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墨書 Inktalez
The next morning, according to the meteorological station's report, City M would experience the most severe Severe Fog Weather in two years. Beyond ten meters, everything was a shade of gray-white. Vehicles on the road were barely moving, and people could walk faster than them.
After sorting out Nars's words, Qin Weishan and Jiao An unexpectedly ran into each other in the office building. Jiao An was somewhat surprised by Qin Weishan's presence; he usually trained with An Xiaotian at this time.
"What wind blew you here, Foolish Qin?" Jiao An hugged her laptop to her chest, dressed neatly in a white-collar outfit. Her short hair was deliberately tucked behind her ears, and her long legs moved with the grace of a model. The crisp sound of her heels echoed as she walked, accompanied by a calm smile.
Qin Weishan was captivated; after spending so much time with Jiao An, he had never noticed how alluring her mature womanly charm was.
"What's wrong?" Jiao An asked, looking at him curiously and waving her hand.
"Xiaotian said he had something to do and was heading to see Liu Xuan and Dr. Xu Yicheng. It’s probably related to Fierce Eagle Armor," Qin Weishan replied as he came back to his senses. "I had no one to practice with, so I thought I'd come see you."
"Really? I can't believe you remembered me."
"Little Fool..."
"Hmm?"
"You look really good today."
Initially staring at him, Jiao An immediately buried her face in her hands. After a few moments of suppressed laughter, she seemed much brighter, though she held back a smile as she playfully scolded him, "Finally using your brain; I've never heard you compliment me in all these years."
Qin Weishan followed Jiao An around the office building like a father watching over his daughter. Only he would go out of his way to please Jiao An. In front of him, she would always be a girl who never grew up, despite being recognized as the leader by everyone. After finishing work, Jiao An quietly stood on the rooftop outside the office, blending into the fog as the milky white mist enveloped her, gradually becoming ethereal in Qin Weishan's view. He found himself unexpectedly afraid that she might truly disappear and couldn't help but step into the fog towards her voice.
Once Jiao An saw him beside her, she fell silent. The heaviness in her expression made even the sound of her hands resting on the railing echo clearly. Qin Weishan had no idea what she was thinking; perhaps it was the worldview suddenly given by Nars, leaving her feeling powerless as an ordinary person.
He felt that way too but chose not to break through Jiao An's thoughts. He let her gaze drift through the thick fog while he opened music on his phone and gently placed one earbud in her ear. Even then, Jiao An mischievously nudged him with her shoulder like a little girl before looking at him for a second and falling back into silence.
"This terrible weather allows those soldiers to slack off during training," Qin Weishan said as he stretched his hand across his forehead to look into the distance. Although he could see nothing, he imagined soldiers training based on Instructor Zhang's commands and whistles. "Do you remember when we first came here? You asked me if there was a high place to watch the sunset; I’ve always remembered that and actually found it. It must have been during the Spring Festival in '53 when I took you up to the rooftop of the command center, and we ended up getting reprimanded for it—hahaha."
"Even then, I thought it was worth it," Jiao An turned her face away, letting her short hair cover her Greek nose as she smiled softly. "Back in those days in the military camp, I missed home so much. You were the only one who showed me what home looked like within the army. I still remember seeing the reeds in our village, flowers everywhere, and my longed-for sunset... and you."
The atmosphere became suddenly intimate; Qin Weishan just smiled foolishly without responding.
"If we had refused to form the special forces squad, finished our service, and gone home instead..." Jiao An sighed as she blew a breath into the gray-white mist that parted around them. "Who would have thought that today's special forces squad has become an alliance where all kinds of beings exist? As ordinary people, why should we participate in such wars? What can we do? Hmm? Weishan?"
"Let's head back to the office," Qin Weishan gently nudged Jiao An's shoulder with his elbow.
"Speaking of Liu Xuan and Dr. Xu...," Jiao An ignored his suggestion. "Don't you think they are amazing? They've experienced so much that we don't even know about."
"Do you envy their power?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Her tone carried an infinite sense of melancholy.
Qin Weishan smiled slightly and changed his voice: "The stronger someone is, the more easily they are envied or targeted—even their lives can be taken away. Jiao An, being ordinary has its own merits; cherish yourself."
"Do you think we are still ordinary?" A hint of helplessness flickered in Jiao An's eyes. "Do you understand how I feel, Weishan? This is actually a very tragic topic. If I can't do anything but shoot from behind during this era of extraordinary beings, I'd rather withdraw and enjoy my desired life before it ends."
"But..."
Before Qin Weishan could say more, Jiao An covered his mouth with her hand.
Her expression suddenly turned playful and somewhat adorable: "Stop talking! When have you ever debated better than me? Let's sing together! Your playlist is completely different from your appearance."
"My paper airplane flies away... flying back to my childhood..."
How could he not understand what Sister Jiao An was thinking? She had been his companion for many years. No one wanted to die, but fate was forcing them toward death. For this world, they had to give everything—even if they had no obligation to do so.
Jiao An's hand fell into Qin Weishan's palm, and he held her smooth hand, the coolness revealing a hint of tenderness and obedience. He listened to Jiao An's serene, drifting song, silently gazing at her side profile as she closed her eyes to sing. This was one of the few moments they had as ordinary humans.
After parting with Jiao An, he looked up at the gray-white sky and sighed, just as he received a voice call from Liu Xuan, whom he had just added on social media yesterday.
"Hey, Weishan, what's up?"
"Xuan, has Xiaotian not returned yet?"
"He'll probably be back around two this afternoon. Just wait a bit longer."
"Alright."
Qin Weishan suddenly remembered something.
"Hey, Liu Xuan, have you discussed the plan? You know, the one about finding the Stone Giant Titan."
"We called Xiaotian over mainly for that," Liu Xuan replied. "It's already settled, so don't worry."
Qin Weishan replied with a simple "Okay," then put down his phone. The scene of being brutally defeated by Xiu Sha resurfaced in his mind—the blood-soaked image of himself and the terrifying strength of his enemies had become a nightmare that haunted him for years. He didn't know how hard he needed to work to possess the same formidable power as they did.
Does effort even matter in such matters?
His thoughts were pried open by Jiao An's lingering song, filling his mind with images of battling internal Humans. If it weren't for An Xiaotian and Liu Xuan, he might have sacrificed himself long ago.
If I can't do anything, I'd rather withdraw.
But...
Qin Weishan opened the door to the training room and looked at the boxing gloves hanging on the ring as if meeting an old friend again. Unlike Jiao An, the equipment inside bore witness to all his efforts up to this point. He was An Xiaotian's mentor and a comrade of the captain; having chosen this path meant there was no turning back. Even if he wasn't the protagonist, as a boxer, he had to give a satisfactory conclusion to future battles.
Standing in the center of the training room, amidst the fog, he could still find the direction where Jiao An was. In the silent room, he prayed—for himself and for Jiao An—hoping they could both carry their original faith until the end of their lives.
Six days later, in the mountains on the border of City M
The fog still hadn't dissipated, enveloping all areas within three hundred kilometers of City M. The mist hung like spider webs atop forest treetops, capturing only silence and occasional startled bird calls. Between trees lay only gray-white; a recently fledged dove flew through this haze, flitting up and down until its wing got caught on a branch. In its panic, brown feathers fell one by one before landing in front of an internal Human. Finally, the bird landed on the ground, flapping helplessly while its anxious side face met Dompey's gaze.
"Poor little guy."
Dompey picked up the dove and held it in his hand before turning to Stalker and dozens of soldiers sitting on the ground behind him. "Looks like we have dinner sorted for tonight."
"Are we eating this again?" Stalker emerged from the shadows with a frown as he sat on the ground. "Haven't we had enough of this? Aren't you tired of it? Besides, it's barely enough for you alone."
"Well, you can't find anything else to eat, can you?" Dompey squatted down and pulled her up. "Come on; we're almost there. We've rested long enough."
They had been here for about a week now under the unanimous arrangement of their expeditionary force members. The final decision lay with Ban Sa; even though Dompey strongly opposed it, he had no choice but to comply.
The Familiarity Plan was a major scheme by internal Humans to infiltrate Earth civilization, originating from Xiu Sha's defeat. In their original Interstellar expansion plan, Ban Sa aimed to prioritize development beyond the Sun system while neglecting Earth still in its feudal era. Following their internal Human customs, they simply placed dozens of disguised "familiar faces" among humans on Earth before marching off into space seeking broader territories.
However, three hundred years later, Ban Sa never anticipated that their forces would face defeat on Earth alone. This outcome forced him to reassess Earth civilization. The Familiarity Plan was once again brought to light as more internal Human infiltrators began to meddle with and understand Earth civilization across various fields. Dompey and Stalker were appointed as overall heads of this plan; Ban Sa didn't trust Gad with such an intricate operation due to his reckless nature. After much deliberation, Ban Sa decided to send Gad back to the moon via a time-space connection while allowing Dompey to lead the entire Familiarity Plan on Earth with Stalker as his deputy—only Ban Sa and Dompey could open portals at known locations.
Currently following them were over ten internal Human infiltrators who had yet to step into Earth's civilization but had already received their first task—installing Quantum String Engine Positioning Needles. These needles were powered by String Energy and used for navigation during Water Drift-style traversals by starships. Once a starship entered high-dimensional space through string resonance, determining its axis became extremely challenging due to entering an entirely new spatial world with a new Time Structure where both location and Time underwent fundamental changes; navigation within the ship became impossible without marking original target points before String Energy ceased injection. The Quantum String Engine Locator served this purpose; generally speaking, three Quantum String Engine Locators are needed to fixate on X, Y, Z axes for approximate positioning.
However, they currently possessed only one Quantum String Engine Locator—a pillar that required three people just to carry it.
They awaited further instructions from their emperor while Nian Gui Dompey remained on Earth with Stalker and dozens of elite soldiers temporarily stationed near Stone Giant territory.
Before Aibo left this heart-wrenching place behind him, he mourned for his deceased kin like a human would. He knew he couldn't fight against all internal Human infiltrators alone; after kneeling one last time on that land where he had grown for hundreds of thousands of years, he departed without discovering Titan Aibo's whereabouts along with Dompey’s group.
"Hold onto your things, don't drop them on the ground!"
This wasn't the first time Dompey shouted this. As he turned back, he glanced at the human world outside the mountain. His powerful Telekinesis allowed him to see far and wide, but an ominous feeling surged within him. He then instructed the Stalker beside him, "I sense something; humans are watching us, but they're not nearby. Stay alert."
Dozens of soldiers, led by Dompey and the Stalker, made their way step by step toward the summit of the mountain. Their goal was to install the only Quantum String Engine Locator currently available at the top.
At M City Military Base,
"Does this thing really work?" Lu Sha curiously poked at the controller, only to have Nars grab her hand and pull it away from the control panel.
"Don't mess around." Nars knew this girl had a fiery temper, but there was no choice; this device was beyond her understanding. If something went wrong, it could easily expose them.
On the display screen, the view resembled that of a bird's eye, constantly changing with the flowing white clouds above.
This was indeed a bird's eye—a Mechanical Bird.
As long-time adversaries, Nars boldly speculated that Nian Gui Dompey and his group were hiding in the mountainous forests along City M's border. He wasn't sure what their purpose was, so last night he had found a special reconnaissance drone from weapon Curry. This drone could scan any object and cover itself with nanomaterials based on the 3D model it generated, achieving ideal camouflage.
Then Lu Sha volunteered to go to a nearby village and quickly caught a Partridge. Despite Nars's repeated warnings to catch a live one, Lu Sha returned with a dead bird—she didn't know how to catch one alive, so she simply shot the Partridge with a Chain Spear and brought it back skewered. Nars had to take matters into his own hands to create what now looked like a passable "Partridge."
"The reconnaissance drone has arrived," An Xiaotian reminded them as the Mechanical Bird flew next to the Stealth Drone, waiting for further instructions from Nars.
The Stealth Drone hovering at the mountaintop had departed from M City Military Base. Its mission was also to detect Dompey and his group's movements. However, if it had been effective enough, Nars wouldn't have needed to use the Mechanical Bird.
"Go down," Nars instructed. "Just wait for our guests at the tallest pine tree on the summit."
In the forests of City M,
Dompey looked ahead and said, "We've arrived."
The internal Humans slowly emerged from behind the mountain and reached the summit.
"Wait!"
Everyone stopped, their gazes focused on Lord Dompey.
Dompey raised his head and noticed the Partridge perched on the pine tree. A surge of killing intent erupted from his eyes. The Partridge deliberately tilted its head away as if it weren't looking at him.
"Who are you?"
Looking into the Partridge's eyes, Dompey saw a haunting blue hue.
The Partridge lifted its wings and was about to take flight when Dompey reached out. His Telekinesis immediately yanked it down, and with a swift motion of his hands outward, he violently tore it in half using Telekinesis.
"It’s exposed," Dompey said angrily. "Prepare for battle; protect the Quantum String Engine Locator at all costs."
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