Then she went and knocked on the door of the Information Management Office at the United Front Centre. “This is the Information Management Office. What do you want to inquire about?”

“The first combat sequence commander under the United Front Centre, Lieutenant Gao Tang. Is he still in the wild?” She asked.

The opposite person tapped the keyboard a few times.

“I’m sorry,” the staff member told her. “The lieutenant general has been confirmed dead.”

Her fingers were cold but she was still calm. It was the fate of every soldier to die for the base.

“In the… in the wild?”

“At the entrance of the city,” the staff member said. “The Trial Court records show that Lieutenant General Gao Tang was convicted of infection.”

She was in a trance and could hardly stand.

“Madam?” The staff member asked her.

“The Trial Court…” She muttered. “Is their judgment accurate?”

“They have a high probability of being accurate. The accuracy rate of each member of the Trial Court is controlled at 80%. This year, the average accuracy rate of the trainee who just joined is 90%… Madam, do you need help? Madam?”

She stood frozen in place as she recalled Lu Feng called out to her in a slightly hoarse voice. She suddenly trembled.

Perhaps her excessive behaviour scared the staff member. He said, “Your level of authority is relatively high. If you require, I can apply for the detailed records,  the ID card number of the trial judge and the accuracy date for that day… Madam?”

“No.” Her eyes widened like she had heard something horrifying. “Don’t check… don’t check.”

Her memory was like a blank tide. She lost her lover and from that day on, she and Lu Feng gradually became estranged. She also lost him. In fact, she lost her children every day.

On the day the outer city was blown up, Lily heard the distant sound and entered her arms.

“Why did they blow up the city?”

“To make humanity safer.”

“However, the people there are also the children of Eden.” Lily wondered, “If the children aren’t important then why keep us locked up here?”

“They have their own reasons. In order to reach a higher goal, they have to make some choices.” She hugged Lily and explained gently, “The main city and the outer city are our children. Sometimes the children are willful and sometimes they hurt their mother and their fellow kin. It is only when we understand them that we won’t feel pain.”

As she spoke, the blood seeping under the door and the badge of the Trial Court on Lu Feng’s chest overlapped with the mushroom cloud rising in the distance.

Lily asked the same thing. “Do you understand?”

She didn’t answer. She just pressed her forehead against Lily’s forehead and closed her eyes. “I wish for you to never go through this pain again.”

Like sad music at the end, An Zhe quietly opened his eyes.