That was the radiance of hope.
Lin Fan looked at the three survivors and said, "It’s alright, it’s all over now. Trust is sometimes very important, but I can understand your hesitance, after all, people are unpredictable in this apocalyptic world. Luckily, I didn’t arrive too late. Those who are alive must bravely face the future."
He quickly dealt with the zombies and had been standing in front of the door intending to knock when he overheard the survivor inside, filled with regret and self-blame. He realized at that moment that when they first saw him, they chose not to trust but to doubt. If they had trusted earlier, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way.
So after some contemplation and deciding what to say, he took the initiative to push the door open and spoke frankly. His intention was to ease the survivor’s constant self-reproach. What had happened, had already happened; there was no need to dwell on it. Only by holding one’s head high and striving to move forward could one start anew.
A-Hai slowly approached Lin Fan.
On his knees, A-Hai clutched at Lin Fan’s thighs and sobbed, "Finally, I’ve finally seen you. You are the God in my heart."
When one is trapped in the darkness of despair and cannot see any hope, faith often becomes the support one needs. A-Hai couldn’t find hope in the depths of his despair until he saw Lin Fan’s figure at the Fuqian Mall; then, hope began to blossom.
He had taken the silhouette of the man with the sword on his back as his faith.
Trusting all along, until he truly saw Lin Fan appear before him on a rainbow cloud, his burgeoning faith was fully elevated.
Lin Fan could feel A-Hai’s emotions.
"It’s fine now; life must go on. Let me have a look at you," Lin Fan said softly.
Looking at the three of them.
He tried to see into their souls through their eyes.
"Do you need to rent a house?"
Lin Fan asked with a smile. The opening hours of Xinfeng Real Estate were often unpredictable. Sometimes they dealt with firefighting heroes, sometimes with the lonely, and sometimes with those who didn’t have a single penny.
A-Hai said, "I’ll rent."
Miao Li exclaimed, "Huh?"
Lin Fan introduced himself, "My name is Lin Fan, a part-time employee at Xinfeng Real Estate. Sunshine District has plenty of housing options, cheap and good quality, a real bang for your buck..."
A-Hai looked at Lin Fan with adoration, no matter what was said, this feeling of worship never changed.
He took them back to Sunshine District.
For A-Hai, seeing the environment of Sunshine District felt like entering heaven, a true paradise amidst the apocalypse.
Miao Li wondered if they had chosen to trust sooner, whether they could have arrived here earlier and avoided all that had happened.
Lin Fan knew their names and inquired about their situation. The fire was indeed arson, and he had not expected there to be such survivors left in Huang City.
He also knew that Miao Li had other regrets, like letting Cao Yan go. Upon hearing this, Lin Fan agreed that Miao Li’s actions at that time were a bit foolish. Miao Li had hoped to change the other person’s mind with his actions, but he still could not see through their true nature.
Had it been him, such an incident would not have occurred. It was tough to grasp such characters; it was better to send them to Officer Huang, who would judge fairly.
"Brother Lin, is this a zombie’s crystal?" Wang Kai looked at the crystal in his hand, feeling its beauty, like crystal material with substances inside resembling the Milky Way.
"Yes, this is what’s inside the zombie’s head. I never noticed it before, but later on, I realized that when I struck them down with my sword, I might have shattered the crystal as well," said Lin Fan.
A-Hai worshiped, "Big brother is amazing, truly the Guardian God in my heart. In this dark apocalypse, there is big brother’s light to guide us. I believe the future is not to be feared, for we have big brother’s shine."
Wang Kai couldn’t help but look at A-Hai and think, what a fervent admirer, his flattery was extraordinary. If his, Wang Kai’s, combat power was a 3, this guy’s was definitely a 10.
Lin Fan smiled, finding A-Hai’s words very pleasing to the ear.
Gu Hang said, "Xiao Fan, your Frostmourne was evolved through the crystal. Does that mean other things can evolve too? Hold on, I’ll go get something."
Soon, Gu Hang returned with an iron rod.
Lin Fan took the iron rod, "The hardness of the crystal is quite something. With your strength, trying to break the crystal with an iron rod might be difficult. I’ll give it a try first."
Lin Fan tossed the crystal into the air, and as it reached a certain height and began to fall slowly, he swung the iron rod piercingly towards the crystal with such speed that multiple afterimages appeared. The tip made contact and with a snap, the crystal was shattered, its energy merging into the iron rod.
Everyone watched intently.
A faint glow coursed over the surface of the rod, then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Alright, the crystal is shattered, and the energy has merged with the iron rod. Gu Hang, give it a try, see if there’s any change," Lin Fan said.
"Can I even lift it?" Gu Hang recalled the previous situation where Frostmourne was laid on the ground and despite using all his strength, he couldn’t even budge it, not the slightest motion, which was quite terrifying to think about.
Lin Fan laughed, "You can. Others have lifted my Frostmourne before. Maybe I’ve used too many crystals when striking, making Frostmourne too enhanced in the end."
Gu Hang took the iron rod, weighing it in his hands. The weight hadn’t changed; it was still the same as before. He then violently smashed it against an iron block placed in the corner.