What was an illusion?
It was imposing one's own unrealistic wishes on the reality of the future.
It sounded a little ridiculous, as though only fools would do such a thing.
And yet,
As students, everyone had imagined that one day something would click, their grades would soar, and they would rise above all their peers.
At work, everyone had imagined that one day they would become the most indispensable person in the company, someone even the boss would bow and scrape to.
Standing before a grave, they had thought they would give anything to bring back the beloved elder lying inside.
Lying in a hospital bed, they had thought that if they could recover, they would never worry about anything else again.
As children, they had wished time would move faster so they could grow up sooner.
Once grown, they had wished time would move slower so they would not age so quickly.
In the past, they had dreamed up limitless futures; in the future, they longed for an ordinary past.
So illusions were not the exclusive privilege of fools.
Everyone harbored them.
Illusions were not stupidity, but the last shred of hope and comfort people gave themselves when they were powerless against reality.
Yet holding on to illusions always made people feel that things would not be so bad, compromising their ability to judge matters calmly.
Only by killing those illusions could they find their strongest selves.
In everyday life, the impact of illusions was limited, after all.
In war, illusions could cost countless people their lives.
Qian Wendao had seen this with absolute clarity.
That was why he had chosen to die.
Earlier, just over a hundred invaders had taken less than two hours to break through the defenses of War Readiness Zone 931.
This time, the