Missing Home

Krozo van Dien – this name might sound unfamiliar to you.

This is the supreme leader of the railway traffic safety management department, the marshal of the First Transportation Department.

On his way to the Elf Holy Land, Jiang Xueming met another mentor, Chief of Staff Luka —like Keshua, they were both war decision-making units of the Transportation Department.

The Senate of Blackstone and White Stone commands several thousand men as elite troops, directly under the command of Ming De. These command and control orders are determined by the Organization Department of the Transportation Bureau.

--The orders from this organizational department, including where troops go, what battles they fight, and why they fight, are mostly determined by the think tank team and Marshal Krozo and the other eight generals of the Senate.

The nameless individuals, represented by Xue Ming, only needed to gather intelligence and kill people, but there was a great deal of work behind the scenes, such as coordination and cooperation between warbands, basic intelligence in the early stages of the war zone, logistics supply lines, coordinated advancement between war zones, post-war prisoner treatment and agricultural and industrial recovery, urban reconstruction, ideological reform of militias who mutinied or rebelled in the region, weapons manufacturing and transportation, and so on.

These tasks cannot be accomplished by a single super AI like those in Shinto City. Instead, they require cooperation between various transportation departments, involving frequent communication and coordination between regional maintenance, signaling, engineering, corps, sub-commands, general commanders, and political bureaus. As an important figurehead and leader, the BOSS must also participate in these processes.

Krozo Vandeen has been battling the Madness Butterfly Sect for over eighty years, and is now exactly one hundred years old. Having experienced three harvest seasons, in the turbulent underworld, if Wood Plark is the pillar of the think tank, then in the era of the Nameless One, the Guangling Zhixi is Keshua.

As Xia Bang's first strategic stronghold, Hefeng Town is located precisely between the Zhuzhou Peninsula and Taiye Prefecture, known as the first pass of the Central Plains. It has an independent port, and although its cargo throughput is not as large as Xiantai Prefecture, it is quieter and safer. Moreover, there are no Wings of Light from the Immortals Alliance —it is a "land without Keshua." This was also the first move made by the general in the game against Judas.

The task of capturing Hefeng Town was not originally mandated to be completed by the gunsmith. The operational guidelines left to the gunsmith were to freely choose a route to Shangjing and establish contact with the Gate of Wonders team of the Wuling Mountain lineage.

Hefeng Town is the preferred option. Besides Zhuzhou, there are four other strategic locations in the Taizhou direction that can be considered as alternatives.

However, Xue Ming took it down, and almost immediately afterward, Wood Plark and Luo Ping'an followed suit, establishing a base there and sending the Nameless Ones' elite units to this stronghold. This led to the later story of 9527 driving the Big Frog to Bodhisattva Valley.

At that moment, Xue Ming had just woken up and had barely exchanged a few words with Xiao Qi before the two of them ate something casually. Then Shasha barged in from outside the guest room of the Mu Family Manor.

"Gunsmith! Keshua wants to see you! It's time for the morning meeting!"

Jiang Xueming immediately put down his chopsticks and bowl.

Xiao Qi immediately said, "Let's finish eating before we leave!"

Jiang Xueming: "Let's eat after the meeting."

Xiao Qi immediately showed disgust, but only frowned slightly before saying nothing more—she had gone against her husband's wishes, so it was inappropriate for her to say anything in the first place.

"You come too, take the bowl and head over there." Jiang Xueming took his wife along, grabbing her arm and leading her towards the stage.

The theater in Mujiazhuang had long been emptied by the townspeople, and now it was furnished with a new set of tables and chairs.

--On the way, Xue Ming and Xiao Qi talked about their previous agreement.

"Didn't we agree from the beginning that one person would stay at home?"

At first, 9527 thought her husband wouldn't bring it up, after all, it was she who drove the Big Frog to the front line, which led to the later story; otherwise, Xue Ming would probably have died in Bodhisattva Valley.

Upon hearing this question, Xiao Qi immediately bristled.

You want me to go back?!

This was the arrangement for the couple during the expeditionary era: one would risk their life abroad, while the other would stay home to take care of the children.

If one of them dies, the remaining one can continue to take care of the children, so that the four Jiang siblings don't become orphans without parents.

"I didn't mean to blame you, Qi." Jiang Xueming smiled and quickly explained, "It just feels like so long, so very long since I've seen you, and then you just came to the front lines like this—I'm a little unaccustomed to it, it's a kind of unexpected surprise."

"Hey!" Xiao Qi waved her chopsticks impatiently, stuffing food into her mouth as she hurried along, her words mumbled incoherently, "Someone's taking care of our babies."

As she said this, she took out her phone from her inner pocket and played the videos of the children.

The two older brothers, Da Wa and Er Wa, seemed a little uneasy in front of the camera, sitting on the sofa in the club.

Just as 9527 finished setting up her phone and came into the picture frame, she vigorously rubbed her two sons' heads.

"Dad's watching you! Smile! Smile, smile!"

Jiang Bai chuckled awkwardly, "Hehehehe."

Erwa is quite genuine; he burst into laughter as he snuggled up to his older brother, showing he's a natural actor.

The two children seemed to know that their mother was also going on a long trip to a very, very far place.

They were not even eight or nine years old, but they had all heard their parents' stories to some extent, and knew what their fathers and mothers had to fight against and what dangers they faced—but they had never seen it with their own eyes or had any close contact with it. They had only seen it in some audio materials and some documentaries.

"Say something! Say something!" Xiao Qi urged.

At this point, the eldest and second children were speechless, and their smiles vanished.

Jiang Zhengyang kept glancing at the camera and then at something off-screen, as if his third brother and youngest sister were waiting. Off-screen, Jiang Zheng could be heard sobbing softly—Zhengyang cared deeply for his younger sister and his attention was diverted by her crying.

"Hey! You go first!" Xiao Qi simply picked up her phone and hugged Dawa.

Jiang Bai became even more reserved, his face nestled in his mother's arm, his eyes squinting.

"Dad"

I miss you.

Jiang Xueming suddenly stopped, held up his phone, and started grinning foolishly.

"Hahahaha. Cough cough hahahaha"

He choked on his own saliva, showing no awareness whatsoever of being War King.

"Don't pressure him, he's so aggrieved."

Xiao Qi: "I'm just in a hurry!"

Jiang Bai then spoke hesitantly.

"Mom and the rest of us have already told you about your situation."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of things at home, everything will be fine."

"That's right. That's right."

At this point, Jiang Bai scratched his earlobe and the base of his neck, his face turning red.

"It's just that I don't have any psychic abilities yet, Little Kitty doesn't like me."

"I'll try my best. But will trying help be of any use, Dad?"

Xiao Qi shouted in the video, "This is a recording! Not a video call! Hey!"

"Oh, oh!" Jiang Bai quickly handed the phone to his second brother. "Then let Zhengyang talk to you. I won't talk anymore, I won't talk anymore. Mom gets angry as soon as I speak, so I won't say anything for now."

Jiang Zhengyang took the phone and immediately started working on some abstract and ruthless stuff.

"Little Jiang"

9527: "Huh?!"

Suddenly, a hand appeared next to Zhengyang's head, ready to hit him; his mother was about to slap him.

"Dad! Dad! Dad! I got a hundred on my math test!"

He huddled up, afraid that his mother would be angry, and quickly tried to reason with his father.

"If Mom comes to live with you, talk to her! What will her status be in the family? Shouldn't I get some reward? I study very hard!"

Xiao Qi: "What kind of reward do you want? Just tell Daddy—Daddy will agree to anything you do, since you're so amazing."

"Could it be?" Jiang Zhengyang thought for a moment, then remained silent for about four or five seconds.

During this time, Jiang Xueming thought he had pressed the pause button.

--Because Zheng Yang really didn't move at all, he was completely frozen, and you couldn't even feel his breathing.

"Can you bring Mom back, Dad?" Jiang Zhengyang said, "I won't call you Xiao Jiang anymore, I won't say it anymore. You have to sit by my bedside around six in the morning, and I won't cry anymore. I'm not afraid of you anymore."

"Dad, can we ask someone else to do your job?"

"Hey! What are you talking about!" Xiao Qi took the phone and handed it to Zhenzhen, who was sitting across from her on the sofa near the TV.

At this moment, Jiang Xueming could no longer laugh.

He sensed that both the eldest and second children were very nervous. It was fine if the children didn't understand—but he worried that even if they understood half of it, they would have to figure it all out at once. That would be too heavy and too cruel for them.

Bai Zhenzhen showed no emotion; he looked very mature, just like Xue Ming when he was a child.

"Father, Mother wants to go to your place too."

"The last time she went on a long trip, Zheng'er cried, and she cried again this time."

"I told my brothers that we are boys and we shouldn't let our sister cry. I won't say anything more, I won't cause you any trouble. You need to take good care of yourself outside, and I will take good care of myself at home."

"There was a flu outbreak at school last week, so I asked Aunt Wang to prepare extra masks, and none of us got infected."

"After you left, my second brother didn't eat properly. I reminded him, but he didn't listen to Mom. I fought with him yesterday and lost, which embarrassed you. This afternoon, I wanted to look through the books you wrote and try again."

"My older brother always snores when he sleeps, and he has many dreams and is very restless. He is deficient in trace elements. I told my mother about this, and we should change his diet next week."

"As for myself, I've gained a little weight recently because I can't control my eating. After you go out, I like to eat corn candy. Aunt Wang and Mom spoil me and don't say anything—I don't dare to when you're here. I'll gradually overcome this flaw."

At this point, Bai Zhenzhen took a piece of paper out of her small pocket.

"This is the essay I wrote, and the teacher gave me a 5A+."

"It's a travelogue about visiting the artifacts at the Toshiba Museum. It's the first time I've gotten a 5A+ this semester. I'll show it to you, and you can pause and take a look."

"And that's it."

As Bai Zhenzhen handed the phone to Jiang Zheng, he quickly moved closer to the camera and said something.

Goodbye, Dad!

When they arrived outside the meeting room of the stage, some people hadn't arrived yet, so Jiang Xueming simply squatted down on the bench in the pavilion, deciding to wait a bit— Xiao Qi also needed to finish her meal.

Xue Ming paused the video. "What I worry about most are these four little darlings."

Xiao Qi didn't reply. She ate the last grain of rice, chewed the vegetable leaves, swallowed them, and then snuggled up next to her husband.

Xue Ming: "I'm really scared. What will happen to them after you run over? No matter how close your uncles and aunts are, no matter how familiar your Grandfather are, they can't replace your parents."

Xiao Qi: "I know, I know"

"I really didn't mean to blame you, darling." Jiang Xueming put her arm around Seventh Brother's shoulder. "I just felt..."

"I was orphaned and uneducated when I was young, which is bad enough—but then I was always fighting and constantly on the move. They grew up in my arms, and I didn't hear them call me 'Mom' the first time. I heard them call me 'Dad' the first time on a video call."

"I'm afraid I'll let them down, afraid I won't be able to fulfill this responsibility."

"If you stay here with me—they'll definitely hate me."

At this point, Jiang Xueming took out cigarettes from his pocket, gave one to his wife and helped her light it, and then took one for himself.

"I don't want to take you away from the children, and I think it's the same for you."

"If I were alone in the house, waiting anxiously for you to come home—it would be agonizing, I understand."

"It's better if I don't go out with them, but if I do, and they never come back..."

"They will definitely hate me, or hate you, or hate the BOSS."

Xiao Qi immediately said, "No way! You were like that when you were little too!"

"Having it from the beginning and not having it from the beginning are two different concepts." Jiang Xueming pursed his lips and patted his wife's cheek. "If there's a missing process in between, accepting it yourself and having it taken away from you are not the same thing."

Xiao Qi sighed, her eyes stinging from the smoke.

"I'm already here! What are you going to do about it?!"

Jiang Xueming: "I'll definitely kiss you a few times first."

Xiao Qi: "Hey!"

After the sweet talk, let's take a look at Jiang Zheng.

Zheng'er sat very upright and straight.

She placed her hands on her thighs, straightened her neck and back, and stared straight ahead at her phone.

"Father"

As soon as she opened her mouth, the girl started crying again, and the tears she had just shed began to flow again.

"My God!"

"How long have you been gone? You haven't given me any definite news."

"How can you be so insensible? How old are you?"

"The doctor said I have scoliosis and an extra little tail. I just had surgery."

"It hurts, Daddy."

"It hurts."

"Waaaaah"

She wiped away her snot and tears, and handed the tissue to Xiao Qi outside the painting.

"Thanks."

Let's get back to the point.

"Dad, there are a lot of people at the club, all of them are newcomers."

"Once, I came in through the front door, and a customer stopped me and asked who I was. I got really angry."

"When I get angry about this, I can't control myself."

"When I clenched my fist, the customer's nose started bleeding."

My mom scolded me, and I said—

Zheng'er felt extremely wronged.

"This is my home! Do I need their permission to come home?!"

"Later, Auntie (Red Sister) came back. She knew something had happened. She took care of the injured guests and sent me to the BOSS's place. She took me to the Polarized Sextant, apparently to do some kind of test, but she didn't tell me anything about it."

"Mom is going on a business trip with you this time, and you didn't even tell me why."

At this point, Zheng'er lost control of her emotions again; she couldn't speak, she could only cry.

The video ends here. After handing the children over to Aunt Bu Mei for the second half of the semester, 9527 hurriedly left home to follow the assignment of the Organization Department to Shambhala.

Xue Ming felt a bitter pang in his heart, but this was the same for every soldier—the officers and soldiers of the battle group, the local militia, and even the Police Department clerk who had previously been plagued by Madness Butterfly —who didn't have parents and children at home? Who could guarantee they would return home unscathed?

"Hey," Xue Ming handed the phone back to his wife, "You might as well not have recorded it at all."

Xiao Qi said sarcastically, "Oh, you called me 'Sweetie' before we got married, but now that we're married, you complain that these four kids are causing you trouble?"

"No, no." Jiang Xueming didn't dare to talk back and quickly admitted defeat. "Let's go, let's go. I feel my strength has returned!"

Xiao Qi: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Xueming: "I'm going to take you back, we'll both go back together."

He pushed open the stage doors and let his wife go in first.

"--I."

He pointed at his nose, then patted Xiao Qi on the shoulder.

"And you, let's make another expedition together, and bring back new documentaries for the four babies. Let's elevate the prestige of their family tree a little further."

"That's more like it!" Xiao Qi grinned. "I told you so before we set off!"

Before the words were finished, an old general collapsed on the empty stage.

Krozo Vandien had a gray beard and very few blond hairs, but he was quite robust. He was knocked to the ground and groaned in pain.

On the other side, the clerk, still waiting for the meeting to begin, clutched a thick booklet, covering his mouth as if he wanted to say something but hesitated to speak.

The other unnamed warrior on the stage was none other than Su Ling.

"--Impressive skills, Keshua!"

Although A Ling was offering these compliments, she had no choice but to keep her face expressionless and couldn't make any other expression.

Marshal Krozo was a man with no bad habits, except for one thing: he didn't like simulations; he preferred actual combat.

In the previous duel between the two spears, the spearheads were wrapped in cloth, and Keshua was sent flying after only two rounds.

As soon as the clerk stepped onto the stage, Keshua shouted.

"Don't rush! I also have a set of Hundred Flowers Flying Swallow Continuous Spear Strikes, Dragon Soaring, Body in One Muscle Rain, Pear Blossom Rain, and Breaking Army. Help me up first, and I'll demonstrate it for you."

Clerk: "Okay!"

Jiang Xueming suddenly realized that the slight regret brought about by the children's video recording was actually nothing at all.

--Over the past century, it is admirable that Keshua was able to stay at the Transportation Department Command Center, effectively manage the Guangling Zhixi Operations Group, and restrain his fighting spirit.

It's wonderful that this marshal didn't go to the front lines to die.

When Keshua finally got up, he was already 2.1 meters tall. Even though he was old and frail, he was still a burly "big shot". When he saw the gunsmith, the old man immediately beamed with joy.

"Ouch! Baldy!"

Jiang Xueming: "Hey! Marshal!"

Krozo immediately put down his spear and hurried to the War King's side.

"The town elders told me jokes before."

Jiang Xueming: "Please slow down, please slow down."

Krozo was a mortal man, without any Inspiration or blood transfusion.

"It's this ancestral hall in Hefeng Town. I'll call him the hall master. All six clan leaders listen to him; he's a leader of opinion."

The old man was beaming with energy and full of vitality.

He gripped Jiang Xueming's hand, deliberately testing his strength, wanting to prove that he was still powerful.

"He said, 'That day, the Buddha Sculptor, the high monk!'"

"We must summon wind and rain, and pray to the gods to punish this demon of Black Wind Ridge."

"I was so happy when I heard that. I thought to myself, I'll ask this hall master."

"And then what?"

"Later, the Buddha Sculptor flew into the sky, and you blew him away with one shot! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

Keshua clutched his stomach and slapped his thigh hard.

"Hahahaha! I comforted this sect leader, saying—doesn't this make him seem incredibly powerful? Hahahaha! He can summon wind and rain! He's flying in the sky! A highly accomplished monk!"

Jiang Xueming: "Keshua, please mind your image."

"I'm so sorry, I'm just too happy, so happy!" Marshal Krozo covered his mouth, then couldn't contain his joy; seeing Xue Ming made him feel celebratory.

--After all, he had lived for a hundred years. How could he have imagined that he would be in charge of the fight against the Immortals Alliance?

From the day he was born, he experienced three harvest seasons. His parents were from a family in Yellowstone People, and he was a disgrace to his family, devoid of any Inspiration. He shuttled back and forth between various departments of the Transportation Bureau and fought against the Madness Butterfly Sect for so many years. Such a useless coward, yet such a brilliant and dazzling life! To meet a talent like Jiang Xueming, and to be able to wield the divine sword of the Nameless One—he had no other desires but ecstatic joy.

"Come on, let's arm wrestle?"

This old marshal, who has no pyroxene, wants to play games with the young people.

Jiang Xueming immediately agreed, "Okay."

The two sat down, Keshua's arm being significantly longer than Xue Ming's. But in terms of pure strength, how could a mortal possibly be stronger than a psychic?

"Count to three?" Keshua asked. "Everyone's not here yet! The meeting hasn't even started! Look at me! Don't look anywhere else!"

Jiang Xueming: "One."

Keshua suddenly exerted his strength. "Three!"

Jiang Xueming immediately let go and admitted defeat. "You win."

"Hahahaha!" Keshua immediately exclaimed triumphantly, "I knew it! I can still play! I definitely can play!"

The audience on and off the stage, the soldiers coming and going, and the swift-blade warriors all doted on the old marshal, refraining from saying anything that would spoil the atmosphere, and secretly smiling to themselves.

Krozo told his adjutant to bring him an overcoat, brushed aside the stray hairs on his face, lifted his small ponytail, and draped the coat over himself—he looked like a robust old lion. He had a high nose, a broad chin, and a set of teeth that were still white and even; he was in excellent spirits.

"I want to say something practical, like what General of Tears said and did—MacArthur also said, to be home before Christmas."

"I won't say that; there are still less than four months until Christmas."

"But I will definitely let you go home for the New Year!"

"He can go back if he has photos of his wife and children with him!"

"He has parents waiting for him at home, people who need his care. He can go back there!"

"Not to mention the others: those promising young people who haven't paid off their mortgages and car loans, those whose funds and stocks are still stuck, those who are contributing to underground finances, those single men who haven't gotten married or had children yet—none of them are going anywhere! They all have to go back!"

The clerk muttered under her breath, "Then please let me go. It wouldn't be a bad thing if I stayed here to continue construction."

"Next, let's hold this meeting!"

Keshua slammed his fist on the table and shouted, the stage curtain was lifted, revealing the Xia Bang map. Teacher Su Ling used her Soul Power [Phoenix] to create a sand table, complete with all kinds of game pieces.

"Let's have a serious talk! How are you going to get home on time!"