Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 318: Chapter 308: The Light of Humanity

Tang Mo looked at the pleading eyes outside the Protective Shield. The cruelty of the apocalypse had already left countless marks on their faces and bodies.

Whether young or old, their faces were etched with worldly weariness, devoid of any lingering hope.

Tang Mo remained silent for a long time. Wen Jianshu and Lin Yi said nothing either.

Wen Jianshu and Lin Yi were both very sensible people. They understood the situation before them clearly. The only reason they weren’t freezing outside, the reason they were the objects of others’ envy—it was all because of Tang Mo.

Therefore, they would unconditionally support any decision she made and would never dream of acting on their own.

As Tang Mo stood in silence, a woman from the crowd suddenly lunged into the Protective Shield. After dropping something she was holding, she immediately retreated and knelt outside, kowtowing toward them again and again.

There had been a man beside her. He froze for a moment upon seeing her actions, then quickly knelt down and began kowtowing alongside her.

The man’s prostrations were heavy and loud. Each thud struck a chord in everyone’s hearts, standing out starkly in the utter silence.

By now, a layer of white snow had covered the ground. The blood from the man’s forehead quickly stained the snow red, but still, he didn’t stop.

Everyone’s gaze fell upon the object the woman had so desperately placed inside the Protective Shield.

What she had fought to bring in was a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The infant’s face was already turning purple from the cold, and it was wrapped in the man’s and woman’s own clothing.

Outside, the woman continued to kowtow, one bow after another, without uttering a single word.

She didn’t need to say anything; anyone could understand what her actions meant.

She was a mother, willing to give up everything—even her life—so that her child could survive.

Soon, others in the crowd began to follow suit. One by one, they darted in, placed the children from their arms inside the Protective Shield, and then retreated to kneel and kowtow like the first couple.

Tang Mo stood there, watching those who had been brought inside. Most were infants, but there were also a few toddlers. Some of the children, still unable to walk properly, were crying and crawling toward the edge of the shield, trying to find their mothers.

Among those brought in were also several elderly people in their seventies or eighties. Their faces were deeply wrinkled, but their clothes were clean. It was clear they had been well-cared for, which was no easy feat in the apocalypse.

One elderly woman with mobility problems was carried in by her children. As she watched them kowtowing forcefully for her sake, she struggled, wanting to go back out to them. But there was nothing she could do, so she could only watch her children with silent tears streaming down her face.

In this dog-eat-dog world, life was just too difficult for everyone still alive.

Children and the elderly were not as robust as able-bodied adults. A little more time in the freezing cold, and they would truly be dead.

Lin Yi was a mother and a daughter herself. Seeing such a scene, her tears flowed uncontrollably. She had to turn her head away, unable to bear watching any longer.

Tang Mo looked at the children and the elderly, then at the people outside who were kowtowing relentlessly, desperately pleading for a sliver of hope for their children and parents. Her eyes began to sting and well up.

’I told myself that after my rebirth, I wouldn’t be tied down by worldly affairs. I would only fight to survive for myself and the people I love.’

But the scene before her was too much. She couldn’t help but tilt her head back, forcing the tears that were about to overflow back down.

Back in the era of peace, there was a term: a community with a shared future for mankind.

At that time, people could never truly grasp the meaning of those words. Everyone just lived their own lives peacefully, never feeling joy or sorrow for the fate of others.

But today, as Tang Mo looked at everything before her, she felt she finally understood what a shared destiny truly meant.

’It means that as a human being, when I look at these children, I see them as the final legacy of humanity in this cruel era—the last flicker of fire in a pitch-black world.’

’When I look at those elderly people, their wrinkles tell the stories of history and time. They are our common ancestors, the path humanity walked through the long river of history to get here.’

’I know the people outside are using moral blackmail to force me to save these children and elders. But right now, no matter how rational I try to be, no matter how clearly I see the logic, I just can’t bring myself to throw them out.’

’I am human. I cannot forget the path that brought us here, nor can I extinguish the last remaining spark of light for humanity in this darkness.’

Yangyang was only two years old; he couldn’t yet understand what the people outside were doing.

So he wasn’t afraid, just watching everything with wide eyes.

Suddenly, Yangyang wriggled out of Tang Mo’s arms and trotted on his short little legs toward the edge of the Protective Shield.

”Yangyang, come back! It’s cold out there!” Tang Mo shouted immediately.

But Yangyang seemed not to hear her, continuing to toddle on his short legs until he reached the elderly woman with the bad legs.

Yangyang stopped and squatted down.

He took the grandma’s hand in one of his and clumsily wiped her face with the other.

”Grandma, what’s wrong? Please don’t cry.”

Inside the Protective Shield, not only Lin Yi, but even Wen Jianshu and the other men could no longer hold back their tears as they watched the scene unfold.

Tang Mo wiped her eyes. A storm of emotions raged within her, and in that instant, she made her decision.

Jingjing had been in Tang Mo’s backpack the whole time. It had a contract with her and was the most sensitive to any changes within her.

It began sniffing around Tang Mo’s body, for it had detected some sort of change in the energy within her.

In a place Jingjing couldn’t see, deep within Tang Mo’s sea of consciousness, a current of energy began to quietly gather, triggered by the decision she had just made. It slowly condensed into a pearl the same size as the yet-unfused Power Pearl, coming to rest silently within her sea of consciousness.

”Everyone, please stop for a moment and listen to what I have to say.”

Tang Mo projected this sentence with her spiritual power. Her voice was incredibly piercing, and everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to listen intently.

”The Hell Era is upon us! As a human collective, we must naturally unite to face this disaster. Since I, Tang Mo, have the ability to contribute right now, I will do my part for everyone. It is my undeniable duty!”

By now, the snow outside was ankle-deep, covering the knees of those who were kneeling.

Hearing Tang Mo’s words, everyone looked up with wide, incredulous eyes at her figure inside the Protective Shield. The light from the shield cast a glow upon her.

It was so warm in there. The woman standing there seemed to be glowing. She was the light of humanity.

At that moment, this one thought filled everyone’s mind.