I, with a long knife in my hand, can only do one move

Because he has not experienced everything these people have experienced, he does not think he is qualified to make evaluations, and can only choose to listen.

"Rick, my younger brother accepted the entrustment when he was only 13 years old, and became the head of the settlement beyond the predecessors. It has been five years now."

"And the death toll in these five years is... 47 people." Cheng Rang echoed in a low voice.

"Without you, there would be 48 people, so thank you very much!" Kelong bowed to himself sincerely.

"No, it's nothing..."

Compared with that young boy, his act of saving only one life was really nothing.

"This is of great help to Rick and us!" Kelong shook his head desperately.

"We all thought it was unbelievably small, but Rick didn't understand! Even if he did, the responsibility for ordering people to die lay heavily on him."

"You mean... these 47 people all died under Rick's orders?"

Cheng Rang didn't expect this.

Crohn nodded.

Forty-seven died—all while on the expedition.

If it is a settlement that has increased to 2000 people, it is generally "separated" just to solve the food problem, and the annual death rate is a multiple of that number.

Not to mention that if other races found the village, hundreds or thousands of humans would easily die.

It lasted for five years, but only 47 people died. This is undoubtedly the credit of Rick.

"So everyone trusts Rick."

"So everyone put their lives on his shoulders, and after receiving the order, they died generously without hesitation."

"And Rick also clearly remembers the names of each of them...even more importantly, he remembers exactly where they died and what they died for."

Cheng Rang was speechless.

If it is yourself, can you do it?

He couldn't help asking himself the question, if he had such a powerful power to protect and manage a settlement of 2000 people, survive in this desperate world for five years, would he be able to keep the death toll at 47? ..even within 50 people?

Can't do it, I can't do it myself.

It didn't even take long to think, Cheng Rang had the answer.

Recalling Rick's dull eyes again, Cheng Rang denied his hasty judgment on him before.

He is not a person who is unwilling to move forward towards hope, but a hero who shoulders the will of more people, the living...even the dead, struggling tenaciously in this desperate quagmire, himself—— It is the hope of those people.

In the despair where no hope can be seen, he leads the people who believe in him, the hope of continuing to survive.

Cheng Rang couldn't even imagine how much pressure he was under behind the mist called reason in his eyes.

"This guy...doesn't he have no limits?"

Kelong stopped abruptly, squeezed back the tears in his eyes, and choked up, "How is it possible..."

"Rick has reached his limit. In such a world, it is impossible for him to act as the flame of hope to keep 2000 people mentally sane!"

"You haven't seen what Rick looks like when he returns to the room after ordering people to die every time... so you don't know."

"Brother... Rick will collapse if this goes on... and what else can we do?"

Cheng Rang, who came to his room, was lying on the hard stone bed, looking up at the dark brown rock wall, Ke Long's words echoed in his mind, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

Rick, who was about to return to the room to continue working, was called down by a petite girl.

It's Nonna.

"Rick...I'm sorry....someone said something so outrageous to you earlier."

There was a guilty expression on her delicate face, and her voice gradually choked up.

"Nonna...Nonna knows, it's all for Rick...so...uh..."

There was a rippling in Rick's calm eyes, he gently raised the corners of his mouth and half-kneeled in front of Nonna with a smile, rubbing her head with his hands.

"It's okay, what Nongna said...is not wrong at all."

The only one who keeps making mistakes is me.

"Rick..."

Nonna clenched her little hands on her chest, watching Rick's weak back step by step towards the cave body, her gaze gradually became firmer.

"Thank you, Rick!"

The immature voice echoed in the cave passage, gradually dissipating with the sound of pattering footsteps, until it returned to silence.

"The person you want to thank...it should be Cheng, Nongna."

Of course Rick heard Nonna's call, he opened the wooden door of his room and couldn't help but smile wryly.

At least it's a little easier, having said that...

"Even I have to thank that guy..."

Chapter 9 Are you still a virgin?

"Oh—! That's amazing, Cheng!"

Just as Rick walked out of the room, he heard the voice of Kelong making a fuss.

"It's nothing, I just have relatively strong strength, it's good if I can help."

"This is really helpful! Cheng, you are too modest~" Ke Long patted Cheng Rang's shoulder hard, and the corner of his mouth was about to burst into laughter.

"Hey, Rick, have you finally come out of your little castle?" Cheng Rang patted his dusty hands twice, and looked at Rick who came out of the passage.

Rick has locked himself in the house for three whole days. Cheng Rang, who just joined the settlement, has not received any tasks, and he who eats free food and fishes here every day always feels a little sorry to see the busy people around him, so he took the initiative Asked Kelong for help.

"Well, the deciphering of the map is basically complete." Rick nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Although he didn't know what Rick was busy with, Cheng Rang still smiled at him.

"By the way, what are you doing? It's been noisy outside since the beginning."

"Did it bother you?"

"No, I just care a little bit."

Cheng Rang raised his hand and patted the newly built wooden structure next to the cave passage and said: "Kelong said that the rock wall here is somewhat cracked and there may be safety issues, but he can't extract much.

Manpower was needed to reinforce it, so I came over to help. "

Rick stepped forward to carefully look at the supporting structure of the reinforced cave, and then said, "You did this all by yourself?"

Ke Long excitedly replied for Cheng Rang: "Of course, it's very powerful! I didn't expect that although Cheng didn't look so strong, he was surprisingly strong!"

"good."

"Is it just such a reaction?!" After seeing Rick's flat reaction, Kelong even felt a little bit apologetic for Cheng Rang.

However, he was stopped by Cheng Rang: "This is just a trivial matter, even if it is replaced by someone else, it won't take long..."

"Huh? But..."

"Are you going out?" Cheng Rang changed the subject, only to find that Rick had already put on the cloak he used to go out.

"Well, there is a place that needs to be investigated."

"I've been busy for three days, why don't I take a break?"

"There is no such leeway for me. If you are tired from work, you can go to rest."

Following Rick to the stables, Cheng Rang said: "Why do you feel like you don't want to see me... Besides, you didn't arrange a job for me."

Rick took off the rein of a strange-looking animal and looked back at Cheng Rang.

"So this time you will go with me, can you ride a horse?"

The trip this time is very long, and it is estimated that it will take five days to ride a horse. I thought it would be easier to hide if I go alone, but since Cheng Rang has the ability to kill demons in seconds, it is also a good idea to bring such a person as insurance good choice.

"..." Cheng Rang looked at the long-horned alpaca led by Rick complicatedly.

Here they call this thing a horse?

White horned double speed grass mud horse? !

Cheng Rang had never ridden a decent horse once in his life, let alone this one.

Although he was secretly complaining in his heart, the man couldn't say that he couldn't do it.

"meeting!"

After simply preparing their luggage, the two people led their horses and set off from the settlement amid Ke Long's reminder to come back early.

......

"Hey! Turn right, big brother, big brother!! There is a tree in front—"

Rick sat firmly on the horse, looking impatiently at the guy not far away who even had basic problems controlling the horse.

"It's obvious that you don't know it at all, why do you have to be stubborn."

"A man can't say he can't do it!...Brother Ma! You're about to hit a tree again! Turn your head away!"

"I don't know what's the point of your bravado at all. It doesn't help anything other than delaying work and wasting time."

Cheng Rang's hands holding the rein tightened, and the corners of his mouth twitched: "That's really embarrassing..."

Rick urged the horse to follow Cheng Rang and helped him stop the restless horse.

"Sit behind me, and you can go on the road by transferring two horses. Every second of time is precious, and there is no time for you to waste it like this."

Putting all the luggage on another horse, Cheng Rang finally shared a ride with Rick, and the second horse was led by the "idiot who couldn't ride a horse" in the back seat.

"If we lose the leash, we will all die on the road." Rick urged

"Don't worry! Even if both horses are lost, I can carry you back."

"I hope so."

"Don't look down on me..."

Rick put on the goggles on his forehead, pulled up the mask, and urged the horse to set off.

.......

On the way—

"You hug too tightly..."

"Safety first, and how long has it been since you took a shower, your body smells bad."

"...I pay great attention to hygiene. If I don't clean my body, I can easily get sick."

after an hour.

"I'm just kidding."

"what?"

"The thing about you not taking a shower just now."

"I suggest you talk less to save your energy."

"Don't worry, my physical strength is many times stronger than yours."

Rick sighed heavily as if feeling very helpless towards the guy behind him, and then continued to remain silent.

After passing through the jungle, the two of them came to the wilderness where the black ash flew down, and they couldn't see anything except the black ash that seemed to never stop.

Cheng Rang was also silent.

In such a desolate and hopeless world, there are still 2000 human settlements living here, without worrying about food and water, and even a little salt for seasoning every meal.

Even if it can only be hidden deep underground, such a situation can be called a miracle.

And this miracle of human life was created by the boy in front of me, since he was only 13 years old...

Really amazing guy.