Chapter 224: Grief in the Heart of the Base
The battle outside shook the very ground beneath the base.
And inside... it was no less cruel.
Smoke curled through the air like a mourning veil. The once-lively central plaza was now filled with the wounded and the dying. Blood stained the stone paths, seeping into the cracks as limp bodies were carried in one after another. Some were breathing. Some were not.
And some... were screaming.
A boy no older than sixteen cried out, clutching his leg as a trail of blood poured from a deep gash. He had been thrown from the west wall and dragged in by two fellow guards. One of them was still weeping—face pale, lips trembling—as he kept repeating, "I couldn’t save him... I couldn’t... I tried..."
Behind them, an older woman wailed as she knelt beside her son, who lay unconscious with his chest barely moving. Her cries tore through the air like a blade, echoing across the square, making those nearby freeze and lower their heads.
Everywhere, there were more scenes like that.
People sobbing into their hands. Some sitting silently in shock, staring blankly at the blood on their clothes. Children crying in confusion as their mothers held them tight, whispering hollow words of comfort that didn’t match the fear in their own eyes.
Mei knelt beside a wounded man, her hands glowing faintly as she poured her healing ability into him. Her face was streaked with tears, but she didn’t stop.
"Don’t fall asleep," she whispered, voice cracking. "Stay with me. Just a little more."
The man’s eyes fluttered weakly, his breathing ragged.