In the middle of the noisy crowd of survivors, the space around Thành Dũng and the other two felt strangely separate. No one cared, nor did anyone pay attention to the shame-filled sobs of a grown man.
In this place, such scenes had long become normal. Some broke down, some cried endlessly, others vomited from exhaustion… so even if a man cried for whatever reason, no one bothered to spare him a glance.
Except for two people — Thành Dũng and Linh Nhi — who were still watching him.
"…"
His mind went blank, his face expressionless, empty. Yet through Thành Dũng's eyes, the figure of the crying man was reflected clearly.
He didn't understand anything from the words Uncle Bách had spoken. He didn't know why the man said those things to him, nor what he was supposed to do next.
Thành Dũng was just a kid who had barely experienced life. What right did he have to understand — or comfort — someone far older than him?
Especially someone who had once been a soldier, who had lived through war, witnessed life and death, survived storms of bullets and fire…
Thành Dũng had been standing there for a long while. Uncle Bách had also been crying for a long while. The longer he stayed here, the heavier and more confused he felt.
He needed to get out. So he turned around and quickly walked away toward the first direction he saw. He hid behind another fallen tree, just enough to keep himself out of their sight. He had to escape this place for a moment.
Trying to gather his tangled thoughts, he sat straight down on the ground. He pressed two fingers against his temples, gently rubbing them. His physical wounds had mostly healed, but now it was his mind that felt drained the moment he sat down.
While massaging his temples, he pulled out the strange box of fruits from earlier. He stared at it for a moment, as if recalling something about them…
He remembered how he obtained those fruits. It was a horrifying memory — one that shattered his understanding of the world.
Back then, Linh Nhi had carried him on her back as they escaped the monsters. The three of them, along with a group of survivors, chose to hide in an area covered by fallen trees — enough to conceal everyone from sight.
Everyone was exhausted, mentally broken, and starving. But food was extremely limited; some had a bit, most had none. The group came up with an idea: search for any edible-looking fruits to make up for the shortage.
It sounded like the best solution, and people were eager. Many volunteered, hoping to get a larger share… or to hide some for themselves.
But reality slapped them all. What everyone thought was the "best idea" turned into pure horror.
The fruits they found had strange shapes and bizarre colors, suspicious at first glance. No one dared to touch them at first. They whispered among themselves, unsure whether these things were edible. But hunger clawed at their stomachs, dragging them back to reality — forcing them to choose between eating or dying.
Some people were so scared they pushed others forward, using them as shields. Others, unable to endure their hunger, took the risk and ate.
Stranger 1: "What… is this? A devil fruit or something…?"
Stranger 2: "Oh! This one looks kinda like a red apple!"
They grabbed the fruits that looked the most normal — those seemed the safest. Only a few desperate ones dared to eat the strange-looking ones.
The chaotic arguing was suddenly cut off by a terrified scream from a little girl:
"Dad…! Dad, what's wrong?! Wake up— please!"
She cried over a man lying flat on the ground. In his hand was a red apple-like fruit, bitten open to reveal a thick, pitch-black flesh inside. The girl sobbed, shaking his shoulders, not knowing whether he had fainted… or died.
Similar situations happened one after another. Someone realized most of the fruits were poisonous. Those who ate the same type showed the same symptoms. Those who ate different fruits suffered differently — some vomited pure blood, some had blood gushing from all five senses, some had their flesh melting as if splashed with acid…
Only a few lucky ones survived by picking fruits without poison. But even they couldn't help but spit them all out — the taste was unbelievably awful.
The people who didn't join the scramble, the ones who hadn't eaten yet…
their understanding of reality — their worldview — wasn't just shaken.
It was completely, utterly renewed.
A Total Rebirth.