The Favored Son of Heaven

“All my life, the greatest desire this big brother has is to hear you call out to me and say….”

His voice came to a halt, and Du Zhanpeng’s body began to relax. It was impossible for his pupils to focus any longer. It was as if his remaining hint of life force was extracted from his body by the Grim Reaper. His cracked and pale white lips blossomed into a smile, a smile that was the most prideful and the most radiant in the world.

This was a smile that blossomed from using life. It was a smile that was filled with love towards his younger brother. He knew that his blood and true energy was transfused into his younger brother’s body, which will certainly help his little brother live through this edge of life or death. He knew that when Du Peng wakes up, he will become someone powerful, surpassing Qin Fen. He knew that his stubborn grandfather will change his ice-cold thoughts because of this matter.

Qin Fen stared with shock at the Du Zhanpeng against his chest. In this instant, Du Zhanpeng’s serene smile overlapped with an image of Qin Zhan.

In a vast expanse of whiteness, large quantities of snow swirled in the air. This was at a corner of the city.

A young child hid in an abandoned shelter that was like a doghouse. His two hands rubbed each other as he shivered. The weather was already cold, and hunger caused the body to be incapable of producing heat. There were only two worn-out cotton cloths wrapped around the child’s body.

The dilapidated wooden door was suddenly pushed open. Snow danced wildly outside while strong winds blew. Standing at the door was a young man with an expression of delight. The young man held two steaming hot sweet potatoes in his hands.

“Here, eat….”

“Big brother, aren’t you going to eat?”

“I’m not eating. Big brother’s already full!”

“Then I will eat them both.”

“Eat. Eat! With big brother here, you won’t go hungry.”

“Big brother….”

“Why are you looking at me like that? I am your big brother. Of course I am responsible for all your needs.”

Big brother… big brother… big brother….

Qin Fen’s arm began to gently shake. As the disciple of Butcher and the other drill instructors, he possessed a steel-like heart. Even if someone plastered a gun to his head, he could still maintain the most ice-cold of calmness.

However, this moment was different.

Qin Fen was incapable of maintaining his calmness. He could sit and watch countless people die, but he was incapable of sitting and watching the death of an older brother who gave everything for his little brother.

“You can’t die. You can’t die. You can’t die….”

Qin Fen’s lips muttered over and over, sounding like a broken record. He had yet to solidify his foundation upon entering the five-star meteor level, and he had no time to sort this out. The breakthrough into the meteor level gave birth to the purest form of true energy. In this moment, he completely transformed his true energy into the true energy of the Rejuvenation Art. His empty hand shivered as he felt around his belt for a medicinal pill of five colors. This was a special pill within the dragon-shaped belt.

This was the Life-Or-Death Pill!

Enzo Rota had warned him a myriad of times that this medicinal pill contains countless variables.

“Old Enz. Old Enz. I’m counting on you now. I’m counting everything on you.” Qin Fen forcefully pulled Du Zhanpeng’s jaw open and stuffed the life-or-death pill inside his mouth. “Du Zhanpeng. Du Zhanpeng. You are Du Peng’s big brother. He is still very young. Don’t you want to see him grow? He still needs your protection, you hear me?”

“Where’s the chopper? Where’s the chopper! We finished the mission! Hurry up! Chopper now!” Qin Fen roared into his communications device practically out of control. “The chopper! There are people very seriously injured here. Do you hear me, you motherfuckers?”

Du Zhanpeng’s body grew colder bit by bit. The life-or-death pill had long since dissolved into his stomach. Not a hint of life force exuded out from his body.

The gunshots of the fierce battle of far had already stopped. Wave after wave of chaotic footsteps came from within the tunnel. Lin Ling was the first to rush out of the tunnel. She used an arrow step to arrive before Qin Fen. She squatted down and used a finger to check Du Zhanpeng’s pulse.

Lin Ling raised her wrist two seconds later. She spoke in the same coldness and detachment as in the past. “He’s dead.”

“Young Master Du!”

Xing Wuyi pushed aside the recruits that blocked his way. He was low on stamina, causing him to stumble ahead and tumble to Qin Fen’s side.

“Young Master Du… Young Master Du….” Xing Wuyi nervously patted Du Zhanpeng’s cold face. “Young Master Du, come on, wake up. Young Master Du… Young Master Du….”

“What is up with this? What in the world happened?” Xing Wuyi’s entire person completely collapsed as he rushed Qin Fen with a loud roar. “What in the world is up with this? Young Master Du has the wild tiger biochemical beast! Young Master Du has a Seven Stars of Immortal Thunder Art!”

Qin Fen stared blankly at Du Zhanpeng against his chest. Du Zhanpeng’s body had already turned ice cold by now, and there wasn’t any color whatsoever within his skin. His entire person appeared to be quite serene. The hint of a faint smile on his lips remained as happy as before.

Xing Wuyi was stunned for several seconds. He grabbed the communications device by his lips and said, “Where is the chopper? Did they all die or something? Hurry up! Hurry up and come! There are injured people here! There are….”

Xing Wuyi looked at where Du Zhanpeng and Du Peng’s wrist crossed. His entire person became stupefied once more. The corner of his lips lifted in a painful smile.

“He he… ha ha… ha ha….” Xing Wuyi chuckled, looking up into the sky. His tears poured out, completely unable to be controlled. “You did it…. you still did it in the end. You motherfucking fool. You motherfucking….”

His laughter turned into cries. Xing Wuyi sat weakly to the ground. He cried like a child who had his heart broken. He was normally a silk-pants who never place other people within his eyes, but not a trace of this aspect of him could be seen in this moment. He merely cried. Only crying could relieve him of his sorrow.

In this moment, Xing Wuyi was no longer the loathsome sycophant of Du Zhanpeng of the recruit training camp. There was no sycophant in this world who would shed bitter tears to such a degree when faced with the death of their master.

In this moment, there was only the Xing Wuyi who suffered the painful loss of a close friend.

“No… no…. I have medicine. I have medicine here….”

As Xing Wuyi cried loudly, he stumbled in the mud to return by Qin Fen sighed once again. He felt outs a couple of medicinal pills from inside his clothes. These medicinal pills exuded a faint fragrance the moment they were exposed into the air. Just by smell alone, one would know that these were absolutely extraordinary products.

“He’s already dead.” It seemed as this Lin Ling was completely unaffected by anybody’s emotions. She remained ice-cold as she looked at the deranged Xing Wuyi. “Even if you give him an immortal pill to eat, he is still dead.”

“Eat these. Eat these. Eat these….” Xing Wuyi acted as if he hadn’t heard Lin Ling’s words. He just stuffed the medicinal pills one by one into Du Zhanpeng’s mouth. “Eat…. eat…. eat faster you motherfucker….”

Mr. Kenley was forty years old. He wore a white gown of a scientist. He was the chief designer of the nano battle suit. He was rescued from the basements successfully and arrived within the crowd.

He stared blankly at the thirty or so young recruits. Practically each and every one of them had bloodstains on their bodies. There were also nearly sixty corpses beneath their feet.

Nearly sixty young recruits, who should have possessed unbounded futures, lay quietly on the ground.

Life had already left them.

Each and every one of the living recruits carried grief and indignation that was indescribable on their faces. The dead people beside them were their comrades, after all! They were comrades who ate from the same pan, who slept together!

“Kenley!” Xing Wuyi got up from the ground and rushed at him in a roar. He gave a fierce punch to Kenley’s face, striking him down on the mud.

“Just look! Open your eyes and look! Look!” Xing Wuyi’s eyes flowed not only with tears but with blood as well! He pointed at the nearly sixty corpses on the ground. “Do you see them yet, you motherfucker! They were still alive just a few hours ago. They could jump. They could laugh. They could fight. They could complain. Among them were people who delightfully talked about their parents. Among them were people who talked about what they would do after training. They would go back to see their parents. To see their girlfriends. To sweep their ancestors’ tombs….”

Xing Wuyi’s two legs went weak. He kneeled to the ground, both hands propped up against the dirty mud. His lips repeated over and over. “It was just a few hours ago! Dead. Now, they are all dead….”

Kenley sat blankly on the ground. He didn’t know what to say when he heard this young man rave and cry.

The X2 Combat Helicopter let out a rumbling sound of wind. The winds generated from his propellers blue against the mud on the ground and caused everyone’s hairs to move. However, such winds were incapable of blowing away their boundless sorrow.

A dozen or so rescuers wearing white uniforms quickly descended from the helicopter. They quickly discerned the identities of the dead bodies. After they finished determining that none of them were alive, they moved these recruits, who had died in battle, onto stretchers.

Bang….

The stretchers fitted with dead bodies were moved into the cabin of the helicopter. The corpses rolled along with the stretchers inside, letting out muffled sounds.

The muffled sound was like a bullet, shocking all the recruits souls.

“Stop!” Xing Wuyi’s stood up and saw how the medical personnel were treating the corpses like trash as they tossed them into the cabin. Faint words came from his lips. “We don’t need you. We can handle our own brothers.”

Without any orders at all, thirty recruits bent down and began moving bodies into the cabin of the aircraft. Some carried them by themselves in their arms and some carried them together, but they all rocked as they moved.

Qin Fen carried Du Zhanpeng as he walked past several of the medical personnel who didn’t understand what had happened. His voice was very soft as he said, “They are all heroes. Heroes shouldn’t receive the treatment of being dumped like trash.”

Du Peng received emergency treatment immediately when he was lifted onto the stretcher, for he was still alive.

Smoke had yet to disperse from the island, but the few X2 helicopters already began to rise slowly into the sky.

Not many people knew that a fierce battle happened here. Even fewer people knew that nearly sixty recruits lost their lives here.

Within the aircraft, Xing Wuyi was just like a wooden statue. He stared blankly at Du Zhanpeng who was on Qin Fen’s chest. This man possessed dazzling prospects. This man should have had a radiant life. However, he stupidly chose this path.

“He is my little brother.”

“It’s okay if that little fellow hates me.”

“I am his big brother, after all.”

“He doesn’t need to know. Really. I just need to do what good big brother should do, and that will be fine.”

“Wuyi, if you tell him, then we can no longer be friends.”

“Wuyi, if someday in the future, something unexpected really does happen to me, can you help me look after him?”

“Treat him like you treat me.”

Xing Wuyi’s mind flashed with all sorts of memories of the past. Du Zhanpeng, who many people saw as forever arrogant, who many people saw as forever pushing out and oppressing his younger brother, only revealed this completely different side of him before Xing Wuyi.

“I hate him….” Xing Wuyi let out some ice-cold words from between his teeth. He tilted his head and looked at the unconscious Du Peng. “Why? Why must an older brother pay such a price for his little brother?”

It was as if Xing Wuyi’s neck was installed with a steel drill. He stiffly turned his head back to look at Du Zhanpeng. “I really hate him. I really do. However, you can rest easy. I told you before that I absolutely won’t break my word on this matter. I will follow him, and I will treat him just like I treated you.”