With the murlocs annihilated and more than ten thousand Tianpo Army soldiers moving in under martial law, the conflict had essentially come to an end. All that remained was for the parties to divide up their interests.

For the Western Military Region, to which the murlocs belonged, this defeat had undoubtedly cost them the initiative completely. Whether it was the King’s Medicine transformation that specifically countered firearms, or the gathering of several thousand murlocs for a surprise attack on the Academy of Sciences, all of it would be used against them. The Northern Military Region and the Inspectorate would join forces and strip them of several layers of skin, and they would become the biggest losers of this war.

The Chen Family on the other side was not faring well either. When the murlocs who had survived in Hope City began to confess, blaming the Chen Family for how they had been able to sneak in, the Chen Family became the second loser of this war and paid an enormous price.

Of course, the Academy of Sciences, which looked like the winner, had also suffered heavy losses.

Five o’clock in the afternoon.

As the Tianpo Army began withdrawing in an orderly fashion, solemn bells started to toll inside the Academy as well. Walking through the grounds and watching stretchers covered in white cloth being carried in and out without pause, Su Mo found himself at a loss for words. In a war, no matter how carefully the murlocs had tried to keep their muzzles away, innocent deaths were unavoidable.

Of the 217 full researchers in the Academy of Sciences, four had been lost. One of them was a senior researcher past the age of fifty, a true pillar of the Academy. The casualties among the intern researchers were far worse. According to incomplete statistics, out of eight hundred and seventy people, sixty-five had been “killed in battle” on the spot, one hundred and six were missing, and only six hundred and ninety-nine remained. A profession everyone had once envied had become a high-risk occupation where death could come at any moment.

Su Mo did not even dare to think about it. Behind each of these intern researchers were parents who had worked themselves to the bone to raise their child to this point. A single day later, what they received was news of their child’s death and a few scraps of remains. How sorrowful, how unfortunate that must be.

“Sir, could you come over and help us?” a voice called out, and Su Mo turned toward the source.

Two intern researchers carrying a stretcher had fallen to the ground, whether because the road was slick from the rain or because they were overwhelmed with grief. The body on their stretcher had rolled off onto the lawn, its already tattered clothes now smeared with muddy water.

“I’ll help you!” Before the words had even left his mouth, Su Mo strode toward them.

After eight years in the wasteland, the hardship of life and the uncertainty of the future had made ordinary people more and more superstitious, more and more inclined to believe in reincarnation and fate. The spread of all kinds of sects had also made ordinary people wary of the dead, believing that contact with them would bring misfortune and worsen their luck. Only a few atheists could calmly do the work of gathering corpses, unconcerned about so-called “karmic burden.”

“Th... thank you...”

Seeing Su Mo go to the body first without the slightest hesitation, the two interns were moved and hurriedly struggled to their feet. But by the time they had walked up beside Su Mo, they saw only that he had turned the body over and was still crouching there in silence, as still as a statue.

“Sir... do you know him?”

The shorter intern looked down and saw from the side that the hands with which Su Mo held the body were trembling continuously.

“He was an intern in the Architecture Institute, Qiu Hong. Such a pity. By the end of this year he should have been promoted to full researcher, and who would have thought...”

“Sigh...” Letting out a long breath, the short intern fell silent too. In a real war, in a fight between life and death, human life was simply too fragile. In the wasteland, it took an ordinary person at least twenty or thirty years, or even longer, to grow up, learn this knowledge, and begin to understand science. But ending that life took only a single cheap bullet and a single moment. Especially now, with the number of humans in the wasteland dwindling by the day, with one Qiu Hong gone there might never be another. Humanity might not even be able to hold on for another twenty years, until the next generation grew up.

“Let’s go. I’ll take him there myself.”

After a long silence, Su Mo slowly stood up and lifted Qiu Hong onto his back, holding him up with his hands. He did not know why Qiu Hong had died, or who had killed him. But he knew that if he had not come to the Academy today, Qiu Hong might still be happily sitting on that bench, wolfing down fast food and waiting for the day he would be promoted to researcher. This debt of blood was his to bear.

“Okay... okay, sir, this way.”

“All the researchers who sacrificed themselves are to be carried to the great auditorium in our Science Park, where Dean Ji Yang will see them off on their final journey!”

The two interns pointed at a square building in the distance, then hurriedly picked up their stretcher and led the way. Along the road, the three of them walked slowly and drew the eyes of many people. But when those people realized that what Su Mo carried on his back was a researcher who had given his life for the Academy, more and more people fell in behind him, and the procession grew longer and longer. Dozens of stretchers covered in white cloth followed neatly at his back, all heading for the auditorium in silence with Su Mo in the lead.

The dusk seemed to grow heavier. The faintly cool wind began to howl, as though seeing everyone off.

They walked into the brightly lit auditorium, found the places that matched the names, and set the fallen down one by one. Su Mo raised his head and met the gaze of Hou Congwen beside him.

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