He stared wide-eyed in disbelief and looked at the name again.

Wei Meng!

The two characters were exactly the same as the name he remembered.

Wei Meng!

His heart suddenly ached.

"Someone come here!"

"arrive!"

"Immediately check the situation of Major General Wei Meng of the 14th Division of the 29th Army and connect him to their combat phone."

"yes!"

The call connected quickly.

"Hello! This is Jingxing. Let Weimeng answer the phone!"

silence.

An unusual silence.

"Where is Wei Meng?" Jing Xing's heart sank.

"Reporting to Major General Jing, Commander Wei... has been killed in action."

Killed in action?

Jingxing felt a lump in his throat and a tearing pain in his heart. He treated Wei Meng like a brother, not just a brother-in-law. It was a revolutionary bond of life and death, a friendship that could be entrusted with one's life. He could not accept this answer: he still had a wife to take care of and a son to raise. How could he die?

"How...how did he die in battle?" His voice choked with emotion.

"Commander Wei did this to save a soldier..."

Jingxing hung up the phone weakly. This was Wei Meng's style. He remembered that once during training, a soldier encountered a poisonous snake. Jingxing caught the snake with a stick and saved the soldier's life. In the end, they even got an extra meal of snake meat.

He slumped into the chair, feeling as if all his strength had been completely drained.

War is never far from soldiers; he himself was prepared to die in battle at any time.

However, it seems easier to die myself. Watching my comrades and loved ones die feels like being slowly tortured in my heart.

Linghu Lan only learned of this news when she met Jing Xing that evening.

A dull pain shot through her chest, for Jing Se, and also for Wei Meng.

She started to have wild thoughts: if she had been by Wei Meng's side back then, and had the Life-Extending Pill, would Wei Meng not have died?

However, there aren't that many 'if onlys' in the world.

Internationally, the results of negotiations between the two opposing sides have been announced. The specifics are now a contest between leaders and are no longer relevant to them. Jingxing and Linghulan have received news of the troop withdrawal.

The two remained silent throughout the journey.

The nation was victorious, but they brought back news of death.

The two men, heavy-hearted, rushed to Kyoto overnight, only to discover that another death awaited them.

...

At Wei Meng's home.

Jingxing felt a wave of dizziness.

"What did you say? What happened to Jing Se?"

No one answered him.

Wei Meng's mother was devastated by the news of her son's death, and Wei Meng's father's hair turned white overnight: "Fortune and wealth are always sought in danger." Their Wei family had seemed to be living a glorious life for three generations, but his father died in a war with an enemy country, and so did his son. What was the point of all this danger?

At that moment, he was extremely confused.

In this family, the only conscious person was the old lady. In a short period of time, two people had died: her granddaughter-in-law and her grandson. The joy of the new life's birth was also shrouded in gloom.

She stammered, "The old man died there, and Amon died there too. That's when I knew that dream was real..."

Jingxing looked at this crumbling business. He was furious.

"I ask you, where is Jing Se?"

The old woman glanced at him indifferently. "In the hospital morgue, she was waiting for Amon to see her one last time, but now she can't wait any longer..."

"How did she die?" Jing Xing's eyes reddened, and he had to try very hard to control his emotions. Linghu Lan held his hand tightly, but only felt that it was ice cold to the touch.