Under the morning light, Fenglong'ao boasted blue skies and clear waters; the peaceful days went on just as before.
Early in the morning, the villagers mostly still had no idea what was happening in the world. As usual, they got up early, ate breakfast, and prepared to head up the mountains or down to the fields to begin another day of hard labor.
From the perspective of the squad stationed nearby, however, the situation seemed indeed as Azure had reported: after twenty-seven cities worldwide were blanketed by concentrated Great Spike assaults, other regions had actually become somewhat safer.
Because surveillance by the Rejecters showed that stray Great Spike craft were no longer prowling, more than seventy percent of mountain squads nationwide had received deployment orders starting the previous night, pulling out to head for core cities to reinforce and join the fighting.
Naturally, the unnumbered squad stationed around Fenglong'ao had not; they had been instructed specifically to remain and step up vigilance.
This external squad took orders directly from the Legion Staff Headquarters. They were stationed here for defense while secretly protecting General Jiang Longchi, who seemed to have lost all his memories, allowing him to spend the final years of his life in peace.
Forbidden from making contact or investigating, the squad's soldiers did not actually know that the kind-hearted family by the mountain curve road who had taken in and cared for General Jiang Longchi for three years—that middle-aged peasant couple—actually had another identity.
"I heard lots of cars passing by last night. Gravel was crunching in the road all night long. I thought business would definitely be good this morning."
Han Youshan held his rice bowl as he stood up, tucking his chopsticks between the fingers supporting the bowl to free one hand so he could smack the television set on the cabinet.
The television was showing static. Signals in the mountains were always poor, so this was normal; most of the time, a couple of smacks brought the picture back.
"Tell me about it! I was so thrilled I dreamed I was counting money!" Sitting by the table, Zhang Jiexia looked up and grumbled with a touch of resentment, "Turns out who knows what rush they were in—they just zoomed right past, whoosh whoosh, not a single one stopping to buy a pack of cigarettes."
The husband and wife had no idea that the vast majority of those vehicles hurrying through actually came from cities in their own province and neighboring ones that had not yet come under attack.
Azure said these cities were safe for now, but people did not all believe it.
And so some of them, possessing the means and ability to flee on their own, had set out overnight. When cities were no longer safe, they chose to run toward mountain villages, toward the most remote corners they could reach.
"Master," Zhang Jiexia called out, turning her head with the familiar, accustomed tone of everyday life.
During these three years, the couple had actually tried calling Jiang Longchi "Qingzi's god-grandpa" for a while, but the title was simply too long and clunky, so in the end, for ease of speech, they went back to calling him "Master."
"Mm?" Dressed in Buddhist monk robes, Master Longchi mumbled with a piece of wine-fermented pork and a huge mouthful of rice in his mouth, looking up.
If it were evening, there would have had to be a small pot of wine before him as well.
The villagers did not suspect him of being a fake monk because of this. Rumors throughout the area said Master Longchi had genuine martial arts, only rarely showing them; someone had once seen him leap onto a rooftop in a single bound.
"I'm saying, don't bother setting up your fortune-telling booth today. It looks like nobody's going to stop."
In truth, if he had set up the fortune-telling booth, business might have been exceptionally good today; in times of crisis, there were always people who turned to such things, hoping to divine what lay ahead.
Zhang Jiexia, however, had no way of knowing that.
"Alright." The old monk turned his head to glance outside and smiled. "Then I'll stroll around the village in a bit... Don't worry, I won't go far, won't get lost. Amitabha."
Over the past three years, the old monk had gotten lost several times. Each time, the Han couple would lead the villagers out day and night to look for him. The old monk did not remember many people, but whenever he saw Han Youshan and his wife, his memory would click; he would apologize sheepishly and follow them home.
Smack, smack smack... Sss, sss!
Under the blows, a television picture suddenly flickered onto the screen.
"Oh my!" Han Youshan jumped in surprise at the large throng of monsters appearing on screen, thinking to himself: *Why are they airing a movie so early in the morning?*
Taking another look, there was no station logo in the upper corner of the screen.
"Could we have picked up a foreign channel?" he muttered.
At the same time, hearing the sound, the old monk turned back, his eyes fixing onto the screen, slowly freezing in place.
Azure's 24-hour broadcast loop was currently showing scenes of battle: swathes of shuttle craft landing, hideous and terrifying Great Spikes, warriors drawing combat blades and shouting as they charged forward, source energy apparatuses roaring...
...
"Oh goodness." When the broadcast cut back to the leaders' speeches, Zhang Jiexia finally understood. Her heart panicked, and her chopsticks dropped to the floor.
In truth, there had been many rumors about "the end of the world" over the years, to the point that the mountain folk were already well acquainted with the phrase. But in the past, every rumor had petered out without a trace, and life went on as usual.
"This time... it seems to be real," Zhang Jiexia said blankly.
"Yeah. Those cars outside are probably folks fleeing from the cities," Han Youshan agreed with a nod.
"Then... then what do we do, Qingzi's dad? Should we run?" In her sudden panic and terror, tears welled in Zhang Jiexia's eyes.
She was usually the head of the household. Her way of addressing her husband varied with her mood—things like "Hey," "Listen," "You-know-who," "Han Youshan," and so forth.
Yet when push came to shove and she had no ideas left, she naturally chose to rely on and defer to her husband.
At times like this, she would call him "Qingzi's dad."
"It's fine, it's fine... Look, aren't the leaders telling us not to be afraid? Saying places like ours are still safe." Han Youshan was panicked too, but he struggled to stay calm. Clasping his wife's arm firmly, he said, "The old chief even told us to remember to plant the fields. Those monsters probably won't come to places like ours—they don't steal grain. See, all those cars are running out to the countryside where we are... Where else could we run?"
Zhang Jiexia: "... Yeah."
"Besides, if we run, how will Qingzi find us when he comes home?" Han Youshan mumbled, fighting to keep from trembling.
Zhang Jiexia's eyes went wide. "Oh no! What do we do? Our Qingzi is still in the army! What in the world do we do, Qingzi's dad..."
What could they do? Nothing but wait.
Han Youshan thought for a moment and comforted his wife. "It'll be fine. Our Qingzi is in the army. The army has guns and cannons; it's bound to be the safest place."
"Then... will they have to go fight the monsters?"
"No." Han Youshan turned and pointed at the television. "The TV said another army is fighting the monsters this time—called Azure or something..."
At that instant, the television screen, still speckled with a bit of snow, froze on the final photograph: "One Man, One City, Battling Alone in the Long Street."
Captured from high altitude, the figure in the photo was unclear. The person standing with the blue starlight column sword in hand did not look up either.
Yet as the Han couple looked at it, both froze in place...
It had been more than four years since they last saw their son.
"Qingzi's dad."
"Yeah?"
"This person... you can't even see clearly, so why does he look so familiar to me?"
"Yeah... me too, a bit."
"Could he... be...?"
"No way. We're probably just overthinking it, so he looks like him. Actually, didn't you hear the introduction? The TV said this is an extremely, extraordinarily powerful man... Our little rascal couldn't even pass the college entrance exams twice—how could he have gone and turned super?! No way."
As Han Youshan spoke, he turned his head.
"Hey, where's the master?"
Zhang Jiexia turned around too. "Master?!"
"Did he get scared?"
"Don't tell me he wandered off and got lost—not at a time like this..."
Growing anxious, the couple split up as they spoke, one heading to the front door to search and the other to the back door.
Meanwhile, in the master's own side room, Jiang Longchi had closed the door. His hands trembling slightly, he opened the storage cabinet against the wall.
At the bottom corner of the cabinet, he found a somewhat worn but durable backpack and slowly opened it...
A set of source energy apparatus engraved with a serial number and several source energy blocks appeared before his eyes.
"Right... it seems I was a general."
"I kill those monsters. Seems I've killed them all my life."
"..."
In three years, Jiang Longchi had forgotten even more things. He had even forgotten that back then, he had come from the sea, originally intending to go somewhere else with a group of people.
All he remembered now was this: the apparatus, and fighting.
Guided by muscle memory, General Jiang Longchi put on the apparatus almost effortlessly.
Once it was equipped, he realized his hands were still empty.
"There should be a weapon."
"... I seem to have had a small axe."
"Hmm, where's my axe?"
Chapter 618