Stray

er doesn’t keep idlers.”

As soon as her voice fell, a male scream came from not far away.
Whether it was disturbed by the scream or gotten its fill of sleep, the parrot finally woke up.
It poked out its head from Nemo’s backpack and shook it vigorously.

“Wow.” It said in surprise, “there are quite a lot of demons here.
What’s the matter with you? Are you planning to commit suicide while I’m not paying attention? Don’t act like this.”

Its contractor gave it a painful look.
He didn’t know whether it was out of disgust or anger because he didn’t get enough sleep and he wasn’t in a mood to respond to it.

“Come with me and find a safe stronghold first.” Ann said, “Don’t touch anything you two.”

Nemo silently took back his hand that was poking at the moss.
The feeling of being watched came again.
He frowned and this time, he directly met Oliver’s gaze.
He looked at the other party suspiciously, a little uncertain whether he should ask.
After all, that expression looked quite like he had constipation.
If he really had stomach problems and was embarrassed to talk about it, it would be rude to ask directly in front of a woman.

Oliver quickly turned his gaze away again.

Nemo shrugged inexplicably and followed Ann.
It seems that there are many experience participants.
There were a few people who were moving in the same direction as them, only a dozen steps apart.
He finally had a real sense that this was a test in this moment, which may be a good sign that the recent unpredictable crazy days was heading back on the right track.
After surviving this test, everything will return to common sense…

Nemo’s eyes suddenly widened.

The two people walking in front of them suddenly knelt to the ground, and then fell heavily into the grass.
Blood and brain matter splashed everywhere, and a strong smell of bloody quickly spread.
The two older-looking men instantly fell to the ground and remained motionless, while the young boy walking with them didn’t seem to react.
He looked around blankly and tried to pull his partner lying next to him up but didn’t get any response.
The young boy collapsed as he stumbled towards Ann screaming for help uncontrollably.

Nemo stared at Ann’s back.
The female soldier didn’t say a word or move as she let the young boy run towards her.
When he was about a few steps away from Ann, his body shook abruptly and then fell softly.
His head disappeared and his entire tongue was exposed in the air, leaving behind a wound that was bubbling with blood.

With a slight thump, a living person had died right in front of them.

This was completely different from Old Ramon at that time.
Nemo suddenly felt his stomach churning.
If it weren’t for its emptiness, he would have turned his head and puked all over Oliver.
Oliver turned pale and looked uncomfortable.

“Let’s go.” Ann said briefly.
At the same time, the two men not far away also stood up silently.
“It’s full and won’t attack again.”

Nemo stared at Ann in disbelief.
Her tone seemed to be describing a freshly fed dog in her yard, as if she had just lost some dogfood instead of a person.
For the first time in these days, he truly realized that he had been living in another world; this world was one extremely heavy in death.

Less than an hour ago, he privately thought that she was a gentle but inexpressive person, but people’s eyes don’t lie.
She didn’t really care.

“We just…” Oliver swallowed, “we could’ve saved him…”

“Not necessary,” Ann replied calmly.
Her mood seemed to have turned sour.
“Fighting that thing is thankless.
It didn’t attack us so it’s the most reasonable thing to walk away when it’s full.”

“But that’s…” Oliver seemed to be hit harder by what’d just happened.

Ann turned around and walked a few steps forward.
She herself was very tall so she didn’t lose much momentum when she stood in front of Oliver, who was almost 6 feet tall.
 

“Can you save him?” She asked coldly.

“I don’t know.”

“Compassion is the most useless thing here.
That kid just now didn’t want your sympathy.
He wanted you to risk your life to save him.
You said you don’t know, then were you hoping that I would step up to save him?”

“Listen, little boy.” She grabbed Oliver’s collar.
“It seems you have made a mistake.
First, compassion without the premise of strength will make you die faster.
Second, I think my life is much more valuable than that of a stranger.
I don’t owe you anything.
I have no obligation to respond to any of your expectations.
This is common sense.”

“You listen too.” Ann gave Nemo a side glance causing him to subconsciously shrink his neck.
“It’s understandable that young people have heroic fantasies, but you better remember for me, if you make a mistake, it’s not my style to sacrifice my life to wipe your ass.”

After that, she waved her hunting spear casually, and a strange tentacle broke off beside Oliver, spouting sticky purple mucus.

Nemo didn’t dare to look at the boy’s corpse.
He was so thin that he wasn’t sure if he was even an adult.
The joy of returning to the world of common sense disappeared in this very moment.

While Ann didn’t ask him, he felt a terrible sense of powerlessness. Can he save the child? Will he die like this— quietly, without a grave or tombstone, and the first feeling of those who knew was relief? He began to vomit in another sense.

Ann was right.
He did make a mistake.
The survival and death that he believed were justified did not exist here.

“Oliver.” He approached the dejected brown-haired young man.
“Are we friends?”

Oliver raised his head and looked at him with a complicated expression for a while.
“…Probably.”

“What she said is reasonable, but I still can’t accept it.” Nemo’s voice trembled with hints of spinelessness, but his tone was firm.
“If I accidently rush out and cause trouble, don’t save me.”

Oliver gave him a knowing look and was silent for a moment before he finally sighed.

“Then I have the same request.” He responded hoarsely, kicking the turf on the ground uncomfortably.

Kinky Thoughts:

Ann just telling it like it is.