The main ship deployed its high-polymer defense shell.

This defense shell was only deployed during National Day military parades. The original designer, for the sake of aesthetics, had painted the national flag pattern on the main ship's defense shell and added space-specific fluorescent functionality.

The designer probably never imagined that one day, the main ship housing the central command center would deploy its defense shell, shuttling amidst fierce enemies.

And now, it was like a national flag rising in the boundless dark night.

Yang Ning stood there motionlessly, as if trying to discern the last bit of the central command center's silhouette from the increasingly dense static on the screen.

At that moment, the young commander looked dazed, almost like he had lost his soul.

"What are you looking at! Hurry and get into the safety harness!" Yesi shouted angrily, giving Fu Luo a heavy push on the back. "Get him in there."

Fu Luo didn't dare to get physical with her superior even if she had the guts. She hesitated for a moment before walking over and gently prompting: "Colonel."

Yang Ning's neck was like a rusty bearing, taking a slow beat to come back to his senses. He turned his head and stared at Fu Luo, his eyes still unfocused.

Fu Luo said softly: "The curvature drive has been activated, we need to prepare for acceleration. There may be a jump, so..."

Yang Ning closed his eyes for a moment. After a while, he turned and walked into the safety harness: "Let's go."

The main ship did not turn off its eye-catching fluorescent system. It brazenly kept it on as if declaring something, like a bright red target attracting a large number of space pirates to surround it, even creating gaps in the encirclement.

It rolled into the depths of the enemy forces like a moth to a flame, buying precious minutes for the last elite combat units - the second and third units divided into two routes - to simultaneously activate their curvature drives.

The jump began, and a deviation occurred in the straight time coordinate.

The fleet, carrying the hopes of humanity, vanished into the vast universe.

Vaguely, only that lonely and unguarded "national flag" remained, gradually disappearing under the endless barrage of gunfire, like a red sun sinking into the sea.

Time rewound to the end of March.

After Mr. Robert's tea party, Ye Wenlin wrote a report in Zhao Youxuan's tone and sent it back to headquarters overnight. The central command center attached great importance to this and held a secret meeting. The results of the meeting were not announced at the time.

But the next day, the Chinese Fortress upgraded the curvature drive system of the warships under the pretext of ship maintenance.

The upgraded system didn't even have time to pass the test.

Fu Luo felt like she was being squeezed into a crack. At the moment of the space-time jump, the safety harness engaged, protecting the fragile human body inside to the maximum extent. Apart from a slight tinnitus, it was almost painless.

Yet she inexplicably had the illusion of being on the verge of death.

It was probably just a psychological effect.

The distorted time seemed infinitely long, yet infinitely short. A kaleidoscope of images flashed before her eyes. She inexplicably thought of her excitement when she received the military academy admission notice; the scene of her first time putting on the long-dreamed-of uniform and taking the oath under the sun and national flag; the sudden excitement when she first saw the space fortress and the special forces spearhead in the video during a group viewing of a documentary...

She thought of the countless times she had looked up at the starry river from the ground.

Suddenly, her vision blurred.

At this moment, a hand gently rested on her shoulder. Fu Luo came back to her senses and hurriedly lowered her head to wipe away her tears, thinking she would be reprimanded.

But she wasn't.

She heard Yang Ning sigh very softly, then whisper in her ear: "Remember, at this point, a soldier has no right to cry."

He didn't sound sad, angry, resentful, or at a loss. After a moment of confusion and disorientation, he quickly resumed his role as commander.

Fu Luo didn't know what kind of heart he had in his chest.

However, from that almost comforting whisper, she finally acknowledged that Yang Ning was a person so strong that she could not surpass him, at least at this stage.

On Earth, any ordinary day that humans once experienced—going out early and returning late—would become history.

However, history is different for every generation. Some people are so lucky that in their entire lives, they will never hear the sound of the cruel wheels of history.

Beijing, China, UTC+8, 9:00 PM.

The sunless underground city.

After half a year of rush repairs and reconstruction, the capital's underground city had restored basic living needs.

Haidian District 3 was close to the city center, and the living environment in the underground city was good. It was not as heavily affected by that electromagnetic attack as some suburban areas. Except for the initial inconvenience in transportation, the people here were fortunate enough not to suffer any injuries.

At this time, even a supermarket and an underground KTV were still in business.

A young man with hair dyed like a feather duster walked out wearing a KTV waiter's vest. He ignored the receptionist girl who greeted him from afar, and with the unrestrained air of a callow youth, he slapped the shoulder of the greeter boy with uneven force: "I have something to do, I'm leaving first."

With that, he took off his vest and casually threw it to the other person. He raked his feathery hair with unruly defiance and turned to leave without looking back.

A little gangster girl was squatting at the door smoking. Seeing him coming, she put her feet on the suspended motorcycle and pouted her lip ring-studded mouth at the boy: "Get on."

The boy was none other than Wang Yacheng, who had run away from home half a year ago.

In fact, he didn't run away because he let his sister go and was afraid of not being able to explain to his father. It was just that when Wang Yacheng saw Fu Luo's figure leaving without looking back, his heart inexplicably jumped, as if a large patch of restless weeds had sprung up, pricking him so much that he couldn't stay for a moment. He hastily packed some things and left.

Of course, he didn't bring enough money, but he didn't return home after spending it all as Wang Yizheng had expected.

This little brat usually just goofed off and got into trouble when he had nothing to do, and he had few close friends.

After running away from home, Wang Yacheng shamelessly moved into the home of his nominal girlfriend.

Wang Yacheng's self-proclaimed "wife" was called Wu Qiong, the little gangster girl who was smoking and waiting for him.

Wu Qiong was about the same age as him, still a fledgling teenager, but she already had considerable prestige among the local delinquents, becoming a sort of "big sister" in the area. She and Wang Yacheng, the kind of rich boy who lived above ground, had a playful "boyfriend-girlfriend" relationship.

The two of them were just messing around for show in the first place, neither taking the other seriously, until Wang Yacheng ran out of money and had no choice but to move into Wu Qiong's place.

Wu Qiong owned a small two-bedroom apartment in the underground city of Haidian District 3, an inheritance left by her working-class parents. She also had a seven-year-old younger brother named Wu Xiaowei. She had dropped out of school and made a living by doing odd jobs and hustling, working part-time as a resident singer at a bar to support herself and her brother. She was a very talented female hooligan.

Wang Yacheng usually squeezed into the same bed as Wu Xiaowei, working as a waiter at a KTV at night to earn some pocket money to get by. This kind of life was still boring, but he didn't want to go home at all.

The self-important teenager believed that he hadn't yet found a "way to make peace with this world".

That night, they planned to go to a high school together to extort some protection money from a few students. The little gangster girl Wu Qiong drove her modified, beat-up motorcycle, speeding along the winding underground city roads all the way up to the surface.

Wang Yacheng held his second-hand cell phone, shouting into it against the rushing wind, "We're already halfway there, almost there... you guys can still hear... hello? Hello?"

Wu Qiong: "What's wrong?"

"Damn," Wang Yacheng shook his second-hand device, "suddenly lost signal."

Before Wu Qiong could answer, she felt something and slammed on the brakes; the high-speed, low-flying motorcycle skidded in a wide arc, its tires screeching on the pavement.