After a moment's consideration, Lao Wan said, "I will truthfully write down how you exploit the common people through business means, record in detail the details of your manipulation of the political arena, and even record some of the unsavory things that happened in the Half-Mountain Manor. But I will also truthfully write down all the efforts made by the Li family when foreign enemies invaded. I will write that the head of the Li family, Li Yunshou, and the entire Li family perished together with the Blackwater City fleet with their indomitable will."
Li Changqing smiled and said, "That's enough."
In the Federation, history is not written by the victors, but by the bystanders. People don't trust the corporations; they only trust these nameless bystanders.
They were not tempted by profit; their only goal was to record the truth about the Federation in the archives, waiting for the day when history would reveal the truth, clearing the names of some or proving the crimes of others.
Li Changqing said, "So, it's not me who should leave, but you. Zhang Ping, I need you to record everything you just said. We can't die in vain."
Zhang Ping, that's Lao Wan's real name, and Li Changqing has never forgotten it.
However, at this moment, Li Tongyun stood in the command room, looked up at Li Changqing at the command seat and said, "Auntie, wait a little longer."
Li Changqing asked curiously, "Waiting for what?"
Li Tongyun said earnestly, "My brother believes in that Zero, and Grandpa on Ginkgo Mountain also believes in her. She definitely didn't send us to the Central Plains just to die. I believe there is still a chance for things to turn around."
As for what the turning point will be, no one can be sure.
Some people saw their destiny, yet they kept it a secret.
...
...
In the 20th city of Osaka in the corresponding world table, Maki Jinguji, wearing a white dress, walks curiously down the street.
This was her first time in the Otherworld, and she was immediately captivated by this bizarre and fantastical world she had never seen before.
However, all the pedestrians had the word "slave" tattooed on their foreheads.
Beneath the colorful holographic neon lights and towering skyscrapers lies a living hell.
At that moment, Maki Jinguji looked at a middle-aged man and said, "Excuse me, may I borrow your cell phone? I'd like to make a call."
The middle-aged man looked around and then looked curiously at Jinguji Maki: "Young lady, why are you alone? Where are your family?"
Jinguji Maki hesitated for two seconds: "I'm alone and would like my family to pick me up. May I borrow your phone?"
The middle-aged man looked around again, paused for a moment, and then took out his phone and gave it to her: "After you make that call, how about I treat you to ice cream?"
Jinguji obediently agreed: "Okay."
She took the phone and dialed the number that Shen Daiyunlu had made her memorize: "Hello, Uncle Qingji, I'm currently... Uncle, which city is this?"
The middle-aged man said, "City 20."
Maki Jinguji said, "I'm in City 20. The holographic neon overhead is a group of elephants, and there's a neon sign for 'Oriental International' next to me. Uncle Kei, are you in City 5? Are you coming to pick me up now? Okay, then I'll wait for you here."
She had never met Qingji, but her teacher, Shendai Yunluo, told her that he was a trustworthy person.
Maki returned the phone to the middle-aged man and said obediently, "Thank you, Uncle."
The middle-aged man coaxed, "The person who's picking you up is still quite far from here. It will take him at least two days to get here from City 5. Why don't you come home with me first? I have ice cream at my house."
Maki shook her head: "No, Uncle Kei told me to wait for him here, he'll be here soon."
Seeing that she refused to follow, the middle-aged man steeled himself and reached out to pull her.
But just as he reached out, a dark portal suddenly opened beside him, and Qing Ji walked out expressionlessly, slapping the middle-aged man across the face: "You dare to bully such a young girl?"
As he spoke, Qing Ji, still not satisfied, slapped the other man across the face repeatedly, swelling his face.
Maki, watching from the side, felt a pang of pity: "Stop fighting, stop fighting, Uncle Kei, just kill him already."
Qing Ji: "..."
He slowly looked at the little girl. Didn't everyone say that this girl was the last conscience of the Knights?
Is this the last vestige of conscience?
Qingji snapped the middle-aged man's neck and looked at Jinguji Maki. This was their first meeting, and he was also very curious about Qingchen's disciple.
He asked, "How did Kamishiro Unra mention me to you?"
Xiao Zhenji said earnestly, "He said you are someone I can completely trust. Uncle Qingji, let's go save the Qingshan. Sister Tongyun, Brother Nan Gengchen, and Brother Liu Dezhu are still on the Qingshan."
Qing Ji asked, "So, you traveled through time to save people?"
“Yes,” Maki replied, “Mr. Kamishiro Unra said that this is my destiny with him.”
"His destiny?" Qing Ji pondered. "He seems to have guessed something... Will you kill?"
“No,” Maki said, “but I can learn.”
Qing Ji laughed and said, "Now I believe you are a knight, but we cannot go to the battlefield yet; the time is not right."
"Huh?" Maki asked, puzzled. "What do we do now?"
“Let’s collect some interest first,” Qingji said. “Shindai Yunluo told me that you have the ability to parade a hundred ghosts at night, so first kill all the puppet troops and Western Continent soldiers in these 20 cities. This is your first lesson after arriving in the Otherworld: killing.”
"How do we find them? This city is so big!"
"It's very simple. Kill all those who don't have the word 'slave' above their heads."
Chapter 982, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
At 2 a.m., in the wilderness of the Central Plains, the Qingshan had already been blocked by a dense array of airships.
Li Shu stood on the deck, looking at his colleagues: "You are all young and promising soldiers in the Li Clan's army... Do you know why you are still alive?"
Among these officers were former fellow disciples who had trained together at Qiuye Villa. They had beaten up the shadow candidates of the Qing Clan together, drunk together, raced cars together, and walked together on the path outside Qiuye Villa bathed in the setting sun.
There were also some officers who were the younger generation developed by Li Shu and others in the military, all under the age of 35.
Before the officer could answer, Li Shu continued, “Because the patriarch doesn’t know what the future of the Li family will be after he leaves, and you are the future of the Li family. He carefully selected you all and asked me to take you with me from City 18. He hopes you will live, but I think he would prefer that the people of the Li family live with dignity. A soldier should die on the battlefield, wrapped in a horsehide. Today is the perfect time.”
The officers remained silent, as did the ship's sailors behind them.
Li Shu said calmly, "Board the ship and prepare to meet the enemy. Commander Li Changqing and I are on the Qingshan, standing with you all, not retreating a single step."
This was an exceptionally brutal pre-battle mobilization. Li Shu did not lie to everyone, saying that we still had hope, that we still had reinforcements, and that we could win.
Since those standing here are all elite military personnel, and everyone has the ability to assess the situation, deception is pointless.
So Li Shu chose to tell the truth: if everyone is going to die today, then let's make our deaths meaningful.
The alloy deck in the sky split open to both sides, and airships took off, guarding the side of the Qingshan.
Li Shu returned to the command room and reported to Li Changqing: "All the airships have taken off, only your airship remains. Sir, prepare to board. The Li family cannot be wiped out."
Li Changqing calmly replied, "Ordinary people can be born, grow old, get sick, and die. The Li family is just like people; it will also die. There's nothing that can't be severed. Check the satellite surveillance again."
A soldier shouted, "Check the satellite surveillance! No reinforcements have arrived nearby; it's just us left."
Li Changqing didn't speak; she just silently watched the radar, seeing the enemy forces getting closer and closer.
There really were no reinforcements.
It seems that the purpose of the Qingshan was to come to the Central Plains, buy the parents' meeting another dozen or so hours, and then be destroyed.
Li Tongyun hesitated.
Li Changqing smiled at her and said, "We are all people who cannot see fate. So if those who can see fate think that dying here is the best thing for us, then we will die here."
She wasn't afraid of death, but she was still disappointed that she didn't know Qing Chen's whereabouts.
Once, outside Forbidden Land No. 002, she piloted the Green Mountain to support Qing Chen. When she saw the vibrant young girl beside Qing Chen, she left without saying goodbye.
But that doesn't mean she'll forget the fireworks show Qingchen took her to see, or that she'll forget the night she rode her motorcycle with Qingchen through the city.
"Old Wan, if you survive, how will you record my story?" Li Changqing asked with great interest.
Old Wan laughed and said, "I've already had my colleagues archive all those records of you, to be declassified 100 years from now. Your daily life, every decision, and your preferences since you were 16 are all recorded in them. Miss, I have a very high opinion of you because you are the only outstanding female general of this era."
Li Changqing didn't seem to care about the last comment or how future generations would view her. She just wondered if, a hundred years later, the archives were made public, would Qing Chen go to the bystanders to take a look at his own records?
However, at that moment, a soldier shouted: "Sir, someone on Ginkgo Mountain is requesting communication."
"Open communications."
In the holographic projection, Zero, dressed in a black suit, said, "Please immediately set the Qingshan to automatic attack mode. The remaining personnel, including Commander Li Changqing, board the ship."
Li Changqing asked doubtfully, "Isn't it a bit too late for us to evacuate now? We're surrounded on all sides, and the airship can't get out."
Zero responded, "That's an order."
After a moment of doubt, Li Changqing boarded an airship and left before the Storm City fleet arrived.
Just as they left the Green Mountain, a beam of white light suddenly shot out from the distance, piercing through the Green Mountain and causing it to lose all power.
Only the anti-gravity system continued to operate, turning the Qingshan into an immobile island.
This white light had appeared before; it was this white light that pierced through the Junlin when Qingchen and Yi smuggled themselves across the Western Continent.
The Western Continent's aerial fortresses have always had a trump card against aerial fortresses, which is why Duke Blackwater told Li Yunshou, "Even the two aerial fortresses of the Eastern Continent might not be able to replace me."
Li Changqing sat on the airship, staring blankly. But the next moment, they discovered that there was a problem with the markings on the radar. A new air fortress had appeared out of nowhere in the place where the Qingshan had been.
The other party floated slowly at an altitude of 16,000 meters, always maintaining a near-vertical distance from the Qingshan, hidden in the darkness.
This is the Zhutianhao that Qingchen seized from the Chen family!
The All-Heavens disappeared after the battle in the north, sailing strictly according to its predetermined coordinates at the maximum altitude, maintaining complete silence in all communications, until it finally reappeared at this moment.
Even if a satellite passes overhead, the Western Continent will mistake the Zhutian for the Qingshan because the Zhutian's trajectory is precisely calculated to cover the angle of the satellite.
The next moment, the main cannons on the Zhutian opened fire, and the soldiers of the former Scepter controlled this Chen family air fortress, launching an attack on the Storm City fleet from a high vantage point.
Inside the airship where Li Changqing was, Nan Gengchen excitedly pumped his fist: "Why didn't we discover it sooner? It turns out the reinforcements were right above us all along!"
Li Changqing replied, "Someone tampered with our holographic sand table to prevent us from knowing in advance. Although we don't know why, it was certainly unexpected."
"So, are we saved?" Liu Dezhu asked curiously.
Li Changqing shook his head: "No, you underestimate the air force of the Western Continent. Their air force fleet is several times larger than ours, and their air fortress can fight two against one. Even if the Zhutian Ship is here, at most we can inflict heavy losses on them, but we will still die... But it would be good enough if we could inflict heavy losses on them."
At this moment, Xiao Tongyun said again, "No, Aunt, the timing of the Zhutian Ship's attack is wrong. Zero couldn't have been unaware of the existence of the Fate Master. The Zhutian Ship didn't even wait 20 minutes for the battle to begin before it appeared, so the Fate Master could see it too."
How could Zero and the old man on Ginkgo Mountain not have thought of this? Therefore, both the Zhutian and Qingshan ships were bait.
The fish has taken the bait, but who will kill it?
...