Lucy hugged her mother without hesitation, even though she looked terrifying.
The woman trembled in her daughter's embrace. She looked at the cake and greeting card on the dining table. Drawn with childish strokes on the card were a mother and daughter holding hands. The blue squiggles above them were clouds, and the orange circle was the sun. The two little figures had upward-curving arcs on their faces, depicting their happy smiles.
A blank space was left on the right side of the card. Upon closer inspection, one could see the faint smudges of an eraser. Others might not understand, but the woman certainly knew what it ant.
That spot originally belonged to Lucy's father. The card had been drawn by copying the family photo of the three of them, but Lucy had erased her father from the picture.
Lucy knew her mother did not like her father. So, even though she still missed him, she erased him entirely.
She only wanted her mother to be happy and to have a wonderful birthday. To make her mother happy, she learned never to ntion her father in front of her, and she learned to hide her feelings through writing in her diary and doodling.
Her mother was very busy and did not have much ti to spend with her, so she learned to play by herself.
When staying ho alone, she would pace back and forth along the cracks between the floorboards. That was her own personal playground. In the children's amusent park, she would space out while staring at the rock climbing wall, morizing the positions of the climbing holds in a daze.
Watching the other children accompanied by adults must have made her feel lonely, but she hid all her grievances and solitude deep in her heart, learning to process it all on her own.
Suddenly, the woman began to sob like a child. She hugged Lucy, but she could no longer speak, unable to voice even a simple "I love you."
Lucy began to cough violently. The symptoms of the Infected were worsening within her, and her ti was running out.
The woman abruptly turned around and knelt before Bai Mu. She bowed her head, exposing her vulnerable neck and spine.
Kneeling was an act of completely abandoning one's defenses. A person standing above could easily step on the kneeler's head. Humans only ever knelt to beg or to show submission.
Bai Mu knew she was pleading. She hoped he could save her daughter. Having exhausted all other options, she could only pin her hopes on the man standing before her.
She had already turned into an ugly monster. If it ant saving her daughter, she would gladly trade anything, but she was just a powerless mother.
Bai Mu looked at her silently. He crouched down, helped the woman to her feet, and shook his head.
Facing Lucy and her mother, the only item in his possession that might work was the Defibrillator.
It was not that Bai Mu wanted to hoard the item. He often wondered if Paradise had placed him in a fictional Script or a piece of actual history. Everything he experienced felt far too real.
He thought to himself, if he had encountered this very scene during his ten years in the apocalypse, and if he had sothing like a Defibrillator in his hands, would he be willing to use it?
The truth was, he wouldn't hesitate to part with it. He never overly relied on external items. He survived because he had a resilient heart. Back when he had absolutely nothing, hadn't he still struggled tenaciously and survived?
If he had possessed such an item when Rhubarb died of old age by his side, he would have used it without a mont's hesitation. That was just who he was.
However, there was only one Defibrillator, and it was a consumable item. Even if he used it to save one person, the other would still die.
Adults always believed they were acting in their children's best interests. Parents always gave their children what they thought was best. They enrolled them in tutoring classes and extracurricular activities, bought them this or that toy, forbade them from eating junk food, and banned them from staying up late.
They felt that their children would definitely thank them when they grew up, because those were the exact things they themselves had lacked and desired most in their youth.
They wanted their children to be well-fed and warmly dressed, to receive a good education, and to succeed in life. They did not want their children to make the sa mistakes they did, suffer the sa grievances, or be looked down upon by outsiders.
In fact, Bai Mu thought the woman was an incredible mother. Even on her own, she had provided Lucy with a wonderful life. She bought Lucy pretty clothes to let the child know how much her mother loved her, which was why Lucy was willing to do so much in return.
But she made the sa mistake many others did—she always made decisions for her child, assuming that what she gave was what her child actually wanted.
That was not the case at all. Bai Mu felt that it wouldn't have mattered even if Lucy never had those pretty little dresses. Most likely, she just wanted her mother to spend more ti with her.
Would saving Lucy really make her happy?
That was not what she wanted. Her wish was actually very simple—she rely wanted to stay by her mother's side.
From the very beginning, her wish had never changed.
Back in that office, she had held her mother tightly the entire ti. She refused to be separated from her, even if their ultimate destination was cold, dark death.
On this journey toward death, as long as she had her mother with her, she feared nothing.
Just as she had supported her mother, stepping over those corpses one by one, there was not a single trace of hesitation on her face when she embraced her.
Of course, she knew her mother might go berserk. Along the way, she had seen far too many Infected lose their minds. But this was her mother. This was the most important person in her life. Compared to getting hurt herself, she was far more terrified that her mother would be lonely and sad.
Bai Mu did not like making decisions for others. Everyone had the right to make their own choices.
Bai Mu took Lucy's hand and placed it into the woman's palm.
"Mom, are you still there?"
Lucy's vision was likely blurring. Her symptoms were much more severe than those of an average Infected.
The woman squeezed Lucy's hand, seeming to understand sothing. She picked up her daughter and sat down on the sofa.
Nestled in her mother's arms, Lucy coughed incessantly and began to dry heave, but there was no pain on her face.
The woman gently rocked Lucy in her arms and softly patted her back. She began to hum a nursery rhy. Her voice was harsh and raspy, yet the lody brought a profound sense of peace.
Five minutes passed. She showed no signs of losing control, simply repeating those familiar gestures to comfort her daughter.
Night fell, plunging the entire room into darkness. Only the burning candles on the cake cast a faint halo of light.
Lucy's breathing steadied. She drifted off to sleep, her face the picture of serenity.
[Lucy has fulfilled her wish.]
[Main Quest completed.]
[You will be transported to the Community after the storyline concludes.]
The notification chi from Paradise rang out, and Bai Mu returned to a first-person perspective.
He could no longer interfere with the two people in the room, but it seed there was still a final ending cinematic.
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