"I was thinking, I'm just their teacher, not their parent. Doing this much should be enough. It felt like a voice in my head told me to go, to stop worrying about them, that being with my family was the most important thing right now."
"But you didn't leave," Xu An pointed out sharply, stating the mouse’s final decision.
The mouse nodded. "I still remember, I directly pushed open the car door. They were afraid I would jump out, so they had to stop. I got out of the car and stood outside, kneeling directly in front of my parents. I told them I couldn't leave."
"My mom almost fainted from crying. My dad was so angry he took off his shoe and threw it at me... Hahahaha..."
Xu An looked at the mouse's smile but felt a hint of bitterness within it.
"Then how did you end up at the Lighthouse? And what's with these kids?"
"My dad wasn't so heartless as to genuinely not care about my life. They gave me the Lighthouse address, left me a car and food. But my dad said if I insisted on bringing those children into the Lighthouse, I would no longer be his daughter. The rules of the Lighthouse couldn't be broken starting with him."
Xu An: "So you established this Dark Alley?"
"It wasn't really a Dark Alley at first. When I first arrived, I didn't know anything. I was alone with five children, and even getting enough to eat was difficult. I bluffed and swindled using my dad's name for a while, until my dad found out," the mouse made a helpless grimace.
"My dad was truly ruthless, he directly cut off my financial support. I was genuinely poor back then. Those children suffered a lot with me. During our most difficult times, we went three whole days without eating."
Xu An listened, feeling somewhat indifferent. In her past life, she had seen much worse during her most desperate times. Not only did they have no food, but when hunger gnawed at them, people resorted to cannibalism.
Therefore, while touched by the mouse's experience, she didn't empathize deeply.
However, considering that the mouse was not a reborn individual and hadn't experienced the true cruelty of the apocalypse, she felt more understanding when the mouse reached the Lighthouse safely.
The mouse continued, "We six people shared a palm-sized small potato... Later, things got better. I established the Dark Alley. My dad knew about it, but he turned a blind eye. I had some cooperation with the second floor, a win-win situation. My mom said everyone on the Lighthouse was watching my dad, so he couldn't help me and told me not to blame him."
"I never blamed my dad. I know it's not easy for him in his position..."
The mouse spoke intermittently for over an hour, and Xu An listened quietly.
She had previously wondered how a girl like the mouse could establish a vast underground organization within the Lighthouse; it wasn't just about ability.
Now knowing the full story, she admired the mouse's character even more.
"Are all these orphans and widows in the Dark Alley taken in by you?"
"It's mutually beneficial. They help me with my work, and I give them money. It's not exactly taking them in."
The mouse turned her head away; she disliked the word "taken in."
Many people thought that reaching the Lighthouse meant the end of their escape, but they didn't realize it was just the beginning.
There were too many children on the Lighthouse who had become orphans due to accidents, just as Li Shao had said before.
"With so many orphans, how many can you save?"
Li Shu didn't know, so she would save one if she could.
There was also something she hadn't told Xu An: in the year and a half she had been at the Lighthouse, she had never once left it.
She was afraid she wouldn't be able to control herself.
So she self-deceptively thought that if she didn't see it, she wouldn't think about it.
"You are very capable, don't underestimate yourself." Xu An sincerely praised.
In her previous life, she was too busy escaping to ever have the chance to sit down calmly and listen to someone else's story like this.
The most people she encountered were scum men and conniving women who tried to take advantage of her.
Xu An never knew that after the apocalypse, people could still hold onto their original intentions and sense of responsibility. Her mind couldn't help but recall Ana.
That fierce girl who clearly looked like trouble was willing to stay in that barren land for her lover.
"You are very much like a friend of mine," Xu An said with a smile.
"Then your friend must not be a good person, hahahaha..."
The mouse looked at Xu An. Their eyes met for a second, and then they burst into laughter.
After the mouse finished speaking, Xu An roughly understood Qin Chuan's upbringing. It wasn't surprising that a child raised in such a family would turn out the way Qin Chuan did.
"Was Qin Chuan like this since he was little?" Xu An asked curiously.
"He was always like that, rigid and unlikable. Honestly, when I was little, I always suspected Qin Chuan was a robot."
"How could there be a five-year-old child who didn't cry or fuss, but only spent his days practicing horse stance and boxing?"
"But isn't Qin Chuan a posthumous child? Why was his family so strict with him?" Xu An had heard that posthumous children were usually the hope of the entire family, cherished and doted upon.
How did it turn out to be the opposite for Qin Chuan?
"That's why I say the Qin family has issues. They trained such a young child like a rigid drill instructor, completely unlovable. Qin Chuan joined the military right after graduating high school; he attended a military academy for university and then enlisted."
"But I heard from my old man that all of that was just a facade. In reality, Qin Chuan took over his father's position and was secretly assigned to a role. No one knows exactly what the job was. Later, it was rumored throughout the compound that Qin Chuan was a national asset or something like that."
Xu An wasn't surprised by this. If the Doctor could entrust Qin Chuan with sensitive tasks like searching for mutated beasts and glowing mushrooms, it was obvious that Qin Chuan held a significant position in the military.
Mouse: "I'll keep an eye out for any doctors who have had dealings with Qin Chuan. Although there are many scientists in the research institute, I doubt there are many who could be connected to Qin Chuan."
"Thank you for that."
The mouse beamed. "No need to be polite, I charge for it,嘻嘻."
Xu An: "..."
Upon hearing this, Xu An's fleeting admiration for the mouse completely vanished.
Just as they finished talking, Xu An heard a young, childlike voice calling from a distance.
"An'an jie jie~"
Xu An: "..."