CH 30.1

Chapter 30.1 – Rainbow Sword

On Friday, Shi Yuan went to see Duan Mu.

He apologized for the previous two missed appointments and then said seriously that he would not be with him.

“Why?” Duan Mu asked. “Can you tell me the reason?”

“There is no reason, you are very nice, but if I don’t like it, I don’t like it,” Shi Yuan said. “If I like someone, other people will definitely see it, and I will tell him directly.”

Duan Mu was stunned for a while, looking at Shi Yuan’s expression, only seeing seriousness.

The knuckles of his hand holding the cup turned slightly white, and he said with a bitter smile, “At least you are a straightforward person, and you won’t hang others.”

He turned the coffee cup in his hand and said, “I was attracted to you because I saw your performance. You were so good-looking on stage that I noticed you at a glance. Everyone says don’t judge people by their looks, but in fact, there are still many people who only look at appearance, and I am one of them. But what can I do? Sometimes, one glance is all it takes and you can never forget it.” He smiled again, this time without bitterness. “I never understood you, now I at least know that you are a kind person. It’s always good to be open about your love and hate.”

Shi Yuan didn’t know if he was kind or not, but he knew that he was not a person.

He still thanked: “Thank you.”

Duan Mu drank the coffee and stood up: “Then I’ll go first, I won’t bother you in the future. I hope you like today’s coffee and today’s me.”

He did what he said he would do, Shi Yuan never received another invitation from him again—he only met Duan Mu once more, after that night’s performance, he bowed on the stage, and when he straightened up, he saw Duan Mu watching from the audience, smiling and clapping.

After that, Shi Yuan hadn’t seen him again. Probably he went to other cities to work as a model for different magazines.

Perhaps he found true love, lived a peaceful and happy life, and drank mellow coffee with his lover.

The time soon came to the end of March, the weather warmed up, and the trees on the side of the road were full of branches and leaves.

Shi Yuan found a very good restaurant, their fried asparagus was especially delicious, and he and Lu Tinghan made an appointment to eat.

“Is it really delicious?” Lu Tinghan sat on the sofa reading a book.

“Really,” Shi Yuan swore. “If it’s not delicious, you can go three days without touching my head.”

Lu Tinghan raised his eyebrows: “Then go and try it.”

Shi Yuan was very happy. After a while, he seemed to realize something, and added: “Your taste is too picky. How about changing it to not touching my head for two days?”

Lu Tinghan: “…” He rubbed Shi Yuan’s head fiercely.

On the appointed day, Shi Yuan left the theater early and went home by car. When the door opened, a dazzling light came from the sky.

The light was far away, but it was so bright, almost blinding. Shi Yuan squinted his eyes slightly, and looked into the far distance, only to see clearly that it was a straight white pillar of light descending from the sky.

It was sharper than a comet, like a sharp sword stabbing down from the sky, cutting through the clouds, and destroying everything. The blinding light did not completely dim until tens of minutes later.

It took a long time for Shi Yuan to know that it was the Alliance’s space-based laser weapon “Rainbow Sword”, which hit the southeast outpost and destroyed the entire contaminated outpost.

On this day, Lu Tinghan didn’t come back to eat hot fried asparagus with him as promised.

Neither did the days that followed.

*

“This f*cking thing stinks.” The man with the antlers kicked the broken bones away. “It smells worse than your socks that haven’t been washed in a week.”

“Oh, you’re wrong. At least my socks won’t poison you.” Xing Yifeng squatted on the ground, put on his gloves, and fiddled with a strangely shaped skull. “This skull is not bad, it’s complete enough, it has to be taken back to Professor Guan.”

He picked up the skull, carefully placed it in the carry-on container, and sealed it.

The ground was full of blood and flesh, the space-based weapon had blasted the place to pieces, leaving a hundred-meter-deep crater, as if the earth had been badly injured, turning out the bloody insides.

There were more than a dozen mutant warriors beside them, collecting the remains of infected creatures.

The outpost has been destroyed, and the infection group has temporarily stopped. They must hurry up to collect information to prepare for the next round of attacks.

“These monsters really stink.” Antler continued, “The smell won’t wash away in three days.”

“What are you afraid of?” Wolf Claw next to him pinched his nose. “If you have one-tenth of my sense of smell, you will definitely collapse!!”

“Rodent infection swarms are like this, and this time, it was mostly rats,” Xing Yifeng stood up and stepped on the smelly soil with a rifle.

The infected group came too ferociously, there were so many that it was almost boundless, and every inch of soil seemed to be soaked in black blood, making people frown. And… not only monsters were buried under this land, but also their comrades-in-arms. Flesh and blood blend, and finally return to the dust. They could still hear the endless screams of monsters and the roars of the soldiers.

A gust of wind blew from the wasteland, swirling, rushing to this hideous pothole, with a bloody stench.

The sun was about to go down, they had to hurry up.

Pieces of bones and pieces of minced meat were put into containers, and occasionally, some people teased their teammates who were dizzy from the stench, but everyone knew that this would not adjust much of the atmosphere.

The outpost, an extremely important line of defense for the city, was wiped out.

It had been prevented today, but what about tomorrow?

And what about the countless tomorrow that everyone was looking forward to?

Xing Yifeng frowned and opened another layer of soil. Under the soil was half a leg bone, scorched and twisted, and it was impossible to tell whether it belonged to a human or a monster. There was a piece of broken cloth next to it. Xing Yifeng recognized it as a military uniform. He paused for two seconds, put the fabric in his arms, and continued to search.

The time pointed to [18:25], the terminal issued a short warning sound, the daylight was disappearing, it was time to return to the ship.

Xing Yifeng and the mutants stepped on the soil one foot deep and one foot shallow, and headed for higher ground.

Xing Yifeng has been in the military for many years and has extensive experience, otherwise, he would not be Lu Tinghan’s right-hand man. His sharp gaze swept over the ground, seemingly inadvertently, but in fact, all the details were caught in his eyes—

A touch of dim purple flashed by.

“Wait!” He said.

“What’s wrong?” Antler looked back at him.

Xing Yifeng squatted down and carefully picked up the piece of purple.

As thin as a cicada wing, it was the wing of an insect.

“Purple light bug,” he said. “They were also killed by the ‘Rainbow Sword’.”

“What’s so strange about this?” Antler asked. “There are fragments of all kinds of monsters here, and you can almost open a zoo. What do you think is wrong?”

“…I can’t say it, but it feels weird.” Xing Yifeng stared at the insect’s wings intently.

As night approached, the terminal issued an alarm again, and Wolf Claw urged: “Captain, let’s go, the sun is about to set. If there is something to bring back to Professor Guan’s research, we can’t see anything even if we stare at it! “

Xing Yifeng didn’t move.

Still looking at the wings, he said slowly, “What is this black thing?”

“Huh?” Wolf Claw did not hear.

Xing Yifeng said softly, “This black one, what is it?”

In the next second, he actually took off the isolation gloves!

This was something that should never be allowed to happen in the execution of a mission. Several people were shocked and all wanted to stop Xing Yifeng. But Xing Yifeng had already touched the wings of the Purple Light Bug!

–The imperceptible black crystals attached to the wings shattered at his fingertips.

It looked beautiful, transparent, and harmless, disappearing in the wind without leaving a trace.

“Captain!” Wolf Claw knocked the wings out of Xing Yi Feng’s hands. “What are you doing?!”

Xing Yifeng looked at his hands.

A certain confused and fascinated expression appeared on his face. His eyes drifted away to a faraway place, unable to hear the calls of his teammates, he murmured: “I don’t know… but I think I saw something.”

“What is it?” Antlers asked him.

“…time.” Xing Yifeng said, “Time that never ends,  where death and rebirth are connected. All the stars surround me, and they burn eternally.”

Antler: “……”

Antler: “Captain, to tell you the truth, I felt the same way when I lay down and buried my face in your stinky socks yesterday.”

Wolf Claw: “Indeed, it’s too smelly and too heavy.”

Xing Yifeng said softly: “When the new life arrives, I will be the most perfect creation.”

“Then you have to treat your feet first,” Wolf Claw said.

He exchanged glances with Antler, and quickly put a tranquilizer on Xing Yifeng’s neck, then carried the unconscious Xing Yifeng on his shoulders, and shouted: “Need support!!”