"Alright, everyone. Eat up." Vicky returned with a plate full of peanut butter sandwiches.
When we were about to start eating, Cat glanced at Lori sleeping in the car before looking at me, tears forming in her eyes, "Big brother, Mom… She must be hungry too."
I sighed.
Because of how weak Lori had become, she was unable to digest most foods. So, we mostly fed her soft grains and fruits and sometimes injected the nutritious liquids directly into her bloodstream.
Now, however, we had none of these to give her.
I asked Vicky, but she shook her head apologetically.
She had rushed back from work upon hearing the news of the fire spreading and was only able to take out bread, peanut butter, and a few cartons of milk in food items. All the other things were their clothes, etc.
"It's alright. We'll find something to feed her in the next city," I said, giving Cat's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"Mm," Cat nodded, feeling miserable inside.
Vicky and Felicity ate silently, also feeling bad.
…
After a while, when we were done eating, Vicky looked at me and asked, "So, where are we going now? San Francisco?"
"Yes," I nodded after thinking for a moment. Though we were going there, we were not going to stay there long because our destination was something else.
'It is 7th January today, huh? The illegal ferries to that island should be starting in a few days now…' I thought, my eyes flickering.
Over a month after the fire accident in my past life, I came across a forum while surfing the internet.
In it, a guy had described that he was a native of San Francisco. After the fire spread throughout the region, a large number of people flooded San Francisco.
He felt pity for them as they had lost their homes and most of their other assets in the fire. Several of them didn't even have anything left to buy food and were starving.
So, he decided to feed as many people as he could.
On his third day, he noticed many of the survivors were leaving in groups with people in black suits.
Curious, he asked around and found that those people in suits were from an organization based on an island in the Pacific Ocean, over 200 miles away. They had offered the survivors a chance to change their lives. Those who agreed, they took them away, and those who didn't, they ignored.
He felt something was fishy and went to the police station to inform them about this, but to his surprise, police told him not to put his nose in other people's business.
Though he knew it could be dangerous, he couldn't help himself and met one of the people in the black suits.
He told him he wanted to go to the island too. The man nodded, and the next day, he was aboard an illegal ferry, leaving America.
He didn't mention anything else and just ended the post with a message.
'That place can be both paradise and hell depending upon the people. For me, it was a paradise, but unfortunately, I couldn't keep up with the things and had to leave. I wish I was a little wealthier, a little stronger, and a little more decisive. If I were, I would still be living there.'
After people saw this post, most said he was making things up, while the minority started concocting their own theories.
When I read it all, for some reason, I felt that he hadn't lied at all, and seeing how much he was regretting his exile, I thought that if my family was alive and we were in San Francisco at that time, I would have taken a chance and would have gone to that island.
Since God had sent me back and allowed me to save my family, I was going to take the chance. Ordinarily, I would have hesitated because it was a significant decision, but with my system backing me up, was there anything to worry about?
…
January 8th, 2025
Early in the morning, an hour before sunrise, we arrived in San Francisco and found an old motel in the downtown area where we rented two rooms after haggling for the price before deciding on $70 per day for three days.
…
I gently laid my mom down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. She hadn't woken up until now, and it didn't seem she would wake up anytime soon either.
My little sister sat on the bed beside her, looking at her with a concerned look on her face.
She then asked, "Big brother, should we take her to a clinic and have them check her up to see if everything is alright?"
I knew she was worried that all that smoke she inhaled might have worsened her situation.
Truth be told, I was worried too, and since I now have over $10,000, I could have her checked up without worrying about money, but…
"There is no need. She will soon be alright," I said, looking into her eyes.
Since I now had the skill [Medicine Fluids], there was no need to worry about her condition. I just needed to feed her some of my… blood, and she would get better.
Cat raised her brows, and her lips parted to say something, but then she bit her lower lip and nodded in understanding, her eyes becoming misty.
Seeing this, I sighed. I could tell she must have thought that I refused because I had no money to get her a checkup.
For a moment, I thought about whether I should tell her about my system and put all her worries to rest.
However…
After thinking for a few moments, I chose not to do so.
Even though Earth was supposed to be a harmless world, unlike those magic and cultivation worlds in novels where people could extract memories, it was still better if not many and ideally no one other than me knew about the system to minimize the risk.
After all, even a seemingly harmless world shouldn't be underestimated.
I didn't know at this moment, but this decision to stay cautious was going to prove to be right not far in the future.