Ning Yu’s professional materials were gradually declassified, and the research institute discovered his final letter in a notebook.
This letter quickly ended the investigation, and everyone regained their freedom of speech and action.
More unexpectedly, before they could even catch their breath, the military issued a notification to restore the 118 unit’s establishment—Zhou Rong was promoted to battalion commander, with a regiment-level official position and the power to rebuild eight squadrons.
Zhou Rong himself was very surprised until General Zheng told him why.
“Dr. Ning said in his final letter that looking back on his life, he was fortunate to have met them at that moment. He knew they all hoped 118 could be rebuilt and that the reconstruction application had been stalled for a long time. He hoped the military would consider restoring the 118 unit’s establishment as a favor for rescuing him to the South China Sea. He also said that if it was difficult, the military should treat this as his only wish.”
“…He knew that as a final wish, everyone would have to agree,” Zhou Rong said in a low voice.
“Yes.”
“What else did he say?”
General Zheng shook his head: “I’m not sure. I only found out this much, and all other content has been classified as top secret…”
Zhou Rong walked out of the building, with Sinan standing on the steps with his back to him.
The weather was good today, the sky a slate blue, with sunlight pouring down.
The wind swept from the ocean across the land, passing through wilderness budding with life and cities scarred by war, lifting Sinan’s collar and hair ends.
Zhou Rong walked to his side, seeing the vast sky reflected in those amber pupils, the distant smoke of war gradually dissipating into nothingness.
Sinan softly said: “Goodbye, Dr. Ning.”
Zhou Rong extended his hand, Sinan withdrew his gaze and gave a slight smile, and the two walked side by side into the distance.
·
In early 2021, the Seed Operation initially covered the entire country.
Zombies in cities were basically eliminated, with the military still attacking in some severely affected areas. Survivors from six major bases were allocated antibodies and supplies, and began to enthusiastically rebuild their homes under unified deployment.
Soon after, the gene vaccine was developed and quickly popularized globally.
Even if bitten by zombies remaining in dark corners, people no longer feared virus infection.
This disaster took the lives of three billion people globally, nearly causing racial extinction, and was the largest and most severe catastrophe in human history. However, humans closed the Pandora’s box with their own hands, sealing it in the river of history, never to be opened again.
Zhou Rong, this commander with only four soldiers, finally managed to select a group of elite troops from various military regions and bring them back to headquarters for elimination and special training.
Sinan, who could have lived comfortably on state support for a lifetime, took on the role of special training instructor, but given his teaching style, the students who were “screwed over” didn’t like him much.
Sinan didn’t care whether the “weaklings” liked him or not. He cared that General Zheng had finally signed his official appointment as a military special tactical consultant. From now on, he was no longer civilian volunteer Sinan, but the chief instructor of Special Forces 118, even assigned an office with good lighting, ventilation, and close to the cafeteria.
Given that Sinan had officially joined 118, Yan Hao sincerely requested to give up his “squad flower” title, but was politely and firmly refused by Sinan.
After the first batch of personnel was added, Zhou Rong decided to organize them into four squadrons, led by Yan Hao, Chun Cao, Ding Shi, and Guo Weixiang. The original 118th Sixth Squadron was thus dispersed and became the backbone of the new 118—and the soul of this unit was reborn from those special forces who had sacrificed themselves, to be continuously passed on in future battles and fires.
Before the new establishment was implemented, the original Sixth Squadron executed their final mission.
They organized the name tags and relics of seventeen fallen comrades, including Zhang Yingjie’s ashes, and set out on a journey to find the families of these comrades.
This was not a long journey, as the families of 118 were relatively concentrated and had been sent to refugee bases when the disaster first broke out, making them traceable. But the process was extremely arduous, with each military family’s crying and grief repeatedly imprinted on their souls and flesh.
Fortunately, after arriving in the Northeast, they successfully found Zhang Yingjie’s wife and daughter. They had hidden in the vegetable cellar with their family, enduring the long winter, and were then taken away by the soldiers from the Heilongjiang base in the spring. When Zhou Rong handed Zhang Yingjie’s urn to her, he heard the most tragic and desperate cry of his life. He could not stay in front of this grieving woman for a moment; every minute felt like countless barbed whips, lashing his soul.
Now, the circulating currency was no longer money but grain tickets.
After receiving all his overdue wages, Zhou Rong exchanged everything at the military preferential price for grain tickets and supplies, keeping nothing for himself and giving it all to the families of fallen comrades.
It was quite a large sum of money. Even when divided equally, each family would receive a considerable amount, which was barely a small consolation for families who had lost their breadwinners.
After distributing the money, Zhou Rong became completely destitute. Si Nan said he didn’t mind, as he now had a salary and could support Zhou Rong, this “burden”.
Zhou Rong later came up with another solution. He transferred all the martyrs’ families to the 118 military region, arranging idle positions for them in canteens, warehouses, logistics, and other departments, ensuring they could receive the state’s compensation and stable income. He specially secured a rare twelve-year free education quota at a key school for Zhang Yingjie’s young daughter.
It could be confirmed that Zhou Rong would never become rich in this lifetime.
“Where’s my pigeon egg?” Si Nan suddenly complained.
Zhou Rong: “Don’t worry, leave it to Brother Rong.”
Time quickly moved to New Year’s Eve 2021.
On New Year’s night, the 118 camp canteen had prepared a sumptuous reunion dinner early on, and Old General Zheng had also come.
All team members and their families gathered together.
Before the meal, as usual, a few words needed to be said. Zhou Rong and General Zheng pushed and shoved each other like they were fighting for ten minutes. Zhou Rong lost and had to stand up with his wine glass.
The canteen was decorated with lanterns and festive decorations. Red paper flowers were pasted on the foggy glass windows, and fireworks were being set off outside, illuminating the night sky with colorful brightness.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, Zhou Rong took a deep breath, seemingly suddenly losing his eloquence and not knowing what to say. After a long moment, he briefly laughed:
“Brother Rong isn’t good at speaking.”
Everyone burst into laughter, and Zhou Rong laughed along.
“Last New Year’s Eve, during the most rampant period of the virus, I and the instructor you all fear the most were separated from the main group, trapped in the deep mountains sealed by heavy snow.”
Zhou Rong slowly said, “When midnight arrived, I made three wishes looking out the window. I won’t mention the first personal wish, the second wish was for all fallen comrades’ souls to return home and bless us to safely pass through this disaster.”
