Forbidden Zone of the Human Race - Chapter 485: Grey

Xiang Xiaoyu bit her lips and didn’t want to let the director know in the first place, but it had been a year, now, and her brother had yet to return. He would never return.

The director treated Xiang Ning like his own son. He had asked them where Xiang Ning was so many times, but no one had seen him. He didn’t ask now because he had an inkling of what might have happened. It’d already been a year and he had yet to see Xiang Ning once. He tried using the communicator, but the boy didn’t pick up. Even when Xiang Ning was in the hardest moment of his life, he had still returned to the orphanage from time to time. But now he had disappeared for an entire year!

Xiang Xiaoyu decided to consult everyone before letting the director know. It wasn’t a decision she could make on her own. “Grandpa, my brother.…”

The director received the news of how Xiang Ning had died from her and didn’t utter a single word. He was chewing the candy, slowly and listlessly. He gave them some candy in the end. “Come, have some candy.”

All of them lowered their heads as they took the candy. They could see how his eyes were red with tears, but he tried his hardest to not let them flow.

He sat on his chair and forced himself to smile as he looked at everyone. He waved for Xiang Xiaoyu to sit by his side and patted her head. He wanted to say something, but no words came out as he wiped the tears off her face.

Xiang Xiaoyu didn’t want to cry, but she could no longer hold it back. Xiang Ning was a ray of light when she was in the darkest moment of her life. She didn’t have any parents, her brother was her only family member. Even when life was tough for her, he had shouldered everything and let her have the best life he could afford. He treated her like a princess!

But now everything was gone and her brother would never appear again. She had once promised him that when she grew older she would fight alongside him. Now that she was a tier four spiritual cultivator, she had earned the right to go and fight on the front lines. She wanted to fight with her brother at least once in her life, but now he was gone.

Fang Rou bit her lips as she suppressed her emotions. With the exception of the director and Xiang Xiaoyu, she was the one affected by Xiang Ning’s death the most. She was afraid, she was fearful, and she was panicking. How could someone like him have died? How many times had he stood up from the ground whenever he fell down? How many times had he returned to the battlefield like a hero from fairy tales?

She was praying. Praying her hardest that he would appear one more time, just one more time!

She remembered how she had first met him, and how he’d bullied her. She recalled the first time he held her hands and the first time he came to her rescue like a hero when he entered the wilderness for her.

She stood up and left the room; she couldn’t stay there any longer.

Wu Rui stood up to follow her, but Lu Shiyu stopped him. Instead, Lu Shiyu was the one who went out with Liu Ruoxue.

When everyone had left the director’s office, it was already evening. The director sat alone on his chair as he stared at the sunset until night fell. It was already dark, but he didn’t turn on the lights. The moonlight shone into the room, bathing him in a soft, silvery glow. His face now looked even older and his back was curved like an old tree. Two streams of tears finally slid down his face as he could no longer hold his emotions back.

……

Numerous days passed as everyone in the city slowly received the news of Xiang Ning’s death. Xiang Ning, the son of Marsh City, the role model that all students aspired to be, and the celebrity of Marsh City.

Today, the skies were grey. Marsh City had lost its vitality as the students from all ten academies received the news of his death.

“Hey, did you hear? Xiang Ning, the one from Qiling Academy, died.”

“What? That Xiang Ning?”

“Yes! Teacher Xiang Ning!”

“Hey, why’re you hitting me?”

“Stop spouting nonsense! How could he die? He won’t even die even after you’ve died!”

“Oi! I’m telling the truth! Ouch, stop hitting me! Look at this, goddammit!”

“It can’t be real! You must’ve edited this! How dare you curse him!” The student grabbed the other student’s collar as he shouted in denial.

The latter did not get angry, but sighed, “I’m telling you, it’s true. Look around you if you don’t believe it.”

The former turned around and saw that everyone was crestfallen, even some of the girls were on the verge of crying. Some might say that they were too soft. How could Xiang Ning’s death affect them? But Xiang Ning’s contribution wasn’t to be taken lightly. Thanks to him fighting in the stampede and winning tournaments, the Federation had dedicated a large amount of cultivation resources to Marsh City, to the point that it had matched the amount some megacities got. Nowadays, there were numerous martial artists reaching tier three before they were even sixteen!

The ten academies of Marsh City had even wanted to establish a joint academy and train those talented individuals.

The people surrounding Xiang Ning were too talented. The Federation even believed that this place could continue producing talented individuals into the future. History would always repeat itself, as three hundred years before, a certain region within China had produced countless geniuses.

That was why the Federation had focused its investment and resources on Marsh City. The results were satisfactory, as well. With the inspiration Xiang Ning was giving them and the teachers using him as a role model, all of them treated him as their hero. Many of them even had even learned about his history as they glanced through his profile. So how could someone that amazing die just like that? How could they not be shocked?

However, from the train station of Marsh City, a man in a suit disembarked. It was Moray, the sole inheritor of the Dexter Corporation. It had taken him more than a year before he’d finally recovered from the incident within the ruins.

Xiang Ning’s figure kept plaguing his mind.

“Is this Marsh City?”

“Yes, young master.”

“Good, let’s go to the hotel first. Afterward, we need to locate that girl. What was her name again?”

“Her name is Xiang Xiaoyu.”

“Yes! That’s her! We will need to find her!” Moray’s expression was twisted with cruelty.

Doge & Chacha’s Thoughts

Noooo grandpa director is heartbroken. His old heart cant take it no more.

Moray is dead. How dare he touch Xiaoyu