Chapter 1 The Frontier

On the Yanhuang border, several heavy transport vehicles were moving slowly forward. In the cab of the leading vehicle, four or five fully armed soldiers held their guns, staring blankly out the window.

"We're seventy kilometers from our destination. Everyone, stop and rest for a bit. We'll set off again in half an hour!"

In the lead vehicle, a lieutenant officer communicated with the convoy behind him via the internal radio, and the entire convoy slowly came to a halt.

This was a supply convoy heading to a base camp on the border.

Seventy kilometers didn't sound too far, but on the rugged mountain roads of the border, it would take a full three hours to travel. Coupled with the supplies loaded in the vehicles, they'd be lucky to reach their destination before dark.

The transport vehicle drivers brought their vehicles together from behind, forming a square formation with the other vehicles to block the fierce, cold wind of the border.

A dozen or so soldiers jumped down from the transport vehicles and began to make a fire for cooking.

Although the military provided field rations, who wanted to gnaw on dry, hard biscuits and self-heating rice in this kind of weather?

Soon, they used their entrenching tools to dig a crude stove in the ground. After pouring large buckets of purified water into a pot, they started a fire using gathered dead wood and coal.

The water in the pot quickly came to a boil. Someone took out a few cans of beef, chopped them up with a spoon, and sprinkled the pieces into the pot. Then they cracked in four or five eggs, added salt and a little sesame oil, making a thin beef and egg soup.

Before taking it off the fire, one of the soldiers pulled out a few packets of dehydrated vegetables that he had saved from his instant noodles. He carefully tore them open and poured them into the pot. Watching the boiling broth rehydrate the dried vegetables, a smile appeared on everyone's face.

Everyone hurriedly divided the soup into a dozen portions, then ate it with dry bread and compressed military rations.

"Xiao Yuan, why aren't you eating?" Just then, the lieutenant officer noticed a solitary figure standing outside the group and walked over to ask.

It was Yuan Wen, who had left South City not long ago.

Now, the skin on Yuan Wen's face looked a little rough. The harsh environment of the border seemed to have transformed her in just one month.

She was now wearing a slightly bulky combat uniform and thick cotton gloves. Her face had a sickly red tinge, as if from frostbite. Hearing her superior's words, she immediately stood straight and saluted. "Sir, I'm not hungry!"

"Whether you're hungry or not, you have to eat. That's an order!" The lieutenant brought over a portion of compressed military rations and had someone bring Yuan Wen a bowl of beef soup, saying, "Eat!"

Yuan Wen was silent for a moment, then picked up the bowl and ate silently. After eating half of it, she suddenly seemed to remember something and asked a little embarrassed, "Sir, the matter I asked you to inquire about…"

Hearing this, the lieutenant raised his eyebrows, then sat down cross-legged and waved to Yuan Wen. "Actually, the results of that came in ten days ago… but I was afraid it would affect you, so I didn't tell you."

"The young man you asked me to inquire about, named Li Tianran… my comrades stationed in South City said… they couldn't find any registration record of him entering the shelter."

Yuan Wen's movements froze. The compressed biscuit in her hand fell to the ground with a thud, shattering into pieces.

"This is a special period. You need to be strong. And it's not like no record necessarily means something happened. Maybe they just haven't checked him yet…" the lieutenant comforted. He looked at his subordinate with a myriad of thoughts in his mind.

From the first day Yuan Wen arrived at the border troops, the lieutenant knew what had happened to her. It wasn't a secret, and many people admired Yuan Wen's courage.

"He definitely won't be in trouble," Yuan Wen finally reacted. Her tone was simple as she said, "Someone who could turn South City upside down back then would never die so quietly…"

The lieutenant smiled, but it was a bitter smile.

Ever since the beast tide attacked South City, Yuan Wen had been restless. Half a month ago, the lieutenant asked his comrades in South City to inquire about Li Tianran's whereabouts, only to find out that there was no record of him at the shelter.

But now the area outside the South City shelter was a ruin. If he wasn't in the shelter, he was almost certainly dead…

The lieutenant didn't think this man named Li Tianran could survive in this environment.

But he certainly wouldn't say that to Yuan Wen's face.

This disaster had really destroyed too many people.

"Xiao Yuan, next month I'll help you apply to transfer to the logistics department of the supply station," the lieutenant said, looking at Yuan Wen. For some reason, he thought of his daughter far away. "High-intensity work like transportation operations isn't suitable for women. It'll wear you down."

Hearing this, Yuan Wen smiled and said, "Sir, thank you for your kindness! If I wanted to enjoy life, I wouldn't have volunteered to transfer to a hardship unit in the first place. Don't worry, I definitely won't hold you back!"

The lieutenant sighed and said earnestly to Yuan Wen, "Xiao Yuan, I know why you left South City. You felt that the darkness and petty intrigues of officialdom were unacceptable to you!"

"But as long as there are people, these things will never disappear!"

"Privilege and darkness exist in South City, and they exist here too! Everything has two sides. Even the most magnificent palace will have dark rat holes. That's unchangeable!"

"If you can't accept this situation, you'll live a very tiring life."

Yuan Wen was silent for a long time, then smiled and said, "I never thought about changing this situation, because I don't have the courage! You all think I was brave to volunteer for a hardship unit, but I chose to escape precisely because I didn't have the courage to face and change this situation."

"At least in this place, there's relatively less darkness and privilege."

"And you say this phenomenon can't be changed, I don't agree."

"Because I once witnessed someone challenge privilege and darkness, and defeat them with their own methods."

Many people could guess that Li Tianran was behind the deaths of Councilors Li and Guo, and Yuan Wen was well aware of this.

That's why she felt she was inferior to Li Tianran.

When faced with a dark reality, she chose to escape, while Li Tianran chose to directly shatter the darkness.

How could such a man die silently?

Yuan Wen thought as she gnawed on the dry biscuit, and suddenly countless thoughts flooded her mind.

Times are hard now. I wonder where you are?

Although my work in the military is hard, at least I have enough to eat and wear. What about you?

Has Han Han gotten thinner from hunger? Do you have warm clothes? Do you have purified water to drink, compressed biscuits to eat?

…

Inside the farm castle.

Li Tianran was drinking a bottle of expensive Laurent winery red wine, with mountains of sliced mutton, lamb chops, and sashimi in front of him. A large copper hot pot was steaming. Tang Su covered her stomach and swallowed a mouthful of sliced mutton with difficulty, saying repeatedly, "I can't do it anymore. I'm about to burst. I can't eat another bite!"

"This stuff gets boring after drinking too much. It tastes like grape juice…" Li Tianran smacked his lips and looked at the more than half of the dishes left on the table, raising his eyebrows. "What's wrong with you all today? We can't be wasteful!"

"Tang Su, are you raising fish in your wine glass?"

"I'm counting down!"

"Everyone, three minutes, ten kilograms of mutton, three bottles of Lafite, eat up!"