Chapter 3

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The boy let out a cheer; there was nothing more satisfying than eating.

Lanie untied the bag and took out a plain round loaf of bread. It had no special ingredients and was a food that the wealthy on the Babylon floating island would disdain. However, on the surface, it was an incredibly precious food. It was free of radiation and had a faint aroma of wheat.

Wheat, on the surface, was as legendary as dragons. As far as Lanie knew, only the enclosed agricultural bases on the floating islands could cultivate such completely unpolluted grains.

Seeing the child take the bread from her hands with a nearly reverent expression, tearing it into small pieces and putting them in his mouth, even licking the oil off his fingers carefully, Lanie suddenly felt a pang of sorrow. If it weren't for her so-called persistence, could this child be living a better life now?

But everything was irretrievable.

After the heartache came intense anger. If it weren't for that man, things wouldn't be like this today. Thinking of this, Lanie clenched her delicate fists tightly.

She pulled out a dagger from her chest, the dagger sheathed in a black leather scabbard. Lanie gently drew the dagger, which was single-edged with a circle of golden patterns on the blade. Its design was simple, with only a red gemstone carved into a demon's head at the end of the handle. This gave the dagger a very fitting name.

Demon's Praise!

A small room.

A bed made of a few wooden planks, a patched but still clean blanket, that was all the room contained. Getting off the bed led directly to the door; it was more like a cabin than a room.

Allen sat on the bed, leaning against the corner. The orange light from the ceiling lamp shone on the boy's small face. In his hand was a dagger, which Lanie had just told him was called Demon's Praise. And about his father.

Father, for Allen, was a foreign term. From birth to now, he only knew his mother and had no information about his father. Lanie never mentioned it, except once last year when he fought with the town's children, and they called Allen a child without a father. After Allen came back and asked Lanie, she didn't give him an answer, only a few slaps on the buttocks.

Later, Allen equated his father with being beaten.

But tonight, Lanie was acting abnormally. Recalling when she handed him the dagger, her usually gentle mother suddenly had a twisted expression and shouted, "Allen, this knife was given to me by your father. Now I'm giving it to you. In the future, use this dagger to stab your damned father in the chest! Can you do it?"

Allen instinctively nodded, but he didn't understand why his mother had such an expression.

A five-year-old child couldn't comprehend that this emotion was hate. Many years later, Allen realized it wasn't just hate; it also contained a profound love that made it hard to breathe.

Hate born from love!

He felt the leather scabbard of the dagger, the best gift he had ever received. Allen had long wanted the small knife Uzi wore on his waist, and Uzi said he would give it to him when he turned ten. But now, he had a better treasure. Allen swore he had never seen such a beautiful dagger in town. The soft glow of the scabbard under the light and the demon gem that refracted light were mesmerizing.

If he had to describe it, he could only use a sentence he had just learned: This is simply too cool!

Allen couldn't resist drawing the dagger. The silver-white blade and the dark golden patterns on it made the little boy's breath catch. Allen could even see his own face, filled with surprise and excitement, reflected in the smooth blade. He licked his lips and reached out his small hand to gently touch the dagger.

His fingers felt a slight chill, followed by a slight pain, as the tip of his finger was cut by the sharp edge.

So sharp!

Allen was not afraid but rather happy. He quickly put the dagger away and sucked the blood from his fingertip, letting the taste of iron spread in his mouth. Then he crawled into the blanket, letting out a few low laughs. Soon, he fell asleep.

The boy didn't know that the tiny bloodstain on the blade began to move on its own and gradually seeped into the blade. The dagger in the scabbard returned to its original state, but the demon gem on the handle faintly glowed in the dim light of the blanket.

Three weeks later, the town welcomed its first winter snow. Silver-white snowflakes fell gently from the sky, like a gift from heaven to the earth, covering the ugliness and concealing the evil, turning the world into a pure white.

The vitality of the world was gradually reviving.

After breakfast, Allen went outside. The ground was already covered with a thin layer of snow, hiding the black and yellow road and leaving a bright silver path. Allen looked up and found that this winter seemed different this year.

Along with the snowflakes, there were some unusual glows floating in the air. Red, green, blue, and purple, the colorful lights mixed with the snowflakes and fell from the sky. This was the most beautiful scene Allen had ever seen. He excitedly brought out a high chair from the house, climbed up, and tried to catch the glows with his hands.

The glows seemed to have a spirit; no matter how Allen's small hands grabbed in the air, none of them landed in the boy's hands. The boy was not discouraged but instead smiled brightly. Finally, a glow landed in Allen's hand. It was cold and immediately penetrated the boy's hand, and Allen saw a faint light on his palm, forming a pattern like a circuit.

The light pattern flashed and disappeared.

"Allen! Oh my God, what are you doing here!"

Lanie's voice suddenly rang out, startling little Allen. The boy quickly jumped down, and Lanie, in a bad mood, picked him up and dragged him into the house: "Didn't I tell you that staying in the snow can make you sick!"

Allen's little face was slightly pink from the cold, and he exhaled a puff of warm air, saying, "See, I'm fine."

He was so stubborn, and Lanie could only glare at him. Allen then pulled his mother to the door and pointed to the sky, saying, "Mom, what are those?"

"Snow."

"No, no, I mean the things in the snow. They have many colors and glow!"

Lanie tapped his head with her finger, "Don't be silly, there's nothing that glows."

Allen touched his forehead, looked curiously at his mother, and then at the sky outside. The glows were still there, but Lanie and the residents on the street seemed to notice nothing unusual about the winter snow.

At this moment, Allen didn't know what he had seen.

It was the Source Power, the fundamental energy of the universe. The ability to see Source Power with the naked eye was one in ten thousand!

Something was awakening.

It must be said that the world is often repetitive and monotonous, just like life in the town, day after day, year after year.

Three days had passed since the first snow.

That night, as Allen was half-asleep, he felt a cool sensation on his forehead. It was as if someone was touching his forehead with a cold finger. He struggled to open his eyes. In the dim room, there was a blurry figure. Allen murmured, "Mom?"

The person "hmm"ed but didn't speak. The slightly cold fingers lightly danced on the boy's face and body, the rhythmic movements making Allen fall back asleep as if under a spell.

The next day, the boy had forgotten about the night before.

However, today, Allen felt an inexplicable tension.

By evening, this feeling had become even stronger. It was so intense that Allen couldn't sleep, his heart pounding, and his pupils dilating slightly as he looked out the window. In his bright red eyes, the moon was particularly round and large tonight. He could even see the majestic mountains on the moon. As he gazed at the moon, a sudden explosion echoed from far away and grew closer!

The boy was startled and got up from the bed in a daze. Then, rough gunfire and angry shouts from men, interspersed with a few screams that sounded like women or children, came from outside the window.

Lanie almost burst into the house, quickly climbed onto the bed, and closed the small window next to Allen's bed.

"What's happening, Mom?"

The mother hugged the child and forced a smile, "I don't know, maybe a dangerous creature has entered the town. Don't worry, Uzi and the others will handle it."

As she spoke, more explosions sounded outside, and the sound waves were much louder than before.

Dangerous creatures had entered the town before, but in the past, the battles would end quickly, and the sounds would be far from the town. But tonight, the explosions and gunfire seemed to have spread into the town and were advancing towards the center!

That's not a dangerous creature! A cold voice in the boy's mind said.

Knock, knock, knock—

The rapid knocking on the door was like a sudden rain, as if it would knock down the thin metal door.

"Stay here, don't come out, dear."

Lanie jumped out of bed, patted Allen's head, and said. She turned and left the room, opening the door to find Uzi. Uzi was covered in blood, and it was unclear if it was his or something else's. Lanie only saw a long, deep wound on his face, almost to the bone!

"Oh my God, you're injured. Come in, let me treat you," Lanie said instinctively.

But Uzi caught her hand and shook his head, "No time. Listen, Lanie, I want you to take Allen and leave."

"This..." Lanie glanced outside, where the town was filled with flames, "Are they dangerous creatures? They..."

"No, Lanie. This time, it's not dangerous creatures, it's the Predators!" Uzi said urgently, "Now the men in town are blocking the entrance, but we can't hold out for long. You need to leave now. Go to Gaul City or somewhere else."

He took two items from his body, "This is a handgun, do you know how to use it? And this is a grenade. Pull the pin and throw it to kill anything that means you harm, okay?"

Placing them in Lanie's hands, Uzi suddenly smiled, a smile as bright as when they first met five years ago. In this night of blood and fire, it was like a ray of sunlight: "I love you, Lanie."

Lanie's body trembled, and then she gritted her teeth, "I know."

He laughed, said nothing, and turned to leave the small house. His figure rushed towards the town entrance, resolute and unwavering!