Chapter 187
Once, this delicate-faced child had transformed into a resolute young soldier. If one were to overlook his age of fourteen, outsiders would surely mistake him for a movie star.
Weary from sitting, Shen Jingwei leaped off the rock and lay on the ground. The withered grass made for an ideal bed as he chewed on a yellowed foxtail, staring blankly at the azure sky, his thoughts drifting away with the breeze to far-off places.
Uncle Hu, Pig Hu, Uncle Liu, where are you all? Are things going well? I hope the Lei family hasn’t bothered you again. Don’t worry, I will definitely perform well in the army. Old Man Gu has already promised me that he will transfer me into the military ranks as soon as I turn sixteen. I will work hard to ensure that nobody bullies us anymore.
Only when alone did Shen Jingwei quietly reminisce about the past, about the people he knew. Ye Tian had brought him from under the Great Wall to the city, yet he had always been the hunter who trapped rabbits and dug pits for wild boars in the Shennongjia. However, after the incident with the Lei family, he realized that this urban jungle was teeming with beasts even more venomous than snakes and more ruthless than wolves. Since then, the once candid boy who treated all bad people as wild boars to be hunted turned silent and reclusive. If it weren’t for Gu Canghai, this staunch warrior, Shen Jingwei might have become another Zhang Xiayang.
The chewed foxtail turned to mush. A shadow loomed overhead—a human figure. He had long been aware of footsteps in the brush.
A tall foreign man with a hooked nose appeared before him. The man wore no identifying marks on his shoulder and carried nothing emblematic—a sure sign of someone not to be taken lightly. Shen Jingwei examined him carefully but found no recognition in his memory.
"You shouldn’t be here; it would be considered crossing the boundary. The exercise hasn’t started yet, and the commanders of both the red and blue forces are strategizing for battle. Your presence here is already against the rules."
"Who tells you I’m breaking the rules?" The foreigner spoke like someone from Guangdong, pronouncing "是" (is) as "系."