[Post-apocalyptic farming + power progression + two male leads + strong leads saving each other + loyal dog being raised]
In the tenth year of the apocalypse, Lu Chen receives a top-secret mission:
Travel to a heavily contaminated zone and execute the last member of an alien race.
The mission file contains only one photograph.
The boy in it is named Lin Senmu. He has the highest threat rating and the highest priority for elimination.
But when Lu Chen finds him, he sees a garden that should not exist.
Grass has grown on land that died ten years ago. Water has returned to a dry well. The wind blows through the ruins, where white flowers stretch as far as the eye can see.
And the boy known as a "monster" kneels in the middle of the blossoms, cuts open his wrist, and lets his blood drip into the soil, one drop at a time.
At last, Lu Chen understands why the oasis has survived.
It doesn't feed on sunlight and rain.
It feeds on Lin Senmu's life.
When the gun is pressed to his forehead, the boy doesn't resist. He simply places the last seed in Lu Chen's palm.
"Wait for it to sprout."
Lu Chen doesn't pull the trigger.
He takes Lin Senmu back to humanity's last camp.
From that day on, dead crops sprout again, dying water sources run clear, and everyone starts to believe humanity has finally found its savior.
Only Lu Chen knows that every sip of water and every grain of food is hastening Lin Senmu's death.
He wants to take Lin Senmu away, but for the first time, the boy refuses.
"Lu Chen, there are still so many people here who want to live."
"What about you?"
Lin Senmu pauses, then smiles and says:
I want to live too.
But someone has to plant the spring.
Later, everyone wants to keep the oasis.
Only Lu Chen wants to keep the person who grew it.
Summer will come around again.
And those destined to meet will meet again, among the ruins.
