Boom!!!
Lin Tiejun's brain shut down completely in that instant, leaving his mind blank.
Xu Anbang!
It really was him!
I must have been blind not to recognize such a towering figure!
But Lin Tiejun could hardly take all the blame!
Who could have imagined that this pillar of stability, nearly a hundred years old and long presumed dead, was still alive?
And who could have imagined that he would be strolling outside Jade Spring Mountain in plain clothes, just like some old man from next door?
The photographs released by the military all showed Xu Anbang in uniform, either in his youth or his middle years, radiating heroic vigor and an indomitable presence.
Aside from the trusted aides who had followed him for decades, or his family, who could possibly connect this thin old man, with his white hair and deeply lined face, to "Dragon King Xu," the man who commanded the nation's vast maritime territory?
Bang!
Lin Tiejun's body snapped ramrod straight!
He brought his feet together sharply, his heels striking each other with a crisp crack!
Then he thrust out his chest, raised his right hand, and put every ounce of strength he had into a military salute of absolute precision!
"Lin Tiejun, former Second Battalion Commander of the First Regiment, Jiangcheng Garrison!"
"Reporting to you, sir!"
His roar no longer carried his earlier grief, fury, and resentment. Instead, it rang with reverence and excitement from the depths of his soul, with the awe of a soldier standing before his commander-in-chief!
Xu Anbang merely waved a hand casually at the sight of him.
The commanding presence that had once shaken the world had long since receded, leaving only the warmth of an old friend reunited.
"Enough, enough. At your age, why bother with all this ceremony?"
"Sit