Chapter 434 "Football"
Just as Oval said, the statue from the early morning was the best preserved, and the later sculptures of the Hands of Heaven and Earth were basically not complete anymore.
There were some that even if it weren't for the Night Eyes' identification, Anti wouldn't have been able to tell were the sculptures of the Hand of Heaven and Earth.
"Although these sculptures are not particularly large, probably because they are limited by the past era. But they exist on a large scale, and you can see one on every other street in the city. If this wandering god is not someone who is good at deceiving people, then he must have been a being that once truly brought salvation to the residents of this city. We are ashamed of ourselves." Oval said with admiration.
"Redemption becomes particularly precious in times of suffering." Anti said softly.
The people here don't have any feelings towards ordinary people.
It is difficult for them to defend their homes spontaneously. To put it bluntly, Assalon now lacks too many things and has no conditions at all.
Every change of rule would be a major disaster. Before the common people, the difference was basically just a matter of more deaths or fewer deaths.
As for ordinary people claiming that they were born here, no one cares.
After all, that’s what the Bahong Empire always said back then.
When the common people can no longer hold on and are defeated, Assalon will enter the next vicious cycle.
"Have you tried to find power?" Anti asked Oval as they walked on the road.
Oval sighed deeply, "Where can we find them? The Miracle Twins? They left nothing behind. Even if they did, it wouldn't be our turn to find them now."
"Then why do you want to come back here?" Anti asked.
Oval remained silent, with a look of sadness on his face.
Anti didn't rush to speak. He admired the scenery in Assalon City while waiting for Oval's response.
"go home."
Anti was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Oval.
Oval slowly raised his head. All his emotions were calmed down after he said those two words. He said calmly and firmly: "This is our home, so we naturally have to go home."
“Is that the reason?”
"It is undeniable that our people have a hard time surviving in the Bahong Empire. It is a shame that our ancestors abandoned this place and went far away. In the Bahong Empire, our people were gradually marginalized until all the high-level decision-makers and ordinary people were excluded. In the end, I was the only military general left in a high position."
Oval narrated: "After suffering all the hardships I could, I wanted to return home with the rest of my people. Most of them chose to follow me, even though they realized that returning would not change anything. But since we are going to die, we might as well die on this land that gave birth to us in the past."
"And at the end of my life, I will dedicate everything to this hometown."
Is this the will that enabled the Hepu people to defend the city of Assalon for many years after their return?
After looking at her for a while, Anti looked away and continued forward: "Not a bad idea. It's great that I can bring my people back to my hometown and die here."
He probably can't go back on his words.
Will the bosses give him a chance to come back?
Hard to say.
Finally, Anti and Oval came to a large square with many exits. This should be the central area of the city.
The statue here is no longer a sculpture of the Hands of Heaven and Earth.
There are two upright statues, wearing thick armor. One stands at the back, holding two halberds in four hands, and the other stands in the front, seemingly plain and unpretentious, but one of his hands is waving forward with great heroism.
Both of the statues are wearing helmets, so their true faces cannot be seen clearly, but it is not necessary.
Miracle Twins...
Those two were really mighty back then.
"And Pu's pride..."
"Human pride." As soon as Oval finished speaking, he was corrected by Anti.
Oval was speechless, but then he nodded and laughed, "I am biased. Yes, they are the pride of mankind." After staring for a moment, Anti retracted his gaze and said, "I'll go to the castle on the mountain to see how you guys deal with it over there?"
"The castle is huge. Some of the outer areas alone are enough for our daily activities, and some are used as warehouses... As for in-depth investigations, we don't have the energy or manpower." Oval replied.
It seemed that all the information that could be obtained from Oval was almost exhausted. Anti went to the castle. After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered: "By the way, is there any legend about the miracle twins in your nation? Not the popular ones."
This question seemed a bit tricky, and Oval was confused for a while.
Halfway through, a few older kids seemed to be kicking a crude leather ball on the street. One of them kicked the ball carelessly, and it fell towards Anti.
Anti stretched out his foot gently, and when the ball touched the instep, all the force was instantly removed and it stopped on the instep.
"Wow!" the kids exclaimed at Anti's stop.
Anti originally wanted to return the ball to the child, but when he looked at the ball at his feet, his vision suddenly became blurry again.
The rough leather ball turned into a black and white soccer ball, and when he looked up, he seemed to be in a youth game from his childhood.
When he got the ball himself, his grandfather started clapping on the sidelines. The old man knew little Anti's level very well. He knew he could create opportunities at any time when he got the ball in the frontcourt. Children of the same age were no different from wooden stakes in front of little Anti.
However, Anti had not started dribbling yet, but turned his head to look at the sidelines in a daze.
Sitting next to my grandfather was a silent stranger.
At the moment of eye contact, Anti couldn't tell whether he was sitting in the stands watching the little stranger play football, or the stranger was sitting in the stands watching little Anti play football.
The positions of the two gradually fell apart with the applause of his grandfather, the coach's shouting, the sound of other children's footsteps on the grass, all the sounds became a mess in Anti's mind.
The opponent's defensive player immediately started to move and stretched his legs to steal the ball from the dazed Anti.
Anti blinked again, and coordinated his body and feet to move quickly, so that the outstretched leg missed.
Several defensive players surrounded him. No, not the defensive players at that time... they were kids on the streets of Assalon City. Seeing that Anti was in a daze, they came up to grab the ball impatiently.
An reminded himself, but his body had already subconsciously moved according to his memory.
He touched the ball continuously with his feet and easily passed the children who kicked from multiple directions, then shot towards the tree in the distance marking the goal line.
When football was given up by my grandfather and myself, something that had been buried without hesitation seemed to leak out again at this moment along with the strange feeling.
Whoosh! Bang!
He didn't use too much force, otherwise the ball itself would have been kicked to pieces by Anti. The ball hit the tree's mark accurately, causing the tree to shake violently, swaying and dropping leaves.
Behind him, several older children stared in amazement at what Anti had just done.
Was it fast? Actually, it wasn't very fast at that moment, but the rhythm was very strange, and it was easy to shake them off with just the rhythm.
It is not Anti's current physical strength, but the "talent" of little Anti in the past that reappears.
Applause suddenly broke out.
The children who were shocked by him and even some passers-by who had just seen Anti's actions applauded.
Anti stood there, not saying anything, still a little absent-minded.
Actually... I miss it a little.
And...reluctant?
"Well, you play football well?" After coming back, Oval looked at Anti's dazed look and said in a playful tone.
"...Well, thank you, sorry for the delay, let's go." Anti responded casually.
On the way, Anti looked at his hands.
At the junction of reality and illusion, all the information was once decomposed, and finally reassembled with the help of the sleeping bird bell and the stranger as the main body... Is this process really just like this?
Or, when some parts of him were reorganized...
It's already starting to mix.
(End of this chapter)