"Mom."

The little girl immediately scrambled down the garbage pit.

Su Ling and Sheng Hongye approached as well, and they saw the woman with cracked lips. Her forehead was covered by a floral scarf, while everything below her nose was exposed to the air. Her chin had peeled from sunburn, forming a large blister, making her look particularly terrifying.

The child in her arms also had cracked lips, and his face was partly covered by a piece of gauze, making it impossible to see his appearance.

Upon hearing the girl's cry, the woman raised her head with dull eyes, devoid of color. Her hands were filled with wounds, as if she had inflicted them herself, presenting a shocking sight.

The little girl offered the chocolate to the woman. "Mom, here's some chocolate. Please eat it."

The woman twitched the corner of her mouth and shook her head. "Mom won't eat, you eat it yourself."

The little girl opened the chocolate. "Then give it to my little brother."

Seeing the pitiful sight before them, Su Ling couldn't help but clench her fists.

She had anticipated this day might come, but confronting it was another matter entirely. Witnessing this family's misery, Su Ling felt a lump in her throat, unable to swallow or speak.

Sheng Hongye descended into the garbage pit and placed his hand on the middle-aged woman's shoulder.

A faint halo of light shimmered, and the wounds on the woman's hands healed instantly. However, her eyes remained dull, even dimmer than before.

She laboriously lifted her head and looked at Sheng Hongye.

Sheng Hongye frowned. This woman had lost her will to live.

Even with his healing ability, he could only mend her external injuries.

He gestured to Su Ling, and she understood his meaning. Gazing at the woman, her eyes filled with sorrow.

The little girl had removed the gauze covering the little boy's face. Seeing his bluish complexion, Su Ling couldn't help but clench her teeth.

This child was already gone.

The woman seemed unaware of her child's death. Trembling, she accepted the chocolate and held it to the little boy's mouth.

In a hoarse voice, she said, "Eat, Rui Rui, eating will make you stronger."

The little boy remained motionless, his wide eyes fixed on his mother.

Su Ling couldn't bear it any longer and whispered, "The child is gone."

The woman seemed to hear something terrifying.

She panicked, holding her son tightly, and covered his face with the gauze again.

"No, he's not dead. My son won't die. Stop talking nonsense, shut up!"

Her face contorted as she glared at Su Ling, trembling as if she had been electrocuted. She clutched her child tightly to her chest.

Seeing her mother's state, the little girl couldn't help but cry.

"Mom, my little brother isn't dead. Please give him the chocolate."

"Yes, he's not dead. He won't die."

The woman cried out in horror, and then she began to wail loudly.

However, there were no tears on her face, and her voice sounded like a wounded beast, mournful and terrifying.

The little girl was startled and shook the woman vigorously.

"Mom, mom, don't cry."

After what seemed like a minute, the woman finally stopped crying.

Her eyes strangely gained a glimmer of light.

She turned her face and looked at Su Ling and Sheng Hongye.

Then, she knelt down while holding the child.

"I am no longer able to care for her. Please take care of Xiaoyue for me. She's very well-behaved and obedient."

After saying this, she kowtowed to both of them. Su Ling reached out to pull her up, but she suddenly collapsed on the ground.

She never got up again.

"Mom, mom!"

The little girl was frightened and tried to support the woman, but she was already lying motionless.

Sheng Hongye extended his fingers and accurately pressed on the woman's carotid artery, then shook his head.

Su Ling clenched her teeth and felt a bitter ache in her eyes.

In just two days, she had witnessed two family tragedies.

Although Su Ling had grown indifferent to life and death, with very few emotional fluctuations, at this moment, her chest felt uncomfortably heavy.

She reached out and picked up the little girl, holding her in her arms.

With difficulty, Su Ling said, "Your mom and little brother have gone to a place without hunger. From now on, you'll stay with sister."

"I know. They're both dead."

The little girl cried and said, "My mom promised me that she wouldn't die. Why did she lie to me?"

Facing the child's question, Su Ling's eyes welled up, and she sniffed hard.

"Your mom didn't lie to you. She's now living in your heart in a different way."

As she spoke, the last ray of sunlight disappeared from the horizon.

Sheng Hongye turned around and picked up Gu Kai Xuan. "It's getting dark. We must return to the storage warehouse now. We can only bury them tomorrow."

"Okay."

Su Ling held the little girl's hand and said gently, "Let's go back with sister first, and tomorrow, we'll come back to see your mom and little brother."

The little girl sobbed and nodded.

She knew her mom and little brother would never come back to life, and now, she could only follow Su Ling and Sheng Hongye.

When her mom was alive, she often told her that if one day she wasn't around anymore, the little girl had to live strong so that her mom and little brother wouldn't be forgotten.

At that time, she thought her mom might die, so she tried her best to find food and wanted her mom and little brother to survive. But they still left her.

If she died too, no one would remember her mom and little brother.

She raised her tear-stained face and looked at Su Ling.

"What's wrong?"

Feeling the little girl's gaze, Su Ling lowered her head.

The little girl didn't avoid her gaze but said seriously, "Sister, I will live well for my mom and little brother. I can find things and do a lot more."

Though the child's expression was not entirely clear, Su Ling understood her meaning.

She was afraid of being abandoned by Su Ling and Sheng Hongye, so she said she could do many things.

Su Ling gently rubbed her little head and said in a kind voice, "Big brother and I will look for supplies. You and the little brother should stay here. Oh right, didn't you say you knew a place with food. What kind of place is it?"

Xiaoyue immediately looked to the west, her eyes filled with a touch of hatred.

"It's over there, a tunnel where a group of people is hiding. I went there to ask for food, but they beat me. They are all very bad people."

Sheng Hongye immediately stopped in his tracks. "Do you know how many people are inside?"

Xiaoyue thought carefully, looked up and replied, "There are more than ten people, and one of them has a gun."

A gun?

It sounded quite troublesome.

After a moment of consideration, Sheng Hongye said, "It's not suitable to take action at night. I'll go check tomorrow."