A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"A letter from the border guards?"

Lu Zhenguo and Zhou Yayun both showed expressions of surprise.

"Quick! Bring it in!" Zhou Yayun said hurriedly, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and...longing.

The guard, Xiao Li, strode in and respectfully handed Lu Zhenguo a slightly yellowed envelope with frayed edges.

There was no stamp on the envelope, only a blurry, blue military postmark in the upper right corner.

The address was also written very simply—

"To Comrade Lu Zhenguo, Northern Military Region"

The signature was a string of numbers that Su Nianci couldn't understand, resembling a military unit number.

"It's Xingzhou! It's Xingzhou's letter!" Zhou Yayun looked at the familiar, strong handwriting, her eyes welling up with tears.

Sailing?

Su Nianci's heart stirred slightly.

She remembered hearing the families in the compound say that Lu Zhenguo and Zhou Yayun did have children.

They have a biological son named Lu Xingzhou, who is twenty years old this year.

He joined the army directly after graduating from high school at the age of eighteen and was assigned to the northernmost and most arduous border post in the country.

I rarely come back even once a year.

They could only maintain contact with their family through these thin sheets of paper.

"That brat, it's been almost three months since he last wrote! I thought he'd forgotten about his old man!" Lu Zhenguo complained, but his eyes gleamed with undisguised pride and...worry.

He carefully used his fingernail to pry open the edge of the envelope and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper.

The letter paper was the most common type used in the military, thin and rough.

The words above were written with a fountain pen, the strokes sharp and powerful, conveying the unique masculine spirit of a soldier.

"Dad, Mom:"

"Seeing this letter is like seeing you in person. Please forgive your unfilial son for taking so long to write home."

"We experienced unusual weather here a while ago, with heavy snow blocking the mountains and disrupting the postal route for more than two months. It has only recently resumed operation as the weather has improved. I'm sure you've been waiting anxiously at home."

"I'm doing well in the army, don't worry. Every day is just training, patrolling, and standing guard. It's tough, but fulfilling. My squad leader and comrades treat me very well; we're like brothers. The winters here are cold, but our hearts are warm. Please rest assured, Mom and Dad, your son will not let you down. I will stand guard and protect our country's borders!"

The letter began with a few polite words to let the letter know that everything was alright.

But Su Nianci could sense the hardships and dangers hidden behind those seemingly plain words.

Heavy snow blocked the mountain passes, disrupting postal routes.

Behind these eight simple words lies the loneliness of being isolated from the world, the bitter cold of minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, and the ever-present threat of avalanches and wild animal attacks.

"By the way, Dad, you mentioned in your last letter that two new younger siblings have come to visit. Is that true? What are their names? How old are they? Are they cute?"

As the letter reached this point, the strong handwriting suddenly softened considerably.

"You and Mom have worked so hard. When I go home on vacation next year, I will definitely bring them the most beautiful stones and the sweetest wild fruits from our border."

"Give them my regards. Tell them they have a new older brother. With him around, no one can bully them now."

Upon seeing this, Zhou Yayun could no longer hold back; she covered her mouth and silently shed tears.

Su Nianci's heart was also gently touched by these simple and unadorned words.

Lu Xingzhou...

This "brother" who only existed on the letter paper and whom she had never met left a warm and towering image in her heart through these few lines of text.

He was a good son, and also a... good older brother.

"This silly boy..." Lu Zhenguo's eyes also reddened. He sniffed and continued reading.

However, the last paragraph of the letter instantly turned the warm atmosphere that had just begun in the living room into a somber one.

"...Dad, there's something I don't know if I should tell you."

"About two weeks ago, our company encountered a squad of foreign armed personnel on the border during a 'special' patrol mission."

"We...saved one of our comrades."

"His name is Zhang Tiezhu. He was in the same army as me in the same year, and he was also my brother who slept in the bunk above me. He was only nineteen years old, and he had a fiancée waiting for him to come home so they could get married."

"He was hit in the chest by a stray bullet while covering me..."

"Dad, this is the first time I've felt death so close. I held him and watched helplessly as his blood drained away and his body grew colder and colder... There was nothing I could do."

"I hate it! I hate myself for not being a doctor! I hate myself for not being able to snatch him back from the jaws of death!"

"Dad, did you often experience this sense of powerlessness on the battlefield back then?"

"Those enemies were well-equipped, highly trained, and ruthless; they were not ordinary smugglers or poachers. Their tactical skills were even higher than some of our veterans! I always felt that there was an unseen force supporting them."

"We seized some of their equipment and found some... strange markings on it. A... scorpion-like pattern."

The letter ends here.

But the information revealed in the letter was like a bombshell, exploding simultaneously in the hearts of Lu Zhenguo and Su Nianci!

Lu Zhenguo's expression became more solemn than ever before!

Scorpion pattern!

It's that same mark again!

He recalled that after Su Weiguo's sacrifice, when the troops were sorting through his belongings, they found a small, tattered piece of cloth soaked in blood in the pocket of his flight suit.

There was an identical, menacing black scorpion embroidered on it!

At the time, everyone thought it was just a "trophy" that Su Weiguo had accidentally seized during an operation.

But now it seems that things are far from that simple!

What exactly is this mysterious "Scorpion" organization?

Why would they appear on the border thousands of miles away?

What was their connection to Wei Guo's death?!

The clues seemed to be connected by an invisible hand, pointing to an even larger and more dangerous... abyss!

When Su Nianci heard the words "I hate myself for not being a doctor," her heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand!

She felt that sense of powerlessness, that pain of watching life slip through her fingers, and she understood it all!

In her past life, she raced against death at the operating table, and each success brought her a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

But each failure was like a knife, cutting a bloody gash in her heart!

She remembered the meaning of her rebirth.

She wanted more than just to survive, and more than just to seek revenge.

She is a doctor!

Her hands are for saving lives!

Her forward-thinking medical knowledge should not be buried!

She wants to pick up the scalpel again!

She wants to make this era less regretful like Zhang Tiezhu's and less powerless like Lu Xingzhou's because of her existence!

An unprecedented and intense desire burst forth from the depths of her heart!

She wants to go to school!

She wants to re-enter her world as quickly as possible!

"Dad, Mom."

Su Nianci raised her head, interrupting Lu Zhenguo and Zhou Yayun's contemplation.

"I want to...go to school."