Chapter 127 Post-War
Chapter 127 Post-War
Okinawa.
The thick fog that had previously made it impossible to see anything had mostly dissipated.
On the first day of the twelfth month, he sat on a broken cement step by the roadside, head down, hands resting on his knees. The [Horse] talisman had repaired his knuckles, but dried bloodstains and some grayish-blue slime that he couldn't scrape off remained on the back of his hands.
Huzhang sat to his right, two steps away.
He was chewing on an energy bar. While chewing, he pressed his hand against his swollen left cheek. Each press hurt, but he couldn't help touching it.
Neither of them spoke.
It was quiet all around. After the white fog dissipated, the Okinawan sun shone again, and the air was filled with a salty smell. Seawater seeped up from the cracks in the ground, soaking the soil into puddles of grayish-brown mud.
The road surface crushed by the monster, the torn utility poles, and the grayish-white crystalline fragments scattered all came to rest in the midday sun.
Behind the new moon of December, the blue mist in the ruins had not completely dissipated.
That was the residue formed when the source of the Law of Water seeped out from every cell after the hatched creature was torn in half.
A series of static noises came through the communicator, intermittent and intermittent.
Then Kugizaki's voice came through.
""
"Can you hear me? Feed me?"
"I can hear you, it's December."
On the first day of December, I pressed the communicator.
"I'm with Fushiguro in the open area to the west. He's not injured, but Shadow's condition isn't right; he needs to rest." Kugizaki spoke faster than usual. "That thing from earlier..."
"He's dead."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator.
"—Did you kill him?"
"Um."
There was another second of silence. Then Kugizaki exhaled, his voice less tense than before.
"That's fine then." She paused for a moment, then asked, "Where's Senior Zhenyi?"
He paused for a moment on the first day of December.
He hadn't been able to contact Zhenyi yet. After communications were restored, he first contacted Yigu, and then Huzhang came over from the east. Communications from the fishing port direction hadn't been initiated.
"I'm going to find her." He stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and said, "You guys stay where you are and don't wander off. If Fu Hei can't hold on, let him sleep first."
"understood."
On the first day of December, he turned off the communicator and glanced at Khajiitsu.
With half an energy bar still stuffed in his mouth, Huzhang mumbled something, probably something like "Be careful."
On the first day of December, he nodded and walked towards the fishing port.
He wasn't walking fast.
Although I wasn't injured, I felt an inexplicable fatigue.
The fishing port is to the south, about two kilometers away.
Walking along the ruined coastal highway, the road surface was covered with fragments of coral rock ripped from the ground and dried, grayish-blue slime. In some sections, the road was cut off by cracks half a meter wide, and he had to go around the piles of rubble to get through.
It took about ten minutes to walk.
Most of the houses on both sides of the road are still standing, but all the windows are shattered, and the ground is covered with a layer of reflective shards.
Several buildings bear the marks of high-pressure water jets cutting through their exterior walls—smooth cuts extending from the roof to the foundation, as if cleaved from top to bottom by a giant knife.
That was left behind when we were chasing that hatched creature.
Reaching the top of the slope, the outline of the entire fishing port came into view.
Several small fishing boats were moored haphazardly on the dry shore, two of them capsized, the barnacles and seaweed clinging to their hulls emitting a foul stench in the sunlight. The concrete surface of the breakwater was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and several sections of metal railing lay twisted and fallen to the ground.
His gaze swept over the area on the first day of the twelfth month.
The furthest point of the breakwater.
A figure was crouching there.
The Black Queen's gun barrel was resting on the broken concrete railing, with the muzzle pointing towards the sea.
Zhenyi.
As she walked past on the first day of December, she heard footsteps, but she did not turn around.
"Is that thing dead?"
"He's dead."
Zhenyi loosened her grip on the gunstock with her right hand. Her knuckles were white, and because she had been gripping it for so long, her fingers trembled slightly the moment she released them.
She stood up and turned around.
There was a shallow scratch on his face, running from his left cheekbone to below his ear, which had already scabbed over. The left sleeve of his clothes was torn in half, revealing a bandage wrapped around his face, with a little dark red blood seeping through it.
"Are you hurt?" December quickly pulled her arm up. Milky white light began to coil around her arm.
"Scrubbed by gravel."
66
Zhenyi didn't say much. She bent down, fastened the safety on the Black Queen, took the gun off the railing, and slung it back over her shoulder.
Zhenyi turned around and looked him up and down, following his arm.
On December 1st, most of his clothes were torn, and there were still grayish-blue mucus and dried scabs on his skin in several places.
The cracks and heals on the back of the hand are clearly visible. There is a ring of new, tender pink skin around one finger joint, which contrasts sharply with the surrounding skin tone.
Zhenyi didn't ask anything else. She walked over and stood next to him.
The two people stood side by side on the breakwater, facing the sea.
The sea had returned to calm. The abnormal drop in temperature had disappeared. Some grayish-white debris floated on the surface, remnants of the disintegrated cocoon, being pushed little by little towards the shore by the waves.
The wind blew by, carrying a salty and damp smell.
"Yigu said that it's finished with Teacher Gojo too," said December 1st.
"How is it?"
"Di Kui was shot through the chest, but he escaped. He burrowed underground and headed south."
"Where's Ximu?"
"They've withdrawn."
Zhenyi was silent for a few seconds. The sea breeze blew her hair across her face, and she reached out and brushed it away.
"Has it fallen apart again?"
He didn't reply. He looked down at his hands.
The runes spread from the back of his hand to his forearm, their brightness increasing a notch. Even in sunlight, the faint glow was still visible.
Seven out of ten.
He clenched his fist, then relaxed it.
Just then, the communicator rang again.
It is the communication of the sigmoid bone.
"December 1st, all signals have been restored. Fushiguro's side is also confirmed safe." Eto's voice was rapid, accompanied by the sound of typing. "I need you all to get back to Tokyo as soon as possible."
"What is it?"
"We've compiled the initial battle data from Gojo-sensei's side. Adding the cocoon samples you collected in Okinawa—and the remains of that creature, there should still be some left in the western half. I've had the people at the Okinawa branch collect them." Otsuko paused. "In short, we need to reassess the current situation."
"What are you assessing?"
"The alliance between demons is now completely over. Di Kui has fled with serious injuries, Basha is recuperating in the deep sea, and Xi Mu's whereabouts are unknown." Yi Gu's tone lowered by half a degree. "This is the first time since the start of the war that we have gained a substantial strategic advantage."
He did not respond immediately on the first day of the twelfth month.
He looked up at the grayish-white debris that was spreading out on the sea surface.
"When will the helicopter arrive?"
"It has already taken off, in about two hours. The landing point is the open space north of the fishing port."
"it is good."
As he spoke, he turned off the communicator.
Zhenyi listened to the entire conversation without interrupting.
"I'm going back."
Zhenyi nodded and carried the Black Queen down from the breakwater.
He followed behind her on the first day of the twelfth month. After walking a few steps, he switched his communicator to another channel.
"Kugizaki."
"exist."
"Meet at the fishing port parking lot. The helicopter will arrive in two hours."
"Understood. Fuhei can walk, but slowly."
"No rush."
He switched to another channel.
"Polygonum cuspidatum"
"Huh? Yes, yes, yes."
"Come gather here."
On the first day of December, I turned off the communicator and put it back in my pocket.
He quickened his pace and caught up with Zhenyi ahead.
The two walked side by side on the ruined road, the sun shining down from directly above, casting their shadows at their feet.
After walking a distance, December 1st turned back once.
On the sea, the last few grayish-white fragments are being pushed ashore by the waves. In a few hours, the tide will wash away all traces.