Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 353 - 79 Further On Up The Road (Combined)

Chapter 353: Chapter 79 Further On Up The Road (Combined)

Chapter 353: Chapter 79 Further On Up The Road (Combined)

No one would have thought that Liang Zhengyong would actually die in an absurd, utterly preposterous airplane crash.

Of course, many didn’t believe it. They pointed out that the passenger jet was just over a kilometer from the ground at the time. At that altitude, the survival chances for a fourth-order power user were quite high, and the capabilities of Proton Starfire also ensured that Commander Liang wouldn’t die in an explosion. Some even said that there were numerous signs of a fight at the crash site, and Liang Zhengyong’s autopsy report was filled with many peculiar details.

But no matter what, the youngest combat committee member of Black Star, the illustrious Southwest Fierce Tiger, was indeed confirmed dead beyond any doubt.

The death of a giant with boundless influence often brings shock and panic to people, but they soon discover that the world without him doesn’t necessarily turn out to be completely terrible either.

A new pillar will be sent by Black Star, Kuang Zhuoma is still struggling for survival in the crevices of power, and Liang Wei doesn’t have much time for grief. He must step forward to take control of the situation and uphold the Liang family tree that is on the verge of collapse.

On the other hand, Qiao Xing, no one bothers him in these chaotic times anymore.

“The doctor said you need to rest and recuperate in peace, the family is in communication with Big Ben, and your surgery can be done next month.”

Afafu tied her hair with a scarf, standing in front of a cabinet, facing a pot of lotus root and pork rib soup.

She was wearing a snow-white sweater, looking extremely pure and lovely.

Qiao Xing sat in a wheelchair on the balcony, facing the deep red sunset.

In the past, he would gaze at the bloodlike setting sun, seeing the rust-colored radiation clouds below, giving rise to a stark contrast with the grim scenery with his lofty ambitions. But today, he rarely pondered, in such a hostile environment, how much must humankind sacrifice to survive.

This complete defeat gave Qiao Xing much-needed growth.

Afafu’s footsteps drew nearer, and her soft arms encircled Qiao Xing’s neck. His hands instinctively held onto his wife’s arms.

“What are you thinking about?”

Afafu’s voice was exceptionally gentle.

Compared to his former spirited demeanor, Qiao Xing, now sitting in a wheelchair, looked weak, his eyes filled with a quiet, discernable sense of loss and dejection.

“I’m sorry.”

Qiao Xing’s voice was hoarse.

“…” Afafu pursed her lips, “It’s all in the past.”

Ever since Qiao Xing’s legs had been blown off, he had become more reticent. Thinking about it, this was probably the first time he had spoken since leaving the hospital.

She hugged Qiao Xing from behind, her cheek resting against his temple, “You still have me, and we have our child.”

Qiao Xing tightened his grip on Afafu’s wrists, momentarily lost for words.

About a minute later, Afafu stood back up, rubbed her hair, swallowed to clear her throat before saying, “I’ll go out for a bit to get your medical records. You should soothe the child, he’s been crying a lot these days, and he had a fever a few days ago.”

With those words, she picked out a coat from the wardrobe.

“Afafu.”

Qiao Xing spoke softly.

The woman turned around abruptly.

“You look beautiful today.”

Qiao Xing’s smile was faint, his pale lips failing to hide a sense of tranquil peace.

Afafu smiled radiantly, as beautiful as the first time Qiao Xing had seen her.

The door opened gently and closed again, leaving only the bubbling sound of the soup cooking in the house.

Qiao Xing’s hands struggled to turn the wheels of his wheelchair; he switched on the radio at the corner of the desk, a deep male voice began to play:

Where the road is dark and the seed is sowed

(Where the road is pitch black, seeds wait in the earth)

Where the gun is cocked and the bullet’s cold

(The gun aimed, the bullets shiver in cold)

Where the miles are marked in the blood and the gold

“`

(Blood and gold, engraving the milestones on the headstones)

I’ll meet you further on up the road

(And us, in the future, will meet at that distant crossroads)

Qiao Xing narrowed his eyes as he listened for a while. The song’s voice was hoarse and magnetic, possessing a unique charm that immersed listeners, but suddenly, Qiao Xing noticed that the radio’s power light was off. He then remembered that the radio’s batteries had not been replaced for a long time…

The man’s voice continued, a deep baritone emanating from the baby’s room. Qiao Xing’s lips trembled, and his arm clutching the armrest couldn’t help but sway, but before long, Qiao Xing calmed down. He wheeled his chair, inching closer to the child’s room.

Got on my dead man’s suit and my smilin’ skull ring

(Dressed in my father’s suit, with a skull set in my ring)

My lucky graveyard boots and a song to sing

(Stepping into my lucky graveyard boots, humming a melody)

I got a song to sing, keep me out of the cold

(This song, dispelling my chills and sorrow)

And I’ll meet you further on up the road.

(And in the future, we’ll meet at that distant crossroads)

Creak~

The sound of the door turning was harsh and unpleasant, and the man’s singing stopped. He sat in front of the baby’s cradle, the wind chime beside him swaying.

Li Yan turned his head and lifted the corners of his mouth at Qiao Xing.

The child Afafu continuously wept for in her mouth was now sleeping soundly, clutching a duck toy, drooling from its plump little mouth.

Li Yan put his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture.

“Let’s talk outside.”

Qiao Xing tried to keep his voice calm.

Li Yan nodded, stood up, walked behind Qiao Xing, closed the door to the child’s room, and pushed Qiao Xing’s wheelchair to the dining table.

“What’s the child’s name?”

Li Yan asked gently.

“I named him Qiao Rui, his nickname was given by Afafu; it’s Luo Bu.”

Li Yan raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

“Regarding the attacks aimed at you, it was all orchestrated by me. I hope you don’t take it out on Afafu and the child. There’s a Pompeii Armaments license in the hidden compartment of the bedroom pillow; it’s my personal savings, very clean, without any loose ends. Consider it a small sign of my apology.”

Qiao Xing spoke without prompting as Li Yan, seeming not to have heard, went to scoop up two bowls of lotus root and pork rib soup. He brought one bowl to Qiao Xing and took a sip from the other after blowing on it.

“Your wife is quite the cook.”

Li Yan said with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Unmoved, Qiao Xing continued in a steady voice, “The Black Star chariot may not show it on the surface, but you’ve been red-listed on their secret wanted notices. Revealing your whereabouts would be quite troublesome for you. There’s a handgun under the sofa; I could use that gun to commit suicide right in front of you. That would leave much less trace of you here. All I ask is that you let her and the child go.”

Li Yan squinted his eyes and slowly shook his head: “To be honest, I don’t care.”

“Don’t care about what?”

“Everything you just said.”

Li Yan hinted something as he drummed his thumb on the table: “If you hadn’t called me back, none of this would have happened.”

At those words, Qiao Xing gave a bitter smile: “Indeed, I’m an idiot.”

Li Yan got up to serve the soup, the ladle clanging against the pot: “You’re not stupid, you know exactly what you’re doing; you just underestimated me. No one was a fool in the Golden Summit explosion, except for that foolish old man, who went into the crocodile swamp like a martyr. A self-indulgent idiot.”

Qiao Xing, staring down at the bowl of soup in front of him, caught the slight fluctuation in Li Yan’s tone.

“If it were you, what would you do?”

“`

“`

“It won’t be me.”

Li Yan opened his mouth as if to say something further, but he immediately closed it and then laughed. “After all,” Colonel Qiao said, “the will to survive is still there. It’s only human.”

From Li Yan’s behavior, it was evident that he hadn’t planned to lay a finger on Afafu and her son from the start. Qiao Xing’s previous posturing was nothing more than a wise move to save his own skin.

Qiao Xing’s gaze flickered, and he eventually swallowed hard, “What do you want in exchange for sparing my life?”

Li Yan shook his head.

“Outsiders value profit most. The Qiao’s energy is among the best in the Black Star battle chariots. I can draft a thorough genetic modification plan for you. You have the Spirit-responsive Tanggula from Liang in your possession, right? That’s just a trial version, but if used with the patterns and potions provided by the Qiao, the effectiveness of the Spirit-responsive Tanggula can increase to over 30%. With your genetic strength, this percentage could be even higher. Please trust me one more time. Knowing your strength, I wouldn’t dare play tricks anymore. And the blood sample from Autumn Yak, it’s of no use in the hands of one person; I can help you turn it into a 100% effective Autumn Yak potion…”

“Colonel Qiao. Actually, I came back this time not because of your threats, I just wanted to ask you a question.”

Li Yan interrupted him, veins bulging on his neck, “How many eyes does Lord Ma have?”

“…”

Qiao Xing’s face drained of color.

The atmosphere became unbearably tense.

Li Yan pulled out the revolver left by Song Zuo, cocking the hammer; there was one last bullet in the gun, reserved especially for Qiao Xing.

Thud!

The door was suddenly pushed open as the pale-faced Afafu burst in, her eyes immediately narrowing to pinpoints upon sighting the two men at the dining table.

“Don’t.”

Li Yan heard her but didn’t stop. He pulled the trigger, firing the bullet, hitting Qiao Xing squarely in the head, blood sprayed, and Qiao Xing fell back, along with the wheelchair, blood and brain matter splattering the floor.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

The gunshot woke the sleeping Luo Bu, who looked around to find no adults, started crying and flailing his legs.

Thump~

Afafu collapsed to her knees, defeated.

Li Yan finished the soup in his bowl, stood up, and walked out. There was only one entrance, so he inevitably brushed past Afafu.

“Stop.”

Afafu’s voice trembled as she aimed a shining silver pistol, her tear-filled eyes glaring at Li Yan.

“Stop.”

Her throat was choked with emotion.

Li Yan glanced back at Afafu, without hesitation, raised his arm, aimed the revolver at her head, and pulled the trigger decisively.

As Li Yan pulled the trigger, Afafu’s shattered heart plummeted, and one thought dominated her inner depths.

“He really shot.”

Click, click.

Li Yan forcefully pulled the trigger again and again, the hammer striking empty each time, the sound painfully grating amidst the baby’s crying.

“Damn.”

Li Yan cursed softly, tossed the pistol on the ground, and without giving Afafu another glance, he went downstairs.

His footsteps on the staircase sounded like hammers pounding people’s hearts.

Sharp alarms rang out above the town as Black Star’s soldiers, together with security machines, flooded toward Qiao Xing’s residence like a tide.

Golden beams of light swept randomly through the streets, which were void of any people; Li Yan’s shadow seemed a bit desolate.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

“`

The woman upstairs pulled the trigger like a madwoman, bullets striking the stones at Li Yan’s feet, sparking flames.

The wail of alarms and gunfire drowned out the baby’s cries and the woman’s sobs.

In the street, Li Yan’s shadow stretched long; he was the lone beast who had won in the end, killing all the packs that dared to offend him, yet his heart couldn’t feel the slightest bit of joy or pride.

“Violence begets violence, that’s your answer.”

In a trance, Liang Zhengyong’s last words before he died echoed in his ears.

“You say I’m self-righteous, but what standing do you have to judge me?”

“Actually, people like you are more dangerous than me because you care about so little, and it will become even less. In your eyes, power is my addiction, but what consumes you is something a million times more potent than power.”

“Your stage and lifespan are far too wide, but you have no idea what you should do. You’re just like a greedy insect scavenging everywhere.”

“As you grow stronger, you will gradually lose any feeling for life, emotion, until even what you now consider the value and pride of humanity will be discarded like worn-out shoes. Killing, sex, drugs will not be able to fill your void. To walk the earth as Yan Fu is an unstoppable force for you, as well as an unavoidable curse.”

“Right now, you can play the role of a Ranger who has slain a tyrant before me, standing on my corpse to revel in the triumph of victory, but you’re just not yet weary of it. Sooner or later, everything in the world will become utterly meaningless to you. And today, you, who so devoutly believes in fighting violence with violence, will inevitably become the most terrifying perpetrator of violence.”

“However, the greater likelihood is that you will die on this path.”

Li Yan looked up and suddenly laughed, moving his bandaged hands amidst the sound of gunfire, nonchalantly humming:

Now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time

(Now I’ve left the bustle behind, in the desert seeking)

Searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign

(For a sign hidden in dust and earth)

If there’s a light up ahead well brother I don’t know

(Whether there’s a light above that I just can’t see)

But I got this fever burnin’ in my soul

(But this fervor keeps burning within my heart)

Bang~~

An empty cartridge flew past Li Yan, not very lethal, but it brought a flurry of fireworks-like sparks.

Li Yan turned back to see a small figure on the clock tower holding a sniper rifle, with phoenix eyes, a buzz cut, and white earrings.

She saw Li Yan looking at her and whistled at him.

“…Haha”

Li Yan laughed, he hadn’t laughed so heartily since he had narrowly escaped death in the Daimyo Temple explosion.

He gave Wei Dan a thumbs-up and turned to leave.

Further on up the road, further on up the road

(The road ahead, ethereal and undisturbed)

Further on up the road, further on up the road

(The road ahead, never interrupting)

And I’ll meet you further on up the road.

(And there, at the crossroads ahead, we shall meet again)

“Maybe Liang Zhengyong was right. To this day, I still don’t understand what exactly I want to do. Powerful beings build homes and create art, while powerful insects only consume all the food around them. But…”

Blue particles swirled around Li Yan, drifting and dispersing. Li Yan’s shadow faded, eventually disappearing altogether.

“You people have shown me what I don’t want to do, what I can’t tolerate. For this, I really should thank you all.”