This time I chose Paladin

"I've never seen peace," Xilia whispered. "I was born after the Golden Night. My parents came here for a trip and conceived me on that Golden Night. They couldn't go back, so they died shortly after giving birth to me. That's what the instructors said."

Nie Weiyang didn't say that he had no parents, but smiled.

"This proves they love you," he said. "A baby can't survive on its own. You're still here today because they protected you in the beginning...isn't that right?"

Xilia was stunned. She looked up at Nie Weiyang, who had already stood up to survey his surroundings. Silently, she touched her chest, her fingers moving lower. The sound of her heartbeat echoed with the blood of her parents. She sat there blankly, as if she were thinking about a lot, yet also as if she was thinking about nothing.

……

Tan Xuan died in great pain.

He was only wearing a set of inner lining and handed something to Nie Weiyang. It was a core wrapped in a combat suit with a small instrument embedded in it. Nie Weiyang took them out. Both things still had water stains.

"The radioactive dust may not penetrate them deeply, so I washed them with water, which should at least... cough... make them safer." Tan Xuan said with a smile, coughing violently as he spoke, vomiting large amounts of blood and fragments of completely destroyed internal organs. "I feel like my lungs are melting, and so are my bones. My blood has become very heavy... Stay away from me, I'm a radiation source. Oh, or you can stay closer to me..."

His irises gradually became blurry, turning grayish-white, and then his entire eyeball became a blur. His bones softened, his flesh becoming like a pool of mud. His mumbling voice became increasingly garbled, neurological dysfunction rendering it unrecognizable. His chaotic voice began to mumble, and gradually even the mumbling disappeared, just as his facial features began to become unlike his own. Soon, he closed his eyes, then struggled to keep them open, staring intently in the direction of Nie Weiyang.

Nie Weiyang squatted not far from him, looking down at him. The sunlight shining through the dark clouds outlined the figure. Tan Xuan's blind eyes seemed to be looking at something distant through this scene. After a while, he realized that the scene two days ago when he returned home appeared in his mind.

In that strange, deserted home, he sat at the door as he had done when he was a child, lying in the place where his relatives had died. At that time, he tilted his head to look at the crack in the door, expecting someone to come in like his relatives, but no one did.

Always no.

This is a fact, just like he just remembered now that his captain actually has no white hair.

Tan Xuan began to laugh. He died laughing.

No one knew what he was laughing at, including Nie Weiyang.

After this, everyone continued on their journey. But one day, upon waking, Nie Weiyang discovered Wenjun dead. Severe radiation sickness had caused his genes to collapse, quickly killing him. Then came Tom Payne and Liu Qiuxian, who perished in battle. Before dying, the former shouted to Nie Weiyang in his native tongue, "You will succeed!" The latter smiled gently, "I'm going to find him, Captain. I wish you victory."

Tang Hui died under the attack of the Golden Angels. Her old injuries ultimately affected her movements. Before she died, she stared intently in the direction of Nie Weiyang until he and his men disappeared into the distance. Only then did she gradually close her eyes.

"I wish you success..." she whispered.

That was her last voice.

However, in just half a month, only Gong Hanchuan, Xilia and Yun Bowen were still moving forward together.

Along the way, they also met people from other teams, most of whom were dead, and a small number were half-dead. Only two broken teams said hello to Nie Weiyang and others, and then continued to move forward, each carrying their own nuclear bomb.

A month later, the four people, who were so dirty that they looked unrecognizable as human beings, crossed a mountain.

They saw the sky in the distance.

It was a huge crack, under which sat a giant tower reaching into the clouds. Beneath it, a complex of buildings like golden mountains spread in all directions, with an endless stream of golden angels floating out from them.

The sky was broken, and the haze came from this - the automatic weather adjustment function had long been ineffective on that cloudy day.

The four of them gazed at the sky. It was a gentle, pale golden hue, occasionally punctuated by hues of brown and white. Its hues were so tranquil and beautiful, juxtaposing with the golden earth. A warm yellow enveloped the world, evoking memories of home and hometown.

"Huh." Nie Weiyang let out a light breath.

"It's quite cozy. Let me take a rest..." he said. "Tomorrow, I will go and die with them."

A copy will be released tomorrow!

I can't help but want to write that the second administrator is doing something wrong in the enemy's lair x

Also, it seems like today is the last day of the month-end sprint monthly ticket event?

If you are interested, could you please vote for it? Thank you very much!!!

If you don't have it, I won't force it. I'm very happy if you are willing to read my article.

Chapter 128 Notes

They did not light a bonfire that night.

Light and heat bring danger, and they are accustomed to cold and silence.

Teams of golden angels were circling in the sky, their wings of light draped from under their shoulder armor like two long shawls, drawing winding streams of light in the sky.

Nie Weiyang, Xiliya, Gong Hanchuan, Yun Bowen.

A group of four people sat in a dark corner facing a mountain pass, where one could see the crack in the sky with golden light flowing.

"This planet used to have four seasons," Yun Bowen said. "There were sunny days, thunderstorms, and rainy seasons that lasted three months. Back then, there was a saying that rain was the joy of heaven and earth, that water was the source of life, and that the world welcomed you by pouring out waterfalls of water for you. The rain back then was very different from now. It was like the sky was just a bowl of water, now turned upside down."

"In my hometown, the things covered in bowls are leftover rice and pickled vegetables..." Gong Hanchuan complained.

But he didn't pour too much cold water on her. He just fiddled with the cold instant porridge and asked, "Captain, do you like the rainy season?"

"It's okay." Nie Weiyang said.

He held a piece of gold and looked down at the golden light in the darkness.

"The rainy season is the beginning of something," he said. "If the planetary barrier can be repaired, some people will be able to see the rainy season again."

Yun Bowen whispered, "It's a pity that I can't see it."

This time, neither Nie Weiyang nor Gong Hanchuan reacted. The latter even smiled and tapped Yun Bowen on the head, saying, "I hope that when the time comes, those who are stuck in the damp won't blame us for not letting their quilts dry out."

"No." Nie Weiyang said.

He handed a small bowl of instant porridge to Xilia, who had been sitting beside him in silence.

She ate very little, very little, perhaps because she was in a bad mood, and the radiation caused her to occasionally vomit blood. She had been losing weight for the past two months, and now she was a bit emaciated. But she was a very good shot and had adapted well to the environment. Nie Weiyang was certain she must have received some kind of systematic special operations training, a training more brutal and more effective than that received by Yun Bowen and the others.

Xilia raised her head, smiled, and took the cone-shaped bowl made of leaves with both hands.

"Thank you, Captain," she said.

Nie Weiyang nodded.

Gong Hanchuan stared at Xilia for a while, then suddenly said, "My sister was this big before she died."

Nie Weiyang raised his eyes and looked at the usually quiet young man. Through the light filtered by his goggles, he could see the tattoo beneath his ear: a symbol of a pair of suns. Judging by its distortion, it had been there a long time. Gong Hanchuan had spent his formative years there afterward.

"My hometown is in the southwest. Hmm...it's hard to describe the exact location." Gong Hanchuan shook his head. "Originally, some people called it Tianxiang, but it's now an inland lake..."

"It's roughly calculated based on the size of the sea," said Yun Bowen.

"The water isn't salty," Gong Hanchuan said. "At least not as salty as tears."

Yun Bowen stopped talking.

Gong Hanchuan looked up at the sky, looking at the crack in the sky.

"My family... is pretty good," he said. "Everyone is better than me. I don't even like studying, but my sister is both a good person and an excellent student. How come I'm the only one who survived?"

He paused and smiled.

"...Oh, now I'm going to die too."

Nie Weiyang drank his porridge in silence.

Yun Bowen, who had always seemed overly pessimistic, suddenly said, "At least you lived many more years."

"I would rather..."

"There's no point in saying that. Surviving is surviving. As long as I'm alive, I have to keep thinking, keep working hard, and keep doing something." Yun Bowen said softly, "You can see that I'm very pessimistic..."

The three of them nodded in unison, and Xilia, who was sipping her porridge, even took the time to say, "Indeed."

Yun Bowen: “…”

Yun Bowen smiled awkwardly.

"Everyone in my hometown died right before my eyes," he said. "The Golden Angel arrived suddenly, and no one expected it. I was very young at the time, and my family hid me among the corpses. Later, they burned the bodies, and I ran away from the fire. That was the first time I tried to survive.

"Then I wandered for a long time..."

As he spoke, his voice gradually became softer, and even Nie Weiyang could not hear clearly.

Finally, he said, "... no matter how hard it is, I have to do what I have to do. Even if everyone has to die, I have to have the dignity to face them before I die."

"Yeah..." Gong Hanchuan murmured.

He suddenly asked, "Then when will it be considered as having a face?"

"Tomorrow," said Celia.

Facing the looks from the two adult men, she whispered, "Wouldn't it be alright if we just blow up the Lingguang Tower?"

"It's not certain whether it can be blown up." Yun Bowen smiled helplessly, "But you're right. As long as the Lingguang Tower is blown up...

"By the way, Captain, what did you do before?"

He was not surprised that the topic suddenly shifted to Nie Weiyang.

He just swallowed the last mouthful of porridge, unfolded the clean leaves and buried them in the soil beside him.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm a vagrant."

Facing three pairs of skeptical eyes, he calmly said, "After graduating from university, I found a job as an administrator. But I've only been working there for a short time. There's nothing I can do. I have too much to do, always traveling and fighting."

"Always?" The three of them exclaimed, "Captain, were you a professional combat unit before?"

"Hmm?" Nie Weiyang thought for a moment, "Hmm." He confirmed this guess.

Gong Hanchuan's eyebrows danced with joy: "As expected, I've always thought you were a good fighter. So, why did you come to participate in this mission?"

"You don't have a choice," Nie Weiyang said. "Do you really have a choice?"

This is true...Who among you here has a choice?

Xilia took a long time to finish the two or three mouthfuls of porridge. She touched her stomach, followed Nie Weiyang's example, unfolding the leaves and burying them, and suddenly made a suggestion: "Let's dance!"

This proposal was so full of unprecedented vitality that it surprised the three of them.

"When we were in the orphanage, we would dance," Celia said. "When there was no water or electricity, or when we were hungry, we would often dance, and some would even sing. I'm a pretty good dancer, but I can't sing... Do any of you know how to sing?"

Nie Weiyang and Yun Bowen both shook their heads, but Gong Hanchuan raised his hand.

"I started singing karaoke when I was seven years old!" he said proudly.

What was there to be proud of? Nie Weiyang didn't understand. But he clapped silently, watching Xiliya twirl around while Gong Hanchuan sang softly, providing the background music. Yun Bowen and Nie Weiyang simply sat there, admiring the performance and providing occasional emotional value...

Later, Xi Liya forced Nie Weiyang and Yun Bowen to dance together, and later Gong Hanchuan joined in. In the quiet darkness, four figures danced some skillfully and some awkwardly. No one made a sound, only the dark silhouettes cut through the pale golden crack in the distant sky, like a line of happy notes on parchment.

The Evening Breeze Blows in My Heart - A Liyue

Good Ting, it feels like an old song

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