30: Flag delivery

"Quick! Lend a hand!"

Several Soldiers, who had been waiting in the shadows of the warehouse basement, rushed forward the moment they saw that figure swim in.

The cold river water reached their knees. Two men, one on each side, lifted the thin body—which had lost almost all its strength—out of the water.

Yang Huimin's body was shaking violently and uncontrollably.

It wasn't out of fear, but from extreme cold and exhaustion.

Her lips were purple from the cold, her face was as pale as paper, and water dripped from her entire body.

But her hands still held tight, as if welded to her body, clutching the oilcloth-wrapped bundle that had long been soaked by the river.

Inside were the hopes of over four hundred Chinese Soldiers.

Inside was the final dignity of a nation in its darkest hour.

"Girl... Girl, are you alright?"

A Soldier took off his worn, hole-filled cotton military jacket, still warm from his body, and draped it over Yang Huimin.

Yang Huimin shook her head. She wanted to speak, but her teeth were chattering so much she couldn't make a single coherent sound.

She only looked up, searching for something in the dim light with her remarkably clear eyes.

The crowd automatically parted to make a path.

Xie Jinyuan stood there, though it was unclear when he had arrived.

He didn't rush forward like the others, but simply stood his ground.

His uniform was still buttoned meticulously, his posture as straight as a pine.

But behind his glasses, his eyes surged with intense emotions that were hard for outsiders to detect.

He looked at this girl, not much older than his own daughter, at her thin shoulders and her body shaking violently from the cold.

A complex mix of heartache, admiration, and emotion struck his heart hard.

Yang Huimin saw him too.

She knew this elegant officer was the highest commander of this isolated island.

Using her last bit of strength, she broke free from the Soldiers' support and stumbled forward two steps.

Then, she straightened her wet, thin back.

With all her might, she raised the heavy bundle high above her head.

"Reporting, Sir!"

Her voice, sharp and raspy from cold and excitement, was even slightly out of tune.

"Boy Scouts Yang Huimin has fulfilled her mission!"

"The National Flag... has been delivered!"

—

That cry of "fulfilled her mission" was like a cuckoo's bloody cry, creating tragic echoes in that oppressive space.

Xie Jinyuan stepped forward quickly.

He didn't take the flag yet.

He reached out and firmly grasped Yang Huimin's cold forearms, where veins bulged from her effort.

"Good... good child."

For the first time, his voice carried an uncontrollable tremor.

He gently lowered the girl's arms, then carefully took the bundle with a posture of near-religious devotion.

The bundle was heavy.

Not just because it was soaked with river water, but because it carried a weight beyond words.

He held the bundle tightly to his chest.

Then, he took a step back.

Under the gaze of everyone, including Yang Huimin herself, who hadn't expected it.

He adjusted his cap, snapped his feet together, and straightened his chest.

Then, he gave the most standard, solemn, and noble military salute to the sixteen-year-old girl standing there shivering and soaked.

At this moment, he wasn't a Regimental Commander.

He was just an ordinary Chinese Soldier, paying his highest respects to a hero of this nation.

—

Shangguan Zhibiao was stunned.

All the Soldiers who had rushed over upon hearing the news were also stunned.

But in the next second.

Shangguan Zhibiao snapped to his senses and also stood at attention with a sharp "snap."

"Salute!"

He roared, issuing the command.

In the warehouse basement, every Soldier who could stand, regardless of rank or what they held, spontaneously and in unison raised their right hands toward the thin girl.

Their movements might not have been perfect.

—

Their eyes still carried the smoke of battle and exhaustion.

But their respect was incredibly sincere.

No cheering.

No applause.

Only a solemn, suffocating silence.

Yang Huimin stared blankly at all this.

She watched those Soldiers, much older than her and covered in blood and filth, pay her their highest respects.

She didn't know what to do, so she instinctively raised her hand and returned a somewhat clumsy Scout salute.

Tears could no longer be held back, sliding down her cold cheeks in large drops.

In the shadows of the third floor.

Chen Xi watched all this silently.

He leaned against the cold wall, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the equally cold slingshot.

He had seen too much life and death, too much deception.

He thought his heart had long been as hard as iron.

But now, looking at the scene below.

Looking at that brave girl and those simple Soldiers.

He felt the softest part of his heart being struck hard, yet gently.

It was a pure, great courage he had never experienced, transcending life, death, and class.

For the first time, he truly felt the unyielding, majestic power hidden within the bones of this disaster-stricken nation.

His eyes felt a bit hot.

—

At the same time.

The online world of 2026.

In Chen Xi's Livestream room.

When Yang Huimin was pulled ashore, the Bullet chat was still cheering for the "mission success."

But when the scene of Xie Jinyuan saluting appeared.

The entire livestream's Bullet chat seemed to be hit by an invisible giant hand, instantly pressing the pause button.

A strange, ten-second-long silence.

The screen was completely empty.

It was as if millions of viewers had collectively lost their voices at that moment.

Then.

A giant "Salute" graphic made of special symbols was sent out by someone first.

The next second.

"Salute!"

"Salute!"

"Salute!"

Those two words instantly flooded the entire screen like an overwhelming tidal wave!

No more joking.

No more memes.

Not even any discussion.

Only those two words.

Simple, pure, yet carrying the deepest respect.

Countless viewers in front of their screens, whether in dorms, subways, or offices, instinctively straightened their backs.

Across the barriers of time and space, they shared a spiritual connection with those heroes from a hundred years ago.

The gaze of a nation, at the intersection of history and the future, became eternal.