"I think I succeeded, but did I? I suppose I'll never understand. But do I truly not understand?"
**Ash Calendar Year 349, December 6th**
The streets of Zhangping City were permeated by a desolate atmosphere. A young man emerged from a pawn shop, the medals on his chest digested into a few crumpled banknotes squeezed together. His ribs played a sonata of hunger beneath skin hardened by the cold.
The young man raised his head, lifeless eyes scanning the leaden sky. People hurried past, paying no attention to this youth dressed so thinly in the depths of winter.
This young man was Ling Jingnian.
"Gurgle~" Ling Jingnian's empty stomach still had enough strength to cry for help. He rubbed the banknotes in his pocket and warily ducked into a restaurant.
"Boss! One order of leek dumplings, and one pig trotter rice! Eating here!"
"Alright! Take a seat, it'll be ready soon."
Ling Jingnian grabbed a bottle of drink and sat down at a random table. He was just about to light a cigarette for some comfort when he discovered the pack was empty.
"Boss, I'm going out to buy cigarettes. When the food's ready, just leave it here," Ling Jingnian rapped his knuckles on the table. "How much? I'll pay first."
"Got it. With your drink, that's 35 total." Ling Jingnian paid and left the shop. He found a small convenience store: "Yellow Crane, 30 pack."
Ling Jingnian put a cigarette in his mouth but hadn't lit it yet when a fighter jet crashing into a building abruptly halted his motion. He couldn't help but exclaim: "Holy shit!"
Screams and shouts echoed around Ling Jingnian. Amidst the human cries, several more jets plummeted, followed by countless others falling from the sky. The city's broadcast system, silent for so long, wailed with air raid sirens. Together, they composed a tragic spectacle.
Though Ling Jingnian had seen his share of chaos, panic gripped him now.
"Maybe I can still make it to that place before I die..."
Ling Jingnian jumped into a sewer, pushing through the stench to find his way. "That place" was actually an abandoned bomb shelter, its entrance hidden within the sewers. Ling Jingnian guessed it was probably dug by some local warlord's militia long ago.
Listening to the faint, almost imperceptible screams filtering down, Ling Jingnian felt a strange calm. "Soundproofing's decent. Just smells awful." Nevertheless, he quickened his pace. Suddenly, a tremendous crash echoed behind him... and something strange appeared.
Ling Jingnian turned around in terror. Before him stood a creature he had never seen before. It resembled a Komodo dragon with its skeleton violently stretched, its body hunched and stooped, forcing its head into a perpetual forward lean. Its limbs were grotesquely proportioned – the scythe-like claws of its forelimbs nearly scraped the ground when it let them hang, while its hind limbs were coiled with muscles like heavy-duty jack springs.
"Fuck, what the hell is this?"
The monster lunged at Ling Jingnian. He threw himself backward, the creature's claws just grazing his forehead, leaving a streak of crimson. Ling Jingnian scrambled to his feet. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips. With his other hand, he grabbed his lighter, lit the cigarette, and took a deep drag. "At least I won't let you kill me for nothing." Bending down, he picked up half a brick and hurled it with all his might. The monster seemed utterly unaffected, even conveying a sense of mockery.
"Jesus Christ!" Ling Jingnian's shock was drowned out by the sudden collapse of the sewer tunnel.
The rubble at the edge shifted slightly. "Shit!" Ling Jingnian clawed his way out with immense difficulty.
"Cough!" Ling Jingnian spat out a mouthful of blood. Before he could even catch his breath properly, he felt a change within his body. "Could it be... I'm so... young... and I'm going to die..." His consciousness blurred and he collapsed.
Would Ling Jingnian die? He himself didn't know...
Ling Jingnian's consciousness drifted in an unknown space. Visions of his sorrowful life played before his eyes: the father who existed only in conversations... the mother who died protecting him during a meteor shower gone astray... himself in the army, brimming with hope for the future... his absurd self lying absurdly upon the earth...
Ten minutes later...
"Captain, this man still has vital signs," a soldier reported, crouching to examine Ling Jingnian's body.
"Understood," Qin Wu replied, his expression grave. He looked at Ling Jingnian's face, familiar yet haggard, a tumult of emotions churning within him. Qin Wu had imagined many ways he might reunite with Ling Jingnian, but never under circumstances like this.
"General, we've found a male survivor in Sector B. Currently unconscious," Qin Wu communicated to the commander stationed miles away.
"Copy. Transfer him to a Biological Sustainment Unit immediately," the steady voice of the Third Ground Guard Army General resonated directly in Qin Wu's mind.
Upon Ling Jingnian's arrival at the MVZT camp, members of the Third Squad prepared him for treatment. Ling Jingnian lay on a medical bed as the medic prepped for surgery.
"Doc, aren't we doing sterile protocol?" someone nearby asked.
"Sterile protocol my ass. Survival is the only priority right now."
The medic struggled for half an hour, only managing to extinguish Qin Wu's tense hope. Qin Wu waited thirty minutes only to receive the verdict: "Nothing more we can do."
Qin Wu entered the tent where Ling Jingnian lay. Looking at the body before him, he sighed. "Forgive me, MVZT." He took off his dog tags, gave them a slight push, and a tiny needle extended.
Qin Wu pressed the needle from the dog tags into Ling Jingnian's spine. He pressed gently on the tag, injecting a fluid into Ling Jingnian's body.
"I don't believe in miracles, but I believe in technology. I took a huge risk acquiring this prototype. If discovered, I'll be erased from all records."
After administering the injection... "The weight I've carried... it's lifted now." Qin Wu silently left the tent.
A little while later, the person assigned to handle the body rushed out in a panic to fetch the medic...
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