Chapter 786 - Familiar Faces
In the next few minutes Hao Xuan was shown a great number of different scenes from both the past and the present. It helped him understand quite a bit about the current situation.
Other than the Academy, the Temple, and the Hall, each of which had their own hidden agendas and motives for every action and move they made, there were a few other groups that Hao Xuan was previously unaware of.
The roaches for example. Although they had been laying low since Hao Xuan's first encounter with them, they had not yet left the planet. They were still here, looking for something deep underground, just like the folks from the Temple.
The flames of war had turned most of the surface world upside down. Other than a handful of locations everything else was in cinders. So much blood was shed that the streams and rivers were painted red.
The dead now outnumbered the living but the biggest problem was that they did not stay dead for very long. After every battle the insurmountable losses from each side would rise again with the setting sun and walk off into the darkness.
'The demon is still here. It has not yet left this place. It hides in the shadows, watching, planning, and preparing. But no one even cares anymore about that, do they? Even the native resistance fighters that were supposedly fighting for their freedom seemed to have a change of heart.'
All kinds of powers were battling out for their own gains while the poor mortals of this world paid the heaviest price.
The scene changed for the last time and Hao Xuan was once again thrust back into a slum.
He was above one of the main roads that lead to it. A relatively small party of 50 or so individuals was trudging along the dirt path, dragging themselves towards the slum that could not even support them anymore.
Hao Xuan's gaze was attracted towards a woman near the back. She was clutching the hand of a 6-year-old child on one side and on the other hugging an infant.
Her lips were blackened from the thick scabs that covered them. Her listless eyes made her look a little better than an undead but not by much. Her emaciated figure was so thin that it looked like she had no flesh whatsoever.
The 6-year-old child was in slightly better condition but its face was covered in dirt and the dried lips covered in open wounds.
The infant within the woman's embrace was not breathing anymore. It had died more than a day ago with throngs of insects and flies buzzing about it, but the woman was completely numb to all of it.
She still held it close to her heart, gently patting its back while moving forward with what little energy remained in her body. It was unsure if the other child would be able to see the end of the day either.
And this wasn't a special case either.
Hao Xuan couldn't help but look away from the horrid scene, 'Enough, you don't need to show me this. I get what you're trying to say,' he uttered weakly but the scene did not change.
'I SAID ENOUGH! STOP-' he shouted but paused midway upon seeing another familiar figure walk up to the woman.
He stopped right in front of her and the child, "Here, it's not much but it will help you reach the inner area, you can get more there," he said handing them a small basket of dried meat, bread, and water.
The woman looked at him for a few seconds with the same lifeless gaze until the figure's words registered in her brain.
"I don't have...money..." she said while hiding the 6-year old behind her protectively.
The figure shook his head, "What use is money in this place. Please, take this and....I'm sorry, for your loss," he glanced at the infant's corpse in her embrace.
The figure bowed and walked away with large strides towards another emaciated figure not too far away, handing him a similar basket.
The woman stood in place watching, as the man went from one person to another, handing them food and water without asking anything in return.
She fell to her knees while tears streaked down her dirt-ridden face. Taking out the water pouch she gave some to the child while trying her best not to break down.
Hao Xuan followed the figure's back throughout. When he was done distributing the rations to this party, he went back into the slum and brought out another card filled with the same things. He took it to the next group of people that were coming in.
His feet that were covered in old rags didn't stop for even a second. Yet a genial smile covered his face every time he went up to a person.
'Was his name...Jax?'
Hao Xuan was barely able to connect the face to a name but he remembered the man's temperament from when they met beside the lake, and it had left enough of an expression that he was able to recall it. (First mentioned in chapter 555 'Immensity' and after that in 567 'A new reality')