Slaying God: I, the insane and witty god

The night wind was like a knife, blowing across the edge of the rooftop, making a whimpering sound.

Su Zhe sat alone on the cold concrete floor, his back against a rusty exhaust duct.

The cigarette butt between his fingers flickered in the darkness, just like his struggling mood at the moment.

Those memories that he had forced to suppress in his heart were seeping out little by little as the night deepened, bringing with them a biting chill.

His mother, the woman who was given countless honorary titles in the archives, was always warm in his memory.

She always has a faint smell of gunpowder mixed with sunshine.

His palms were broad and covered with calluses, but he was always so gentle when he touched the top of his head.

She would smile and say, "Azhe, a man should protect his family."

Before leaving, she would tell him with a firm gaze: "Mom will go to protect our country, and you will stay at home to protect our home."

At that time, he didn't understand what that determination meant.

Until the death notice with a red seal and a cold medal were sent home.

Only then did he realize that the "country" that his mother was protecting had swallowed up the "home" that he was protecting.

And now, his sister Su Nian, the girl he vowed to protect with his whole life, is walking on the same path as his mother.

When he mentioned her, there was an unconcealable pride in his tone, as if he was showing off his treasure to the whole world.

"That girl is even more stubborn than me. She passed the recruit assessment with perfect scores, and even the male soldiers couldn't beat her in combat..."

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted slightly, but the smile never reached his eyes.

The light in his pupils dimmed little by little, and finally turned into silent ashes.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette, and the choking smoke rushed into his lungs.

It caused a violent coughing fit, as if he was going to cough out all his internal organs.

"But I'm afraid..."

His voice trembled in the wind, with a hint of fragility that even he despised.

"I'm terribly scared."

"I have nightmares every night that she's just like my mom... and she'll never come back."

This fear that was buried deep in my heart was finally revealed tonight.

He seemed to have been drained of all his strength. He lowered his head dejectedly, and his shoulders slumped weakly.

The pain of losing a loved one is like an undercurrent lurking beneath the ice, eroding his sanity all the time.

It’s not that he wasn’t proud of his sister, but that pride was covered with a suffocating layer of fear.

Ke Changlin sat quietly not far from him, like a silent mountain.

He didn't say anything to comfort her, nor did he make any unnecessary movements.

He just listened and let Su Zhe vent his deep-seated pain and struggle.

He could feel that a crack had finally appeared on Su Zhe's hard armor.

What flows out from the cracks is sadness and self-blame that is enough to drown a person.

Ke Changlin knew that Su Zhe was blaming himself.

I blame myself for not being able to stop my sister's choice, and I blame myself for being a brother.

But he could only watch her rush towards the fate she feared most.

This feeling of powerlessness is more tormenting than facing life and death on the battlefield.

The air around him was so oppressive that it almost solidified, with only the sound of the wind and Su Zhe's suppressed breathing intertwined.

Ke Changlin silently looked at the border line in the distance shrouded in thick fog.

The darkness there is purer than this deep night, as if it can swallow up all light.

After a long time, he put out the cigarette in his hand and broke the suffocating silence with his low and powerful voice.

"Protecting the home comes first, defending the country comes second."

These eight words were plain and simple, without any fancy words, but they were like a thunderclap, exploding in Su Zhe's mind.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Ke Changlin in disbelief.

Ke Changlin's eyes were calm and deep. He didn't look at Su Zhe, but his gaze was still fixed on the bottomless fog.

"I joined the army not for some grand idea like 'glory of mankind' or 'peace in the world'."

"I'm not that great."

He paused, a rare hint of tenderness in his voice.

"I just want my wife and children to sleep peacefully, without having to worry about the world changing when they open their eyes one day."

"I want my parents to be able to bask in the sun and plant flowers and plants in peace in the yard at the doorstep."

"We stand here and hold this line, first and foremost to protect the specific people behind us, those whom we love and whom we are loved by."

"Only by protecting them, and protecting millions of small 'homes' like them, can the 'country' we protect have meaning."

His words were neither hurried nor slow, but each word was of great significance, striking precisely at the most vulnerable part of Su Zhe's heart.

Yes... protecting the home comes first, defending the country comes second.

Isn’t this the home that my mother protected back then?

Isn’t the choice my sister has made now her way of protecting her brother who is far away?

They are not fighting for some vague slogans, but for the most genuine and concrete concerns behind them.

What I have been struggling with is the fear of losing and the fear of tragedy repeating itself.

But they forget the determination to protect in their hearts when they made the choice.

That determination and the reason why I am standing here at this moment are the same thing.

The fog...suddenly cleared.

Su Zhe felt that the huge rock called "fear" pressing on his heart shattered into pieces at this moment.

He always thought that he had the responsibility to protect his sister.

But he never thought that his sister was also protecting him in her own way.

They are each other's weaknesses, but also each other's armor.

Su Zhe stood up slowly, the night wind blew his messy hair, revealing his eyes that were rekindled with light.

All the confusion, pain, and struggle before have faded away.

What replaced it was an unprecedented firmness and determination.

He bent down solemnly and bowed deeply towards Ke Changlin.

"Captain Ke, thank you."

The voice was not loud, but it was resounding.

Ke Changlin accepted the gift calmly and just patted him on the shoulder, saying everything without saying a word.

However, at the moment when Su Zhe's state of mind changed and he found the way to protect again, something strange happened!

Without any warning, the eternal and unchanging foggy boundary in the distance, which seemed like the end of the world, began to tremble violently.

One after another, illusory silhouettes visible to the naked eye, as if time has gone backwards,

Above the fog wall, there flashed madly, like the charge of golden swords and iron horses on the ancient battlefield.

There are phantoms of modern neon lights flashing in the city, and countless fragments of time interwoven and overlapping.

Eventually, it turned into a chaotic light curtain, covering the entire border area!

"What is that?!" Su Zhe's pupils suddenly shrank.

Ke Changlin's expression instantly became extremely solemn. He pulled Su Zhe behind him and stared at the strange light curtain.

The next second, an even more horrifying scene occurred.

The terrifying fog, as thick as ink and which had buried countless heroes, seemed to have encountered its natural enemy and began to retreat frantically!

Instead of dissipating, it was forced back by an invisible and terrifying force!

Ten miles, twenty miles, thirty miles... The land that was originally swallowed by the fog,

Amidst waves of violent space tremors, it was exposed to the night sky again.

This unprecedented scene made the two battle-hardened warriors feel a chill to the bone.

At this moment, a thin figure rushed out from the depths of the receding fog area at a speed that almost exceeded human limits.

The man was wearing a tattered monk's robe and looked extremely frightened, as if the most terrifying evil spirit in the world was chasing him.

Before the people arrived, the shrill and desperate roar had already torn through the night sky and reached the ears of Su Zhe and Ke Changlin clearly.

"The gatekeeper...is defeated!"

"Chaos...is back! Run!"