Seeing the young man’s manner of speaking, which didn’t seem like he was lying, William Carter’s previously firm confidence began to waver. A sudden flash of insight struck him—he suddenly remembered that when he saw Henry Clark’s corpse, it was already a skeleton. Could it be… He didn’t dare think further, and softly asked, “What… what year of the Imperial Calendar is it now?”

The Imperial Calendar was the dating system of the Haotian Empire, counting from the founding of the Haotian Empire as year one.

The young man looked at William Carter in confusion and said, “It’s the year 805 of the Imperial Calendar now. You… are you alright?”

How could he possibly be alright?!

William Carter’s head buzzed. He knew clearly that when Henry Clark challenged Edward Harris to a duel, it was the year 305 of the Imperial Calendar, but now it was 805. In other words, this was five hundred years after Henry Clark’s time.

He grabbed the young man by the neck and demanded harshly, “You’re not lying to me?”

The young man was startled by his demeanor and stammered, “How… how could I lie about this? It really is the year 805 of the Imperial Calendar!”

William Carter slowly released his grip. In an instant, he seemed like a deflated ball, his legs weak, and he slowly sat down on the ground.

It was truly unimaginable—Henry Clark had actually been dead for a full five hundred years. Five hundred years was long enough to change many things; even the once-glorious Moon Spirit City had become a ruin.

He no longer belonged to this world, and now even Henry Clark, who had once been united with him, no longer belonged to this world. William Carter closed his eyes. What meaning was there for him to continue living in this world?

Crystals couldn’t live for five hundred years, nor could Samuel Carter. The doubts and hatred that once belonged to him had all faded away with the passage of five hundred years. Having just found a purpose, William Carter now felt completely emptied, not knowing where to go from here.

“You… what’s wrong with you?” The young man didn’t know what had happened to William Carter and asked in a low voice.

William Carter shook his head. He had thought there were still people, things, and places he cared about in this world, but now everything had turned to ashes… He murmured, “I don’t know where I should go, I don’t know what I should do.”

The young man was stunned for a moment, then said loudly, “What’s there to think about? The world is in chaos right now, so of course you should do something earth-shattering…” As he spoke, he realized he was being too boastful, so he quickly changed his tone: “But for now, the most important thing is figuring out how we can escape with our lives.”

“Escape?” William Carter looked up.

The young man said gloomily, “This expedition against Ning was a war started at the wrong time, in the wrong place, for the wrong reasons. Two hundred thousand men were scattered, and who knows how many will actually make it back to Fengdi. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of Ning soldiers hunting down us defeated stragglers. If we don’t run for our lives, are we supposed to just stay here and wait for death?”

Through Henry Clark’s memories, William Carter knew that Feng and Ning were neighboring countries, but their conflicts had never ceased. At the root, it was all about the struggle for the Hedong region. The Hedong region had fertile soil and rich mineral resources, and was originally split evenly between Feng and Ning. Later, when Ning suffered hardship and sought help from Feng, the king of Ning promised to give their half of Hedong to Feng. But after accepting Ning’s terms, Feng did not fully assist Ning, which led to Ning’s dissatisfaction. Afterwards, Ning tried to reclaim their half of Hedong, but Feng refused, and the two countries became hostile, leading to war. During this period, both Feng and Ning had occupied the entire Hedong region at different times, and both had declared Hedong as their own territory. The war dragged on, with losses on both sides mounting beyond measure. In the end, no one could say for sure whether Hedong belonged to Feng or to Ning.

“This war was started over Hedong again?” Even though five hundred years had passed, William Carter’s guess was correct.

The young man nodded and replied, “Yes. There’s nothing wrong with taking back Hedong, but we’ve fought too many wars these years—against Ning, against Yu, against An. The country is already riddled with wounds, while Ning has recovered and is now much stronger than before. We can barely defend ourselves, so how could we possibly win by attacking? The king was too impatient. With this defeat, who knows how many years it will take to reclaim Hedong.”

William Carter’s lips twitched, but he said nothing more. Since its founding, Feng had never stopped waging war. The people of Feng were martial and naturally fierce, long accustomed to sustaining themselves through war, but such a disastrous defeat of two hundred thousand troops was still rare in Feng’s history.

“By the way, my name is David Cooper. What’s yours?”

“William Carter.”

“What are you planning to do? Are you still going to Moon Spirit City?”

William Carter shook his head. What meaning was there in going to Moon Spirit City now?

“In my opinion, you should just stay in the army. With your skills, you’ll definitely get promoted, and I’ll have someone to rely on.” The young man, who called himself David Cooper, gave a fawning laugh. Although he thought William Carter was strange and spoke in a baffling way, as if something was wrong with his head, his instincts told him that following William Carter would do him no harm—at the very least, it would help him survive.

William Carter gave him a strange look and said, “You want to stick with me?”