Chapter 24 (1/2)
Chapter 24: Under the Candle Light
Around dusk, Han left the hospital and took the subway back to the city. He came off the subway at the busy business sector where the last battle took place. He met up with Cheng Zhong and Monk as promised, today was the 7th day since the death of the 7 espers, and the citizens were holding a memorial ceremony for them.
A lot of people came off the subway at this stop, and Han just followed the crowd and slowly exited the station. He was shocked by what he saw on the street.
At the moment, the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet, and many people have already lit up candles. White candles were placed everywhere on both side of the streets, even on the windows of the high-rises on the side.
Night slowly fell. It was as if people had made previous arrangements. No one turned on any lights, and all there were was dim lights from the candles lining the streets. The atmosphere was filled with sorrow and remembrance.
This night, the whole city was lit up by candles. A lot of children were holding lanterns, also containing white candles. The swinging around of the lanterns caused the dim light to flicker.
A young mother led her daughter and walked past Han. The little girl was really small and was holding a lantern. Han noticed that the candle inside the lantern was also very small.
“Mommy, what are espers?” The little girl asked in a very small voice.
“They are a group of very strong soldiers.” The mother answered with a faint smile, “They fight in battles to protect the earth and us.”
The little girl thought for a second, “Will they protect me too?”
“Yep.”
“Will they protect mommy?”
“Yep.”
“Will they protect grandpa?”
“Yep.”
“Will they protect grandma?”
“Yep, espers will protect our family, and everyone at your kindergarten. They will also protect the aunties and uncles on the street. They will protect everyone.” The mother tried to explain to his little girl.
Oh~
The little girl as if understood something, and she nodded her head heavily once, and said in a delightful voice, “I understood, espers are good people!”
Han smiled faintly, quickly walked past this cute little girl.
Sometimes, people’s impression of espers were not like today. There are always going to be reports on the news about how espers were using their power to bully the weaklings and causing chaos.
But, people have all understood from this incident that, for both espers and ordinary people, there are a lot of bad people among the espers, but also a lot of good people.
This is how the world has always been, the good people were always silent before they stepped out against the evil. Just like Pang Zuolin, that young man who jumped off the building holding a bronze bull statue, the one who sacrificed himself to damage the raider’s ship and protect the civilians.
Now Pang Zuolin has become a hero known as the Bronze Bull Warrior. His last words, “No matter how weak Earth is, it’s still my home!” was now known by everyone.
But before Pang Zuolin became a hero, he was just a silent and hardworking Physical Education teacher. He never bragged about his status as an esper, and just lived an ordinary life.
The real heroes only stand up when the world need them, but normally they just remain unknown.
As the person that experienced that battle first hand, Han saw with his own eyes that these espers who usually remained humble and unknown put their fears aside and ran straight to the battlefield. Within 1 minute, the battlefield had already gathered over 40 espers. Within 3 minutes, there were already over 200 espers arriving. They were not soldiers, but when disasters striked, their speed was even faster than the army, and they were even more fearless!
More and more people gathered. Even though each candle provided a very weak light, when gathered they could still light up the darkness.
Han stopped at a store’s window and saw that the large screen TV inside was broadcasting the worldwide memorial ceremony from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guang Zhou. Starting with these Asian cities, wherever the night fell, the candles representing hope lit up.
Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, the candle lights crossed the vast Pacific ocean and arrived at America, then from the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Han felt someone standing behind him. He turned around and saw Monk and Cheng Zhong. He didn’t know when Cheng Zhong shaved his ponytails but now he was bald, and Monk was carrying a giant backpack. These two baldies standing together, it really looked like one big monk and one small monk.