The fairy had descended into the mortal world.
I suddenly had this inexplicable thought, touching a corner of my mind, and my whole body felt as if countless electric currents were running up and down.
After coaxing Hai Shi to sleep, I crawled out of the tent with nothing to do.
Camping outdoors in this season was clearly not a good choice, but there were no caves nearby, so it couldn’t be helped.
I put on my coat and, after putting on my shoes, planned to take a walk outside, even though there was no scenery nearby, only gobi desert and yellow sand.
Walking out of the camp and going a bit farther, I heard a faint musical sound that didn’t belong to this quiet night.
The sound came from a rock in front of me.
I climbed onto the rock tiptoeing, afraid of disturbing the musician’s mood.
Finally, I climbed onto the rock, but the music stopped.
‘Discovered?’
It seemed so.
The fairy playing the music stopped her movements and looked at me in surprise.
Silver moonlight gently fell on her body and hair.
Her hair color, which had been like the darkness of a lightless night, became hazy, dyed with the color of the half moon.
“Captain? Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“It’s just that I have a feeling that coming here might trigger some special event.”
“Captain, sometimes I can’t understand what you say.”
“Sorry, I just couldn’t sleep soundly outside, so I got up to look around. Can I sit here?”
Leng Qiongling nodded and moved over to make room for me.
I sat beside Leng Qiongling, my legs dangling over the edge of the rock.
“Is this flute yours?”
I pointed at the flute in Leng Qiongling’s hand.
It looked like a very ordinary flute, but the music it produced surpassed all the expensive instruments I had ever heard.
“Mm, my mother bought it for me. She always said that if I felt troubled by something, I should take it out and play it. After playing for a while, the worries would be blown away.”
Leng Qiongling said as her pale hand caressed the flute, as if polishing a beloved treasure.
She really treasured that flute, after all, it might be her only item to remember her family by.
“So, have the worries been blown away now?”
Leng Qiongling didn’t answer me.
Her eyes fixed on the flute, she shook her head in denial.
I see.
After all, this time the troubles were probably much greater than any she had encountered before.
Maybe it wasn’t so easy to blow them away.
“Is that so? It’s okay. There’s still time anyway. Just blow away a little bit each time.”
I crossed my hands behind my head, looked up at the starry dust filling the sky, and lay down.
Leng Qiongling seemed to notice that I wasn’t continuing, and she appeared a bit at a loss.
“Captain, aren’t you going to say some words of wisdom?”
I waved my hand dismissively, closed my eyes, and felt the prickling sensation of the cold wind on my skin.
“I don’t have enough life experience to preach lessons. I can only use the blueprint of my own experiences to help others who have gone through similar things.”
“Did you say the same thing to the seniors before?”
“Of course not. Back then I was still pretty naive, so I was just single-mindedly trying to help them.”
Saying this, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“But most of the time, I was ignored by them.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, by then they had been forced onto the battlefield for a while, so they had more scars.”
“Even with them like that, you were still willing to throw yourself into danger for them?”
“Precisely because they were like that.”
I clenched my fist, as if to shatter this night.
“That’s why I needed to risk everything for them. They said I couldn’t understand them, so I would understand. They said I couldn’t change anything, but I could change their view of this world. What I couldn’t do, I would learn. But I would never stop.”
“I wouldn’t allow them to be disappointed in this world. What I had to do was awaken their vision of a better life from before and strive tirelessly for it.”
Declaring this again made me feel like I had regained that original feeling, but now thinking back, it was very embarrassing.
If they ever remembered that I had said this to them, they would definitely grab me and mock me.
“Captain, you’re really a good person.”
“Huh? What? You’re giving me a ‘good guy’ card at a time like this? Did I do something wrong?”
“Huh? I just expressed how I feel. Someone like you, Captain, who acts regardless of others’ opinions, is really rare.”
“No. I didn’t disregard others’ words.”
I sat up and stared at the deep night sky.
“When it comes down to it, the reason I tried so hard was also because I was still immature back then, wholeheartedly wanting others’ recognition. So I thought that if I managed this team well, people would think highly of me.”
“And the truth?”
“Of course I was ostracized. After all, no one would want to get close to someone who actively contacts Madmen. That Captain who could manage Madmen so well must be abnormal too.”
“That’s…”
“But that was after the fact. I had already found my own value through spending day and night with them. The time I spent with them couldn’t be denied by a few words from others. Since they say I’m crazy, so be it.”
“Let’s go back.”
I said this, stood up, and patted the dust off my pants.
Leng Qiongling also stood up and jumped off the rock in one leap.
“You’re making me feel awkward.”
And I could only climb down awkwardly bit by bit, having to check the safety of each foothold.
“Do you want me to carry you down, Captain?”
“No, no, no. If I get carried now, my manly dignity will be gone. If you want to do it, do it when I’m not paying attention.”
I carefully climbed down from the rock, covering my pants with dust, which made Leng Qiongling laugh at me.
“Let’s go.”
I pretended not to see her laughing at me and strode toward the camp.
Leng Qiongling was still laughing, jogging a few steps to my side.
“If you keep laughing, I’ll increase your training load tomorrow.”
“Hey! Isn’t today’s training load enough already?!”
“Of course not. Today’s was at most a warm-up. You can’t guarantee that every time the enemy will just be one wave. If there are tens of thousands of Mad Beasts and you need to fight nonstop through the night, your body might not give out, but your spirit will give out first.”
“A situation like that…”
“It’s rare, but if it happens and isn’t dealt with in time, it will lead to disastrous consequences.”
I paused for a moment, then continued.
“The Western Land Disaster two years ago, have you heard of it?”
“…Yes.”
“That time, even though we rushed at full speed the moment we received the report, we still couldn’t contain the disaster. In the end, almost all cities in the central part of the Western Land were destroyed, with nearly ten million casualties and a million refugees. Even today, the scars from that time haven’t healed. In the end, the other cities together took in fewer than two hundred thousand refugees. Where do you think the rest of the refugees went?”
“…Did they all… die?”
I shook my head and slapped a hand on the rock beside me, sending a few pebbles flying.
“They often wandered hopelessly in the wilderness, trying to find a sliver of hope for survival. People fought each other over the few abandoned supplies, clashed over a shelter that looked decent. In the end, they died together under the attacks of Mad Beasts. That was their fate.”
“And that was only the result of us pushing ourselves nearly nonstop for several days without sleep. If even one of us had given out first, the final result would have triggered a butterfly effect, causing even more severe consequences. It wouldn’t have been something that could be solved by abandoning one continent. Without the defenses of the Western Land, first the Central Continent, then the Eastern Land—defeat would have been almost inevitable.”
I lifted my hand that had struck the rock, brushed off the stone chips stuck to it, and continued walking toward the camp.
Leng Qiongling listened blankly, and only reacted belatedly after Wu Yin had already walked some distance away.
‘Just now, the Captain’s expression… was… painful… guilty… why…’
‘Why does this person, even though seen as an Outsider by others, still give himself for others?’
‘And I…’
Leng Qiongling grabbed her collar, almost wanting to tear herself apart.
“I…”
The girl fell into confusion.
She almost couldn’t understand whether these people who seemed to take pleasure in killing were madmen or heroes saving the world from misery.
Perhaps there was no answer at all, because no one could be described with a single word.
No one is forever evil, and no one is forever kind.
Even a heinous criminal might give a beggar a banknote.
Even a generous philanthropist might speak harshly out of jealousy.
There are no saints in this world, let alone that the vast majority are just ordinary people.
No word can define a person.
What kind of person someone is cannot be determined by a single evil or good deed.
A person with a hundred good deeds and one evil is not necessarily lost; a person with a hundred evil deeds and one good is not necessarily reformed.
To always maintain trust in a person while remaining vigilant toward everyone—that is the correct relationship with others.
So…
“Don’t place absolute trust in me, nor rely on me; I will turn a blind eye to your death, I will force you into missions that are nearly certain death, and when you truly stand against us, I will kill you without hesitation.”
Wu Yin’s words were so cold they nearly froze the air around them, stinging Leng Qiongling’s skin.
Wu Yin did not look back, leaving Leng Qiongling alone standing there.