118: Chapter 118 Lin Wan

That was a girl.

She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a slender figure, wearing a form-fitting black pilot suit, her clothes stained with sweat and grease.

Her hair was silver-gray, cut very short, and plastered messily against her forehead.

Her face was youthful, but her features carried a sharpness unbefitting her age.

Most striking were her eyes—amber pupils that looked like burning flames, currently scanning everyone present with vigilance.

There was a scar on her left cheek, cutting diagonally down from her cheekbone, as if fiercely slashed by some Sharp Weapon.

On that youthful face, it looked shocking.

A strong stench of blood drifted from the cockpit.

Su Mingyuan's gaze narrowed slightly, noticing that Lin Wan's left arm was wrapped in a circle of bandages, which had been soaked through with blood and turned dark red.

She was injured.

And the injury was not light.

But there was no expression of pain on her face, and she didn't even frown.

"What the hell, it's actually a little girl inside?" Zhang Dabiao muttered in a low voice, "She pilots this mecha so smoothly, yet she's a—"

Before he finished speaking, the girl's gaze locked onto him.

That gaze was as cold as a knife.

Zhang Dabiao felt a chill down his back, the words in his throat as if stuck by something, and the second half of his sentence was forcefully swallowed back.

Su Mingyuan stepped forward, his tone calm: "Thank you for saving us. My name is Su Mingyuan, and I'm the—"

"Your guns."

The girl directly interrupted him, her gaze fixed dead on the weapons in the soldiers' hands.

She poked half her body out of the cockpit, a trace of disbelief flashing through her amber eyes.

"Just now... the penetrating power just now..." Her voice grew lower and lower, as if talking to herself, "Which base on earth are you guys from?"

Su Mingyuan and Tao Zhe exchanged a glance.

"We don't belong to any base in this world," Su Mingyuan said calmly, "Twenty minutes ago, we were still in a completely different place."

He paused:

"The sky there is blue."

This sentence was like a pebble thrown into stagnant water.

The girl's pupils abruptly contracted.

"What did you say?" Her voice changed, carrying a hint of suppressed trembling, "What color... is the sky?"

"Blue," Su Mingyuan repeated, "And white clouds, and the sun."

The girl stared at him intently, her breathing halting for a few seconds.

She was trying to discern whether he was lying.

But Su Mingyuan's eyes were clear and calm, without any evasion.

"... Impossible." She looked away, her voice returning to coldness, but clearly somewhat stiff, "The sky cannot be blue. Those stories told by the old folks are all lies to fool children."

Su Mingyuan did not argue, instead pulling a waterproof bag out of his tactical vest and taking out a phone from inside.

This was a specially made military phone from Longyan, waterproof and drop-proof, with a battery that could last a year.

He pressed the power button and handed the screen to the girl.

The girl hesitated for a moment and took it.

Her fingers slid across the screen, her movements somewhat clumsy—obviously, this kind of touch device was very unfamiliar to her.

The first photo was a group photo of the Longyan base.

More than thirty people stood on the training ground, wearing neat combat uniforms, with brilliant smiles.

The background was blue skies and white clouds, with glaring sunlight.

Her fingers stopped.

"This is..."

Her voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

Continuing to swipe.

City streets, rows of tall buildings, and heavy traffic like weaving.

Park trees, reflections on the lake surface, and people walking dogs.

Crowded heads in the shopping malls, and neon lights flickering.

The food on the dining table was steaming hot, and a table of people raised their wine glasses.

She swiped slower and slower, her fingers beginning to tremble.

Zhang Dabiao stood aside, looking at the girl's profile.

He saw something swirling in her eye sockets.

But the girl bit her lip fiercely, forcefully suppressing that wave of emotion.

She returned the phone to Su Mingyuan with somewhat rough movements and turned her head away:

"Fine, I believe you."

Her voice was rigid, but her nasal tone still leaked her emotions.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again, her tone returning to its previous indifference:

"Those old folks were right, the sky in the past really was blue."

She raised her hand to wipe her face, as if wiping away sweat.

"Of course, before the bugs came."

The atmosphere suddenly sank.

Tao Zhe couldn't help asking: "When did the bugs come?"

"A hundred years ago, I guess. When I was born, it was already this ghost of a state."

"What?"

Su Mingyuan's heart shrank violently, and his voice unconsciously raised a few notches: "A hundred years ago?"

Lin Wan was taken aback by his reaction.

She frowned and looked Su Mingyuan up and down, as if looking at a strange creature.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem with a hundred years?"

Su Mingyuan did not answer immediately.

He turned his head to look at Tao Zhe.

Their gazes met, both seeing the same shock in each other's eyes.

A hundred years.

Yet another hundred years.

In the Zombie World, the zombie outbreak was a hundred years ago.

In the Giant World, the appearance of giants was a hundred years ago.

Now, the descent of bugs in this world was also a hundred years ago.

Three worlds, three disasters, the exact same time node.

This was definitely not a coincidence.

Su Mingyuan took a deep breath, suppressing the churning thoughts in his heart.

"It's nothing," he shook his head, his tone returning to calm, "Just a bit surprised."

He paused, as if asking casually:

"Right, in your world, did any strange phenomena appear a hundred years ago? For example... meteors?"

"Meteors?"

Lin Wan's brow furrowed slightly, as if recalling something.

A few seconds later, she shook her head.

"I don't know. Those things are too far in the past, and the records were lost long ago. The old folks at the base only said that the bugs fell from the sky; as for how exactly it happened, no one can say clearly."

Fell from the sky.

Su Mingyuan's heart stirred.

Meteors also fell from the sky.

But he did not continue to press, instead changing the subject:

"Why are you the only person here?"

His gaze swept across the surrounding ruins.

"Are you a soldier?"

Lin Wan did not look at him.

Her gaze fell upon the two broken mechs.

Silent for a few seconds.

"... Could say that."

Her voice was very soft, carrying an exhaustion she herself hadn't noticed.

Su Mingyuan looked along her gaze.

The wreckage of the two mechs lay quietly amidst the ruins.

One was gutted, its cockpit completely exposed to the outside, filled with solidified blood. Dark brown blood plasma plastered the control panel, and a severed arm hung on the edge of the seat, its fingers stiffly curled.

The other lay on the ground, its left leg broken off at the root, the cockpit hatch ripped open into a ferocious gash by the sharp claws of a bug. The interior of the cabin was likewise a complete mess, unable to reveal what the original pilot looked like—probably dragged out and eaten by the bugs.

Tragic.

Too tragic.

"Are they your comrades?" Tao Zhe asked in a low voice.

"Mm."

Lin Wan's voice had no fluctuations:

"We came out of the base together."

She paused and added a sentence:

"Grew up together since childhood."

No one asked further.

Those two mechs that could never stand up again had already explained everything.

The atmosphere became somewhat heavy.

Su Mingyuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end didn't say anything.

In this kind of world, death was probably a common occurrence.

Any comfort appeared pale.