future

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the classroom window. Lin Bai sat by the window, opened his textbook, and could hear his classmates whispering.

Her expression was as focused as ever, as if she were just an ordinary sixteen-year-old student. But only she knew that the green light she saw last night and the black tide in her dream were no illusions.

"Lin Bai, did you not sleep well last night?" her deskmate asked in a low voice, staring at the faint dark marks under her eyes.

Lin Bai smiled and said, "It was just a dream."

But before he could elaborate, there was a sudden commotion at the classroom door. Several unfamiliar teachers in dark blue uniforms walked in, their expressions solemn. Teacher Chen Chen approached them and spoke in low voices, a complex light flashing in his robotic eyes.

Soon, he turned around and announced, "Today's classes have been temporarily adjusted. All students will conduct an emergency defense drill."

"Another drill? This is the third time this month?" the students complained.

Lin Bai frowned slightly. She sensed the tension in the air, much heavier than during a typical drill.

——

The drill took place on the training grounds. Students were divided into groups and instructed to enter defensive bunkers, operate simple shields, and even receive simplified energy guns.

Lin Bai's heart tightened as she lifted the training spear. The feel was completely different from the spear she had used in the mythical arena, yet it still reminded her of that battlefield of blood and fire.

She glanced absentmindedly at the hooded boy in the crowd, who had somehow blended into the group of students. This time, however, he wasn't trying to hide.

Lin Bai saw it. When he raised his head, his pupils glowing green overlapped with the countless eyes in his dream.

"Zerg." Her heart was shocked, and she confirmed the origin almost instantly.

But at this moment, the defensive barrier above suddenly emitted a dull humming sound. The previously stable energy fluctuations suddenly became disordered, and a crack flashed briefly before quickly healing.

On the playground, the students thought it was just a special effect rehearsal and cried out in surprise. Only Lin Bai's pupils suddenly constricted as he felt the oppressive feeling that permeated him.

That's not a drill.

She subconsciously glanced at Teacher Chen Chen, only to see the mechanical instructor's metallic eyes flash coldly, as if he had noticed something was amiss. But the next moment, he simply clapped his hands calmly and announced, "Excellent! This is the result of today's training. Everyone, dismiss yourselves."

Lin Bai returned to the dormitory and couldn't calm down for a long time.

She knew full well what the military and the higher-ups were hiding. She couldn't dismiss last night's dream, the cracks during the day, and the hooded boy's presence as hallucinations.

"Lin Bai." Her deskmate knocked on her door and poked his head in. "Would you like to go to the archives with us tomorrow? I heard that Professor Chen Chen is going to open some historical footage."

"Historical images?" Lin Bai was stunned.

My deskmate nodded. "Yes, it's said to be a true record of the Zerg Wars of the last century. It's usually not open to the public."

Lin Bai quickly responded with a "yes".

——

The lighting in the library was cold and restrained, and holographic screens lined the walls. Students filed in, guided by the guide, and the whispers gradually faded.

Lin Bai walked in the team, his expression seemed calm, but his heart was tightening inch by inch.

A massive projection screen slowly lit up, the first frame a glimpse of the black void of space. Then, the image abruptly shifted to crimson, as swarms of Zerg warships emerged from the abyssal wormhole. Though the image quality was a bit grainy, it was incredibly clear, thrilling.

A student in the front row couldn't help but exclaim: "This is real!"

The guide interrupted coldly: "Keep quiet. Remember, this is the enemy humanity has faced."

Lin Bai's eyes were fixed on the screen. It was all too familiar to her. Those twisting limbs, those fangs covered in shells, those cold green eyes, were exactly like the black tide in her dream.

At the end of the video, a blurry fragment flashed by. It was not mentioned by the commentator, but was captured by Lin Bai.

He was a tall young general wearing a silver-gray cloak and standing in front of the fortifications with sharp eyes, with a burning planet behind him.

Lin Bai held her breath. She recognized that face.

Ellie.

At this moment, Ellie is no longer just the girl who sweated profusely alongside her in the training ground, but a famous general in the records of the federal military.

A sense of absurd loss swept through Lin Bai's heart. The ten years of time lost made her suddenly realize that what she lacked after traveling through time wasn't just time, but also the gap between her and her old friends.

The guide continued in a cold voice, "Due to post-war treaties and the Federation's appeasement policy, these images have never been made available to the public. What you see today must not be disclosed to anyone."

Lin Bai clenched his fists. The military was hiding something.

But she knew that this was not a video from decades ago, and that Ellie decades ago would never have gone to the battlefield.

She looked up quietly and noticed that the surveillance camera in the corner above the venue was turning imperceptibly, like a silently watching eye.

As the student group dispersed, Lin Bai caught a glimpse of the hooded boy out of the corner of his eye, who also appeared at the exit of the archives.

He lifted a corner of his hood with a half-smile, revealing a pair of pupils glowing green.

The hooded boy raised his lips slightly and uttered a few words silently.

Lin Bai couldn't see his voice clearly, but he suddenly heard a cold whisper in his heart.

"We never left."

A chill ran up his spine. Lin Bai's breath hitched, and his fingers clenched unconsciously.

But when she looked again, the crowd at the exit had dispersed and the boy had disappeared as if he had never existed.

——

At night, Lin Bai tossed and turned in his dormitory, unable to sleep. The starlight outside the window was dim, as if hidden by a thick fog.

She stared at the ceiling, the images she had seen during the day and those green eyes replaying in her mind.

"That's Ellie, but the information says it's a war from the last century."

Lin Bai muttered to herself, her voice extremely low. She was well aware that the military was disguising the ongoing battle as "history."

Her heart sank as she suddenly remembered Teacher Chen Chen's calm expression at the end of the drill. He definitely hadn't been completely oblivious; he must have known something.

"Then why on earth would they hide it?"

Lin Bai was lost in thought when suddenly, the light curtain flickered gently.

A system prompt pops up quietly:

[Military Encrypted Channel Request Access]

Lin Bai's pupils shrank and he nodded in agreement.

The next moment, a familiar voice rang out. It was deep and steady: "Lin Bai, I'm Gu Zhou. The Zerg have invaded."

Lin Bai held her breath, her fingertips trembling slightly. Gu Zhou's voice, raspy and murmurous, pierced through the light curtain, yet it still sent a shudder through her heart.

"Gu...Zhou?" She almost didn't dare to confirm, as if the name would shatter the illusion before her eyes.

"It's me." The voice was low and rapid. "Time is running out. What you see in the archives isn't the past, but the present. The Federation concealed the true front line as 'history' to avoid widespread panic. But the Zerg have already breached the Outer Rim defenses."

Lin Bai's heart suddenly tightened. She remembered the crack in the barrier during the day, the eyes of the hooded boy, and felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her chest.

"What about Ellie?" Her voice was so low that it was almost inaudible.

There was silence for a few seconds on the other side of the light curtain before Gu Zhou's restrained breathing was heard.

"She's still alive. She's on the front lines."

Lin Bai's chest suddenly felt hot, a sourness and a tremor washing over her. But Gu Zhou interrupted her thoughts: "Lin Bai, now's not the time to reminisce. The hooded boy you saw at school isn't just any infiltrator. He's the Zerg's 'eye,' and through him, they're spying on our city."

Lin Bai's heart suddenly felt cold, a chill even more biting than the night wind.

"I need you to do something." Gu Zhou's voice deepened. "Don't tell anyone about what you saw today, not even your most trusted deskmate. Someone will come to pick you up tomorrow. You must leave school and go to the 'Gray Domain Workshop' in North City. There, there is someone you must see."

Lin Bai wanted to ask, but he could only utter one word: "Who..."

The screen flickered, and the signal seemed to be violently cut off. In the last frame, there was only Gu Zhou's heavy and resolute voice:

"Remember, Lindbergh. The Zerg have never left. The war has never ended."

The light curtain went out, and the dormitory returned to darkness. Lin Bai clenched his sweat-soaked palms, unable to move for a long time.

Outside the window, the night sky was deep. Behind the seemingly peaceful starlight, countless eyes seemed to be watching.

The next morning, Lin Bai's eyes were bloodshot. She had barely slept, but she looked more alert than ever.

A classmate knocked on the door, inviting her to go to class together. Lin Bai pretended to be nonchalant and agreed, carrying her schoolbag on her back as she walked along the familiar stone path on campus. But her heart felt heavy, and every step seemed to count down.

The class went on as usual, and the teachers read from the textbook, as if last night's turmoil had never happened.

In the afternoon, she made an excuse to go to the laboratory building, but quietly walked out of the school gate.

The optical computer map led her to a long-abandoned machinery factory.

"Gray Domain Workshop..." Lin Bai muttered in a low voice, his steps cautious and urgent.

The rusted iron door creaked open, revealing a space filled with dust and parts. A beam of light shone through the shattered skylight, illuminating the piles of wreckage.

Lin Bai had just stepped in when he heard a "click" sound behind him.

"Don't move." A cold voice came from the shadows.

Lin Bai's heart tightened, and he slowly raised his hands. The next moment, a tall elephant-like figure emerged, dressed in a tattered military uniform. A hideous scar split his left ear in two, and he held a modified energy rifle firmly in his hand.

Lin Bai was stunned. She recognized this face.

“…Ellie.”

The woman's eyes trembled slightly, and then she put away the rifle coldly.

"It has come to this in just a few days." Ellie's voice was low and hoarse, mixed with the heaviness of having experienced countless wars.

Lin Bai's throat tightened, and his heart was filled with unspeakable emotions. The general in the video from last night was now standing before him.

Ellie didn't give her a moment's pause, she turned around and pushed open the iron door inside the workshop, saying coldly:

"Come in. We don't have much time. The Zerg's 'eyes' are on you."

Lin Bai took a deep breath and followed.

Behind the iron gates was a makeshift command room. A holographic screen displayed a war-torn star map, with dense red dots of light steadily eroding the human defenses.

Ellie stopped in front of the screen and lowered her voice to a very low level:

"Lin Bai, you must know one thing. The Zerg are not making a comeback. They have never left. All the Federation has done over the years is to push the battlefield outward and bury the truth deeper."

She turned to look at Lin Bai, her eyes burning with cold flames.

"The ancient inscription says that you are our final variable."