Some people were alive but dead on the inside. Some people were dead but their legacy was alive.
Some people engraved their names into stones, hoping to be “immortal”, while others preferred to be weeds waiting to be engulfed by the flames.
Life was short and only lasted a few dozens or a hundred years. Everyone wanted to be remembered and stand on top of the world.
On Earth, Su Mo failed to engrave his legacy in the hearts of people and was not able to impress anyone other than his relatives.
However, it was not an exaggeration to claim that the one thing that these survivors clung to in their hearts was…
Su Mo!
He represented law and hope in the doomsday wasteland.
He was the symbol of survival to ordinary people.
“Harl is Su Mo and Su Mo is Harl… It’s no wonder!
“He was the only one capable of raising his reputation tremendously in the Demon clan in just a few days. He was the only one with the ability to magically reverse corruption!”
Marshal Wang’s eyes were fixed on the captivating tall and majestic figure that had a huge smile on his face as the crowd approached.
His feet went rubbery and he collapsed to the ground.
His arrogant behavior and his demanding demeanor as he ordered him to give him some broth flashed before his eyes.
The next moment, he recalled that he landed a hard punch on the strongest human, the representative of the human race, the famous God slayer!
‘I shouted at and attacked the Almighty Su?”
His mind went blank as he muttered about his foolish actions, obviously terrified of the consequences!
Su Mo, who approached the welcoming crowd, was unaware of the wild thoughts going on in Marshal Wang’s mind.
The menacing crowd seemed as if they were about to interrogate a guilty criminal.
Su Mo’s expression froze and his footsteps halted subconsciously as he remembered something, seeing Oreo’s anxious but cheerful face.
“Shelter leader! We’re not ever letting you leave again!”
“That’s right! Shelter leader, if you ever want to leave, I, Li Hu, will do everything, even if I die, to follow you. Or else, I’ll rip those people apart!
“Woof! A-woo! Woof!”
“Master, I’ll come with you next time! I don’t want to work at home waiting for you! I want to fight!” said Moore.
“You promised that you would not leave behind my back but you went on an adventure again. I could have died from worrying about you!” said Su Chan.
One after another, the criticizing voices spoke up, and behind their words were the familiar faces that wore worried expressions.
It was because, on the day when Su Mo was seriously injured in the Demon clan territory, Oreo sensed and alerted everyone, which made them all frightened for his safety.
Su Mo had left a death order that no one was allowed to leave the borders of the territory for any reason.
Otherwise, based on the panicked state of that day, everyone from the basin might have gone…
All out!
“I…”
Su Mo embraced Su Chan who ran into his arms, and as he glanced at the people surrounding him, he parted his lips but was unable to say a word.
“You have to promise me not to leave without telling me! I’ll follow you if you leave without notice next time!
“They won’t be able to stop me!” Su Chan cried out.
The wind and snowstorm that lasted for days had stopped for roughly two or three hours. The basin’s scenery was similar to the Demon clan’s and was completely covered in snow, turning the place into a snow kingdom.
At six o’clock in the morning, the rising sun rising from the horizon was a frosted light and was unable to fully penetrate through the snow.
Chen Shen, Li Hu, Pei Shao, Shen Ke, and the others were not dressed properly as they quickly grabbed some clothing and rushed out after hearing Oreo’s joyful barks.
Meanwhile, Su Chan did not even manage to wear shoes and ran out on bare feet in the snow for nearly a thousand meters.
Along the way, she tripped twice and injured her elbows but she did not let anyone, including Oreo, help her up.
“Does it hurt?”
“Promise me now!”
Su Chan inherited their mother’s stubborn temper, and hearing that Su Mo had not answered her, she retracted her arms and glared directly at Su Mo.
The others also stared straight at Su Mo at that moment.
The scene at the moment was really strange and different from other territories.
It would be reasonable if they were criticizing him for overindulging and enjoying every day while ignoring the development of the territory.
However, it was Su Mo who was risking his life fighting for the development of the territory while they were the ones reaping the benefits and enjoying themselves at home.
The others were worried about the safety of their shelter leader but out of all the people in the territory, Su Chan was the only one who could speak up to him!
“Okay, I promise. I won’t go out alone until winter is over!” he muttered and carried Su Chan on his back.
Su Mo understood that they were forcing him to stay put in the territory and had no choice but to agree with a helpless smile on his face.
“You guys…”
Su Mo glanced at the people who were guiltily averting their eyes from him.
He turned around and gestured to Marshal Wang, who was behind him, and started walking ahead.
Su Mo cherished life more than everyone else present, and no one understood how to take a step back for the bigger picture better than him.
He had rare moments where he was like a youngster that surged with enthusiasm and was willing to sacrifice his safety to achieve a goal or mission.
It was not immaturity nor was it the stubbornness of a youngster.
It was because he had finally realized what he needed the most.
He wanted all the survivors in the basin to have a house to stay in, enough to eat and to be able to safely get through the cold winter together.
He wanted the basin to become prosperous, revive technology, and have a well-circulated economy where everyone had their own assets and aspirations.
He wanted to prevent humans from giving up their bottom lines of morality and unleash animalistic survival instincts like in the large human gathering place that Marshal Wang had mentioned.
The people of the basin, including Su Chan, were unaware of what Su Mo had to experience to become who he was today!
From an ordinary person who could only cheer himself up even when the enemy knocked on the door, to the ruthless and tyrannical warrior who braved through life and death.
“Su Chan, you must understand that I have to fight. This has nothing to do with what kind of life we want to live but I can’t stop myself anymore!”
Su Mo carried his sister on his back and strode away from the crowd behind him. He seemed to be talking to himself but also deliberately speaking to his sister.
“You need me, Mom and Dad need me, Oreo, Moore, and Big and Little Sparks… You’re all my responsibility.
“Apart from you guys, the villagers in this basin, Chen Shen and Li Hu need me too!
“But, do you know who needs me more than everyone else in this doomsday wasteland? The ordinary people still struggling for survival.”
Su Chan involuntarily trembled as the topic was brought up and Su Mo did not speak any further.
He never wanted his sister, who was destined to live under his protection, to live in fear or under pressure.
However, the brutal truth of living in the apocalypse was that no one could guarantee survival.
Su Mo had carefully considered this and chose a less gentle way but acceptable way to break the truth to her.
Su Chan’s mental strength and perception of the current apocalypse were way beyond his imagination.
“Do you think I don’t understand?
“The admiration people had for you in the Tundra Shelter was one thing, but the people here in our territory are different with you around.
“Chen Shen used to be filled with confidence and was busy with various agendas every day. He would’ve devoted all his hours and passion to the construction of the basin if he could. However, when you left, the pressure of development, the economy, our daily necessities, and all the tasks fell on him. I haven’t seen him smile and hasn’t even had a proper meal since you left. He was another person without you around.
“Brother Hu is responsible for leading a team to patrol every day and returning to train the village’s army. When you left, Brother Hu would personally patrol the borders every single day, afraid that someone would infiltrate the territory. At night when everyone was asleep, he sat anxiously in the duty room at the village’s entrance, waiting for the departed team to come back with the report.
“Sister Shen, Su Yuan, and the others spent most of their energy on improving the task delegations to stimulate everyone’s motivation to work. The moment you left, they tirelessly calculated our resources every day to save our supplies and lessen the burden on you.
“The chefs who made meals that we enjoy, filled with passion and gratitude, were so down that even the food tasted less flavorful after you left.”
“…”
Su Chan mentioned everything about the village, from the village chief, Chen Shen, all the way to the chefs in the shelter.
The girl who seemed to have no worries on the surface and happily tended the cattle and sheep every day had been silently observing the territory. It completely surpassed Su Mo’s expectations of her.
There were even things she mentioned that Su Mo was unaware of.
“Do you think that we’re so clueless and don’t understand that we depend heavily on you? Do you think everyone doesn’t understand the importance of your existence to the basin?
“This place is our home because you are with us. The home that we’re willing to pour our sweat and blood to develop. It’s our home that we’ll defend with our lives!
“Without you, this place is nothing!”
Warm tears welled up in her eyes.
Su Chan’s voice was muffled and tears began to roll down after she had finished speaking. Her tears dripped onto Su Mo’s shoulders and drip down his arms.
“Do you understand that we’re worried that something might happen to you? What would we do if something happened?!”
Su Chan landed a furious punch on Su Mo’s chest and even with all her strength, it was merely a tickle to the demigod’s body.
Su Mo’s heart was like a dry field that had just been watered, just like how dry and cracked skin was soaked with tears.
“I… I’ve been too selfish…”
Su Chan stopped sobbing. “No, you aren’t selfish. You’re too selfless!
“You’re just a nerd that lived on Earth for more than 20 years! You’re not a mighty warrior who defeated the Demon King in the game!”
Few people, likely no one at all, knew of Su Mo’s past.
He was always in the spotlight, so perfect, and always so domineering!
It was hard to imagine him as an ordinary person who would be drowned out in the crowd back on Earth.
He was a normal person who was always happy-go-lucky. His biggest joy was playing games and bragging about it in the eyes of those close to him.
“Ha! I wouldn’t remember if you didn’t remind me that I’m just an ordinary person.
“That’s true. Who am I to worry about others?”
After his brief interaction with Marshal Wang, while traveling back to the basin Su Mo’s mind was full of thoughts on how to destroy the gathering place with 30,000 people and invite them to join their territory.
He realized that he was wrong at this moment.
It was not an outrageous mistake or a problem with his plans, but it was because he had been successful and had yet to realize the circumstances of the apocalypse.
Compared to Su Chan who lived in the Tundra shelter for more than a month, he was still lacking.
He never missed a meal and never went thirsty.
He never had an experience of hiding in the freezing cold without proper garments.
He never had to deal with wicked survivors who deceived one another, plotting to steal the other party’s supplies.
Su Mo admitted that he had been a little lucky ever since he arrived in the wasteland.
He was able to avoid the extreme circumstances that 99% of the survivors had to face because of the help from the system.
His mentality was probably unable to adapt to the apocalypse as the rest had, and he was slightly more naive in some instances.
“You’re right. I don’t have the ability to save everyone in the world. I won’t be able to save even the base of 30,000 people.”
They were halfway toward the shelter when suddenly Su Chan burst into laughter. Su Mo shook his head in relief and the worried expression on his face vanished.
Sometimes, it was really difficult to accept one’s own incompetence.
However, once you let go of the burden, you would be able to feel peace in both your mind and heart.
“That’s how it should be! What’s this about the 30,000 people base?
“Did you find other people outside?”
“Yeah, I heard that there were about 30,000 people near our territory!”
Su Mo explained the war that broke out in Freedom City, how he met Marshal Wang and subdued him by coincidence without the slightest concealment of the truth.
He also did not hide the cruelty of what happened in the large human gathering place.
“Huh? How did they already come to this? That’s too much…”
“I’m planning to send someone to gather information once the heavy snow is over. We really need more people in the basin and it’d also make me uncomfortable to not check it out after learning about its existence.
“It’s not an urgent matter, and the heavy snowfall will be here soon. For now, our priority is to solve the problems in the basin.
The sun rose and the rays of the sun shined down the sky.
The Hope villagers had already climbed out of bed and were warming up their bodies in groups of three and five, unlike the lazy slobs of Freedom City who were only out for profit.
Apart from the snow that night, there was no snow within a 500-meter radius around the village.
Even the roofs of the prefabricated houses and some hidden areas were cleaned up by the villagers!
To the right side of the village, there were already two huge jars that were covered with thick “coats”, and the word “water” was written on them.
The jars relied on the heating pipes that passed through. Once the boiler was turned on, the water in these two jars would heat up and provide everyone in the basin with some hard-earned warm water!
The villagers quickly reacted when they saw a vague figure carrying someone from afar.
They thought that someone had been injured outside and was being carried back by a teammate. They immediately sprung into action and rushed out to help.
They took a few steps closer and when they realized that it was Su Mo who had returned, they stepped back in surprise and started running away, shouting exaggeratedly.
It was not a wake-up call, but it had the effect of one.
Hearing the shouts announcing that the shelter leader had returned, those who were still asleep and in bed immediately lost every bit of drowsiness, quickly put on their clothes and rushed out to greet him.
“Hahaha! These people are really…”
“This is their admiration, no, their love for you! Look how energetic they are right now!”
More than a thousand people quickly “assembled” in less than three minutes.
Those who wanted to impress Su Mo even went as far as quickly getting dressed, picking up their shovels, and rushing out to start shoveling the snow from last night.
Most of the villagers watched Su Mo timidly from a distance with undisguised awe and happiness on their faces.
“Were the heaters not switched on last night?”
“We switch them on, but it may as well have been like we didn’t since we’re running out of coal. We switched them off after two hours!”
Su Mo subconsciously frowned after hearing that they did not have enough coal.
With the current temperature and the physical fitness of the people in the basin, it would not take long for most of them to fall sick.
Seconds later, a smile broke out on Su Mo’s face as he remembered the hundreds of marks on his waist and the over 500 templates that he had collected.
“Don’t worry. Our neighbors have a lot of coal if we run out!
“There’s a saying that goes, it’s better to share the happiness than be happy alone! Two days later, no, tomorrow morning, I’ll bring some people over to pick up some coal that a friend is gifting to us!”
