In Bola City, inside the military hospital opposite the Defense Department building, a woman in a white hospital gown lay on a clean white bed.
The afternoon sunset streamed into the room, falling across the woman’s face.
“Mmm…”
Xi Si Te slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at the unfamiliar white ceiling and immediately understood she was lying in a hospital.
Ou Mi You, who had been dozing by the bed, was woken by Xi Si Te’s movements.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and greeted Xi Si Te in a tired voice:
“Morning… ah no, good afternoon, Xi Si Te. Looks like your skin has gotten a lot tougher. After being bombarded like that, your body didn’t even shatter into pieces all over the place…”
“Ou Mi You, the Captain must have often told you not to always say unpleasant things, right?”
“Uh, uh, fine. Anyway, you’re resurrected now. While the Captain is away, you’ll have to take command.”
“What’s the situation now?”
“Look.”
Ou Mi You pouted and gestured for Xi Si Te to look out the window.
As soon as she turned her head, Xi Si Te saw a shell streak past and hit a building.
The building, a symbol of prosperity, collapsed in an instant.
Even from here, she could hear people screaming.
“Where are the enemies?”
“They’ve compressed the Defense Forces’ perimeter to just this central area. Hai Shi and Le Paxi have already gone to help, but now you have to take over the specific operational command.”
Xi Si Te changed into the combat suit Ou Mi You handed her.
The headscarf, symbolizing pure white, fluttered with her nimble movements.
“Let’s go. Before the Captain returns, we’ll repel this wave of attack.”
***
I woke up from pitch blackness, but after waking up, there was still darkness.
However, I could feel a reassuring warmth at the back of my head.
I didn’t open my eyes.
Instead, I indulged in the warmth and turned over.
slap
“That hurts…”
“Since you’re awake, don’t keep sleeping.”
The voice, somewhat displaced anger, was softly placed into my ear canal.
Only then did I reluctantly open my eyes and look at Leng Qiongling, who was looking down at me.
“Good morning.”
“Are… are you angry?”
“Mm…”
“Hey hey hey, don’t don’t don’t hit me, my face will split!”
I struggled desperately in Leng Qiongling’s hands, and finally managed to get her to let go.
“Wah, my face is going to swell up.”
“Why didn’t you tell me…”
“Re…referring to what?”
“The fact that you can’t die.”
“Should I say it was too late or what…”
“Don’t try to brush it off.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t say it.”
I couldn’t say it no matter what because seeing Leng Qiongling in tattered clothes, looking pitiful and delicate, I panicked and forgot about it, just wanting to help her quickly.
Leng Qiongling glared fiercely at me, then reluctantly gave up pressing for an answer.
I took the opportunity to continue lying on Leng Qiongling’s lap, squinting comfortably.
“By the way, get up.”
“Aiy aiy, why?”
“Stop wasting words. We need to go back quickly. Now that we’ve openly broken with the Saint Assembly, they should have already gathered their forces and launched an attack on the city.”
“Just woke up and your mind is already so sharp. Seems you’re not dumb.”
“…Captain, do you know how long we’ve been here?”
Leng Qiongling’s left hand had been resting on her right wrist, and now she tapped her fingers rhythmically.
“Uh… how long?”
“Sigh…”
Leng Qiongling looked speechless.
She put her hand down and said to me heavily.
“It’s been a day and a half. And that’s only from the time I woke up until you woke up.”
“Then it’s all over.”
“Don’t talk nonsense here. We need to hurry back now. We have to check on the Defense Forces and the team members.”
“Okay, okay, okay.”
Leng Qiongling stood up to leave, but I called out.
“Put this on.”
I threw my coat to Leng Qiongling.
Only then did she remember that her clothes had been torn to shreds, exposing many places without restraint.
Realizing this, Leng Qiongling immediately put on the coat, covered her profile with her hand, and turned around.
We climbed up the tunnel we came through, but found that the original entrance had long been buried by yellow sand.
However, from the fact that I could breathe here for so long, it probably hadn’t been sealed for long, and it didn’t look man-made.
But the depth of the burial was also extreme, almost to the point of burying us alive inside.
“Come on, Leng Qiongling, time for you to shine!”
Leng Qiongling didn’t look at me.
After staring at the yellow sand for a while, she suddenly laughed and turned to look at me.
‘Wh-what’s going on? A chill ran up my spine.’
“L-Leng Qiongling? What are you…”
Without a word, Leng Qiongling directly hoisted me up, exerted force with her feet, and charged straight into the yellow sand above.
“Mmmmph pffff!!!”
Needless to say, my mouth was full of sand.
Not just my mouth, I felt like sand was crawling all over my body.
Pfft!
With a violent bursting sound, I felt like my body was about to explode too.
Leng Qiongling carried me and flew into the night sky.
Then the view plummeted sharply.
Air slapped against my face, brushed past my ears, and blew away my hair.
My hairstyle was going to be ruined.
Clack
When Leng Qiongling landed, she precisely stepped on a stone, while I was violently hit in the lungs from below by her shoulder, almost fainting.
“E-even if this is revenge, it’s too much… Wahhh!”
Leng Qiongling didn’t listen to me at all.
As soon as she landed, she immediately sprinted toward Bola City at a speed that nearly made me catch fire.
“M-my car is still back there.”
But that sentence didn’t reach Leng Qiongling’s ears either.
She still carried me as she ran fiercely.
Under the cover of night, we successfully infiltrated Bola City without being discovered by the enemy.
Although there were no sounds of gunfire around now, we both knew it was because the Defense Forces had been pushed back to the city center, which was why the suburbs were so quiet.
The battle situation was already not optimistic.
Leng Qiongling and I stayed stealthy as we slowly approached the city center, listening along the way to members of the Saint Assembly discussing the current battle situation.
“Brother, when will this fight be over?”
“Ah, it’ll be soon! Look, we’ve already hit their hometown. Once we drag those people up top down and give them a good beating, it’ll be over!”
“Is that so… then let’s hurry up. I haven’t seen my wife and kid in a long time. My kid was just born. If I’m not by his side now, what if he doesn’t recognize me later…”
“You’re not a local?”
“Yeah, yeah, my hometown is in the Western Land. Came all the way here following those big shots up there.”
“Then your experience is older than mine! I’ve always thought of you as my brother, never expected you’re my senior.”
“No need, no need. I don’t like being called that either. Time is something I just got a little earlier than others.”
“That’s actually quite philosophical!”
“I don’t understand philosophy. Same as how I don’t understand what those big shots up there are thinking. They often hold rituals I can’t comprehend. They say it’s to sense the True Lord’s call, but I don’t feel anything. But as long as they give me meals and let me support my family, that’s fine.”
“I don’t really understand either! I just heard that joining means you can beat up those people who sit on high thrones all day, enjoying food and clothing without working, so I came.”
“Yeah, same as me.”
“But I think that ritual is interesting. Every time, I get a strange feeling. Not bad.”
“By the way, why do we need to drag those above down? What did they do?”
“You’re not a local, you don’t know! In the past, they used to come collect taxes every few days. Now after the government unified, they’ve become even more unscrupulous! Every day they either announce new policies or declare a state of war emergency. They’ve scraped all our money away!”
“I see, I see. This never happened in my hometown. The people up there basically didn’t interfere with our village. We were safe every day. After working the fields, we could go fishing or plant fruit trees. Ah, the more I talk, the more I miss my home.”
“Don’t worry! Soon you’ll be able to go back with a big sum of money! That’ll let your wife and kid live well!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
We didn’t continue listening.
We quietly left midway.
“We don’t need to exterminate ordinary people, right?”
Leng Qiongling didn’t reply.
Instead, she still stared ahead, thinking to herself:
‘How do you manage to always keep this heart? Will you one day be hurt by your own kindness?’
Leng Qiongling glanced at Wu Yin, and thought again:
‘Perhaps my mission also includes protecting you, so that you will never be hurt.’
The sand grains stuck in her hair were thrown off by Leng Qiongling, scattering in the air.
Moonlight struck them, like a cluster of brilliant essences.
“I will do it, just like you did for me.”