Lin Yu returned to the Lieutenant Colonel’s residence, where she resumed copying flyers for an extended period. It wasn’t until her medic senior arrived to summon her for lunch that she finally set aside her pen and rose from the desk.
Her hand, aching from the ceaseless writing, trembled so much she couldn’t even steady her chopsticks. She had to resort to a spoon just to manage her meal.
Having enjoyed a satisfying meal and taken a solitary walk, Lin Yu returned to her desk to continue copying. Yet, despite her relentless efforts—writing through the morning, afternoon, and even taking work back to toil by lamplight late into the night—her speed remained stubbornly stagnant.
The sheer volume of planned flyers loomed before her like an insurmountable chasm; no matter how furiously she penned, she could only ever complete a mere fraction of the intended amount.
On the final evening before the deadline, Lin Yu, unbeknownst to Nangong, sought out the Lieutenant Colonel to explain her predicament. He responded with a “temporary postponement,” stating that distributing such a paltry number of flyers would be counterproductive. He assured her he would wait until after the Diacla Army’s ceremony concluded before contacting a printing factory.
As for the printing expenses, the Lieutenant Colonel magnanimously offered to cover them entirely. Being a nobleman with substantial family assets, the cost of printing a few flyers was, to him, nothing more than a trivial sum.
Having wasted two full days copying flyers, Lin Yu was so distraught that she couldn’t sleep a wink all night. Her well-intentioned plan for the nation had “died before even achieving success,” condemned to an indefinite postponement. When Nangong inquired about what had transpired, Lin Yu could only shake her head, speechless.
They were to assemble early tomorrow morning to fire a salute, bidding farewell to the Crown Prince. She could only pray that the bullets and shells fired wouldn’t somehow land on their own positions…
****
The following day dawned bright and sunny, with a wonderfully mild temperature.
Nangong jolted Lin Yu awake from her slumber, pressing her to swiftly don her medic uniform.
“Mmm… ugh… I’m so terribly sleepy…”
Having barely slept the previous night, plagued by anxieties over her ‘surrounded on all sides’ predicament, she now had to rush out early this morning…
As her gaze drifted to Nangong’s shoulder, she was instantly jolted awake by the sight of a long, slender object. “Wh-why are you carrying a rifle?!” she exclaimed.
“Are you still half-asleep?” Nangong asked. “Weren’t we already notified yesterday that we’d be participating in the memorial farewell ceremony today?”
“…Ah, right,” Lin Yu mumbled. Yet, after the fleeting moment of alarm, sleepiness swiftly reasserted its dominance over her senses. “We’re supposed to fire shots into the sky today… Oh dear!”
The sleepy, muddled girl’s forehead received a sharp flick, a “fatal blow” that instantly jolted her wide awake.
“Nangong!” the diminutive medic cried out, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. “Could you go a little easier next time?!”
Without offering an apology, Nangong simply stated, “If I went easier, you wouldn’t have woken up. Now hurry and get dressed, grab your rifle; we’re gathering at the warehouse entrance in the logistics area.”
Assembly.
It was a word she hadn’t heard in a long time.
Ever since she became a medic, Lin Yu had enjoyed considerable freedom, able to roam wherever she wished within the logistics area. Nangong rarely restricted her movements or specified particular places she had to attend.
Vigorously rubbing her eyes, she rustled into the white uniform folded at the head of her bed. Lin Yu then fastened her cap and pushed aside the tent flap, stepping outside.
Feeling an unusual lightness on her shoulders, she glanced at Nangong’s receding figure in the distance, only then recalling that she had almost left her rifle behind.
Rushing back into the tent, she rummaged through a pile of miscellaneous items to retrieve her dust-covered weapon. After pulling back the bolt to confirm the ammunition count, Lin Yu slung the rifle over her back and sprinted in the direction Nangong had departed.
“Wait, wait for me…”
Diacla’s standard-issue rifle was far from light, and sprinting with it strapped to her back was a considerable test of endurance, particularly for a fifteen-year-old girl like Lin Yu. While she was already capable of dragging an adult by herself, there remained a vast difference between weighted long-distance running and the more leisurely act of “disposing of trash.”
At last, Lin Yu caught up to Nangong, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. “Finally here… Am I… late…?”
“Congratulations,” Nangong replied. “You’re right on time.”
Nangong unhooked the canteen from her waist and offered it to Lin Yu, who eagerly took it and gulped down a large mouthful.
Fortunately, the canteen contained cool, plain water and not alcohol; otherwise, the combined assault of heavy panting and vigorous coughing could have instantly incapacitated Lin Yu, leaving her in misery for at least half the day.
After a moment to recover, she straightened up and surveyed her surroundings. The warehouse before them was already teeming with nearly every individual from the logistics area, all uniformly clad in white attire, giving the impression, at first glance, of a medic wholesale outlet.
The dark hair and eyes of the Diacla people stood out starkly against the overwhelming wave of white uniforms.
“That ceremony… when does it start?”
“Just wait,” Nangong replied. “The superiors have set a unified time; I believe it’s precisely seven in the morning.”
A dense crowd surged before the warehouse entrance: guarding soldiers, cooks from the mess hall, engineers who habitually dug trenches, and even the usually dark-clad disciplinary squad—all stood uniformly in white before the squat building, awaiting the commencement of the so-called ceremony.
Finally, the Lieutenant Colonel materialized from some unseen corner, taking his place with a solemn expression at the very front of the assembled crowd.
Lin Yu observed that several of her seniors, uncharacteristically, were also properly dressed in their uniforms. They quietly slipped into the crowd from the rear, subtly greeting both her and Nangong.
“What took you so long to arrive?” one whispered.
“Shhh,” another replied. “If we don’t say anything, no one will ever know.”
After a brief exchange, they all collectively turned their gaze to the front.
It was evident, however, that among the medics, only Nangong possessed the height to clearly discern the Lieutenant Colonel’s actions. Lin Yu and her seniors were left to infer his movements solely from the sounds they heard and Nangong’s whispered commentary.
“He cleared his throat.”
“He adjusted his glasses.”
“He took a pocket watch from his pocket.”
Lin Yu interrupted in a low voice, “You don’t need to describe every little thing, do you…?”
“Ahem,” Nangong cleared her throat. “He’s not doing anything right now.”
After another minute elapsed, the Lieutenant Colonel finally began his formal address to his subordinates. “Now, all personnel from the logistics area are gathered here,” he announced. “And I am here to formally notify you once again of the upcoming schedule.”
“On September 16th, year 144,” the Lieutenant Colonel continued, “the Crown Prince regrettably encountered a long-range artillery attack by enemy forces on the front lines beyond the mountains and tragically passed away that very night. A full forty-nine days have now passed since then.”
“Let us all observe one minute of silence for the Crown Prince.”
Every individual present uniformly bowed their heads, and the silence stretched for a full, solemn minute.
“The moment of silence is over,” the Lieutenant Colonel declared. “Now, everyone, please disengage your rifle safeties.”
With Nangong’s assistance, Lin Yu fumbled to disengage the safety, bringing the mud-stained rifle in her hands to a ready state.
Checking the time on his pocket watch, the Lieutenant Colonel issued another command: “Everyone, about-face.”
A sprawling mass of people turned sluggishly, some veering left, others right, displaying not the slightest shred of military discipline.
With that uncoordinated turn, Lin Yu found herself, without question, in the very first row, staring directly across at the distant, deeply trenched area.
“Raise rifles!”
All raised their rifles, aiming at the sky directly above. The rustling of uniforms and the clanking of firearms merged into a single, chaotic din.
“Prepare to fire!”
Lin Yu placed her index finger on the trigger, a metallic sensation at her fingertip—something she hadn’t experienced in over a decade.
“Three! Two! One! Fire!”
In an instant, a thunderous volley of gunfire erupted, and Lin Yu’s entire being was illuminated by the muzzle flashes. Waves of magical fluctuations surged forward like a mountain collapse or a tsunami, assailing her from behind, from in front, and from the distant flanks.
Individuals with magical aptitude typically couldn’t perceive the stimulating magical fluctuations when magic tools activated or deactivated. Yet, at this very moment, Lin Yu felt a continuous current coursing through her body.
What was happening?
Behind her, over a hundred people fired a synchronized volley into the sky, while a broad expanse of blue light flared in the trenches before her. Not only in front and behind, but also to the left and right of those trenches, at the positions garrisoned by other units, blue light flared without exception.
Lin Yu realized they were firing their rifles into the sky simultaneously at a predetermined moment.
Twenty thousand soldiers on their own front line, over a hundred thousand logistics personnel, and all the artillery the army could deploy, all opened fire at the same instant. Disparate magical fluctuations converged into a colossal wave, a surge far exceeding any previous battlefield, spreading outwards in all directions.
It had grown so powerful that even Lin Yu, who shouldn’t have been able to perceive it, could feel its force.
An address unknown to Lin Yu was simultaneously taking place at the distant Diacla Army General Headquarters.
“Today, we mourn the murdered Crown Prince. Tomorrow, we shall make the perpetrators pay! At precisely seven o’clock on the morning of November 4th, year 144, our Diacla Empire officially declares war on the Lanfos Republic!”
The Emperor herself personally took command, organizing the first offensive following the formal declaration of war.
Due to her restless night and the unprecedented stimulation from the magical fluctuations, she returned to her tent for a nap, feeling disoriented after the assembly was dismissed.
Explosions echoed in the distance throughout the entire day.