Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 202: Chapter 192: She Was Wrong

”Abu! Abu!”

Da Hua shouted Abu’s name, desperately searching for him in the crowd.

Abu hid in the furthest corner, ducking his head even lower as he backed away step by step toward the cave entrance.

”Abu, come out.”

Ever since that incident with his daughter, the savage tribe’s chieftain had seemed a bit twisted.

He relished watching these kinds of difficult dilemmas, as if it could somehow make up for the face he had lost back then.

”Abu, you tell her. What’s really going on.”

This was the tribe he would have to spend the rest of his life with. So, no matter how reluctant he was, when the chieftain spoke, Abu could only shuffle forward, step by unwilling step.

”I... I got close to you for your Xing Clan’s treasure.”

His benefactors came first, after all. After a moment’s thought, that’s what Abu decided to tell Da Hua.

Da Hua wasn’t surprised to hear this. It wasn’t as if she’d only just now figured out Abu’s motive.

”So you’re the one who led them up here? To kill my whole family and wipe out my entire clan?”

’How cruel. Truly, how cruel.’

”Do you remember? The first time you came, my father said he was going to beat you to death. He only let you go because I knelt outside his door all night until I passed out. Only then did he relent and release you.”

Da Hua recalled the past. No matter what it was, she had put in every ounce of her effort to cherish her friendship with Abu.

She had always known why Abu got close to her, hadn’t she?

She didn’t care.

But she never expected Abu to be so ruthless. He didn’t just want the Xing Clan’s treasure.

He wanted her life, and the lives of the entire Xing Clan.

”Da Hua, it’s already come to this. There’s nothing more for me to say. You should just hand over the item sooner. You’ll suffer less that way.”

From beginning to end, Abu had never liked this ape. He had never even considered Da Hua a friend.

He was a scumbag who knew how to exploit a young girl’s affection, that was true. But that didn’t mean he didn’t know who was good to him.

He desperately wanted to tell Da Hua that his hands were tied, that he didn’t want them to die. But there was nothing he could do.

The most tragic part was that he had personally been the one to hand the executioner his knife.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from Da Hua’s eyes, dripping onto the ground. Each drop washed away her girlish feelings, and with them, all her yearning for human love.

She was the child of the Xing Clan’s chief. She knew she couldn’t cry right now. Crying would be a sign of weakness.

But she couldn’t stop them. She couldn’t help but feel guilty for her past mistakes and the consequences they had wrought.

So many of her uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters had died. They had all watched her grow up.

’Why should the people closest to me have to pay for my mistakes?’

It was a guilt she would never be able to forgive herself for as long as she lived.

”You never liked me, did you?”

It was a meaningless question, really. Both the one being asked and the one asking knew the answer clearly in their hearts.

Da Hua knew. But she had been lying to herself all this time.

Right up until today, until this irredeemable situation.

’How ridiculous. For the sake of this self-deception, I even married someone I didn’t like, just to get that treasure for Abu and make him happy.’

From start to finish, she had been a fool.

And now, she wanted to hear that answer she already knew, just to finally put an end to her unrealistic fantasies.

”Da Hua... you...”

Ah Mao and Ah Li held each other tightly, watching their daughter.

From the first moment that human came up the mountain, they knew something was wrong. But it was already too late...

They didn’t blame Da Hua for any of what was happening today. They only blamed themselves for giving birth to her as a member of the Xing Clan, causing her to live such a painful life.

”That’s right.”

At this point, Abu no longer had any reason to deceive her.

”How ridiculous. A talking ape really thinks she’s human now? She should take a piss and look at her own reflection.”

A pretty human girl at the edge of the crowd spoke in a shrill voice.

She and her ”Brother Abu” were childhood sweethearts. Naturally, she couldn’t stand seeing someone else covet him, especially not an overreaching ape. It was utterly ridiculous.

Da Hua looked at the girl who had spoken. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, with a slender figure, slightly dark skin, red lips, and white teeth. Her eyes were frighteningly bright.

In Tang Mo’s eyes, such looks wouldn’t even rank, but to Da Hua, this was an appearance she could only dream of but never achieve.

Da Hua subconsciously tugged at her wrinkled, crumpled dress—a result of her earlier struggles. She didn’t need a mirror to know how pathetic she looked right now. The last glimmer of light in her eyes faded, bit by bit.

”Enough chatter. Rip that little ape’s arm off first. If we don’t get serious, he’ll think we’re just joking with him.”

The chieftain had seen enough of the show. Seeing that the ape still had no intention of handing over the treasure, he gave the order.

Perhaps he felt that the older ape had caused too much trouble and lost her parents’ favor, and that the Xing Clan’s chief doted on the younger one more. So, he suddenly changed his mind.

An unfit father, assuming all fathers in the world were as unfit as he was.

This time, the subordinate didn’t hesitate. With a swift motion, he brought the blade down toward Xiao Hua’s arm.

He had clearly braced himself for this, but when the moment came for the blade to fall on his own daughter, Ah Mao still couldn’t hold back. He rushed forward on pure instinct.

The Xing Clan’s crisis, his own life, the ancestral legacy—in that instant, none of it seemed to matter anymore.

In that moment, all he could see was Xiao Hua’s terrified, helpless face.

It all happened suddenly, but it was still within the range of Tang Mo’s spiritual power monitoring.

Her spiritual power was already prepared, ready to send the blade flying the moment it fell.

But in the end, Tang Mo’s speed was one step slower than a father’s heart.

Ah Mao shot out a hand and seized the blade’s edge with his palm, forcefully wrenching the knife away.

Blood dripped from his fingers, running down the blade and onto the ground, but it was as if he didn’t even see it. He only stared at his daughter.

Da Hua was still in their hands, so he didn’t dare to resist too much, afraid that if he hurt one of them, their anger would lead them to harm Da Hua.

”Don’t be afraid, Xiao Hua. Daddy will protect you.”

”Daddy, Daddy... hold me.”

Xiao Hua was terrified. She held out her arms, crying for her daddy to hold her.

Xiao Hua was young and had no ability to resist; only one person was holding her.

Now that the man’s knife had been wrenched away, Ah Mao used his other, uninjured hand to gently pull his daughter into his arms.

Then he let go of the hand gripping the blade and retreated to his wife’s side.