Meiduo stood quietly. The spear condensed from Source Essence flames in her hand had not yet fully dissipated, its crimson halo reflecting on her delicate face.
A few children cautiously approached, reaching out their little hands, wanting to touch the divine spear that had slain a Monarch-class beast in a single strike.
Meiduo felt a bit flustered. Not being good with words, she simply restrained the flames on the spear shaft to make them gentler. The sharpness in her eyes faded, leaving only an unconcealable tenderness.
"Awooo!"
With a vigorous wolf howl, Xia Dou leaped straight down from the shoulder of the hundred-meter-tall Titan.
She nimbly flipped in the air and landed steadily on the Titan's hand. After the Titan lowered her to the ground, she casually scooped up two dumbfounded little kids next to her and started spinning in circles.
"Hahaha! Did you see that? Just one sword strike! Swish! All those big monsters were gone!" she laughed.
"And my big thick cannon! Rat-tat-tat-tat!"
She gestured triumphantly to the children, spit flying as she recounted how she had "crazy power-leveled" in the "game" and how she dealt "999 damage in one hit." The group of children listened with shining eyes, full of admiration.
Amidst the cheerful laughter, a little boy was playing with his friends on the corpse of a Pola Beast.
Not paying attention to his footing, he accidentally tripped and fell right in front of a motionless Astartes warrior.
The cheering across the entire area abruptly ceased at this moment.
Everyone held their breath, nervously watching the giant clad entirely in ocean blue, resembling a demon god of steel.
It seemed as though a slight movement from those massive metal combat boots could crush the fragile child into a bloody pulp.
Time seemed to freeze.
However, the anticipated gore did not occur.
The Space Marine remained silent and slowly bent his massive frame.
The heavy Power Armor emitted faint mechanical clicks. With a gentleness completely disproportionate to his size, he extended a giant finger covered in ceramite armor and carefully helped the child up.
He even casually fanned away the dust on the little boy's clothes.
After doing all this, he resumed his cold, statue-like standing posture, as if nothing had happened.
This action acted like a silent signal.
The fear in the children's eyes was instantly replaced by curiosity.
The bravest girl charged over first, clumsily hugging the warrior's calf and trying to climb up.
"Hey!"
The girl's father was scared out of his wits and was just about to rush over to pull his child back.
But he saw the steel giant merely stiffen for a moment, showing no signs of anger.
More children swarmed over, treating these silent warriors as novel climbing frames.
The Astartes looked at each other, their expressions beneath the helmets filled with helplessness and bewilderment.
"Click... Hiss..."
Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, a warrior who had three or four children hanging off him finally couldn't endure this "torture" any longer.
He disengaged his helmet's locking mechanism. Amidst a burst of steam, he revealed the face beneath the helmet.
Only then could the children get a close look at the faces they couldn't see clearly before. Surprisingly, their faces looked incredibly youthful.
Immediately after, more warriors disengaged their Power Armor helmets.
Their burly physiques, far surpassing ordinary humans, and robust muscles sculpted like granite instantly drew irrepressible gasps of amazement from the surrounding people.
These war machines, who had just been coldly reaping lives on the battlefield, were now thrown into a fluster by a group of children.
They clumsily plucked the "little pendants" hanging off their bodies one by one, their faces full of helpless, bitter smiles.
The entire battlefield fell into a wondrous atmosphere that was both heartwarming and absurd.
"Ahem!"
Shanda walked over with a strange expression, holding a data pad.
He cleared his throat and announced loudly, "The casualty report is out!"
Everyone quieted down and looked at him.
"In this beast horde siege, our side suffered... over a dozen minor injuries!"
Shanda paused here, his expression turning even weirder.
"The injuries... are muscle strains or sprained ankles from the battle."
"Pfft—"
Someone in the crowd laughed first, followed by an uproar of laughter.
"Additionally!" Shanda raised his voice, trying hard to hold back his laughter. "One severe injury!"
"Who? Someone was severely injured? Is he alright?" the crowd asked curiously.
"Er Gouzi!" Shanda pointed at a young man not far away who was howling on a stretcher.
"He was too close when the Titan descended. Later, he wanted to go up and watch the commotion, but he lost his footing and fell into the impact crater... breaking his leg."
"Hahahahaha!"
This time, no one felt any sympathy. The entirety of Dragon Bone Village was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Bai Yuekui stood outside the crowd, quietly watching this scene.
She watched those "giants" who had once made her wary now being ridden like horses by the children.
She looked at the genuine, unadulterated smiles on the villagers' faces.
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
That hint of a smile vanished in a flash. She gathered her thoughts and slowly walked over to Ian's side.
Ian was leaning against a large boulder, leisurely drinking a canned cola he had pulled out from who knows where.
Bai Yuekui's gaze swept over the "giants" playing with the children, and she asked seemingly casually.
"Mr. Ian, these warriors... what level of combat power do they represent where they come from?"
Ian took a sip of cola, burped, and chuckled upon hearing this.
"Stop probing, Boss Bai. If you want to know something, just ask directly."
He put down the cola can and pointed at the group of "giants" who were being tormented to the point of tears by the children.
"Them? In our Imperium, they're probably considered... kids who just came of age."
"This gear is a set of 'cosplay' props they bought after saving up their allowance for a long time."
"As for that big guy," he patted the giant foot of the Titan behind him, "nowadays, it's considered a toy car in their homes."
"They took it out for a spin during their holidays, and I just happened to summon them over."
Bai Yuekui's expression instantly froze.
Her eyes looked as if she were staring at a raving lunatic.
Kids who just came of age? Cosplay props? A toy car?
The terrifying power that could easily crush Monarch-class Pola Beasts was reduced to such a casual child's play in his mouth?
Was he insulting her intelligence?
Her beautiful brows furrowed, and she simply turned her head away, no longer speaking.
She didn't believe him, assuming Ian was unwilling to reveal the truth and was using these absurd words to brush her off.
Ian shrugged and didn't explain further.
Every word he said was the absolute truth.
In the current Pan-Human Imperium, everyone was like a dragon; everyone was born an Astartes.
These were indeed just a group of young lads who had recently been admitted to Terra University, coming out to have fun during their holidays.
It was just that in this era, such truth seemed more outrageous than any lie.
Bai Yuekui remained silent for a long time. A wavering scale in her heart finally tilted completely.
She turned back around and took a deep look at Ian.
She had made a major decision.
Her tone was unprecedentedly serious.
"Since you are unwilling to say, I won't force it."
"However, there are some things you perhaps ought to see with your own eyes."
"It concerns the truth of this world, and..."
"The future of humanity."