On the way to becoming the strongest, I first became a popular person.

"Captain..." Someone hesitated and wanted to say something, but opened his mouth and couldn't say anything.

"I understand." The tall man looked around at the expressions of the crowd. Except for a very few people who buried their heads, everyone else had an expression of eager hope on their faces.

He glanced at the unconscious thin girl, slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, and dialed a number on the terminal with determination. The other party quickly answered the call.

An old voice came from inside, anxiously and impatiently saying: "Qin An? What do you want to see me for? I'm conducting an important experiment. If you have something to say, please tell me now. If not, I'll hang up!"

"Dr. Ji, I met a qualified person here."

"Oh, what's the big deal about one qualified person? I have at least 8,000 qualified people here."

The person on the other end of the line said impatiently, raising his hand to hang up.

"Wait, the shock wave caused by her accidental awakening just now killed three star beasts, including a B-level star beast."

"Hmm?" The person on the other end seemed to be interested, and his voice rose a little. "That's quite interesting. How old is she? Send me her information, I'll save it for later."

"She's about five years old. Why don't you just take her away?"

"What do you mean by taking? It is illegal to take Alliance citizens for experiments without permission. A five-year-old child is not yet an adult and is not within the scope of genetic modification. Do you want to ruin my reputation?!"

"But Dr. Ji, you said before..."

"The past is the past, and the present is the present! After this sudden attack by the star beasts, the alliance has realized that if this continues, humanity will have no choice but to perish. Some of those stubborn conservatives have begun to waver. It won't be long before the alliance committee will approve our proposal. Okay, I will naturally send someone to take her away when the time comes."

"Anything else? If not, I'll hang up now. Next time you meet a special qualified person, just send me the information. Don't call me if you don't have anything else to do and disturb my experiments. I'm very busy!"

"without……"

The call was hung up before he could finish, and a beep sound came to his ears.

Qin An raised his hand and pinched his brow. Dr. Ji was still as violent and, uh, hardworking as ever.

He himself is a qualified person. His genetic modification experiment was taken over by Dr. Ji. His genes are currently in a stable state, waiting for further modification, and the next experiment is still in preparation, so he was sent out to clean up the star beasts first.

The other party's technology is really amazing. He is worthy of being the best expert in genetic modification in the alliance, and he is far ahead of others. But his personality is a bit difficult to judge. He is worthy of being one of the representatives of the radical faction. He is indeed very radical in his words and deeds.

We’ll deal with the child’s matter later. Time is urgent now, so let’s clear out the star beasts in this area first.

"Leave two people here to take care of the two children, and the others will continue to clean up the star beasts with me."

He randomly picked out two people, and then led the others quickly to the location of the remaining star beasts marked on the terminal.

After listening to their conversation in a daze, the girl in a semi-comatose state finally couldn't hold on and fainted completely.

……

In the quiet bamboo forest on the back mountain, the sun shines down, casting a shadow. The wind blows through the forest, making a rustling sound, shaking down a flutter of dark green bamboo leaves, which scatter on the newly formed small bumps on the ground.

On this barren land, a pile of new graves stand abruptly. They are like sad babies just born by the earth, quiet and heavy.

The graves are closely connected to each other, and the new soil emits a damp smell, as if someone's tears of grief are still lingering. The surrounding dead grass sways in the wind, occasionally brushing over the graves, gently caressing the resting place of the sleepers.

Eleven firmly inserted the last wooden sign in his hand into a raised mound in front of him. On the sign were two crooked characters - Seventeen. Below it was a funny kitten with the character "King" on its head. Next to it was a small flower that was blooming vigorously.

She slowly stood up and stared at the wooden sign quietly. After a long time, she looked away and looked around.

Everywhere you look, you can see new graves. On each grave is a wooden sign with a name carved crookedly by a child with a knife. It looks a bit funny, but combined with the dead silence here, it makes people feel particularly heavy.

His eyes swept quietly across the wooden signs, as if he wanted to memorize the names on them in his heart.

Lan Yin, Chen Xiao, Shi Qi, Li Huange...

Eleven's gaze paused on Li Huange's name, which was the name Forty-Six had been named before he came to the orphanage.

The thin girl stood in the wind, staring at the wooden sign, her eyelashes trembling and drooping to hide the expression in her eyes.

She still didn't survive. She had finally escaped from the star beast's mouth, but she still died.

I still remember her mumbling when she was seriously ill. She was murmuring the names of everyone in the orphanage, including the director, Teacher Chen Xiao, Shiqi and the others, and of course, myself.

She clenched her hands tightly, whispering her own name over and over again, and then at a certain moment she stopped breathing forever. The skinny little hand slowly loosened and fell limply beside her.

Eleven looked quietly at the new graves. The warm and bright sunshine fell on her, but she could not feel any warmth at all. There was only desolation and dead silence in her eyes. The grief in her heart surged like a tide, constantly washing over her.

The sea of ​​death drowned everyone, leaving her alone standing on a small isolated island in the sea. She looked around in confusion.

Spring will never come again because everyone died in this winter.

They died cruelly in the ruthless winter before they could wait for the spring to come and the flowers to bloom, leaving this world forever in such a bloody and tragic way.

Everyone died, and she was the only one left alive.

She was alone.

She really has no home.

She heard from those uncles that the Alliance would send new people to manage the place and the orphanage would not disappear but would continue to exist.

Yes, the orphanage will not disappear, because in this star beast raid, there are thousands and millions of children like her who have lost their loved ones forever and become orphans.

This would be their new home, but it would no longer be her home.

Her home had been buried forever in her heart, buried in this winter, along with the death of all of them.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally retracted her gaze, raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face, turned her head to look at the people behind her, and said with a hint of sob and stubbornness in her voice: "Uncle, thank you."

The people behind him were silent for a while, and only the man in the lead said in a low voice: "You're welcome."

They couldn't help at all, they didn't save anyone in the orphanage, and they could only watch another child die. They couldn't do anything.

The only thing they did was to help her bury the bodies of those people and make wooden plaques for her.

Every name on the wooden sign was carved by her own hands, one stroke at a time, one cut at a time. Even when her hands were covered with blisters, she never asked them for help. She looked so serious, as if she wanted to engrave all the dead people in her heart. They had no reason to intervene and could only watch.

They stood there quietly, looking at the endless graves in silence.

The wind whistled through the forest, blowing up the fallen leaves on the ground.

The air was filled with the subtle, refreshing aroma of bamboo, the damp, fishy odor of freshly turned earth, and a lingering smell of blood.

They mixed and intertwined together, eventually turning into the smell of death.