The ghost of the little girl haunted Wan Zanghai, as if she were hugging the old man who had one foot in hell. Her questions dissected Wan Zanghai's soul bit by bit like a sharp lancet, making the leader of the civilization of mankind and the commander of the coalition fleet tremble. His eyes were cloudy, and he was rendered speechless.
"Why didn't you take us with you?
"Why didn't you take us with you?
"Why didn't you take us with you?"
The ghost of the little girl did not notice the anomaly of the old man and was still asking innocently.
"… I'm sorry, Bai Linger. I'm sorry."
Shivering, Wanzanghai extended his twisted hands, trying to hold his sister's ghost. However, translucent waves of life slipped from his fingertips like white, smooth sand.
"I was wrong. I was really wrong!"
Wanzanghai sobbed. "I don't care how you want to retaliate. Come on, Bai Linger. Take my soul away and bury it on Earth with you forever!"
"Retaliate?"
The ghost of the little girl seemed confused. "What are you talking about, brother? What's' retaliation '?"
"You …"
Wanzanghai was not sure. His eyes were confused, and he waved his hands crazily. "Do you really exist, or are you just an illusion before my death? Are you the real Bai Linger, or are you the wound in the deepest part of my memory? Whether you are real or not, whether you are a human being or a ghost, don't — don't torture me anymore. Come on. I'm ready for the final judgment. Whatever the final destination is, Bai Linger, and all — all the people who are waiting to die on Earth, come on. I don't care how you want to treat me. Come on! "
Wanzanghai closed his eyes, with zigzagging, red tears flowing out of the corners of his eyes.
However, what he was greeted with was not cruel retaliation but his sister's confused voice. "I — I don't know. None of us know. Brother, save us."
"What?"
Wanzanghai opened his eyes again and saw his sister's ghost. She was still as innocent, pitiful, and helpless as the little girl a hundred years ago.
"We don't know what we are either."
The ghost of the little girl extended her hand, but the life waves on her fingertips were wreathed in intense fire, which seemed to bring her infinite pain and fear. "Soon after the immigrant starship left, an intense light fell from the sky. Everything was on fire. The mountains, the oceans, the cities, the villages, and every one of us. Even deep inside our souls, flowers of fire were blossoming.
"Then, I don't know how to explain it, but we turned into some weird things. We seemed to have no bodies, but we seemed to be able to control everything. We seemed to be dead, but we clearly had much richer senses than before. We could see a lot of waves and magnetic fields that we could not see in the past, but we also seemed to have lost a lot of important knowledge and memories. I seemed to still be Bai Ling 'er, but I also seemed to be a lot of other people, the thousands of people left on Earth.
"Big Brother, I'm so scared. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know how long I can maintain this state. Will I vanish into thin air one day and die completely?"
"Don't be scared, Bai Ling 'er. I need to think. I need to think carefully!"
In a trance, Wanzanghai extended his finger and touched the ghost's finger softly. He mumbled, "Then, how did you catch up with us? Is … Is it real?"
"The immigrant starship left a long trace in the sea of stars. It was impossible for us to notice it when we were still alive, but we can see it clearly right now, like the ruts of a wheel."
The ghost of the little girl said, "After becoming what we are now, we are no longer scared of the vacuum of the universe. We can even make use of the solar storm and the magnetic field rays as propulsion. It took us more than a hundred years to catch up. Thankfully, we made it in time. Big Brother, you are still alive. Save us, Big Brother. You are our only hope. Everybody trusts you. Only you can figure out our status and get us out of the predicament.
"Trust … me?"
Wan Zang Hai was so ashamed that he could not show his face.
"Of course. Everybody believes that you are a good man, Big Brother."
The ghost smiled sweetly. "At the very beginning, when you were still in the village, everybody knew that you were warm-hearted, kind, and always willing to help other people. You were completely different from the other devils on the desert. Later, didn't you establish a water treatment company and help everybody on the desert find clean water? You also promoted the great reconciliation between the devils and the underground demons. Too many lives have been saved because of you! Big Brother, just like in the past, please save everybody again. You can do it. We trust you. "
"Save? Trust me? "
Wanzanghai was dazed for a long time. Looking at his skinny body, he said in pain, "I need to think about it. I need to think about it carefully."
"Ding!"
The door was opened. The medical team came in and performed the routine treatment and maintenance on him.
Wherever the light shone, the ghost of the little girl vanished into thin air, as if it were really just the old man's hallucination when he was dying.
…
Since that day, the ghost of the little girl often appeared.
It was like a whisper in the wind, a whisper next to one's ear, or a chuckle from the desert hundreds of years ago.
No. Not just the little girl, there were many other ghosts, too.
The civilians who had been helped by Wanzanghai, the beneficiaries of the "Global Water Plan" and the "Great Reconciliation between the devils and the underground demons", and the simple and kind people still remembered everything that Wanzanghai did to save their civilization. However, they did not remember or care about Wanzanghai's betrayal and abandonment at all. With smiles on their faces and brilliance beaming out of their eyes, they regarded Wanzanghai as their last hope.
Even though Wanzanghai wept and told the truth to the kind ghosts, the ghosts understood and believed that all the bad things were done by the magnates and nobles. Wanzanghai must've been coerced by them and had to do that. Besides, hadn't Wanzanghai already avenged them in the "massacre in the outer solar system"?
Now, there were no more restraints from the magnates, the magnates, or any other forces.
Please, Wanzanghai, lead them again and survive in the vast sea of stars!
The old man indulged in the illusions of the ghosts all day long and completely forgot everything about the coalition fleet.
Because of his health, Tie Xiong and the other trusted subordinates let him handle more and more burdensome official affairs less and less. They even gradually cut off his communication with the outside world.
The trend of the Regression Sect grew more and more intense on every starship. Tie Xiong and his military police were like springs in the darkness, quietly accumulating strength.
Wanzanghai, who had been fighting in schemes all his life, could still smell the smell of blood in the wind even if he was blind, deaf, and bedridden.
He just did not care about those things anymore. He did not care about anything other than the ghosts.
Finally …
When Tie Xiong did not appear for three days in a row, the medical team in charge of his health was replaced by a group of strangers, and all communication with the outside world was completely cut off. When the continuous slight tremors of the starship were transmitted to his bedroom, Wanzanghai knew that the time had come.
Tie Xiong appeared once again. He was dressed in a murderous military uniform, and his military boots were trampling on blood and internal organs. On the shoulder of his black uniform, there was even a scarlet identification plate. On the plate was a skull symbol that Wan Zanghai had never seen before.
Tie Xiong looked at Wanzanghai with bloodshot eyes and trembling eyes. He was excited and scared.
The old man looked at his trusted subordinate with an indifferent expression and a calm look. He struggled to take out a wooden box from under the pillow and threw it over. "This is for you, Ah Xiong."
Tie Xiong hesitated for a moment and opened the wooden box. It was a dagger with the words "Only yesterday is a relaxing day" engraved on it. It was the motto of the old SEAL Team.
"Back then …"
Wanzanghai said calmly, "I used this dagger to kill my mentor."
Tie Xiong understood.
"Commander, under the commander's wise leadership, correct deployment, and personal command, all the 'public enemies of mankind' of the 'Return Party' have been brought to justice and received the punishment they deserved. The order of the coalition fleet has been completely restored. Nobody dares to speak or do anything anymore!"
Holding the dagger, Tie Xiong said, one word after another, "I am a loyal believer of the commander. I firmly believe that there is no turning back for the civilization of mankind. Only by marching forward bravely to the other side of the stars will there be a new hope and a new home!
"However, the system of the 'Coalition Fleet of New Earth' is too loose, weak, and decayed. We are nothing more than a tray of loose sand and cannot resist the storms on our way forward at all. The arrival of the 'returners' is the best proof and warning!
"Only by reorganizing the command of the coalition fleet, establishing a 'military government', and implementing a strong military administration can we gather the determination of the tens of millions of people and finish the path of darkness!
"Commander, I've been busy with the matter in the past half month. Now that the Iron Blood Fleet is taking shape, I can finally report to you. Please rest assured!"
"Very good."
Wanzanghai said with a smile, "Well done, Tie Xiong."
"However, this is a serious matter. Countless crew members have been bewildered by the 'Return Party' and cannot understand the necessity and justice of the establishment of the military government. They even say that we are … murderous fiends."
Tie Xiong said, "It's impossible for us to kill all the opponents, and it's also impossible for us to allow their resistance to turn into complete hostility. Someone has to stand up and take responsibility for the 'massacre of the Regression Party' and the 'establishment of the military government'. Only then can we embark on the path of light.
"Commander, you have always been the savior of the civilization of mankind and the 'god' in everybody's heart. For our civilization to sail to the end of the stars, you are willing to make any sacrifice, aren't you?"
"Yes, yes."
Wan Zanghai laughed, "Do it, Tie Xiong, do it, but … even if our civilization can really sail to the end of the stars, at that time, will it still be considered 'our civilization'? Will it still be considered 'Earth's civilization' or 'Human civilization'?"
"I don't know."
Tie Xiong walked toward Wanzanghai with his dagger. "Earth has been destroyed, and most of the people who escaped died miserably in the 'Massacre of the Outer Solar System' that you planned. Even now, can we shamelessly call ourselves the civilization of Earth or the civilization of mankind?"
"I-I don't know either."
The old man closed his eyes, but he could not stop the tears from flowing out. "… I don't know either."
…
Thousands of angry hands lifted Wanzanghai high up in the air. They spurned and beat him all the way to the reactor.
"Murderer!"
"Bloody executioner!"
"Demon! It's this demon who deceived us, betrayed us, and destroyed everything!"
"Thief of the people, a lone wolf, you still want to be a dictator at this time!"
"Burn him to death! Burn him to ashes! Consign him to eternal damnation and never let him be reincarnated!"
Many times, humans needed demons.
Humans needed demons, so they created a demon with their own hands. Then, after going through untold hardships to defeat the demon, they gave themselves the flag of "justice" and gained the courage to continue moving forward.
Amidst the raging flames, Wan Zanghai calmly pondered.
His sister and other ghosts, thousands of ghosts from Earth, were all huddled in the corner of the reactor, quietly watching him, protecting him, and waiting for him.
…
His corpse turned into billions of specks of dust and scattered into the dark vacuum.
In front of him, the escaping fleet that had been "reborn and renewed" accelerated forward. Behind him, countless ripples and ripples turned into billions of ghosts, enveloping and devouring the slightly glittering dust, forming a brand-new fleet. The ghost fleet.
"Brother, we're finally together. It's great."
"Yes, it's great. I didn't expect that another form of life would be like this."
"Where are we going next? Are we going to chase after the escaping fleet?"
"No, there's no hurry. After all, we have their navigation and jump trajectory under our control. If we want to chase after them, we can catch up with them at any time."
"Brother, we were all scared before because we couldn't control our form and frequency. It seemed that we would fall apart at any moment. But now that we have you, nobody is scared anymore."
"Yes. Trust me. With me here, nobody needs to be scared anymore."
"Brother, what's the future going to be like? Where are we going?"
"The future must be very beautiful. One day, we will reach the other side of the light and find a way to reverse time and change everything. We will stop all the mistakes, redeem all the regrets, and resurrect everybody who died miserably in natural disasters. Everybody will be able to live happily together."
"Brother, we are no longer human beings, right? Then, what are we exactly right now?"
"I don't know, but the universe is so big and time is so long. One day, I will tell you the answer. Now, sleep for a while. Sister, you are too tired. Leave everything else to me. Brother is here. Sleep for a while. Sister, sleep for a while. Sleep, sleep …"
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