SWDnovel Chapter 563 Sinner
Chapter 563 Sinner
He slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair, abruptly stood up, and his eyes blazed with fury: "You're saying we were defeated? I, Wu Pian, have never backed down since the very first day of this apocalypse! When Xijing was besieged, I led a full-strength division to defend the western city wall for seventeen days! Seventeen days! When we finally retreated, only twenty-three men remained in the entire division—where were you then, kid?"
Yue Lengshu reached out and pressed down lightly, signaling Wu Pian to calm down.
Wu Pian's chest heaved violently twice, and he finally groaned and sat back down, but his tiger-like eyes remained fixed on Xu Si, like two unsheathed knives.
Looking at the stiff faces in the command hall, each of them bore the marks left by the apocalypse, varying in depth, yet all equally real.
The weariness in Yue Lengshu's eyes was the result of years of accumulated fatigue; the wrinkles on Zhou Jieyi's eyebrows concealed countless sleepless nights of meetings; Fan Changjie lowered his eyes and remained silent, but his knuckles were white as he clasped his hands on his knees; Qi Wuyan remained silent throughout, like a shadow lurking in the corner, yet his sharp presence was undiminished.
Meeting the gazes of these nearly desperate old people, he neither flinched nor offered any explanation.
Xu Si felt that his words were indeed a bit harsh.
"I am not denying your past sacrifices," Xu Si said.
His gaze swept over Yue Lengshu, Zhou Jieyi, and Wu Pian in turn, finally landing on Zheng Fangzhou in the corner.
"But the past is the past, and the present is the present."
He raised his right hand, palm up, and a ball of scarlet star power silently condensed at his fingertips, slowly rotating like a tiny galaxy imprisoned in amber.
"Earth is recovering. The eeriness is receding. If you're still using judgments from six months ago to decide your actions now, that would be irresponsible towards the tens of thousands of lives lost."
He certainly wants to fight alongside thousands of survivors, but that also requires them to have the courage to face the future.
This was the first time Yue Lengshu and the others had observed Xu Si's sequence so directly. Although they had guessed before, they only understood the profoundness of this sequence after seeing it with their own eyes.
Before the apocalypse, they had witnessed countless demonstrations of extraordinary abilities, but the thing in Xu Si's palm felt different to them.
It wasn't just psionic or sequence energy; it was a landscape they had never seen or experienced before.
They are now certain that Xu Si is indeed Sequence Nine.
"You said the eerie tide is receding?" Yue Lengshu finally snapped out of Xu Si's sequence display and realized what Xu Si had just said.
"Are you sure?"
"I can."
How long will it last?
"It's been at least half a month," Xu Si said.
Yue Lengshu and the others looked at each other in bewilderment, as they had not received any relevant information beforehand.
"We need to confirm this!" Yue Lengshu then gestured to Zhou Jieyi, as it was his shift today.
That's the downside of official regulations; procedures are always the top priority.
Zhou Jieyi wasn't embarrassed at all; she simply used a bluebird to contact the outside world to confirm.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
Even Wu Pian seemed to have forgotten Xu Si's harsh words, and kept staring at the bluebird in Zhou Jieyi's hand, waiting.
If the eerie atmosphere really is receding as Xu Si said, he knows very well what that means.
Those in high positions know better than anyone what risks are worth taking and what risks are fatal.
The precarious situation seemed to have turned around in that instant.
The report came quickly, and the scattered survival bases also took on the responsibility of detecting strange and unusual movements.
However, these were not enough to threaten the strange activity at the survival base, and according to protocol, they did not need to report them.
So even now they don't know that this is a strange overall anomaly, rather than an isolated one.
"Is it confirmed?"
"Confirmed!"
"Why was such important information not reported? This is a serious dereliction of duty!"
Wu Pian was furious. No wonder Xu Si came to their door to scold them; they certainly deserved it.
It's unbelievable that the post-apocalyptic survival system has deteriorated so much in less than two years; they hadn't even discovered this loophole before.
Indeed, the primary rule of the previous doomsday base was concealment.
How could they have imagined that one day the eerie atmosphere would recede?
"So, what are you going to do now?" Xu Si leaned quietly against Nirvana, his scarlet star-like eyes half-closed, like an orange cat that had basked in the sun.
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold again, and no one spoke first.
Zheng Fangzhou and Wu Pian wanted to try and persuade the others, but...
Yue Lengshu finally raised his head, and a sharp glint, long unseen, appeared in his tired eyes.
"If the eerie atmosphere is indeed receding, then those areas on the surface that were previously deemed 'uninhabitable' could potentially become usable land again. The closed status of our underground bases can also be reassessed."
He paused, his gaze falling on Xu Si.
"Agreed," Wu Pian said first, and Yue Lengshu gave him a disgruntled look.
What do you mean by agreeing? This isn't the time for a democratic vote.
Zhou Jieyi and Fan Changjie were actually the biggest obstacles to opening the survival base.
But even now, they still yearn for the scene Xu Si described.
They are not afraid to start over, but they are afraid of repeating the same mistakes.
They were more afraid that this was a trap.
Being in the thick of it, they have to consider many more things.
The same applies to Yue Lengshu; the official base's current situation is closely related to his attitude.
You won't make a mistake if you don't do it!
As the last chief of the Great Xia Dynasty, he wanted to preserve the last foundation of the Great Xia Dynasty more than anyone else.
It's not that he can't fight, it's that he can't afford to fight.
He could not allow the last banner of the Great Xia to disappear completely in his hands.
Therefore, even if he has a preference in his heart, he will never support it.
"I think with the situation so good now, we can definitely open a few more pilot programs!"
Zheng Fangzhou understood that it was impossible to open all the survival bases, but opening one-third or even one-half of them was possible.
"Pilot program." Yue Lengshu and the others pondered these two words.
Pilot programs often mean one thing: caution.
It also represents two words—compromise.
"Opening a survival base means that at least three thousand people have to come out from underground to the surface, and it means that we have to rebuild our defense system, resource circulation system, and information communication system—all of which will be exposed to the gaze of the apocalypse." Yue Lengshu did not say whether he agreed or disagreed.
He simply stated the facts.
"We were always concerned about sacrifice before, but we have already sacrificed too much. When we no longer even have the courage to try to sacrifice, we will be the true sinners of Great Xia."
Zheng Fangzhou's words were quite harsh.
No one responded. None of those present were afraid of sacrifice, but they were equally afraid of becoming sinners against the Great Xia.
When they take on too much responsibility, they are no longer doing it for themselves.
"Commander, gentlemen, I have stayed in the City of Fire for more than ten days. The city gates there are open every day, children can chase dragonflies on the ridges of the fields, and the old people can sit under the walls and bask in the sun."
We built our survival base precisely to wait for this day, didn't we? Does the longer time goes by, the more we forget why we hid underground in the first place?