Eternal Night

Vol. 1 Chapter 26.1

Smiling Gas Final

Translated by xiaohei
Edited by xiaohei

Here was a frontier town within Sasha’s territory. It wasn’t a particularly prosperous place, but as it was still currently free of the scourge of war, it was peaceful and quiet.

Yu Feichen was an unfamiliar face with a catchy but travel-worn appearance, drawing the attention of many as soon as he stepped into town. Fortunately, he was bringing along a cute little girl with him, which helped to lower the guards of the townspeople.

Many Koroshans worked in trade and were not too difficult to find around. Yu Feichen headed to the nearest store to ask whether or not the Koroshans had a chamber of commerce here, and the shop owner provided him with both directions and the address.

The address led to a medium-sized bank. After informing the doorman of the purpose of his visit, a middle-aged Koroshan man in a suit came out to greet him.

Yu Feichen gave him a brief rundown of the massacre that happened at Oakvale, to which the man listened with a grave expression. He asked him to rest here while he headed off to report to his superior. A day later, the little girl was taken away by other staff at the establishment while he was given a fresh change of clothes. At noon, the middle-aged man from the chamber of commerce brought an elderly man with snow-white hair, a black tie, and gold-rimmed glasses.

“I’m the president of the Koroshan Federation in Sasha and I’ve arrived here as soon as possible after receiving the telegram.” The old man pointed to the gold badge on his chest. “Now, tell me in detail what you saw, child.”

Omitting the fact that he dealt with dozens of soldiers at the south gate alone, he gave the old man a detailed account of the brutal genocide that took place at the Oakvale Concentration Camp.

The president’s hands were trembling and he was silent for a long time after listening to his story.

“News about the Black Badges invading Korosha and incarcerating our people in their camps have already reached our ears,” he finally mustered. “But, child, what you’re saying here… It’s simply hard to believe. I wouldn’t dare to believe in it.”

Yu Feichen answered, “It really did happen.”

“You’ll have to provide tangible evidence to back that up,” the old man said, “Otherwise, I’m afraid nobody will believe you.”

Yu Feichen had the documents in his bag, but he didn’t bring them out immediately. Instead, he said, “More of my companions are on the way.”

On the third day, another group of a dozen travel-worn Koroshans appeared outside of the town, and the Koroshan Chamber of Commerce, which had been instructed on their arrival, quickly headed over to fetch them.

This was part of the first group of escapees that traveled by truck. So as to reduce the possibility of them being caught, they divided into small groups as Yu Feichen told them to do, and fled in separate ways.

It was Bai Song who led this group.

Fortunately, he was able to get everyone to Sasha in one piece.

Unfortunately, they had encountered a pack of wild wolves deep in the mountains two days ago. Bai Song bravely protected everyone with his axe, but the price he paid for their safety was a severe injury to his thigh, so he had to be carried here by his group.

The doctor’s initial recommendation was amputation, then Bai Song was arranged a ward by the chamber. With a knock on the door, Yu Feichen let himself in.

Bai Song was excited to see him and tried to sit up, but he was pushed back down to his bed by the quick-witted nurse.

When Yu Feichen sat down next to his bed, Bai Song called out to him with a quaver in his voice. “Brother Yu.”

Yu Feichen told him that everyone was able to escape the camp.

When he heard that, a smile blossomed on Bai Song’s face before he could even stop his tears.

At that moment, the old president entered.

“I’m not if I’ve overstepped any boundaries, but I have to tell you what happened,” he said to Yu Feichen, “We decided to separate everyone and question them individually, and we compiled all of their testimonies to ensure that the information is reliable.”

Yu Feichen nodded. “That’s the proper way of doing it.”

This was an old method of interrogation. Comparing the details between each person’s attestations enabled the greatest level of accuracy and allowed one to detect whether a person was lying.

That also showcased how seriously the president took this matter, which meant that he could rest easy.

After a day of questioning, the old president and the president of the chamber visited him again, both sitting opposite him.

“We got the testimonies. Even now, I find it hard to believe that such a nightmare could descend upon our people and that they had to go through that much suffering, but we will do everything we can to help them.” The old president seemed to have aged a decade in a single night. His lips trembled as he said, “Thank you, child.”

Yu Feichen nodded. Then, he took out the documents from his bag and slid them over to the two presidents. When they received the documents and scanned them, their faces turned grave.

“You’re like a messenger sent down to us by the holy Yuryllia,” the old president said while holding his hand.

They said that they would do everything within their power to send out telegrams to reliable organizations and countries throughout to discuss measures that would allow their compatriots to escape safely. All Yu Feichen had to do now was wait for the results.

Many days passed, and there was constant news pouring in.

Records from Oakvale Concentration Camp were not only constantly coming in, but also secretly being circulated in many places. The unbelievable atrocities that the Koroshans suffered through in the concentration camp shocked not only their surviving countrymen but also astonished the people of other countries.

At the same time, the escaped prisoners arrived at several of Sasha’s frontier towns. They did not have an exact headcount, but they were sure that most of the imprisoned Koroshans were able to make it out.

A month later, Blondie heard some news from another town and rushed over to look for Yu Feichen and Bai Song.

He said that he found his mother, but his other relatives had all been separated in other trains.

“A dozen others, including myself, have decided to join five-country allied partisans against the Black Badge Army. This revolution will become our life’s work. Big Nose is going to look for his family, and he’ll look out for our families too.”

Bai Song hugged him with emotion welling in his eyes. “May Yuryllia bless you, Grange.”

“I’ll come and see you once my leg recovers.”

He lay against Grange’s shoulder, wiping his eyes and pretending he didn’t cry. In fact, he had been bawling his eyes out in front of Yu Feichen before Blondie arrived.

—The conservative treatment failed and his entire right leg was going to be sawn off tomorrow.

Blondie had no idea and was patting his back to reassure him. “You’ll recover soon.”

Yu Feichen stood by the window, watching the two brothers in distress as they talked.

All the dust finally settled.

Right now, the man called James Adams had already done all that he could for his suffering country within his capacity.

What’s more, the system informed him that deconstruction had been successful the other day—although the results were less than satisfactory for him.

If this wasn’t enough to get the job done, then he’d have to join the army as well.

It was then that a knock came on the ward door.

The old president entered. “I heard you were having a meeting here.”

He had a smile on his face and could barely hide his excitement. There was a telegram in his hand, and the news was also being broadcast on the radio. “These are the best news you’ll have heard in days.”

“The surviving cities of Korosha, the five other nations that were invaded by the Black Blade Army, and also the nations that were willing to reach out an olive branch to these nations in need, they had long had the desire to form a joint army together. After what happened at Oakvale reached them, the process toward that ideal was accelerated. Just this morning, someone has been elected as the joint army’s leader.”

The old man paused for a moment, taking in the shocked and joyful expressions of those in the room before continuing, “If nothing goes wrong, then the first thing the army will do is dispatch an air service unit to blow up the incineration towers and other killing devices they’ve set up in the shelters everywhere and free all the Koroshans.”

His words gradually overlapped with the voice on the radio.

The two young nurses in the ward wiped their tears and hugged each other.

Bai Song and Blondie, who were already in a brotherly embrace to begin with, held each other even tighter.

The only two left in the ward were Yu Feichen and the old president.

The old president glanced around and cleared his throat. Then, he performed a traditional Koroshan celebratory salute to Yu Feichen and knocked his fists together.

At the same time, celebratory shouts could be heard from the streets inhabited by the Koroshans, and banners were put up.

The old president looked into the distance. “Justice prevails in the end.”