CH 6.2

Chapter 6.2 – He and the City

Xing Yifeng couldn’t understand Shi Yuan’s brain circuit, and with a head full of question marks, he pulled Shi Yuan back to the garrison like a schoolboy forcing an old grandmother to cross the road.

As soon as he came back, Wang Yu rushed over and looked at Shi Yuan’s whole body carefully: “Are you alright?!”

“I’m okay, I’m not hurt,” Shi Yuan replied, Xing Yifeng left, but he was still very angry.

Wang Yu was on the verge of tears: “Good, that’s good.”

Shi Yuan was distracted: “I’m still young and have to find 1, I won’t die.”

Wang Yu: “……”

Wang Yu: “…………”

Words could hardly describe Wang Yu’s expression, her full emotion abruptly solidified on her face. Her temples throbbed suddenly. After a long time, she murmured: “Find 1, find 1, good, you can definitely find a big fierce 1.”

Shi Yuan’s mind was not here, he didn’t pay attention to her entanglement, and asked, “Where is Lu Tinghan?”

“I don’t know, taking care of things, I guess.” Wang Yu is still immersed in the obsession of Shi Yuan to find 1, and she spoke slowly, “He Yu should never have happened, the soldiers present were seriously negligent, there must be accountability for that.”

Shi Yuan was a little surprised: “Is he still here?”

“Yeah, he’s definitely going to take a look at the place where the tentacle monster appeared. The fact that the tentacle monster wasn’t detected by any of the instruments is a very serious problem, and he’s going to decide what to do afterwards – and when he’s done looking at the site, he should still return to this garrison and then rush back to the city. But what are you looking for him for?”

“Nothing, I’m just asking,” Shi Yuan said.

He was much more relieved since Lu Tinghan hadn’t left here yet, he could still find his human after Lu Tinghan was done.

His anger was instantly calmed down, and the scales of his tail were all subdued and flattened.

After calming down, he followed Wang Yu into the tent.

Wang Yu was packing up her things. There were various bottles, cotton pads, and some loose change on the table.

Shi Yuan didn’t know currency, so Wang Yu introduced him by the way: “This green one is five yuan, the red one is fifty, the blue one is one hundred, and these coins are fifty cents and one yuan respectively. You have to remember, be careful of being cheated out of money in the future, to be honest, you kinda look like a good target for scammers.”

Shi Yuan: “Oh…”

He helped Wang Yu put the money in different categories, piled up coins, and neatly arranged banknotes.

Wang Yu continued to organize her notes, putting together those yellowed and even a few still blood-stained notes.

Shi Yuan sat beside her and watched, he saw her hand-drawn diagram of the infected wounds and thought of Old He. He felt that Wang Yu and Old He should be quite familiar, but Wang Yu was not sad, maybe she didn’t want to show it in front of Shi Yuan, or maybe she was used to it.

Shi Yuan recalled Old He questioning Lu Tinghan before he died.

Old He mentioned the “Euthanasia Bill” and said that it was signed by Lu Tinghan.

He asked, “What is the euthanasia bill?”

Wang Yu paused, knowing that he was talking about Old He’s case. She asked back, “Do you know what an inhibitor is?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

Wang Yu: “Inhibitors can treat mild infections. Some people are not seriously injured and can recover with timely injection of inhibitor. But it is ineffective for moderate infections and above. Previously, we would take the injured who were still conscious back to the city for humanitarian reasons, so that the lucky ones could see their families before they died. But after the bill was introduced, those who were confirmed to be incurable would be euthanized on the spot.”

Shi Yuan thought for a while: “Why?”

“Because there are not enough manpower and material resources, there is always a shortage,” Wang Yu said. “In addition, some injured people lost control on the way, and despite our strict precautions, there were still soldiers injured by them every year.”

Shi Yuan thought for a while and whispered, “Then I think the bill is quite reasonable…”

He felt a little guilty, after all, he was not a human being and should not be qualified to judge anything.

“It’s very reasonable.” Wang Yu sighed softly and clipped the last page of paper into the book. “But the problem is, people could have seen their families.”

It’s not that the bill was unreasonable, and not everyone only cared about themselves – in this era, the soldiers who went to war were prepared to die, willing to wrestle with nightmares until they themselves were also reduced to monsters.

They knew that behind them were the city and their family, so they did not flinch; they knew that even if they were seriously injured, they still had the opportunity to hold the hand of their loved ones, which had been one of their important spiritual pillars for a long time.

Until the introduction of the euthanasia bill.

The seriously injured were brought together, left a suicide note, and watched as the cold liquid was pushed into their veins. Their bodies were cremated and the ashes were crammed into a rickety green transport truck with many supplies and returned to the city and the arms of their families.

But who would like such a lonely death?

If the bill had existed from the start, perhaps it would have been accepted by most people. The problem was that it destroyed what was already there, turning “can” into “can’t”.

This gap inevitably led to arguments and protests. There was an outburst of “I could have”.

“Actually, this decision was proposed a long time ago.” Wang Yu stared at a certain point in the void, not knowing what came to mind. “For various reasons, it was delayed, no one wanted to be the signer.”

Shi Yuan said, “And then Lu Tinghan signed it?”

“Yes.” Wang Yu said, “That’s, uh, Shi Yuan, generally speaking, we still call him General Lu. It’s not good to call him by his first name. Although I’ve called him that too, at the time, I was the one who was too emotional…”

Shi Yuan shook the tip of his tail.

He didn’t want to call him “General Lu”, in his opinion, Lu Tinghan was Lu Tinghan.

Wang Yu continued: “After the introduction of the euthanasia bill, it caused a lot of controversies. Most people accepted it, but a small number of people were particularly dissatisfied. He Yu was one of those who accepted it, and said that if you die, you die, and euthanasia is not painful, but before he died… he changed his mind. Maybe it’s only when we’re dying that we know what we really want.”

She looked at Shi Yuan: “I don’t know what General Lu looks like in your eyes, but he may be… different from what you think. He has always been on the cusp of the storm, and he is quite a controversial figure. The euthanasia bill is just one of the controversies, there are many more things like that. He has the courage to make decisions, and he has changed a lot, but the changes will definitely be criticized. Maybe it will be years before we know if these sacrifices were right or wrong.

“There are a lot of people who admire him, and a lot of people hate him. But no matter who it is, we have to admit that we need General Lu – fortunately, we have him, it’s good that we have him.”

Shi Yuan said: “He must be very powerful.”

Even he knew that if a person’s value could be recognized by his enemies, then he was absolutely powerful.

Wang Yu smiled a little: “…Well, you come with me.”

She took Shi Yuan out of the tent. The day was dark and dreary, the temperature was low, the breath was tinged with white air, and the aroma of hot potato soup came faintly on the wind. They passed through the staggered tents, brushed shoulders with two patrols of soldiers, and came to the edge of the garrison.

The two stood side by side in the twilight, the wilderness in full view. The wind messed up their hair and Wang Yu pinned a strand of hair behind her ear: “I remember you asking me in the car what the city was like. The city is our purgatory and harbor, our home. Countless people have defended it, and the walls have been washed in blood for several rounds to keep it standing.”

She said, “Now – look to the east, there’s the city.”

Shi Yuan looked into the distance.

His eyes follow the wild wind, through the endless wilderness, sweeping through the dead and dry grass, and at the end of heaven and earth, he saw a dark shadow lying across the city walls, which were constructed of steel and impregnable defenses.

The walls were stained with old blood, and wildflowers had blossomed under the walls, which surrounded its people and sheltered its maker, sinking in the long night and awakening in the morning sun.

Shi Yuan had seen monster lairs, lairs that allowed those abominable and strange creatures to sleep peacefully, and also made them fight to the death. He guessed that the city had the same meaning for humans, so Old He was so determined, and so soldiers took up firearms. He was far from the city, be he could still see the grandeur of that behemoth, see the little light it put together in this bleak world.

Wang Yu said, “If you want to ask what great achievements General Lu has made, you can sum it up in one sentence.” She looked into the distance. “…that’s the city he defended.”

This word alone is worth a thousand words.

The city is there, the home is there.

Shi Yuan watched intently.

Wang Yu: “There are three cities like this, and only three more. We would have lost more, but General Lu held them, and no one can deny that.”

Shi Yuan said, “So that’s how it is, now I understand.” He thought seriously for a moment, lowered his eyes, his eyelashes swept down a thick shadow on his face, and said softly, “I understand, he’s a good 1, ah.”

Wang Yu: “……??!”

Wang Yu’s hair was messy in the wind, grabbed Shi Yuan’s hand, and suddenly panicked: “Shi Yuan, Shi Yuan, I didn’t say this to make you like him! You must not think about it, with your face value, you can have any man, from 18 to 80. What little milk dog, little wolf dog, tsundere, blackbelly, is not at your disposal? You can play as you want, buy a big house and find ten fierce 1. Just don’t touch General Lu, that one is bound to have no good results. There are lots of grass in the end of the world, why should you love a flower alone?”

Shi Yuan: ?

He was very confused, every time, when he sincerely praised others for being great, Wang Yu’s reaction was so big. In that long string of words, he only understood that Wang Yu didn’t want him to get close to Lu Tinghan.

He tried to summarize: “It turns out that Lu Tinghan is more powerful than ten fierce 1.”

Wang Yu: “……”

How did you come to this conclusion?!

Shi Yuan said, “It turns out that he is still a flower.”

Wang Yu: “……..”

What the hell is this again?!

Shi Yuan was very happy, some people praised his human as powerful and beautiful.

Wang Yu next to him gave up struggling, covered her face, and thought to herself. Forget it, how could Shi Yuan understand this, he couldn’t really go to Lu Tinghan.

—Thinking about it like this, she seemed to have taken a reassurance.

Not to mention that the general cannot be seen by ordinary people, that’s Lu Tinghan ah. Even if naked men and naked women with a myriad of looks and amorous feelings were in front of him, his first reaction was to check thoroughly if there was an infection. It can be said that he is single-minded for the country, unmoved by the eight winds, busy to death, and keeps away from strangers.

Wang Yu felt more relieved, and said to Shi Yuan, “Don’t think about General Lu anymore, you two are not the same, you really don’t have a chance.” She thought about it and took out a coin. “You know what this is?”

“Fifty cents.” Shi Yuan replied, “You just taught me to recognize it.”

“No, it is your fate with the general.” Wang Yu earnestly said, “As I said before, he may not be the same as what you think. So, the head of the coin is you don’t like General Lu, and the tail side is he doesn’t like you, there are only these two possibilities, got it?”

She tossed the coin up high.

The coin twirled in the air. She wanted to catch it, but her hand slipped and the coin fell to her feet.

With a soft click, it fell to the ground vertically.

Unbiased, steady, it didn’t even tremble a bit.

Wang Yu: “…”

Shi Yuan: “…”

Wang Yu said, “This is fifty cents.”

Shi Yuan said, “No, this is our fate.”