Chapter 1225: Separations

Author: Sannin OnyokuWord Count: 1285

Under the dim clouds.

Yang Xiao slowly opened his eyes...

Drizzling rain hit his cheeks, cold and damp. He lay in a corner of a stone wall ruin, staring blankly at the sky above for a full ten seconds before finally regaining his senses.

He coughed as he sat up, looking around.

"You're awake?" Su Zhiwei's voice came from nearby. "How do you feel?"

"Where am I...?"

Yang Xiao recalled what had happened before he fainted and anxiously asked again, "What about the nuclear strike? Was it deflected? Did it not cause too many casualties?"

Su Zhiwei sat on a shattered step nearby, looking at the half-broken branch in her hand, falling silent.

Just as she was about to speak, Lu Xun's voice echoed from a distance:

"If you hadn't deflected the nuclear weapon's trajectory, there would be no survivors here today... You saved almost everyone."

Hearing this, a faint smile finally appeared on Yang Xiao's pale lips, and he relaxed against the stone wall.

Lu Xun walked between the two, glanced at the crestfallen Su Zhiwei, and let out a long sigh.

"Su Zhiwei... you can't blame yourself for what happened to Chu Changqing. That monster was simply too powerful; we had no time to react."

"What monster? What happened to Chu Changqing?"

Lu Xun briefly explained the subsequent events to Yang Xiao, who immediately froze.

"Chu Changqing was taken to another world?" Yang Xiao asked in disbelief. "Then we have to find a way to get him back!"

"It's almost impossible."

Chen Ling, wearing a large red opera robe, slowly walked up to the three of them. "The two realms haven't officially converged yet. To enter the Gray Realm, we would need to find another special nuclear weapon and enter during the brief duration of its aftershock... Moreover, the Gray Realm is vast. Even if another rift were to open, it would likely lead to the territories of other world-destroyers. With our current strength, entering any of those world-destroyer territories would be suicide."

"...So we're just abandoning him?"

"We can't abandon him... but at least, not now." Chen Ling looked at the three Lords who had not yet matured. Before they reached the Ninth Rank, none of them were qualified to face a world-destroyer directly.

Silence fell among them.

Whirr—

Above the silent ruins, the roar of a fighter jet swiftly cut through the air.

At the end of a long trail, several dark figures were rapidly sweeping over Wushan Town, seemingly assessing the casualties after the nuclear strike. This sound pulled everyone's thoughts back to reality.

Although they had survived two nuclear strikes, the disaster had only just begun...

Beyond Wushan Town, other military bases and important cities must have also been attacked. No one knew how much of the world beyond these mountains had been destroyed, nor when the war would end.

The fate of humanity, from the moment nuclear weapons soared into the sky, had become like willow catkins, drifting aimlessly in the winds of the apocalypse.

Yang Xiao froze for a few seconds, then suddenly stood up from the corner.

"No... I have to go back."

"Go back? Where to?"

"My research institute." Yang Xiao's expression was anxious. "My fiancée is still there, waiting for me to return..."

Lu Xun seemed to recall something, and his gaze towards Yang Xiao became complicated... He had almost forgotten that Yang Xiao had a fiancée.

Yang Xiao had narrowly escaped disaster by hiding in Wushan Town, but his fiancée's fate was unknown. Most signal towers were now destroyed, and communication devices were unusable. It was impossible to know where his fiancée had taken shelter, and contacting her would be incredibly difficult.

But given Yang Xiao's personality, he would never abandon her.

"But assuming the worst, planes and rail transport are unusable. Your institute is hundreds of kilometers from here; how will you get back?" Lu Xun asked.

"There will always be a way," Yang Xiao replied without hesitation.

Lu Xun knew that nothing he said could stop Yang Xiao from taking the risk; he was simply that kind of person... Just then, Su Zhiwei, who had been nearby, suddenly spoke.

"I... might also need to leave."

"Where are you going?"

"I still have a... brother. I'm a bit worried about him," Su Zhiwei said, hesitating.

"You mean Yao Qing?" Chen Ling nodded slightly. "Yao Qing is currently in the 7012 underground project... And he might indeed need you now."

Yao Qing had watched Xiao Chunping go to the battlefield, and now that Xiao Chunping was dead, Yao Qing was utterly alone and helpless. Chen Ling couldn't imagine how broken and self-reproaching he must be. The only person who could offer him some comfort at this time was Su Zhiwei.

Lu Xun remained silent for a long time.

"Alright then... I'll go to America."

"You? To America now?? Are you insane??" Yang Xiao stared at him in disbelief.

"Wu Tongyuan is still there," Lu Xun said, a hint of self-reproach in his eyes. "At the time, Bureau 749 was searching for the nine of us everywhere. I personally put him on a plane to America, thinking it would help him lie low. I never expected the situation to turn out like this... He must be trapped there now. It all started because of me, and I'm responsible for bringing him back."

"But with a global war now, even domestic flights are probably gone, let alone international ones... How will you get to America?"

"Xingxing will take me there."

Chen Ling looked at the three people before him, sighing deeply inwardly.

For Chen Ling, having all nine Lords gathered around him would have been the best option. However, the nine Lords were not tools; they were living people. It would have been fine before, but with the outbreak of world war, those they cared about were in deep crisis. It was impossible to force them to stay by his side, disregarding the lives of their loved ones...

Now, it was time for them to go their separate ways.

"No matter what happens, always prioritize your own safety," Chen Ling reminded them finally, emphasizing it particularly to Yang Xiao and Lu Xun.

"If you encounter any trouble you can't solve, find every possible way to send me a message—whether it's a communication signal or Xingxing. As soon as I receive it, I'll come to help you immediately."

"Thank you, Director Chen," the three said sincerely.

"Remember, we are always on the same front," Chen Ling said, as if remembering something, then turned again to Su Zhiwei. "Dr. Su, do you remember our code phrase?"

Chen Ling had previously agreed upon a code phrase with Su Zhiwei to use for contact in any era. He could have made a code with Lu Xun and Yang Xiao too, but the problem was that in Chen Ling's era, those two...

Therefore, Su Zhiwei was the only one left who could confirm Chen Ling's suspicions.

Su Zhiwei paused, then nodded immediately. "I remember."

"We meet in the mortal world."

"A gentle smile through long years."

Chen Ling nodded. He was about to say more when his peripheral vision caught a figure turning a distant street corner.

A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, then he looked back at the three in front of him.

"...Everyone, take care."