Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 249: Chapter 239: A World of Its Own

It wasn’t until later that Tang Mo learned the water they’d been drinking all this time was the giant beast’s saliva...

”Brother Bao, the baby is hungry.”

The baby in the woman’s arms suddenly began to cry. The child was a little over a year old, and in a situation like this, it was clear they would have to eat meat along with the adults.

After they all introduced themselves and exchanged greetings, they picked up their tools and began searching the ground for suitable fish to eat.

Their tools were fashioned from parts of fish—scales, teeth... anything with a sharp edge was put to use.

Only the woman holding the baby stood to one side, watching everyone work.

Brother Bao was clearly the leader of the group. Since she was his woman, it was considered normal for her to do nothing—after all, she had given him a child.

After hearing their introductions, Tang Mo finally put all the pieces together.

She had heard Da Yu call Sister Lai’s husband ”Uncle Bao.”

In both age and temperament, he was a near-perfect match for the man standing before her.

Then the other couple had to be Da Yu and Xiao Yu’s parents.

This woman...

Tang Mo sized up the woman standing to the side holding the baby. She looked to be in her thirties, noticeably younger than Da Yu’s parents and Brother Bao.

The baby’s age also matched up.

’There’s no doubt about it, the baby was conceived and born in here.’

Tang Mo couldn’t help but feel a little mortified. ’If this deep-sea leviathan knew its food was still thriving and procreating inside its stomach, what would it even think?’

But according to Da Yu, Uncle Bao and Aunt Lai had been deeply in love. ’Was this all it amounted to?’ Tang Mo thought.

In two years, he even had a child. He had probably forgotten what his wife on the outside was even called.

At that moment, Tang Mo felt a pang of indignation for Sister Lai, who was still waiting for him back home.

With no spare tools, ”preparing food” simply meant carving the tender meat off the fish.

Once they had gathered enough, everyone sat down and began to eat.

”Miss Tang, come sit and have something to eat. Since you’re here, you may as well make yourself comfortable.”

The woman from the other couple warmly beckoned Tang Mo over. It seemed that life here hadn’t crushed her spirit; she still maintained a passion for living.

Tang Mo liked people who could remain positive and optimistic no matter what.

The ID Watches had no signal here, so even if they knew Tang Mo’s name, the people here had no way of knowing she was the number one ranked person on the Huaxia leaderboard.

Tang Mo sat beside the woman, accepted the piece of fish she offered, and thanked her with a smile.

”Ma’am,” Tang Mo asked, ”you mentioned you’re all from Donglin City. Do you happen to have two children?”

”We do. How did you know?” The woman was clearly stunned.

”I came here after setting out to sea from the fishing village in Donglin City. While I was there, I stayed at a little boy’s home.”

”His name is Da Yu, and he has a younger sister named Xiao Yu.”

”Da Yu and Xiao Yu?”

The woman, who had been so gentle and smiling, suddenly grew agitated.

”How are they? Are they okay? They’re my children, my children!”

The agitated woman dropped the fish in her hand and gripped Tang Mo’s.

”I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I got carried away. I must have scared you.”

The woman wiped away her tears with one hand as she apologized to Tang Mo, truly unable to control her emotions in that moment.

”Are my children okay? Is life hard for them, without their mother and me around?”

The man couldn’t hide his agitation either, his eyes fixed on Tang Mo.

Tang Mo looked at the couple, deeply moved.

They loved their children so much. No wonder Da Yu had been raised so well—to be so kind and responsible.

”They’re doing very well,” Tang Mo said honestly. ”Da Yu is like a little adult now. He takes excellent care of his sister.”

Hearing Tang Mo’s words, tears streamed endlessly down the couple’s faces, but they smiled through them.

”That’s my boy,” the man said, his voice filled with pride. ”I knew it! My son is second to none!”

When he heard Tang Mo say she came from the fishing village, Brother Bao’s eyes were also fixed on her. He looked like he wanted to speak but held back, as if wary of broaching a sensitive topic, and ultimately said nothing.

After the meal, Tang Mo used materials from her Space to fashion a temporary shelter for herself, propping a few simple boards against the ”wall” above.

Besides Tang Mo, there were two families here but only two small huts, so naturally, there was no place for her to stay.

The woman with the baby finished eating and took her child back to their hut.

A rope ladder made of fish sinew hung down from the hut.

The woman was surprisingly agile, climbing back into the hut one-handed while holding her baby.

She left without saying goodbye to the others, and none of them watched her go. It was as if they lived in two separate worlds.

After the woman left, Uncle Bao sidled over.

”Is... Lai doing okay? I mean, Sister Lai.” Uncle Bao, a man well into his forties, looked as hesitant as a child.

In truth, Uncle Bao was a year younger than Sister Lai, but he had always been in the habit of calling her Lai. It was an intimate nickname, as if his presence kept her forever young.

So intimate.

Tang Mo found it strange.

She truly couldn’t fathom what was going on in this man’s mind.

’He has a child here, yet he’s still worried about his actual wife back home?’

”She’s doing well enough. But she’s been waiting for someone who can’t possibly return. It must be exhausting.”

After hearing Tang Mo’s words, Uncle Bao was silent for a long time, his head bowed, lost in thought.

Finally, he could only let out a long sigh before getting up and heading back.

After Uncle Bao left, Da Yu’s parents also sighed.

”Fate can be so cruel.”

’If he didn’t want it, could anyone really have forced him, a grown man?’

’Didn’t he choose all of this himself? It seemed a little too late for regrets now.’

”Da Bao was the first to arrive here; that woman was the second. In the beginning, it was just the two of them, and things were peaceful.”

”But then one time, Da Bao was stung by a poisonous fish and became delirious. That woman had her eye on him for a long time, so she... well. Anyway, it just happened that once, and who would have thought, she got pregnant from it.”

”You see, Sister Lai couldn’t have children. Da Bao had gone his whole life without a child of his own, and he loves kids. He probably figured he was never getting out of here, so he just... decided to go on like this.”

’So, Uncle Bao never actually forgot Sister Lai?’

Hearing all this, Tang Mo couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. Fate was truly unfair, always leading lovers astray through cruel twists and turns.