Chapter 261: Life Goes On
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Andrew was an expert in soul energy recovery, so his concern had unnerved Samantha. When Wang Tong was brought back from the scorched battlefield, he was practically dead since he had used up all his life force to survive a nuclear blast.
"Aren't you going to see him, principal?"
Samantha didn't speak. After a while, she shook her head and said, "Maybe later, I don't want to disturb him."
Andrew nodded; he was touched by the care and attention that Samantha had given to her student.
While Wang Tong was recovering, the military was pulling out its forces rapidly. When the Earthlings were questioned at the council meeting by the Martians, their answer was, "Routine operation."
Almost all the students were sent back to their schools without giving any reasons; the situation seemed to suggest that the entire campaign was a slip-up. The politicians boiled over on the matter immediately, calling the whole campaign a failure and a waste of money and lives.
However, what if they were wrong? Why would the Confederation be willing to risk losing their face and pull back the students?
Were the casualties among the students too high?
There had been minimal casualties among the students, and all the injuries were manageable.
Then why did the Confederation pull them back?
Ma Sa was a pragmatic person. Despite the NNT's rule of the drawing the line at dealing with the great houses, his pragmatism told him that some lines should be crossed to complete certain missions. No one on the council would listen to him no matter how much he pleaded, so he needed Einherjar Li Zhedao on his side. Once the council had approved his proposal, the retreat from Norton could be carried out immediately.
Ma Sa had decided that he would rather destroy the entire planet than let them obtain any information on the genetic makeup of the Li family.
It appeared that the only viable solution was to destroy the planet using weapons of mass destruction.
This was a serious matter, and they couldn't afford to let the politicians from the Mars and the Moon get involved. Ma Sa had been preparing for this operation for a while, but without any support, it had been difficult to convince anyone to give up their properties on Norton for the sake of the greater good.
Luckily, Ma Sa had gained a valuable ally, the Li, and soon, he reasoned that he would have the second grief from the Ma. The House of Ma was convinced that the Zergs were after Ma Xiaoru's gene during the battle.
The situation was shifting silently and swiftly under the disguise of a routine operation.
Wang Tong's body had recovered quickly. During his recovery, Jansining's constant encouragement and the hope of seeing Ma Xiaoru had helped in stabilizing his condition. He had since figured that his friends had used Ma Xiaoru's possible survival as a way to coax his level of stress down to normal. After much thought, he reasoned that their white lies might not have strayed too far from the truth. He had reasoned that the Zergs had wanted the powerful fighters alive; the three survivors were the living proof of their intention. Ma Xiaoru was even stronger than those three who had been deemed worthy by the Zerg. Therefore, Zergs would not have killed her. As for the mini nuke, Wang Tong reasoned that it would not be a threat to Ma Xiaoru either. Wang Tong was spared from the destruction of the mini-nuke thanks to the coverage provided by the terrain and Goldie. By the same logic, Ma Xiaoru should have survived the blast as well since she was right in his arms.
No one knew where Ma Xiaoru was and if she were still alive. But in this case, no news was indeed good news.
What happened on that day still gave Wang Tong the chills. The Zergs had acted unusually as they had attacked one platoon with half of their force on Norton. Weren’t they afraid of revealing their location and receiving deadly blows from the space? What were they after exactly?
Wang Tong wondered if the Zergs had come after him because they knew he was the successor to their nemesis, the Blade Warrior.
Wang Tong decided to give up his train of thoughts as he realized that his priority right then was to recover quickly, so he could find out if Ma Xiaoru were alive.
A few days later, Wang Tong was discharged from the medical bay. He learned from his comrades to bury his sorrow deep down and try to cope with the grief from such a traumatic event.
"I have decided to go home and visit my parents." Big O said calmly. He needed to bury his brother's remains close to their childhood home.
"Sure, let me know when you want to be back," Jansining said.
"You bet I will. I got no relatives left, and my only wish is to kill more Zergs."
"What about you, Third?"
"I got an aunt here on Earth who I was planning to visit. I will come back after the visit. You should retire Lieutenant; you got a family."
Jansining shook his head, "I can't."
Jansining loved his wife and daughter, but the thought of giving up the standard that his teammates had bled on made him feel incredibly guilty.
"Big Head always wanted to see your daughter." Big O sighed.
Wang Tong's heart sank at the thought of Big Head and Jansining's daughter. Big Head wanted to save money and buy the kid a piano as a gift, but he didn't have the chance to do so.
Jansining clapped his hands loudly, trying to break the darkening mood. "Well... That's the way it is. Big O, your leave is granted. Let me know when you are back."
"Thanks, Lieutenant! Wang Tong, keep up the good work, and don't give up hope!"
"Will do." Wang Tong cracked a smile.
The three of them knew that Wang Tong had dried out his sea of consciousness, and marveled at Wang Tong's positive attitude at such a devastating blow to his future.
After Big O and Third had left the hospital, Jansining stood behind to make sure that Wang Tong had recovered well.
Although Wang Tong acted as nothing had happened, Jansining knew that he had tucked his sorrow under his plastered smile. Wang Tong had been a powerful fighter, and fighting meant everything to him. Jansining figured that the sudden loss of all abilities ought to be a more devastating blow to Wang Tong than any other soldier. Therefore, he stood behind to make sure Wang Tong wouldn't do anything stupid out of utter desperation.
Wang Tong would be lying to say that he didn't feel sorry for himself. The lack of any soul energy had frustrated him a great deal. However, most of his attention right then was on the well-beings of Ma Xiaoru, so he was somewhat distracted from his own misfortune. Plus, Wang Tong was a very adaptive person; he had lived well, relatively speaking, when he had nothing except for a drunken old fool to look after. So, he should be fine in the future even as an Ordinary Joe.
Jansining's concern might seem legit when it was applied to most people, but to Wang Tong, it was unnecessary.
Getting bored, Wang Tong surfed the internet, looking to buy a piano and send it to Jansining's daughter on behalf of Big Head. However, when he saw the price tag, he almost gave up his thought.
Wang Tong lamented over how unfair the world was. But the bigger the challenge, the more eager Wang Tong wanted to accomplish it.
"But, where could I get the money?" Wang Tong asked himself.
He could have fought for DREAM in the PA system, but then, he would no longer be a fighter.
Wang Tong then thought about his other talent: Dancing. He picked up the phone and dialed up Mike's number.