All achievements do not signify omniscience.

Su Mo only knows what he’s experienced from a “player’s perspective.”

He doesn’t know the content that didn’t appear in the main game “Dawn” or was undocumented in the official setting book.

For example, if you asked Su Mo when a certain quest can be accepted, where to pick it up, and how to complete it, he could recite it fluently.

But if you grabbed a random NPC on the street and asked Su Mo who this person is, what they do, and what their background is, he certainly wouldn’t know.

For Su Mo, Dongdong fell into the second category.

In the “Dawn” game, Dongdong was just an NPC who could assist in combat, able to help fight after being successfully recruited.

But the developers didn’t assign her any side quests, and the setting book didn’t mention her background either.

Therefore, Su Mo knew nothing about Dongdong’s past.

And when the game became reality, everyone became flesh and blood; even those anonymous passersby on the streets had complete lives of their own, as did Dongdong, of course.

Upon hearing that Dongdong killed her family, Su Mo was shocked: “Why did you kill your parents?”

Dongdong, stroking a stray cat, looked deeply: “I didn’t kill my mom, I killed that man.”

Su Mo probed carefully: “You mean your dad?”

“He’s not my dad!” Dongdong suddenly raised her voice.

She clenched her fists tightly, and her gaze dropped as if restraining her inner anger.

“He’s not my dad… he just made me with mom…”

“That man was a scoundrel who managed a bar; my mom worked there as a waitress. He took a liking to her, dominated her, and then I was born.”

“My mom was unhappy with him, constantly struggling in the mire of life.”

“I heard that after I was born, that man became obsessed with gambling, spending every day gambling away everything he had.”

“My mom begged him to stop gambling, but he would curse, hit her, take my milk money, and continue to gamble.”

“Later, when my mom had no choice, she had to sell herself to those wealthy customers in the bar, sleeping with them in exchange for a handful of alms to buy food and clothing for me.”

“You might not believe it, but in the first two years of my remembrance, I didn’t even know what hunger or cold was. Because as long as mom was around, I would always have enough to eat and wear warm clothes.”

At this point, Dongdong turned her head away so Su Mo couldn’t see her face, her voice trembling slightly: “They all said my mom was a cheap woman, anyone could sleep with her.”

“But in my heart, she was the best mom in the world.”

Su Mo listened, somewhat lost.

Yes, if he hadn’t heard it directly from Dongdong, he really wouldn’t have dared to believe it.

In a place like the Border District, where people are less valued than dogs, Dongdong’s mom actually provided her with a childhood of enough food and warm clothing.

It’s hard to imagine the sacrifices this ordinary yet great mother must have made.

Su Mo dazedly asked: “Then what happened? What about your mom?”

Dongdong: “Later, after a while, that man found out my mom was sleeping with customers.”

“He came back and tied her up with a rope, punching her face over and over, beating her to death right in front of me…”

Upon hearing this, Su Mo unconsciously clenched his fists: “So you…”

Dongdong turned to look at Su Mo, and perhaps since the scars of the past had long festered in her heart, she didn’t cry; her eyes only turned red, like stained with blood: “That night, while he was asleep, I stabbed scissors into his throat.”

This was the first time Su Mo learned of Dongdong’s story.

He really couldn’t imagine the extent of that pain.

Many people say childhood is golden, reminisced as sunshine-filled.

Yet every time Dongdong looks back at her childhood, the only memories left are of a “lowly” mother in others’ words and a biological father worse than a beast…

Dongdong quietly stared at the lake, continuing her story: “After stabbing that man, I wandered the streets alone, begged for food, rummaged through garbage bins, competed with stray dogs for food…”

“I had no choice, although I lost my home, life had to go on, I had to survive somehow.”

“Later, I joined a small group, not significant in scale, just over a dozen people. We often teamed up to cross the rusted walls from the sewers, to steal from the wealthy in the Inner City, and sell those goods back in the Border District.”

“They treated me quite nicely then, considering me a little sister, sharing good food with me, going to bars to dance and sing, and even racing cars. For a while, it almost felt like family again.”

Su Mo lowered his eyes in silence, waiting for the impending twist.

This story is beautiful.

But Su Mo knew “beautiful” couldn’t really exist in the Border District.

This is a barren land.

Even fairy tales here are shrouded in darkness.

Dongdong snorted, continuing, “Of course, the group raised me; I had to contribute too.”

“All the dirty work, the tough work, the dangerous work, they left it to me. Whenever anyone in the group committed a crime, they’d pin it on me, make me the scapegoat.”

“Because I was the only child in the group, the Inner City’s law couldn’t touch me, and the sheriff could only detain me for a few days at most, maybe even beat me a bit to vent anger, but eventually let me go.”

“Every misdeed committed by others, I bore it all; I was beaten by the sheriff almost every day.”

“But I didn’t mind, because I considered the group my family, and mutual aid among family members is as it should be.”

Dongdong’s expression turned somewhat mocking as she continued: “Then when I turned 10, they broke into a rich man’s home, got caught, and that person was powerful, called in many officers to chase us.”

“Like always, I was pushed out as the scapegoat, and even met that wealthy man at the bureau, he just said one thing — cripple her.”

Dongdong reflexively placed her hand on her left arm prosthetic, fingers tightly gripping: “The officers found a spot without surveillance, and four or five of them surrounded and beat me with batons.”

“My left arm was broken, my spine shattered, lower body completely paralyzed, with only my right arm and head still able to move.”

“They didn’t kill me, they threw me back to the Border District. Because that wealthy man thought death was too easy for me, living on as a cripple was the best revenge.”

Dongdong looked at the moonlit, shimmering lake, speaking softly: “I remember very clearly, it was pouring rain that day, the roads filled with cold, icy water.”

“I lay on the ground, crawling with the only moving arm, crawling non-stop for over six hours, finally crawling back to our base.”

“I didn’t have big expectations, just hoped they might pat my head, comfort me, and remember to share a bite of food, that would have been enough.”

She snorted again, mockingly saying: “But do you know how they reacted? They told me to get lost, said I was useless now, and the group couldn’t support a cripple.”

“I’ll never forget the cold, indifferent eyes of those ‘friends’, nor the eldest one, whom I’d always seen as a brother, kicking me hard in the face.”

She pointed three centimeters below her right cheekbone, smiling bitterly: “Right here.”

Su Mo closed his eyes, involuntarily sighing softly.

He finally understood why Dongdong had developed such a volatile, aggressive personality.

Because the dark environment required her to be like that.

To survive in the Border District, the only way was to become ruthless.

As ruthless as others are to you, you must be even more ruthless in return.

To have anything, even something as simple as “living,” you must fight, snatch, trample others and then crawl upward, bloodied and beaten.

That’s the Border District.

A harsh, vile land.

The place closest to Hell in all of New Moon City.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep