The instant he shouted "A fish returns to the sea," many wonderful things flashed through Liu Shiheng's mind. His former life was about to return, and even the things he used to find tiresome now filled him with eager anticipation.
Young Master Liu grew impatient. He wanted to sit in nightclubs scattering cash and drinking; he wanted to pilot a yacht out to sea with a gaggle of beautiful women, lounging on a deck chair watching them shoot water guns at each other; he wanted to eat a coarse meal in a refined restaurant with elegant servers, only to ask the waitress afterward if she fancied catching a movie; he wanted to tip the valet, and make fair-weather friends.
"Yes, fair-weather friends. I'll never have brothers like these again."
"So you have to win. You have to survive. Qingzi, Plague Chicken, Wu Xu... I'll take you all under my wing in the future. I'll let you see just how wonderful a good-for-nothing's life truly is."
The map in his hand was one he had sketched himself when he ventured out from the ruined house to deliver a message to Squad 1777, outlining the rough terrain visible along the way. After walking for a stretch, Liu Shiheng took it out and looked at it again.
He wasn't directionally challenged like Wu Xu. With a map like this, Young Master Shiheng could determine the general direction and ensure he made his way out.
"This way? No, definitely not. That's the direction Jiayina and the others came from. If there are still a few locals lingering on the grasslands and I run into them... it's possible. After all, I've had rotten luck lately."
Liu Shiheng shook his head firmly.
His reasoning was simple: since he wouldn't have the heart to ignore someone in need if he ran into them, it was best not to encounter anyone at all. If he didn't run into them, his conscience would stay clear.
"Better go this way. The land here isn't fit for living."
With his source energy apparatus still on him, he wasn't worried about rough terrain. Liu Shiheng made up his mind: he would exit to the southwest, cross into Indedu, and then circle around toward Singapore.
This time, he was "dead." The beauty of playing dead over outright desertion was that he wouldn't have to live in constant fear. In a year or so, he could at least find a way to contact home.
He would just need to make sure his parents kept it secret. Then he wouldn't even go back; he would start a new life in Singapore.
"Whatever. I've got plenty of money anyway."
Money was finally useful again. Liu Shiheng fixed his bearings, tucked away the map, and continued forward. This time he didn't fashion a cow-dung camouflage suit, but he remained cautious and vigilant.
This sector was temporarily vacant. Great Spikes were scarce, and Azure forces were almost certainly absent. Under these circumstances, groups like the Cleansing Faction and the Self-Preservation Faction were very likely to move in and operate here.
"Fuck me, they really are here."
After half a day's march, Liu Shiheng actually ran into a group of a dozen or so people who were definitely not an Azure squad.
Fortunately, he had been cautious the whole way, spotted them ahead of time, and dropped flat to hide. If there was one most useful thing Liu Shiheng had learned from sticking around Han Qingyu for over a year, it was how to hug the dirt.
Once the group finally walked far away, Liu Shiheng observed and made sure the coast was clear before cautiously climbing to his feet. Examining the terrain, he decided to take a detour before looping back onto his planned route.
"Up ahead?"
In the distance, Liu Shiheng caught sight of some familiar terrain. That was where Squad 1777 had passed when marching south earlier, not far from where he had ultimately slipped away from the squad.
After a moment's hesitation, Liu Shiheng walked over. He wanted to find a small valley and take another look.
That was where He Tangtang had intercepted him when he deserted the squad, only to turn his back in the end and let him go.
He found the valley quickly enough. Liu Shiheng walked inside and looked around. Because it was dark and shielded from the sun, the ground remained somewhat muddy. Finding a concealed spot to sit down, he carefully replayed the scene from that day in his mind...
"Tangtang, I'll say my final farewell to you right here."
"And there's something I need to tell you: I still decided to leave. Since you could understand me last time and let me go, I think you should be able to understand this time, too."
"By the way, I faked my death to get away this time. Don't call me a coward. I know I'm a coward, but I really wished you could've been a little more cowardly too. Were you stupid? Staying behind to cover the retreat all by yourself. Come to think of it, if you hadn't died, I wouldn't have thought of slipping away like this, and even if I had, I wouldn't have dared."
"Our squad already headed back ahead of schedule, so don't you worry. Qingzi and the others searched everywhere for you but couldn't find you... They're all fine. If they can't find me either, they should be heading back soon."
"He'll definitely avenge you and the rest of 1777 in the future—and maybe avenge me, too. Even though he never said it, I know he will. He's Han Qingyu, after all."
"..."
Unbeknownst to himself, Liu Shiheng rambled on for more than two hours. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and finally stood up.
It was time to go. It was already confirmed that people from the Cleansing Faction and the Self-Preservation Faction were active nearby; he couldn't linger in this area any longer.
Liu Shiheng walked to the spot where they had parted ways. Come to think of it, this was the starting point that had altered the fates of so many people in just a few short days. He wanted to take a handful of earth from here, even if it was muddy.
Bending down... Young Master Liu suddenly froze.
"This is..."
There were marks on the muddy ground where someone had crawled.
Yes, crawled.
Judging from the tracks, they were probably a day or two old, preserved because it hadn't rained over the past couple of days.
There was blood in the mud.
"Tangtang?!"
Perhaps it was psychological, but his mind involuntarily made the connection. An image surfaced in Liu Shiheng's mind of He Tangtang, covered in grievous wounds, dragging himself through the valley before him.
All alone, drifting in and out of consciousness, bleeding from his wounds, crawling forward inch by inch.
Liu Shiheng snapped his head around. "Is that you? Tangtang!"
With that thought racing through his head, Liu Shiheng excitedly traced the faint tracks forward.
Yet they vanished. The trail disappeared right at the entrance of the valley.
Liu Shiheng searched in a wide circle around the area with meticulous care, but even as the sun began to sink toward the west, he still found nothing.
"I know it's not you, Tangtang."
"So I'm not going to blindly search around. The grassland is so huge, how could I possibly find you anyway, right?! Even Qingzi and Rusty Sister couldn't find you."
"Besides, it's dangerous here, so I... It's not you. It's not... I'm leaving. I'm really leaving!"
It seemed hard to convince himself to give up, yet the terror inside him was immense. In the end, Liu Shiheng gritted his teeth, bowed his head, activated his apparatus, and sprinted southwest across the rolling low hills.
It was a terrible feeling. A sliver of hope had yet to be extinguished; going after it offered perhaps only a one-in-ten-thousand chance while carrying enormous risk. But if he didn't? He would feel miserable, wracked with guilt, unable to stop thinking about it.
Another group of unidentified people appeared in the distance.
Liu Shiheng ducked behind the reverse slope of a hill to hide, breathing carefully... Once they were far away, he pulled out his map again.
He should have used the map to figure out his position and find a route to continue southwest, but his eyes kept drifting backward.
"There's also this direction... I could search over here too... Fuck! Damn it all, He Tangtang!"
"Fine. I'll go back and do one more sweep in this direction. If I can't find anything, I'll truly give up. This place is too damn dangerous."
Standing up and crouching low, Liu Shiheng took another route back.
Before he even reached his planned search area, he ran into another group—a very large one, numbering thirty or forty people.
Dusk had already fallen. Liu Shiheng lay flat in the grass atop the slope, peering down.
He recognized one of them. "It's Ye Jian."
"Then that's Snow Lotus."
"And... the person on that makeshift stretcher?"
Liu Shiheng couldn't see the person's face, nor could he make out the figure clearly, but he spotted something in Ye Jian's hands—He Tangtang's sword.
The broad-bladed heavy sword identical to the one Wu Xu used. Originating from the Yu clan, it was said to be a rare, top-tier weapon.
Then there was no mistaking it.
In that single instant, Liu Shiheng was on the verge of both laughing and crying. "God, are you fucking playing with me?! Fuck my life!"
Chapter 356