Five years after the Western Frontier reclamation campaign ended.
It was deep winter.
Yet inside Xifeng Pass, it was as warm as spring.
The boundless meadow was lush and green, while nameless wildflowers bloomed in a riot of purples and reds.
Herds of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely across the grassland.
The herders who had fled the bitter cold of the Western Frontier had built whole stretches of temporary shelters here, with cooking smoke curling into the sky.
Wild rabbits darted in and out of the grass, while goshawks circled high above. All kinds of animals had gathered here.
It was a scene brimming with vitality, with all creation striving to flourish.
The bunkers and trenches that had once covered the land had long since vanished.
Even the magnificent fortress complex built against the mountains and encircling the entire basin had been blasted into ruins.
The steel defense line now consisted only of broken walls and rubble, hidden among vigorously growing flowers and grass.
At the old site of Pebble Fortress, halfway up the mountain,
Li Wei held her son in her arms as she sat shoulder to shoulder with Gu Jinzhi on a massive chunk of concrete, looking down at everything below.
"Mommy, is this where you fought?"
A childish voice rang out.
The little fellow in her arms had already grown to look about five or six years old. He tilted up a small, exquisitely carved face and asked in the manner of a little adult.
Li Wei reached out and pinched his chubby cheek, her voice brimming with pride and affection.
"That's right."
She pointed at the rubble beneath them and began boasting about herself.
"See this? The place we're sitting on was the command center of the Western Frontier Death Line back then—Pebble Fortress."
She pointed