Chapter 155: The Might of Civilization

Going home!

The moment these two words were uttered, the eyes of every single Great Xia citizen inside the cabin turned red with emotion.

Just a moment ago, they were stranded in a foreign land, facing the terrifying arrival of the apocalypse.

Raging oceans roared, and monstrous sea beasts howled.

It felt as though the entire world was about to tear them to shreds.

Yet, just as they sat in despair in that alien land, waiting for death, a group of people descended like heavenly soldiers, reached out their hands to them, and spoke softly,

"Let's go, we are going home."

Unless one experienced it firsthand, no one could possibly understand what kind of feeling this was!

"Going home..."

Looking down at the flooded earth being swallowed by the churning sea, a Great Xia citizen murmured softly. Soon, these two words whispered through the cabin.

At this moment, these two ordinary words represented so much.

Going home was the ultimate obsession of every single Great Xia person.

Yet, they could not bring themselves to feel truly happy.

Because.

To carry out this evacuation mission, three Great Xia soldiers had given their lives!

Suddenly, a young man walked toward the cargo hold.

"What are you planning to do?" the soldier responsible for maintaining order asked, momentarily stunned.

"I want to enlist!" The youth clenched his fists, his reddened eyes burning with absolute determination. "I want to join you! I want to fight for my home!"

Another teenager chimed in loudly, "That's right! The soldiers of Great Xia died to save us, and we must fight for them!"

The exact same fire burned brightly in both of their eyes.

In stark contrast to the Great Xia citizens—who knew they were finally going home yet could not manage a smile—the Freedom Nation citizens in the cargo hold were currently grinning from ear to ear. Even though the flooded land beneath them was their own homeland, even though countless compatriots had been torn apart and swept away by the sea beasts, still...

"We survived!" a Freedom Nation citizen exclaimed, his face pale with lingering fear. "It was such a close call."

"Yeah, regardless of anything else, we made it out alive."

"It's just such a shame. I had twenty thousand Freedom dollars hidden in my nightstand back home, didn't even get the chance to grab it..."

"Say, if we end up arriving in Great Xia with them, do you think Great Xia will hold us hostage and demand a ransom from the Freedom Nation?" a Freedom Nation citizen asked nervously.

Bai Zhan glanced at him, too lazy to reply, and merely instructed the other soldiers to wrap everyone tightly in emergency thermal blankets and hand out warming patches.

After all, the aircraft was rapidly ascending.

With the increase in altitude, inside this cargo hold lacking an air-circulation system, the air grew thinner and the temperature plummeted.

"Achoo..." A Caucasian man suddenly sneezed, then looked around at the shivering Freedom Nation citizens.

He abruptly stood up and shouted, "Report! Mr. Great Xia General, we demand that you provide us with emergency blankets and warming patches, otherwise we have grounds to lodge a formal complaint against you..."

"There are no spare thermal blankets!" Bai Zhan said coldly.

The Caucasian man froze for a moment, pointed at the emergency blanket draped over a Great Xia soldier, and raised his voice, "Then what is this? I strongly demand that you hand over those blankets. You are soldiers, and we are protected citizens of the Freedom Nation, you have an obligation..."

"Say one more word, and see if I don't blow your head off." Bai Zhan looked at the Caucasian man expressionlessly.

No matter how good one's temper was, everyone had a bottom line!

He and his soldiers had risked their lives to rescue these wretches, and the moment these people boarded and confirmed their safety, they completely discarded their pitiful demeanor. Not only were they whining and making demands, but they were actually starting to protest!

The people of Great Xia were kind-hearted, but they were by no means easy to bully!

If they weren't completely unarmed, these people might have even tried to seize control and turn this evacuation flight into their own private plane!

"You..."

The Caucasian man wanted to say more, but meeting Bai Zhan's gaze, he suddenly snapped his mouth shut.

A chill, far colder than the high-altitude freeze, shot straight from the soles of his feet to the back of his head, making every hair on his body stand on end.

That was the sensation of brushing shoulders with death!

Bai Zhan stared at him with freezing eyes, resting his hand on the pistol at his waist as he spoke in a low voice, "Regarding the tragedy that befell the Freedom Nation, Great Xia expresses its deepest regret and apologies that we were unable to rescue a single citizen of the Freedom Nation. During those tense moments, we could only ensure the evacuation of our own citizens onto the transport planes... Due to our limited capacity, not a single one of the poor Freedom Nation citizens could be saved; they were all swallowed by the sea, and none of them made it aboard in time. Great Xia extends its heartfelt sympathy to the Freedom Nation..."

Bai Zhan's words sent a shiver straight down the spines of every single Freedom Nation citizen present!

Even though he hadn't said anything else, not even uttering a single curse word, every Freedom Nation citizen understood his exact meaning.

While Bai Zhan possessed the mercy of a Great Xia soldier, he also had his own bottom line. If the other party truly dared to test that line, he would be far more ruthless than Elder Jin!

Back then, Elder Jin had pointed at a high-ranking official who suggested "surrendering territory and abandoning Great Xia's coastal lands" and cursed him out, and if Bai Zhan had been there, he would have blown the man's brains out long ago!

The ruthlessness of Bai Zhan from Chuanzhou was evident for all to see.

Right at that moment—

"Clatter."

The hatch connecting the cabin and the cargo hold was suddenly pushed open, and several soldiers responsible for maintaining order walked in, carrying a small mountain of jackets with complicated expressions on their faces.

"General," one of the soldiers reported, "our compatriots strongly insisted on moving into the cargo hold while we took the cabin. After I finally managed to reject them, they took off their coats anyway and shoved them straight into my arms."

"I wanted to return them, but after tossing them over, they all claimed the clothes weren't theirs... You and the brothers should put them on!"

Seeing the mountain of jackets, a trace of warmth finally returned to Bai Zhan's eyes.

His heart, which had been thoroughly sickened by those Freedom Nation citizens, trembled slightly at this moment.

These were true compatriots!

Compatriots flowing with the exact same blood!

He looked at the pile of clothes, took a deep breath, and commanded, "Keep them. Distribute some to the injured or exhausted soldiers, and give the rest to those Freedom Nation citizens."

"Yes!"

The soldiers prioritized distributing a few pieces among their own comrades. Making sure every single soldier was adequately protected against the cold, they then tossed the remaining clothes toward the shivering Freedom Nation citizens huddled in the corner.

In an instant, those Freedom Nation citizens—who had just been huddling together for warmth and jointly protesting and complaining against the Great Xia soldiers—lunged forward like a pack of wild beasts, shoving and clawing at one another!

"Clothes!"

"Don't snatch them from me!"

"You've already taken three, give me one! I don't have a single one yet!"

"Why should I give it to you? I snatched this with my own ability!"

"Hey, who wants one? I have four here, one thousand Freedom dollars apiece!" a white man who had grabbed four coats laughed derisively. "Pay up if you don't want to freeze to death!"

Just like that, these Freedom Nation citizens—who moments ago had been warming each other and complaining together—turned into a pack of rabid dogs, brawling and shouting simply to snatch a few extra garments.

In the end, the able-bodied middle-aged men ended up wearing three or four bulky jackets piled on top of each other, while the women and children failed to get a single piece.

Those middle-aged men even used the opportunity to sell the coats at exorbitant prices...

Witnessing this scene, Bai Zhan wore a cold expression, but made no move to intervene.

Beasts could never be turned into humans, no matter how much one tried to persuade them.

He was far too exhausted to keep trying to educate these Freedom Nation citizens.

Great Xia had already done its utmost to rescue them, and even provided them with clothes to ward off the cold; he had fulfilled his moral duty to the fullest extent.

"Did you see that?" Bai Zhan spoke softly to the soldier beside him. "This is precisely why they don't even have the power to fight back when facing the gods."

"And this is precisely why my Great Xia can conquer the gods with mortal flesh and blood!"

A soldier whispered, "General, since we saved them this time, it might bring us some trouble later..."

"Hmph, trouble? Do you really think the higher-ups of the Freedom Nation care about whether these people live or die?" Watching the Freedom Nation citizens tearing into each other, Bai Zhan clicked his tongue dismissively.

"Besides, we were merely saving lives. How could the Freedom Nation possibly hold Great Xia accountable?"

"Even if they do hold us accountable, even if the Freedom Nation genuinely intends to pick a fight."

"My Great Xia dared to lock horns with the very gods; facing enemies like these, what could Great Xia possibly fear!"

The reason a civilization is great, the reason it can be passed down through generations and never be extinguished, lies not in economic prosperity, nor in military might.

The true strength of a civilization lies in...

The civilization itself!