CHAPTER 414: CHAPTER 198: WHERE I’M NEEDED (PART 2)

"Seriously, if we have the time, we should chop off all of these monsters’ heads."

"The Blood Skull’s tactics are quite useful... Blood sacrifices to the Blood God, skull offerings to the throne."

"Though it doesn’t mean anything practically, it’s truly unparalleled as psychological intimidation."

"Otherwise, how could a pathetically weak species like the Blood Skull cause humans so much trouble?"

"Isn’t it because their image is firmly established and everyone fears them..."

"If we build a mound of skulls here, might those monsters also be scared when they see it?"

"Why didn’t you say so earlier? All burnt now."

Lei Jie shrugged and said:

"Next time for sure—assuming we finish this fight first."

"The Beast Tide is far from over... We have too many things to do."

"This war, the ammunition supply consumption rate has exceeded the warning line."

"According to Fu Xi’s calculations, if we continue to consume ammunition at this rate, we can only fight at this scale 4 more times."

"The number of monsters is far more than can be eliminated in 4 battles, maybe we really have to pressure the Mechanical God Sect."

"Indeed."

Chen Jian nodded in agreement.

"They probably still have quite a lot of ammunition in stock."

"Since they can’t use it, might as well hand it over to us."

"But He Shuo is no longer in Jinling City, so you should go find Wang Lizhi for this matter."

"The ostriches of the Ring Chamber of Commerce are about to start hibernating, consider it the last thing they do for us before they hide away..."

...

Meanwhile, in the camp.

Yu Qian suddenly awoke from his sleep, instinctively reaching for the rifle beside him.

The cold touch instantly reassured him. As his blurry vision gradually cleared, he suddenly realized the battle was over.

Appearing before his eyes were the worried faces of his children. Their expressions changed for a moment when he suddenly jumped up, but when they saw him awake, they both began to smile.

"Daddy!"

"D..Daddy..."

His daughter mimicked her brother’s call in her childish voice. Yu Qian exhaled deeply, wiped his hand on his clothes first, then touched his son’s head.

"Daddy! You’re awake!"

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Yu Qian shook his head, instinctively checking his body.

Actually, whether he was hurt or not he truly didn’t know. After defeating that monster in the steel mill, he seemed to enter a new state.

Forgot himself, forgot everything, even forgot fear.

Driven by a strong sense of purpose, he kept moving persistently, his mind held only a few extremely simple, extremely one-sided tasks.

Killing monsters meant killing monsters, clearing airport meant clearing airport, transporting ammunition meant transporting ammunition.

At certain moments, Yu Qian even felt as if his soul was extracted, turning into an emotionless robot.

But oddly enough, he could clearly understand the reason behind his actions.

That state... was indescribably profound.

Only when the battle ended and the commander ordered a rest did he finally relax.

Returning to his place, he slept, and when he awoke, it was hours later.

The day was already bright.

Sunlight streamed through the window, Yu Qian sat up and asked his son:

"Have you and your sister eaten?"

"Yes, we have!"

His son answered quickly:

"Daddy, we saved you some food!"

"It was brought by the adults from the Huaxia Army!"

"There are canned goods, meat cans and fruit cans!"

"Also lots of fresh meat and rice, and plenty of candy! It’s special candy!"

"Daddy, I gave my sister some candy, and I ate some too!"

"But there’s still a lot left, I saved it all for you..."

Chattering away, his son pulled out the candy carefully hidden in the corner cabinet.

A big handful was handed to Yu Qian, leaving him a bit at a loss.

"Is this... all candy?"

"All candy, different kinds of candy!"

"The adults from the Huaxia Army said it can be eaten directly or dissolved in water."

"They told me to let you eat more candy because you’re too tired and already have low blood sugar."

"While you were asleep, they fed you sugar water, but you didn’t wake up..."

Yu Qian licked his lips, only then realizing there was indeed a sweet taste in his mouth.

When did that happen?

He had absolutely no recollection.

It felt like he missed many things in the blink of an eye.

He took the piece of candy his son had unwrapped and put it in his mouth, the sweet and sour taste unlike any candy he had before, more like... canned fruit?

Yu Qian spat the candy into his palm, looked at it for a moment, then put it back into his mouth.

He licked the residual syrup on his palm, and finally smiled.

"Delicious!"

"Delicious, isn’t it? Not everyone gets it!"

"Not everyone gets it?"

Yu Qian paused for a moment.

"Others don’t have it?"

His son’s face was full of pride, he nodded heavily, then replied:

"The adults said only reserve members who participated in the battle get canned food, only brave warriors get candy."

"But they only get a handful—we have a whole bag!"

Saying that, his son mysteriously opened the cabinet again.

"It’s all here!"

"The adults said this is the reward for heroes!"

"They said our family not only gets candy, but other things too."

"But since the war is still on, it hasn’t been distributed yet!"

Heroes...

Yu Qian didn’t quite understand this term at the moment.

Were they talking about him?

In the past twenty-odd years, he had never been called a "hero."

In many instances, maybe "coward" was a more fitting term for him.

He remembered when his wife died, many people mocked him for being afraid to pick up a weapon and avenge, laughing at his weakness and cowardice.

Only he knew, if he really sought revenge, his children would surely die in this apocalypse.

He was desolate and had no choice.

Since then, he had been burdened heavily, a burden that almost crushed him gradually.

But now...

He was a hero after all.

Yu Qian stood up bewilderedly, looking at his empty palm, and then at the rifle handed to him personally by the commander.

He didn’t know what had changed him.

Not long ago, he doubted if the decision to move to Jinling New City was right.

Not long ago, he walked the seemingly endless roads with his injured son, constantly worried about monsters suddenly appearing to tear them apart.

Not long ago, he calculated every earned work point meticulously, considering ways to quickly save enough money to become a small businessman thriving in Jinling New City.

But within a few days, or maybe just a moment, his identity changed.

He didn’t know if the transformation was due to the life-and-death crisis in the steel plant, that burst of bullets, or more he hadn’t seen or even noticed.

Perhaps this question will never have an answer.

Yu Qian bit into the candy in his mouth, the sudden sourness making him frown.

But the next second, he laughed.

He got out of bed, stretched a bit, then picked up the 191 rifle placed next to the bed.

There were two magazines fully loaded with bullets, and the magazine in the gun had a dozen bullets left.

Enough, right?

These dozens of bullets were already enough to take out several monsters.

Unprecedented confidence rose from within, Yu Qian pinched his daughter’s cheek, and said:

"Stay at home and wait for me, Daddy needs to go out for a while, I’ll be back soon."

"Won’t you eat first?"

His son tugged at his sleeve, Yu Qian gently removed his hand and said:

"No rush, Daddy isn’t hungry."

"Daddy slept for too long, needs to go see where else he’s needed..."