CR CH33

Chapter 33: A Fracture

The unexplored territory lay far from the temporary safe zone. They traveled to the destination by aircraft, splitting up to act according to plan.

Surprisingly, Liang Chong had assigned both Jiang Tianji and Jia Yun to his own squad.

With seven people in the group, the area was divided into three sectors. The more hazardous Sector A was designated for a three-person team, while the ordinary Sectors B and C were assigned to two-person teams. The results of the random draw illustrated the concept of instant karma to absolute perfection.

Looking at the information of their temporary teammate on their devices, both men fell into a simultaneous silence.

“Reuniting with an old flame—no flutter in your heart?” Jia Yun asked him.

“It’s alright. I don’t really want to make out with anyone while I’m out in the field.”

The scent of scorching and rot lingered at the tips of their noses. The ruins beneath their feet carried the constant risk of a secondary collapse. After finally tapping to accept the mission, Liang Chong, standing not far away, cast a glance back.

“Group A, follow me.”

Deep within Sector A, a cathedral stood not entirely collapsed, its outer walls webbed with fractures. The tremors caused by the energy storm had shattered the glass windows. Walking at the very front, Liang Chong gently pushed open the tightly closed entrance. The heavy wooden doors could no longer sustain their final shred of dignity, toppling straight backward with a loud bang that echoed through the abandoned hall.

Jiang Tianji and Jia Yun raised their weapons in unison, flanking Liang Chong on his left and right.

No red dots appeared on the detectors; there were no mutants active nearby. Without a word of communication, the three each pulled up their life-signal detection systems and set off in the three directions they faced, exhibiting a bizarrely seamless tacit understanding.

The cathedral was massive, its arched vaulted ceiling carved with foreign scripts and murals. Though dust and cobwebs shrouded their brilliance, a few traces of past splendor could still be glimpsed amidst the ruin. Fortunately, the raging fire had forgotten this piece of land as well.

Jiang Tianji arrived before a statue of a demi-human beast. He eased his footsteps, his gaze alert as he scanned the surroundings.

Beep, beep. A red dot materialized on the detector. Jiang Tianji looked up instantly, his hand tightening around his rifle out of reflex.

Upon seeing the sight before him, he froze.

A small, short figure peeked out from behind the statue. The young girl was covered in grime, her clothes weathered to a point where their original color was unrecognizable. She watched Jiang Tianji quietly. Seeing him lower his rifle, she slowly stepped out on her own.

“Hello.” Reconfirming that there was no danger in the vicinity, Jiang Tianji carelessly swung the rifle onto his back. He squatted down somewhat awkwardly, extending both hands toward the little girl. “Little one, are you hurt anywhere?”

The girl’s gaze remained guarded as she shook her head.

Jiang Tianji nudged a step forward, intending to pick the child up first, but she twisted her body away to avoid him.

“There is no one else here,” the girl suddenly spoke, her voice somewhat raspy. “I was the only one here at the time.”

Jiang Tianji withdrew his hands with some embarrassment, letting out a dry cough before following behind her like a large bodyguard.

“No living signals within range.”

“Same here.”

Liang Chong’s voice suddenly came through the Bluetooth earpiece, followed immediately by Jia Yun’s.

Jiang Tianji pressed his earpiece at once: “Discovered a young girl near the demi-human statue.”

Liang Chong: “Assemble at the entrance.”

By the time the two silhouettes—one large, one small—appeared, Jia Yun was yawning out of sheer boredom.

Liang Chong bent down, intending to pick her up. “Little one, we are—”

The girl expertly evaded his hands, turning her back to them. “I have a name. Li Xiao.”

“Alright.”

Liang Chong paused and pulled his hands back. Jia Yun let out an unvarnished smirk. Before the awkward atmosphere could spread any further, Jiang Tianji gently patted Li Xiao’s head and led the child toward the direction of the aircraft.

_

With the exploration of the unknown sector concluded, the few survivors were brought to the temporary safe zone for medical treatment.

The S-class mutant organism was transported to a certain scientific research base to extract its final bit of value. Not far away, the final mop-up operations were underway as squad members threw the corpses into a massive crater that had just been blasted open for on-site burial.

Like the corpses that had been trapped beneath the ruins, they were buried into yet another deep pit.

This land, severely ravaged by mutant energy, would show no traces of life for a very long time. The survivors would be sent to neighboring safe sectors, leaving behind one more uninhabited zone on this nameless D-class planet.

Jiang Tianji once recalled a retired teacher from the combat department back at the academy saying that once an incident occurs on a forgotten planet, it means that portion of the land has died.

Planets that were officially categorized had all been thoroughly explored, divided into resource planets, life planets, and forbidden hazard zones.

D-class planets were backwards and starved of resources. The newly reconstructed Federation was still in a phase of self-repair and simply lacked the surplus strength to properly settle these unclaimed bodies.

In the earliest days, they simply allowed the deceased lives to be eroded by the wind and sand until they blended completely into the soil.

Back then, Jiang Tianji had sat in his seat, half-asleep. Most of the students in the rows behind him had been drooping their heads just like him, on the verge of drifting off, when they heard a sigh. Squinting his eyes, Jiang Tianji looked up to see the teacher’s gaze lingering on the back rows for a long time. As the lights reflected in the instructor’s eyes, they revealed a trace of dampness.

_

As the final corpse tumbled into the deep pit, the team members returned to the safe zone one after another to rest. Jiang Tianji accepted a bottle of water handed over by a logistics staff member and took a distracted sip. His gaze drifted blankly toward a single point, his mind lost in thought.

Turning his head, Jiang Tianji noticed a tiny silhouette not far away. In the midst of everyone’s busy exhaustion, no one had noticed a child running past the cordon line.

Li Xiao stood upon the ruins, looking even shorter than the pile of stones beside her. She stared at the corpses covered in white sheets a short distance away, completely dazed.

Jiang Tianji walked over to her side and crouched down, wanting to offer a few words of comfort but not knowing what to say. It was then that Li Xiao murmured softly.

“It is very lively today.”

“What?”

The ambient noise around his ears was too loud for him to hear clearly. He leaned closer to Li Xiao and waited for a moment, but no response followed.

Jiang Tianji looked up, and what met his eyes was the girl’s face, completely drenched in tears. Her sorrowful tears had corroded her mask of calm, exposing the utter devastation within.

“…”

Jiang Tianji reached out his arms and pulled her into a hug.

The girl stiffened for a fleeting moment before slowly relaxing her body.

It wasn’t until she wrapped her arms completely around his neck that Jiang Tianji realized the child was incredibly light. The entirety of her weight resting in his arms was less than that of the suitcase he took to the academy.

Li Xiao wept loudly within the broad, warm embrace. For a very long time, she had only stared blankly at the dark clouds.

“…In the future, I will come back. I will come back wearing the exact same clothes as you.” Li Xiao’s eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, flashing with an alarming intensity of hatred and helplessness. She locked her eyes onto Jiang Tianji. “To save the people whom no one remembers. I will come back.”

“Can I be like you all? To go and save people?”

During those few seconds that Jiang Tianji lowered his head, his posture was somewhat rigid. He looked at the girl’s seemingly fierce yet anxious eyes, and nodded.

“You can.”

As this single word fell into her ears, it dropped vertically, striking open a fracture right across his heart.