Volume 1, Chapter 294 – Destruction

After the first round of shelling, the lieutenant colonel did not stop the firing, signaling for the second group of shells to continue loading.

Only after five full rounds of volley fire did the lieutenant colonel finally order the bombardment to stop.

Raindrops fell onto the scorching-hot gun barrels, raising wisps of pale smoke.

The lieutenant colonel picked up an infrared telescope and looked toward the distant factory. All he could see was thick smoke. Nothing else was visible.

After observing for a moment, the lieutenant colonel waved a hand, signaling the soldiers beside him to release the despairing Ning Kangping, then issued an order.

“Advance slowly. Clean up the battlefield. Leave no survivors!”

“Yes, sir!”

Dozens of armored vehicles spread out in a web-like formation and encircled the factory several kilometers away.

Ning Kangping scrambled to his feet and hurried after them, a trace of hope in his eyes. Maybe she was still alive…

A few minutes later, the armored column arrived outside the factory, and the soldiers, armed to the teeth, began their search.

Five rounds of saturation bombardment were enough to melt steel into liquid metal. Even if some martial artists with profound skill had somehow survived by luck, they would still have been severely injured and utterly unable to fight back. Under scattered gunfire, they were all finished off one by one.

Most of the bodies had been blasted into fragments by the shells and mixed into the black standing water, like a pot of meat soup, impossible to tell one from another.

The sky was pitch-black, and the cold wind cut like a knife. Ning Kangping searched through the heap of mangled corpses, hoping to find her and hoping not to see her at the same time, tormented beyond measure.

Every time a gunshot rang out, his heart twitched uncontrollably. Whenever he saw that it was not Ning An, he let out a long breath.

In less than ten minutes, the entire factory had been turned upside down. Although Ning Kangping had not found even the slightest trace of Ning An, reason told him that under such bombardment, no one could possibly have escaped.

“Report, cleanup complete.”

“Report, infrared scan detected no targets.”

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“Report, battlefield cleanup confirmed complete.”

A string of reports reached the lieutenant colonel’s ears.

“Withdraw!”

The lieutenant colonel clapped his hands in satisfaction, then seemed to remember something and turned his head to ask,

“Chief Ning, need me to give you a ride?”

…

Not long after the military left, several more groups arrived. They were all survivors from the various factions, and their reactions differed when they saw the gruesome scene inside the factory.

Some were full of relief at having survived the disaster. Others found the corpses of relatives and friends, filled with hatred, swearing to avenge this blood debt and shouting that the military would pay the price.

But before they could leave, they were surrounded by a group of martial artists dressed in black uniforms, and another great battle broke out.

After this fight, quite a few sects in the martial world had been wiped out entirely, and ninety percent of the top experts had been lost. It would be very difficult for it to stir up any more trouble…

…

Ning Kangping returned home in a daze. When he saw Liang Yunnan and the other three, who had somehow appeared in his house, he could not process it for a moment.

“Kangping!”

Qin Yinhua’s eyes brimmed with tears. Not caring that Ning Kangping was covered in blood, filth, and mud, she threw herself into his arms.

“Where’s An’an?”

Ning Kangping’s eyes reddened. He hugged Qin Yinhua tightly, filled with guilt.

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“Yinhua, I dragged An’an down. I’m sorry…”

Liang Yunnan and the other three exchanged glances, all finding the situation rather baffling.

Just as Ning Kangping was about to tell Qin Yinhua that Ning An was dead, a figure stumbled into the house and collapsed to the floor.

At the sight of the figure covered in a layer of blood scabs, the words at the tip of Ning Kangping’s tongue stuck in his throat.

The person lying on the ground was unrecognizable, but the silver longsword in that person’s hand was all too familiar.

“An’an?!”

Liang Yunnan stepped forward and stopped Ning Kangping and Qin Yinhua, who were about to rush over and pick Ning An up, then lifted his head and signaled to Xue Qiong.

Xue Qiong understood immediately. She stepped forward, carried the person into the bathroom, and began cleaning and treating the wounds.

“Jingchen, go prepare some medicine. Bai Ji, go outside and see if there’s a tail.”

After the person had been taken into the bathroom, Liang Yunnan instructed the other two again.

Xiao Jingchen and Bai Ji nodded and went out one after the other.

Meanwhile, Ning Kangping was pulled aside by Qin Yinhua, who began explaining things to him in a low voice.

As he listened to Qin Yinhua’s account, the expression on Ning Kangping’s face shifted from worry to horror, and from horror to numbness. Too many things had happened in this single night for him to digest.

…

The bathtub was quickly filled with hot water, and the blood scabs began to dissolve as soon as they entered the water. Xue Qiong was clearly very experienced at treating wounds. Avoiding some of the vital areas, she carefully wiped her down.

Shi Lan’s injuries were severe. The extensive burns were secondary. The main problem was the scattered shrapnel embedded in her body, buried extremely deep, some of it possibly already touching her internal organs.

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“I’ll do it myself.”

Xue Qiong was cradling Shi Lan’s head and carefully wiping her when she suddenly heard a voice by her ear. Turning her head, she saw that Shi Lan had already woken up.

“Can you manage on your own?”

Shi Lan nodded slightly and sat up. She was not very used to the feeling of being cared for from head to toe like this.

Xue Qiong was still doubtful when she saw Shi Lan raise a hand and tear away the blood scabs on her body, then casually pull out the shrapnel embedded in her flesh.

“You…”

Xue Qiong let out a soft cry and frowned. She had just been about to say something, but when she saw the look on Shi Lan’s face, she swallowed the words back down.

There was not the slightest trace of pain on Shi Lan’s face. Even the intense agony of the shrapnel tearing through her body only made her frown faintly.

A monster…

That thought rose involuntarily in Xue Qiong’s heart.

“I’m hungry.”

Shi Lan wiped the blood from her body and looked at Xue Qiong. Her eyes were astonishingly bright.

“Wait here.”

Xue Qiong’s scalp tingled. Somewhat flustered, she hurried out of the bathroom. If she stayed any longer, she was afraid Shi Lan might eat her.

Seeing Xue Qiong come out in a panic, Liang Yunnan frowned.

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

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“Hungry.”

Xue Qiong shook her head and looked at Ning Kangping and Qin Yinhua.

“Is there any food left in the house?”

…

In the Ning family’s living room, Shi Lan sat at the dining table in pajamas, eating voraciously, with all kinds of meat dishes set before her.

The household’s food stores had long since run out. These had been brought back by Xiao Jingchen when he went out to get medicine. In his view, after suffering such serious injuries, she definitely needed to replenish her energy at once.

Liang Yunnan was working at full tilt in the kitchen, sweat pouring down his face.

Qin Yinhua had a stomach full of questions she wanted to ask Shi Lan, so she was distracted even when cooking. And among Liang Yunnan’s group, aside from Liang Yunnan himself, the others had barely even used a gas stove before, so the job naturally fell to him.

And so they all sat in the living room, watching Shi Lan stuff plate after plate of food into her mouth.

“About that, An’an… no, Shi Lan…”

Ning Kangping rubbed his hands together, looking somewhat restrained.

“Mmm?”

Shi Lan responded, lifting her head to look at him. Since her mouth was full of food, she could only nod for Ning Kangping to continue.

“It’s just… um… when… can you give An’an back to us?”

At first, Ning Kangping hemmed and hawed, but in the end, he forced it all out in one breath.

The living room instantly fell silent.