Zeng Yu looked out into the darkness with narrowed eyes, trying to find anything out of the ordinary. He waved his hand and a soldier walked up to him.
"Commander," he saluted formally.
"Stay here, I'll go check something out," he said somberly without looking away from the source of the earlier noise and jumped down from the wall.
The soldier looked like he had something to say but held back in the end. With clenched fists, he stared at his 'commanders' back with many emotions surging within.
He himself had been in the Red Legion for almost fifteen years now, with over eleven years under Zeng Yu. Yet he had talked to his 'commander' more than he had to his own father, even though they were one and the same.
This person was Zeng Wu, Zeng Yu's only son. He was twenty-six years old and had almost broken through to the Second Stage of the Spirit Realm.
His father, Zeng Yu, had been stuck in the Ninth stage of the Spirit Realm for over ten years now. Just one more step and he could become a celebrated general with all the years of hard work he had put in, yet for some reason, he had been unable to take this minor step.
The emotionless man Zeng Yu was seen as by his subordinates was from the real him.
For Zeng Wu still remembered how his father used to laugh at his mother's joke. She was perhaps the only person that really understood him. And ever since she passed away all those years ago, she seemed to have taken his smile with him.
Without her at his side, he did not know how to express his emotions. So he didn't even try to. And at some point, he forgot how it felt to laugh or to cry. His only solace was the work he had put towards the kingdom his wife loved so dearly. That was how he still remembered his beloved.
Both of them were immigrants from a small war-torn kingdom and had decided to settle down in Mei. Zeng Wu's mother fell in love with this place where a person's worth was measured by the work he put in, not by what the amount of gold he held in his pockets or by the fame of his parents.
Zeng Yu worked hard for this utopia and was happy for a long time, that is until she was diagnosed with an incurable disease.
Zeng Wu still remembered the emptiness he saw in his father's eyes back then. This was not an enemy that he could fight nor a hurdle that he could clear with sheer force. It was an inevitable ending to the life that he had grown to love.
*Sigh*
He let out a heavy sigh. The last thing his mother told him was to be brave. To be strong for his father and to take care of him. She said Zeng Yu was strong but he was a fool and that he would not be able to move on from this, and she was absolutely right.
Even after all these years, he would still sometimes catch him sitting alone under the moonlight, talking to her.
He knew it was far from healthy, but what could he do? In his father's eyes, he was still a child and could not have his own opinions.
"Yo," a voice came from his immediate right, waking him up. Startled, he turned around and saw Jin Wang staring at him.
"Is it just me or did it get colder?" Jin Wang asked while rubbing his arms.
Regaining his composure, he gave him one last look before looking towards the direction Zeng Yu had walked off to.
"Yes, it is indeed colder," he replied in a monotonous voice, mimicking his father's.
"I knew it. Where's the old man?" Jin Wang nodded and asked.
Zeng Wu's brow twitched a couple of times, "He heard something and went to check it out."
"Aha, cool cool."
Five minutes later a figure walked towards the camp. He jumped up and landed right next to them.
"So? What was it?" Jin Wang asked when the father-son pair stood in awkward silence.
Zeng Yu didn't look at him, still staring in the darkness, "Nothing. Looks like a loose rock fell from above."
"Ohh."
Jin Wang tried to make small talk with the pair but only got single word replies in return. Bored, he quickly left to find another person to chat with.
Hours passed one by one and the guards changed shifts. Hao Xuan woke up and freshened up. Even in a foreign world he followed his normal routine.
He came out and was met with the scientists. All of them were ready to go out and start their respective duties.
Hao Xuan looked at the sky and it was still dark, but less so than earlier.
"Guess this is as good as it gets," he shook his head, "Alright, take twice as many guards, stay close and come back at the first sign of trouble. Do not let the guard down!" he ordered sternly, which was quite rare for him.
The current area they were in reminded him of the great canyon from earth. The vegetation was scarce and small in size, there were no living creatures seen so far but if flora existed, that meant fauna did as well.
The problem was they had no idea what type of creatures roamed this unfamiliar land.
Shi Chun and Ma Yu also came over, along with their four Spirit realm caretakers, asking for permission to go out and explore.
Obviously, they didn't need to ask for anything and could leave on their own, but Hao Xuan still appreciated the thought.
"Sure, just be careful. Try not to go too far. Take pictures of any strange phenomenon you find," like a dutiful older brother he told them both.
Now it was only Hyson's group and a few soldiers left in the camp.
He closed his eyes and when he opened them, Zhurong was sitting on his shoulder looking around confusedly.