The Spirit of Huaxia

In our blood.

The gene of humans conquering nature is passed down from generation to generation...

This is the spirit of Dayu,

and also the spirit of the Huaxia nation...

Su Chen's words echoed in the ears of countless Huaxia people.

The scenes from just moments before brought tears to everyone's eyes.

Those young people who had not lived through the floods of '98.

Perhaps they had heard about it from their parents or seen it on the internet and television in the past.

Yet in their hearts, this matter felt very distant, and they even felt it had nothing to do with them at all.

However, the scenes that had just appeared in their minds made them feel as if they were right there in person.

Watching those soldiers, whose ages were so close to their own, forming dykes with their bodies.

Watching the common folk on the bank kneeling and crying out.

This shock far exceeded their imagination.

Only then did they deeply feel.

What it meant to be the People's Army.

This was not merely a title, but even more so a responsibility!

The soldiers of some countries trampled their citizens underfoot.

Yet the soldiers of Huaxia held the common folk in their hearts.

When peril struck, these young figures would inevitably stand in the front line.

Regardless of whether what lay ahead was a hail of bullets or towering floods.

As long as there were Huaxia people behind them, they would never retreat a single step!

This kind of sight, this kind of spirit.

Had appeared countless times in Huaxia!

And had appeared countless times only in Huaxia!

Zhu Yuanzheng's whole body was tense, taking several deep breaths before managing to keep the tears in his eyes from falling.

He had spent half his life in the military camp, and at this moment no one was more deeply moved than he.

Furthermore, back then, he was right at the scene of the flood resistance and disaster relief.

Many of those young soldiers were about the same size as kids in high school.

At an age when they should have been sitting in a classroom, they shouldered the heavy responsibility of protecting and defending the country.

Zhu Yuanzheng still remembered that in order to plug a breach at the time, a company went down, and in the end fewer than half came back up.

After calling the roll, the company commander sat by the newly plugged breach and smoked.

Smoking while crying.

Zhu Yuanzheng saw him, and just as he wanted to go over and offer a few words of comfort.

Who would have thought that this company commander would suddenly stand up and jump into the rolling Yangtze River...

Although twenty years had already passed, recalling the scene back then, Zhu Yuanzheng still felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife.

He understood that the company commander had gone to keep his comrades company.

He had led the company out completely and intact, but had been unable to bring them all back without a single one missing.

He had no face to face his comrades' parents, and even less face to face himself.

In fact, the ones who sacrificed themselves for Huaxia were far more than just them-there were also countless earlier martyrs.

It was precisely because of these people that Huaxia had today's peace.

Although those heroes who defended the motherland with their lives had turned into names carved on stone tablets.

Yet their spirit had been passed down.

Reappearing in the bodies of those young soldiers today.

Just as Su Chen had said.

This was the national spirit of Huaxia!

From ancient times down to the present day, it had never changed!

Dayu's gaze trembled, and he remained silent for a long time.

He could sense that the scenes displayed by Su Chen were not fabricated; they were all real scenes of later generations.

At this moment, he deeply comprehended the meaning of Su Chen's previous words.

The best commemoration for ancestors was not to enshrine them high up, burning incense and kowtowing.

Instead, they embodied his will and carried on his deeds!

Though later generations might not know his name, those descendants standing amidst the monstrous floods were, in a way, none other than another version of himself!

No...

These descendants possessed even greater courage than he did!

Were these truly the descendants of Huaxia?

Even if they forgot him as their ancestor, the exact same hot blood still flowed deep within their bones!

Yet before Dayu could fully snap out of it, yet another scene appeared before everyone's eyes.

It was a news broadcast, and a female anchor said with a choked voice.

"As of the 17th, a total of 5,210 aftershocks have occurred in Sichuan..."

"To date, they have caused over 20,000 deaths, over 180,000 injuries, and over 10,000 people buried..."

"Among them..."

In just a few brief sentences, the anchor was already sobbing uncontrollably.

The scene shifted once more, presenting a terrifying sight far more devastating than the rampaging floods of before to everyone present.

The earth shook and mountains quaked, rivers and mountains shattered.

Shattered, rolling boulders instantly buried a school campus filled with students.

Fissures across the ground, resembling the gaping maw of an abyss, devoured building after building.

Seeing this sight, all the people of Huaxia felt their entire bodies tense up, their eye sockets instantly turning red.

Because with just a single glance, they knew precisely where this was and what had happened.

The year 2008 was a memorable one for Huaxia.

That was the year we hosted the Olympic Games for the very first time.

Yet it was also the year Huaxia endured unprecedented grief.

In the Land of Abundance, countless bell towers were permanently frozen at 2:28, never to turn again from that moment on.

Because at that very instant, tens of thousands of vibrant lives left their loved ones behind.

Because at that very instant, countless families were torn apart, and some households even perished together from this world entirely.

Even those who survived lost family members or friends in that single fraction of a second.

The scene shifted again.

Beneath a patch of ruins, rescue workers labored to pry open a woman's arms, lifting out an infant who looked to be only three or four months old.

The woman had already stopped breathing.

Yet the infant remained completely unharmed.

Inside the small blanket wrapped around the baby, the rescue workers discovered a mobile phone.

On it was a drafted text message.

"My dearest baby"

"If you manage to survive"

"You must remember"

"I love you"

A frail woman used her own body to bear the weight of a crashing boulder.

In the final moments of her life, she still did not forget to leave her love behind for her child.

The baby was still sleeping sweetly, perhaps dreaming that he was still resting in his mother's arms.

That was the safest haven in the entire world.

Even if the heavens cracked and the earth split, even if the rivers and mountains collapsed.

As long as Mother was there, everything would be alright.

Looking at the baby's little face, countless people of Huaxia instantly broke down in tears.

This massive disaster caused nearly 100,000 compatriots to perish or go missing.

There was no telling how many children lost their parents from that day forward.

They could not fathom just how immense this grief truly was.

Yet just as everyone's mood grew heavy, the scene shifted once again.

A few farmers sat together, speaking in thick Qilu accents as they discussed going to the disaster area to help rescue people.

Having never traveled far from home in their entire lives, they stared at a map for a long time before realizing that their home was a full four thousand li away from the disaster zone.

Yet even so, these people did not hesitate for a single moment.

Because in their hearts, there was only a single, simple conviction.

Those with money gave money, and those without money gave their presence.

Just like that, it was an agricultural tricycle loaded down with hoes and pickaxes.

There was a sack of pancakes and green onions, a box of instant noodles donated to the disaster area, and even an old hen.

Ten Qilu farmers thus set off on the road to the disaster area.

The image froze on the faces of these ten people for a few seconds, then rapidly pulled back.

As the field of vision widened, all kinds of vehicles began to appear around the agricultural tricycle.

Motorcycles, sedans, off-road vehicles, vans, trucks, and buses.

These vehicles lined up in a long dragon, crowding every road and driving in the same direction.

Every single vehicle was laden with supplies.

Regardless of where their license plates were from, they all hung the same banner.

"When disaster strikes in one place, help comes from all sides!"