"Bzzzz!"
The roar of helicopters resounded through the skies.
It was the heavy-lift helicopter formation towing Mount Tai on its triumphant return.
Only, Xiao Shou was not in the mood for that now.
The helicopter roar that usually sounded like beating war drums to Xiao Shou now felt unbearably loud and piercing.
His once-exhilarated mood had become incomparably heavy.
All because of the fighter jet wreckage on the large salvage ship below.
There, the souls of twenty-two fallen heroes were carried.
The electromagnetic interference weapon installed on Mad Ape had never been used by "them" before.
Sky Breaker Squad had been caught completely off guard. This was not a failure of command.
How could the sacrifice of fallen heroes ever be said to be worthless?
As long as they could delay them for one more minute, even if it meant total annihilation.
Everything was for the safety of the people.
For soldiers, taking the lead and stepping forward in danger was their duty, their responsibility, their honor.
At the time, because of the abnormal electromagnetic waves around Mad Ape, Sky Breaker Squad's weapons' automatic targeting systems had been unable to lock onto it.
They could only rely on their own eyes, manually control their aircraft, and close in to fire.
Yet no one could have foreseen that Mad Ape carried an electromagnetic interference weapon on its back.
After all, there had never been such a precedent before.
Monsters were biological creatures, after all. That they could carry weapons was beyond the limits of humanity's current technology.
This was not as simple as attaching claws to its hands.
Once the electromagnetic waves were disrupted, the fighter jets' control systems failed and their power was lost. Combined with their proximity to Mad Ape, they had mostly crashed into its body and exploded, falling from the sky.
The weapon on Mad Ape's back activated rapidly and covered a wide area. Even if Sky Breaker Squad had not charged forward, they would still have been within the range of its electromagnetic interference burst.
There was no avoiding this disaster.
At most, they would have had some time to react, allowing the pilots to parachute out.
And not all of them could have done so.
It could only be said that "their" methods were becoming increasingly strange and unpredictable.
Perhaps "they" had started taking things a little more seriously.
A beam from a searchlight shone onto Mount Tai's cockpit display, interrupting Xiao Shou's wandering thoughts.
It was the searchlight from the lighthouse at Lushun District's harbor.
At last, they were home.
Xiao Shou was exhausted. He only wanted to get a good night's sleep.
The harbor had been taken over by the military, and all unauthorized personnel had been cleared out.
Many people had gathered at the docks, waiting for them.
Xiao Shou knew that welcoming their return was only a small part of the reason. More than that, they were there for the fallen heroes.
What set humanity apart from monsters was that humans knew how to mourn, how to dedicate themselves, how to sacrifice.
They had the conviction to fight for every inch of land, and the creed to never abandon or give up on those they protected.
Their sacrifices had not been meaningless.
There was no such thing as peaceful, quiet years. It was only that someone else carried the burden forward for them.
And the price they paid was far heavier than anyone could imagine.
What they experienced was far more perilous than any novel or television drama.
Yet people only pointed fingers, saying this part was unreasonable and that part was too fake.
But in truth, life and death were decided in an instant.
Some numbers were never made public. Not knowing them did not mean they did not exist.
Because the fact that people could live their lives in peace was the best proof.
Peace had always been something fought for.
Only when they drew closer did they see who had gathered at the docks.
Most wore military uniforms, some black and some dark green.
Those in black belonged to the Jaeger Combat Department, while those in dark green were from the military's Eastern Theater Command.
There were also some in civilian clothes, likely the family members of Sky Breaker Squad.
Mount Tai's landing caused no commotion, nor were there any cheers.
Because even celebration had its time and place.
Just as Mount Tai touched down, the Eastern Theater Command fleet arrived at the harbor right behind it.
The tourists and expatriates evacuated from Hawaii were led away in an orderly fashion for other arrangements.
After the excitement of surviving the catastrophe, they quickly restrained their emotions as well.
Because sorrow was contagious.
Their victorious return had not come without a price.
The reason they could stand here now, having returned home from distant Hawaii, was because someone had thrown themselves into Death's embrace in exchange.
Some more emotional people could not help reddening their eyes.
It was not an act.
Back then, the words, "81192, message received. I can no longer return. Continue forward. I repeat, continue forward!"—
—had gripped the hearts of people across the nation.
It had been so agonizing.
Who would ever want to go through something like that a second time?
They were forged of iron, but they were also flesh and blood—living, breathing people.
They were her husbands, his fathers, their children.
People lived in a peaceful world without conflict, spending every day chasing money, and often posting empty complaints about pressure and stress.
Yet they had forgotten the world's true face.
It devoured people.
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