Chapter 44 Yuan Mingan’s Story

Chapter 44: Yuan Ming’an’s Story

A cool evening breeze blew as Gu Jinsheng and Ji An sat on the balcony after dinner, gazing into the distance. They watched the amber-hued sky gradually darken until it turned pitch black. Having someone by their side, chatting about trivial things, seemed to bring a unique warmth even in the apocalypse.

Gu Jinsheng stayed at home for three days, spending that time cooking delicious meals for Ji An. By the end of those three short days, Ji An felt like he had been fattened up.

On the morning of the fourth day, before leaving, Gu Jinsheng made Ji An a bowl of vegetable porridge—a thick millet porridge with perfectly cooked leafy greens and ham made from mutant beast meat. Ji An scooped a bowl for himself; the seasoning was just right. A smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.

These past few days of eating and sleeping at home had improved his complexion noticeably, leaving him feeling refreshed and full of energy.

But he wasn’t in a rush to return to the lab. Instead, he decided to take a little trip to the orphanage.

The Capital Base had raked in huge profits from nutrient supplements, and Ji An’s only request had been the establishment of an orphanage. Naturally, the base had no reason to refuse and immediately took over its operation.

After all, the children were brought back by him, so Ji An felt it was only right to check on them.

The orphanage was located in a remote area, but since it was funded and built by the Capital Base, safety was still guaranteed even in the eastern district.

It took Ji An four to five hours to drive there from the bustling western district. Along the way, he detoured to a physical bookstore and picked up some educational materials suitable for young children.

In the apocalypse, nothing mattered as much as food. In the early years, many physical books were left unwanted, leading to the destruction of countless volumes and the loss of important literature, creating yet another gap in human knowledge.

Now that life in the Capital Base had stabilized somewhat, education was once again being prioritized, and physical books had regained value—though their prices had skyrocketed, even surpassing that of food.

But Ji An wasn’t short on credits these days. He not only bought a dozen physical books but also stocked up on stationery—pencils, pens, markers, crayons—he picked up a bit of everything. The haul wasn’t small, costing him over a thousand credits.

He also stopped by a nearby toy store and spent another two hundred credits on small toys. Of course, these weren’t exactly high-quality—just palm-sized trinkets, the cheap knickknacks that street vendors used to pawn off on kids before the apocalypse.

But for the orphanage’s street urchins, who had once struggled to even get enough to eat, these were already rare and precious treasures.

Truth be told, in the current post-apocalyptic world, these toys *were* considered good. Many ordinary families couldn’t even afford to buy them for their children. Getting a single toy on their birthday would keep kids entertained for an entire year. Even if a toy broke or stopped working, the children would still cling to it like gold.

When Ji An arrived, the children were in the middle of a writing lesson with Yuan Ming’an. She had managed to obtain some simple writing sandboxes from earth and wood superpowered individuals, and the kids balanced them on their laps as they sat in a circle around her, listening attentively to her lesson and occasionally practicing their writing in the sand.

"Mr. Ji!" Yuan Ming’an had just finished telling the children *The Crow and the Pitcher*, one of Aesop’s fables, when she looked up and spotted him, immediately calling out in greeting.

Ji An set down the bags he was carrying in both hands. The children sitting around Yuan Ming’an instantly perked up, craning their necks to get a better look. They vaguely guessed that these might be gifts for them, but having never received presents before in their lives, they didn’t dare to hope.

Perhaps the only kindness they had ever known came from Ji An—and that single act had completely changed their lives.

Ji An smiled at Yuan Ming’an. "I’ve been meaning to visit the children sooner, but I’ve been swamped these past few days and couldn’t carve out any time. You’ve worked hard taking care of them all this while."

"Not at all, it’s my duty. The base *does* pay me a salary, after all," Yuan Ming’an replied with a laugh. "If anyone’s been working hard lately, it’s you and the others. With the auction, the Americans and Japanese wouldn’t let up, constantly stirring trouble. Then there was the whole crisis with the Superpowered Crystal Core—the Americans even tried to detonate a Superpowered Crystal Core to cause chaos in our base! Thankfully, a psychic superpowered individual stepped forward and fired three consecutive arrows straight into that American superpowered’s Crystal Core, neutralizing the threat.

"Who knows how many casualties there could’ve been otherwise, or what the other bases might’ve taken advantage of the situation to do?"

When Ji An had fired those arrows, only the higher-ups of the Capital Base had been present. For one, the sheer power behind those three shots—a peak Level 3 superpowered striking down a Level 6 superpowered, surpassing three whole levels—was too terrifying. Secondly, there were concerns about potential retaliation from America, so Gu Jinsheng had issued a gag order. Though rumors ran rampant outside, no one knew for sure which superpowered had been the one to shoot Cruise. It was all just speculation.

When Yuan Ming’an mentioned the psychic superpowered who had taken down Cruise, her eyes shone just as brightly as the orphanage children’s had when they saw the toys—except hers held an added layer of admiration.

"I’d *really* love to know who that unsung hero is," she said. "But if knowing would put them in harm’s way, then maybe it’s better if I don’t."

Her eyes sparkled. "I just hope the hero stays safe. Though, if I had to guess, it was probably Han Yaokun. Among the researchers, his level is the highest. To land three consecutive shots and reduce a Level 6 superpowered to a vegetative state would require both exceptional marksmanship and a high superpower level. Narrowing it down, the likely candidates would be veteran mental superpowered like Han Yaokun, Na Boyu, Zhou Fanxiu, or Bai Na."

Yuan Ming’an didn’t even consider Ji An as a possibility, despite knowing he was a researcher and the creator of the spatial storage device.

But Ji An’s level was simply too low. How could he possibly engage in cross-level combat, let alone leap *three* levels to turn a Level 6 superpowered into a mindless husk?

Ji An didn’t respond to Yuan Ming’an’s musings—it wasn’t a topic he could possibly address.

To protect him, the base pulled out all the stops to hide him. At this point, he couldn’t just step forward and announce, “All of this was done by me.” What would that say about those who had kept his secret? What would it mean for Jing City Base, or for Gu Jinsheng?

If he were exposed, it wouldn’t be as simple as just revealing himself—he might face endless assassination attempts, and how many innocent people could end up caught in the crossfire?

Of course, he also couldn’t pin everything on others. These matters might sound glorious, but beneath the surface lay deadly dangers. Ji An couldn’t bring himself to let others be his human shield.

Ji An could only change the subject: “Auntie Yuan, you seem to be in much better shape this time compared to last?”

The last time Ji An saw Yuan Mingan, she had looked weary, as if she held no expectations for tomorrow and felt nothing but numbness toward the world. She couldn’t die, so she just got by day to day.

Her entire demeanor had been devoid of vitality, making her appear unnaturally aged—a woman in her fifties looking like a seventy-year-old.

But this time, Yuan Mingan had clearly changed. Her energy and spirit had returned. Though her hair remained solid white and her face was creased with wrinkles, the vibe she gave off was entirely different—as if there was light in her eyes, as if she had hope.

The woman who hadn’t smiled once from their meeting to their parting last time, who had seemed constantly weighed down with worry, had now laughed countless times since their reunion.

This time, she smiled at Ji An again—not a superficial, hollow smile, but a genuine one that came from the heart.

“Mr. Ji, I must thank you for this!” Yuan Mingan bowed deeply to him in earnest gratitude. “You’re the one who changed me. You saved me!”

“Please, don’t say that,” Ji An quickly reached out to help her up. “At most, I just helped a few children.”

But Yuan Mingan refused his hand and insisted on bowing deeply once more. “No, you didn’t just save these children—you saved me too. If you’d like to sit down and hear my story, I’d be happy to share it with you.”

“I’d be honored,” Ji An replied.

Yuan Mingan led him to sit on the sofa and personally brewed a pot of iced tea for him. As a water-wielder, she had plenty of water to spare, so she also poured a cup for each of the children who gathered around to listen.

The way she looked at the children was full of tenderness, without a trace of disdain—it was clear she genuinely cared for them from the bottom of her heart.

Before the apocalypse, Yuan Mingan had come from an unfortunate family—one that valued sons over daughters. Though she was the youngest, she should have been the most cherished, but because she was a girl, she became the afterthought. Her parents forced her to sacrifice everything for her brother, even attempting to sell her off for a dowry to arrange his marriage.

Yuan Mingan refused and ran away.

Stranded in unfamiliar territory, having never known affection growing up, when a man appeared who showed her warmth and care—asking after her well-being three times a day—she took it as true love. She dove headfirst into the relationship, and soon they married.

The following year, Yuan Mingan became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter.

What she hadn’t expected was that the family, who had hidden their true nature so well—pretending not to care whether she bore a son or daughter—completely showed their true colors after she had a girl. They were, in fact, the very kind of family that prized sons—the type Yuan Mingan despised most.

They knew how much she hated this, so they concealed their true selves until after she gave birth.

But when Yuan Mingan, after having a daughter, refused to have a second child, the man’s family couldn’t take it anymore—they panicked.

Seeing the way they looked at her—as if refusing to bear a son was a crime, as if she were unworthy of being a woman—Yuan Mingan understood everything. And to ensure her daughter wouldn’t follow in her footsteps, she became even more determined never to have a son. Otherwise, her daughter would become just like her.

Then, for the first time, the man who had always doted on her showed his true nature.

“He hit me—just because I refused to have a son. He dragged me, still weak from childbirth just three days prior, off the bed and beat me brutally.” As she recounted this, Yuan Mingan’s voice was completely flat.

She spoke as if narrating an ordinary event—matter-of-fact, unemotional, without sorrow or resentment.

“Later, he knelt and begged for forgiveness, saying that even if it was just for our daughter’s sake, he pleaded with me to forgive him. He promised never to bring up having a son again and swore he would treat our daughter well. So I forgave him.”

It wasn’t because Yuan Mingan was weak-willed, as others might assume. Those who had never experienced her childhood of neglect could never understand what even the smallest bit of care and affection meant to her.

It was like a single drop of life-saving water in the desert.

Yuan Mingan was willing to give the man—and herself—another chance, so she chose to forgive.

For a while afterward, the man behaved well. He didn’t hit her again, nor did he neglect their daughter. In fact, the first thing he did after coming home from work every day was to see their daughter, kiss her little face, and make her giggle. Yuan Mingan thought that time had changed him, that it had awakened the paternal love buried deep in his heart—until something terrible happened to their daughter.