A Late Explanation

Among the expatriate tourists disembarking from the warship, some who hadn't returned for many years stepped onto their homeland's soil.

With tears in their eyes, they couldn't help but fall to the ground and kiss this pure land.

Perhaps this action seems bizarre to us, but for those who left their hometowns decades ago, they now feel grounded.

Even if wanderers far from home live in luxury, they always feel a sense of floating, as if their feet aren't touching the ground.

This is because their roots are not here.

The homeland, though perhaps not as prosperous or luxurious as the outside world, can always be kept in your heart, always on your mind.

Moreover, only "hometown folks" will lend a hand in your time of crisis, rather than kicking you while you're down.

The motherland is your true mother.

Although the expatriates' hometowns were not in Dalian, when they set foot on this land, they had already come home.

Here, the land was filled with compatriots with yellow skin and black hair.

No longer in a foreign land with blonde hair and blue eyes.

It felt very familiar.

Now that it was late, they could choose to leave immediately and return to their hometowns, or be arranged by the government to stay overnight.

Of course, everyone had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before leaving.

After all, "Taishan" landed here, and its significance was self-evident.

Furthermore, the news of the Sky Breaker Squad's demise had not yet been released and was still being kept under wraps.

After evacuating the expatriate tourists to this location, the large salvage ships from the rear would begin their work.

Some of the fighter jet wreckage was incomplete.

This was because most of them had exploded after crashing into the "Mad Ape" while out of control.

Naturally, there were no bodies.

Mourning could only be done in the form of a cenotaph.

The moment the fighter jets were salvaged and brought ashore, all the soldiers saluted simultaneously.

This included Xiao Shou and Xie Yushan, who were still in the cockpit of "Taishan."

The families of the Sky Breaker Squad members were also weeping uncontrollably; they were undoubtedly the most heartbroken.

Among them were newlywed women, the elderly, and even infants in swaddling clothes.

Iron-willed soldiers don't just pop out of rocks; they have families too.

They might even be the pillars of these families.

Xiao Shou dared not look into their eyes.

If only we had arrived a little earlier, perhaps this could have been avoided.

Xie Yushan, standing beside him, was much calmer.

She wasn't a new recruit like Xiao Shou, still prone to sentimentality.

She was also a soldier.

Furthermore, as Jaeger pilots, they were meant to fight on the front lines.

Jaegers are not invincible.

Even the "Wanderer" combination, with the highest synesthetic connection value, could fail.

Since they chose to become soldiers, they should have this awareness.

Someone has to do these things.

As the saying goes, when the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.

And soldiers are those tall ones.

"Taishan" did not linger here and was immediately sent back to the Shatterdome base for repairs.

"Taishan" had sustained considerable damage in this battle and required timely maintenance.

After all, time waits for no one.

Only twenty days had passed since the last Kaiju attack.

And it was no longer confined to one location, with just one Kaiju.

This suited Xiao Shou's wishes perfectly.

The cries of the martyrs' families cut into Xiao Shou's heart like knives.

It reminded him of the Old Director back then.

Upon returning to the base, the place was much emptier.

Many people had gone to the port to bid their fallen comrades a final farewell.

Mao Shucheng didn't say much when he saw them, simply instructing them to rest well before letting them go.

There was no criticism of the indecisiveness shown by the two earlier.

As long as the outcome was good, the process didn't matter.

Protecting the public was also important in itself.

Difficult choices had to be made in times of crisis, but it hadn't reached that point yet.

The next morning, Xiao Shou was dressed in his formal military uniform, not the combat suit he used to wear.

Because the memorial service for the fallen heroes was starting today.

The Jaeger Combat Department naturally could not be absent.

Since the location was in Dalian, it wouldn't affect emergency response in case of any sudden incidents.

The memorial service was held in the hotel's first-floor lobby.

There were no extravagant decorations. The portraits of the twenty-two fallen heroes were placed in the center, surrounded by their families and some soldiers, filling the entire hall.

Several cameras were set up in a corner, with reporters broadcasting the event.

Because the authorities had decided not to conceal it any longer, the sacrifices of the heroes deserved to be remembered.

Not just the Sky Breaker Squad, but also, the more than 8,700 soldiers who died in the "Shanlan" battle in Dalian previously.

The news had been suppressed before to prevent public panic.

At that time, our means of dealing with Kaiju were scarce, and without using nuclear weapons, we could only grind them down slowly.

The casualties were heavy, and releasing the numbers would have caused a huge uproar.

After all, there hadn't been such heavy casualties since the War of National Defense over seventy years ago.

It would inevitably lead to social unrest.

But now, things were different. We had Jaegers, we had "Taishan."

We had the capability to protect our country from foreign aggression.

The families of the fallen heroes would no longer have to hide their grief.

It was an accounting for the heroes, a delayed accounting.