Apocalypse: Reborn with a Soul Sync Farming Space System-Chapter 101 Decision

Ling Xuan felt Laurel hovering at the corner of her mind as if she wanted to take control of the body.

"Ling Xuan, these people are alone, we should help them. And besides when you said we should recruit the awakened after the apocalypse, isn’t this what you meant?" Laurel let out a frustrated sigh. "She is about to give birth, we should help them before it is too late."

Ling Xuan opened her eyes slowly and the red mist seemed thicker than before, as if it were pressing against the outer wall, testing the strength of the barrier and the resolve of the people behind it, and for a fleeting moment she wondered whether this was how wars began in her past life, not with clashing blades but with a single choice that could tilt fate in one direction or another.

The woman’s cries rose again and this time they were no longer restrained groans but raw, instinctive sounds that tore through the air and echoed against the wall, and even the soldiers who had trained themselves to remain unmoved could not stop the subtle shift in their expressions as they looked from the suffering woman to their commander, waiting for an order that did not come.

"Laurel," Ling Xuan said inwardly, her voice low and dangerous, "you are allowing your past weakness to cloud your judgment."

"My weakness?" Laurel’s reply was calm, but there was a firmness beneath it that Ling Xuan had come to recognize. "If protecting a pregnant woman is weakness, then I will accept that."

Ling Xuan’s grip on the railing tightened slightly as she watched the man remove his torn jacket and place it beneath the woman’s knees, his hands trembling as he tried to support her without knowing what to do, and there was no madness in his eyes, only desperation and confusion, as if he himself could not comprehend why the mist had spared them.

"You know the behaviour of the infected, at least you have seen it from my memory," Laurel continued. "They clawed at their skin and laughed while tearing themselves apart, but these two are still sane, which means they are different, and if they are awakened, then we cannot afford to discard them."

"And if they are bait?" Ling Xuan countered without hesitation. "If something follows their scent and we open the gate, then you will be responsible for every death inside this wall."

Laurel did not answer immediately and Ling Xuan could feel the weight of her silence, not because she had no response but because she understood the truth in those words, and that understanding made the air between them heavier than the mist beyond the valley.

Below, the man looked up again and his voice cracked as he shouted, "Please, we have nowhere else to go, save us...she is going to die if we stay out here."

Chris shifted slightly beside Ling Xuan and although his expression remained composed, his gaze had sharpened in a way that told her he was observing more than just the couple, and when he finally spoke his voice was low enough that only she could hear it.

"If they were infected, they would not be pleading," he said. "They would already be trying to attack us... well according to the books you made mandatory to read."

"That does not prove anything," Ling Xuan replied coldly. "There are things we do not understand about this mist."

Chris did not argue further and instead allowed the silence to stretch between them as he studied the terrain beyond the wall, as if calculating invisible variables only he could see.

The woman screamed again and this time she doubled over completely, her body trembling as she clutched her stomach, and the man’s panic was no longer restrained as he looked around wildly, calling her name over and over as if repeating it could anchor her to life.

"Laurel," Ling Xuan said sharply inside their shared consciousness, "if we open the gate and something happens, I will not hesitate."

"I know," Laurel replied softly. "Then restrain them, bind their hands, blindfold them if you must, but do not leave them to give birth in the mist."

Ling Xuan exhaled slowly and for a moment she despised the fact that Laurel’s words carried weight in her heart despite her own resolve, because she had built her life on logic and strength and had carved her name into history through ruthless decisions, yet here she was hesitating over two strangers because the body she occupied still carried traces of another woman’s compassion.

She raised the microphone again and her voice rang out across the valley.

"If we open the gate, you will follow every instruction without resistance, and if you make a single wrong move, you will be shot."

The man’s head snapped up and relief flooded his face so quickly that it almost looked painful.

"We will, we will," he shouted. "I swear we will."

Ling Xuan lowered the microphone and turned to the soldiers. "Prepare the outer gate, but do not lower the inner barrier, form a defensive line and keep your weapons trained on them."

"Yes, Commander."

The heavy mechanism of the outer gate began to grind and the metallic sound echoed through the valley as the door slowly opened just enough to allow two people through, and the mist swirled inward slightly before the barrier hummed and pushed it back, maintaining its invisible boundary.

The man did not wait for a second invitation and he carefully lifted his sister into his arms, her cries growing weaker as he stumbled toward the opening, and every soldier’s finger tightened around the trigger as they watched the pair approach. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Ling Xuan descended from the tower and moved to stand just behind the defensive line, her gaze unyielding and sharp, and when the couple crossed the threshold she felt the faint shift in the barrier but nothing else changed.

"Stop there," she ordered as soon as they were inside.

The man obeyed instantly and lowered his sister gently onto the ground, his hands raised slightly to show he meant no harm, and up close their condition was clearer, their skin was pale but not rotting, their eyes clear though filled with exhaustion, and the woman’s labor was unmistakable as her body strained with another contraction.