This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 124 Golden Hand

The word "escape" has many meanings, such as survival and embarrassment.

Nie Weiyang hadn't felt exhausted for a long time. When he circled the wilderness and the sound of the mountains gradually faded, his lungs almost exploded and he could clearly hear himself gasping for breath.

For a moment he felt like a primitive man, hiding from a mammoth, and Celia was hanging on his arm, her hair was messy, she didn't dare to speak, but just put her hands on her stomach, looking like she was afraid of vomiting out the burnt vegetables she had eaten before.

Nie Weiyang's heart was pounding like it was about to burst from his chest. He tried to regulate his breathing, to calm his heart and lungs, but he felt that this ordinary human body was in a strange state. He put Xilia down and rested for a while. Finally, he took a deep breath and walked quickly down the canyon slope, trying not to step on the weeds. Then he turned around and offered Xilia his hand.

"Come down," he said.

Celia ran down, holding on tightly to the strap of his backpack, and followed him into the deep woods.

Of all the terrains, Nie Weiyang preferred the mountains and forests. They offered ample shelter and abundant resources. A self-sustaining jungle was bound to contain non-toxic food, including some edibles for humans. One could usually find it by following bird pecking tracks. Therefore, it was very rare for someone to starve to death in the mountains. If someone knew how to survive but still died in the mountains, it must have been due to some other danger.

He picked a handful of berries on the way. They looked like gooseberries and tasted like blueberries. He poured a handful of these crystal clear red and orange beads into Celia's hand, but when he was about to give her more, she shook her head.

"I'm not hungry, Captain," the girl said, her golden-brown hair swaying in the shadows. "I've had the kebabs. You can have some."

She is a sensible child.

Nie Weiyang nodded without saying anything more. After all, he was the one responsible for the battle, and eating more wasn't just for his own people.

The path through the wild forest was difficult, especially since it was filled with unfamiliar plants: broadleaf, ferns, and plants with curled, dangling leaves. Having witnessed a snake entangled by a vine, a bird scratched by a leaf, Nie Weiyang was careful not to let them touch his body tissue. He used a knife to clear away any plants that might harm Xilia, occasionally throwing one or two unknown snakes or venomous insects far away.

Although the combat uniforms they wear are mass-produced, they can still block most of the impact of the natural environment, so these are not a big problem.

He and Xilia walked slowly, occasionally hearing gunfire along the way, but it quickly died down. When they arrived at the target point, six people were already there: number two, Gong Hanchuan; number three, Jiang Meng; number eleven, Tang Hui; number twelve, Tom Payne; number thirteen, Yun Bowen; and number eight, Tan Xuan.

"Where the hell did you run off to?!" Gong Hanchuan tightly grasped Tan Xuan's hair, his angry eyes looking as if he wanted to eat him. He bent his fingers and drilled into Tan Xuan's temple: "Not long after you left, the Golden Angel came...Fuck you! You traitor!"

"I'm not!" Tan Xuan gritted his teeth in pain. He took something out of the small bag on his waist and said, "There used to be a survivor camp around here. I reported it to the captain and then went to look for it..."

Jiang Meng came forward, grabbed the thing, and found that it was actually a car key.

"When was the camp?" she asked.

"It was a long time ago. Three years ago, it was hit by a golden rain."

"It's been so long, is this car still drivable?"

"Yes! I just drove here!"

"How did you know there was a campsite there, and a car?"

"Because that was originally my home," Tan Xuan said. "My parents died there first, then my brother and sister-in-law. Later, someone came to rob me, and my younger siblings died too. In the end, I was the only one who escaped, and now I'm back again. This car belongs to my brother. I used to drive it often. It's very durable."

"How do we know..."

"What he said is true." Nie Weiyang said, "I asked him to go."

Nie Weiyang walked out of the woods, patted Gong Hanchuan's arm, and asked him to let go of Tan Xuan.

Gong Hanchuan loosened his fingers, his eyes still filled with indignation. It was obvious that he couldn't get over his emotions for a while, but he didn't say anything.

“Alright, let’s rest for a bit and then continue on our way,” Nie Weiyang said. No one mentioned the others who had disappeared. After a while, Number Nine Wen Jun and Number Ten Liu Qiuxian arrived. They were injured, and their guns and hands bore the marks of having been fired. Jiang Meng, who hadn’t said much, was in the same condition.

Although Nie Weiyang and the nuclear bomb behind him were the primary targets, he was so skilled at hiding that the others were inevitably caught up. However, their mission was to escort the nuclear bomb and its carrier, so they had no complaints and would even proactively expose their whereabouts to help Nie Weiyang share the enemy's pursuit.

The group found the car that Tan Xuan brought. It was a van that could accommodate so many people.

Driving was much more comfortable than walking. Everyone took turns observing the surroundings while others rested. After a while, someone suddenly said, "Fang Zihan is dead."

Nie Weiyang was resting with his eyes closed, and his eyelids moved when he heard the words.

It was obvious that more than one person witnessed Fang Zihan's death. Then, "Sang Min and Luo Hua are dead too." Yun Bowen said softly, "I saw it."

Nie Weiyang turned his head and saw a hint of moisture in the corners of the eyes of this thin former teacher.

"They and I received training in the same place..." Yun Bowen said, "I was a teacher two years ago. Then the school closed down, so I joined the defense force. Later, I was selected to train with the Pioneer Reserve Team. That's when we met."

He talked a lot about the old days, about the days when humanity once ruled half the world. He said that as a child he had always wanted to be an astronaut, but when he grew up he found that everything had changed, so he became a teacher, teaching children math. Occasionally he mentioned what the starry sky once looked like, a group of stars that existed only in his memory, shining brightly in the darkness.

Now, all they have left is a golden sky.

Nie Weiyang had been listening, observing how Tan Xuan drove the car. Everyone in the car was silent for a while, and then Gong Hanchuan suddenly spoke up, saying, "They're free."

"...Yes, they are free." Yun Bowen whispered, "What about me? They are dead, and I am alive. When a person begins to realize that he is truly alive, life is just a long journey home. But when will I be free and return to where I should be?"

"Yun Bowen." Nie Weiyang suddenly spoke.

Yun Bowen subconsciously raised his head: "I..."

"Yun Bowen! Stop being sad and gloomy!" Nie Weiyang's voice was tinged with anger, even though his gaze behind his goggles remained unchanged. "You're disturbing people's hearts. If you do that again, I'll kill you!"

Yun Bowen was startled by his anger and quickly raised his hand: "Yes! I promise not to do it again!"

Tan Xuan slammed on the brakes. Caught off guard, the entire car lurched forward and then back again, like a giant can of sardines being shaken. Nie Weiyang frowned, but he didn't reprimand. Instead, he leaned forward and took in the scene ahead.

Ahead lay a long, broken road, beneath a gloomy sky, clouds piled on the horizon. Above the road, a massive golden hand, two or three stories tall, emerged from the ground, a person dangling from each knuckle.

Or rather, a corpse in a black and blue combat uniform.

"Captain..." Tan Xuan's voice trembled a little, "It seems to be... someone from another team."

As his voice fell, the golden hand gently moved. The bodies hanging from it swayed, their blood splattering like a rose. Two of the bodies wore black and red uniforms, one without a backpack, the other clutching a nuclear bomb backpack to her chest. The radio on Nie Weiyang's backpack had been turned on at some point. After a rustling noise, a muffled female voice rang out:

"See how bright the evening star is,
“Shining with golden light.

"A gentle breeze blows on the sea,
"The blue waves are rippling..."

As the people in the car looked as if they had seen a ghost, the earth's layers of soil surged like sea waves.

The golden hand slowly descended and returned to the crack in the ground.

　Third update on the 29th
　　Phew, it's done.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)