Resolution to Embrace Death

At this moment, inside the shelter.

Liu Yuan and Yun Huang had just stepped through the energy barrier.

The ashes outside the barrier seemed to possess a life of their own, surging wildly into the passage cleared by the Black Knight moments earlier. They crashed against the shimmering curtain with a grating, bone-chilling screech.

"The situation isn’t good," said Sun Cheng, the shelter’s leader, his expression grim as he observed the barrier. "The core’s energy reserves are already more than halfway depleted."

Sun Cheng was one of the regional supervisors for this examination, a man of considerable experience. Yet even he found the current circumstances unprecedentedly dire.

"How long until reinforcements arrive?" Yun Huang asked, her voice calm but laced with unspoken worry.

Sun Cheng gave a bitter smile. "Due to my oversight, I failed to realize the ashes don’t just affect living beings—they corrode structures as well. Our signal relay was damaged early on."

"Communications with headquarters have been cut off. We can’t call for help. The only information I have is that Jiang—"

His words abruptly stopped.

He realized he’d said too much.

Perhaps it was because the Black Knight’s actions had shaken him, making him momentarily forget the two were examinees and speak to them as equals.

But some things were better left unsaid.

Jiang, the garrison commander, was blocked outside the Origin Realm. This shelter wouldn’t receive reinforcements for at least another two or three hours. They could only…

Only rely on themselves.

If this information got out…

Morale would collapse. What might have been defensible would become impossible.

"Moreover," Sun Cheng continued, lowering his voice and glancing beyond the barrier, "those things gathering outside… they’re not ordinary low-tier Origin Realm creatures."

Yun Huang followed his gaze.

Through the flickering barrier, she could barely make out shifting shadows.

They crouched within the ashes, their forms grotesque and varied, but the aura they exuded was uniformly malevolent.

Their oppressive presence was no different from the giant centipede they’d faced earlier.

No—stronger.

At least seventh-tier in strength.

"They’re waiting," Sun Cheng said, his grip tightening on his weapon until his knuckles turned white. "Waiting for the barrier to fail."

This was information that couldn’t be hidden.

It already weighed on everyone like a mountain.

The heavy atmosphere in the shelter stemmed from this very realization.

Examinees wept quietly. Staff members wore grim expressions.

It was clear to all—once the barrier shattered, annihilation would follow.

Yun Huang listened, her gaze shifting between the dimming barrier and the Black Knight beside her.

Her eyes flickered, as if weighing something unspoken.

……

Time passed, minute by minute.

The shelter’s energy depletion rate far exceeded Sun Cheng’s estimates.

His expression darkened. "The barrier… won’t hold much longer."

"Everyone, I’ve decided we’ll launch a preemptive strike in five minutes…"

"At the very least, we can thin their numbers before retreating to the shelter. The remaining barrier might buy us some breathing room."

"Any objections?"

The remaining officials didn’t respond.

They remained silent, heads bowed, fiddling with their phones.

Under the bleak sky, the faint glow of their screens illuminated their faces.

It wasn’t that they had the luxury of distraction.

Though their phones had no signal…

They could still draft final messages.

Sun Cheng’s plan was sound—perhaps the best under the circumstances.

Once the barrier fully collapsed, they’d be forced into a fight to the death with no chance to regroup.

But no matter how sound the strategy, war meant sacrifice.

No one could guarantee they wouldn’t be next.

A young team member tapped at his screen.

"Mom, your son has failed in his filial duty. This time… I might not make it back."

"Please take your medicine on time. Don’t overwork yourself. Brother will take care of you."

Beside him, a grizzled veteran typed a far shorter message.

"Wife, the bank card PIN is our daughter’s birthday. Move the study cabinet—there’s a hidden compartment underneath with my savings. Find someone to look after you both."

A female team member let silent tears fall onto her screen.

"Turns out I never really liked you that much. Let’s break up."

Then she tapped "Send when connected."

Not all messages were tender.

In a corner, a man with a scarred face angrily deleted and rewrote something.

In the end, only two words remained:

"Worth it! Worth it!"

As if summarizing his life lived on the edge.

This was a ritual.

A severing of the past, an acceptance of death.

Five minutes—agonizingly long, yet fleeting—passed in the quiet tapping of screens and stifled sobs.

Finally, the first person finished, gently placing their phone inside a prepared metal box.

A container meant for the belongings of the fallen.

Now, it held their last words to the world.

Click.

A soft sound, yet it carried the weight of an order.

A second phone joined the first. Then a third.

One by one, they placed their devices inside.

The box filled quickly.

Sun Cheng watched, his eyes reddening.

He didn’t rush them.

When the last phone was set down, the atmosphere in the shelter shifted.

The despair and dread from earlier seemed sealed away with those phones.

In its place—a steely, unyielding resolve.

When Liu Yuan and Yun Huang had arrived, the officials had seemed disorganized, sprawled haphazardly on the ground.

Now, they straightened, one after another.

Fear had left their eyes.

Only calm remained.

And the determination… to march toward death.

They were the official combat personnel tasked with safeguarding the Origin Realm.

Now, with the realm in chaos, duty demanded they fight—even if it meant charging into certain doom.

Yun Huang observed silently, an indescribable emotion stirring within her.

She had witnessed death. She had dealt it herself.

Yet the quiet dignity of these people, facing annihilation without flinching, moved her deeply.

"Time’s up, brothers."

Sun Cheng’s voice was hoarse.

He was the first to step forward, toward the faltering barrier.

The rest followed.

No grand speeches. No heroic last stands.

Not for survival—but to buy time.

To whittle down the enemy, however slightly, for the slimmest chance…

That someone, somewhere, might still come.