whether they had abilities, if they were robust men, or even old and sick soldiers, Dragon City welcomed them all the same. Right now, anyone able to raise a gun was a precious asset, while the powerful figures, for example, General Morgan, were thinking even more long term. Even without taking a look himself, he knew that the number of humans who survived in the wilderness was already at a nearly negligible number, while Dragon City’s number of people, was already reaching the bottom line of what was needed to preserve their species. If the numbers dropped any more, then even if they wiped out the mechanical bug swarms, there would still be issues in human reproduction. This was why General Morgan was willing to take in anyone, because energy and resources were plentiful to the point of being enough for humans to use for over a hundred years after this calamity ended.
There weren’t many buildings left in Dragon City that remained unscathed after the repeated disasters, Black Dragonriders General Headquarters was one, Persephone’s private hospital another. In many people’s eyes, the private hospital that didn’t have a massive military force protecting it was completely a miracle.
Inside the private hospital’s underground laboratory, Helen was surprisingly not doing anything, instead just sitting there alone, unexpectedly stupefied. She sat on the couch, a freshly brewed cup of coffee on the small table beside her, the fragrance lingering about without scattering for a long time, meaning that no complaints could be made about the coffee’s quality or brewing method. The laboratory was pitch-black, only a single light lit. The dusky lightning scattered down on Helen’s body, producing a graceful figure.
It was unknown what she was thinking, only occasionally taking a small sip of the coffee. Whenever this happened, her long blonde hair would move about like golden waves. Snow laid by Helen’s feet, but was restless with anxiety. It continuously swung its foot, from time to time using its teeth to chew at an alloy stick. That unremarkable looking stick was Helen’s newest formulation, and it could only be produced in this laboratory, but the rigidity and toughness were both at the very top of known materials. However, in Snow’s mouth, it couldn’t help but distort and deform, continuously releasing groaning sounds. Snow’s compound eyes flickered with radiance, extremely chaotic, wherever her tail struck, there would always be a shallow pit left behind in the special concrete floor.
Snow wasn’t vexed or impatient, but in fear. If she wasn’t at Helen’s side, she would have long caved to the fear at the bottom of her heart, respond to the summoning from the depths of her instincts and rush south. The summoning came suddenly, without any omen, but Snow just knew that it was definitely her paternal body that released this summoning. There was no reason for why she knew, she just did. Only by staying at Helen’s side, sticking to part of her body, would the deep feeling of fear weaken somewhat, thus allowing her to slightly control her movements. However, despite this being the case, Snow who was tormented by fear could only rely on grinding the surface of her body or biting on something hard to suppress it. Even so, what was rather tragic was that her body was too strong, even the alloy stick chewed rotten, yet her teeth were still unharmed. No, there were still some teeth that were damaged, but they were immediately repaired, those teeth moreover readjusted based on the degree of damage, thus making them even sturdier. This process brought Snow slight pain, so she immediately increased this rare feeling of pain by several hundred times, thus barely allowing her to forget the fear she felt deep within her.
The coffee in Helen’s cup finally reached the end. She lowered the cup, released a light sigh, reached out her hand, and then said, “Snow, come to mama.”
When she heard Helen call out to her, Snow immediately released a whimpering sound, jumping on top of Helen’s legs like lightning. She curled up into a ball, rushing straight into her embrace. Only Helen’s embrace was able to completely expel the fear. Helen frowned slightly. Snow’s body wasn’t large, but right now, it was close to fifty kilograms in weight. Her body was comparable to cornerstone, yet even though her body’s toughness reached such a high level, it was still only fifty kilograms, so the density was already quite low. If it wasn’t for Helen increasing her Combat Domain abilities to level one, she really wouldn’t be able to handle Snow’s weight.
Helen gently caressed Snow. In the end, she released a deep sigh, softly saying, “Don’t be scared, with mama here, no one will snatch you away.”
When she heard Helen’s words, Snow nodded in a muddled manner. In reality, she didn’t believe Helen’s promise at all, because she could vaguely feel her paternal body’s power through the summoning. That was why the nodding of her head was only to make Helen feel at ease, as well as allow itself to enjoy the last bit of her mother’s warmth. When night came and Helen fell asleep, Snow would quietly leave, respond to her paternal body’s summoning. Regardless of whether she lived or died after meeting her paternal body, that was something she would worry about later. Snow knew that since her paternal body could summon her, then he could also find this place. She was really scared of her paternal body and mother meeting again, because something extremely bad might very well happen.
Snow understood extremely clearly that her own existence was a mistake in itself. Her mother created her without her paternal body’s knowledge, so it was extremely difficult to say if this was good or bad, but the likelihood of this being bad was much higher. She felt curiosity, fear, as well as a bit of destruction impulse, lacking all feelings humans had towards their fathers. She originally wanted to follow at her mother’s side, quietly grow, and then when she was strong enough, she would protect her mother. However, she never expected that right at this time, her paternal body’s summoning arrived.
Snow moved, adjusting herself a bit more comfortably, and then fell asleep. This might be the last moment of peaceful slumber of her life, even though for her, sleep was completely meaningless, nor was it an instinct she originally had.
Helen gently caressed Snow, a feeling of warmth entering Snow’s little body, quietly soothing the imprints Su left behind. Snow extended her blades comfortably, even though she was fast asleep, she still reached a completely relaxed state.