Free Web NovelChapter 15: The Last Survivor
Late at night, at the North Mount District of the Security Bureau...
After shutting the office door, Wen Wen’s phone rang. Su Zi was calling.
The moment the call connected, a shaky voice came through, tinged with exhaustion from overwork. “Hello? Mrs. Wen, I found the files you asked for.”
“Any findings?”
“Yes! Plenty!” Su Zi replied, clearly frustrated. “Seriously, this is terrifying. Where the hell did you find these two freaks? Each one has insane skills, each has their own special technique... Please, next time, don’t give me surprises like this, okay?”
Wen Wen leaned back in her chair, propping her legs up on the desk and swinging them lazily. “Start with Lu Feng. I don’t think he’s one of those law-abiding, ordinary civilians he was talking about, right?”
“...Law-abiding? Barely. Ordinary? Depends on how you define it.” Pages shuffled on Su Zi’s end. “He has two files in total. The first one is about his family background. He’s from Cliff City, and his life looks normal, just the kind of ordinary normal. He grew up in a foster home; his foster parent runs an auto repair shop. He was never easy to manage, always getting into fights and causing trouble. Before turning eighteen, he lied about his age to join the army. After his discharge, he returned home to help out in the family shop. But because he lacked customer service skills and had a short temper, he racked up a bunch of bad reviews... Basically, he’s just an average guy muddling through life.”
“And the other one?” freёwebnoѵel.com
“The other one... is scary. The file has a red cover on it, and is top-secret. It’s directly under the Central City military command, stamped with six security seals. Six, goddamn it, six! In all my years at the Investigation Department, this is the first time I’ve seen a file marked with secrecy seals like it’s a stamp collection. Just applying to access it got me a warning email from the military command.”
“That’s normal,” Wen Wen said, bored. The moment she saw Lu Feng, she already knew his background from his arm tattoos. Besides standard military designs, he had a half-lion, half-skull mark.
From what she knew, anyone who had been to the Central Lands and had this kind of tattoo could only have come from one place, officially called the Airborne Camp. Among the federal high-ups, its existence wasn’t exactly a secret. It was a place for handling dirty work for the Federation, including but not limited to assassinations, kidnappings, inhumane weapons experiments violating international human rights law, and even terrorist attacks...
Which made him all the more bizarre.
How did you survive and retire?
In that mud pit called the Central Earth, apart from oil field security forces, almost no one involved in combat or operations made it to retirement. Surviving an Airborne Camp intact was even rarer.
Not dying on the battlefield, not dying during secret missions, not getting thirty-plus shots to the back and committing suicide... People like this either had absurd luck where anyone who fought them died, or they had one seriously huge backer protecting them.
No matter which option it was, any lackey from the Dragonrite Society who crossed paths with someone like this would basically be poking a hornet’s nest in the military.
“Knowing he has ties to the military is enough. The Security Bureau’s job is to prevent abnormal crimes. Even if he’s just out there killing and causing chaos, that’s the military’s headache, not mine,” Wen Wen said bluntly. “And the other one?”
“The other one... is even scarier, like I said.” Su Zi rubbed his temples. “Mrs. Wen, I know that you just got back here two years ago, but you’ve probably heard about the big incident in Haizhou ten years ago, right?”
Wen Wen was silent for a moment as she thought it through. She straightened up in her chair. “You mean... the Seafire Day? Are you saying he’s connected to the Tidefire Calamity?”
“Yes. He’s a survivor.” Su Zi let out a long sigh. “To be precise, Ji Jue... he’s the only survivor of the Tidefire Calamity.”
***
In an endlessly long dream, Ji Jue once again heard the familiar sound of a train clattering along its tracks. freeweɓnøvel.com
He opened his eyes and leaned against the window, staring at the landscape flashing by in the distance—mountains, wilderness, scattered desolate villages, and the evening sky burning with crimson. The sunset’s light reflected in the child’s eyes as red hues danced across the heavens.
This was his childhood.
Someone gently touched his head with a soft hand. “You’re awake? Rest a little longer. We’ll be at Cliff City soon. Once we get there, Mom will take you to see the sea, okay?”
Ji Jue stayed quiet for a long time before murmuring, “Actually, I don’t like the sea. Seeing it so often gets annoying.”
“You secretly saved up for a swimsuit when you heard we were moving to Cliff City, remember?” The person next to him laughed, pulling him close and ruffling his hair lightly. “Don’t worry. You’ll meet new friends at the new school, and everyone will play with you. You’ll adapt. The past will feel far away, and you’ll embrace your new life.”
“But starting a new life is so hard, Mom. It’s way harder than I imagined.” Ji Jue leaned against her shoulder, his head bowed. “The food in Haizhou is bland. I never got used to it. The dialect is so complicated, I never understand what they’re saying. Hospital medicine is awful, and the nurses are mean. The old house is damp, and during the rainy season water leaks everywhere. If we don’t fix it, things get moldy. Some classmates like to bully me, and the teachers always make things difficult...”
The woman sighed. “That’s tough.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve handled it all. Nothing can stop me. I’ve already got into Tianmen University, just like you. The scenery there is just as beautiful as you said. It’s just that the braised pork rice at the cafeteria is hard to come by.” He gently grasped his mother’s hand, as if holding onto a fragile dream. “Mrs. Lu can be temperamental, but she treats me well, like I’m her own child. Professor Ye is strict and sometimes says if I don’t do well she’ll kick me out, but she’s never looked down on me. If someone bullies me, Feng will stand up for me. Ye Chun cares for me too, and never gives me trouble with projects. They’re all good people, and they all like me. So don’t worry, Mom. I’m doing really well.”
Ji Jue smiled, assuring her, “I’m going to make something of myself... no matter how hard it gets.”
“Then why are you so sad?” his mother asked, caressing his cheek so gently that Ji Jue couldn’t help the sting in his nose.
“I just... I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
Soft arms wrapped around him, like an eternal shield of tender care, making the cruelty of the world and all its suffering less frightening.
Ji Jue closed his eyes and nestled into her embrace. He no longer looked at the scenery outside the window.
The red hues of the sunset flared for a final moment, then were swallowed by black clouds. Eventually, even the black clouds disappeared. Amid the upheaval of sky and earth, screams and shouts rang out, like countless nightmares he had endured before. The black clouds were killed[1], and crimson rain fell.
When the rain hit the ground, it planted flames that could not be extinguished. The fire rose into the sky, merging with other fires, like an endless tide.
People called it the Tidefire Calamity. It was a natural disaster marked by destruction. When it appeared, even the oceans boiled; unseen flames swept across everything, reducing all to ash.
Ten years ago, it appeared without warning in Haizhou. It rushed southeast, burning everything in its path. Mountains, wilderness, villages, even a train caught in the aftermath were all consumed by the fire without hesitation, and it effortlessly took everything from Ji Jue.
Four hours after the disaster, Cliff City’s rescue teams were the first to arrive. Among the shattered wreckage of the train, they found the only surviving child severely burned, barely alive. He was held in the arms of his deceased mother, letting the rescuers take him away without crying or resisting.
Afterward, experts wrote lengthy reports detailing how lucky and coincidental it was. Newspapers called it a miracle of life and celebrated it. However, so-called miracles sometimes had little difference from curses. And Ji Jue was never truly the lucky one.
Countless times, he would relive this dream, but the ending never changed, no matter what he did. Every time it reached this point, the dream should have ended.
But this time, he didn’t wake up. He lifted his head, gazing at a sky that didn’t belong in the dream. Above the shattered night, countless stars gradually appeared. They rotated and overlapped, intertwining and forming vague shapes, like grand deities manifesting in the mortal world.
One after another, they watched him, solemn and silent. Waiting, as always.
***
The office was quiet. Only a wisp of smoke rose silently from the ashtray.
Even in the Federation’s history of disasters, the Tidefire Calamity from ten years ago was a rare natural catastrophe.
The collapse and fall of a rift caused disaster levels to exceed the alarm threshold. Burning winds surged from the ruins of Spring City, barreling south and scorching the West Sea to a boil. Even though no major cities were destroyed, the damage was enough to severely cripple Haizhou’s economy, nearly leaving it unable to recover. Countless tragedies followed.
As the only survivor of that disaster, Wen Wen couldn’t tell whether Ji Jue was lucky or unlucky. Surviving a natural disaster didn’t make him lucky—it often marked the start of misfortune. Those who faced such disasters and lived were usually addressed as the Cursed Ones.
For ordinary people, even slight involvement with a natural disaster could be an unlucky experience. The chance of mutation or aberration is far higher than normal, and it never ends well for the affected individuals.
After all these years, the fact that Ji Jue had yet to spontaneously combust meant that he had a stroke of luck so absurd it could almost be considered criminal.
After a long silence, Su Zi’s voice came through curiously. “Mrs. Wen, why are you suddenly looking into this? Don’t tell me he got involved in some incident?”
“No, no.” Wen Wen shook her head firmly. “I just ran into him while fixing a motorcycle. I was a bit curious, that’s all.”
“...Huuuuuh?” Su Zi drew out the sound, clearly playing along politely. “Well, you owe me a proper meal later. And none of that stuff from the Security Bureau cafeteria.”
“Alright, alright.” Wen Wen paused thoughtfully, then asked, “Su Zi, you’ve been in the Investigation Department for so long and seen so many people’s files. What if, hypothetically, a Cursed One were chosen by fate...”
Su Zi was surprised by the inquiry.
“Are you serious? The odds? Without relying on some higher power to call it forth, self-awakening isn’t exactly impossible, but honestly, it’s more like daydreaming. You’d be better off buying a lottery ticket. Ordinary people affected by the corruption are almost completely marked by the Vortex. It’s like trying to walk a tightrope on a cliff with a few hundred jin of iron chained to your ankles. Even taking two steps forward is impressive for these people, let alone awakening.”
“I see... thank you,” Wen Wen muttered. She didn’t say anything else.
After hanging up, the office fell silent, save for the ticking of the clock. As she stared at the empty report document on her screen, her mind wandered again to the sky outside.
If someone who should have fallen into the abyss could soar through the heavens, then their wings would have to be beautiful, wouldn’t they?
Wen Wen smiled.
The night sky was clear, without a single cloud. The stars twinkled, their light gentle.
1. The phrasing sounds kinda weird here, but this is what the author wrote literally “黑色的云被杀死了.” I contemplated localizing it to a more natural-sounding phrase, but decided to stay faithful to the author’s original work as the choice of wording here seems intentional. ☜
