After dealing with the gray rats, Bai Mu returned to the living room.
Katie and Sam were already asleep. They lay on the mattress, covered by a thin blanket. It was currently ten o'clock at night, and the temperature had dropped to around fifteen degrees Celsius.
Leon had not gone to sleep yet. The eleven-year-old boy silently stared at the tal pocket knife Bai Mu had given him yesterday. He gripped the handle tightly, sitting on the edge of the mattress without saying a word. The sharp blade reflected his youthful face, which bore a look of bewildernt and exhaustion that did not belong to soone his age. He had not closed his eyes at all during the day. Ever since he arrived at Bai Mu's house last night, he had not slept a wink.
He had experienced far too much in such a short period of ti, and he seed at a loss as to how to process his emotions. Even though he was utterly exhausted, he could not bring himself to lie down on the mattress and rest peacefully like his younger brother and sister.
Bai Mu walked over to the sofa and asked softly, "Are you not going to sleep?"
Leon shifted his gaze from the pocket knife to Bai Mu's face. He looked up at him and suddenly asked, "Mister, why are you so strong?" "Because I sleep well and eat well every single day."
As Bai Mu spoke, he took a bottle of chilled dark rye beer from the refrigerator, pulled the tab, and poured it into two glasses, handing one to Leon. Bubbles fizzed in the pale amber liquid, and the scent of fernted malt wafted into the air. The cool touch of the glass felt incredibly soothing.
Leon lowered his head, cupping the glass in his hands as he listened to the faint popping of the foam.
Judging by his expression, Bai Mu knew the boy thought he was just stringing him along.
The response did sound like sothing used to brush off a child, much like the clichés parents often repeated: study hard, do well in school, and you will succeed in the future.
Bai Mu could understand his mindset. The boy felt that as the older brother, he had to shoulder the responsibility of protecting his siblings. He never wanted to experience that sense of profound helplessness again, forced to watch as soone held a blade to his sister's neck, forced to watch the flas threaten to consu him and his siblings. "Do you think I'm brushing you off, Leon?" Bai Mu took a sip of his beer.
"I just... I don't know what to do." Leon kept his head bowed.
"I have to tell you sothing, Leon," Bai Mu said. "You are only eleven years old. Your thighs aren't even as thick as my arms, and I can lift you up with just my left hand. Even if ten of you sward with kitchen knives, I could easily knock you all flat on the ground. You are weak. No matter what you might think, you are incredibly weak."
Leon buried his head even deeper, tucking his chin between his knees like a snail retreating into its shell. Yet, a snail's shell was so fragile that a single stomp could crush it into pieces.
"You have to understand that you are weak," Bai Mu continued. "Sitting here overthinking things won't change that fact. You aren't going to suddenly turn into a superman like the comic book heroes. Tomorrow, you will still be just as weak. You will be just as weak the day after tomorrow, and the day after that."
Looking visibly dejected, Leon set down his beer glass and hugged his knees tight.
"I also need to tell you one more thing. Other than yourself, there is no one in this world you can absolutely rely on and trust," Bai Mu stated. "The safety you have right now is only temporary. My food and water are strictly limited. There might co a day when my supplies run low, and I will kick you all out."
"Do not think that just because I'm taking care of you today, you can freeload in my house forever. Everyone's patience has a limit. If taking you in proves completely useless to , my kindness might beco utterly worthless when faced with the ultimate test of survival."
"Even if I make up my mind not to kick you out, I might end up leaving you at so point, just like your parents did. It sounds cruel, but it is the truth."
Leon turned to look at Bai Mu. He tilted his head back, pressing his lips together tightly.
"Looking at the state you're in right now, what exactly could you do if I really did kick you out?" Bai Mu asked.
Leon remained completely silent. He had no answer to that question; his mind felt completely blank.
"Let paint a hypothetical picture for you. Soon, you will lose the strength to even walk due to a lack of sleep." Bai Mu took another sip of his beer. "A person who hasn't slept well will find everything they do exhausting. They will feel tired just sitting there."
"The three of you could never beat in a fight. If you tried to squat in front of my house and refused to leave, I would beat you severely. You would bleed, your wounds would get infected, and perhaps the scent of your blood would attract Doppelgangers. You would die at the hands of those Doppelgangers in no ti."
"And if we assu you leave my house to seek out another way to survive, you—the older brother who hasn't gotten enough rest—would beco a heavy burden to your younger siblings."
"Katie and Sam both slept on the mattress. They rested last night, and they filled their stomachs during the day."
"They won't be as drowsy as you are. They'll at least be able to walk a little farther to sowhere else. Maybe they could scavenge so food from a garbage pile, or kill a rat or a wild dog, finding so way to hold on for just a little while longer."
"But you, you can't even manage to sleep properly. They would have to take turns supporting you, or even carrying you on their backs, just to move forward. You would make their journey impossibly difficult, perhaps even driving them to entertain the thought of abandoning you entirely."
"The only thing you'd be able to do at that point is apologize to them. You'd silently curse your own stupidity and powerlessness, regretting why you didn't simply lie down and get a good night's sleep when you were actually safe enough to do so."
Bai Mu tilted his head back and finished the beer in his glass, gulping the liquid down. The last ti Bai Mu had allowed Leon to drink any water was over an hour ago.
Leon stared at Bai Mu's throat, swallowing hard and licking his dry, cracked lips.
Bai Mu picked up the glass of beer that the boy had set down, staring down into Leon's eyes from above.
"Are you thirsty?" Bai Mu asked.
Leon nodded.
"Then you should have drunk that beer just now."
Having said that, Bai Mu downed the second glass of beer in one go. He didn't leave a single drop for Leon. Even the remaining liquid in the bottle had been completely emptied out.
"I believe you rember my rule. All food and water must be distributed by ."
"And the mont you set down the drink I gave you, you forfeited the right to drink it."
"You can consider this your very first lesson, Leon," Bai Mu declared. "Focus on thinking about what you can actually do right now, rather than just sitting there staring into space."
"You can continue sitting here and pondering the aning of life, that's fine, but I need to go to sleep," Bai Mu said. "If I wake up tomorrow morning and find that my food and water are missing, do not think for a second that I will tolerate it."
With that, Bai Mu placed the empty beer bottle on the coffee table. He sat back on the sofa, half-reclining, and closed his eyes.
Leon silently watched the reclining Bai Mu, then turned to glance back at his younger brother and sister.
He didn't say a word, but a few seconds later, he lay down on the mattress while still gripping the pocket knife. He pulled a corner of the blanket over his chest and closed his eyes.
Without even opening his eyes, Bai Mu could sense the boy's breathing level out. A tidal wave of drowsiness washed over the child, and clutching the pocket knife, he fell into a deep slumber.
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