Chapter 984 – Ten Days

　　Shangjing City.

　　The warm winter sun was far above the gray sky, the cold wind whipped through the busy streets, the roadside tide land, stroking a thin white frost.

　　Next to the dark brown bare tree trunks, countless pedestrians wrapped in thick down jackets, lowered their heads to their frozen palms, let out a mouthful of hot air, complained about the weather, and then hurriedly left with their hands in their pockets.

　　Zuo Qing held a cup of hot tea and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and the hot air rose from the cup, condensing a white mist in front of the window.

　　His eyes gazed at the distant sky, not knowing what he was thinking.

　　”The Heavenly Court is out of the world ……”

　　He paused and let out a long sigh, “These peaceful days, after all, are over …… This year, too, can’t be lived properly.”

　　Behind him on the sofa, a white-clothed old man cupped a black chess piece in his hand, gently placed on the chessboard of the coffee table, smiling slightly.

　　”Unwilling to give up?”

　　”Of course, after all, who doesn’t like to live in peace?” Zuo Qing slowly spoke, “But since the war has actively sought us out, we can’t be passive …… When we win the fight, the peaceful days will still return.”

　　He turned back and walked to sit down opposite the white clothed old man, took out a white seed from the chess Lou and landed it on the chessboard.

　　”Taigong, the odds of us winning, how many percent?” Zuo Qing asked.

　　Jiang Ziya did not rush to answer, but pinched up a black disc and dropped it again, and on the chessboard in front of him, there were a total of four black discs at the moment, surrounding the lone white disc.

　　”If it’s just passive defense, it’s only 10% at most.”

　　”What about taking the initiative?”

　　Jiang Ziya’s eyes narrowed slightly as he lifted that white disc and moved it to the side for a frame, shaking the black disc that had originally surrounded the closest one in front of him, out of the board.

　　The white disc broke the game, one against three.

　　”…… Thirty percent.”

　　”Doesn’t sound like good news.” Zuo Qing sighed.

　　”War, is not a simple game of strength, in addition to a head-to-head duel, there are many kinds of factors that can affect the battlefield.” Jiang Ziya leisurely spoke.

　　He extended his hand and pointed at the three black seeds.

　　”Who can guarantee that with these three black seeds, there won’t be other changes?”

　　Zuo Qing looked at those three black discs, as well as the black discs that were shaken out of the game, and fell into deep thought.

　　”Tai Gong, how much time do we have left?”

　　”Ten days.”

　　Ten days? ……

　　Zuo Qing nodded.

　　Just then, two knocks sounded on the door, and the door to the office was pushed open as a night watchman walked in.

　　”What is it?”

　　”Commander Zuo, the [Night Shade] squad has returned.”

　　Upon hearing these words, Zuo Qing’s eyebrows raised, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

　　He picked up his teacup and took a sip of the hot tea, his hanging heart slightly relaxing a little.

　　These little guys, what a time to come back ……

　　”They also abducted a human ceiling with its own divine weapon from Japan.” That Vigilante said immediately afterward.

　　Pfft–!

　　The hot tea that Zuo Qing had contained in his mouth, violently sprayed out, precisely landing on the opposite side of Jiang Ziya.

　　Jiang Ziya: ……?

　　”What did you say?!”

　　Nightwatchman’s Mausoleum.

　　The cold wind swept up snow-white petals, like the first snow of winter, fluttering between the cold tombstones.

　　A figure in a black suit, holding a handful of white flowers in his hand, was standing quietly before a brand new tombstone.

　　On that tombstone, a few large words were deeply engraved:[Blue Rain] Squad member, deputy leader of Squad 136 based in Cangnan City, Tomb of Wu Xiangnan.

　　Lin Qiye gazed at the tombstone for a long time, bent down, gently placed the white flower in his hand before the tombstone, and let out a long sigh.

　　The tombstone of the Vigilantes, carved by the deceased’s teammate’s hand, this was an unwritten rule within the Vigilantes, back then, Zhao Kongcheng’s tombstone, was carved by Red Tassel’s hand.

　　Now that the [Blue Rain] squad has been wiped out, only Lin Qiye knows that Wu Xiangnan has died in battle in the 136th squad stationed in Cangnan, so the vice-captain’s tombstone can only be engraved by Lin Qiye’s hand.

　　This was Lin Qiye’s first time engraving a monument for someone else.

　　Because Wu Xiangnan physically transformed into a Taoist body and didn’t leave behind a corpse, the tombstone in front of him was just an empty tomb below.

　　In the middle of the lonely night watchman’s mausoleum, there was only one figure of him, standing quietly in the cold wind.

　　A moment later, a second figure walked into the mausoleum.

　　”Commander Zuo.” Lin Qiye turned around to see the visitor and took the initiative to speak.

　　”Hm.” Zuo Qing he was beside him, his gaze fell on top of the tombstone, and a complex color emerged in his eyes, “I heard all about Wu Xiangnan’s matter on the way here. …… To be honest, I still can’t believe that the three of you killed a god until now.”

　　”God, it was Vice Team Wu who killed him.” Lin Qiye looked at the tombstone, “Wang Mian and I, we just tried our best to help him fulfill his long-cherished wish.”

　　”Amazing, each and every one of you.” Zuo Qing said, “In addition to posthumously honoring Wu Xiangnan, just based on this battle record of you and Wang Mian, each of you should get a personal Star Ocean Medal, now during the special period, I won’t do the ceremony for you, I’ll find a time to have someone send it over.”

　　Zuo Qing bent down and placed the flowers he brought with him, next to Lin Qiye’s flowers, and after paying tribute, he walked out of the mausoleum with Lin Qiye.

　　”Commander Zuo, the Heavenly Court has descended.” Lin Qiye spoke.

　　”Hmm, I know.”

　　”What will happen next?”

　　”…… Specifically, I’m not sure.” Zuo Qing was silent for a moment and said, “In this whirlwind of war between gods, there is too little we can do, our most important mission is to protect the ordinary people behind us and guard the Great Xia.

　　If the Great Xia Gods are the first line of defense for the Great Xia, then we, the Night Watch, are the second and last line of defense standing before all beings.

　　No matter what happens, we can’t mess up.”

　　Lin Qiye nodded in silence.

　　Zuo Qing was right, if an all-out divine war really kicked off, that less than the human ceiling, there was no qualification to participate in it at all, and although [Nightshade] was a special squad, it was still too far away from a war amongst the gods.

　　All they could do was to guard this last line of defense.

　　”What do we need to do?” Lin Qiye asked.

　　Zuo Qing, in response, seemed to have an arrangement in place and calmly said, “The great war is approaching, there is no more time left for those rookies in the training camp to slowly grow up……. I’ll give you ten days, after ten days, they must graduate from the training camp and be deployed into different Night’s Watch squads, only then can we can deploy enough veterans to run to the front lines.

　　Within the next few years, these new recruits will be the backbone of maintaining the internal stability of Grand Xia.

　　In these ten days, no matter what methods you use, you must make them qualified Night Watchmen.

　　Can you do that?”

　　Ten days?

　　Hearing these two words, Lin Qiye’s heart sank slightly, but he didn’t hesitate for long before nodding.

　　”Can.”

　　Since Zuo Qing had spoken the figure of ten days, it meant that some sort of change would definitely occur after that, and the sense of crisis that lingered in Lin Qiye’s heart grew stronger.

　　Their time, it was running out.