An ending that wasn't the end

[I, Xu "Hero" Ye, saved the Ninth Team. I did not disgrace my fellow transmigrators.]

[Although the old man wasn't killed, this bought us time to catch our breath. Next, some big shots would step in to deal with him. That wasn't something the current me could get involved in.]

[Because of this battle, the Ninth Team soon accepted me, and I earned quite a reputation.]

[The restless nobles in Sky City seemed to have settled down considerably, too.]

[But was this really over? Had I overlooked something?]

[Perhaps that cat named Iron Egg knew something.]

"Who are you calling Iron Egg? Your whole family is Iron Egg! This princess's name is Alice!" Alice fumed.

Xu Ye sat on the ground, gulping down air. The sharp pains shooting through his back made him narrow his eyes.

He had no time to pay attention to Alice or the messages from his heart. All he wanted was a few more breaths so he wouldn't pass out.

"Well done, kid."

Zheng Chengdong struggled over. He was drenched in blood and looked particularly frightening, his thick beard caked with blood as well.

Seeing the state Xu Ye was in, he clicked his tongue, then pulled him to his feet.

"Mission accomplished." Xu Ye cupped his hands and chuckled, only to discover that his hands were still trembling.

He was exhausted, but there was a joy that came from having given it his all.

At least most of them were still alive.

Only the living had a future.

In his previous life, Xu Ye had understood that deeply.

Struggling on the edge between life and death, he hadn't even had the courage to plan for the future. He had only hoped to live one more day.

He looked over the battlefield again.

These were all well-trained team members. As soon as the old man left, some began reporting the situation, some contacted their superiors, and others treated the wounded.

"Four dead." Zheng Chengdong sighed. A flicker of sorrow crossed the depths of his eyes, but he showed no other emotion.

Xu Ye raised his eyes and looked over, his heart heavy.

He happened to see the captain staggering as he carried the dead team members over, laid them together, and lit a fire. Flames roared to life. At that moment, everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed into the fire.

Grief. Silence.

As though they meant to carve this sight into their minds, into their bones.

Flames burned in everyone's eyes.

Zheng Chengdong said, "Anyone who dies in a pollution incident is cremated and buried on-site. We've had cases where bodies weren't cremated, and exposure to pollution caused them to mutate."

"So we have to make sure every body is burned to ashes right where it lies."

Xu Ye paused. "What about their families?"

"Publicly, we claim to be a department of the Patrol Team. So we notify their families that they died in the line of duty with the Patrol Team. But they'll never know the truth."

Zheng Chengdong chuckled, his mouth full of blood.

"People like us fight in the darkness..."

"People like us could die at any moment..."

"People like us are buried beneath the crimson..."

His voice was rich and low. Mingling with the firelight rising into the sky, it gently swirled and drifted toward the Crimson Moon.

Figures hurried through the moonlight.

Xu Ye had never seen anything like this.

It was as though everything had happened suddenly, then ended just as suddenly, after which everyone returned to their own work.

Without superhuman willpower, a person would probably break down within days in an environment like this.

A moment later, Meng Chengfei walked over. He was about to speak when he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Taking out a handkerchief to wipe it away, he faced Xu Ye. The hysteria in his eyes had vanished, replaced by his usual gentle smile.

"I'm fine."

Then he spat out another mouthful.

A third.

A fourth.

The handkerchief couldn't keep up.

Meng Chengfei staggered and had no choice but to wipe his mouth with his sleeve.

His suit was in tatters, and the white shirt beneath it had long since been covered in blood and dust. Only his rigid hair remained unchanged, held in place by who knew how much hair gel.

"Just minor injuries. What matters is we're alive. I'll get you a bonus later."

Xu Ye: "..."

He rested a hand on Xu Ye's shoulder, leaning some of his weight onto him, and said quietly, "I'll write the report this time. During the crisis, you used the E-Rank Contaminant I'd given you beforehand, the Witch's Lens. You forced the Aberrant to recover a little of his memory with an illusion technique, stopping his third mutation."

With that, he toppled straight over.

Just before Meng Chengfei hit the ground, Zheng Chengdong grabbed his shoulder and hoisted him onto his back.

"Kid, you can still walk on your own, right? Rest here for a bit. Someone will come sort things out for you later. I'll take this guy back first."

Xu Ye stood there and nodded numbly.

From what the captain had just said, he had clearly noticed something.

Still, Xu Ye couldn't have kept every detail airtight anyway.

Everyone saw through it, but no one said it aloud.

That saved him a great deal of trouble.

He sat cross-legged where he was to rest. Since he didn't know how to handle the aftermath of a pollution incident, he had no idea where to start helping.

Besides, the staff wouldn't let him help at all. They thanked him while insisting that he sit in a vehicle.

About ten minutes later, Xu Ye was sitting on a rock when he caught a glimpse of a paper airplane out of the corner of his eye. It swooped gently and smoothly out of the crimson night sky at an eerie angle that defied physics, finally landing behind a jeep.

Immediately afterward, a dozen or so figures emerged from behind the jeep.

"Some kind of Taboo Object?"

"These are the experts from the Dawn Blade Eighth Team?"

Xu Ye glanced at them but didn't pay them much attention. As soon as they arrived, they took over the work at the scene from the Ninth Team.

Xu Ye and the others, meanwhile, were sent to a hotel and given rooms.

Once he went inside, he had no energy to think about anything else. He washed up briefly, then collapsed onto the bed, barely able to keep his eyes open.

He slept more deeply than ever before.

By the time he woke up, it was already noon the following day.

Golden sunlight with a slightly cool tint fell across the natural wood floor.

For a moment, he felt dazed.

He had almost forgotten that he had transmigrated.

"Whew..."

Xu Ye stretched. His entire body was filled with an indescribable ache.

His current body was much healthier than the one from his previous life. Its former owner must have exercised regularly, since he had some firm muscle.

"Xu Ye, Xu Ye! Look at me!" Alice called out loudly.

Xu Ye looked toward the voice and saw that Alice had already left his mind. She was perched on a woman's breasts, excitedly patting them with her paws, even though she couldn't actually touch them.

"???"

Wait!

Why was there a woman in my room?

"You're awake?" The woman was drinking coffee and leafing through a fashion magazine. Seeing that Xu Ye was awake, she turned toward him with a smile, and a soft, alluring voice rang out.

"I'm He Li, a member of the Dawn Blade Ninth Team."

Xu Ye rubbed his eyes, his gaze involuntarily drifting downward.

What a big voice.

Pah!

Those legs sounded so lovely.