Chapter 177

The past—

Caiyi, since you're resting in the rear, just let it out for you.

"Air combat is not like ground combat; although life and death happen in an instant, it's rare to see severed limbs, so I misjudged the cruelty of this war intuitively. Until recently, the situation has worsened, and the bloody reality has presented itself before my eyes in a gentle, undeniable way."

"Those who ate together today will be gone tomorrow; the new recruits I praised today will be gone tomorrow; the superiors I argued with today will be gone tomorrow; the ground troops who encouraged each other with me today will be gone tomorrow."

"At this point, I no longer dare to form emotional connections with anyone; maybe this person will die tomorrow, maybe I will die tomorrow, maybe we will all die tomorrow..."

Halfway through writing the diary, a chilly late wind surged into the tent; Yuku's hand holding the pen paused slightly, and his gaze unconsciously swept over the empty bunk next door— the family portrait still stood on the bedside table, the child in the photo smiling. On the more distant bunks, the pillow still bore the indentation left by the occupant before departure.

They... will never come back.

Attack on Titan—

The kerosene lamp in the Survey Corps dormitory...

As a squad leader of the Survey Corps...

Peitela, Aolou, Aierde

Peitela

Aolou

Aierde

Aierde

Aierde

Thus we will output "Aierde". But I'm not fully confident.

Alternatively, we could keep the original Chinese characters as they are? But rules say we must romanize person names. So we must do pinyin.

Liweier, squad captain, we...

Now continue.

Line 【12】: no names.

Their voices could no longer be heard, but only in his dreams could he feel them all standing behind him.

Aolou

Ailun

Ailun

He couldn't understand why Captain Levi, alone in the dormitory, also looked tense.

: no names.

"Um, about our training later..." Eren's voice was a little tense.

Levi sighed, finally fixing his gaze on the "Hope of Mankind" before him, and said calmly: "Train with me tomorrow."

: separator line "——" no names.

"After you die, they will give me a medal; frankly speaking, I think that's ridiculous."

"They gave me a medal, saying I'm a hero pilot, the only reason being that I was lucky enough to survive that disastrous battle."

"If you were that lucky too, we could both receive medals now; after the medal ceremony, we two will go to Jinren Xiang, have a couple drinks, and mock their absurdity."

"Too bad, your luck isn't good enough; we don't have that chance anymore."

: no names.

Seeing this, Yuku's anguish almost overflows from the text, making one feel utterly suffocated.

Master Yanming

Mr. Yanming

Speaking of Caiyi Miss appearing in the diary, Mr. Yanming also had an impression: "Caiyi was one of the top arms specialists back then; countless people wanted to fly with her."

Mr. Guangyuan

"But the one who clicked best with her and flew together most often was your mother; the number of sorties they flew together even surpassed Mr. Guangyuan's, and especially after Mr. Guangyuan died in battle, Caiyi hardly ever teamed up with anyone other than your mother."

Mr. Yanming said wistfully: "Alas, it's a pity that Caiyi won't be around much longer; a pilot's life is like this—no one knows whether this flight will be the last."

Caiyi's death dealt a heavy blow to Yuku; after that battle, Yuku often flipped through Caiyi's diary.

Yanming also understood Qingni's feelings and would turn a blind eye to this; after he left, Xing and Qingni immediately went to Yuku's desk to rummage through things, and indeed they found Caiyi's diary.

Initially, Caiyi's words and mood were equally lively; able to fight the skies alongside Yuku, she looked forward to it so much she could hardly sleep.

Later, after Guangyuan died in battle, Caiyi, grieving, also tried to comfort Yuku—but in order to comfort her, Yuku ended up crying even harder than she did.

Later still, when Caiyi was on postpartum leave in the rear, she sent Yuku a report of her safety and told her she had already decided on a name for the child.

Qingni

Seeing those two words, Qingni felt as if struck by lightning; her gaze flickered in a daze, and she almost couldn't hold onto the diary in her hand.

: separator.

Hudieren, Miss Yukong, Caiyi

This is the last duty she can fulfill for Caiyi; if Miss Qingni suffers any mishap, she fears she could never forgive herself—rather than let Qingni endure a nine-deaths-one-life ordeal, she would rather see her live a peaceful life.

Ganlusi Mili, Miss Qingni

If one has never seen light, they can of course endure darkness; but once they have seen it—even Hudie Ren could probably guess that Miss Qingni wouldn't give up easily.

After all, although Yuku and Caiyi have tasted the flavor of 'freedom,' Qingni has not; even though such freedom comes with extremely high risk, she would still pursue it without hesitation.

For the sake of one's dream, to the point of being willing to sacrifice one's life—probably only with this resolve could one convince Yuku, right?

"Ah, I also don't know which side to stand on..." Ganlusi Mili worriedly shook her head, her pink braids swaying back and forth.

If we support Qingni becoming a pilot, and if war breaks out again someday and she suffers some mishap, becoming a second Caiyi—I can't even imagine how heartbroken and regretful Yuku would be.

"But if we stand with Yu Kong, preventing Qing Ni from becoming an aviator, that would be too cruel to her…… She could never fulfill her dream her whole life— is that really fair to her?"