Late at night, amid the mountains, the red moon shone on the gravestones.
On the distant outskirts of Night Spirit City, right beside the western Refugee District, lay a stretch of barren mountains.
Gravestones stood in rows.
This was Heroic Spirit Mountain, where the ashes and souls of everyone in Sky City who had died in special incidents were laid to rest.
Meng Chengfei wore a pitch-black formal suit, his hair meticulously combed, as he stood silently before dozens of gravestones.
A white handkerchief was tucked into his breast pocket, and he held a chrysanthemum as brilliant as the blazing sun, a few crystalline dewdrops still clinging to its petals.
His eyes were deep and bewitching, glittering like stars.
He watched.
Then he bent down and placed the final bouquet of chrysanthemums before his mother's gravestone.
Today marked the tenth anniversary of the deaths of every member of the Dawn Blade Ninth Squad.
Old Zheng, He Li, and the others stood silently beside Meng Chengfei.
They were all descendants, relatives, or friends of those who had died that year.
They mourned.
A thick, unrelenting sorrow hung over the gathering.
"Over these past ten years, aside from clerical and logistics staff, I've barely recruited anyone new into the squad..."
Meng Chengfei stood up with his back to the dozen or so combat members of the Dawn Squad.
"Because I don't want any more pointless sacrifices."
"We're all avengers with no future."
"Kneel!"
Someone dragged a bald man forward and kicked the backs of his knees. With a thud, he dropped to his knees before the gravestones.
The man's cheeks were gaunt, his eyes filled with terror, and his body trembled incessantly.
Meng Chengfei closed his eyes and slowly addressed the dozens of gravestones. "Zhou Kun, male, forty-three years old, resident of