The Only Serious Philosophical Question

[Required Charm Value: 10, Host Charm Value: 11, Qualified.]

[Ding! Task triggered: The Only Serious Philosophical Question (1/2): Follow the girl back to her home]

[Task Completion Reward: Random Attribute Points *2]

Ning Yu's departing footsteps suddenly stopped, but the girl behind her had already lowered her head again.

She hadn't expected to trigger two tasks from the same person - the system was really milking this one for all it was worth.

Since the task had appeared, there was no reason not to do it.

Ning Yu pretended to leave the free trade zone but actually hid near the exit.

She chose not to go to the exploration team first, fearing that if the girl left early, she would lose the chance to follow her home.

Ning Yu had excellent eyesight and tracked the girl's movements from afar, feeling like she was stalking an assassination target.

Unlike in her previous life where she needed tools, now she could do it with her naked eye alone.

The girl's stall was filled with miscellaneous items, and there weren't many customers, but she seemed very indifferent about prices.

When faced with inquiries, she appeared to carelessly give in repeatedly, exchanging her goods for very few vouchers.

After quite a while, as it was getting close to mealtime, Ning Yu felt slightly hungry, but this wasn't a big problem for her.

The girl finally seemed to give up on selling anything more, casually packing up the items laid out on the ground, with a small pile remaining.

Perhaps she was planning to come back tomorrow to sell more.

Seeing the girl slowly leave the free trade zone with her bag, Ning Yu discreetly followed her from a distance.

Instead of going straight home, she went to the market and exchanged her newly acquired vouchers for some vegetables and a small amount of meat.

Ning Yu observed her but couldn't detect anything unusual, wondering why the system had suddenly issued this task.

After buying groceries, the girl headed straight to the residential area with her bag and groceries.

Ning Yu continued following her, planning to follow her home to complete the first phase of the task.

Soon after, the girl stopped in front of a door, but instead of taking out a key, she started knocking.

What's going on? Isn't this her home?

"Grandma Zhao, are you home? It's me," the girl called out in a gentle, somewhat weak voice.

There was no response from inside.

The girl had to knock again, harder this time.

"I brought you some groceries. Are you feeling better?"

But this knock caused the door to open slightly inward - apparently, it hadn't been properly locked.

It slid open with just a slight push.

"Thud."

As the door opened, the girl's grocery bag seemed to fall to the ground.

The girl rushed into the room, and Ning Yu hesitated whether to follow.

After a moment's consideration, she quickly approached the door and peered inside.

The girl wasn't in the living room; she must have run to one of the rooms.

After confirming there was no one else around, Ning Yu slowly stepped into the house.

As soon as she entered, Ning Yu detected a foul odor she knew well - the smell of a decomposing body.

Then she heard the girl's sobs from the bedroom, low and weak, intermittent, as if she was about to lose consciousness.

"Why... why did it have to be like this..."

"Even you..."

She must have been heartbroken.

There was no need to check the room - Ning Yu could guess what had happened.

However, it seemed this wasn't actually the girl's home.

Soon after, Ark staff members arrived in response to the girl's call for help to handle the body. Ning Yu observed from the shadows.

She read the lips of the staff members as they questioned the girl.

"You are her...?"

The staff member seemed to be asking about the girl's relationship with the deceased elderly woman.

The girl just shook her head:

"We met by chance. I would come to take care of grandma sometimes. She... she was all alone and couldn't work..."

Reading the girl's lip movements, Ning Yu suddenly thought of a very specific question.

In a place like the Ark, how could disabled people, the elderly, and lonely people with serious illnesses survive?

Perhaps there weren't many good solutions.

If they were to increase rescue efforts or provide minimum living allowances, the base would probably become financially unsustainable.

How many kind people like this girl would be willing to help others while in difficult circumstances themselves?

Or could you blame people who could barely take care of themselves for not helping the weak?

So even in the seemingly hopeful Ark, inevitable tragedies still occurred - all thanks to the apocalypse.

There would always be helpless souls dying in dark corners, unknown to anyone.

Watching the staff's practiced movements, the girl seemed to have lost all her strength, slumping against the corridor door.

She didn't even pick up the groceries that had fallen to the ground; in the end, it was the staff who handed them to her as they left.

Ning Yu observed from afar as the girl sat motionless on the ground for a long time. She couldn't help checking the time on her watch.

The girl had been sitting there for almost two hours.

This task seemed to be dragging on.

After another hour, the girl finally stood up and slowly started moving.

Ning Yu watched her and quietly followed.

At the end of the corridor, the girl finally took out her key, opened a door, and went inside.

After the girl entered, Ning Yu checked that no one was around before quietly approaching.

She took a thin metal wire from her system space and carefully inserted it into the keyhole, twisting it a few times.

The lock was quickly picked by Ning Yu, but she didn't rush in. Instead, she carefully listened through the door.

There was no sound from inside.

She opened a tiny crack in the door and peered in.

No one was visible.

She only opened the door wide enough to slip her petite body through and entered the girl's room.

The entire room was dimly lit, with all curtains drawn, giving off a feeling of decay and decline.

Living in such an environment long-term would probably only make the girl's depression worse.

But it was hard to say whether the environment worsened the depression, or the depression led to such an environment.

Ning Yu had heard that this illness was like an abyss - once caught in it, one would sink deeper and deeper, like a vicious cycle.

Sometimes patients also had to endure others' contempt and lack of understanding, even verbal abuse.

It was an illness that might sound trivial but caused immense suffering for those affected.

She slowly surveyed the living room, but the girl wasn't there. Had she gone to sleep?

Suddenly, Ning Yu's gaze fell on a photo frame containing a group photo.

Her pupils contracted slightly as she made out the brightly smiling girl in the photo, along with a face familiar to Ning Yu.

It was the deceased Wan Heng.

She was actually Wan Heng's sister.