Chapter 526
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Chapter 526: Supporting This Sky
The young man watched Chen Han’s departing figure and sighed deeply, silently following behind.
His name was Lu Yu, 19 years old, a newly graduated night watchman from a training camp. Due to his unsatisfactory performance in the graduation assessment, he was assigned to the 332 squad stationed in Anta County…
As he walked into the dilapidated forestry bureau, he saw Chen Han, draped in a coat, wandering out of a room, and the faint white frost inside, making him feel that his future was bleak.
A broken city, a rundown building, a squad consisting of only one person.
Of course, after he joined, it became two.
Life in the extreme north was a nightmare for Lu Yu, a native of the south. It wasn’t until he arrived in Anta County that he truly understood what it meant for water to freeze and what extreme cold felt like…
The only things they had to ward off the cold, aside from the unreliable heating, were a small, shabby stove.
Fortunately, Captain Chen Han was a decent person and took good care of him, but he simply couldn’t endure the harsh environment here. He couldn’t imagine how Chen Han had survived alone for so long.
Did he not feel the suffering?
Lu Yu had been with the 332 squad for just a month and a half, yet he had secretly written three applications for transfer, but before he could submit them to the higher-ups of the night watchmen, this sudden turn of events shattered all his hopes.
Wind God, the outside world, fog, strange ghostly lights…
Lu Yu never dreamed that these things, which ordinary night watchmen might never encounter in their lives, would all happen to him!
Thinking about how he was now lost in the fog, possibly never to return to the Great Xia, Lu Yu found himself somewhat nostalgic for that shabby forestry bureau. Although the conditions were harsh, at least there was no danger to life.
The two of them carried the passerby, braving the darkness and cold, to the parking lot on the basement level of the mall.
Several stoves burned in the parking lot, illuminating a corner of the darkness, and the warm heat filled the entire garage. Beside these stoves lay numerous unconscious residents of Anta County, their brows instinctively furrowed as if they were having nightmares.
Chen Han carried the passerby to a stove, gently laid him down, took a blanket from nearby, and covered him, reaching out to touch his forehead.
Burning hot.
Chen Han sighed, hesitated for a moment, and a faint white light appeared in his palm.
“Senior Chen Han, you can’t use your mental power anymore!” Lu Yu said seriously upon seeing this, “Your own soul is already injured by the gale and you have a high fever. If you use so much mental power to activate the Forbidden Ruins, your body will really collapse.”
“Be quiet.” Chen Han replied calmly.
He infused his mental power into the Forbidden Ruins, and under that white light, the pallor on the passerby’s face slowly faded, and the burning forehead gradually cooled down.
Chen Han’s Forbidden Ruins was the Sequence 389’s [Micro Healing]. As the name suggested, it was not offensive and even performed poorly in the healing field. Compared to other Forbidden Ruins, it could be said to be at the bottom among night watchmen.
Of course, if it weren’t for the low practicality of his Forbidden Ruins, he wouldn’t have been assigned to the 332 squad.
The light in Chen Han’s palm gradually faded. He moved his hand away from the passerby’s forehead, wanting to stand up from the ground, but felt a wave of dizziness and uncontrollably fell toward the stove behind him.
Fortunately, Lu Yu was quick to support him.
“Senior Chen Han, are you okay?” Lu Yu asked with concern.
He reached out to touch Chen Han’s forehead and instinctively recoiled from the heat, frowning as he spoke, “Why is it so hot…”
Chen Han shook his head, his cracked lips slightly parted, “I’m fine… Just help me sit down for a while.”
Lu Yu helped Chen Han sit by the stove. Chen Han’s pale face looked at the roaring flames, reflected in the firelight, he slowly took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with the stove’s fire.
He trembled slightly as he put the cigarette in his mouth, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled…
His expression softened considerably.
“Senior Chen Han, why are you still smoking now?” Lu Yu frowned and asked.
Chen Han smiled slightly, pulled out another cigarette from his pocket, and handed it to Lu Yu, “This isn’t just any cigarette; it contains a small amount of military stimulant that can refresh you.”
Lu Yu was taken aback, “Where did you get this stuff?”
“A treasure left by a senior.”
“This kind of thing is rare in this era… Was it from an old soldier?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him now?”
Chen Han’s hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, then he spoke calmly, “He sacrificed himself.”
Lu Yu was stunned and said nothing more, silently handing the cigarette he held to the stove, lighting it, and taking a deep drag.
“Cough cough cough…” He began to cough violently.
“This stuff doesn’t taste good; it takes a long time to get used to,” Chen Han chuckled.
Lu Yu sighed helplessly, holding the cigarette, staring at the flames in front of him, somewhat lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?”
Lu Yu hesitated for a moment and shook his head, “Nothing.”
Chen Han glanced at him, “Actually, I can probably guess what you’re thinking…”
“Uh-huh?”
“You must be thinking… what the hell kind of fate is this.”
Lu Yu was taken aback.
The flames reflected in Chen Han’s eyes as he murmured, “Why is it so unlucky? Not only was I assigned to such a broken place, suffering every day, but I also encountered the Wind God’s arrival, and now my life is at stake…”
“Senior Chen Han… how come…” Lu Yu looked at Chen Han in shock.
“Because I think the same way.”
“…”
“During this time, have you secretly written a few transfer applications?”
Lu Yu’s body jolted, feeling a bit awkward as he spoke, “I… I… I didn’t…”
“Be honest.”
“…Three.”
Chen Han nodded slightly, seemingly not surprised by this answer.
Lu Yu cautiously glanced at Chen Han, “Senior Chen Han, aren’t you angry?”
“Angry? Why would I be angry?” Chen Han chuckled lightly, “A few months ago, I was just like you, thinking every day about how to leave this squad. If I got angry at you, wouldn’t that be slapping my own face?”
Lu Yu curiously asked, “Then why are you still here, senior?”
Chen Han was silent for a moment.
“Because someone once said, the frontier always needs someone to guard it.
He made me understand a principle: the value of a night watchman does not lie in how high his squad number is, nor in how grand the city he guards is, nor in how many merits he has earned… but in the act of ‘guarding’ itself.
When you stand in a city, ready to dedicate your life and youth for these people, your value has already been realized.”
Chen Han’s gaze swept over the hundreds of residents lying in the underground garage, and he slowly spoke:
“When everything is calm, we can do what we want, develop side businesses, integrate into society, or guard a forest…
Now that the sky has fallen,
We… must hold up their sky.”
Lu Yu stared blankly at Chen Han’s side profile, illuminated by the firelight, as if he understood something, yet also seemed to understand nothing.
A faint sound came from the entrance of the underground garage.
Burning with fever, Chen Han stood up with lightning speed, the straight knife at his waist falling into his hand, his eyes fixed intently on the direction of the sound.
He resembled a cheetah sensing an approaching enemy, revealing its fierce claws by the fire.
On the dark street.
A figure in black, carrying a sword sheath, slowly approached.
