On this day, before the longevity tablet, the incense lit itself anew.
Chen Buer stepped down from the offering altar.
He donned his armor and shouldered his blade.
He stepped out the door.
Standing alone upon the vast, boundless grasslands, he looked up at the night sky from which he had been away for so long.
Behind him, Xu Xiaohong felt a faint flicker of hesitation in his heart, but it was quickly wiped away. Returning to the desk, he reconnected to the communication channel and spoke directly, offering no explanation:
"I need an airship here. The fastest kind."
Because of those abrupt, headless words, across the entire human core leadership conference channel and throughout the Azure General Staff Headquarters, everyone who had been lifeless and despondent went wild with ecstatic joy in an instant.
Xu Xiaohong heard papers rustling as they went flying through the air, heard someone leap onto a desktop, and heard several old bastards cursing "that savage old codger"—just like back in the days when Chen Buer used to chase and beat them—even as they choked with sobs so hard they could barely articulate their words...
For a long time, they hadn't dared to ask whether Chen Buer had awakened—because they felt there was no hope, and even more because they didn't dare to hold hope anymore.
Putting down the communicator, Xu Xiaohong went out the door.
Chen Buer heard the footsteps of Xu Xiaohong coming outside. Still looking up at the night sky, he remarked with emotion, "So this battle really is that massive—so massive that looking at the Moon from Blue Star, it doesn't look the same anymore."
"Yeah. Every night, countless people across the world look up at the Moon like this, hoping to see something. Children shout encouragement to the Moon, shouting 'No Retreat,' shouting 'Our bodies block the vast sky.'" Xu Xiaohong walked up beside his old comrade, stopped, and said, "So you heard everything I said over the external communications these past few days?"
Chen Buer gave a slight nod. "I heard it."
After a brief silence, Xu Xiaohong smiled faintly and asked, "Waking up acting all mighty and badass like this—can you really pull it off?"
"You might not believe it if I tell you." Chen Buer turned to look at him, grinning proudly, then held his head high and said, "I'm at my peak. My true peak, surpassing the past."
That answer astonished Xu Xiaohong. He knew Chen Buer's condition better than anyone. That Old Chen could even wake up this time was already completely unexpected to Xu Xiaohong, yet what did he say? He claimed to be at his peak, surpassing the past?
"Let me tell you something strange," Chen Buer continued, looking genuinely puzzled. "During the time I was dead, I had a feeling—as if the higher and stronger humanity's overall combat strength grew, the stronger I became along with it."
He didn't seem to be joking. Xu Xiaohong was stunned, then chuckled and said, "It couldn't really be some power of incense and prayers, could it? You have to know, after you 'died' this time, the number of longevity tablets set up for you among the people easily numbered in the tens of millions at the very least. Not just in Huaxia—even many foreigners followed suit once they found out."
"Probably not. I don't understand it either. You know me, I'm uneducated," Chen Buer said very earnestly.
"Actually, it's hard to say. Didn't Doctor Zhe Qiuhong say earlier that your situation might be considered humanity's own Yanxiu? She said that Yanxiu might originally have been the totems of various cosmic civilizations in their ancient eras, the power each species relied upon when confronting nature and extraterrestrial threats... Thinking about it that way, maybe you really are humanity's totem for this era." Xu Xiaohong chuckled as he spoke.
"Totem my ass." Chen Buer didn't really understand what he meant, but seeing Xu Xiaohong laugh, he figured his old comrade was teasing him. He grumbled, "Then wouldn't that kid Han Qingyu be even more of a totem? In recent years, he's been the power everyone relied on."
"Maybe his strength isn't enough yet, and besides, he isn't Yanxiu." A sudden spark of inspiration flashed through Xu Xiaohong's mind, but unfortunately, he failed to catch it.
The two old men stood there on the great grasslands north of Huaxia, gazing at the night sky while chatting and waiting.
The source energy airship dispatched by Azure had likely come from Huaxia Front Army Headquarters, so it arrived very quickly.
Seeing the airship land not far away, opening its hatch and lowering its boarding ramp, Xu Xiaohong hesitated again and again, but in the end, he still held back from asking that question.
He wanted to ask: *Old Chen, since you say you're at your peak now and have grown stronger, it can't be that you still only have that single strike left, can it?*
However, he didn't dare ask.
"Time to go." Chen Buer strode toward the airship.
"I'll walk with you." Xu Xiaohong followed behind.
He had the body of an ordinary human and was already very old; his steps couldn't quite keep up.
Chen Buer glanced back, and for once, he didn't mock him. Instead, he stopped quietly to wait for him.
Once Xu Xiaohong caught up, they moved forward slowly at his pace, walking all the way to the foot of the airship's boarding ramp.
"How many years have we known each other?" Stopping at the foot of the ramp, Chen Buer suddenly asked.
"Many years," Xu Xiaohong said.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Chen Buer said, then stepped onto the boarding ramp.
"Thank you too."
Just like that, having walked about two-thirds of the way up, Chen Buer suddenly stopped, turned around, and shouted loudly, "Xu Xiaohong, all of you have been saying for a long time that this is my era..."
Xu Xiaohong answered, "Yes!"
"I'm going to give my era an accounting."
"And if my era ends, that means there will be a new era, right?"
"That's right."
"Then that's fine."
"Did you understand me? Don't misunderstand."
"Like hell I can't fucking count!"
At this point, Xu Xiaohong already had his answer to the question he had wanted to ask but hadn't dared to. Slowly, he raised his hand, yet he lacked the strength to wave. "All right," he said.
Chen Buer's figure disappeared into the hatch.
Then the hatch closed, and the airship lifted off, accelerated, and surged toward the Moon.
Only after it had completely vanished into the night sky did Xu Xiaohong's hand, still held high in the air, finally wave gently twice.
Chen Buer had awakened.
After Azure lost its last so-called trump card, humanity's true trump card returned from death.
When the news spread, the entire Blue Star erupted in celebration.
The Azure Huaxia Front Army, Commander of the Sole Witness Legion, Invincible on Earth—Chen Buer—was about to arrive upon the lunar battlefield.
For over seventy years, the Red-Slaying Saber had been undefeated, slaying countless foes, and now it was about to strike down upon the head of the Puta'er!
Humanity had been suffocating under the humiliation for too long.
Hardship and suffering were one thing, but this utter humiliation was truly unbearable.
Across the lunar battlefield, every single human soldier and officer, without exception, wept tears of release while excitedly clenching their fists, shouting, celebrating, and charging toward the enemy craft.
"The old man is here," Wen Jifei said, his voice choked with emotion.
"Yeah, the old man is here," Han Qingyu echoed.
"Still, right now here, Nikola plus that Yeke equal two full-body Puta'ers. I'm afraid even the old man will find them tough to deal with." Wen Jifei paused, then added, "If only there were a way to lure them into a life-and-death battle with each other first."
"That can only be because of the skeletal remains," Han Qingyu said after turning it over rapidly in his mind.
"You have a way?" Wen Jifei asked, somewhat excitedly.
"Yes," Han Qingyu agreed.
"..."
Chapter 983