【Xianyang】Siren

Chapter 17 Epilogue: Peace Without Bloodshed

In [-] of the Universal Calendar and [-]rd year of the New Imperial Calendar, on June [-], the Bharat Self-Government held an anniversary ceremony for the late Marshal Yang Weili at a cemetery in the capital, Heinesen. Almost all the former Allied military dignitaries were present, and Marshal Reyanthal, who was stationed in the empire, also participated in the commemorative activities as the emperor's special envoy.

The Revolutionary Army handed over the Iserlohn Fortress to the Empire in July of the previous year, and then, according to the agreement reached between Yang Weili and the emperor, the Bharat Autonomous Government, which pursued a republican system, was established in Al-Fasir in August. After lengthy negotiations, handovers, negotiations, etc., the self-government only really entered the planet Heinesen not long ago.Marshal Roenthal, the new governor of the empire, is helping to maintain order while arranging for the final handover of power; Yang Weili's ceremony should be his last public event in Heinesen, and the work here is coming to an end. We will depart for the military base on the planet Uluwashi.

Last year, shortly after Royantal came to Heinesen to take office, a riot instigated by the Earth Cult broke out on the planet Uluwaxi.He still remembered that the Iserlohn army volunteered to participate in the military operation to suppress the chaos, and Julian and others showed unusual dedication.Rosenthal understood very well.The old man has passed away, and even the phantom has drifted away. They need this kind of revenge even if it seems meaningless.Luo Yantar counted the same dignified faces among the crowd at the festival.Julian Mintz - with a young girl beside him - and then Mrs Young, Alex Kaguelen, Olivier Poblen, Dusty Attenborough, Dragging Old Admiral Merkaz and his loyal subordinate who rushed over, as well as Mle, Casper Linz, and...Huh?

Rosenthal turned his head to look in another direction, and then turned back to look carefully again.

It's unbelievable.he thought.That Sencob didn't come?

It is true that Senkob did not attend the official commemoration.

It was only toward the end of the day that a tall man appeared alone at the cemetery.Wearing a black formal suit and holding a bouquet of small white roses, he walked slowly up the low hill under the setting sun.The crowd that came to pay their respects had almost dispersed, the cemetery was very quiet, the pale golden sunlight shone in the forest, and the fragrance of flowers could be smelled along the road.

He stepped onto the last step, but there was some hesitation on his face.The black leather shoes did not move forward, and he looked down at his elongated shadow on the stone road.There seems to be singing in the evening wind, and a young mother can be seen in the distance pushing a baby carriage passing by the flower garden under the hill.

At the end of the road, there was a person standing, his black dress outlined elegant curves.She had already spotted him, and she turned slightly sideways at this time, "Lieutenant General Senkob,"—they were still accustomed to using the title in the army—"I was thinking just now, maybe it's time for you to come."

Senkobu had no choice but to continue to move forward, and placed the flowers in his hand in front of the tomb under Felicia's calm gaze. "I'm busy. Just got around to it."

"So that's true?" Frederica whispered, not looking at him.

Cobb seemed to be taken aback for a moment, and answered something vaguely, then shook his head and straightened up, took a step back from the tombstone, and stood side by side with Felicity.She didn't say any more.

The two people's shadows slanted on the tombstone, and Cobb silently looked at the smiling face of the man in the photo, then Frederica slowly said, "Behind this...do you see, it's this one, inside Lying Yang's father. Beside him is his mother. Now, he is very close to them."

Xian Cobb looked at her fingers, not knowing what to say, so he just nodded.

"And here..." She pointed to an open space next to her, "This is what I keep for myself. When I die, I will come back."

Senkob also nodded, slowly.And where will I be when I die?He thought to himself mockingly.There is no place for me on this earth.I can't get used to the crowds at Heinesen.I'll drown, I'd rather be in the depths of the ocean, and when the waves crash on the shore, maybe I'll be reminded of the sadness, anger, and hope I once had.He recalled Yang's past jokes, saying that he hoped to face the end of his life in space.

"What are you thinking?" Felicia looked sideways at him.

Senkob just shook his head. "I was thinking, I'm still alive."

He seemed to be back on Ulysses' bridge again, when he took some time to come to terms with the fact that he survived.

But I couldn't see my former companion, and I couldn't feel his breath—he recalled the numbness in his heart at that time—maybe he was still in the air somewhere.Even if it were true, it wouldn't make people feel much better.I remember the vibrations of time and space slowing to a halt, and the cry of the star Alsti becoming harsh.I describe it as clean and straight, with a straight military uniform, standing in the abundant light, I only feel a desolate tenderness in my eyes.And then when I came back to myself, I realized I survived.As he wishes, I'll hold out my hands to the good times.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Felicia took half a step towards the tombstone, "I was thinking..." The luster in her hair was warm and dazzling in the setting sun, "If I had a choice at that time, I would Do what I can to keep him. Even if it's just a memory or an apparition from the past, even if it sends everyone to destruction, even if the universe just turns to atoms... I'm thinking, I don't care."

After a long while Cobb let out a long sigh. "You have no choice."

"But what about you?" Felicity's eyes were cold, "Don't tell me you didn't know until the end, I don't believe it."

After a while of silence, "Me?" Xiankobut held his chin and smiled wryly, "You think highly of me. Where would I have a choice?"

——As we said, for this peace that will not last forever.Only in the silent and dead universe can there be eternal peace.

He is not only a salary thief, but also a time thief. He can actually overdraw a month's life from the goddess of fate, and he has changed the fate of countless people in this short period of time.Although he doesn't seem to believe in any fate, and he never wants to be a fatalist.

When Sencob withdrew from his thoughts, he suddenly realized that Frederick had left alone at some point.At this time, the sun in Heinesen had completely sunk into the horizon, and only the back of the man remained under the dim yellow branches. He leaned over and sorted the bouquet he brought, and took out a small white rose wreath from the interlayer of wrapping paper, loosely Hanging on the corner of the tombstone.The petals seem to sweep the photo in the evening wind, and the people inside are always smiling.

The outside of the cemetery was shrouded in shadow, and when Senkob came out, he didn't notice a car parked on the street until Julian called his name loudly.

Xiankobu seemed to have guessed his purpose, and his expression showed some helplessness.

"I heard about it." Julian strode after him, and the young man hurried.

Xian Cobb was even more helpless, "I knew Kagueren couldn't hide anything."

"I'll go with you." Julian stared at him closely. "I've packed all my luggage. It's in the car. We can go to the spaceport now." Seeing that Cobb didn't answer, he emphasized his tone again. "Lieutenant General Sincob, you know I have this right, you shouldn't stop me."

"I don't have the qualifications either." Sincob smiled wryly, "But Julian, think about it, what would Yang say?"

Julian didn't find the answer right away, so Cobb patted the boy on the shoulder first. "What are you following me for? Don't waste his efforts. You see, here, this is the world he wants." He looked at the bright lights in the city, not without loneliness, "Maybe this is the happy ending. Although the fire Weak, but still alive. Not all happy, but at least many survived. Peace, if not forever, but the boy in the family is not going to fight for the foreseeable future. I'm happy for him. Yuri Ann, you should protect everything he left behind. You are not like me..." Cobb withdrew his hand, hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, "You still have a long, long life, Julian. As for Me, I just want to get the past back."

Another figure flashed out of the car, its bright hair color turned to be covered by the shade of the trees.Julian glanced that way, his throat constricted uncomfortably. "Even if it is, Lieutenant General Senkob..." he said with difficulty, "but if, if I don't have to go...you don't have to..." He raised his eyes, "Who knows what the other universe has? Who knows Is the admiral still..."

Sencobb's gaze stopped him from speaking.

After a moment of silence, Cobb looked away, "Yes, no one knows. But, I believe he is still somewhere in the universe. The star took him away temporarily. So as long as someone remembers him , Yang Weili will never die." Julian's lips moved slightly, but Cobb waved his hand to stop him, "Miracle will always happen to him, we have seen it many times, right? ?Even against the Stars, he's the undefeated Young. I trust him in this one."

"You believe what you want to believe." Julian mustered up the courage to continue, "Lieutenant General Sencobu, I am not saying that you should not consider this possibility. Are you the only one who wants to see the admiral...just However, we can be a little more rational. You see, Iserlohn has just been put into use as a space station, and the research on the abnormal point has just begun. No one has entered it yet. Couldn't you wait until the time is ripe? "

But Julian may have forgotten that keeping Iserlohn in the Siren Starfield was originally a proposal from Senkob.When the fortress was handed over, there was indeed a discussion within the empire about whether to move Iserlohn back to its original location, and Senkob, who was in charge of the handover, replied a few words in the meeting at that time.He said, it is better to let Iserlohn stay here, it is no longer a fortress, and this corridor no longer needs a military location.Let Iserlohn watch over the place where Yang Weili left.It's not like making it a sacred cemetery for people to pay homage to. Besides, Yang would feel uncomfortable if he knew about it.I just think that Iserlohn is his home, Iserlohn is the home of all of us, maybe one day, he will come back?

Later, for some reason, Iserlohn did stay there, perhaps because such a large-scale space transition would cost a lot of money, and the empire felt it was unnecessary.Now it has been transformed into an outpost-like scientific research space station to monitor changes in space. After all, it has become the only known node connecting another universe.The shock brought by the Siren's departure once dragged Iserlohn out of the gravitational field of the red giant star, almost directly into its own world; but in the end, when everything returned to calm, Iserlohn just stayed on the edge of the space distortion, staring ahead Bottomless vortex.Perhaps humanity has never been so close to another time and space.However, due to safety and other factors, the space station has not yet sent any scientific research team into the abnormal point.

Sencobb was going to be the first.

"Because I can't wait any longer."

"Lieutenant General Xiankobu!" Julian was a little annoyed.

"Julian..." He still looked mildly, "I have a problem, that is, I am very stubborn, and I can't change it if I want to. Besides, I don't want to change it. We are more similar in this point, and you know it very well Well, this man Yang, don't look at him listless all day long, but he is actually terribly stubborn and irritatingly stubborn." He raised his eyebrows at this point.At this time, Senkobu noticed the bright hair color under the shade of the tree, so he leaned slightly and whispered in Julian's ear, "Although the lady over there doesn't need it, I still want to say, Yuri Ann, you have my blessing."

The tip of the boy's ears turned red.Senkob laughed out loud and strode away.Not far ahead, an automatic car is slowly pulling over.

"I'll wait for you to tell it yourself!" Julian shouted from behind.

Cobb held on to the car door for a while, then turned around and made a gesture.The doors closed quickly, and the car disappeared into the dark blue night.

Because the set distance was long, the smart device in the car suddenly played music automatically.He wanted to raise his hand to turn it off immediately, but after reclining on the back of the chair for a while, he felt that it was okay to keep the sound.For no apparent reason, Sencobb thought of a song he had heard as a child.At that time, traveling between spaceships and ports, mixed with people of all kinds from all walks of life, it was the first time when he was young that he knew that there was no difference between nobles and common people, and that they could all sit together and listen to a very old ballad.He could no longer remember the appearance of the singer, nor where he heard it, but was surprised to find that he still remembered the lyrics clearly.The song of the poor sailor?Probably called the name.

Please give me a favorite way of living, let me have a home of my own when I return from the sea.

I dipped my bread in the river water and sat under the vast starry sky.

(Note: Quoted, not original)

He thought the sailor was quite happy, even though he couldn't afford a glass of milk to go with his meal, and even though he didn't even have a roof to keep him from the wind and rain.But the poor sailor was still looking forward to having a home of his own at the end of the voyage.Senkob thought, maybe there was someone waiting for him where he was going back.So no matter how much hard work, no matter how long it takes, his heart is always complete, and he has the patience of a stone.

"Are you going to live to be 150 years old?" Amidst the rapidly receding lights of thousands of families on both sides, Xian Cobb remembered that he had promised Yang Weili at that time.He thought he wasn't lying.Who knows at what rate time would flow in another universe, what imprints time would make on bodies and minds, or even whether time itself would still have meaning?Or, thought Cobb, I was indeed 150 years old when I finally crossed the Crimson Road to him.

Will there be a chance to write the story of my life by then?Senkobu conceived with great interest, and lit a cigarette amidst the soft music.The smog made the city lights even more hazy.He thought his story was really ordinary and could be finished in a few sentences.

Walter von Schenkoub, 36, did not drown in the tears of beauty, did not end his life in flames, roses or blood.Walter von Schenkob was about to fly into space again, for a mystery, for a speck of consciousness among a hundred billion stars and lights, for an answer that might never be found, for an unreal possibility.Walter von Schenkob didn't know if he was going to be confronted with a long period of nothingness, a cruel joke, or even a second coming pain.Walter von Schenkob simply clings to this residual belief.He is indestructible.

At the Henesen space port, a familiar ship is waiting for him.Ulysses is about to set sail, to meet all the unknowns and follow the traces of the Sirens.

【End of full text】