Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 836: I Can't Escape Loneliness

What a deja vu. Catherine thought.

It was unknown if the room was too bright, or if it was because of the injury, Catherine seemed to have seen the snowy day when she was young. It was snowing that day, dyeing all the mountains, and everything was covered with a layer of white veil. The sun shone brightly on the snow, and that light could even hurt people's eyes. On that brilliant morning, the man said to her, "Let's stay here from now on!"

This was a small village situated under a snow-capped mountain. There weren't many people in the village, and there weren't even thirty families in the village. The villagers were very kind, at least they didn't have any hostility or rejection towards outsiders. They even helped pull the wood over, allowing the man to erect a wooden house on an empty plot of land in the village. This small wooden house was once the warmest house that Catherine had ever lived in.

It was already winter when they arrived, and there was hardly any food in store. The villagers divided up their meals and helped Catherine and her through a long winter. When spring arrived, he began to participate in hunting. Every day, he went into the snow mountain with the hunters to catch the less dangerous wild beasts. Gradually, their lives began to improve.

Catherine also made some friends of similar age in the village. Spring was a happy time. The children were given only enough food to fill their stomachs, though not much. But they didn't have to work. After preparing three meals a day, Catherine spent more time playing interesting games with her friends.

Spring is short, but summer is dangerous.

Surface dwellers know that summer is a season of high activity for most dangerous species, which lasts until autumn and then least in winter. Spring is almost non-existent, and then the cycle begins again and again, and the seasons come and go. By summer, the children were forbidden from leaving the village. Outside the village, wolves or other dangerous creatures would occasionally appear even in the relatively safe woods.

He still went into the mountains with the hunters every day and even began to work as a lumberjack. All of this was just to make their lives better.

On a starry night, they sat under the stump in front of the wooden house and said, "Catherine, I'll take care of you. So you just have to live happily."

Catherine still remembered the warm smile.

Then the next day, he went into the mountain, but he did not come back until evening. That day, Catherine stood outside the house and waited until sunset, and no hunter escaped until the middle of the moon. They bumped into high-grade dangerous species, and many people died. In order to save the remaining people, he resolutely diverted the dangerous beast away. Catherine listened quietly, then went back to her room alone and finished her dinner at the table in the darkness.

That night, the bread was so hard and the water so cold. She was lying on the bed with a small body that was cold to the core of her heart.

However, a miracle occurred. Three days later, he came back with a body full of injuries. Catherine remembered patting her head with his bloodstained hand and saying, "Don't worry, I won't die until I see you grow up."

Catherine believed his promise.

Then the days seemed to return to their original trajectory.

The upheaval began in the winter of the third year.

That morning the sun was as bright as they had been when they first arrived at the village. However, the light was somewhat strange, causing people to panic. That morning, a huge figure appeared at the entrance of the village. Catherine's entire body stiffened with a single glance. It was a beautiful, gigantic and dignified serpent. However, it did not bring good luck to the village. Instead, it brought slaughter and bloodshed.

All the hunters had joined the battle, and he was no exception. But the constant screams outside reminded Catherine that the situation was very bad for the village. She didn't dare to say anything. At that time, she, who was still young, could only hide herself under the bed and hoped to see his figure again. Perhaps prayer had worked, and he had indeed returned. However, one arm was missing, and blood was dripping from it.

Only the smile on his face remained warm as he said to Catherine, "We have to go. This village is going to be finished. It's the King Snake, the Black Twilight King Snake! We are no match for it …"

Suddenly, with a loud rumble, Catherine noticed that the light in the room had suddenly brightened, and the cold wind had poured in ruthlessly, causing his hair to shake. Then he suddenly rose from the ground, and Catherine screamed. It turned out that the roof had been lifted off by the king snake. The giant snake bit the man's lower body and started to talk about him.

Even in the final moments of his life, he struggled to leave behind a trace of warmth, preventing fear from approaching the girl for whom he was willing to sacrifice his life. He said, "I'm sorry, Catherine. I can't keep our promise. You have to live. Anyway, live, my daughter!"

Then, the king snake raised its head and swallowed the man in the mouth of the abyss!

Catherine suddenly stood up and discovered that she was still in the medical room of the Grai mother ship, not the village she had lived in when she was a child. Then she noticed that there was boiling liquid on both sides of her cheeks. She smiled self-deprecatingly. Yun Dan Feng wiped away her tears and looked at the repair machine. She whispered, "I thought I was used to being alone, but it turns out that I'm still afraid of being lonely …"

Because he was afraid, he didn't want him to leave. Regardless of whether it was the father who no longer remembered his appearance, or the man who had entered his life …

"I don't want to be alone anymore." She said.

When Alan opened his eyes, the nutrient base fluid was gradually flowing through the drainage holes. He moved his body a little and found that there was life everywhere. Alan had quietly recovered from his previous injuries, and he felt that his condition had never recovered. Even if he ran into Karin now, he was confident that he could face her head-on. After the top lid was opened, Alan's muscles flicked and the sensors on his body were bounced off.

He got out of the repairing machine, and the light in the room was so bright that he almost closed his eyes. After a while, his eyes adapted to the light and he saw Catherine lying on the ground. From the girl's nose and mouth, strands of blue-colored blood were slowly flowing out.

Alan's heart skipped a beat. He leaned on the ground and dodged in front of Catherine. He reached out to support Catherine and felt that the girl's body temperature was incomparably cold. Only her chest was slightly warm. Her wounds were so heavy that an uncomfortable feeling surged through Alan's heart. He took off Catherine's coat, including her thin underwear, as fast as he could, and put her naked into the repair machine.

Alan grabbed the tactical board and looked at it for a moment before finding the option to activate it. The repairing machine was restarted, and the nutrient base gradually flooded Catherine. She looked at the small face inside through the observation window on the roof. Alan clenched his fists tightly. Because he was too strong, his fingernails were even embedded in his palms.

"You'll be fine." He said, "Next, let me protect you."

At this moment, this sentence seemed to be overestimating himself, but Alan did not hesitate at all. It was as if it was responding to his intentions. In the depths of his consciousness, every line of the natural disaster circuit flickered faintly.