"Bang, bang! Bang!!"
"Huang Liang! Get out here!"
"You coward! You spineless bastard! You've betrayed the organization's trust! Is this how you repay the trust the Party and the nation placed in you?!"
"Do you even remember the oath you swore beneath the national flag?! Do you have any idea how many people out there are waiting for you to send word back?!"
Standing by the window, Huang Liang trembled faintly as he stared at the figure outside, his face pale and his lips quivering. He knew perfectly well that the person outside was a ghost, yet he still could not face him.
The resemblance was too strong. Far too strong.
Both the voice and the tone made him feel as though he could see that stern face again, those eyes looking at him with such disappointment, even disgust.
It was his father, the man who had sent him into the Mountain River Operation.
More and more figures appeared outside the window: his instructors, his colleagues, and even comrades he had personally watched fall from the sky to their deaths.
Every one of them kept questioning him. They were grieving and furious, disappointed and sighing. Each accusation seemed to drag him into a vortex of universal condemnation. No matter how hard he tried, he could not utter a single word in his own defense.
"I didn't! I'm not afraid to die! I haven't forgotten the mission!"
"Believe me! Please believe me!!"
"Not afraid to die?! If you're not afraid, why haven't you sent word back yet?! If your conscience is really clear, look me in the eyes and tell me!"
"You worthless bastard! How could I, Huang Yun, have raised a coward like you?!"
The man's rebukes carved into his heart like a knife, stirring up memories of the past.