Chapter 3

Vance and his companions went in through the fast lane, while Elena and I waited in line outside.

The evening breeze still carried a scorching temperature.

In front of the outer defense line of Outpost No. 3, the line of people waiting to enter moved slowly.

Heavy machine guns were set up behind the sandbags, and soldiers carrying rifles patrolled back and forth along the isolation corridor made of barbed wire.

"Get your chips ready! Scan and verify, one person at a time! Anyone without a chip, get out of the cordon immediately, and anyone who trespasses will be shot on sight!"

The soldiers' rough shouts echoed continuously through the loudspeakers.

Elena and I were standing at the back third of the security checkpoint, less than twenty meters away from the electronic gate that flashed red and blue lights.

On the other side of the barbed wire fence was the refugee quarters, which were isolated from the outside.

Elena walked to my right front side, near the barbed wire fence.

From the moment she entered the restricted area, she maintained a striking demeanor—showing both heartache for the plight of the refugees around her and subtly enjoying the sense of superiority that came with her upcoming entry into the outpost.

The line moved forward slowly by two meters.

Suddenly, an extremely shrill and piercing scream came from the gap in the barbed wire on the right, breaking the muffled buzzing sound.

"Please...please, someone have mercy...save him!"

She was a woman in her thirties. Her hair was matted with sweat and dirt, and she was kneeling outside the barbed wire fence, banging her forehead heavily against the rough iron surface. She was tightly holding a boy wrapped in a tattered jacket in her arms.

The child looked to be no more than five or six years old, with his eyes rolled back and white foam constantly oozing from the corners of his mouth.

Clearly, he needs medicine and water.

In my past life, because we were about to enter the checkpoint, I gave them all the little water I had left, but Elena felt it wasn't enough.

As expected, Elena made the same choice as in her previous life.

I know what she's thinking. No performance can satisfy her extreme vanity more than showing her selfless kindness among a group of selfish and indifferent people.

I took out the two chips and held them between my fingers.

Elena turned her head, her gaze falling on the two chips between my fingers. In that instant, a very precise calculation flashed in her eyes.

She didn't take my two chips. She simply extended her perfectly clean right hand, with an irresistible sense of compassion, and gently pinched one of them.

"This is mine, isn't it?" she murmured, then turned and lunged at the barbed wire without giving me any chance to react.

"Take this!" Elena shouted in a trembling but extremely loud voice. "Take the child inside and tell the guard he has a fever, quick!"

The area around the security checkpoint fell into a deathly silence for a second.

No one could believe that in this place where even water was fought over and people were killed, someone actually gave up their only ticket to survival.

The next second, the woman burst into heart-wrenching sobs: "Thank you... thank you! You are an angel sent by God!"

An uproar immediately erupted around them. The expressionless people in line and the homeless people hanging on the barbed wire all focused their extremely shocked gazes on Elena.

Elena stood in front of the barbed wire fence, slightly raised her chin, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

But the most exciting part of this play has only just begun.

After sending out the chip, Elena slowly turned around and walked up to me.

Unlike some ordinary women, she didn't directly ask me for the last one.

She's a true master; she knows how to get her prey to surrender their lives willingly.

“Cole,” she looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice so poignant it made everyone around her gasp, “I’m sorry. But I couldn’t just stand by and watch that child foaming at the mouth die.”

She took a half step back, as if giving her final words:

“Don’t worry about me, Cole. Take your chip and go inside. There are tens of thousands of refugees outside. Although I won’t survive tonight if I stay here, I don’t regret it at all. Go inside and live well, carrying my hopes with you…”

What a perfect image of a victim.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

Hundreds of eyes around me turned to me at once.

“Such a kind woman, how can you bear to watch her be left outside?” a bearded man next to him immediately shouted.

"Yeah! Your wife gave her life for someone else, so you should give your ticket to your wife!" Another woman in the back of the line chimed in with a sarcastic tone, as if she didn't want to miss out on the drama. "You're so strong, you could just stay out there and find another way to get a ticket. Don't you even have that much sense of responsibility?"

Elena maintained that poignant and restrained expression.

She knows my temper all too well,after all, I love her so much that I can't ignore her.

In a past life, the scene was exactly the same, and the script was exactly the same.

In my past life, I was truly deeply moved by her nobility.

I thought I was protecting an angel.

I gave her the last chip I had, disregarding everything, and left her in this hell on earth.

They didn't know what the price of staying outside would be.

In my past life, over the next two weeks, in order to obtain another chip that would allow me to see her, I signed an agreement and was dropped by helicopter into a radiation-stricken area filled with biochemical gases, where I searched for supplies left behind by the military.

My right shinbone was shattered by a collapsing iron pipe.

I dragged my nearly amputated leg back to the outpost and managed to get a chip with the lowest level of access in return.

But when I finally entered the outpost, half-dead, and met the "angel" I had risked my life for, what awaited me?

She covered her nose and frowned in disgust: "Cole, go wash off the smell. Commander Vance, the chief's son, is coming to inspect later. You'll get his boots dirty."

Memories surged and churned in my mind.

"Next! Show your chip for verification! Anyone without a chip, get out now and don't block the passage!"

Ten meters ahead, next to the electronic turnstile, a soldier impatiently slammed the barrel of his rifle against the iron railing, producing a piercing metallic clang.

The line stopped again.

Elena looked at me with those fragile eyes, as if she were saying goodbye.

The crowd around me pointed and whispered, as if I should be immediately nailed to the pillar of historical shame if I not only gave up the chip.

I slowly lowered my head and looked at the chip in my hand.

"Cole?"

Seeing my reaction, a slight crack appeared in Elena's expression.

I raised my head and first gave a cold glance at the passionate onlookers around me, then turned my gaze to the woman standing in front of me, her face still wet with tears.

My lips couldn't help but twitch upwards little by little, forming a smile, and then I slowly opened my mouth.