A Failure's hopeful Journey

Chapter 294: Unlocked.

The dwarf elder was surprised by the situation. He calmed down and said, "The land is haunted."

You Xi Wang raised his eyebrow, he has been watching his expressions to find out whether the dwarf was telling the truth. the boy asked, "What do you mean haunted?"

The elder replied, 'The mines are covered with black fog. The miners have reported that sometimes they hear the sound of hammer clanks. A few days ago one whole batch of miners went missing inside. We sent a search party but we only found dead bodies. Thus the elders decided that we should move. We cannot have our people die needlessly."

You Xi Wang turned to Fenny, he asked, "Could it be the dark fog we faced in the lost sector?"

Fenny raised her eyebrow and replied, "It may or may not. How about we confirm the possibilities?"

The boy thought for a bit and then nodded. he said, "Let us go. The rookies will be tested as well." then he turned to the dwarf elder and said, "I and my people will follow you back to your residence. We would like to check the mines." 

The dwarf elder hesitated and nodded. How can he defy this monster in front of him? The council came to an end. Djal the Orc chief came to You Xi Wang when he was leaving. he volunteered to accompany him on the way. He was aware of this place and the danger they might face ahead.

You Xi Wang accepted his help and thanked him. They were truly foes turned friends. Most importantly You Xi Wang was confident in taking anything he could throw on him. the two people returned to the camp.

Fenny called over everyone as soon as they arrived. The squad gathered in front of them. You Xi Wang spoke, "We have an assignment. We are to visit the dwarven clan, explore their mines, and clear up any dark piece of filth we may encounter there. It is a very dangerous task but what you lack at the moment is battle experience. 

Mock battles are mock battles while real battles are something entirely different. One mistake can lead to the death of the whole squad. Do you understand what I mean?" 

His loud voice made the people alert and scared. Yet they still replied, "YES, SIR." in unison. 

You Xi Wang nodded and said to Fenny, "Show them some of the clippings from the lost sector." 

They were all sworn in when they went to the lost sector to not reveal the location of the place and the living conditions etc. Yet some of the battle clippings were made public by the council itself. So it was alright for them to show what they went through to the rookies.

Fenny projected the clips in the sky using the holographic projection in her communicator. The scenes in the clippings shocked the people. Especially when a Minotaur suddenly appeared behind Neo and slashed down with his battle-ax, thankfully You Xi wang appeared in time and killed the minotaur. 

Such scenes happened a lot many times and the people gasped repeatedly. After the clippings ended Fenny asked, 'What did you see?"

You Zhichi replied, "The dark forces have no order. They are a mess, and this mess counters the order of our forces perfectly. If I must say, at some areas they were even better than your squad."

Fenny nodded. Allan stepped up and said, "What you need to know is that if you hesitated, you will die. If you let down your guard, you will die. If you die, the whole squad will die. A squad can only survive when they work together like clockwork. Understood?"

The squad replied, "YES, SIR."

Neo stepped up and said, "be flexible with your approach and trust in your team. First comes your squad, then comes your team and if you are still alive after that, you can fight for yourself. Understood?"

"YES, SIR."

Celestia and Lily were standing beside You Zhichi. The former said, "If you dared to hold back My big brother, I will cast a lightning array in your battle suits. Your tushies will be zapped."

Lily followed up, "And can we add tickling runes as well?" Celestia nodded vigorously. The two kids were innocent devils. Everyone broke out in laughter. 

You Xi Wang said, "You two little ones, are not going along with us. This is not up for discussion. I will be dead worried if you followed along. Also, A few of the rookies are to stay here, in case something happened to the rest. You can bring the word back home. I will not be having any arguments about it. We can only fight when we have no stress over ur heads."

You Zhichi nodded and she also said the same thing to the people. Next, they selected the 45 best of them all and started to prepare. That whole night Celestia and Lily stuck to You Xi Wang like shadows. Later, they fell asleep in his arms. Yuki spoke in a low voice, "They are still the same as they were when we visited the Chen family."

You XI Wang nodded and said, "I just hope they don't worry too much. You know Yuki, the more relations I have the more worried I am. Worried about what will I do if one day I walked too ahead of people? What if I could not keep them together as one?"

Yuki smiled sweetly. She sat down next to him and said, "Relationships are held by both ends. The other people also need to work for the sake of it. You worry too much. Your relations are your strength. Or do you think that nobody will notice that you work harder every moment for the sake of these relationships?"

You Xi Wang smiled but did not answer at all. He said, "If only things would stay like this forever. I seriously do not know what I will do if you guys are not around me."

Yuki shook her head and said, "Xi Wang, my love. The love we feel always stays within our hearts. Till the moment you have this love inside you. You are never alone. Only when you understand that sometimes people may be away from you but they will be never gone, can only you step ahead. Only then can you truly lead others ahead."

As he heard these words, something inside his soul unlocked. he felt a strange burden lift up from his chest and he was immersed in an epiphany.