Chapter 52: Adding Glory to Oneself by Stealing Others' Military Achievements

Suddenly confronted by Nangong Lingyue's question, Ji Ling looked somewhat dazed.

Staring blankly into the unfathomable black fog ahead, Ji Ling shook his head slightly and clicked his tongue, saying, "To be honest, I haven't figured it out yet."

"Are you going to make a clean break with the Ji family?" Nangong Lingyue asked, looking straight at him.

Ji Ling was taken aback once again. He shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"However, what belongs to me, I will definitely take back. That's for sure."

"I originally thought that by returning to the Ji family, I could finally have the familial affection I'd longed for since childhood. I thought I would have a father, a mother, and siblings who loved me. But... ideals are full, and reality is skeletal, hahaha!"

"You can still joke at a time like this?" Nangong Lingyue looked at him with a trace of heartache in her eyes. "They vivisected your divine spatial realm, turning you into a cripple, and handed all your battle merits over to that piece of trash Ji Yun. Just look at him today—he's a pure, unadulterated idiot!"

"I simply don't understand! Is Ji Tianxing's brain broken? Instead of nurturing a genius like you, he chose to destroy you just to cultivate a fool!"

"This is purely... purely... purely..."

Nangong Lingyue stammered the word "pure" for a long time without finding a fitting adjective. Finally, she gave up in frustration and muttered, "Forget it, I still want to maintain my good-girl image. I can't use foul language!"

Ji Ling was amused by her reaction. He looked at her and said, "A good-girl? Which good-girl sneaks away from her family to come to a battlefield this dangerous?"

"How do you know I snuck away from my family?" Nangong Lingyue asked, looking somewhat startled.

"Do I look like a fool?" Ji Ling curled his lip and replied, "Your surname is Nangong, and the director of the God Bureau is also surnamed Nangong. Compound surnames like Nangong are rare in our Dragon Country, usually belonging to prominent clans. Even if you aren't in the direct line of descent with Director Nangong Zhongjian, you must be related through a collateral branch."

"As the young heiress of a wealthy and powerful family, suffering like this on a battlefield—there's no way your family would ever agree to it. You definitely ran away!"

Nangong Lingyue smiled non-committally and said, "I don't want to be a decorative vase. I don't want to be some pampered miss who can only be protected by soldiers and Divine Contractors!"

"Even though I am not a Divine Contractor, I am no weakling either! I don't need protection. I am a soldier, and I can protect others too!"

"Actually, I didn't have these thoughts at the very beginning. They only developed after I joined the army."

"Oh? Why is that?" Ji Ling asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

Nangong Lingyue smiled faintly, looking into his eyes. "I could have easily remained a sheltered vase nurtured at home, just like you described a moment ago—shopping with girlfriends, eating good food, getting manicures, dressing up prettily, and taking tons of photos to curate my social media feed."

"However, after arriving in the military camp, I realized that youth shouldn't look like that. At least, youth can have other dimensions, just like... how I am right now."

"If they didn't want me to become this way, they could easily have chosen not to send me to the army. Generations of our Nangong family have served the country with absolute loyalty; several of my uncles and older relatives have sacrificed their lives and everything they had for the Dragon Country. I didn't have to enlist."

"Yet, since they did send me to the army and I put on this military uniform, the meaning changed completely."

"I didn't come to the camp just to pad my resume. Since I wear this uniform, I must live up to it."

"I want to earn tangible honors through my own achievements—honors that belong to me and that no one can ever take away!"

"I don't want to be like that useless little brother of mine, who has no capability of his own and relies on stealing other people's military merits to gild his own face."

"I could never accept becoming a person like that. It's simply too disgusting."

Nangong Lingyue's words left Ji Ling in a state of shock.

Having grown up in an orphanage, it was hard for him to truly comprehend the mindset of these second-generation scions raised in elite compounds.

Yet at this moment, Ji Ling felt it profoundly.

People are different.

At the very least, Nangong Lingyue and Ji Yun represented two entirely opposite extremes.

Ji Ling took a deep breath, shook his head, and said nothing more.

The moonlight was like water, spilling over the two of them. Such tranquility on this night was truly rare.

However, this peace was shattered nonetheless.

Bored, Nangong Lingyue pulled out her satellite communication device, her eyes widening in surprise as she spoke, "There's a message!"

"What?" Ji Ling looked at her, bewildered.

Without hesitation, Nangong Lingyue handed the satellite communication device over to Ji Ling and said, "Look at this!"

"With such a precious opportunity to communicate, instead of contacting your grandfather, you let me use it. Still, fortunately, there's some progress. Waiting for your return." Ji Ling read the message aloud, his expression instantly turning to one of shock. "You actually have a device capable of contacting the outside world?! Then why didn't you request reinforcements?!"

Nangong Lingyue immediately shook her head. "The black fog is too dense; all electromagnetic signals are blocked. When I sent the message, I never expected it to actually go through. I just happened to hear about your situation at the time and sent one on a whim."

"What my uncle said is right though; I really should use this to contact the outside world and see if we can get some reinforcements."

Ji Ling shook his head. "There's no need for that. The supplies delivered by the transport aircraft a few days ago already proved that the outside world can provide us with material aid via airdrops, but getting people through the black fog remains extremely difficult."

"Otherwise, the outside world would have sent reinforcements in long ago."

Nangong Lingyue clicked her tongue slightly, nodding in agreement. "That's true. Well, let's put that aside for now. Look at this—my uncle managed to find something out from the outside!"

"Once we get out, this will be a huge help for you to take back everything that's yours!"

However, Ji Ling's focus seemed to rest on a rather peculiar detail. Frowning slightly, he pointed at the name in the message and asked, "Nangong Zhiwen—your uncle?"

Nangong Lingyue blinked in surprise and nodded. "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Why does your uncle share the same surname as you? Did your family engage in close-relative marriages?" Ji Ling asked with a puzzled look.

Nangong Lingyue rolled her eyes. "Can your focus please be on something normal?!"

"Just curious," Ji Ling chuckled.

Helplessly, Nangong Lingyue shook her head and explained, "Our Nangong family has always maintained this tradition: all husbands marry into the family as matrilocal sons-in-law, and they must change their surname. My maternal grandfather's original surname was Tian, but after marrying into the Nangong family, he changed his surname to Nangong. The children born to them must also take the surname Nangong."