I, with a long knife in my hand, can only do one move

And the passers-by who gathered around to watch also took half a step back and whispered to him.

"What is this..."

"Isn't it human?"

"....I got sick?"

Sergey, who gradually regained consciousness with smooth breathing, narrowed his heavy eyelids with difficulty, and looked at Jeter and others who surrounded him with surprised faces, showing shame expressions.

"Ah...Sorry, I'm really sorry...Did I scare you? I'm fine, maybe because I haven't slept much recently, I just dozed off, haha..."

Sergey, who was lifted up by Jeter and sat on the ground, looked at the blonde girl beside him

"Miss Isabella, right...Thank you for saving my life, I don't even know how to thank you."

"It's okay, I just did what I was supposed to do."

Sergey raised his eyes and looked around. He was also a human being, but the girl in front of him didn't have the slightest dislike or prejudice in his eyes, only deep concern.She who took the initiative to come forward formed a stark contrast with the crowd who took a half step back and talked a lot.

Obviously this child is still so young...and my daughter should be the same age...but——

Sergey's colleagues came and helped him up.

"Sorry to trouble you."

"It's okay..." Isabella smiled, returned to Cheng Rang's side and subconsciously grasped his hand tightly.

Sergey was helped away by his colleagues, and this morning's walk came to an end.

.....

In the Diana fast food restaurant, several figures sat around the booth.

"That...it's jellyfish infection." Miss Esteves, the chief surgeon at the Lyceum Hospital, explained to everyone while biting the wooden spoon that was stirring the ice cream.

At this time, Esteves looked like a young girl, with glasses with large lenses on the bridge of her nose, which showed that she should be a split from the main body.

With this kind of splitting ability, Estevez can take turns resting his body and mind, which can be said to be a very useful ability—for doctors who are constantly working overtime.

She continued: "Jellyfish infection is a conceptual infectious disease that spread for a short period of time immediately after the Great Crash. As the name suggests, a part of the patient's body will turn into a jellyfish-like texture. But there are no new cases so far."

"No matter what the patients look like, they are still the original New Yorkers who can't go back to the outside world. But because they look scary, the world has a deep prejudice against this disease."

Isabella stared at the hamburger in her hand with a complicated expression, and finally put it down without moving, and asked: "According to Miss Esteves, there are no new cases, so there is a cure for this disease." ?"

"I may sound irresponsible when I say this, but there is no cure so far ... and the disease does not require treatment."

"No need for treatment?" Isabella asked in surprise.

"Well, no matter what changes have taken place in the composition of the patient's body, there is no difference in function from a healthy person, but the appearance has changed." Esteves glanced at the wall clock on the wall, grabbed the wooden spoon and put the The sundae was put into his mouth whole.

"New deadly diseases appear every day and night in HL, and most doctors are very busy trying to solve those diseases... Moreover, the economic aspect is also a problem, isn't it?

? ”

She threw the wooden spoon into the empty glass and made a jingling sound, got up and walked to the door: "Thank you for inviting me to have a super large sundae. If you have any questions, you can contact me at any time. My rest time is over."

The sound of noisy traffic flowed in with the opened store door for a moment, and then it was isolated again. In the noisy fast food restaurant, only Cheng Rang and others' booth remained silent for a long time.

Cheng Rang, who sat with Jeter and Isabella for a while, finally sighed, raised his hand and said, "Miss Vivienne, please take two paper bags."

Putting the untouched hamburger and French fries into a paper bag, Cheng Rang stood up and said, "Don't just sit there, let's go."

"...Where are you going?" Jeter asked.

The task of squatting in the bar can only be done at night, but now it's just after lunch time.

Cheng Rang noticed that Isabella seemed to be very preoccupied at the moment. Although she had no tasks scheduled, although she deliberately took time out to accompany him, she was obviously not in the mood to continue playing.

Taking out the photo of his father and daughter that Sergey took before, Cheng Rang turned the photo to the back with the address written on it and handed it to Isabella: "If you are worried about his situation, let's go and see together."

Speaking of which, Cheng Rang shook the bag of food in his hand: "He probably doesn't have much strength to cook yet, right?"

Isabella was slightly taken aback, then took the photo and said softly: "Sorry, obviously you don't have much time to come back..."

"Don't worry, I can stay a little longer this time." Cheng Rang waved his hand to signal Isabella not to apologize for this, then raised his lips and smiled: "Besides, if you weren't so gentle and kind, how could I Do you like it?"

The girl with flushed cheeks took Cheng Rang's hand, and then complained in a low voice: "Can you not say such things in public in the future..."

"Shy?"

"Of course I will be shy!"

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Cheng Rang comforted Isabella.

"Go, Jeter."

"Ah, here we come! Speaking of Mr. Cheng, how do we go?"

"Take the subway?" Cheng Rang recalled the address on the back of the photo, "Hurry up this way, after all, I can only hold one in my arms."

Jeter twitched the corners of his mouth with a complex expression, "Okay, but the survival rate of the subway line leading there today is only 40%. Isn't it a bit dangerous for Miss Isabella?"

"Mr. Jeter, we are colleagues now."

The implication of Isabella's words is that she is no longer the person who needs everyone's protection and care. Please don't say such things that sound like you are looking down on others.

"Ah...that's right...sorry."

"It's okay...it will take time to get used to, after all, we have caused you a lot of trouble before."

Cheng Rang raised his brows at this time and said, "Is this kind of worry and discussion meaningful? As long as I'm here..."

"No matter which route, the survival rate will be [-] percent."

Chapter 28 Loneliness and Gain

Hersharemz Rot, Old Westwood, 59 Birdatney Street.

The dilapidated streets are riddled with holes, and the walls of the roadside buildings are exposed with damaged walls and moss-covered green bricks. There are few pedestrians on the road, and only the rickety rusty light poles emit light under the breeze. Squeak and squeak.

This is an area belonging to a slum area. Ironically, the crime rate here is even much lower than other areas, because people from other worlds are so poor that they don’t bother to come here to do things, and there are not even police stationed here. The facility is the public phone booth at the intersection 300 meters away.Almost none of the dilapidated wooden doors of every household were locked, and they just made bang bang noises in the wind.

Nearly 90.00% of human beings live here, and most of them even survived the big collapse four years ago, but cannot return to the normal society outside.

For example - people like Sergey.

"Sorry to bother you... Is Mr. Sergey there?"

Cheng Rang, Isabella and Jeter stood in front of the door of the address written on the back of the photo and knocked on the door, but even though Cheng Rang tried his best to lighten the force, the old metal hinge still came through Overwhelmed by the crunch.

Although the door handle was rusty, it was polished and there was a sudden quarrel in the room.

Three or two crows pecking at plastic bags on the street corner screamed and flapped their wings and flew to the sky, announcing the broken tranquility here.

"Ailian, come back quickly...!! I haven't finished my words yet!"

"I've listened to those thousands of times, fuck you!!"

There was a thumping sound on the wooden stairs, and a girl with short short hair dyed poorly dyed light pink strode down from above, yelling obscenities, and vigorously raised her middle finger up the stairs.

The girl named Eileen was wearing a rebellious revealing suspender dress and deliberately torn hot pants. After running down the stairs, she glanced at the wall on the right, which seemed to be a habitual action.

Then Cheng Rang and the others gritted their teeth and rushed out as if they hadn't seen the door.

"Ellen!"

At this time, Sergey dragged his bloated body and limped down the stairs, only to find that his daughter could not be kept, and fell back and sat on the last staircase.

The man's eyes were full of remorse. When he noticed the three people who came to visit, his expression suddenly became kind and he spoke honestly.

smile.

"Ah! Oh, it's you...Sorry..."

Isabella looked at the man with complex eyes, and she hurried forward to help Sergey up.

Afterwards, everyone sat around the dilapidated wooden dining table, and Cheng Rang took out the takeaway hamburger for lunch. Because it was stored in the system backpack, it even kept the warmth and freshness just out of the oven.

"How is your body?" Cheng Rang asked.

"It's okay, although it hasn't fully recovered, but it's much better..." Sergey seemed embarrassed and refused the fast food delivered by Cheng Rang, then pushed the water glass towards everyone, shivering He returned his swollen hand.

There is only freshly boiled hot water in the water cup.

Although it was clear, it could still smell the disinfection smell of chlorine gas from the waterworks, but that was the only thing Sergey's family could entertain a few people.

Cheng Rang was the first to take the cup and drank it in a big gulp, then looked towards the stairs beside him, which was the direction Ailian was looking at when he ran down just now.

"The girl just now...is that your daughter?" Cheng Rang asked, looking back in the direction of Ailian's gaze.

Sergey nodded first, and after realizing that Cheng Rang wasn't looking at him, he said, "...Yes."

What greets the eye is a dilapidated wall covered with picture frames.The photos inside should have been there for some time, and they are slightly yellowed.

Among them is a group photo of Sergey and his wife when he was young, with a strong and handsome figure, and Ailian's appearance when he was a child, cute and cheerful.

In the middle is a group photo of the three people happily looking at the camera and smiling. It can be seen at a glance that this is an originally happy family.

Yes, originally.....

Isabella didn't hear the movement of other people in the room, and there was no trace of the hostess living in this house, so she immediately understood that the woman next to Sergey in the photo should no longer be alive.

The careful man noticed the change in Isabella's expression, because everyone's eyes had already been projected on the picture on the wall.

He covered his face with one hand, and said slowly: "She is not at fault, the reason is all my fault..."

"Ailian lost everything she once had, including friends, boyfriends, everything a normal girl should have... even my lover, her mother—"

The emaciated Ailian was violently pushed to the ground by her former friends, and she pulled her hair and slammed it against the cold wall.

Everyone's tone was shouting at her in disgust.

"Go away! You monster's daughter, stay away from us, it's disgusting!"

Sergey seems to be able to clearly recall the appearance of his daughter squatting on the ground crying and never going to school again when she came back from school. His heart, which was already apologetic to her, suddenly seemed to be torn apart It hurts like a hundred holes.

The man's expression was full of guilt and pain, and he said in a deep voice: "Everyone said that they dare not associate with the monster's daughter anymore, for fear that they would be infected too. Just verbal attacks are not bad..."

"Until Eileen returned home with her face covered in bruises and tattered clothes—from that day on, she completely changed."

The half-mermaid Jeter, who is one person and one family, is deeply touched by this: "How can this be! It is a bit inappropriate for me to say that, but it is clear that in this city, all races of different shapes live freely."

Both Cheng Rang and Isabella remained silent with solemn expressions.Because the two knew that they could not understand the feeling of being excluded and discriminated against, and had never experienced such a similar experience, they were not qualified to comment.

Sergey smiled wryly and said, "Maybe [former] human beings... this name incited their fear even more. If they were completely different, there would be no discrimination, Mr. Jeter."

Because she used to be a human...became a [monster] in the eyes of humans, that's why Ailian was treated like that by them, because of her [appearance].

- Jellyfish infection.

There is no radical cure, although it is ugly, but it does not affect health, so there is no need for treatment, even if it can be corrected, it will require a huge surgical fee, the most important thing is...

"There have been no new cases."

Miss Esteves' words echoed in her mind.

In other words, in the huge city now, Sergey is completely alone in this situation.

Jeter bowed his head.

"I think I can understand your loneliness..."

Sergey's cloudy eyes looked at Jeter in front of him. This was the only face among the four that was not human, and there were even tentacles growing on the translucent cheeks.

Jet put his hands on his chest: "I am a synthetic product, I have no parents, and there will be no children. I don't even obey the laws of nature. From a racial point of view, I am truly [alone], without support Come on, be alone."

After Sergey was stunned for a long time, he slowly recovered and said, "Ah, that's really pitiful...."

Jeter quickly waved his hand and said, "No...but...ah, so I've already thought about it!"

"... If you start with nothing, you have nothing to be afraid of."

Jet looked at Cheng Rang and Isabella beside him, thinking of the other colleagues in Lebra and the warmth and friendship they brought to him, showing a satisfied expression.

smile.

"Because everything after that is harvest."

"However, you are different..." Jeter changed his tone, "What happened to you...is not correct!"

He patted the table excitedly and stood up, while Cheng Rang and Isabella were surprised to see the gentle Jeter so angry for the first time.