He turned around.
Bai Zhou picked a black short club, gray with dust and pitch-black, out of the dust piled on the ground.
He brushed off the dust and examined the black short club, which looked like a fire poker. It seemed utterly plain and unremarkable.
Half an arm's length, its material was an Ill Omen. It looked like some kind of metal, yet also like a mysterious type of wood.
At the front end of the Short Club was a slanted break, seemingly where it had snapped off. It was extremely sharp, like a crude, primitive wooden spear.
This was the only item "Laia" had left behind.
Back then, the Swollen Giant Monster had held it while beating him for half a day, smashing the earth until it cracked. That alone showed how extraordinary it was.
--At the very least, it was hard enough.
It felt warm and smooth in his hand, but was much heavier than he had imagined. Even Bai Zhou found it quite difficult to lift now. It might have weighed nearly a hundred jin.
"This density..."
Bai Zhou was both startled and uncertain.
Rather than a short club, Bai Zhou felt as though he was holding a giant hammer.
If this thing hit someone in the head, it would probably split their skull like a watermelon on the spot.
At that moment, Bai Zhou inexplicably sensed the Short Club's attraction to and desire for spirituality.
"What is going on?"
After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhou tried pouring his spirituality into it.
"Vmmm--"
A powerful suction suddenly came from the Short Club. Bai Zhou's entire body jolted as if electrocuted, and most of his spirituality poured into it.
It was like a bottomless black hole. The "starving" Short Club greedily devoured his spirituality without end.
Seeing this, Bai Zhou immediately cut off the flow of spiritual power.
The next instant,
the Short Club grew scorching hot, as though it had come alive. It trembled violently in Bai Zhou's palm.
A phantom light slowly took shape at the broken end of the Short Club, extending onward toward the sky with frantic speed.
"This is..."
"Riiip--"
Accompanied by the crisp sound of cloth tearing,
the phantom of a platinum-colored Flag of Light continued from the Short Club, unfurling and rising straight into the heavens!
"Whoosh..."
The tattered battle flag fluttered in the wind, as if it had just returned from the bloody battle that had shaken heaven and earth, carrying a thick, inescapable air of slaughter and sorrow.
The sound of countless armies clashing and killing rang beside his ears. It was as if innumerable battle souls were passing before him on their way to the battlefield, while Bai Zhou suddenly became one of them.
"Shine!"
Laia's voice seemed to come from among the countless soldiers, from the distant river of history.
"The light is here!"
"Hope is here--!"
The battle flag poured streams of light over Bai Zhou. He felt his strength rise without end, his blood boil, and his Battle Intent surge wildly.
Neither pain nor injury could trouble Bai Zhou in the slightest at that moment, as if something were protecting and blessing him.
--As if the little girl called "Laia" were silently standing behind Bai Zhou!
The next instant, a pillar of light shot into the heavens, and a river of judgment surged outward in all directions.
Unfortunately, on the ruined wasteland, this great river formed from light could find no target to judge and could only frolic aimlessly in every direction.
"That battle flag!"
The Flag of Light Laia had once waved... so it had always been in her hands.
Even after her consciousness had been swallowed by darkness, even with only half the flagpole remaining, she had never let go of this banner.
Unfortunately, Bai Zhou had too little spirituality, making the battle flag's form extremely illusory.
The pillar of light could not even last half a second before flashing away and vanishing on the spot.
The rising strength abruptly stopped, and the surging Battle Intent disappeared into thin air. Everything powerful from just now seemed like an illusion.
Only Bai Zhou remained, drained and weak, crouching halfway on the ground.
He gasped heavily, his face deathly pale.
Yet as he looked at the pitch-black Short Club in his hand, restored to its "fire poker" state, his eyes flickered.
This half of a flagpole...
He had witnessed the flag's complete form with his own eyes, and he knew how Laia had ascended to the divine altar because of it.
It had once been the entire faith of an extraordinary army. In Laia's hands, it had once judged countless soldiers and swept over a tide of corpses.
From what had happened just now, it was clear...
Perhaps one day, that former glory and might would reappear!
"Right, there's also that Wooden Horse..."
Bai Zhou used the Short Club to support himself as he rose again, then looked toward the broken ruins in the distance.
The little gift Laia had given to the children in her hometown had gradually developed spirituality after being washed by the resentment of the battlefield, becoming a mysterious item.
No wonder it had no "Last Will."
But now, with the "light" runes imprinted in the Sea of Ignorance, Bai Zhou easily claimed the little horse.
Facing Bai Zhou, who possessed "light," the little Wooden Horse no longer sang Troy's nursery rhyme loudly. Instead, it became exceptionally docile and obedient.
But as a result, Bai Zhou, who had not experienced its frightening effects, could not know just how lethal and dangerous it was to people...
But it did not matter.
Once he brought it back, some lucky person would eventually get to experience it.
With the Wooden Horse tucked against his chest, Bai Zhou unknowingly returned to that familiar Corpse Pit.
The vivid red flowers still swayed here.
[Let Me Rest!]
[Let Me Rest!]
[Let Me Rest!]
These petals had swayed like this, unable to rest, for who knew how many years.
If Bai Zhou had never arrived, they would undoubtedly have continued swaying.
Last time, while observing these Last Wills, Bai Zhou had encountered the white giant crawling out from the pile of ancient corpses.
Now, the ancient corpses in the Corpse Pit had been thoroughly ravaged by the white giant and lay scattered chaotically across the ground.
--There was also a skeleton that had been thrown into the distance, its bones scattered everywhere.
"..."
Bai Zhou blinked as he looked at these corpses that "could not rest," deep in thought.
Actually, when he had buried Laia just now...
By accident, Bai Zhou had suddenly gained a little insight into these Last Wills as well.
...Before long, a new mound of earth had been built.
Bai Zhou buried an ancient corpse inside it.
Since its Last Will was [Let Me Rest], Bai Zhou would let them rest in peace beneath the earth.
Bai Zhou did not know how things were on Blue Star, but in Evening City, being buried in peace was extremely important.
Even forbidden offenders who were burned to ashes would later be taken home and buried by their families or neighbors.
Their custom held that the living had homes, and the dead should have homes too.
Only after being buried could the dead obtain eternal peace.
--And continue to exist alongside the living upon this land.
Perhaps this place was the same.
At the very least, Bai Zhou had already seen more than one grave mound on this ruined wasteland.
However...
On the quiet grave mound, the Last Will [Let Me Rest] still floated there.
At first glance, it looked like an epitaph suspended in midair.
His final wish did not seem to have been fulfilled.
"..."
Bai Zhou pondered for a long while, ultimately restraining his urge to dig the ancient corpse back out of the earth.
He turned his gaze toward the other mummified corpses and skeletons.
Since everyone's Last Will was identical...
Perhaps all of their bones had to be buried before they could rest?
Bai Zhou decided to try.
But after moving only the second ancient corpse, Bai Zhou discovered a tattered strip of cloth beneath it.
It seemed to be a letter. Fragmented lines in an ancient, unfamiliar script were written across it.
Perhaps it was a Last Will.
Or perhaps it was a letter from the writer's parents.
--It might even have been some important military intelligence.
With beacon fires raging across the battlefield, a strip of cloth bearing writing seemed especially unusual.
Thus, Bai Zhou performed a Small Ritual and deciphered the writing.
Since it was not extraordinary writing and carried no special meaning, deciphering it through the Ritual was quite easy.
The contents were far too damaged. Only the first sentence at the beginning remained relatively complete.
It said:
"My dear, the war is about to end..."
Bai Zhou was speechless.
The writing after that could no longer be seen. No matter how later generations imagined it, they could never experience the letter writer's feelings at that time.
For some reason, Bai Zhou inexplicably thought of Section Chief Liu.
How would Section Chief Liu's wife and child feel about his sacrifice?
In the end, Bai Zhou buried the tattered strip of cloth together with the ancient corpse.
--It was like personally burying the stories behind them as well.
...Gradually, Bai Zhou began to forget his original purpose of fulfilling Last Wills and obtaining Gifts.
He simply carried out this task earnestly and wholeheartedly.
These soldiers had gone to the battlefield for their own reasons, following the banner of "light" into death...
They should not have "died without a place to be buried."
Bai Zhou worked somewhat slowly, and his movements were exceptionally repetitive.
He kept bending down, picking up and carrying the bones of one corpse after another that could not rest, then burying them beside one another.
--Now, Bai Zhou only hoped they had not had conflicts while alive, and that they would not quarrel later because they were buried too close together...
A long time passed.
When Bai Zhou stood with his hands on his hips before a neat row of graves and examined them, a sense of accomplishment naturally rose in his heart.
Simple gravestones made from battered shields had been planted before the graves of these nameless soldiers.
Rust-spotted, blunt-edged swords, spears, axes, and blades, along with pieces of badly damaged armor, had been placed before the graves.
--He had buried all of these with his own hands!
Bai Zhou's guess had been correct, yet it also seemed to have been only half right.
A dozen or so epitaph-like Last Wills hung in midair, pressed close together in a connected mass, glittering as if they were about to shatter.
But in the end, they did not.
It seemed he was still just a little short of fulfilling the final wish.
As for exactly what he was missing, Bai Zhou truly had no clue.
But Bai Zhou felt that it did not seem so important anymore.
The living had homes, and the dead should have homes too.
Sometimes, death was not even something that had to make the living grieve.
At least, if Section Chief Liu had died a normal sacrificial death and been buried in the Resting Mausoleum, Bai Zhou would not have been so furious and sorrowful.
In any case, perhaps because Section Chief Liu's body had never been found,
Bai Zhou now felt that preventing people from "dying without a place to be buried" was itself something worth doing.
Even without a "Gift," it did not matter.
Then, suddenly--
A puzzled question came from beside Bai Zhou's ear.
The hoarse, low, cold question seemed to come from the sky, yet also from beneath the earth.
The voice's direction was impossible to determine. It carried a terrifying majesty beyond words and a heavy sense of oppression.
It seemed to have observed Bai Zhou's strange actions for a long time, only finally unable to resist speaking at this moment.
Although the language was unfamiliar, when it reached Bai Zhou's ears, he somehow understood its meaning.
It said:
"What are you doing?"
"On this Lost Plain, doing something so meaningless--who cares?"
The two sudden questions in succession startled Bai Zhou.
He lifted the Short Club in one hand and picked up a spear in the other. His muscles tensed as he retreated again and again, warily surveying his surroundings.
But he saw nothing.
Something truly terrifying was watching this place!
Perhaps...
Bai Zhou looked up at the Inverted Giant City hanging upside down in the sky, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
Realizing that he had been watched by the other party for quite some time, Bai Zhou simply answered the other party's question in a low voice:
"Perhaps many things don't necessarily need to have any special meaning."
"...Because I wanted to do them, I did them."
As he spoke, he tightened his grip on the spear-gun and Short Club, then fell silent for a moment,
"Actually, even I didn't care what would happen as a result of doing this."
"But perhaps..."
He raised Short Club and pointed at the orderly rows of graves before him, then at the silent suits of armor, indicating them one by one:
"Perhaps he would care."
"This one cares, this one too, and this one, and this one..."
"..."