"Here." Christos raised his hand and handed over a white handkerchief.
The young man then realized that he was a bit emotional earlier, and his eyes were slightly red. He took the handkerchief from Christos and said in a low voice, "Mr. Christos, we still hope you can make the right decision. It’s better than sitting here and waiting for death, no matter what."
After saying that, he took a deep breath, clutched the handkerchief, and slowly stepped back, "I was a bit out of line, I’ll leave now."
Christos looked up and watched the young man leave.
"In the Cabinet and Parliant, there are many who think we’ve been too aggressive," the young assistant walked over and stood behind Christos, speaking in a low voice, "They don’t think we should start a civil war. They hope to resolve this crisis through political and comrcial ans, with a minimal amount of suitable violence, just like before."
Christos quietly listened to his words without responding or comnting, simply observing the crowd moving back and forth on the street.
At that mont, with the young man’s earlier growl, many people noticed Christos sitting by the street. So raised their hands to greet him, while others seed not to see him and quickly passed by on the street.
Christos smiled at those who greeted him. It wasn’t the first ti in recent years he appeared on the streets.
The people had gotten used to his presence, from initial surprise, wanting autographs and photos, to being accustod to his appearance, so much so that his presence around here had beco one of Dawn City’s ’checkpoints’.
And as Christos was responding to the greetings around him, a little boy with dark skin and a small backpack erged from the crowd. He glanced around, finally locking his eyes on Christos, and quickly ran over.
The assistant standing behind Christos imdiately tensed up.
A few burly n on the edge of the street also instantly tensed up.
As Christos appeared more and more frequently, the citizens of Dawn City had developed the habit of ’not disturbing each other’. It had been a long ti since anyone ca to Christos for a photo or autograph.
However, assassination attempts had occurred here several tis, even so suicide attacks.
But Christos did not change locations; even after assassination attempts, he would often appear on this street.
The dark-skinned little boy quickly ran in front of Christos. He looked up at Christos and quickly asked, "Are you Mr. Mayor?"
"I am," Christos leaned forward, lowered his head, looked at the little boy, and smiled, "Do you have sothing to say?"
"You look even more handso than on TV." The little boy looked up at Christos, blinked his eyes, then tilted his head to look at Christos’s side profile, "You have white hair, a lot of white hair."
"Thank you, having white hair is normal. I’m not young anymore," Christos laughed, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No." The little boy shook his head, then turned and ran back into the crowd.
The assistant standing behind Christos breathed a sigh of relief.
But the little boy hadn’t taken more than a few steps before he turned back and ran to stand in front of Christos again.
The assistant tensed his muscles once more.
"By the way." The little boy turned his backpack around and unzipped it.
The assistant lowered his head to watch the boy’s movents.
"I have sothing to show you." The little boy said as he pulled out a thick wallet bound with a children’s watch.
The assistant imdiately stiffened, and the burly n around leaned forward.
Nowadays, people rarely use cash, but so old-fashioned gangs like to use such thick wallets to hide plastic explosives, and simple children’s watches as timing devices.
Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding people, the little boy flipped open the wallet to reveal densely packed stickers inside.
He then pulled out a small card from these stickers and handed it to Christos.
It was a brand new social security card, printed with a na, ’Montreal,’ and a series of numbers below.
"Is this your social security card?" Christos took the card and looked at the na on it, "Is Montreal your na?"
"Yes," the little boy nodded, reaching out his hand, "now that you’ve seen it, you should return it to ."
"Is it very important?" Christos smiled as he handed the card back to him.
"Yes," the little boy retrieved the social security card and tucked it back into the wallet, "it took a lot of effort to get this. I followed my parents around all day, went to many places, and finally got it, so now I can go to school."
He then pulled out a small card from the wallet and handed it to Christos: "This is for you."
Christos took the card and saw several people drawn on it in dense detail, with towering buildings in the background.
"This is my dad, this is my mom, this is Sister Penny, this is Uncle Dark, and this is ," the little boy pointed to the child in the middle and then to himself.
"Who are the two people in front?" Christos looked at the two people in the front of the drawing, seemingly unrelated to the others, and asked in a low voice.
"That’s Mr. Mayor and Uncle Ronald," the boy glanced at the drawing and then at Christos, nodding, "Quite like them."
"Indeed." Christos looked at the stick figure on the card, smiled, nodded, and put away the card, "Quite like them."
"Were you in the wilderness before?" The assistant beside him looked at the boy’s dark skin and asked softly.
"Yes, yes," the boy nodded while packing the wallet back into his backpack and looked up at the high-rise buildings around him, "the city is so boring, it slls bad everywhere."
The assistant’s face was slightly stiff.
"But my mother says, in the city, we don’t have to worry about monster attacks, we have health insurance for illness, and we don’t have to worry about starving," the boy zipped up his backpack, "Overall, it’s still better than outside, so I’m leaving now."
He turned and ran back into the crowd.
This ti, though only a few steps out, he stopped again, ca back, looked at Christos, scratched his head, "Oh, right, my mom and dad said they’re at work. If I see Mr. Mayor around here, they want to pass on a ssage,"
He looked up, thought for a mont, then nodded seriously and said to Christos,
"Thank you."
Saying that, he bowed deeply.
Then he scratched his head and turned to run off.
Christos quietly watched his back, watched him run into the crowd.
He slightly raised the card with the stick figure and flipped it over.
On the back of the card, there was a simple ’K’ character drawn.
"I rember when Sett left, he once asked a question." Christos looked up and spoke softly while watching the dispersing crowd.
The assistant turned his head and looked at him.
Christos paused slightly, seeming to mimic soone else’s tone, and quoted, "’If we die, does it an all our efforts will disappear like smoke?’"
"The consortium will erase everything we’ve done, the laws, the buildings, the dia," the assistant whispered, "maybe one day, people in this city won’t even rember our nas."
Christos quietly listened to these words, watching the bustling crowds.
Buzz—
At this mont, a soft beep sounded on the assistant’s wristband.
The assistant raised his wristband, glanced at the content on it, then his expression slightly changed, he turned his head to look at Christos, "News from the wilderness, the consortium’s rcenary Corps is tightening trade routes, the city’s supply of materials, might soon be affected."
Hearing this, Christos slowly got up, "It’s ti to go back."
And at this point, the assistant glanced at the wristband again, seemingly having received so new ssage, then he turned his gaze back to Christos.
He fished a curled-up tablet out of his pocket, unfolded it, projected the ssage from the wristband onto it, and handed it to Christos.
Christos took the tablet, his eyes skimd over the content, and in an extrely short ti, he paused slightly, surprisingly saying, "He’s back?"
——
Wilderness Wanderer Camp
"Hey, ma’am," the man in a dirty and disheveled suit looked at the woman standing at the door holding a child, his bloodshot eyes, pulled out a wad of money from a pocket full of mud and directly stuffed it into the woman’s hand, "This is yours, this is yours."
The woman watched this terrifying scene, instinctively wanting to back away, afraid to take the money.
"Take it! Take it!" But the man in the suit forcibly shoved the money into her hand, angrily saying, "I told you to take it! Your husband has nothing to do with anymore! Your husband has nothing to do with anymore!"
Saying this, he ignored the woman’s bewildered and shocked gaze, straightened his clothes as if he crawled out of so abyss, briefly owning so freedom and ease.
But soon, those scarlet blood threads covered his eyes again, "It’s not , it’s not , don’t co to , don’t co to ."
He roared, like a terrified, battered wild dog, charging into the roads of the camp.
He reached into his pocket, grabbed a handful of banknotes, and scattered them like a divine intervention, "Your money, your money, I’m giving it all back to you, I’m giving it all back to you—don’t co to , don’t co to , it’s not , it’s not —"
"What’s wrong with this guy?"
"Crazy, went out this afternoon and ca back insane, handing out money to every household."
"Really insane? Was he scared out of his mind? Heaven has eyes, why did this kind of person only get his couppance now."
"Isn’t he pretending? If we take his money, will there be revenge?"
"Who knows, all his henchn have disappeared, damn, this is my money, I saw it first."
"Finder’s keepers."
"You wanna fight?!"
"Hahahaha—don’t find —don’t find —gave it all to you—to all of you—"
The bright moon hung in the sky, illuminating the people crowded below.
The woman glanced at the sleeping child in her arms, then at the money in her hand, stained with specks of blood.
She turned around, rushed into the house, looking at the flyer on the table, one corner crumpled directly.
She took a deep breath, tightly gripping the flyer, her body slightly bowed, tears like raindrops rolling down her cheeks,
"The Divine Being has shown signs, the Divine Being has shown signs, husband, did you see?"
After a brief pause, she took the flyer, holding the money, and quickly ran out of the house.
Soon, she crossed most of the camp, arriving in front of a small house at the southeast corner, she raised her hand, quickly knocking on the wooden door.
Bang bang bang—
Click—
The wooden door opened with a creak, a skinny figure erged from behind the door, the thin figure looked up at the woman, "So late at night, what’s the matter?"
"Earth Wolf, didn’t you say you had a way to get to Dawn City?" The woman, holding a child in one hand, lowered her head, spread out the money in her hand, handed it to the thin figure, "I want to go to Dawn City, and give you my house, is that enough?"
Hearing her words, the thin figure’s eyes widened, those gray pupils sparkling with sharpness.
He took the money from the woman’s hand, quickly counted it, and laughed, "Aren’t you afraid I’m lying to you? Now that you’re a widow, I could just take your money and sell you off, you’d have no way to resist."
"You won’t," the woman slightly tightened her hold on the child in her arms, "my husband said, you’re a good person, you’ll keep your promise."
"Heh, a good person? Your husband is naive, no wonder he died out there," the thin figure looked at the woman, then at the child in her arms, "with this money, going to Dawn City with a child, on a normal trade route, joining a caravan, it might not be enough."
The woman paused slightly, holding the child in her arms, lowering her head, "This is all I have, this child is very well-behaved, won’t cause trouble."
"Heh, however," the thin figure chuckled, "I happen to know a safe little path, which can cut down a large distance."
He walked next to the house, pulled back a rain tarp, revealing an old off-road vehicle, ’clunk—’ he opened the car door.
He turned his head to look at the woman, "That little path can directly bypass the wilderness near Lin City, to Monite City, which is a key comrcial node near Dawn City, with many caravans, you’re in luck,"
The woman raised her head slightly, surprised to look at the thin figure.
"I can give you a ride, directly through the little path, of course, it’s chargeable," the thin figure hopped into the car, looking at the woman, "but there are a lot of caravans in Monite, the price is cheap, your remaining money should be enough to join a caravan, from Monite to Dawn City."
"Really?" The woman widened her eyes, a bit incredulous.
"There’s another possibility," the thin figure casually said, "I could kill you halfway, take all your money, completely up to you whether you get in the car."
The baby in the swaddling cloth gently trembled in the darkness, seemingly about to wake up.
"I trust you." The woman gritted her teeth, holding the child, climbed into the off-road vehicle, "The Divine Being will favor ."
"To believe in the Divine Being’s favor in this wilderness," the thin figure laughed, turning the key, "you’re a bit too naive."
Whoosh—
With a hoarse breath, the off-road vehicle started, bright headlights illuminating the road ahead.
Soon, the vehicle turned, plunging into the depths of darkness.
Under the dim lights of the camp, He Ao slowly erged from the shadows, gazing in the direction the off-road vehicle disappeared into, his eyes slightly lifted,
There’s another path?
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