Chapter 26

What Happened After

The incredible adventure that unfolded would remain unseen by those waiting at the ruins of Eden. 

All they knew was that Juan never came out. 

Standing before the scorched wasteland, the fire in people’s eyes—like the flames in the ruins—slowly dimmed. 

“Hey… Dying in there must’ve hurt, right?” Eric muttered, wiping his eyes roughly. 

He had arrived too late, carrying Shan back from the outside, just in time to see Juan disappear into the ruins. He hadn’t expected it would be their final goodbye. 

Though they hadn’t known each other long, Eric had truly liked Juan. 

No one responded to Eric’s words, but many began to cry quietly. 

Until— 

“Actually… he might not have felt any pain.” 

A grimy researcher, huddled among the crowd, finally spoke up, revealing a secret he had kept to himself. 

“When the black-clad guards were chasing everyone, I didn’t manage to escape. I hid in the lab next door… and I saw something unbelievable.” 

“I saw them cut off his head.” 

“And then… they shot his body. Again and again.” 

“But no matter how many times they shot him, it didn’t seem to affect him at all.”

“I just wonder… could he already be dead?” 

Lan was taken aback for a moment, then quietly said, “If you think about it carefully, he never ate anything while we were together.” 

Eric was also stunned as he recalled a detail: “When I first met him, his stomach was injured—very badly.” 

“Now that I think about it, the amount of blood he lost couldn’t have been healed by just sleeping in the dormitory for one night.” 

“Do you think he might have died a long time ago? Maybe he came back just to get revenge for his sister?” someone suddenly suggested. 

The group exchanged glances. 

Yet, a glimmer of hope began to spark in their hearts. 

“I just have this feeling that guy wouldn’t just die like that. Maybe one day he’ll suddenly appear right in front of us,” Lan said as he moved bricks. 

“That might give me a shock,” Eric replied, imagining a shadow of a charred figure standing before him, and he couldn’t help but shiver. 

Lan laughed. 

“But even if it’s a scare, I still hope to see him again,” Eric added. 

Nodding, Lan looked at the sculpture made of dirt not far away— 

It was a silhouette, and even though it was just a silhouette, everyone who knew Juan recognized it as the last image of him charging into the flames. 

Yes, it was Juan’s sculpture. 

Eden had collapsed, and the outer city was mostly destroyed. Everything needed to be rebuilt. Some people chose to leave and see the outside world, while others chose to stay. 

For example, Lan and Shan, Eric, Mia, and her lover. 

Among those who stayed, some began to create sculptures of Juan. There was the silhouette sculpture, a sculpture of him emerging from the flames while cradling a baby, and even one of him standing tall despite being shot by the black-clad guards… 

Yes, many, many sculptures. 

After all, they were just sculpting with mud. The people trained in Eden might not excel in combat, but many had artistic talents that felt somewhat out of place in the apocalypse. Moreover, many had been rescued by Juan, so they each expressed their feelings and created their own versions of him. 

So, even though there was no competition, it ended up feeling like a sculpture contest. 

“I made one too,” Lan said softly as he looked at the sculptures scattered around. 

“Actually, I did as well…” Eric said, picking up a stack of new bricks. 

The two exchanged glances and burst into laughter. 

The young people were working energetically, and the ground was filled with the little children they were taking care of. 

The freshly dug soil was dark and fertile, occasionally sprouting tender green seedlings. 

The little ones found it amusing and eagerly reached out to pull them up. 

The adults also thought the lush grass looked nice, so they made simple flowerpots to plant them in, not bothering too much with care, just occasionally watering them. Then one day— 

“Hey? Juan, don’t eat that grass! Huh? This grass tastes salty… and it’s pretty good?!” 

“Ah! Juan, don’t touch that fruit! That fruit looks inedible!” 

“Uh, it is edible. Yesterday I got bored and pulled the thorns off that fruit, and inside there was a small red fruit. I smelled it and couldn’t help but take a bite, and you know what? It’s actually pretty good…” 

Similar things happened in every household. Yes… you should have realized by now, it was S11. The vegetables and fruits transformed by magic were now growing here. 

Then, as the city was being built, everyone began to change their names, discarding their numerical names and choosing new ones for themselves. 

Not only did they rename themselves, but they also gave names to the clueless babies. 

The most popular name in this place became “Juan.” Duplicate names didn’t matter; everyone just called each other that. 

Years later, in the eyes of outsiders, this place became known as a base “rich in agriculture, producing vegetables and fruits,” where “many people were named Juan,” and “there were many sculptures with artistic flair.” 

Of course, that was many years later. 

For the young people currently building the city, these vegetables and fruits felt like treasures from the sky! With insufficient manpower, weapons, and strength, everyone was hungry, and these vegetables and fruits were a lifesaver. Moreover, there was a flower that grew with a large mouth. Although the person who first planted this flower in a pot had a bit of bad luck, people quickly discovered the usefulness of this “Overlord Flower.” 

By planting these flowers around the city, the new base finally became much safer. 

—

The heavy rain poured down. 

The boy sat by the roadside, holding half a corpse in his arms, letting the rain wash over him. He ignored the water on his face and head, carefully cradling the body in his arms, wrapping it tightly in a plastic sheet, and arching his back to shield it from the wind and rain as much as possible. 

This was the result of using the “Everything Will Be Alright” magic spell, with Juan and Ped arriving in another place. 

Unaware of what had happened in Eden since they left, Ped was equally ignorant of this new location.