Return to Familiar Ground

Not long ago, the armed helicopter that Li Qing regarded as a hero was rapidly approaching the coast under Li Qing's command.

The mirror-like blue sea was not far ahead. From the air, it looked like a huge, seamless blue jade, majestic and magnificent.

But at this moment, the pale-faced young driver had no mood to appreciate such a beautiful view.

As he piloted the helicopter towards the sea, his voice trembling, he couldn't help but ask Li Qing:

"We've reached the coastline; the sea is just ahead."

"What do we do now?"

"Should we lure the monster to our naval base next?"

The driver, trembling, hesitated to speak.

In fact, he had already vaguely guessed Li Qing's "true purpose":

Head towards the coast? What can we find there to fight off monsters?

Of course, only the invincible New Roman Empire navy could compete.

This bald guy clearly has ulterior motives; he wants to divert hatred and shift the blame elsewhere!

The young American soldier felt a mix of emotions at the thought that his Imperial Fleet was about to be attacked by monsters because of Li Qing's scheme.

He was heartbroken, conflicted, and filled with self-reproach.

"No, how could I do such a thing?"

"This is a betrayal of what you see, my sister!"

The driver's eyes welled up with tears of self-reproach, and he was in unbearable pain.

But Li Qing murmured something during a lull in the firing of the Vulcan cannon:

"We're almost out of bullets."

"Once the bullets are all used up, we'll be the ones those Meat Chunk will devour."

"Ha?"

The driver's expression changed.

The helicopter, which was pointing directly at the US Military base, suddenly flew even faster.

Don't worry.

Li Qing continued to reassure his American friend with those comforting words:

"The bullet can last for a maximum of 5 more seconds."

"Five seconds isn't enough for us to fly to the base."

"Your superiors and comrades will definitely be fine; the only ones who will die are us."

"."

The driver's lips twitched, and he was unable to speak.

The helicopter beneath him flew even faster without him even noticing.

"Keep accelerating, dive downwards, and reduce altitude."

Li Qing gave timely instructions when the driver was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

But to this professional driver, his instructions were even more disheartening than the order from his superior to "persevere" just moments before.

"Accelerate the downward dive? Holy crap!"

"That damn helicopter is definitely going to crash into the ground, it's fucking suicidal!"

Although the other person's words were automatically translated into Li Qing's familiar hometown dialect.

But Li Qing believed that this American friend must have used a lot of F-prefixed interjections and also took the opportunity to greet the mother of the helicopter.

"Calm down! Calm down!"

To avoid casualties, the driver's cooperation was essential, so Li Qing had no choice but to try his best to calm the young man who was not in a good mood.

Incidentally, he couldn't help but reminisce about General Colt used to perfectly coordinate with his operations and command the enemy's army with ease, effortlessly annihilating thousands of troops even when facing Meat Mountain.

"Believe me--"

"I promise I can save you and your comrades."

Li Qing tried her best to comfort the other person in a way that they could understand:

"Don't forget how I got on the plane."

"I'm a 'superhero,' the kind with superpowers."

"You know Captain America, right? I could easily go toe-to-toe with him."

"This"

The driver was stunned by what he heard, and even found it quite reasonable:

Indeed, Li Qing had just "flew" up here.

With a flying creature next to you, are you still worried about crashing?

Thinking of this, and seeing the Meat Mountain relentlessly pursuing him below, he ultimately chose to compromise and trust.

And so, under his control, the helicopter rapidly dived forward, its altitude dropping swiftly.

200 meters, 100 meters, 50 meters.

"Now!"

Li Qing fired his last bullet.

He hoisted the unconscious machine gunner onto his shoulder, then rushed to the front of the cabin and lifted the pilot up as well.

"Jump!"

With two people in tow, Li Qing jumped from a height of 50 meters.

The helicopter continued to accelerate and dive forward, its speed attracting more attention from the Molten Giant Beast behind it than from Li Qing and the others.

And so, the Meat Mountain charged forward, chasing after the diving helicopter.

Li Qing, along with the driver and machine gunner, landed safely on the roof of an office building about 40 meters high below.

The whole process was thrilling but without any real danger. Before the young driver could even scream, Li Qing had already placed him steadily on the rooftop floor.

The helicopter, sacrificing itself for the greater good, successfully lured the Meat Mountain more than a hundred meters away before bursting into a dazzling display of sparks in mid-air.

The sound of the helicopter explosion could be heard in the distance.

Li Qing found the voice strangely familiar.

Why does it feel so familiar? Thinking about it carefully...

One from the Chocola, one from the General Colt, the one from Rome that night, and this one now.

It seems that every helicopter he rode in eventually emitted that familiar sound.

Li Qing wore out four helicopters in less than two weeks. After thinking it over carefully, he immediately gave up the idea of buying a private helicopter.

"Cough cough. All done."

Putting aside these wild thoughts, Li Qing pushed the unconscious machine gunner into the driver's arms:

"Take your comrades and leave."

"Remember, when you're running away, never get within 100 meters of that monster. The farther away you are, the better."

"Otherwise, you will become its target again."

"Yes, I understand!"

The driver nodded excitedly.

After personally experiencing Li Qing's extraordinary power and escaping safely, he became even more convinced that Li Qing was a superhero who came to fight monsters.

When superheroes and supervillains are fighting, ordinary people should stay as far away as possible.

The driver remembered Li Qing's instructions well, and then, without looking back, carried his unconscious comrade and fled down the stairs.

Li Qing stopped paying attention to him and simply focused on observing the surrounding environment.

The surrounding buildings and roads were all presented in a three-dimensional form in his mind.

He soon found out where he was:

"I'm standing on the roof of the port office building in the Port Warehouse Area."

"Next to the office building are those large warehouses."

"It really is here."

"Although I didn't deliberately choose the landing location, I still ended up bringing the Meat Mountain to this warehouse."

Li Qing clearly remembered that it was in this Port Warehouse Area that he encountered the Meat Mountain again.

At the time, he was carefully maintaining a distance of more than 100 meters from the Meat Mountain, waiting for his companions to come over before taking action to lure the Meat Mountain into the sea.

As a result, someone in the warehouse next to him was firing a gun, and the bullets gradually drew the Meat Mountain towards him.

Most importantly, after the Meat Mountain got close, the warehouse experienced an incredibly violent explosion.

The debris flying from the explosion further drew the Meat Mountain closer to Li Qing.

Li Qing, who was originally sitting comfortably, was unexpectedly drawn into the range of the Meat Mountain's perception and had no choice but to risk his life to lure the Meat Mountain into the sea alone.

Looking back now, the situation was truly perilous.

The Americans who fired their guns in that warehouse almost got him killed.

"Wait, Americans?"

Li Qing's expression suddenly froze:

He always believed that the person who fired the shots while hiding in the warehouse was a U. S. soldier who had survived the helicopter crash.

After all, who else but them would be in the warehouse near the crash site with a gun?

But now, Li Qing has rescued these two American soldiers.

Moreover, he specifically reminded the driver to avoid the Meat Mountain, so how could they possibly have ended up staying in that warehouse?

There's a problem.

Looking back carefully, I realized that I hadn't used my hearing to carefully investigate the inside of the warehouse, nor could I confirm the identities of the people inside.

After all, the warehouse just happened to explode when he tried to listen.

Now, Li Qing used his super hearing to pinpoint the interior of that warehouse:

There's no one in the warehouse right now, and there's absolutely no movement.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Li Qing felt increasingly uneasy, so he immediately turned around and called out to the US Military pilot who hadn't yet come downstairs to leave:

What are your orders?

The driver cooperated and stopped.

"Um, I wanted to ask..."

Li Qing pointed to the warehouse that had changed his fate:

Are you taking your comrades there now?

"Ha?"

The driver turned his head and looked at the warehouse:

The warehouse was located very close to the Meat Mountain. Although the two were less than 100 meters apart, it was still dangerously close.

Where did he run off to? Has he gone mad?

Even if you're courting death, this is the way to do it!

Why would I go to a place like that?

The driver replied, puzzled:

"Didn't you tell us to stay as far away from that monster as possible?"

"I plan to send my comrades back to base first, and then escape from here as soon as possible."

"Hmm," Li Qing paused slightly, then tentatively asked again, "Do you know what's stored in that warehouse? Are there any explosives or weapons?"

"Explosives and weapons"

The driver's expression became even stranger:

"This is a warehouse in a civilian port, not an ammunition depot for our fleet."

"How could there be explosives and weapons inside?"

"I understand now."

Li Qing didn't make things difficult for the driver anymore, and simply let him leave.

He, however, fell into deep thought alone:

There was no one in the warehouse, nor were there any weapons or explosives.

How did the warehouse explode? How was the Meat Mountain lured there?

Li Qing vaguely sensed that he had unknowingly stepped onto the edge of danger:

If this warehouse hadn't been blown up...

Wouldn't that completely conflict with his memory?

Li Qing had watched many movies about time travel, and he knew very well that this conflict between the past and memories was, frankly speaking, Time Paradox!

Different works describe paradoxes differently, but without exception, paradox is always equated with extreme danger.

"Oh no, it seems I have to do something now."

"If we didn't care about anything, how could the warehouse have blown up?"

"If the warehouse hadn't been blown up, I wouldn't have been targeted by the Meat Mountain, I wouldn't have run into General Colt, General Colt wouldn't have used his 'brilliant command' to destroy that aircraft carrier. This war, which had just begun, wouldn't have ended prematurely due to the heavy losses suffered by the US Military."

"This is a 'major cause and effect' that can determine the course of a war and affect the fate of millions of people!"

With such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, Li Qing couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.

The past must be made to proceed as he remembers it!

Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to withstand this Time Paradox with its enormous impact.

"What should we do?"

"What exactly do I need to do to avoid the Time Paradox?"

"How can we ensure that the past proceeds as we remember it, without any disruption?"

Li Qing's brain was working at lightning speed.

Clues hidden in his past memories surfaced one by one in his mind.

These fragmented memories, like beads strung together, led him to find a way out of the fog and out of the darkness.

"Call"

After a long while, Li Qing's breathing gradually became calm as he pondered.

"I see."

He turned around and went down the stairs into the office building:

"So this is the end."

"Everything will end here."