Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong’s eyes reflected the glaring red as he looked once more at Miya’s calm face until both began to blur, but he still found it hard to believe.

”Miya, you...”

”I’m sorry, Ade,” Miya answered quietly, ”but I must have it.”

This time he finally heard her clearly, but his body slid down powerlessly.

The former held his gradually cooling body, letting him lean gently against her, before she said softly, ”Don’t worry, Ade, you won’t die. That dagger is a flawed Dragon Soul carrier; it possesses at least the power of resurrection, and not even the Dead Silence Zone can stop it.”

”This is what I owe you, Ade...”

She carefully laid him down on the ground, his eyes already beginning to lose focus.

She said something else, ”...the crystal that made it has deep roots here. I thought it would save your life when you lured ’Cerete’ away, but I never expected it to be used here...”

Fang Hong couldn’t hear her anymore.

But in his heart, he was screaming—gods of Eteliria above, the power of the Holy Crystal had already been used up! No, please! Save me!

Finally, Miya let go of his hand, but strength had already left his body. Fang Hong opened his mouth to speak and could only spit out a mouthful of blood. He tried futilely to grab Miya’s hand, using all his strength to tell her—he could still be saved.

But he grasped at air.

Instead, it was Miya who took his hand, looking at him with a serene expression as he gradually lost his life force.

Fang Hong’s hand finally dropped, his consciousness swiftly leaving his body. The crown then fell from mid-air, landing on the ground with a sound, rolling a few times, its light suddenly dimming.

Only half of the emblem remained resolutely on the back of his hand.

All sounds seemed to drift away; through the blurriness, Fang Hong saw a pair of slender hands pick up the crown. That peaceful gaze, looking at him one last time, Miya’s mouth opening and closing as if saying something, before she turned and left.

Only darkness remained, and a coldness that gradually pierced to the bone.

Time to leave this world, I guess.

Fang Hong thought to himself.

Before everything went dark, he suddenly thought of something else.

In Eteliria, there had been no precedent for a stowaway having an accident in the Dead Silence Zone.

Wait a second—

He didn’t have any Glow Material equipment; he wouldn’t really die here, would he?

Fang Hong suddenly thought of this terrifying possibility.

...

The Stargate between Earth-Moon orbit was established in the mid-century, originally serving as a spaceport for the European Union to the asteroid belt mining zone before being abandoned in the late sixties. After the signing of the Suva Declaration, the port was reactivated and transformed into what it is today—

From the fourth orbit down, the Stargate looked a bit like a white ring standing upright. But in the daylight—when basked in direct sunlight—it glistened, set against the blue backdrop, it appeared particularly majestic and beautiful.

By comparison, the Russian Federation’s Alliance number twenty-one supply ship was just a shiny silver speck.

The spaceship was entering the parking orbit, albeit like a drunkard, wobbling.

In the Starport Area, port workers were cursing Russkies pilots for not following the rules; they had taken up three or four flight paths, throwing the daily schedule into chaos. Two mechanical arms were slowly approaching, trying to pull the off-course ship back into a controllable area.

”If they keep this up, I think we might as well take a vacation,” a junior staffer said through the control console’s glass window, looking at the long line of parked ships in the port district.

”It’s mainly due to the lack of manpower,” another person rapidly flipped a bunch of switches on the console, then picked up the walkie-talkie and said, ”A107 confirmed, port district three.”

”Because things have been heating up again on the other side, you know, I have another return request here, another tourist without equipment,” the first person heard the buzzer, glanced back at the screen. ”The war in the Second World has already affected the First World. This is the second batch of tourists this month to return.

Let me look, this guy entered six months ago, wow, that’s quite a stay.”

He casually tapped a few times on the touchscreen.

”Speaking of which, how about your friend?”

”You mean Huang? That guy laughed, ”He took a private job and got confined. He’s lucky; if we weren’t short-staffed, he might have ended up in a military court.”

”Taking private jobs?” The second person seemed incredulous as if he had heard a historical term, smacking his lips, ”Are there still people taking private jobs when the tourist passage has been open for years? Are there still such fools?”

”There are always some fools,” the other one shrugged helplessly.

At that moment, the second person suddenly stood up, looking out the window at the port district in disbelief. ”What’s happening, so many people coming out, was there a group wipe? This is serious, who sent so many people without Starlight up there?”

”Must be the Dead Silence Zone combat, right?” The first one reacted, also looking that way.

And in the port district.

Sicape was watching Kroid emerge from the Stargate with a wry smile on her face.

”You came out too?” She asked with a hint of teasing.

”Yeah,” Kroid hugged his girlfriend, his expression very gloomy, ”What about the others?”

”A few girls are outside crying, and the rest aren’t doing much better,” Sicape sighed, that feeling as if they really died once was indeed unbearable. She shook her head, ”Did you see Ade in the passage?”

Kroid was stunned for a moment, ”Didn’t he come out?”

He was initially surprised, but then, looking at his girlfriend, both of them simultaneously showed a somewhat excited smile.

”That kid.”

...