Earth Era

Part 4

Today, Qin Feng's father came to see him, and Xu Jia warmly welcomed him and prepared a large table of dishes with care.

At the dinner table, Qin Feng's father said, "The war outside has ended, but the cities are all destroyed."

"We won?!" Xu Jia asked.

Her father nodded, "For now."

"Yes!" she exclaimed, jumping with joy.

Qin Feng took a bite of food and asked, "So, are we going to rebuild?"

"We are. Reconstruction work has already begun after the disaster," his father said.

Qin Feng nodded but remained silent, perhaps feeling the atmosphere was a bit heavy. His father asked, "Where is your family?"

Xu Jia smiled faintly, "They didn't come."

It was then that Qin Feng realized he had been living here for almost three months and had never met her parents.

"They didn't come... what does that mean?" he asked.

Xu Jia remained silent with her head down, while her father gave him a meaningful look, as if to say: Don't ask, isn't it obvious...

At this point, Qin Feng finally began to lift a bit of the gloom. A girl could show such strength in the face of impending disaster. Was he being too melodramatic?

"Um... let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about something happier," his father broke the silence. "The United Coalition has proposed a new plan!"

"...?"

"Uh..." The situation was somewhat awkward. His father asked, "Don't you want to know what the plan is?"

"What plan?" Qin Feng asked.

"The Beyond Plan!"

The two looked at each other. "What's that? How does it concern us?"

"It does concern us!"

"Alright, tell us."

"It's about the planet Beyond, the third planet from the sun in our solar system. You both should be familiar with it, right?"

They both nodded.

"It's a blue planet, covered in vast oceans, and has a thick ecological atmosphere..."

Qin Feng furrowed his brows. "We know all that, we learned it in school. What's next?"

"It's suitable for our survival."

"Are you suggesting... abandoning Setan Star?"

"Worst-case scenario."

"We won, didn't we?" Xu Jia interjected.

"Just for now..."

That night, Qin Feng's father stayed in his room, and the father and son talked until late, discussing many things from childhood memories to the departure of Qin Feng's mother. It had been a long time since they had had such a deep conversation that lasted into the night.

Qin Feng shared his desire to become an aerospace defense soldier with his father, but he was rejected.

The conversation between father and son ended there, leaving Qin Feng puzzled by his father's refusal. Feeling upset, he turned to the other side.

After what seemed like a while, he heard his father's soft voice through the haze, "If you want to become an aerospace defense soldier to defend our homeland, then I support you. But if it's just to find Xiao Ya, then I can only say, I've already lost my beloved wife, I can't afford to lose my son too. But that's not your fault, it's mine..."

The next morning, Qin Feng's father left early. Xu Jia's eyes were slightly swollen, as if she had just cried.

Qin Feng knew why she was crying; it was because he still had his father, while she had lost everything.

"Let me make breakfast today," Qin Feng said.

She nodded gently.

After breakfast, Qin Feng took her shopping, and her mood seemed much better after a whole day out.

In a shoe store, she fell in love with a pair of high heels. He wanted to buy them for her but was refused, she said, "It's a waste of money."

Qin Feng said, "The world is about to be destroyed, money doesn't matter anymore."

She replied, "How could that be, we won."

"Just for now."

She added, "I never wear high heels anyway."

Qin Feng fell silent.

In a watch store, she pointed to a watch and asked Qin Feng, "Is this nice?"

"It's nice."

"Do you like it?"

"I do."

"Then let's go."

Qin Feng was surprised, "I thought you were going to sell it to me..."

"Dream on. Check the price yourself. I don't have that much money," she said with a smile as she walked away.

Xu Jia said she wanted to visit the surface when she had time because she hadn't been there in a long time. She asked if Qin Feng would accompany her.

Without hesitation, Qin Feng agreed, and the next day, they went. The surface was 3 kilometers away from the bunker, and it took about 5 minutes by elevator.

But the surface was no longer the same. The sky was blurred by sandstorms, and one could vaguely discern the incomplete buildings not far away.

Once they stood tall and proud, symbols of an era. Now they lay in ruins, swaying in the wind, buried in the sand. Soon, perhaps, no one would remember how magnificent they once were...

"How did our home become like this?" Xu Jia murmured.

Qin Feng naturally wrapped his arm around her shoulder. At that moment, he made up his mind—to drive away the alien invaders and defend their homeland!

This idea was not mixed with any personal emotions, just a pure burst of determination.

He followed through with his decision. A few days later, he told Xu Jia, who simply said, "If you want to go, then go."

The night before leaving, she came to help him pack again and asked, "Will you come back?"

"I will. I'll come back to see you often," Qin Feng said.

She smiled, a knowing smile.

The next morning, just as Qin Feng was about to leave, she stopped him. After hesitating for a while, she finally asked, "Do you want to finish breakfast before you go?"

"Okay."

Xu Jia made breakfast, frying the eggs into heart shapes.

They ate in silence, and after breakfast, as Qin Feng was about to leave, she couldn't help but say, "Take care of yourself..."

He smiled, "You too."

The words she wanted to say ultimately remained unspoken, because she didn't know if she should try to keep him.

Qin Feng left, but he didn't fulfill his promise because he was gone for five years!

And that sentence, "I'll come back to see you often," remained in Xu Jia's heart for five years!