"Okay..." Little Fatty was stuffing a fried egg into his mouth, his speech muffled, "Bro, you’re not eating? You haven’t had your egg yet?"
"I’m full," Tang Fei said.
Where did he even have the appetite?
The reason he insisted on eating a bowl of noodles was that he knew if he didn’t eat at all, Little Fatty wouldn’t be able to eat either...
He didn’t want to worry Little Fatty.
With such a big incident occurring and his own identity being so complicated, he didn’t even know how to tell Little Fatty.
"Oh. Then can I eat them all?"
"Eat them all," Tang Fei said, getting up and walking upstairs.
Little Fatty watched Tang Fei’s retreating back, his chewing motion stopped, and a pensive look appeared on his face.
Tang Fei returned to his room, locked the door behind him, and pulled out a plastic intelligent disc from his pocket.
This was something the old man had given him to watch when he had time... if he was willing.
For some reason, ordinary people were no longer able to search for the execution by fire video on the Empire’s Starlink network.
He heard that through some special channels, it could be found on servers or websites in other countries, but Tang Fei lacked such technical skills.
He knew what was on the disc, and his heart rejected it.
He didn’t want to watch, and he dared not watch.
Yet he knew he had no choice but to watch...
No human force could contend with such an emotion.
He inserted the disc into the computer port, and a multidimensional projection video appeared in front of him.
Beneath the sky as black as ink, a huge platform had been erected.
Atop the platform, one metal cage after another was placed.
Each cage contained people, some had only one, others three or five...
He saw Tang Li, the man the old man claimed to be his father.
Tall in stature, with a broad back and large frame, a face wide and large, eyebrows like swords extending into his temples, he had the look of someone with a strong and upright character.
"He looks nothing like me," Tang Fei thought to himself.
His eyes were large, his gaze cloudy, his pupils filled with bloodshot veins.
His hands and feet were locked in chains, his desperate gaze fixed on the woman beside him.
The woman’s face was haggard, but she still couldn’t conceal her past beauty. She held a baby in her arms, clutching him tightly as if pouring all her emotions and love into him...
It was a strange feeling; Tang Fei had never seen this woman before.
Previously, he had only been interested in Tang Li, wanting to see what the General who was Phoenix’s "idol" looked like.
But when he saw her, there was an inexplicable pounding in his heart.
He felt a connection, familiarity, as if every cell in his body had been awakened.
Looking at her, looking at that pale, sorrowful face...
His heart was filled with anger, injustice, and pity.
"Mom..." Tang Fei whispered softly.
The word was too unfamiliar, so unfamiliar that saying it out loud made him feel embarrassed.
However, as soon as he said it, he found himself suddenly stepping into that role.
The fire started up; they struggled and screamed in the blaze, but no sound came out...
The only one who could cry out was the child.
The child cried his heart out.
The fire raged fiercely; they desperately moved towards each other, trying to be closer, ever closer...
"This man is my dad..."
"This woman is my mom..."
"This person must be me..."
If these were a group of strangers, someone else’s story, Tang Fei would have watched and that would have been it.
What have the pains of others got to do with him?
After all, he couldn’t even manage his own numerous hardships.
How much empathy can there be in the world?
But once he learned his true identity, once he knew that the man was his father, the woman his mother, and that child... the child who took his place in the flames...
He watched his parents, his family, be consumed by the fire and ultimately turn to ash.
They were so close, seemingly within reach.
Tang Fei played it a second time.
Then he sat there, his expression blank, his eyes vacant and lifeless.
A single tear slowly traced its way down his cheek.