Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

The wind blows from the eastern sea. It no longer carries the salty bitterness, but rather a fiery heat like the midday sun.

The world has changed. Completely changed. The era that used the Gregorian calendar, settled in US dollars, and followed Western logic has been swept into the dustbin of history like old newspapers. Now, the Earth has only one center.

Dragon Kingdom, Central Hub, Imperial Capital.

Wall Street in New York has become a nostalgic tourist attraction, while the City of London is struggling to connect to the Kyushu settlement system. Meanwhile, in that distant northern country, past arrogance has long since vanished, and their legislators are lining up outside the Ministry of Commerce in the capital to secure an annual quota of one hundred tons of "superconducting rare earth elements."

This is the general trend. This is the righteous path that Liu Ming and his generation carved out of a dead end with their lives and sweat.

……

The capital city, the Second Ring Road. The old courtyard house, which has stood through wind and rain for decades, has a jujube tree in front of its door that is so thick that it takes two people to hug it.

At eight o'clock in the morning, sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, scattering golden fragments across the blue brick ground. The lawn in the yard was trimmed like green velvet, and the morning dew trembled on the tips of the grass, refracting colorful light.

"Grandpa! Look! I made it fly!"

A little boy, about five or six years old, with a chubby face, was wearing a miniature camouflage outfit. In his hand, he held a palm-sized, silver-white anti-gravity model.

The little guy pressed a button. The model had no propellers. No jets. It just floated silently in mid-air, gracefully tracing beautiful arcs across the yard as the child's little hand moved.

"Not bad, your sense of balance is better than your dad's back then."

Liu Ming sat in an old rocking chair. He was almost seventy years old.

Although his hair was completely white, it was cut very short, exuding a sharp and capable air. Those eyes, which had once been ruthless and decisive, making the entire provincial officialdom tremble, were now hidden behind his reading glasses, filled with a gentle tenderness.

"Hehe, I'm going to fly a real South Heavenly Gate fighter jet someday! I'm going to go to Mars to help my second uncle build a house!"

The little boy skipped and hopped, running wildly across the lawn that would drive even the wealthiest people in the world mad with envy.

As Liu Ming watched her grandson's retreating figure, a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips.

Mars. Building a house. These words, which sounded like science fiction thirty years ago, have now become the most common childhood dreams of children in China.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Xi Wanqing came out carrying a plate of sliced ​​fruit. Although she had also entered her twilight years, the cool elegance that permeated her bones had, with the passage of time, transformed into an intellectual beauty like that of an orchid.

"Old man, bragging to your grandson again?"

Xi Wanqing placed the plate on the stone table and casually took the internal report that Liu Ming had been reading for half a day from his lap.

"I'm not bragging, I'm just conducting patriotic education."

Liu Ming stretched, his bones cracking with a dull thud—the lingering power of an old soldier. "Wanqing, look at the kids these days. The way they see the world is completely different from how we did back then."

"Can they be the same?"

Nangong Yao walked over from the corridor. Today she was wearing a bright red silk cheongsam. Although she was already a grandmother, her domineering aura as a business queen still made everyone who saw her involuntarily lower their heads.

"Back then, when we looked at the world, we were thinking about how to catch up and how not to be attacked. They looked at the world..."

Nangong Yao sat down next to Liu Ming, peeled a grape and put it in his mouth, her brows furrowed with arrogance. "They think the world should listen to us. That's called... confidence."

"Yes, confidence."

Liu Ming chewed on the sweet grapes, her gaze drifting towards the sky beyond the courtyard wall.

At that moment, an extremely thin silver streak flashed across the sky. It was the Dragon Kingdom's new generation of space shuttle. It was carrying a new batch of researchers to the "Dragon Abyss" space station located in near-Earth orbit.

"Old Lu called me yesterday."

Liu Ming shifted to a more comfortable position, her tone calm, "He was crying his eyes out on the other end. He said the proudest thing in his life wasn't entering the council chamber, but witnessing Kyushu currency become the world's only reserve currency before he left."

"That old rascal, still so sentimental," Liu Ming said with a laugh.

Lu Chen, Lei Tie, Zhang Dapao… Some of those old comrades are still contributing their remaining energy, while others have retired to public life. But they are all alive. They are alive to witness this nation standing at the pinnacle of the world.

"Grandpa, Second Grandma said you're a great hero, is that true?"

The little boy, tired from running, collapsed onto Liu Ming's knees, tilting his head back with bright, eager eyes.

"hero?"

Liu Ming patted his grandson's head, his gaze sweeping over his two wives standing beside him. They had been with him through the darkest rainy nights and witnessed his most glorious achievements.

"Grandpa wasn't a hero. Grandpa was just a road builder."

"Road repair? Like the road right in front of our house?"

"No."

Liu Ming picked up her grandson and pointed to the clear blue sky.

"Grandpa moved the road that was blocked by stones and smashed open the road that was locked by chains."

"Is the road open now?"

"It's open, and it's wide and stable."

Liu Ming put down her grandson and stood up again.

Although he no longer wore that suit that represented power, nor carried that military dagger called "Shura," the moment he stood in the sunlight, his upright and indomitable spirit still made the entire courtyard appear as majestic as a mountain.

He looked at the jasmine flowers in the corner of the wall, a gift from the old gentleman next door. He listened to the laughter of children and the clear ringing of bicycle bells coming from the alley outside.

He thought of his father. How wonderful it would be if Liu Jianguo could see this scene. This country would no longer have wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice, this country would no longer have compradors running rampant.

The people of this country no longer have to grovel before foreigners for a few taels of silver.

"Wanqing, Yaoyao."

Liu Ming suddenly turned his head and looked at the two women who had been with him all his life.

"We haven't lived our lives in vain."

Xi Wanqing walked over and took his left arm. Nangong Yao walked over and took his right arm.

The three of them stood quietly in the middle of the yard, watching their grandson play on the grass and the sunlight bathe the world.

Liu Ming had never felt such peace before. That peace came from her deepest faith in this nation and this land.

This is no longer just one person's struggle; it is the sprint of 1.4 billion people.

Once this force converges into a torrent, it will be unstoppable and devastating.

"Director, it's time for breakfast."

Chen Momo pushed the door open and came in. Her hair was already white, but her movements were still efficient.

Liu Ming nodded.

He glanced once more at the north, a place that had once held his deepest fears and his heaviest responsibilities. Now, only golden light shone there.

The descendants of the dragon have long since broken free from all shackles. They are no longer content with toiling on the earth; their gaze has been set on the vast and boundless distance, full of infinite possibilities.

Liu Ming led the two women by the hand and walked toward the restaurant. His steps remained steady and his eyes remained clear.

He knew that his legend had already been written into history, while the future of Kyushu was only just beginning.

"Grandpa, are there really big monsters on Mars?" the grandson asked, jumping up and down in front of him.

Liu Ming laughed loudly, his voice still as unrestrained as ever.

Yes, there is. But don't worry.

"The dragons of our Dragon Kingdom..."

"...Finally, we will soar high above the heavens!"

Party School, Auditorium.

This place is the "melting pot" of thought for all the senior officials of the Dragon Kingdom, and also the school for their career advancement.

Today, the place is packed.

Seated below the stage were all the trainees of the new training class for young and middle-aged cadres. They were elites from all over the country, with an average age of only thirty-five, and the lowest rank being a department-level cadre with real power.

Each of them is a future successor to their respective provinces and ministries.