Wake up and cry, work hard and sleep.
This kind of life, I don’t know when it will reach its end.
Luo Wanya leaned against the tree, silently watching as sunlight filtered through the gaps in the foliage and onto his face: "Xiao Qi, what did you do before?"
"Unemployed," Xiao Qi chewed on a grass leaf nearby, smiling as he said, "I just danced every day, carefree."
"Before crossing over, I was a thug, did all sorts of things. Back then, when smuggling to Japan, I hid in the cargo hold of the smuggler’s ship. At altis, the smuggler would open the cargo hold and pour a pot of porridge directly on the ground, then all the stowaways would rush to grab it," Luo Wanya recounted, "People fought for that bit of porridge, getting injured in the battle and then using bloodied hands to scoop it up from the ground to eat."
Luo Wanya: "Life was really hard then. I swore in the cargo hold that once I made sothing of myself, I’d kill the smuggler first. But before I could succeed, the smuggler had already been stabbed to death..."
Luo Wanya: "However, that hardship was aningless. Now, though tougher than back then, I feel it’s aningful."
"If you’re hungry, eat so grass instead of rambling on," Xiao Qi said, amused and annoyed.
Luo Wanya: "... Will we die of starvation on the way?"
Just then, their family scout suddenly ran back: "Lao Luo! Lao Luo!"
Luo Wanya quickly stood up: "What’s wrong?! Enemy situation?"
"Ah, no. There’s soone ahead waiting for us!" said the family scout, "Moreover, he says he’s been waiting for us for months!"
Luo Wanya and Xiao Qi exchanged confused glances.
Have they encountered a charlatan? To know months in advance that the Parents’ eting troop would be forced to retreat and pass through here?!
Even they couldn’t foresee it, who could have anticipated it?
"Where’s the person?" Xiao Qi asked.
"Under control," the family mber said, "Seems like just an ordinary person, we pinned him down, but he insists on seeing Luo Wanya."
"Hmm?" Luo Wanya frowned, worried it might be a trap.
He quickly walked over, approximately three kiloters, until he saw a middle-aged man pinned down by several family mbers.
The man didn’t struggle, just silently waiting.
"Who are you?" Luo Wanya crouched beside him and asked.
The middle-aged man lifted his head: "Shadow Troop, code E1333."
Luo Wanya sneered: "Nonsense, I know the Shadow Troop mbers, I’ve never seen you."
If he were from the Shadow Troop, he’d have reported to Qing Chen long ago; how could there still be soone missing?
The middle-aged man smiled: "I’m not from this generation’s Shadow Troop, but the previous one."
Luo Wanya and Xiao Qi were bewildered; what past and present generations? Wasn’t there only one generation of the Shadow Troop?
"Wait," Luo Wanya suddenly rembered sothing: "Are you one of the old master’s n?"
"That’s correct," the middle-aged man said with a smile.
Everyone was shocked; Qing’s Family actually had two shadow troops! The previous generation faded from everyone’s view as Qing Xun beca Family Head; many thought they were absorbed into various units, but that was only part of it.
The old master kept a loyal few hidden from everyone’s sight.
"How will you prove it?" Luo Wanya asked.
"No need to prove, I’m not here to harm you," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "Four months ago, my unit received orders to secretly deliver supplies along the Southwest Mountains route. Since then, we’ve been waiting here."
"Ah?" Luo Wanya stunned for a while: "Okay, release him. What supplies did you bring?"
The middle-aged man twisted his wrist and neck, smiling: "Co with and see for yourself."
As they spoke, the middle-aged man led Luo Wanya and others forward, walking approximately a kiloter, and ca upon a concealed mountain hollow with rows of boxes covered in dark green rainproof tarps.
Luo Wanya rushed forward to uncover a box, finding it full of vitamins, antibiotics, camouflaged cloth, with only a small portion being protein bars and compressed biscuits.
These foods, spread across over thirty thousand people, still seed like a drop in the bucket, not even enough to fill the gaps between one’s teeth.
The middle-aged man said with a smile: "Don’t be quick to show disappointnt. It was urgent when we got the orders, finding these items silently over four months and conveying them in through manpower, under non-chanized conditions, is not easy."
A family mber murmured softly: "Since knowing in advance, at least send more food..."
The middle-aged man continued: "The old master said these things only need to keep you alive. If soone can’t make it, give them sothing to eat. Suffering and hardship are necessary for your troop, but don’t let aningless disease and bombardnt wipe you out. This cloth is to help you evade aerialship searches, to prevent bombardnt."
Luo Wanya hurriedly said: "Thank you, thank you, it’s already great, many thanks!"
His words were true; receiving supplies in this wilderness was more exciting than winning a five-million lottery ticket—it was life-saving!
Hunger can be endured, but illness cannot.
However, Luo Wanya was puzzled; how could the old master foresee all this four months in advance?
This ability seed god-like, prophetic.
Previously, Qing Chen also ntioned his suspicion; despite staying on Ginkgo Mountain and never leaving, the old master seed to know what would happen to Qing Chen after being taken to the A02 base by Jindai Yunhe.
This ability to predict futures felt like the Drama Master’s God’s perspective.
Too powerful.
The middle-aged man noticed Luo Wanya’s puzzled look and said with a smile: "There’s no need to look at like this; I don’t know how the old master did it."
"Then since the old master knew we’d be forced to march, and could prepare camouflage cloth for our numbers, why not alert us to dangers?" Luo Wanya asked, "Like dark magic, like Roosevelt Kingdom’s invasion, like Li Family’s betrayal?"
The middle-aged man shook his head with a smile: "How could I know these things? We just follow orders... But the old master did say, if you can accept life’s ending, don’t strive to change it; you never know if it’ll turn better, or worse. Destiny is uncontrollable."
Luo Wanya fell into contemplation; was it because the old master could see only certain fragnts, or that he didn’t want to change certain realities? He couldn’t determine.
"Haven’t asked yet, what’s your na?" Xiao Qi inquired.
"No need for respectful address, just call E1333," the middle-aged man said with a smile, "From the day we joined the Shadow Troop, we have no nas. We don’t marry, bear children, desire positions or ranks."
Parents’ eting mbers were stunned; these people were true shadows, willingly discarding everything, becoming unnoticed bricks in this era, becoming the underground foundation of Qing’s Family’s grand structure.
E1333 replied: "Alright, receive the supplies, we’re retreating. Many in your troop must be ill, hurry and deliver the dicine, looking forward to reunion in the Southwest."
Finished speaking, hundreds of Shadow Troop mbers cloaked in grass stood up from the wilderness; they had guarded here for four months and could finally withdraw.
Luo Wanya watched the mbers leap through the mountain forest and suddenly said: "This Inner World seems to have many things we don’t know yet. But, the old master specially stationed a troop here to guard us from dying—does this an soday, we’re quite important?"
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