Tianyi lay on the bed, holding the gleaming golden medal up in his right hand as he stared at the ceiling light for a long time.
The bedroom was softly lit. The curtains were half-drawn, and moonlight leaked through the gap, spreading a silvery band of light across the floor.
The Hongqi on the medal glowed softly beneath the light. Every ridge of the golden star was clearly visible, as though it had been carved into the metal with a blade—sharp-edged and dazzling.
His fingers gently traced the medal's surface, feeling the metal's temperature and the raised and recessed patterns.
It felt cool, yet it was as though warmth seeped from his fingertips into his veins, traveled up his arm, and finally settled in his chest, resonating with his heartbeat.
Even now, it still felt a little unreal.
When he had left the Great Hall, he had been in a daze. The applause, the gazes, the camera flashes, and the overwhelming cries of "peerless national hero" all seemed separated from him by a thin mist, hazy and untouchable.
Only now, deep in the quiet of the night, lying alone in his own bed with the medal before his eyes, did it finally feel real.
This was the highest honor a Rabbit Nation soldier could receive, a height that countless people could never reach even after spending their entire lives striving for it.
From blood and fire on the battlefield to blades and swords in other worlds, from Blue Star's dark nights to the white flash of nuclear bombs—he had fought for all of this with his life.
As he looked at the medal pinned to his chest, a surge of heat shot from his spine to his head. It was pride, glory, and the relief of finally being recognized after