Family Reunion! A Request!

"Brother!"

Lin Xiaoxiao threw her arms around Lin Yuan's arm.

She looked him up and down, her eyes wide as saucers.

Zhang Hui hurried over.

She was still clutching an oil-speckled spatula, tears welling in her eyes.

"You've gotten darker."

"And stronger."

Zhang Hui reached out and touched Lin Yuan's cheek.

Her fingers were rough, callused from years of labor.

Lin Jianguo stood beside the sofa without moving.

His somewhat clouded eyes concealed excitement he could barely suppress.

But he was too proud, forcibly swallowing his emotions.

"It's enough that you're back."

"Hurry up and wash your hands. Dinner's ready."

Lin Jianguo cleared his throat, his voice a little dry.

The heating in the room was cranked up high.

A noisy variety show was playing on the television.

The rich aroma of braised pork ribs drifted out from the kitchen.

Lin Yuan stood in the entryway.

He greedily breathed in the air filled with the warmth of everyday life.

This was the reality he would stake everything on to protect to the death.

A few minutes later.

The family sat gathered around the dining table.

Zhang Hui kept piling food into Lin Yuan's bowl until the ribs formed a small mountain.

"Brother."

"What exactly have you been doing?"

"The people who came to pick us up before were fully armed."

"And they wouldn't let us ask where you'd gone."

"Did they recruit you for some secret esports competition?"

"After all, you used to be so good at gaming!"

Lin Xiaoxiao bit down on her chopsticks and asked with a face full of curiosity.

During this time.

She had often wondered where her brother had gone.

Now.

Since Lin Yuan had returned.

She naturally had to get to the bottom of it.

Hearing his little sister's words.

Lin Yuan nearly choked on a rib.

He put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a tissue.

He absolutely could not tell them about the Spiritual Energy Revival and Ferocious Beasts.

If even the slightest hint leaked out.

The entire Shu Capital—even all of Dragon Country—would fall into panic.

"Special military recruitment."

"Because I showed exceptional talent in a certain area."

Then.

Lin Yuan spoke casually, as though he were discussing something utterly ordinary.

Zhang Hui stopped moving her chopsticks.

Obvious worry flashed through her eyes.

"Is it dangerous?"

"You used to be a delivery driver, and they suddenly recruited you..."

Lin Jianguo tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks.

"What would a woman like you know?"

"Since the country arranged it, the country must have its reasons."

Even so.

Lin Jianguo's heart was also full of doubts.

Specially recruiting a delivery driver?

And even arranging a high-end military family compound specifically for his relatives?

The treatment was absurd beyond belief.

Lin Yuan noticed his parents' unease.

He understood that unless he showed them something tangible.

They would not be able to finish this meal in peace.

He reached into the pocket against his body and touched the dark red booklet.

The next moment.

Lin Yuan gently placed the booklet on the dining table.

Under the light, the national emblem glimmered with a stern, dark sheen.

Lin Xiaoxiao was the first to reach for it.

She curiously opened the ID, her gaze sweeping over the photograph.

Then.

As though she had seen a ghost, she sprang from her chair.

"C-C-Colonel?"

Lin Xiaoxiao's voice cracked outright.

Zhang Hui jumped in fright.

She quickly leaned over to look, but she did not quite understand the significance of that rank.

"How big of an official is a colonel?"

Lin Jianguo snatched the ID away.

He pushed his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose and stared fixedly at the embossed seal.

"A regimental commander-level officer..."

"He could even serve as a brigade chief of staff!"

Lin Jianguo had started stammering.

He had served two years as a conscript and knew just how difficult promotion in the military was.

A twenty-two-year-old kid with no background becoming a military colonel?

If anyone said such a thing out loud.

They would absolutely be taken away as a lunatic.

"Brother."

"Did you go save the world?"

"Or are you actually The Terminator?"

Lin Xiaoxiao swallowed.

The way she looked at Lin Yuan had changed from looking at her brother to looking at an alien.

"Watch fewer sci-fi movies."

Lin Yuan could not help laughing as he scolded her.

He put the ID back into his pocket, his expression turning serious.

"Dad, Mom, Xiaoxiao."

"My specific work is top secret."

"Just pretend you never saw this ID."

Lin Jianguo immediately sat up straight and nodded heavily.

"I understand confidentiality rules!"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, and don't say what you shouldn't say!"

Although Zhang Hui was still filled with worry.

Seeing her husband's attitude, she could only swallow her words.

"Then... how long can you stay this time?"

"Twenty days."

"I have to leave on the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year."

Lin Yuan answered softly.

"Twenty days is good."

"Then we can properly celebrate the New Year."

Zhang Hui began putting food into Lin Yuan's bowl again.

Only, her movements were much gentler than before, as though she feared disturbing this senior colonel.

Late at night.

The family had all gone to sleep.

Lin Yuan returned to his bedroom and locked the door.

He looked at the ceiling, a complicated emotion flashing through his eyes.

Several more white hairs had appeared on his father's head.

The wrinkles at the corners of his mother's eyes had also deepened compared to what he remembered.

Time had left irreversible marks upon them.

Suddenly.

The encrypted special phone vibrated.

Lin Yuan immediately snapped back to attention, picked up the phone, and answered.

"Hello, Comrade Lin Yuan."

"I am Zhao Dingbang, Commander-in-Chief of the Southwest Military Region!"

A deep, powerful voice came from the other end of the line.

"Greetings, Commander!"

Lin Yuan's expression sharpened.

He understood that he had been transferred to the Southwest Defense Zone.

Inside the command headquarters of the Southwest Military Region.

Zhao Dingbang stood before a massive electronic sand table.

In his hand, he held a top-secret file.

Three vivid red letters—"SSS"—were printed on its cover.

There were only a few pages inside.

Yet the data recorded within had kept this battle-hardened old general awake all night.

[Punching force test: Equipment damaged; estimated to exceed 30 tons.]

[100-meter burst: 0.8 seconds.]

[Trait: True Qi Projection; destructive power equivalent to an individual thermobaric bomb.]

What kind of soldier was this?

This was a strategic-level killing weapon wearing human skin!

Most terrifying of all, this weapon was only twenty-two years old.

Zhao Dingbang looked at the holographic map of the area around Shu Capital displayed on the screen.

Several red points were flashing there.

The research department predicted that after the Spiritual Energy Tide erupted, major trouble was highly likely to occur there.

"Comrade Lin Yuan, welcome home."

"Everything regarding your situation has already been handed over to me."

"On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, I'll send a car to pick you up."

"The lives of Shu Capital's sixteen million people are all resting on your shoulders."

"Rest assured, Commander."

"As long as I still draw breath, the Shu Capital Defense Line will not fall."

Hearing Zhao Dingbang's words.

Lin Yuan's hand tightened slightly around the phone.

His voice was not loud, but it carried unshakable resolve.

After hanging up the phone.

Lin Yuan glanced at the clock on the wall.

After hesitating for a moment,

he still dialed Nie Dingguo's number.

The phone rang only once before it was answered instantly.

"You brat."

"You just got home and you're already calling me?"

There was a trace of exhaustion in Nie Dingguo's voice.

Lately, he had been run ragged trying to popularize the Breathing Method.

"Sir!"

"I want to request something."

"I want to teach the Basic Breathing Technique to my parents and younger sister."

Lin Yuan got straight to the point without any nonsense.

A brief silence fell over the other end of the line.

Before the full outbreak of the Spiritual Energy Revival,

the Basic Breathing Technique could only be circulated within the military and was forbidden from being introduced to civilians.

That was precisely why

Lin Yuan had not even dared to mention the Spiritual Energy Revival in front of his parents during the day.

Elsewhere,

at the Northwest Military Region Underground Base,

Nie Dingguo rubbed his throbbing temples, his eyes flickering wildly.

Rules were dead. People were alive.

Who was Lin Yuan?

He was currently Dragon Country's only Second-Tier Martial Artist, the pillar holding up the first wave of the Beast Tide.

If they did not put his worries to rest,

what if he got distracted on the battlefield?

"Sir."

"If it's too difficult, then forget it."

Just then,

Lin Yuan's voice rang out again as he took the initiative to back down.

"Teach it to them!"

"Just say it's a health exercise specially provided by the military region."

"But make sure to warn them that they absolutely must not pass it on to relatives or friends!"

After hesitating for several seconds,

Nie Dingguo finally spoke and agreed to Lin Yuan's request.

"Thank you, Instructor."

"Get lost, get lost! Go to sleep already!"