Shen Zhizhao looked at the boy who had just been thrown down beside him.
The boy, entirely powerless to resist, was slammed heavily onto the ground.
He lay there coughing a few times before slowly and tremblingly crawling to his feet.
The man's gun was pointed at the two of them.
"Whichever of you survives, I'll let go," the man said in a slow, almost encouraging tone. "If you want to live, it all depends on your own skills."
The boy who had been thrown to the ground suddenly raised his head.
Driven by the fear of death, even a child would possess a desperate, reckless desire to survive.
The boy immediately grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it right into Shen Zhizhao's face without hesitation.
Taking advantage of Shen Zhizhao's lack of resistance, the boy pressed his knee fiercely against him, pinning him down and restricting all his movements.
Shen Zhizhao let out a short, muffled groan as his lungs were compressed. The boy didn't hesitate; he immediately grabbed a rock nearby and raised it above his head.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Number Four," the boy's voice trembled. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die."
His tears fell onto Shen Zhizhao's face, one by one, warm like raindrops.
He apologized over and over again.
Shen Zhizhao did not fight back. His pupils were completely bloodshot. Lying on the freezing ground, his back pressed against the dirt and gravel, he felt waves of sharp pain from his chest, which was pinned down so hard by the boy's knee that he could barely breathe.
There was still sand in his eyes, blurring his vision as if separated by a layer of mist.
The rock was held at its highest point, pausing for a single second as if in a moment of struggle, but under the threat of the gun, it ultimately came crashing down.
Bang.
After the gunshot rang out.
Everything fell dead silent.
The boy holding the rock went limp and slowly collapsed to the ground, motionless.
The man lowered his gun and looked at Shen Zhizhao on the ground with a smiling face.
"Look at that, young master, another one dead." He sounded a bit helpless, like a disappointed teacher lecturing a failing student. "Why are you always so cowardly? Do you always have to wait for others to try and kill you?"
"But you knew we would save you, right?"
"Truly a rich man's son, completely ignorant of the world's suffering."
His words grew more malicious. Seeing Shen Zhizhao's wooden, unresponsive expression, he stepped forward, grabbed the boy's corpse, and pressed it down, forcing Shen Zhizhao to look at it clearly.
"Look, this is who died because of you."
"It's because of your cowardice and incompetence that so many people have lost their lives."
Propping himself up with his hands, Shen Zhizhao barely managed to sit up. His entire body felt weak as he stared blankly at the boy.
This boy was his companion.
They had known each other for three months.
Even though they didn't know each other's names, it was a genuine three months. In Shen Zhizhao's barren memories,
he was one of the very few people he could actually call a companion.
But now, he was dead.
Because of him.
He hugged his knees, trembling all over. The agony of losing a companion felt like it was tearing him apart from the inside.
"Do you know why you came here, young master? You don't honestly think everyone is just supposed to play house with you, do you?"
The man grew impatient and casually tossed a knife to Shen Zhizhao.
"You really are good at hiding. It wasn't easy for us to find you."
"From now on, I'll be following you every step of the way, Shen Zhizhao. Your task is to kill every child you see. If you don't, I'll clean them up for you. But, young master, if you remain this hesitant and always wait for me to take care of your opponents..."
"Then I'll just go have a chat with that girl you're so close to." He spoke with a playful malice. "You wouldn't want to see her die right in front of you too, would you?"
Shen Zhizhao finally reacted.
He turned his head and stared straight at the man.
The boy's face was still pale, and his eyes carried an emotion bordering on pleading.
"No, don't go looking for her."
He shuffled forward a step.
"I will try my best," Shen Zhizhao's voice was shattered into countless fragments by his sobs. "I will do as Grandpa asked. I beg you."
Let her go.
It was also at this moment.
Shen Zhizhao realized his own baseness.
It turned out he wasn't a good person either.
He could abandon everyone else without hesitation, all for the sake of one person.
He was fundamentally no different from the elders in his family who treated human lives like gambling chips in a game.
Compared to unfamiliar people, some of whom he didn't even know, the older sister he had depended on for survival over the past two months on the island naturally stood on the most important side of the scale.
He had no choice. If he didn't want the person close to him to die, he had to let others die.
That night, Shen Zhizhao killed someone.
For the first time, he took the initiative and plunged a knife into a child's body.
The boy's expression at that time was a distorted, unrecognizable mess of crying.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
...
The moonlight was still the same moonlight.
It fell without any warmth, so cold it made one shiver.
From the moment he killed that first person, there was no turning back for Shen Zhizhao.
The moonlight stretched the boy's shadow long and thin. Compared to the children fleeing and hiding everywhere, he was much more conspicuous like this.
He still gripped that knife in his hand, its blade stained with something dark red.
The man followed behind him.
Like a shadow he couldn't shake off.
Shen Zhizhao was already numb. When he encountered others, he could no longer cry. He swayed like a walking corpse.
His clothes were covered in blood, sticking the fabric together, and there was blood on his face.
He didn't wipe it off.
Then, Shen Zhizhao heard a voice.
"Dahei!"
It came from a distance, carrying a gentleness he was familiar with.
It sounded exceptionally loud in the silent night. Shen Zhizhao's footsteps halted, and he looked towards the direction of the voice.
Under the pale moonlight, a small figure was running towards him.
She had taken off her jacket and was holding it against her chest, wrapping something inside it in a bulging bundle.
"So this is where you were hiding."
...
Another chapter is under review.
