Meanwhile at the Nancheng Guardian's residence.
A middle-aged man with a sturdy physique and clad in a Special Operations Unit uniform sat face to face with an elderly man who wore a white shirt. There was only a simple desk between them.
These two men were Sun Wei, the chief of Nancheng Special Operations Unit, and Wu An, the Guardian of Nancheng.
In this area of Nancheng, they were figures who could easily affect the price of housing.
…
"Elder Wu, last night my men carried out a mission and found people suspected to be from the Xinyue Alliance."
Sun Wei's expression was serious, and his tone was even a little cold.
Wu An raised his eyebrows and said: "Since there is a branch of the Xinyue Alliance in Nancheng, isn't that a normal thing?"
Sun Wei's eyes glinted with a trace of anxiety. He spoke with a lowered voice: "Elder Wu, you can't have forgotten that three months ago, Lin City was attacked by a wave of monsters, right? At the moment of crisis, members of the Xinyue Alliance attacked the arsenal, leading to the deaths and injuries of civilians and also the collapse of Lin City?"
Wu An shook his head with a helpless expression.
"I haven't forgotten. That's the members of the Xinyue Alliance for you. They usually lay low and aren't any different from ordinary people. But when they show up, they deal a fatal blow."
Seeing this expression on the Guardian's face, Sun Wei, who was serious and steady in front of outsiders, stood up and paced around the room, saying: "The monster nest near Nancheng has been restless lately. I think it may erupt in a year or two, and now that traces of the Xinyue Alliance have been found in the city, how can we explain to the folks of Nancheng if we fail to defend against them?
"Elder Wu, what do you say? How can we account for it?"
…
Just like that, Sun Wei paced back and forth for more than 10 minutes, and Wu An finally couldn't take it anymore. He responded: "I already have a countermeasure in mind for this matter, but I'll have to give you an answer after 10 days."
"Really?"
"Little brat, would I lie to you?" Wu An scolded with a smile.
Hearing this, Sun Wei once again sat down at the desk, his face eased up quite a bit.
Wu An always kept his promises, and had seen much more in life than Sun Wei. Wu An also had wider connections than Sun Wei, so deep down, Sun Wei knew that Wu An was an elder he could always rely on.
But good times didn't last long, and no one knew what came into the mind of Sun Wei. The chief of the Special Operations Unit grew angrier and slammed the desk, speaking furiously: "Elder Wu, I just can't figure it out. We, humans, are in danger, so why does the Xinyue Alliance still want to cause trouble amongst us?! Are they not human? What a f*cking pain in the ass!"
Wu An, across the desk, took a look at the cracked desk, the corners of his eyes twitching slightly. Soon after, he casually and calmly poured Sun Wei a cup of tea.
"Although this matter isn't publicized, it actually isn't really a secret that cannot be spoken. You are also not a rash person. You know what can be publicized, and what cannot be."
Sun Wei lifted his head and said: "In that case, tell me, what is going on with this Xinyue Alliance?"
Wu An put down the teapot in his hand, and a retrospective look flashed in his eyes.
A few moments later, he slowly said: "You also know that a few decades ago, the meteor fell and all kinds of monsters appeared. It was a post-apocalyptic scenario…
"Under such unrestrained times, what do you think will happen when there are suddenly supernatural beings like Red Mist Fighters showing up among humans?"
"Uh… It…"
Sun Wei froze. Then, he thought of a certain possibility and his face became a little ugly.
"You are saying that…"
"Yes, the Red Mist Fighters and ordinary people at that time weren't as united as they are now.
"Coupled with the near collapse of order, some of the Red Mist Fighters who gained transcendent power did a lot of bad things for their own selfish desires. They wantonly enslaved and slaughtered ordinary people…
"Of course, at that time, due to many monsters and guns, ordinary people weren't so weak. Some of them also regarded Red Mist Fighters as aliens and shot many innocent ones to death. At the darkest time, there was even a proposal to classify Red Mist Fighters as the fourth type of monsters.
"Just like that, you kill me, and I kill you. The good and bad guys die, while the feud between Red Mist Fighters and ordinary people becomes increasingly indefinable. There was more hatred between one another. In the end, both sides simply split apart.
"Among them, the Red Mist Fighters established a special organization belonging to themselves called the Xinyue Alliance. Ordinary people built a huge city surrounded by various technological weapons and hundreds of millions of remaining survivors called Tianqian Gate.
"Both sides were separated by thousands of miles, each using their own means to defend against the monsters. There was a great tendency to die of old age."
Hearing this, Sun Wei was a little confused.
He couldn't figure out how that situation had developed into what it was now.
Especially the Xinyue Alliance.
…
Wu An read what was in Sun Wei's mind and sighed gently at the window. His eyes were full of despair.
"Just like that, a year passed, and the change happened. In July of that year, Tianqian Gate was monitored by satellites and tens of millions of monsters came running toward the city from all directions.
"This group of monsters obviously had leaders. In order to avoid all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, they were very sparsely distributed, and even created different formations.
"Back then there was no stockpile of weapons within Tianqian Gate that would be sufficient to destroy monsters of this scale.
"Coupled with the fact that the living space of ordinary people was compressed by the monsters to a very small extent, a large number of resources couldn't be mined, and productivity was limited. So… Tianqian Gate was in a desperate situation.
"During the most desperate time, Tianqian Gate set up dozens of nuclear weapons. Hundreds of millions of people were ready to burn to ashes with the monsters!"
Hearing this, Sun Wei's expression became nervous.
At that moment, Wu An continued.
"In the end, when the monsters came near the city, and the deadly battle was about to begin, a scene that no one could have imagined happened.
"The city's nearly 100,000 Red Mist Fighters came forward!
"This group of people was usually hidden in Tianqian Gate, trying to hide their strength. They disguised as ordinary people in order to be able to live with their families and not to bear the strange gaze of others.
"At such a critical moment, they wanted to protect their families and Tianqian Gate. They came forward and fought to the death to help Tianqian Gate hold off the first wave of attacks.
"Some ordinary people who had never seen a Red Mist Fighter but only heard about their fearfulness realized that…
"Red Mist Fighters were also human, and they also had feelings.
"Then, there were days of great battles. When Tianqian Gate was on the verge of collapse, the Alliance Master of the Xinyue Alliance, Mo Lingyu, who was also the strongest Red Mist Fighter recorded in China and honored as the God of War, led more than 300,000 Red Mist Fighters of the Xinyue Alliance to the front of Tianqian Gate to support them.
"What does it mean to meet with a smile? Probably it was referring to the same smile that Mo Lingyu, the God of War, had when he said 'we are here' outside Tianqian Gate.
"Heh, we humans are fond of internal fights, but when it comes to the real moment of life and death, we will naturally unite. Isn't this interesting?"
"Sigh, it was also said that before he led hundreds of thousands of Red Mist Fighters of the Xinyue Alliance to support Tianqian Gate, he gave a ten-minute speech.
"He said that Tianqian Gate preserves the crystallization of thousands of years of wisdom and is the historical heritage of our Chinese civilization.
"He was afraid that after the destruction of Tianqian Gate, his children and grandchildren wouldn't know their roots, and would even treat human beings as a kind of monster.
…
"He also said that if he sat back and did nothing, he would let down the tens of millions of ordinary soldiers who died to protect the people when the meteorite had just descended and Red Mist Fighters hadn't yet appeared.
"Because if it wasn't for those who willingly sacrificed themselves, he wouldn't have had the chance to become a Red Mist Fighter.
"The loved ones and children of those who sacrificed their lives were in Tianqian Gate. He thought about it, but eventually couldn't do much because of the evil of the minorities. He refused to let innocent people turn into blood and flesh for the monsters.
…
"He said…
"Those who were willing to go would go with him, and those who had hatred in their hearts and could not let go of it, would stay there.
"In case no one returned from that journey, it means that Tianqian Gate has been destroyed. And at that time, there would be no more hate in the hearts of those who stayed. He hoped that by then, we would remember that we were all human beings and go to the ruined battlefield to collect the flame of civilization and preserve its heritage.
…
"Finally, he said that he has seen the world clearly, but still loved it as much. He knew that people were evil, but he was still proud to be a human being. Because what is worth loving in human nature is far more than what should be hated.
"Man is not a physical concept, but a spiritual concept. As long as people felt that they were still human, then no matter how the body changes, they will always be human."
At that moment, the elderly Guardian of Nancheng let out a deep sigh.
"This speech of his made 90 percent of the Red Mist Fighters of the Xinyue Alliance at that time choose to follow him to support Tianqian Gate.
"In the battle to defend Tianqian Gate, the Red Mist Fighters and ordinary soldiers fought side by side for the first time, and a total of over 200,000 Red Mist Fighters and millions of ordinary soldiers died in the battle.
"Mo Lingyu, and two strong members of Xinyue Alliance, as well as two secretive and powerful Red Mist Fighters within Tianqian Gate, dealt heavy blows to the monster leader who was capable of ignoring all technological weapons.
"That was when they finally succeeded in repelling the army of monsters. Thereafter, the five of them became the first Red Mist Fighters to receive the title of War God.
"Apart from God of War, Mo Lingyu, the remaining four weren't considered to be the strongest. However, they were the most deserving Gods of War. From then on, technology began to tilt towards the side of the Red Mist Fighters, and the Red Mist Fighters also began to help out in mining large amounts of resources.
"Both sides completely put down the hatred between each other, and a new order was established."
Sun Wei listened and was lost in thought.
He knew about the story of the five great war gods, but the history he was aware of was after the two sides had been reconciled. He didn't know that Mo Lingyu was once the Alliance Master of the Xinyue Alliance, much less the opposition between Red Mist Fighters and the ordinary people.
He did know very well about Tianqian Gate, which was now the predecessor of the capital.
"Elder Wu, then how did the Xinyue Alliance become like this?"
Sun Wei didn't understand.
Wu An shook his head and sighed: "At the time, 10 percent of the Red Mist Fighters were still left in the Xinyue Alliance. Those people were vicious ones who either carried a deep hatred or were used to killing ordinary people.
"In addition, there were some extremists. They felt that ordinary people were a drag on the Red Mist Fighters and that they should be eliminated. And because of this, they despised Mo Lingyu.
"Later, some of the people in this group secretly took revenge and disappeared without a trace. Some chose to put aside their hatred and return to humanity, while some failed to take revenge in their entire lives and died of depression, leaving their hatred to the next generation.
"Their next generation and those extremists with malicious intentions looked forward to destroying the existing order. They enslaved ordinary people and aimed to return the world to its predatory behavior, forming the prototype of the Xinyue Alliance afterwards.
"Now after decades of change, the Xinyue Alliance is now filled with brainwashed lunatics and conspirators who believe in high-sounding ideas and doing crazy things."
Hearing this, Sun Wei suddenly understood the situation.
Xinyue Alliance turned out to be a historical legacy.
"Uh, Elder Wu, since you remember these things so clearly, could it be that you were also a Red Mist Warrior of the Xinyue Alliance back then?"
Wu An smiled faintly when he heard this question.
"I was an ordinary youth who was protected within Tianqian Gate."
"Huh?"
Sun Wei was stunned. He didn't expect this answer as it didn't fit the image of the Guardian's greatness in his mind.
…
"Chief Sun, do you know the reason why we humans haven't been defeated so far?"
"Technology? Red Mist Fighters?" Sun Wei subconsciously replied.
Wu An shook his head.
"Wrong. In the end, we humans are a community.
"And a community is one who is willing to die for one another, and I'm willing to die for others."