Survival in Sequences: Eighteen Years Old, Slaying Monsters Like Horses

After the autumn harvest in the third year of the new era.

The first anniversary celebration after Earth was upgraded to a medieval world was held in the City of Flame beneath the World Tree.

Before dawn, Yue Lengshu led the officials of the government affairs office to the altar in the center of the city.

The high platform, built of bluestone, is nine zhang square. The surface of the platform is paved with gray-white marble slabs cleared from the ruins of the old era. In the center stands a black stone tablet three zhang high, with the words "Monument to the Victims of the End Times" engraved on it.

The most important matters of state are military affairs and sacrifices.

Only when everything is back on track will everyone have time to reminisce about the past.

As dawn broke, crowds surged in from all directions.

People from Luoshui City, Guangming City, Xinhuo City, and even newly built settlements further afield, all came to participate in this public memorial service.

The official road was lined with carriages and horses, dust rising and falling like gray-yellow rivers flowing into it.

Xu Si stood at the edge of the palace, dressed in black with simple patterns embroidered in dark gold thread on the cuffs.

Half a step behind him, Jiao Jiao was holding her two children, while Xu Miaomiao was holding her infant son, Xu Wufeng.

"Brother, it's almost time," Xu Miaomiao reminded him softly.

Xu Si nodded, his gaze passing over the altar, over the sea of ​​heads, and landing on the distant horizon.

"Xu Si." Jiao Jiao hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and placed her hand in his palm.

Stop spacing out.

Xu Si closed his fingers and held her hand. Her hands were warm and soft, like a piece of jade warmed by the sun.

"I'm thinking about what to say later," he said.

"You're the Chief of Staff, you can say whatever you want." Jiao Jiao looked up at him, the morning light falling on her eyelashes, as if they were edged with gold.

"We said it was temporary before, but now Chief Yue says he won't accept it no matter what." Actually, there is a best successor, but he's not here.

Before the altar, Yue Lengshu had already taken the secondary seat.

He was wearing a faded old military uniform, with a five-pointed star made from a scrap of iron pinned to his chest—a star he had made himself the day before.

"Silence." He spoke, his voice not loud, but it silenced the entire square in an instant.

"In the autumn of the third year of the new era of the Earth Star Calendar, we, the living, hold this public memorial ceremony."

"We offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, to the heroic spirits, and to all our compatriots who did not live to see this day."

He paused, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

The edges of the paper were frayed, clearly indicating that it had been folded many times.

"At the end of the world, a strange phenomenon occurred, causing the heavens and earth to collapse and all living beings to perish. Humanity was reduced to less than one in ten thousand, and civilization was nearly wiped out. Fortunately, heroes followed one after another, building a city with their blood and flesh and lighting a lamp with their lives, so that we can live to see today."

"With this sake and fresh fruit, I respectfully inform you all—"

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly couldn't continue.

The audience was completely silent, with only the rustling sound of the wind passing through the branches of the World Tree.

Wu Pian stood in the first row below the stage, quietly turned his face away, and wiped his eyes hard with his sleeve.

After a long silence, Yue Lengshu finally spoke again.

"A word to you all: The end times are over, and this prosperous age is as you wished."

After he finished speaking, he took a step back and bowed deeply.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the audience turned around at the same time.

There was no conductor, no drums or music, and no prior rehearsal, yet the movements were as synchronized as waves of wheat blown down by the same gust of wind.

Xu Si walked out of the crowd and headed towards the high platform.

He knew that everyone was waiting for him.

The crowds on both sides automatically parted to make way for him, creating a straight path.

As he walked by, he could hear people calling out "Chief of Staff" in suppressed voices, some sobbing softly, and others holding up wildflowers in their hands.

Xu Si stopped in front of the stone tablet and turned to face the crowd.

"I am Xu Si."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word clearly reached the ears of hundreds of thousands of people, like a pebble thrown into a lake, creating ripples.

"We have won. Victory belongs to everyone!"

He spoke very briefly, but those few words alone brought almost everyone to tears of joy.

Only they themselves truly understand the hardships they have endured along the way.

Suddenly, a baby's cry broke the solemn atmosphere, like a drop of water falling into boiling oil. Instead of disrupting the atmosphere, it eased the tension in those who were too tense.

Xu Miaomiao gently patted the little one's back, coaxing him softly, her gray hairs fluttering slightly in the wind.

Jiao Jiao turned to the side, used a handkerchief to wipe the drool from the corner of the child's mouth, and said in a low voice, "This little devil, of all times, has to make a fuss."

"It's alright!" Xu Miaomiao smiled helplessly and casually set up a law barrier to block out the crying.

Xu Si stood in front of the stone tablet, his gaze sweeping from the front row of the crowd to the farthest point. Those faces, still bearing traces of tears, shone with an almost devout light in the morning light.

"Victory! Victory!"

"victory!"

"victory!"

……

I don't know who shouted it first.

Immediately afterwards, the sound was swallowed up by the roar of hundreds of thousands of people, turning into a torrent that shot straight into the sky, causing the branches and leaves of the World Tree to tremble.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Si took a bowl of wine from Yue Lengshu, raised it above his head, and then poured it in front of the stone tablet.

The liquor seeped into the cracks in the stone, leaving a dark, damp stain, like a silent tear.

"Start the ceremony!" Yue Lengshu shouted.

The drums began to beat.

An old cowhide drum was carried onto the high platform. Ta Shan, the drummer, gritted his teeth and swung the drumsticks with both hands, one beat after another. The drum sound was muffled and deep, like the heartbeat of all the victims.

"Sacrifice—" Tens of thousands of people bowed their heads at the same time, creating an extremely solemn scene.

Xu Si retreated to the side of the stone tablet and stood with his hands behind his back.

Jiao Jiao led her child to stand below the stage, with Su Su, Xiao Luo, Shao Bing, Wa Ang Hu, Jiang Li and others standing in a row beside her.

Sunlight filters through the branches of the World Tree, casting dappled patterns of light on them, like a crowning ceremony for all the victors.

The drumbeats quickened.

The wind was picking up.

Xu Si's brow twitched again.

Xu Si did not move, and his expression did not even change.

But in that instant, his star-like eyes pierced through the sky, through the increasingly thick atmosphere of Earth after its ascension, and through the boundless starry sky.

What lies behind the Gate of Return to Nothingness?

And who is calling out to me?

Xu Si always wanted to know the answer.

……

"Are you leaving?"

After the public memorial service, Xu Si stood at the edge of the palace, his clothes fluttering in the night wind, like a piece of black bathed in moonlight. Jiao Jiao knew he was waiting for a farewell.

Xu Si's lack of response was itself an answer.

"Is everything arranged?" she asked. In fact, she was thinking of countless reasons to keep Xu Si here, but she couldn't.

She was no longer as willful as before.

"Chief Yue will take over political affairs, Chen Pei will oversee defense, and Yi Yi will be stationed on Earth. If anything changes, Miao Miao will protect you."

"And what about you?" Xu Si seemed to be deliberately ignoring himself the whole time.

Xu Si finally turned his head. Jiao Jiao was looking at him, the moonlight making her eyes extremely bright, so bright it made one's heart tighten.

"I'll come back. I promised you!" he said.

Jiao Jiao gave a bitter smile.

She reached out and took his hand, which was hanging by his side; his knuckles were cool.

The two stood at the edge of the palace for a long time, until the night was as dark as ink, and until the torches on the distant city wall had burned down.

"Xu Si".

"Um."

"Before you leave, spend more time with Wuyou and Wujiu. They seem to have a premonition too!"

Xu Si's Adam's apple bobbed.

"it is good."

At midnight, Xu Si pushed open the door of the side hall.

Xu Wujiu and Xu Wuyou squeezed onto the same couch, the blankets kicked up in a mess.

The two little ones had actually fallen asleep long ago, but they were sleeping very restlessly, their little eyebrows furrowed together.

Xu Si sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out to tuck the blankets around them.

"Father..." Xu Wuyou turned over in her dream, her little hand unconsciously grasping one of his fingers.

Xu Si didn't pull away, letting her hold onto it.

"Don't go," she muttered again, her breathing growing heavier.

Xu Si lowered his head and after a long while gently scraped the tip of her nose with his other hand.

"Wait for Father to come back."

……

Author's Closing Remarks

It's really over.

To be honest, the second half was really weak. Because the data was pretty good, it was supposed to end last month but has been delayed until now.

Then, as I typed, I ran out of ideas and could only grit my teeth and finish writing. I hope this didn't offend anyone.

Since the book was first published, the XinChe team has been with me and everyone for half a year.

They walked this road for a long time, and so did I.

Their journey was arduous, and so was my writing.

Thank you to every reader who has made it this far.

(It would be even better if the author could receive a little more support!)

---

Let's talk about Xu Si first.

When I was writing this character, I kept thinking about a question: If a person has the power to crush everything, how should he live?

Should we continue to play it safe? Or should we become extremely reckless?

Many protagonists in post-apocalyptic novels will go with the flow, build up their power, become kings and conquerors, and look down on the world.

But Xu Si is different.

I feel that he has a somewhat repressed and conflicted personality.

I want to give him a more ordinary person's perspective.

But as I wrote it down, I realized that an ordinary person in the apocalypse is completely powerless, so I wrote Xu Si as someone who is struggling.

It's not well-written, nor is it vivid enough.

---

Then I want to talk about Jiao Jiao.

I wrote about this girl "dying" twice, once literally, and once when she was taken away by Hades.

I know many readers will criticize me when they see this part. Let them criticize me. The truth is, I hadn't thought of this plot at all at the time, so I had to force it. I was in such a hurry when I wrote it that it was very awkward.

But with the character Jiao Jiao, I've always wanted to portray her from a perspective that doesn't depend on Xu Si.

But it seems that it did not succeed.

The final farewell scene had a bit of an emotional tone, which is something I'm not very good at.

I've been thinking for a long time about writing a classic line, but parting is beyond words.

Because Jiao Jiao knows Xu Si too well.

Xu Si knows Jiao Jiao too well.

---

Next, let's talk about Fu Xiaojian.

I personally think the ending for this character was poorly designed.

I only decided to design him as the big boss at the very end; before that, I wanted to design "Creation" as the big boss.

But later I felt that Fu Xiaojian was more suitable and had a better contrast!

As for why Xu Si didn't just kill him, given that he had done so many outrageous things, used the lives of hundreds of thousands of people as bargaining chips, and schemed against all the gods?

Because the relationship between Xu Si and him was never simply one of enemies.

Fu Xiaojian's creation was also not simple.

They had walked the most difficult part of the road side by side, shared food around the campfire, and helped each other out when they were at their most vulnerable.

Fu Xiaojian's time in the motorcade wasn't all acting; he was a vessel of order, and order was like his shadow.

It's cruel, but it's also true.

That's how people are; love and hate are often intertwined, making it hard to distinguish which part is real and which part is fake.

Xu Si sent him to the front lines to guard Wan Nian not out of forgiveness, but out of pain.

Killing him would make the plot seem somewhat thin.

However, Fu Xiaojian's handling of the character was also somewhat stiff at the time.

Please forgive me, I hope you didn't feel out of place when you saw Fu Xiaojian breaking down.

---

Finally, let's talk about the ending.

Actually, this was something I had planned long ago. It's neither good nor bad, it's just a little old-fashioned.

The main characters often seem to leave in the end.

The end for a hero is not a successful retirement and a peaceful life with a wife and children.

Xu Si is even less likely to be involved.

What sets him apart from the others on Earth is that he has seen the highest views and possesses the heart of a strongman.

Similarly, the King's Sword instilled in him the pursuit of staying true to himself.

Others can live out their lives in peace and place their hopes on the next generation, but he cannot.

He himself is the answer for the "next generation".

What lies behind the Gate of Return to Nothingness? Who is calling him?

I didn't write it.

If I write any more, it will be even more superficial.

At the same time, Xu Si himself was unaware.

He did not go to his death calmly, nor was he confident; he set off with unease and determination.

This could be a war, or it could be a trial that starts anew.

But he had to go and see for himself no matter what.

Xu Wujiu and Xu Wuyou are still young, and the third child has just been born.

He was more reluctant to part with it than anyone else.

But he still left.

Just as a book has an ending, a story does not.

---

Also, since the book started, I've seen many readers criticize the "suppression of combat power" aspect, and I'll pay attention to that in my next book.

We hope our readers will continue to support us.

---

This book has many regrets.

There are issues with pacing, some subplots aren't resolved well, and some plot points aren't handled well enough.

Some plot points, while logically consistent, still feel a bit off.

A new ending is a new beginning.

Thank you to my editor, Fanfan; thank you to the Tomato platform; and thank you to every reader who has followed along.

Thank you Jiao Jiao, thank you Xu Miaomiao, thank you Chen Pei, thank you Tashan, thank you Xiao Luo, thank you Shao Bing, thank you Zhou Wan, thank you Jiang Li, thank you Yi Yi, thank you Jian Shiyi, thank you Wanliuchun...

Thank you for living on in the book.

Finally, thank you, Xu Si.

Thank you for helping me earn some money along the way.

Special thanks to the operations officer—no了个no啊.

Special thanks to the following generous donors: [User 38611052], [|Liqing], [Xiamoyuzhiwen], [Wufa], [Bu@zaiqingnian], [Cola with Ice 1107], [Everyday of Cultivating Immortals], [Lugezhu who loves wontons], [Famous NPC], [Damengzizai], [Dengfengqi], [Didijiejunchou], [Sicheng o], [Shishenjunbujian], [User 44974705], [Daluowandao Sanyingxian]

(Too many to list individually, please forgive me!)

I also want to thank all the readers who have come this far with me.

The journey through the martial arts world is long; see you in the next book.

---

The End.