Chapter 62
Dingtai Building, the landmark of the city, had won many international praises and bore the pride of the citizens now slowly collapsed in an irreparable manner.
The smoke that it created rose to the sky and with it, the memories as it flew through the clouds. Its proud posture turned into a pile of ugly and rough broken concrete and glass. The exposed and sharp broken steel spines also lay bare, as if in sorrow.
In the cabin, even the air had become extraordinarily heavy. Many of the people bent their waist and curled over themselves, their eyes were red and they looked like a mess, just like the city that seemed to have been swept through by war.
This was the situation they had personally created. The beautiful city of the past now lay in ruin. Their imagination at the start and seeing the real thing was different. The guilt brought by the sight was far beyond anyone could tolerate. Even Song Haoran, who was as strong as iron, right now couldn't help but become red-eyed and his fingertips on his gun's trigger were shivering.
The survivors looked blank as they looked at the sight. They had already burst into tears and cried silently. Right then, the air was stagnant and everyone felt helpless, unwilling, confused, scared, and all such negative emotions quietly creeped into everyone's heart, like a steel needle, ever so faint.
Gong Lixin looked on, staring at the numerous zombies buried in the ruins and the ones who were still rushing into the fire and smiled with satisfaction. There was no sort of nostalgia for this city. He couldn't understand everyone's sorrow. He only knows that after the fire, this piece of scorched earth will become the grave of hundreds of thousands of zombies and this city will be greatly purified.
Was there any better result than this? Obviously not! Therefore, all sorrow and disappointment were superfluous, useless and weakness and, like zombies, should be completely eliminated!
With his heart secretly made up, Gong Lixin gently held Song Haoran's fingers, smiled as he looked up at him and cautiously opened his mouth to say his thoughts, "Big Brother Song, look, how many zombies died below? There should be hundreds of thousands, no? We have wiped out hundreds of thousands of zombies. One day, we will kill all the zombies here and when we come back, we will rebuild our monument on this scorched earth."
Kill Xiao Lin and step into the sunlight. It was his dream in his last life to build his own monument. He had half completed his goal. In this world, he would realize his dreams completely.
The voice of the young boy was not loud, but it seemed to bring some magical power to awaken the people who were feeling lost. Their eyes slowly moved away from the sea of fire and the ruins below and instead looked at the flames where zombies with black bones were dying and their hearts were shocked.
There were still many zombies who were rushing into the sea of fire and the densely packed zombies were being reduced at a speed visible to the naked eye as they were burned by the fire.
"This fire has cleaned up the area." Lin Wenbo whispered; his expression no longer showed pain. "Our approach was not wrong. The old world is destroyed in our hands and the new world will be made by our hands. For the birth of our new monument, everyone will work hard!"
As the words fell, he pulled the young and thin body into his arms, his head on top of the other's soft hair and narrowed his eyes with an obvious gentle smile while he enjoyed the magnificent scenery and admired the buildings that were being swallowed by fire.
The warm body of the boy filled his arms and his heart and faintly, some of his old, stubborn beliefs were drawn out from his soul and were replaced by a more determined and ardent belief that made him feel a bit dazzled.
Working with the young boy in his arms to create a new world, this idea has now rooted into his heart, sprouted and quickly thrived. Since the beginning of the apocalypse, the weakness and constraints that were buried deep in the bottom of his heart had been dissolved and became vitality for something new.
Song Haoran had also returned to Earth. He looked at the boy who was held in his friend's arms. He looked calm and courageous. His and the teenager's fingers were interlocked. The red flush of his eyes quickly faded and was replaced by a firm belief. In this moment, everything of the past was completely abandoned by him. He will live in the present and live in the apocalypse. He will join hands with the youth next to him to create the future that belongs to them. Such thoughts have come to mind and made him passionate.
Through the headset, twenty other special force's soldiers on the other helicopters also heard Young Master Gong's light declaration. Looking at the buildings that have collapsed, the guilt in their hearts were also collapsing. The new faith was now built on Young Master Gong's dream and they stood taller with this new dream. [1]
As for the survivors on board, when they learned that the military had saved them at the expense of the entire Dingtai District, there was only one thought in their minds: to live! Noe matter how difficult it was, they had to live and live well!
The survivors on the same helicopter as Gong Lixin felt this even more deeply. The young man stood silently behind Gong Lixin, staring at his thin but tall figure, his eyes full of eager light.
The four helicopters no longer dallied around and simply turned their heads and plundered towards the base.
***
At 4:00 p.m., ability user test was about to end. Gong Yuanhang, Lin Mao and others did not care to see the results, they were anxiously waiting in the base. Gong Xiangyi also left the work in her hands and accompanied them in their restlessness.
The satellite communicator finally made a noise under the scorching gaze of the crowd. Gong Yuanhang jolted up and quickly connected the phone.
A happy feeling swept across his being, his tight expression slightly loosened and, after a few more exchanges in low voices, he hung up the phone and told everyone present, "Fifty-two survivors have been safely rescued and we have no casualties. They'll arrive at the base in half an hour. Go ahead and get ready to do you job everyone."
Everyone had a moment of pure astonishment and almost couldn't believe their ears. The extent of the difficulty of the task of this mission was clear to all of them. Even if an army of tens of thousands of people was sent, it would be difficult to retreat. They thought that Young Master Gong might be able to do it and return as soon as possible. He might also suffer heavy casualties and become a zombie, but it was more likely for him to die in Green Park market.
In short, they envisioned thousand different results but never thought it would be such an ending! How did Young Master Gong do it? Everyone was surprised and wondered. Even Gong Yuanhang couldn't wait to understand the specifics of their mission.
His son brought him one surprise after another and he could barely keep up.
Gong Xiangyi secretly sighed and went along with the old man in charge of logistics to help prepare. How much material will 52 more survivors consume? She only hoped that there would be several powerful ability users from that area. She thought to herself.
Half an hour later, four helicopters arrived on schedule and landed slowly on the tarmac. Some people heard the news and rushed there, hoping to find their lost relatives.
Seeing that his son was the first to open the hatch, Gong Yuanhang couldn't help but step forward and greet him within his arms.
Holding the youth who rushed into his arms, Father Gong rubbed his smooth hair and his expression couldn't help but show nothing but adoration. When his son is still so small, he's involved in such great danger and is growing rapidly. He felt a twinge of pain in his heart.
After a few slaps on his son's back, Gong Yuanhang hid the love on his face and handed him back to Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo, who were waiting to for him, and went to greet the survivors.
After shaking hands and giving his condolences to several survivors, Gong Yuanhang asked the logistics' staff to take them down to isolate them and check their bodies, register them into the household registration and test their ability before arranging a room for them to rest.
After the survivors left, he looked at the 20 special forces' soldiers who came up to his youngest child to say goodbye and Gong Yuanhang's expression became thoughtful. He felt that some of the soldiers had changed somehow. Their original temperament were more respectful than before, their eyes were more firm than before and their attitude toward his son was almost worshipful. It was almost as if the other was revered.
Apparently, Lin Mao also saw these changes and Gong Yuanhang looked at him and opened his mouth. "Go, hold a meeting. We'll listen to their mission report." Gong Yuanhang laughed and lifted his foot to move after he commanded.
"What's the relationship between the boy and your base leader?" The young man who had given the boy chocolate looked from afar as Gong Lixin left with Gong Yuanhang and curiously asked the staff member next to him.
"That is Young Master Gong," the staff's expression answered, his tone beaming with pride. "The son of Leader Gong and a ice-fire-wind three-system ability user and also the strongest person in our base. I heard that this year, he's only 16 years old."
It turned out to be Young Master Gong and not not Gong! The young man suddenly thought this, but was attracted by another topic. He hesitatingly asked, "You said that he's an ability user? What's an ability?" When the question was asked, the youth's palm was a little sweaty.
Talking about ability users, the enthusiasm of the staff came back and his introduction was full of excitement. At the end of his explanation, he kindly added, "Later, you will also go to test your ability. If you're an ability user, you will have a good life in the future. That's all."
The young man nodded and repeated the staff's words in his mind and found that he didn't mention the ability he knew and was slightly relieved.
When the staff finished explaining, he remembered that the other was rescued by Young Master Gong and asked about how Young Master Gong rescued them. The young man quickly threw away his uneasiness and his eyes sparkled as he talked about Young Master Gong's great achievements.
In the conference room, Gong Lixin looked around his bag and held the chocolate the young man gave him. He silently swallowed his saliva and all other thoughts had already disappeared.
Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo added to each other's explanation as they described the mission's process clearly and let the people in the conference room listen with astonished eyes.
When they finished, Gong Yuanhang was silent for a long time before he concluded all that information and his face was a little awkward. "You blew up Dingtai Building? The entire Dingtai District has been burnt into a scorched earth?"
"Yes." Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo replied with no hint of remorse on their faces.
Gong Yuanhang was stunned back into his chair and stared at an empty space without any focus, as if imagining the scene of when Dingtai Building burned to the ground. The six district leaders responsible for people in their districts also looked at the three people who remained silent, with eyes as if they were terrorists.
"Hahaha!" Grandfather Lin took the lead to return everyone to Earth and laughed. "Good, dare to break the old monument and not at all disturbed by sentiments to make such a decision! He really is a hero in such a time of chaos, ah a hero! Yuanhang, you have such a good son!"
After Lin Mao's voice fell, Gong Yuanhang felt slightly indulgent and immediately laughed as well. His laughter was very smooth. His son had grown to the point where he was stronger than he imagined and he could rest assured.
He originally intended to hand over the base to Haoran or Wenbo, but it seemed that his son, Gong Lixin, was more suitable! Thinking of this, Gong Yuanhang was laughing again.
After thinking about it, several higher-ups became even more cautious about their treatment towards Gong Lixin than ever before. The entire Dingtai District was destroyed and there was no hesitation at all! They couldn't mess with him!
Gong Xiangyi looked at the expression of her father, Grandfather Lin and the six head of district one by one before gritting her teeth and slowly hanging her head. This was so devastating. Gong Lixin, who is so powerful, what does she have to fight against him? Forget it!
Unclear of what was going on, Young Master Gong glanced at his father who was laughing before pinching the chocolate in his hand. When did the meeting end?I want to eat chocolate.Alright, there are six small pieces; one for father, one piece for Granfather Lin, one for Big Brother Song and one for Big Brother Lin, so I can eat two!
[1] CrazedCookies: Like I said, more cult member