Joachim didn't hesitate at all. He took out a paper list from his pocket and handed it to Yun Feng. Yun Feng was stunned for a moment; he had thought Joachim would give him a list on a virtual screen.
But he still took the paper list and felt an extraordinary sense of respect from it.
Yun Feng focused on the list, his eyes quickly scanning the unfamiliar names, trying to find any pattern or sense of familiarity.
However, most of the names were like random combinations of characters to him.
There was one thing that Yun Feng knew both of them were well aware of: in this disaster called [Honkai], the people around him...
One in ten thousand plus one in ten thousand—such a probability made it really difficult for Yun Feng to convince himself.
It was already a remarkable miracle that he could protect himself under such a probability. To pray that the people around him would also be "lucky" enough to become the "chosen ones" in such a disaster...
It was too greedy.
Yun Feng didn't even dare to hope that such a "miracle" would really happen. All he could fantasize about was that Joachim, or rather, the City of the Future, had a way to forcefully protect a few people in this disaster.
He was a good person, barely, but definitely not a saint.
Joachim was currently asking for his help, and he didn't dare to be "arrogant about his achievements," because he needed the "means to protect the people around him" in Joachim's hands even more.
...Is there really such a means?
Yun Feng wouldn't think about it, didn't want to think about it, and didn't dare to think about it.
Because the result would most likely be, "even if there isn't, what impact would it have on the overall situation, on what you have to do?"
No impact at all.
After the Great Eruption, what impact would one more Yun Mengxi, one more Chen Shicheng have? Would it give people one more laborer in the apocalypse, one more place to listen to music in the apocalypse?
Such an answer would only be laughable.
In a future where order had collapsed, Yun Mengxi's existence meant nothing to outsiders. She was only everything to Yun Feng, not to everyone.
The world would not stop spinning just because Yun Mengxi was gone...
Including him.
Suicide? To leave with Yun Mengxi and the others? To irresponsibly throw the one hundred and forty-three people he could have saved back to the world?
The world would not stop spinning just because Yun Mengxi was gone, but without him, those one hundred and forty-three people... might really not be able to survive!
So, back to the beginning, Yun Feng's definition of himself.
He was not a saint, he could not be without desire. But he felt that he was barely a good person, and he couldn't let so many people be "buried with" his sister and his friends.
Yun Feng knew that if he kept thinking, he would only be left with a painful choice, and what was more painful was that he knew how he would choose.
It was a future that was almost set in stone, so Yun Feng could only pray for the existence of a "miracle."
But as Yun Feng's gaze scanned the list, his face became paler and paler.
He saw a few names he was familiar with. The proportion of these names on this list was surprisingly high.
These familiar names were like lighthouses in the dark, faintly but firmly proving the authenticity of this list. They were also like chains, pulling him step by step towards the known, sacrificial ending.
His breathing involuntarily quickened, his gaze becoming faster and faster, almost frantically searching the list, passing over one unfamiliar name after another, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.
Not there...
Not there...
Still not there...
Until he had read the list from beginning to end, carefully, three times, every stroke almost etched into his mind... he still hadn't found the name he most wanted to see, and most feared not seeing—
[Yun Mengxi]
So... there really is no miracle?
In an instant, Yun Feng felt all the strength drain from his body. Cold despair spread like a tide from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, almost making him unable to stand.
The list in his trembling hands trembled along with his heart, making a rustling sound.
Yun Feng's rationality... or rather, his emotional side, finally collapsed. It couldn't support his blind trust that "Joachim must have a way."
He needed an answer. He needed a definite answer to support all his subsequent actions.
But Yun Feng's rationality understood that this question was more likely to be met with a negative answer that would only have the opposite effect.
He didn't want Joachim to deceive him in order to stabilize him. What he needed was for Yun Mengxi to be alive too...
But Yun Feng's rationality understood that at this moment, lying was the only good option for both of them.
He knew, he knew everything.
He knew the optimal solution at the moment, he knew what he should do, he knew how he would do it, he knew what he would do...
But he didn't want to be the one who carried everything and walked on.
He couldn't bear such a responsibility—even if he could!!
The list in his hands rustled like his shattered heartbeat.
Yun Feng suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at Joachim. His gaze was a mixture of final hope, the fear of an impending collapse, and a hint of desperate madness.
"Mr. Yang..." his voice was extremely hoarse, each word squeezed out of his throat with difficulty. "Tell me... the truth. In that 'future' you saw... Mengxi... my sister... did she..."
He couldn't bring himself to ask.
He didn't dare to say the word.
Was she alive? Dead? Or had she become one of those gray, destructive monsters?
Any of these answers would be enough to completely crush him.
Reason kept warning him not to ask.
No matter what the answer was, it would only increase the pain, and might even shake the foundation of their cooperation.
He should be like a qualified "founder," calm and restrained, focusing on the big picture, for the survival of those one hundred and forty-three people, and even more, swallowing his personal grief.
But he couldn't do it!
He was not a cold machine, he was Yun Mengxi's brother!
The brother who had watched her grow up and promised to protect her forever!
And she was not just a simple "death statistic." She was his sister, the sister who had followed him timidly since she was a child, who had always looked up to him!
The sister who had taken on his dream and chosen to become the "center of attention" in his place!!
Everyone said that he had helped his sister choose the path that was most suitable for her.
But only the two of them knew that standing on that stage, in the center of attention, performing to their heart's content—that was his, Yun Feng's, wish.
The heavy list, the responsibility of one hundred and forty-three lives, now turned into huge shackles, suffocating him.
He couldn't bear it... he really couldn't bear it... he couldn't even lose Mengxi...
Joachim looked at the man who was almost consumed by pain and despair, at the crumbling rationality in his eyes and the hope of a drowning man grasping at the last straw, and an inexplicable emotion filled his heart.
He could completely understand Yun Feng's breakdown. This was not weakness, but the true reaction of human nature under the cruelest test.
He knew that at this moment, a rash, even a well-intentioned lie, could have irreversible consequences in the future.
Once trust was broken, it was fatal in a doomsday environment.
And thankfully—!
He didn't need to lie, and what Yun Feng had to face was by no means that desperate future!
"Mr. Yun Feng, regarding your sister, I can't do anything, because her future is not in my hands," Joachim took a deep breath.
Yun Feng's pupils contracted suddenly. However, before he could think too much, Joachim, with that deep breath, decisively seized the right to speak.
"Because before this list was created, the number of people registered in the Sapphire City survivor shelter was—one hundred and forty-seven!"
Joachim's words were like a sharp sword, instantly piercing through the thick fog of despair that enveloped Yun Feng.
"One hundred and forty-seven—"
Yun Feng suddenly raised his head, his question coming to an abrupt halt.
The madness and pain in his eyes were instantly replaced by incredible shock. He stared at Joachim, as if to confirm if he had heard correctly. "One hundred and forty-seven... really... but this list..."
He subconsciously looked at the list in his hand, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. It clearly listed one hundred and forty-three names.
"The list has one hundred and forty-three people, that's right," Joachim nodded affirmatively, his eyes sharp and clear, without any deception or perfunctory.
"This list was compiled during the first population registration when the shelter's order was initially stabilized, and it records the core members who gathered at the beginning.
"But before that, in the earlier, most chaotic period, the number of people who were actually protected by the shelter and eventually survived was one hundred and forty-seven."
He met Yun Feng's eager, probing gaze and slowly explained, "There were four people who made indelible contributions in the initial stage of the shelter's establishment, but before the first official registration, for various reasons... they left, or were sacrificed.
"Their names were not left on this list, which symbolizes 'stability' and 'continuation', but their existence, their sacrifice, is also a part of the shelter's history, one of the cornerstones on which 'Fire Moth' was ignited."
This news was like a strong light, instantly illuminating the darkness in Yun Feng's heart.
One hundred and forty-seven! Four more than the list!
What did this mean? It meant that the seemingly destined "future" of losing Mengxi was not the only option! There were variables, there were possibilities beyond the list!
"They... those four people..." Yun Feng's voice trembled violently. He hardly dared to ask, but he desperately needed to know, "Who are they? Is... is Mengxi among them?!"
Joachim answered Yun Feng's question with a smile.
"You know the names of those four people in your heart," he reached out and patted Yun Feng's shoulder.
At this moment, he could clearly feel the whole process of Yun Feng's tense body relaxing in an instant.
He let out a long, turbid breath, as if to expel all the accumulated frustration and unwillingness, replaced by the problem of "opening a window," which seemed less terrible after "tearing down the roof."