Apocalypse: I Have A Multiplier System - Chapter 467

Chapter 467: Chapter 467: Questions & Suspicions
Su Jiyai watched him eat with quiet patience, her heart aching for him.

When he finally finished, she gently placed her hand on his head.

“Are you okay now?” she asked softly, brushing away a stray tear from his cheek.

He nodded, still too stunned to speak.

Su Jiyai turned toward Qin Feng and gave a quick nod. “Please bring me some warm water and clothes for him.”

Qin Feng didn’t question her. He simply nodded and disappeared into the crowd, returning moments later with a bowl of warm water and a bundle of clothes.

Su Jiyai dipped a cloth into the water and gently began wiping the dirt from the boy’s face.

Her hands were careful, treating him as though he was fragile.

She could feel the tension in his body start to melt away as she cleaned him.

His skin was pale and thin, and she noticed how light he was, almost as if he hadn’t been properly nourished for a long time.

She wiped his hands, cleaning the grime and dirt that clung to his skin.

The boy closed his eyes, lost in the warmth of the water and the softness of her touch.

For the first time in ages, he felt cared for, as though someone truly saw him and wanted to help him.

He didn’t know who she was or why she was being so kind to him, but it didn’t matter.

Just then, the man who had earlier claimed to be the boy’s father stepped forward, forcing a smile.

“Madam, I thank you for your kindness,” he said smoothly. “But I think it’s time I took my son home now.”

At his words, the boy’s whole body tensed. His fingers dug into Su Jiyai’s clothes as he shook his head rapidly, his voice trembling.

“N-No… please don’t let him take me,” he whispered, then raised his voice. “He’s not my father! He’s from the organization… the one that experiments on kids!”

The crowd gasped.

Su Jiyai’s expression darkened like a storm cloud. She gently patted the boy’s head and whispered, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. You’re safe now.”

Then, slowly, she turned her cold gaze toward the man.

“You say you’re the boy’s father?” she asked in a calm but dangerous voice.

The man hesitated for a second before nodding quickly, trying to smile again. “Yes, yes. He’s my son. He’s just confused right now because of trauma. You know how kids are…”

Su Jiyai tilted her head slightly and gave a small smile. “Then you wouldn’t mind a blood test, would you?”

The man’s smile froze.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he dropped to his knees, his face pale and full of panic.

“I… I’m sorry!” he cried, his voice hoarse. “He’s not really my son. He was my second wife’s child from a previous marriage. She passed away during the first wave of attacks. I… I couldn’t bear to let go of him. He’s all I have left of her!”

The crowd murmured in surprise.

Some sighed with sympathy. Others had tears in their eyes.

“Even after all this… true love still exists…” someone whispered.

“To think he kept his dead wife’s son with him… What a kind man,” another said.

Su Jiyai’s lips curled into a smirk, but her eyes remained cold.

“If you loved your second wife so much, then you must’ve loved the boy too, right?”

“Of course!” the man replied quickly. “I treated him like my own! I gave him everything I could!”

Su Jiyai nodded slowly. “Then you must have been feeding him well, yes?”

The man puffed out his chest. “I tried my best. Food is hard to find nowadays, but I always made sure we shared what we had.”

“Interesting,” Su Jiyai said lightly. “Then, in theory, both of you should look about the same in terms of weight. After all, you’re eating the same things, right?”

The crowd nodded. Some were already looking at the man more closely.

Before the man could say anything more, Su Jiyai gently lifted the boy’s sleeve.

Gasps erupted from the crowd.

The boy’s arm was thin—too thin. His bones jutted out, his skin looked dry and weak. It was the body of someone who hadn’t been fed properly for a very long time.

“How is this possible?” someone shouted.

“That child looks like he hasn’t eaten in weeks!”

“If he were really feeding the boy, they wouldn’t look so different!”

Su Jiyai raised her hand, and the noise died down.

She turned to the man again. “How do you explain this?”

The man licked his lips, sweat forming on his forehead. “He… he has tuberculosis!” he stammered. “It’s common! Tuberculosis makes you lose weight!”

Su Jiyai let out a small laugh. Her smile never reached her eyes.

“How convenient,” she said. “Unfortunately for you, I happen to be a doctor.”

Her words sent another wave of surprise through the crowd.

“And I can say with full confidence…” she continued, placing a protective hand on the boy’s back, “this child does not have tuberculosis.”

The crowd was stunned.

The man’s face drained of color.

Su Jiyai stood, holding the boy close, her voice calm and sharp like a blade.

“So tell me, if not illness, what truly caused his condition?”

The man looked around, desperate. His eyes darted across the crowd, searching for support, but all he saw were suspicious stares.

He suddenly straightened up and forced a pitiful tone into his voice.

“Alright… maybe not tuberculosis. But he does have… a mental illness!” he said quickly.

“It’s hard to care for him because he doesn’t think straight! He doesn’t remember things correctly. Sometimes he talks nonsense and forgets who his family is!”

Su Jiyai raised a brow, still calm.

“Oh? What kind of mental illness does he have?” she asked coolly.

The man hesitated, then blurted out,

“Post-wave trauma syndrome! It’s been common since the apocalypse started. Many people have it. You know, confusion, fear, hallucinations…”

Murmurs spread through the crowd. That was a real condition. People had seen others affected by it.

Su Jiyai nodded thoughtfully, then said,

“That is a known illness. But are you saying a child his age can have it?”

The man opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Su Jiyai turned slightly to face the crowd.

“Post-wave trauma syndrome mostly affects adults. Soldiers, survivors who have seen death over and over. But this boy? He’s too young. And even if he was sick—”

She turned to the boy gently, brushing his hair out of his face. “Why is he only scared of you?”

The boy flinched at the mention of the man, shrinking behind Su Jiyai.

But when he looked at the crowd—dozens of strangers—he didn’t seem scared at all. Nervous, maybe, but not terrified.

“He’s not afraid of Qin Feng,” Su Jiyai pointed out. “He’s not afraid of me. Or even this crowd of strangers.”

She faced the man again. “But when you spoke… he clung to me and begged me not to let you take him.”

A sharp silence fell over the crowd.

They looked at the boy again—at his thin arms, his pale face, his trembling hands.

Then they turned to the man. Their eyes weren’t sympathetic anymore.

“Why is he only afraid of you?” someone asked quietly.

“Did you hurt him?” another whispered.

“Was he even your wife’s kid at all…?”

The man saw the shift. He could feel it—like the tide turning against him.

Panic started rising in his chest.

He dropped his head low and began to sob loudly, rocking back and forth.

“This is all a misunderstanding! He’s just confused! The boy doesn’t know what he’s saying! He always had problems—he talked to shadows, shouted at night, he wasn’t normal!”

Su Jiyai didn’t react.

She let him cry for a moment, let the crowd watch him with growing discomfort.

Then she said slowly, “If what you’re saying is true, you won’t mind if I take him to a proper base hospital, right? They’ll run a few tests—simple ones. Nothing scary.”

The man froze again. His sobs stopped instantly.

Su Jiyai stepped forward slightly, still holding the boy protectively.

“We’ll see if he has trauma. We’ll check if he has any injuries, too. Hidden ones.”

Her voice remained soft, but each word hit like a stone.

The man looked up, eyes wide and frantic.

He knew—once tests were done, everything would be exposed.

He couldn’t let that happen.

So, he made one last desperate move.

“F-Fine! You want the boy? Take him! I was just trying to keep a promise to my dead wife!” he shouted, standing up with wild eyes.

“But if you want to tear him away from me, then go ahead! May she curse you from the heavens for taking away her son!”

Gasps filled the air.

Some people hesitated.

That kind of talk was dangerous. In a world already full of death and curses, no one wanted to mess with the dead.

But Su Jiyai didn’t even blink before laughing softly,

“Oh, don’t worry, you will accompany your so-called beloved second wife soon.”