Chapter 146: Remember to come back before the flower withers
Du Feng stared at Shen Zhuo for a long time.
Through the prolonged eye contact, he didn’t blink once, as if terrified that the youth before him would turn into seafoam and dissipate the very next second.
He could almost no longer remember when he had started fighting against the youth’s death.
He knew that eventually, there would be a juncture that could not be altered.
But he still fought with everything he had, returning countless times to the beginning of it all.
He just wanted to save him.
But he couldn’t bring himself to go against the youth’s wishes and lock him away under his own wings.
“From the very beginning, I knew I couldn’t stop you.”
The man’s perpetually straight spine seemed as if it had been bent by an unbearable weight.
The Alpha looked at the faintly smiling youth.
“So all I can do is support you in doing what you want to do.” Du Feng leaned on the desk and stood up.
By the window, the Bumianhuo was blooming vividly.
In this month of February, when it wasn’t supposed to bloom, amidst the heavy, falling snow.
The man’s fingertips brushed against the petals.
Cherishingly, carefully.
As if touching fragile porcelain.
He then moved down to the stem and snapped off the most beautiful bloom.
“A Bumianhuo can survive for ten days after being plucked.”
Du Feng turned around and walked over to Shen Zhuo.
He gently tucked the blood-red Epiphyllum flower behind the youth’s ear.
The fiery, alluring crimson made the youth’s snow-white skin and breathtaking features stand out even more.
“I won’t die.”
Shen Zhuo stood on his tiptoes and branded a kiss onto the man’s lips.
“I promise you, I will be victorious.”
Du Feng cradled the back of his head, leaning down to deepen the kiss.
With extreme tenderness.
“Remember to come back before the flower withers.”
Shen Zhuo felt scalding liquid trail down his face.
The youth touched the corner of his own eye.
He wasn’t crying.
“Promise me.” The Alpha’s voice was very low.
“Promise me…”
“You absolutely must come back.”
More and more searing tears fell.
Drop by drop, they all landed on Shen Zhuo’s face.
Rosemary pheromones permeated the air, meticulously enveloping the Epiphyllum.
Shen Zhuo raised his hand, using the pad of his thumb to wipe away the moisture at the corners of the man’s eyes.
He smiled.
Amidst the heavy snow, the red at his temple, his pitch-black eyes, and his rosy lips.
They seemed to become the only vivid colors left in the world.
Every single word from the youth was filled with absolute certainty:
“I promise you.”
“I will definitely return to your side.”
.
By the time they parted ways, Du Feng had stabilized.
If there was no possibility, then he would create one.
There had to be, there definitely had to be a way.
“Since you refuse to retreat, then move forward.”
That was the last thing he said to Shen Zhuo.
Just as he had promised Jiang Yuening.
Shen Zhuo only needed to keep walking forward.
He would serve as Shen Zhuo’s route of retreat.
After Shen Zhuo left, Du Feng reverted to that state of manic simulation. The repeated failures pushed him to the brink of insanity, forcing him into a corner as well.
Shen Zhuo could imagine what state Du Feng would be in after he left.
But right now, they had no other options.
Shen Zhuo stood in the blizzard, watching the snowflakes falling from above slowly blanket his hair in white, and gently caressed his lower abdomen.
The bit of pheromones he had just received was enough to allow him to unleash his maximum power.
So we both have to be a little stronger, baby. You must be as strong as your father. Shen Zhuo actually didn’t know if he would be able to return here. Before heading back to the eastern defense line, he made a trip home.
Xia Dou told him that Shen Xuyin had gone to Ai Li’s battlefield as her direct superior, and Jiang Yuening had also returned to the military, temporarily reinstating her rank.
The combat maids of the General’s Estate had also been incorporated into the border defense forces.
Now, almost everyone in the Empire with any combat capability was participating in the fight against this insect swarm.
Shen Zhuo didn’t linger in the Imperial Capital any longer. By noon, he had returned to the Eastern Border Command Center.
Everyone was fully geared up and making their final preparations.
The massive square of the command center was packed with mechas. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and mechas were lined up neatly, stretching all the way to the borderline outside the command center.
They would disperse to various checkpoints to jointly defend the eastern front of the Empire.
Shen Zhuo originally wanted to go take another look at the 20,000 soldiers he was about to lead, but the Commander, upon hearing of his arrival, rushed over and told him to rest properly for his last day.
Ultimately, Shen Zhuo was pulled into the resting quarters.
Nain Tute, walking past outside, glanced into the room and intercepted a soldier who was about to knock on the door.
Shen Zhuo placed the necklace Nain Tute had given him into his mouth and bit down on it. A cool liquid flowed out from within.
It didn’t taste bad; it was somewhat like peppermint.
The medicine took effect very quickly.
Almost right after he spat out the crushed remnants from his mouth, he felt the discomfort that had been tormenting him for so long completely vanish.
With his pain receptors blocked, Shen Zhuo’s mental state also improved significantly.
A fetus absorbs energy from the mother’s glands to develop its own. Shen Zhuo’s glands had been operating in overdrive ever since he got pregnant.
This was his first full night’s sleep in over a month.
By dusk the next day, a prolonged, continuous alarm blared across the Eastern Border Command Center.
It was the long siren indicating that the Zerg were exactly one hundred kilometers away from the battlefield. The sound echoed throughout the command center, signifying that everyone was about to mobilize.
Shen Zhuo changed into his military uniform, the belt cinching his waist tightly.
Beneath the shadow cast by the brim of his hat, his dark eyes were sharp and resolute.
Outside the door stood Nain Tute, along with the squad captains of the ten thousand Imperial soldiers.
“Major General.” The dozen or so men stood at the door of Shen Zhuo’s room. Upon seeing him, they parted to clear a path in the center.
Shen Zhuo pinned a medal to his chest.
It was the one Du Feng had made back then, their very own medal—a six-winged eagle and a Bumianhuo flower set against a flag, spreading its wings, cold and sharp.
Shen Zhuo lifted his head and saw everyone saluting and looking at him.
Shen Zhuo loaded the gun on the table and tucked it into the back of his waist.
“Let’s go.”
As Shen Zhuo walked downstairs, he could already see from afar that some units had begun to depart.
The eastern border was very long. The early-departure units had set out three days ago. Those remaining were the troops guarding within a hundred-kilometer radius of the command center.
The east was unlike the other borders. Behind them lay the ocean, deserts, and snowy peaks, which served as natural geographic defenses, but directly behind this command center were cities.
They could not afford to yield a single inch.
“A tradition of the front lines,” the Commander smiled at Shen Zhuo. “Let’s go pay our respects together.”
Shen Zhuo was unfamiliar with the traditions here, but he followed along anyway.
It wasn’t until they arrived that he realized what “paying respects” meant. It was going to the Martyrs’ Cemetery behind the command center to bid a final farewell to their fallen brothers—
Or rather, it was a condolence visit to those they would soon be joining.
Even Nain Tute removed his hat and bowed.
Shen Zhuo merely offered a slight bow to show his respect but didn’t say a word.
“Doesn’t the Major General have anything to say?” The Eastern Commander was only about twenty-eight or twenty-nine, yet he already had white hair.
“I’ve never spoken to them before, but this time I feel it’s the right moment…”
The Commander looked at the neatly arranged tombstones, his gaze flickering:
“Perhaps we’ll be reunited soon, my friends.”
The average lifespan of an Imperial soldier didn’t exceed thirty-five years; most died on the battlefield at a very young age.
Shen Zhuo shook his head and placed his hat back on.
He didn’t need to say goodbye.
Because he would definitely return.
Shen Zhuo headed back to the front training grounds. On the borderline outside the command center stood the 20,000-man army he was about to lead.
The silver-white mechas looked orderly and magnificent.
It had started to snow at the border as well.
The soldiers boarded their mechas one after another and saluted Shen Zhuo.
“This was left for you by Supreme Commander Chu. He said everything has already been tuned according to your rank and mental fortitude.”
The Commander pressed his four fingers together, pointing at a black mecha parked not far away.
“Wuchang.” Shen Zhuo murmured softly, his chest feeling tight, yet accompanied by an indescribable sense of comfort.
It felt as though, in this great battle, no one had truly left.
Nain Tute and all the captains boarded their respective S-rank mechas and merged into the ranks of the soldiers.
Shen Zhuo looked at the Commander, nodded, and swiftly climbed into Wuchang.
He wasn’t familiar with this mecha, but the second he established a link, he knew this mecha was an absolute perfect fit for him.
The level of comfort even surpassed Shenyu.
Invisibly, it felt as if two pairs of hands were helping him pilot Wuchang.
Chu Baixian had truly done so much for him, and for Du Feng.
Suppressing the urge to cry, Shen Zhuo looked up at the barren horizon and the sparkling ocean in the distance.
He stepped to the front of everyone and opened the team-wide communication channel:
“This is Shen Zhuo.”
The last time he had issued an order through a team-wide channel to so many people was on Ares’s simulated battlefield under an assumed identity.
Thinking about it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.
Shen Zhuo’s fingertip hovered over the communicator for a few seconds before pressing down again: “The Zerg will come in 53 continuous waves.”
“And we must hold this most difficult pass. We will absolutely not retreat.”
“Please set aside all personal grievances and unite as one. Fight to your very last drop of blood for the peace of humanity.”
There was no hot-blooded mobilization or soul-stirring speech.
His cold voice slowly calmed everyone’s frantic, racing hearts.
That was what they had to achieve, even if it meant death.
Everyone gripped their mecha’s controls tightly. Through the communicator, they heard the youth’s voice. The next sentence lacked the previous hard coldness.
Instead, it carried a gentle hint of a smile:
“And finally, let’s all go home together.”
Flames of resolve ignited in the eyes of the 20,000 soldiers.
—
At this moment, across all borders of the Empire, every unit was fully prepped and ready.
At this moment, in the Supreme Command Center, Du Feng opened the pan-national communication channel and issued the first strategic order.
At this moment, regardless of nationality or race, only one word existed in everyone’s hearts: Battle.
The setting sun bathed everything in a layer of dazzling golden radiance.
On the desolate battlefield enveloped in heavy snow, Shen Zhuo could see from afar the black tide of Zerg surging forward like a torrential ocean wave.
And behind him, tens of thousands of silver-white mechas.
Bathed in the magnificent, rainbow-like golden light, they silently stood tall as an indestructible barrier.
The breath exhaled by the youth condensed into white mist inside the freezing cockpit.
Wuchang drew a massive Imperial flag from the mecha’s back.
As it waved in the air, the fabric snapped fiercely, casting a fluttering shadow on the ground that felt like the broad, sheltering wings of the Imperial Capital’s Supreme Command Center.
All the soldiers subsequently drew their flags and planted them into the shoulders of their mechas.
As long as the flags didn’t fall, they would not stop.
The pitch-black Wuchang stood before all the mechas, gripping the flagpole, pointing it straight at the sky, facing the insect swarm head-on.
Over the all-channel frequency, that clear, slow voice sounded like a long, resonant horn echoing from ancient centuries.
“Dawn is approaching,” Shen Zhuo’s gaze was sharp and profound. He raised his arm and shouted: “Humanity will prevail!”
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