093. The Lives of the Poor Are Only Fit to Edge the Rich

  Qiu Ran ched her fists, trembling all over.

  She tightened her hold on Nomi's remains, her bright eyes momentarily darkened by a red-bck hue that quickly faded.

  "So, we deserve to be your experimental subjects?"

  "Before I came here, I was just a repair worker… but because of the bel 'ied,' I stayed in Abyss Humanitarian for three years."

  "Three years."

  Qiu Ran's fists tightened, her body trembling, the temperature around her visibly rising, and the air dist with heat. Her eyes bzed with anger, yet her tone was cold as iron:

  "My siblings, my family, those I should have protected—just because you said 'you're ied,' I left them without a word."

  Tears glistened in Qiu Ran's eyes, evaporating quickly from the heat:

  "No tao news. This year is their college entrance exam, but I 't be there to cheer them on, to make them a good luck breakfast. Other students have their parents and family apanying them, while their sister is in 'treatment isotion' at Abyss Humanitarian!"

  She grabbed Nordley's hand, who groaned as the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

  "I was terrified of passing on my 'virus' to them, turning them into those deformed monsters, ruining their future—now you tell me the virus does?"

  Nordley opened her mouth, uo bear the pain of the burns, but under Qiu Ran's gaze, she couldn't scream.

  More than anger... Qiu Ran's eyes showed deep sadness.

  She hated Nordley and the entire Abyss Humanitarian's deception, but that wasn't the worst of it.

  For a woman at the bottom of Frost-Pted society, the pressures of life and capitalist exploitation had long worn her down.

  Qiu Ran could face reality with a smile, even encing others to live optimistically. Her own life had reached its end, and her existence's significe was no longer important.

  What use was hate? What good could it do?

  It couldn't pare to the sorroain of leaving her family without a word, not being there for them.

  What did Abyss Humanitarian owe her? Her suffering was limited, but how could she make up for the loss to her siblings?

  She was living for her family, but Abyss Humanitarian had cruelly separated her from them, using her love for them to make her leave voluntarily.

  After two years of separation, they told her: there was no Camity Virus. This might be a lie fabricated from their internal power struggle.

  Three years.

  The three most crucial years of her siblings' lives, their college entrance exams, when they most needed family support.

  "What did I d?"

  Nordley lowered her head in shame, stammering for a long time before finally saying a single word:

  "Sorry."

  This word was heavy, taking all her strength to say.

  This word was light, for even filled with remorse, it meant nothing to the facts.

  —Pfft.

  Qiu Ran ughed.

  "Heh... heh heh... ha ha ha ha ha!"

  Smoke and fmes slowly rose, Qiu Ran's anger and burning bringing Nordley to the ground:

  "Screw you!"

  She cried and screamed:

  "What kind of crap Abyss Humanitarian, you're just a bunch of cowardly dogs who bully the weak!"

  "Why don't you go after those capitalists, bankers, and high-ranking officials, why e after us?"

  "I never pined about hard work, never expected to be paid on time, never saw a doctor. Though I have a rural househistration, I never had nd, didn't use city medical insurance, didn't even speak ill of the president, fearing it would affect my siblings' future—yes, I did nothing wrong, so why me? Why me? Tell me!"

  "I became an obedient, motionless puppet, and you still wao strip me ?"

  "You imprisoned me for three years, I finally made a friend, and you killed Nomi... what did I d?"

  "Tell me! Why are you silent, doctors of Abyss Humanitarian, aren't you supposed to serve Frost-Pted?"

  "Nomi... I finally uand, a try like Frost-Pted should."

  The fmes spread from her surgical gown to half of Nordley's body, and Li Aozi let her go, leaving her colpsed on the ground, shaking her head painfully:

  "...I'm sorry, I have nothing to offer but death."

  No medie meant Nomi would die from Omega energy depletion.

  It was over.

  Li Aozi suddenly found it ughable.

  Nomi, who he had figured out, even had a niame no one remembered.

  "The old world will be burned by the fmes of rebirth, and the Rose will bloom on the ruins of the four nations."

  In the isotion room, she heard this and her purple eye lit up.

  "rade, the anizatio me to get you."

  She was rude, swearing, and unrefined, but her favorability would drop if he destroyed a relic of a poor outsider.

  "...We outsiders, struggling to survive, are humans too, just like those in the four nations who have heati buns, watch TV and read books."

  She knew he wasn't with the Rose Army, but her attitude ged because of oence he said.

  "...A future with sunlight and warmth, where everyone rise, men and women enjoy equal rights. There will be no sging for leftovers, no begging, no prostitutes and sves, children and the elderly will be respected and protected, criminals will be punished by w, bor will be rewarded fairly—that's the future."

  For that dream, and for experimental victims she never met, she was willing to risk her life to help him infiltrate the lowest level of Abyss Humanitarian.

  —And she died just like that?

  "Where is Anna?"

  Li Aozi looked up, impatiently saying:

  "Where are the 50 survivors of Abyss Humanitarian... where are they?"

  "The sed floor, there are always survivors there."

  Nordley's skin burhrough, her face like a skull:

  "Anna... Anna is smart, she wants to tinue Abyss Humanitarian. We are all the professor's students, Li Aozi... please five the professor and Anna, the professor is dead, Anna... she did nothing wrong, let me bear all the sins, stop the killing."

  "Five my ass."

  Li Aozi stabbed Nordley in the chest, her lung bleeding, blog her breath. Even then, she didn't die immediately. Li Aozi slowly twisted the hilt, speaking with disgust:

  "I've always thought bombing ps was scummy—you're worse, a bunch of scum, eaore scummy tha, even scummier than I am."

  Nordley's body fell, her eyes dimming, fmes ing her, life ebbing away.

  Life...

  Suddenly, Li Aozi had a fsh of insight.

  Nomi was a 【Raider】, right?

  She had followed him for so long, but hadn’t really killed many people; he always got the final blow.

  ……………………

  【Raider】

  Css Talent ? Surviving Catastrophe— Raiders are like sewer rats, with low attributes and weak bat power, but if they survive harsh battles, they have a high ce of gaining some of the enemy's 'traits.'

  Sometimes it's equipment, sometimes it's attributes, even appearance... (Cooldown: 10 natural days)

  ……………………

  【Raider】, it take life?

  Hard to say, because that's not a trait.

  Even professional pyers couldn't guara, but if true, it would add many variables to petitions, giving Raiders ara life.

  But the point is, did Nomi need ara life?

  Li Aozi quickly regained his crity.

  Although the Raider's talent is to randomly plunder, it essentially absorbs the oppo's traits.

  A 【Warrior】's traits are 【Strength】 and 【stitution】, right?

  In the game, severely injured characters suddenly increasing their 【stitution】 or health limit could escape a near-death state.

  This was true for both NPd pyers.

  If Nomi could passively take Nordley's 【stitution】 or health limit, even a bit of health, she could escape the near-death state.

  O of near-death, her Omega energy would activate, rapidly healing.

  Li Aozi hurriedly checked Nomi's team panel.

  Sure enough— the Raider’s passive had never activated.

  "Qiu Ran, give her to me."

  Qiu Ran, still lost in grief and anger, didn’t respond. Li Aozi grabbed the coat ed around Nomi from her arms.

  He uned it, revealing Nomi's half skull and inplete jaw.

  He uned the coat, revealing Nomi's head, which was half a skull and an inplete jaw.

  Her face was unreizable, with only faint signs ling flesh trying to grow, even though her brain was nearly shattered.

  She was still alive.

  Nomi didn't want to die; even shattered, she wao keep living.

  Did she still have her sciousness?

  If she did, how much pain was she in at this moment?

  If not, what was drivio persist in staying alive?

  "Nordley, you were wrong. Besides death, you have something else to offer as ato—your life."

  He opened Nomi's jaws, pced the long kweeeeth, and aimed it at Nordley, who was quietly burning on the ground:

  "Good luomi."

  In the moment, he gripped Nomi's and forehead, and together they pluhe long ko Nurse Nordley's skull!

  FAL