Chapter 116 Responsibility and Legacy
After being unconscious for several hours, Robert finally woke up. After Alexander gave him some water, he turned to Benjamin and said, "You two stay here for a bit. I need to make some arrangements."
"Okay." Benjamin nodded.
Alexander closed the door and shouted, "Andrew, Matthew, come to this room to discuss our next steps."
Inside the room.
Benjamin sat by the bed, licking his cigarette with his chapped lips, head down, not saying a word.
Robert stared blankly at the ceiling and asked hoarsely, "How's Matt?"
"He's fine," Benjamin responded lightly.
Robert closed his eyes and said with a trembling voice, "Uncle Benjamin, I was wrong. Matt tried to talk me out of it before we acted, but I didn't listen. In the end, Carl died, and Arthur couldn't even retrieve his body. I deserve to die."
Benjamin smoked, sitting under the dim light, looking at the floor, and said calmly, "Robert, in our generation, there were three brothers, and I was the youngest. When we first moved to District Nine, our family had nothing. Your dad took my second brother to rob food and sell guns, doing whatever it took to survive. I was too young to handle things back then, so I just followed them around aimlessly. When we had some spare money, I could even find a woman."
Robert listened quietly.
"In the fourth year that Pine City officially opened up residency, my second brother fell seriously ill, and we had no savings. Your dad got desperate and took some brothers to rob supplies sent from Stardust City to Pine City. That night, your second uncle didn't sleep at all, but I felt nothing and played cards all night on Maple Street." Benjamin paused, his eyes reddening. "The next morning, someone came back and told me your dad was shot dead, hit over twenty times. I was stunned, completely lost. But miraculously, your second uncle, who had been bedridden for months, pulled through."
"No medicine?"
"No, he just toughed it out." Benjamin's tear-filled eyes continued hoarsely. "Your second uncle survived, gathered your dad's brothers, and continued the work. At that time, I just helped with deliveries and handled simple tasks."
"How did my second uncle die?" Robert turned his head, his voice trembling, "You never told me."
"He was killed in a fight over a store on Maple Street, stabbed seven times." Benjamin smoked, frowning. "When I got to the hospital, he told me he didn't dare die, he was waiting for me."
Robert was silent.
"I was stunned again." Benjamin wiped his tears, looking down. "Your second uncle grabbed my hand, his eyes wide open, and he told me that when our eldest brother went to steal supplies to sell if he didn't die, he must have died of illness. But when the eldest brother died, he was lying in bed with only one thought in his mind: the key person in the family died, and if he died again, what would the family do? So he didn't dare to die.
Robert listened in a daze, saying nothing.
"Robert, do you know what family means?" Benjamin slowly raised his head, his old face looking at his nephew, speaking steadily, "Family means watching each child grow up and seeing each elder pass away. It's a legacy, and it needs successors!"
"Uncle, stop, I understand what you mean."
"Robert, you need to grow up quickly," Benjamin said in a teasing tone, "I'm getting old, living one day less each day. And among the next generation of the Anderson family, you're the oldest. If you keep falling, I won't be able to rest in peace when I die."
"Uncle Benjamin, I won't make you worry anymore," Robert responded, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.
Benjamin stood up, extinguished his cigarette, patted Robert's shoulder, and said, "Failure isn't scary, but after failing, you need to know the pain. Arthur, Carl, and those kids who hang out with you every day are all nobodies with no one to care for them. They call you brother, support you, and do things for you, so you can hold a gun and demand respect from Chris. This is a responsibility!"
"I understand, Uncle Benjamin."
"Get some sleep." Benjamin patted his shoulder again, hunched over, and left the dimly lit room.
Robert looked up at the empty room, but all he could see was Benjamin's aged back.
In the 250-mile no-man's land.
A young man in a fur coat, dirty and bearded, walked into a tent.
"You're here!" A burly man sitting by the fire, cutting half-cooked beef with a knife, asked softly, "Are you going there tomorrow?"
"No, I'm here to tell you I can't go." The dirty young man sat cross-legged, took the knife, cut some meat, and said while eating, "I have an urgent matter, I need to leave with my men."
"Are you kidding?" The burly man frowned. "The job is half done, and you want to quit. What am I supposed to do?"
"What's there to do? Find someone else to finish it." the dirty young man wiped the grease from his mouth. "With enough money, you can find anyone."
"Impossible! The job is urgent. Where can I find the right person?"
"How about this? I'll give you a contact. Call him and have him bring people over," the young man thought for a moment and said firmly, "But I have to go."
The burly man pondered for a while and said, "Don't go. I'll pay you more."
"It's not about the money." The young man shook his head.
The burly man immediately pulled out a gun from his waistband, slapped it on the table, and said, "I don't trust outsiders. You have to finish the job."
The young man was stunned, spat out the meat in his mouth, and suddenly laughed. "Nice gun!"
The burly man took a sip of wine without looking up.
The young man grabbed the gun, pulled the trigger to the left, and suddenly fired.
Several gunshots rang out, and the burly man looked up, his face dark. "What do you mean?"
"This gun isn't even calibrated!" The young man casually put the gun back on the table, bent over lazily, and said, "When it comes to guns, three of you together can't match me. Stop trying to scare me, got it?"
As he finished speaking, two figures walked in from outside.
The young man waved his hand and said softly to the burly man, "I have an urgent matter, I must go. I'll make it up to you next time. I don't want a penny of the final payment this time."
The burly man was stunned for a long time. "Do you have a grudge against money?"
"Some people, some things, are more important than money." the young man smiled, put his hands in his sleeves, and left.
A day and a half later, at the training base.
Alexander pushed open the door and said concisely, "Get ready. I'm going to send a message to the other side."
In the city.
Chris's phone rang. He looked down at the message, only to see a line of small words on it-I was already on my way.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
