265: Carved stele

After thanking them, the group waited for their meal and then ate with great relish.

Ever since their arrival, having a normal meal was a luxury for everyone present.

Most of the time, they ate instant food from their operational areas.

On the other side.

Long Wu left the conference room and made his way to a magnificent and grand history museum.

Compared to other buildings, facing five years of war, this history museum only suffered minor damage to its edges.

"Officer Long, hello."

"Officer Long."

The moment Long Wu stepped into the history museum, the staff on the side immediately stood up to greet him.

Long Wu smiled and nodded at the two of them, walking straight towards the center.

"Officer Long's complexion is getting worse and worse."

One staff member looked worriedly.

"Indeed, no matter who takes on such a burden, they would be overwhelmed."

"And Officer Long is here today, probably to carve another stele."

"Carve a stele?" The staff member who just spoke turned his head in confusion.

"You just arrived not long ago, so you don't know."

"I heard from the previous people that, starting from who knows when, Officer Long began to carve special steles for special personnel and operational personnel for combat readiness."

"Wait, is it the kind of stele I'm thinking of?" The new staff member's eyes gradually widened.

"Yes."

"I don't know the specific reason, but Officer Long comes over every once in a while."

"The largest enclosed exhibition hall in the museum is now densely packed with steles."

... Deep inside the history museum's exhibition hall.

From outside the door, Long Wu sat in the center of the exhibition hall, holding a stone stele in his left hand and a carving knife in his right.

Click, click—

The carving knife scraped across the stone stele, producing a grating sound.

"Hoo—"

Long Wu blew on the stone stele, clearing off the debris, then carefully wiped it with his hand.

On the stele, the name of a special person was clearly carved, with their birth year and month beside it.

Such steles were densely hung on the walls of the exhibition hall.

Even Liu Yan, Fuji, Zhao Chuang, and others who had not yet joined had their names carved on the steles.

Liu Yan had not cut off contact with Long Wu during these years.

Through the military radio, Liu Yan occasionally provided Long Wu with information.

This also included Jacob Havoc's conversations with him.

And Long Wu, after learning all this, did not make it public.

But to say he wasn't desperate, that would be a lie.

He couldn't figure out how to win.

Let alone him; in fact, even Liu Yan couldn't figure out how to win.

These steles were specially prepared by Long Wu for all personnel who would participate in the final decisive battle.

Once the war ended, no one would be able to carve for them anymore.

And no one would remember everything that had happened.

This was the only thing that could bring Long Wu a glimmer of peace in his despair and under high pressure.

Even if these steles would not be seen by anyone, nor would anyone know about them.

But they existed.

The heroic souls who sacrificed for Xia Country would not end up homeless.

After carving another stele, Long Wu put down his tools, took out a heart of africa from his pocket, and sighed.

Xia Country had over 150 Hearts of Africa.

But Long Wu didn't know what wish to make.

Wishes that could increase their chances of winning had all been tried, and without exception, none had succeeded.

If it was to increase individual strength, that was indeed possible.

And with the blessing of these Hearts of Africa, it was even possible to create a superman.

But no matter how strong an individual's power.

Facing Hafke, who could destroy a country with a wave of his hand, and with local technology rendered ineffective.

What chance did they have?

A victory where only one person survived?

"So, this is why the voices of the predecessors in their recordings were so desperate?"

Long Wu shook his head and gave a bitter smile.

Long Wu had tried making wishes for the future world, and except for some overly exaggerated ones, all others had succeeded without exception.

The same wishes that could not be realized in the current world had a much higher success rate when made for the next world.

"If all the remaining Hearts of Africa were used to make wishes for the next world..."

This was not the first time Long Wu had such a thought.

If it weren't for Liu Yan saying that they could only win in this world when they talked, Long Wu would have unhesitatingly passed on hope to the next world.

After all, this time, even before the decisive battle, they had already witnessed Hafke's power.

After a moment of hesitation, Long Wu put the heart of africa away again.

Although Liu Yan hadn't told Long Wu many things.

But a voice in Long Wu's heart kept telling him to trust Liu Yan.

"Long Wu, can you hear me?!"

Just as Long Wu was about to pick up his tools to continue carving the stele, Liu Yan's urgent voice rang out around Long Wu.

"I can hear you, what's wrong?" Long Wu's hand, which was picking up the tools, paused slightly, and his brows gradually furrowed.

In the past, when Liu Yan contacted Long Wu, his tone was always very calm.

But this time, Liu Yan's tone was even a little flustered.

"Little Eagle Country is currently on its way to Xia Country."

"To verify my guess, I used the heart of africa to get John's location again. At this speed, they will reach the border in less than ten minutes!"

"Currently, Little Eagle Country is almost empty of people, except for some women."

"They are moving out with their entire force this time!"

After Liu Yan finished speaking, Long Wu breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"If it's Little Eagle Country, it's still manageable. The current Xia Country..."

Liu Yan didn't give Long Wu a chance to interrupt and continued speaking rapidly:

"It's not just that!"

Liu Yan's side made a gulping sound.

"Reis... has appeared in Xia Country, and his route is heading towards the Central Plains..."

This time, Long Wu's expression turned somewhat grim.

Long Wu was aware of Reis's strength.

Previously, Liu Yan had almost destroyed a city to kill Reis.

If Reis ran to the Central Plains, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But then, Long Wu thought that he could still use the heart of africa to send him away.

Looking at it this way, the problem wasn't too big.

"The Raven's location will likely reach Xia Country at the same time as Little Eagle Country."

Even though Liu Yan didn't take a single deep breath in between, his speech was incredibly fast.

But it still brought a roller-coaster of emotions to Long Wu.

"The Raven is also coming to Xia Country? Did they arrange it?"

Long Wu sensed something was wrong.

If Little Eagle Country attacked Xia Country, Long Wu could still understand.

Reis had always been wandering around, and it wasn't unheard of for him to accidentally stumble into Xia Country.

But the Raven had always been regularly at sea; why suddenly move towards Xia Country?

Could it really be such a coincidence?

After taking a deep breath, Long Wu interrupted Liu Yan and asked:

"Is there any worse news?"

Liu Yan, in a tone he himself seemed unwilling to believe, softly said:

"Yes..."

"Jacob Havoc has appeared in the Central Plains of Xia Country again."

"And this time, I can't get his exact location; I can only see a general area..."

"Based on the information we currently have on Hafke, they can see everything we do."

"So he must know that I can get his location."

"The few times he appeared before, he never took such deliberate precautions, but this time he did."

"So it can only mean..."

"Hafke..."

"Is going to launch an attack."

"And... it's today."