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墨書 Inktalez
"Meow—"
A cat emerged from the corner ahead, gracefully striding with a big rat clamped in its mouth. This cat was much larger than the others. The few other cats that saw it return immediately jumped down from the trash can, each lifting their tails and sniffing at the large rat dropped by the big cat.
The big cat seemed to dote on them, sitting nearby and watching as they tore into the rat. It had already eaten well while foraging outside; this was just leftover food it brought back. Miao Chengmin noticed that a few flakes of snow were resting on its back.
Miao Chengmin lay there motionless, like a broken corpse. He was waiting for his body to heal slowly, but it was taking too long. Several hours had passed, and he had only managed to piece together his upper body.
It started to snow.
A few large snowflakes fell and landed on Miao Chengmin's right eye. He was forced to move his arm slightly to brush away the quickly melting snowflakes at the corner of his eye.
"I haven't seen snow in a long time..."
Miao Chengmin reached out his hand, trying to catch the falling snowflakes from the sky.
The Divine Realm does not have snow; after spending three days there, three years had passed in the human world.
Three years ago, U City had experienced a heavy snowfall.
At that time, Miao Chengmin remembered taking a day off to drive alone to U City with Ming Juan on his back, spinning around together in the snow. They even built an enormous snowman, spending an entire afternoon on it. Ming Juan mischievously claimed they would set a world record for snowman building.
Miao Chengmin clearly remembered that the snowman's nose was a carrot and its eyes were blueberries, which were Ming Juan's favorite...
That snowman was built in a park in U City, next to a swing where a little girl always sat...
Unfortunately, Miao Chengmin had never asked how old that child was—
"She must be in elementary school by now."
Miao Chengmin's thoughts drifted far away. He had forgotten what his mission upon returning to the human world was. Perhaps it was good to let himself relax for a bit.
"Vroom—"
A loud rumbling sound rushed in from afar, startling the cats so much that they abandoned their dinner and scrambled onto the trash can beside Miao Chengmin, trembling there.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Miao Chengmin said to the cats.
But they continued to stare at him with those bewildered eyes.
"Okay..."
Miao Chengmin turned his face upward toward the sky. A transport plane roared overhead, squeezing through a small gap above the alleyway. The plane flew low, seemingly ready to land at any moment.
"What’s going on?" Miao Chengmin found it hard to understand why a military transport plane would be landing in a perfectly fine city unless something serious was about to happen.
Indeed, something was about to happen.
Miao Chengmin recalled the monster that had sent him here—Virgil.
"Is war starting?"
As soon as Miao Chengmin's words fell, the snowflakes began to swirl violently; he looked outside the alley and saw more and more people running by, each carrying various bags and packages. From their fleeting faces, Miao Chengmin could see fear and panic reflected in their expressions.
"Meow?"
The large cat seemed to be asking Miao Chengmin what was happening.
Miao Chengmin smiled slightly at it: "It's nothing; it's Spring Festival time, everyone is rushing home for the New Year."
"Quick, go throw the trash in there."
An elderly couple unexpectedly stopped outside the alley.
"Oh no!" Miao Chengmin was alarmed, but he couldn't move at all—there was no support for him to shift, and all his energy was focused on repairing his body.
What should he do? If the old man walked in and saw a zombie with no lower half, it would probably give him a heart attack.
And it was the old lady; she hunched over and slowly walked inside.
"Oh my... Please, turn around... It's not like there's only one trash can here!" Miao Chengmin gritted his teeth and silently pleaded.
However, the large cat beside him seemed to recognize the old lady; it jumped down and hurried towards her.
"Hmm?" Miao Chengmin suddenly felt curious.
"Meow—" The big cat raised its tail and sniffed at the trash in the old lady's hand.
"I knew you would come out, little guy," the old lady said kindly as she reached out to pet the big cat's fluffy head, then set down a container of leftover food.
"We have to go now, Meihua." The old lady could hardly speak; she covered her face and began to sob softly. She knew that the stray animals here probably wouldn't live much longer. This was likely their last dinner.
"Let's go, grandma! This place is going to be sealed off soon!" A soldier came over to try to help her up, but she shook off his hand.
"If I get the chance, I will come back to see you all," she finally stood up, gazing into the big cat's clear eyes before resolutely turning away, taking her partner's hand, and slowly walking towards the transport plane in the distance.
The soldier looked at the big cat and sighed before walking away with his gun.
Miao Chengmin exhaled a cold breath, casually tilting his head to one side, only to find that the little cats were still staring at him with wide eyes.
"Keep staring and I'll blast you away," Miao Chengmin started his tough talk again.
"Meow!" One of the cats revealed its newly grown sharp teeth.
"I take it back," Miao Chengmin immediately turned his face away and looked at the sign on the wall that read "U City Unified Locking."
In U City’s central square, dozens of large buses were parked. The entire square was filled with people trying to board, except for a path that was blocked by fully armed riot police preparing to leave.
"Take your time! Don't push! We will ensure every citizen evacuates safely!"
One of the armed police officers shouted from a high aerial platform of a fire truck to the crowded people below. But in front of a crowd desperate for survival, these powerless words were nothing compared to people pushing through just to sit in a bus while looking back at their former homes.
This is what disaster looks like.
The snow had piled up thickly; an elderly man with an injury on his foot found it hard to move at all. With the crowd pressing in and the biting cold, he looked at the rescue vehicle ahead—so close yet feeling so far away.
Suddenly, he was shoved from behind; turning around, he saw Ming Juan.
"Grandpa, hurry up," Ming Juan urged him.
"I want to too," Grandpa replied helplessly.
Grandpa had nothing but a family photo in his hand; he was old and indeed had difficulty moving. Ming Juan's father led the way ahead, carrying everything they could take with them while Ming Juan held some small bags, slowly being pushed forward by the crowd.
Everyone had a bit of snow on their heads; from above, it looked like torn cotton drifting intermittently on the ground in the wind.
Two armed police officers standing at the bus entrance glanced back at the people inside—the space was nearly full with no room left to stand.
"Almost there, almost there!"
The father watched as the people waiting ahead grew fewer and fewer, stepping forward with anticipation until he finally set foot on the stairs leading to the entrance. His anxious heart eased a little as he pulled out his hand and called to his grandfather behind him, "Old man, hurry up!"
The grandfather trembled as he caught up. He and the father made their way to the vehicle.
"Juan!" The father gestured for Ming Juan to take his hand.
However, just when everyone thought the whole family had a chance to survive—
"Rescue vehicle number fifty-nine, please depart immediately!" A command suddenly came from a military Humvee in the distance.
"Ah!" Ming Juan looked over in fear.
"My daughter isn't on the vehicle yet! How dare you leave!" The father shouted in despair.
"The bus is already full! Your daughter can take the next one! Our destination is the same!" shouted an Armed Police officer from the fire truck, holding a megaphone.
"This is my daughter! How can I be at ease?" The father slammed his fist against the vehicle door.
"Dad!" Ming Juan watched as her father's fist bled, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
"Depart immediately!"
The ruthless command was emphasized again as the door of rescue vehicle number fifty-nine slowly closed.
A broken family was thus torn apart.
Watching her father's furious expression and her grandfather silently bowing his head in tears, Ming Juan trembled with tear-filled eyes, helplessly gazing at the vehicle driving away along the designated rescue route toward distant hope. In the face of disaster, people are so powerless.
"Let us off!" The father rushed toward the driver's cabin, frantically banging on the window. Other passengers had barely squeezed onto the vehicle; how could they allow him to succeed? People surged forward to hold him back, pulling him away. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't resist the combined force of so many people and was dragged down to the ground while shouting.
"My daughter—"
The father covered his face and cried out in pain. A kind-hearted woman stepped forward and told him, "All roads leading to U City are blocked. Even if you get off to reach your child, where can you go?"
The grandfather silently picked up the glasses that the father had thrown on the ground and looked at the increasingly distant crowd in the rearview mirror.
"You must survive, child. Our Ming Family cannot lose another loved one."
City M
Mr. Song paced anxiously in front of the television while a girl upstairs played an elegant piano piece.
"Stop playing 'Night Phantom,' it's too fitting," Mr. Song said.
The girl immediately stopped her delicate fingers from striking the keys and switched to playing 'Hail Mary.'
"Sigh." Mr. Song listened to this classical melody and felt it was somehow destined.
"Go get my phone."
The maid cleaning the vase next to Mr. Song complied and pulled out his phone from a stack of Russian books. Mr. Song quickly dialed Ming Juan's grandfather's number.
"Doo..."
Mingjuan's Grandpa picked up the phone, his body swaying with the motion of the vehicle.
"Hello, Old Song."
"Have you all boarded the car or the plane?" Mr. Song asked.
Grandpa didn't know how to explain it to him and sighed.
"Did you miss it? Should I send a helicopter to pick you up?"
"Ming Juan missed our rescue vehicle," Grandpa said.
On the other end of the line, Mr. Song fell silent for a long time.
"I know you're worried about Ming Juan," Grandpa said.
"No one wants anything to happen to her... Good luck to you all." Mr. Song thought for a moment and finally said just that before hanging up the phone.
The Song Family and the Ming Family had been in a marital relationship since the late Qing Dynasty, but while the Song Family gradually prospered, the Ming Family declined due to corruption, eventually fading into obscurity.
Ming Juan was the daughter born to the mother of the Song Family and the father of the Ming Family. It was said that when she was born, a Cuckoo sang outside the window, and as it sang, it began to snow.
When Mr. Song visited the newly born Ming Juan, he noticed something extraordinary about her—he touched little Ming Juan's forehead and was the only one who vaguely saw an eye.
"Soul-Gazing Eye..."
This was a lost technique of their Song Family for decades, and it turned out that this child was born with it.
Because of this child's connection, under Mr. Song's leadership, the Song Family chose not to abandon the Ming Family but continued to provide material support. However, the Ming Family faced numerous disasters one after another. From Mingjuan's Grandpa's partner dying of leukemia to Miao Chengmin heroically sacrificing himself while saving eight people in a fire. Some things truly cannot be resolved with money.
Mr. Song always believed that heaven has eyes; perhaps it was because the Ming Family had embezzled too much that heaven wanted to punish them like this.
But Mr. Song really did not want Ming Juan to be caught up in this vortex of punishment.
"Ming Juan..."
Mr. Song lowered his hand that held the phone. He was actually the one who understood the current situation best—Demon and God Realm, souls, Spirit Corps, Soulless; he had heard about them all in the lunar history records. He knew exactly who the Moonheart people and Moon internal Humans had once allied against and who they were currently fighting alongside humans, moons, spirits, and Stone giants, as well as where that most terrifying person would stand by and watch in the future.
He understood all of this better than Nars.
"The Celestial Warriors, you are not the last line of defense..."
Mr. Song lit a cigar and muttered to himself.
"But you are the last hope."
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