Chapter 70: May the World Be Free of Demons, May the Golden Age Bring Peace and Prosperity

At the mention of this, Shen Ci's gaze darkened:
"Her parents passed away early, and she still has an older sister who is not in Jincheng..."
"Here we are, at the top of the mountain..."
Shen Ci tilted his head slightly, motioning to Ren Jie.
Presented before him was Pagoda Mountain, the highest peak in Jincheng, which served as the martyrs' cemetery for the Demon Suppression Officers.
Ren Jie was momentarily stunned, saying nothing as the two of them walked step by step up the stone stairs. The hillside was densely packed with rows of white square tombstones.
Some were new, while others were already covered in moss. Although it was a graveyard, walking here in the deep of night brought no sense of gloom or terror, but rather a profound feeling of peace...
Shen Ci said in a raspy voice:
"This martyrs' cemetery has easily been here for a hundred years or so. Demon Suppression Officers who die in battle are all buried here. When I first arrived in Jincheng... the very first place my master brought me to was this. Back then... there weren't nearly this many tombstones here..."
"Generation after generation of people in the Demon Suppression Department have come and gone. The only thing that remains unchanged, perhaps, is the name of the Demon Suppression Department itself..."
"The spark of Jincheng... burns because of them. Perhaps one day I, too, will sleep here, but I hope... I am the last one!"
Ren Jie tilted his head to look at Shen Ci. At that moment, Shen Ci's eyes were filled with fervent hope...
Ren Jie, who had remained silent the entire way, finally spoke:
"Don't be so pessimistic. Maybe before the day you kick the bucket arrives, all of this will already be over..."
Shen Ci was startled, then burst into hearty laughter: "You kid really dare to say anything, huh? Then work hard to grow stronger, if you don't want to sleep here..."
The two climbed all the way to the summit. Right in the center of the mountaintop stood a huge stone sword carved entirely from marble, with the emblem of the Demon Suppression Department engraved on the hilt.
Carved onto the blade in sweeping, dragon-like calligraphy were ten bold characters:
"May the world be free of demons."
"May the prosperous age sing on forever."
On the grassy summit, many new Demon Suppression tombstones had been added.
Among them was Ye Yue's.
Yun Xiao had bandages wrapped around her head, and at that moment, clinging to the tombstone, she was already weeping her heart out. Wu Yunqing, also wearing a plaster cast, stood as a tough man of steel, yet his eyes were now misted with tears.
Ye Hua sat in a wheelchair nearby, silent...
Seeing this scene, Ren Jie slowly stepped forward. He never imagined that in the span of a single day, he would have to attend the funerals of two friends...
Meanwhile, Shen Ci stood in the distance, leaning against a tree, quietly smoking a cigarette...
Yun Xiao sobbed:
"Sister Ye Yue didn't leave anything behind. Inside, there was only her Demon Suppression Officer ID, sob—waaah—!"
She cried even louder. As members of the same Third Squad, their bond with Ye Yue ran much deeper...

Ren Jie said in a hoarse voice:
"No... she did leave something behind. She entrusted her dream to me..."
A gentle, drizzling rain began to fall from the sky, filling the air with the fragrance of damp earth. This night rain seemed to be seeing off the Demon Suppression Officers...
The night rain washed away the haze lingering over the city, as well as the panic in people's hearts. Yet even when wounds heal, they leave behind scars that are hard to erase...
Ren Jie looked back. The view from the mountaintop was magnificent, offering a panoramic look at the entire city of Jincheng. This night rain lent a hazy, ethereal beauty to the night scenery of Jincheng...
This was Ye Yue's favorite view. Being able to sleep here, gazing out over the Jincheng she had always protected, she probably wouldn't feel lonely, right?
In the night sky, the dim moon hid behind dark clouds, its light obscured. At that moment, Ren Jie gazed at the pitch-black sky and slowly clenched his fists.
One day, he would make the moonlight shine once again upon the fertile soil of Great Xia, illuminating this tiny hillside, shining for her alone...
Ren Jie raised his hand and made a grasping motion. A flower of blazing fire formed entirely from flames and a flower of frost formed from ice crystals condensed simultaneously, and he placed them neatly before Ye Yue's tombstone.
That was a flower of scorching flames that even the rain could not extinguish...
Ye Hua tilted his head to look at Ren Jie:
"What are your plans... after this? Things being as they are, you kid wouldn't still be thinking of running away, would you?"
Ren Jie did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned back and asked:
"Director Shen, when does the Demon Hunting Academy start?"
Shen Ci smiled and said softly:
"There are still more than half a month left before the new semester begins, no need to rush..."
Ren Jie looked towards Yun Xiao and the other two, and said with utmost solemnity: "For these half a month, I must trouble all you instructors to teach this newcomer well..."
The corners of Ye Hua's mouth curled into a smile: "You said it, no backing out!"
...
After exchanging contact information, Ren Jie did not go home. His heart could not settle down, so he headed straight to the Jincheng Biological Laboratory.
He went to have Nuo Yan install his new arm; after all, walking around swaying with only one arm wasn't a long-term solution...
On the operating table, Nuo Yan puffed on a cigarette, performing the installation procedure for Ren Jie while chattering away with excitement in her eyes:
(˵ಡ ꇴ ಡ) "Hey, hey, hey—did you know? I heard Lu Qianfan charged straight into the Overwhelming Heaven Demonic Domain and lopped off the Demon Monarch's head directly. How reckless is he? Even the leader of the Tarot cards couldn't keep him?"
"It's just that he left way too fast. I didn't get a chance to ask for an autographed photo or anything, what a massive loss..."
"Damn it all, just thinking about it pisses me off. Old lady here even dumped you, and I still have to install your arm? No way, you've gotta show me something, otherwise I'm at a total loss..."
As she spoke, she reached directly for Ren Jie's pants to pull them down.
However, Ren Jie put up no resistance at all. He simply stared blankly into the shadowless surgical light, lost in thought...
Nuo Yan rolled her eyes and jabbed a cell forceps right into Ren Jie's wound, making him jolt in pain:
(งᵒ̌～ᵒ̌)ง "Did you lose your soul? Why are you acting like a corpse? I know you're hurting inside, but what else can be done? Are we supposed to stop living our lives?"
Ren Jie glared at Nuo Yan irritably:
"You're already letting yourself look, yet you still talk so much. By the way, you... hey, forget it..."
Nuo Yan gnashed her teeth:
"People who leave their sentences half-spoken won't have a companion when they're old. What do you want to ask?"
"Are you trying to ask about my parents?"
Ren Jie swallowed hard:
(๑◔ ◠ ◔ิ) "Can I... can I ask?"
Nuo Yan was speechless:
"Didn't you just ask anyway? There's nothing to hide or cover up~"
"Those two human-demons are indeed my parents. My biological ones..."
Ren Jie suddenly widened his eyes, staring at Nuo Yan in utter disbelief:
Σ( ° △ °|||) "Are... are you out of your mind?"
She had really turned her own parents into puppet dolls?
Nuo Yan said indifferently: "Only... things are not quite the way you think they are..."
"In the very beginning, hmm—it's most appropriate to describe it using ordinary geniuses. My passion for the field of molecular biology reached an obsessive degree..."
"At the age of 15, I had already published hundreds of SCI papers in the Journal of Genetic Science, solved a dozen scientific research problems, and even triggered a minor earthquake in the academic world."
"All sorts of flamboyant titles like genius child prodigy and brain of a god fell upon me. Although I didn't awaken any special abilities, I still gained immense attention purely through my brain."
"I don't know how many academicians, experts, and professors wanted to take me on as a student. At the age of 15, I had already entered the Xia Research Institute, becoming the youngest researcher there..."
Ren Jie was already listening in a daze. You call this an ordinary genius, you little feline?
How on earth does this connect to Nuo Yan's current delinquent-girl image?
Nuo Yan said smugly:
(︶.̮︶〃) "Didn't expect that, did you? Don't look at me like this, I used to be a science nerd walking at the very frontier of science~"
"If the knowledge currently mastered by humanity is a circle, then I was the person standing at the boundary of that circle, expanding it outward..."