Chapter 3: Coming again
In the middle of the night, he got up in panic and ran to the hospital with his sister, who was looking slightly purple on his back. After struggling for more than ten hours, Leon, with bloodshot eyes, turned his back to the sunset outside the window and sat down. Beside a dirty hospital bed, looking at my sister who finally stopped coughing, she asked in a low voice with a complicated expression: "Anna, tell me, when did you stop taking your medicine?"
Hearing Leon rarely call her name, the thin girl who was as white as paper on the hospital bed couldn't help but tremble slightly. She knew that although her brother looked calm now, he was probably going crazy with anger, so he could only lower his head slightly and confess honestly. :
"Almost...two months ago, right?"
two months ago…
After hearing this, Leon recalled it for a moment, and then he couldn't help but clenched his fists hard, and his fingernails with a little dirt were almost wedged into the flesh of his palms.
Two months ago, it happened to be the time when I turned sixteen.
That day, the consolation officer from the Kingdom's military headquarters paid a return visit on time, announcing that he had reached adulthood, and in accordance with the so-called new policy, forcibly stopped the pension for the families of fallen soldiers that should have been paid until the age of twenty-two.
That rare afternoon that was clear, warm and sunny without any clouds of exhaust gas or dust, in the hearts of my family of four, felt colder than the ice fields in the harsh winter.
When the military decided to embezzle pension funds to fill the gap in military expenses in order to balance the over-expenditure accounts, and forcibly stopped the payment of pensions, it pushed this small family that could barely survive to the edge of the cliff...
After recalling what happened that day, Leon silently bit his back teeth and clenched his palms so hard that his joints turned white.
Yes, obviously a quarter of the pension is missing, but the family's expenses have not decreased much in the past two months, and the food can even barely keep the same... Damn it! Why did I just find out now!
“Brother.”
Looking at Leon, who was silent and with his head lowered next to him, the girl who was getting thinner and thinner on the hospital bed was silent for a while, then turned her head slightly, and said quietly in a voice that was so light that it seemed as if it would fall apart at any time:
"Why don't you just leave me alone?"
When Leon heard this, his whole body was shaken, and then he raised his head suddenly, stared at his bloodshot eyes and yelled angrily:
"You're so stupid..."
"elder brother!"
After trying hard to raise her voice, but causing a violent choking cough, the thin girl quickly grabbed Leon's right hand with burst veins, and while trying to steady her breathing like a bellows, she tried to persuade her in a gentle voice:
"I have carefully calculated in the past two months. Even if I will lose another pension after my death, as long as you don't have to buy my medicine and rely on the two remaining pensions, you can play some more days." The odd jobs they had together were enough to bring the two of them to adulthood.
Also, my registered age is one year younger than the actual age, so when I get sick... and after I leave, you just need to avoid the patrols and secretly throw me into the sewage river outside the royal capital at night. If I hang my old clothes on the hangers at home and pretend that I am still here, we can receive the military pension for two more years.
Brother, listen to me, I have already begged the people in Veterans Alley in advance, and they are all willing to help us cover up, as long as they cooperate with you to deceive the military comfort officer... Brother? elder brother! where did you go? "
Go kill someone! I'm going to kill someone!
After hearing Anna’s proposal, Leon, who was trembling all over, was horrified to find that for a moment, he subconsciously agreed with her method. Three years after coming to this world, he actually started to get used to it. everything!
As if there was another numb and cold self behind him, chasing after him, wanting to completely swallow up this barely alive self, Leon began to run at a fast speed unconsciously, and the hot Hot blood filled his brain almost instantly.
On the way out, he roughly knocked over a medical cart, leaned over and touched the scalpel that was still stained with blood, then staggered out of the hospital and headed towards the Highway Department three streets away. Head down and rush!
If it hadn't been for those idiots from the road administration who approved the construction of the alchemy plant near residential areas, Anna wouldn't have gotten sick due to the leakage of alchemy exhaust gas!
If they hadn't colluded with the factory and issued a certificate proving that the leak had not caused pollution, her illness would have been paid for!
If it weren’t for the shameless usurpation by the Kingdom’s military, the double pension left by my parents, who were mechanics, would have been enough to support my three younger siblings until adulthood!
Also! If this shitty world hadn't turned into such a rotten mess, I wouldn't have to struggle as hard as I do now, and I would be able to live more like a human being!
…
Leon, who was full of enthusiasm, walked through three streets with a scalpel in hand, rushed to the Highway Department under the blood-red sunset, and came to the square where there was a long queue yesterday, and people were picked like animals.
Although there was still one hour before the Kingdom's stipulated closing time, the employees of the Highway Department had already filed out of the brightly lit building, talking and laughing as they passed by the shabby Leon.
"Master Wilde's troupe will come to the Royal Capital next week to perform his famous opera at the Central Cross Theatre. Will you go?"
"I'm not that elegant. I'm interested in circus and other things, but let's forget about opera. Why do you want me to watch an opera? Where's your wife?"
"She? She likes opera, yes, but she prefers beautiful leather bags and shoes, as well as department stores that have discounts on that day."
"No wonder, haha, then I can only wish you good luck with your wallet."
Opera, circus, leather bags, department stores... If I didn't listen to what they said, I would even forget that this is not a barren and impoverished world, and not everyone is so miserable.
Listening to the chatter and laughter of the brightly dressed Highway Department employees, Leon couldn't help but slowly raised his head, and looked steadily at the brightly lit building in front of him with his two thick, bloodshot eyes.
Anna is right. Instead of letting her disease bring down the whole family, the most correct thing to do is to give up treatment and let her die of the disease, and then secretly throw the body into the sewage river full of feces and rancid water, and find a way to "cheat" again. Two years of military pensions have allowed me to raise my remaining younger siblings, but... I'm sorry, I really can't hold on any longer...
After working hard for three years, leaving early and returning late, Lyon found that his life not only did not get better, but began to slide into the abyss. First he pressed his bloody lips hard, and then hurriedly walked toward it with a mouth full of the salty taste of rust. He walked towards the Highway Department building.
It was the off-duty time of the Highway Department, and it was also the easiest time to sneak in. Next, he had to go to the second floor, find the bitch who had originally approved the construction of the Alchemy Pharmacy Factory, and cut open his belly full of fat with a knife.
Then he took advantage of the chaos and ran up to the fourth floor, found the bastard who had perjured himself at the pharmaceutical factory, resulting in the family not being able to get compensation and no money to treat Anna, and then died with him! Let these damn...
"Swell!"
"Are you blind? Don't you look at the road when you walk forward?"
Glancing at the thin young man who was knocked to the ground, the fat man who came out of the corner frowned, patted the dust on the front of his coat with disgust, then took a bite of the cheese-smeared burger in his hand and walked around Leon, who fell to the ground, walked away.
After getting up in a daze, Leon couldn't help but be slightly startled when he looked at the familiar figure.
It's the fat guy who "picked cattle" yesterday!
Staring at the back of the arrogant man, looking at the greasy and hateful fat face, which was grabbing a double-layered meatburger and biting it, Leon felt that his mind was buzzing and confused.
As if being dominated by something inexplicable, the rage in his mind that was about to explode found the most suitable outlet, dyeing his already bloodshot eyes scarlet, and driving him to tighten his grip. The tight and cold scalpel staggered after him.
If he could let himself pass yesterday, maybe he wouldn't be so desperate now! If he could let himself pass yesterday, maybe he could save Anna's life! If he could have just let himself pass yesterday...
"Dad~"
Just when Leon had caught up to the man and was about to do something, a clear child's voice suddenly came from his ears.
Along with the clear call like wind chimes, the face full of arrogance and indifference in front of him suddenly warmed up, and the tiredness on the tall fat man's face was instantly wiped away.
He first sucked in his bulging belly vigorously, and then squatted down with some difficulty, smiling and opening his arms towards the little girl who was running towards her.
"..."
Looking at the little girl running past him with a smile and throwing herself into the man's arms like a swallow, Leon couldn't help but gradually slowed down, and then turned around in confusion, and found a middle-aged man with a somewhat fat figure not far behind him. The young woman is gazing over here with a gentle smile.
Even though she lived in such a trashy and fucked-up world, the woman's eyes when she looked at the father and daughter were still full of enviable happiness... It was exactly the same as the smile Anna looked at her at dinner last night.
"..."
"Oh shit!"
After grunting inexplicably, Leon, who was cursing something, loosened his right hand slightly, and the bloody scalpel clattered to the ground, which immediately attracted the suspicious eyes of the obese official.
Ignoring this disgustingly happy family of three, and spitting on the shiny bluestone floor tiles under his feet again, Leon calmed down and turned around silently, taking his trademark heavy steps and heading towards the The Cleanup Bureau walked over in the shadows.
It's very satisfying to kill your enemy with your hands, but sometimes, no matter how much you want to die, you have to live well... at least your death should be more valuable.
Standing in front of the heavy, dark door of the Cleanup Bureau, Leon was silent for a while, raised his hand to grab the shiny brass handle, and pushed it hard inside.
I remember this time yesterday, the red-haired interviewer said that the Cleanup Bureau was considered a non-staff department of the Police Department. According to the rules of this field department, if he died in the line of duty, he should be able to leave a large pension. .
So if in your family of four, one is destined to die first and the remaining three can cry and live...then let me do it!
(End of chapter)