Who left their last words here?

Chapter 52 In Tribute to the Glorious Ones (4k, Second Update)

Red! My vision is filled with red.

Fragments of crimson last words flooded into Bai Zhou's body.

The interplay of light and shadow flashed wildly before Bai Zhou's eyes like a comic strip.

He saw an inconspicuous corner of history...

We also witnessed the unknown life of an "ordinary person".

……

A wind carrying the stench of corpses swept across the wasteland.
Veteran soldier Aler skillfully hid in the most inconspicuous corner of the trench.

Every time a sound came from afar, Ale would bury his head in the ground like a frightened mole.

Its high-arched buttocks were comically exposed.

...As the zombie horde swept in from the horizon and the flames of war spread to the Sky City,

Ale was originally a thief.

He was a petty thief, despicable and cunning, and his neighbors were wary of him, while his parents were ashamed of him.

He was even hastily conscripted from prison.

At first, he was glad that he had been assigned to be a cook in a rear military camp.

Being a cook is great! It's safe, and you can even cook special meals for yourself.

As long as we stay obediently in the rear, we can always make it until the war is over and we can go home...

But soon, he changed his mind.

News arrived from the front lines that the entire "Light of Leia" army had been wiped out.

Humanity, in its grief, has nowhere left to retreat.

Now, the front line is the rear, and the rear is the front line.

New recruits often become corpses before they can even hold their knives properly, or worse, staggering and joining the endless horde of zombies on the other side...

In one war after another, Al's comrades-in-arms came and went like weeds.

Even when the staff was completely depleted once, he always managed to survive to the end.

It wasn't because he was particularly brave and skilled in battle, but simply because he always managed to slip to the front like an eel when supplies were being distributed, and then linger at the very back like a tortoise when the battle horn sounded.

Some call him "the black cat with nine lives," while others curse him as "the maggot that can't be killed."

They're right to criticize.

Al was terrified of death.

As long as he could survive, he was willing to admit he was a coward, and it didn't matter if he became a maggot.

Even his most prized extraordinary ability...

They all possess the vitality and self-healing ability of a black cat.

—Until this day.

The sixth major invasion by the zombie horde.

A mournful horn pierced the sky, and all was quiet, except for the eerie, muffled chewing sounds coming from outside the trench.

Ale trembled as he cautiously peered out of the trench.

They encountered the captain, who was now only half a body, wailing in pain.

As Ale passed by him, the captain's muddy hands suddenly grabbed his ankle.

"You are now... the captain... go and report to... the centurion..."

Ale wanted to shake him off and tell him that he was just a fire starter.

But the captain's hand was like an iron clamp, and with a sudden tightening, he breathed his last.

...In the end, Ale practically crawled there.

When they found the centurion, the scarred man was holding a shield that was only half intact, his stomach ripped open, his intestines spilling out onto the ground.

"You son of a bitch...you're still alive?"

He stared at Aller with wide eyes for a long time.

"Alright... Now you're a centurion... Go... go and report to the general..."

"Just say... this position hasn't fallen yet, requesting reinforcements..."

Where are the generals now?

When Ale arrived at the so-called general's command post, he only saw an old horse wandering around without its owner.

Beneath the overturned shed lay only mangled limbs and a few soldiers whose eyes held even greater terror than his.

They were all green recruits, their eyes clearer and more foolish than his rabbits.

The youngest is only twelve years old.

"..."

Looking at their bewildered eyes, Ale suddenly realized—

The staffing quota was completely wiped out once again.

But this time, it was far more dangerous than ever before—

They became lost souls trapped in a horde of zombies.

It's unclear which scoundrel shouted it first; perhaps it was some mentally broken soldier who saw the somewhat decent-looking jacket he had taken from the dead officer.

In short, the man shouted in a hoarse voice:
"General, will we die?"

Adler immediately wanted to retort, saying that you can't just shout that out.

But his voice was stuck in his throat.

He discovered that the person asking the question was just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child, dressed in tattered clothes, with an undeniable childishness on his dirty face.

He is the same age as his younger brother whom he hasn't seen in a long time.

This kid should be flying a kite in the fields, or stealing oranges from his neighbor.

Instead of fighting here.

...But now, soldiers of this age are quite common in the army.

Their eyes were like glass covered in dust, devoid of light.

Only when looking at him does it feel like a drowning person clinging to a dead tree, igniting a tiny spark.

The Mars seemed to exist only vaguely, and even they themselves dared not have much hope for it.

But it was this tiny spark that...
The heat sent a shiver down Ale's spine.

These children need something to look forward to.

Even if it's a false expectation.

...Maybe he's gone mad, who knows?
But for some inexplicable reason, he sniffed his big nose:
"I am a general."

"Follow me."

There are a few words that weigh more than a thousand pounds, yet they still slip out of my mouth.

他 说:

"...I'll take you home."

this moment--

The tiny flame that had been flickering in those eyes...

It's been enlarged.

……

then,

On this battlefield where all communication has been cut off and it has long been confirmed that only zombies survive and no humans remain.

A fake general leads a group of nameless, defeated soldiers on their journey "home".

These lone, wandering ghosts, their names crossed out from the list of the dead...

It grew along the way, reaching a peak of over a thousand people!

—Although they are either old or young,

Or it's missing an arm or a leg.

Alle really became a "general".

A general who is neither recorded nor recognized.

He put on the armor left by the general and mounted the general's old horse.

In the name of the general, he recruited the remaining soldiers and regrouped.

— Giving these lost souls a false hope that they have not yet been abandoned.

Al was still so afraid of death, even more afraid than ever before.

So he started standing in front, planning the escape route and using his experience to find safe hiding spots;
He even personally stabbed a zombie in the head with a saber he had found during an encounter—

Because that thing was trying to pounce on a child soldier who called him "general".

Even thieves have their code of honor; he is a principled thief who always keeps his promises.

When the "general" said he would take them home, he really meant he would take them home.

—He's becoming less and less like Aller.

But he still seems to be the same old Ale.

They trudged and struggled, their numbers dwindling day by day.

My hometown is getting closer.

Finally, their gaze fell upon the Sky City.

Going home seems so close...

The final battle broke out on the dried-up riverbed beneath the city.

A dark, surging tide descended from the sky, all rushing up at once.

Aller remembers nothing.

He only remembered someone shouting behind him—

"General! Take us home!"

After consciousness sank into darkness,

Only that scream echoed incessantly in his mind.

……

When Ale awoke again, it only remembered "that".

I am the "General"!
I'm taking them home!
The decaying spirits, carrying sabers, wandered across the desolate wasteland.

It instinctively gathers up broken skeletons and makes them follow behind it.

Tireless, never-ending.

All the restless souls share a common last wish—

Come back home.

And finally, on this day, countless years later,
The shared wish of a thousand people—

They were all carried by the "general" alone.

He was always alone, yet he never seemed lonely.

He seemed to have become a general again, leading his thousands of troops to travel between heaven and earth every day.

...But no matter how many times he went back and forth, he couldn't stop.

Because they can no longer find their "home" in the Sky City.

They had traveled a long and arduous journey, enduring wind and frost, and the home they longed to return to was no longer that ravaged ruin, nor a certain space.

—It is a time that can never be returned to.

—But this seems to be an unsolvable problem.

Al and his defeated army will never find peace.

They would wander in this wasteland forever.
The wandering led Ale to feel a weariness deep in his soul, and he longed for liberation.

...Until a boy appeared. "Perhaps he would care."

"I care about this, I care about this too, and this one, and this one..."

Bai Zhou buried the bodies that Ale hadn't had time to collect.

Somehow, Ale was moved.

But the spirits of that time, with their simple and straightforward minds, couldn't understand—

……

Bai Zhou slowly opened his eyes, his mind filled with inexplicable emotions.

I initially thought he was a self-absorbed madman, a stage play enthusiast who played a general...

It is indeed not a general, but perhaps there will never be many more generals...

He is more deserving of the title "General".

"……Um?"

He looked up and was startled by what he saw.

"This is?"

The scene that was just moments ago, with bones and corpses everywhere, resembling a living hell, has vanished without a trace.

Above countless stark white skulls, graceful lights and shadows are now rising in dense array.

They are no longer broken, silent, inanimate objects strung together by a whip.

—They are human beings.

Clear yet gentle figures, dressed in tattered but clean military uniforms, radiating a golden glow.

Like endless fireflies gathering on a summer night, illuminating this desolate wasteland that had been silent for who knows how long.

Their figures stood densely packed in front of Bai Zhou.

They all watched Bai Zhou silently, their eyes filled with a sense of relief that transcended life and death.

And standing at the very front of them...

Of course, it's Ale.

—That general who wasn't a general.

It was no longer a hideous skeleton, but the silhouette of an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.

"Where my comrades are, that is home."

His expression was one of deep emotion as he earnestly thanked Bai Zhou:

"I suppose this is the message you're trying to convey."

"—Foolish as I am, how could I not have realized it by now!"

All they wanted was peace after their struggle and exhaustion.

This peace is not entirely equivalent to "going home".

After all, where is home...?

The persistent Ale, however, ended up getting stuck in a dead end with no answer.

"..."

On the other side, Bai Zhou remained silent.

He just blinked twice.

He was only moved by what happened to Section Chief Liu when he buried the body...

I didn't really think that much about it.

"Having lingered in this world long enough, it's time to leave."

Turning around, Ale looked at the illusory figures of the crowd behind him, his expression complex.

Finally, his voice a little hoarse, he decided to tell the truth at the last minute.
"Actually, I'm not a general..."

His words were cut off.

"You are the general."

"It was a young, innocent soldier," said one of the soldiers.

"Haven't we followed them all these years?"

An old man's ghostly figure pointed at his own pile of bones at his feet, speaking in a mocking tone.

Because at the location of the skeleton's heart, there was a large hole where a long whip had pierced through...

"What are you mumbling about? Are you coming or not?"

The old soldier spoke impatiently.

—But he died while covering the rear for the "general".

then,

A hand was raised.

He raised his disdainful middle finger, pointing it at the eternal night stained with the blood moon.

Then the second middle finger, the third middle finger...

These ragged rabble raised their arms high.

Next second,
Several beams of light began to become transparent, gradually dissipating from their original positions and turning into golden specks of light that slowly rose into the air.

Ten paths, a hundred paths...

The densely packed figures transformed into countless points of light that rose into the sky.

They converged in the air, transforming into a rainbow-like bridge of light that stretched straight towards the sky.

Countless beams of light rose directly from in front of the white boat, warm and inviting.

With a sense of peace and relief, and... gratitude.

"Om-"

Endless light surged into the sky, like a galaxy flowing backwards.

The light grew brighter and more concentrated, reaching the highest point in the heavens.

Like the arrangement of constellations, it vaguely outlines the image of an army.

The radiant people, their shadowy figures standing against the night sky, silently wait for someone to catch up.

"General" Ale stood alone on the ground, taking one last silent look at the wasteland he had wandered through countless times.

Then, he looked up at the sky.

"call……"

Looking at the army in the sky, he let out a long sigh:

"Old cook! Aller Dodge, requesting to return to the unit!"

"Boom!!!"

The skeleton on the ground vanished instantly.

It transformed into a golden rainbow on the spot and soared into the sky.

then,

"law--"

A gigantic human figure made of light, riding an old horse formed of light.

He appeared at the head of that glorious legion.

The general leaped on his horse, the sound of his whip echoing across the sky—

"Snapped!"

"Army, march on!"

Just like the Skeleton General always does.

He gave the order.

But this time, he no longer needed to lead the group with a whip.

Instead, he was surrounded by a large group of people.

—They went home.

then,

This legion, formed from radiance, began to slowly advance through the deep night sky.
Their path was bright and shining, completely out of place in this eternal night.

Just like long, long ago, on that dark, scorched earth—

A cowardly liar is forced to lead a group of wounded soldiers, stumbling forward, to fulfill his promise to "bring them home".

Only this time——

They were no longer in a sorry state, nor were they in despair.

An army forged of light and peace marched in perfect unison across the silent night sky.

Steadfastly marching towards a distance deeper than the night itself.

"..."

On the ground, Bai Zhou looked up at the night sky.

His face was illuminated by the sunlight, and he remained silent, his chest heaving.

The story of that journey home remains unknown.

This long, glorious procession, having marched across the sky, has come to a grand close...

—And only Shirazuki witnessed it all.

At this time,

Bai Zhou vaguely saw,

At the end of this glorious journey home, there stands the figure of light leading the way—

She turned her head and gave him a final, slight nod.

Then--

Finally, Ale whispered the command that perhaps everyone had been waiting for their entire lives.

他 说:

"Disband."

The next moment,

With a "snap"—

The many glowing figures in the legion spontaneously transformed into countless gentle specks of light, dissipating into the distance.

It was as if a grand fireworks display was taking place one after another.

Even the ominous, deep, eternal night that forever shrouds the wasteland cannot obscure its light.

In a daze... it seemed like dawn had broken.

Just as they once traversed the dark, desolate wasteland teeming with corpses, illuminating the world for passersby,

The world before Bai Zhou's eyes was also illuminated.

These specks of light fell back to the earth, giving the desolate wasteland a sense of warmth and a touch of life.

The deathly silence had largely dissipated.

Something has started to change.

And amidst the magnificent, falling rain of light—

Above the dome, a single, brilliant golden light descended from afar, dripping onto the white boat.

Amidst the sound of boiling seawater reaching my ears,
A mysterious character, alongside the word "light," is imprinted on the sea of ​​ignorance of the White Boat.

That is--

The radiant multitude reaching the horizon...

A parting gift!

(End of this chapter)