Chapter 67:Briefing of the Realm

The Secret Realm world opens next Saturday.

"At that time, on Friday afternoon, you all will receive a message—as will your families—and you'll need to report to my office."

Principal Renshu's voice echoed across the quiet hall.

"Commander Qian and I will escort you to the location where the rift will appear."

Some students whispered amongst themselves before quieting down.

He glanced across the gathered students.

"I suggest teaming up for the first few days with your classmates. You don't have to stay together the whole time—eventually, you'll need to branch off and find your own resources or complete your own goals. But knowing your fellow students can also help you."

Fan Yumei turned to Min Zhao, who was whispering something.

"Hmm?" she asked, nodding for her to repeat herself. She still kept her attention on the principal speaking but leaned her ear close to Min Zhao to hear her clearly.

Min Zhao leaned over slightly, covering her mouth with her hand and said softly,

"Can we crash at your place on Thursday night and leave on Friday together?"

"Mhm," Fan Yumei nodded in agreement. She then nudged her and gestured her head toward the front in a silent pay-attention-to-the-principal's-words kind of way.

Principal Renshu's gaze sharpened slightly.

He held up one finger and numbered them off.

"One: If you're in trouble or if you're being pursued, you can call or teleport to the next person in your group. And they'll be able to do the same for you."

Then he held up two fingers, saying,

"Two: Help out when you can."

"That's why it's important to help each other when you can." He paused, then continued with a heavier tone.

"I suggest teaming up the first few days with your classmates. You don't have to be together the whole time, as you will have to branch off and find your own resources or whatever at some point." Principal Renshu's voice had an emotional hint to it that couldn't quite be placed.

"But by knowing your fellow students, you'll be able to identify or retrieve their bodies… or the remains. So that we can hold a burial for the fallen—and so their families have something to hold on to. Something of their lost loved one."

Principal Renshu's tone thickened, weighed down by grief.

"That's the harsh truth."

⸻

Fan Yumei stood up straighter. Her fist clenched at his words.

The part about picking up and identifying the bodies of students no older than eleven or twelve—that hit hard.

Somewhere nearby, someone exhaled sharply.

Principal Renshu's tone was thick with sorrow and solemnity as he got to the harsher details.

Fan Yumei fell into a memory—

No.

A nightmare.

One that haunts her even still in this world and life.

⸻

Flashback

She was deployed to South Sudan, in Wau, for a last-minute mission.

A welfare check on the base stationed out in Wau town. The chain of command had been broken. The base had missed multiple readiness reports and failed to follow reporting procedures concerning HQ back in Beijing.

They called her to handle it and see what was going on with the base's units.

She arrived thinking maybe there was a problem with equipment again—because it had happened before due to low maintenance and crews' laziness with daily drills.

Or maybe the base commander had slacked off—drunken himself into a coma again.

She originally didn't mind because she was coming to visit her little sister, who was stationed out this way. They had grown up together in the orphanage. She, Hu Yumei, had practically raised and watched her grow up.

And how wrong she was.

The sight that greeted her was blood and bodies. People running, screaming, crying—it was complete tragedy.

The thick smell of coppery blood in the air overwhelmed her senses. People dragging their loved ones' bodies out of mini mass graves. Limbs severed and tossed aside in small piles. Mass graves of decapitated civilians.

Naked women and children with serious wounds. Signs of torture and abuse.

The sight is something she will never forget.

She rushed toward the base, clearing each house she passed for any sign of the unknown enemy. Following all possible protocols—when there really wasn't any for this kind of thing.

Because it doesn't happen.

She also tried to help the wounded. Patching up. Looking through piles of severed limbs and heads. Making notes, but still keeping her direction toward the base.

She wasn't feeling anything good.

And as she got closer to the base, it was worse.

The stench and heat made the experience no better. The extreme rotting smell. The maggots that feasted on the bodies that had laid out for who knows how long.

She saw destroyed homes.

Bloody drag streaks with struggle marks—signs of persons dragged, putting up a fight. Leading somewhere unknown.

More women—stripped of their clothes that were discarded nearby.

The bodies had clear signs of sexual abuse. Some were in unsightly positions with hands bound and rope burn marks.

"Blarrggh." She couldn't help but be sick to her stomach at what these women had to endure to death.

"Fuck all," she sobbed, looking around, checking pulses. Just checking for survivors in general. But none so far.

Most had their faces filled with wild hatch-like marks all over them. Making them almost unrecognizable.

Just as she walked by one of them, she was grabbed by the leg by the same woman she thought was dead.

She quickly squatted down, checking the woman. Only to pause when she heard the woman say her name.

"Hu… Y-Yumei…" cough "S-s-sister."

She struggled to speak. Sobbing words hard to hear clearly. Her body shaking as she was falling into shock.

Hu Yumei pulled out her med kit and spoke while moving quickly.

"Shhh, don't try to speak. Your body is going into shock."

"What's your name?"

"Can you tell me what happened?" She shot off questions rapidly but wasn't idle either.

She started pouring alcohol on the wounds. Trying to stop the bleeding and clean them.

"N-no… cough… don't let me die, okay?"

"I don't w-want to die this way-y… I w-was g-g-going to marry Xiao R-r-rui…"

The woman fought to talk. Breathing heavy and coughing up blood between sentences.

She took Fan Yumei's hand—something clenched in her palm.

"Tell… M-Major Rui…" cough

"I won't b-be going… home this time… to m-marry h-him… I'm s-sorry… I-I always dream… I'd s-spend my l-l-life w-with y-yo—"

She breathed her last breath.

The light left her eyes.

Empty eyes staring at the empty sky.

"Shit! Don't die on me!"

Hu Yumei quickly checked her pulse and tried to give CPR. But nothing.

"Come on!!"

Her hands shook. The pungent smell of sticky blood covering her hands and clothes.

CLANG. Something dropped.

The woman let go of what she had clenched.

Hu Yumei grabbed it and looked at it—then paused.

She was holding dog tags.

Gasp. She flinched, dropping the tags.

"No. No…"

She felt breathless as she picked the tags up again.

She read the name.

"Chen Yiran."

Her little sister she came to visit. The only reason she came and accepted this mission.

All the air in her body was knocked out of her.

"Yiran! No…" she sobbed, looking close at her battlemate—the one she watched over and grew up with in the same orphanage.

She clenched her body. Taking off her own jacket to cover Chen Yiran.

"What happened here? Where are the others…"

She didn't want to let go.

But she had orders.

Finally coming to her senses, she called in. Reporting the news of the attack and massacre.

She then made her way to the base—not before she closed her beloved sister's eyes. Then left. Forcing herself not to look back.

When she made it there, her vision blackened for a moment at the sight of everything. She steadied herself and then cleared every inch of the base.

Destroyed. Ransacked. Bloody drag marks. Headless hanging bodies.

What is this?

She asked herself breathlessly as she spent the next few hours putting limbs and heads together to try and identify anyone she could.

Half the base was found. The others unknown.

She collected dog tags. Noted down names. Reported those she found—and searched for others.

She later found out they were out on a supply run and had encountered a gang trying to rob them.

She was livid. HQ sent more people down to help take care of everything.

She was numb. Still clenching the dog tags of the fallen. All people she knew and served with for years.

Regardless, they couldn't bring back the lives lost here today. Especially Chen Yiran. And her fiancé. She would be breaking the news to him, as she was Chen Yiran's emergency contact.

The people sent by HQ arrived later that night. She explained what had happened to the town.

What she witnessed would always haunt her.

⸻

Back in the present