The First Order

Free soloing is one of the most exhausting activities in extreme sports. In his climb, Qin Sheng took seven breaks, and he could even see the words left behind by his predecessors at every resting spot.As he made his way to the top, the names were like warm greetings that silently supported him.Old Li was following Qin Sheng at a speed that was neither fast nor slow. Old Li enjoyed not the joy of reaching the top but the pleasure of looking for the names of his old friends.

After he went back and met up with his old friends, he would have a new conversation topic. “Buddy, you rested eight times when you scaled the cliff back then. You really suck!”

Old Li was not the only person with a sarcastic sense of humor. All Riders would develop this bad habit after being a part of this organization for some time.

When Qin Sheng was at the last ten meters of his ascent, his arms were shaking. However, Old Li called out from below, “Keep climbing. If you fall down now, there will be no more new Riders in the future!”

Just as he finished speaking, Qin Sheng let out a fierce grunt and continued climbing upward.

Several hours had already passed, and the afternoon sun was gradually setting behind the cliff.

The wind in the mountains was starting to pick up, and their clothes were flapping loudly in the wind. Qin Sheng climbed up as though he were chasing the fading afterglow of the sunset.

Old Li did not help him because every Rider had to take their own path.

He remembered when the original Rider first established the organization, he once said to a senior member of the Riders, “This is where we part ways. From here on out, I will no longer interfere with what you do.”

At this moment, Qin Sheng’s right hand grabbed the edge of the cliff. Using the last bit of his strength, he pulled his entire body up with his right hand as support. As he laid at the top of the cliff and gasped violently for breath, he suddenly noticed a dense inscription on the ground.

There were names at the end of every sentence. Zhang Qingxi, Li Yingyun, Huang Xiaoyu, Wen Meng, Wu Dingyuan, Luo Yunxian, Xu Ke…

There were a total of 32 familiar names.

Old Li’s real name was Li Yingyun, while Xu Ke’s name surprised Qin Sheng. Honestly, probably no one in the rest of the world knew that Xu Ke was also a member of the Riders. Only those who had made it to the top of this cliff could see the names that were clearly engraved here.

Everyone wrote the same thing: “Only faith, the sun, and the moon are eternal.”

Qin Sheng was stunned. He realized someone had etched two large words before any of those other inscriptions. However, no name was signed.

“Forever young.”

These words stood out.

Qin Sheng immediately turned to look at Old Li, who had just arrived at the top. “Did that Rider really die when The Cataclysm occurred?”

Old Li shook his head and said with a smile, “I don’t know either, I really don’t know.”

Qin Sheng turned around and looked at the words “forever young.” This cliff was the most suitable place for the Riders to face their challenge and had only been discovered by his predecessors after The Cataclysm. But why would these words appear here?

All generations of the Riders had signed their names after writing here, except for the one that said “forever young.” So there were not just 32 Riders in the organization. Including that unknown person, there should be a total of 33.

Old Li said next to him, “Your vision should not be limited to what’s in front of you.”

The young Qin Sheng jerked his head up to face the western horizon. The setting sun’s rays were shining through the clouds in the distance. When the magnificent clouds suddenly parted, the golden rays shone down like a sea of light.

Then a cracking sound suddenly came from the young Qin Sheng’s body. Old Li started laughing in a pleased manner.

It seemed that some kind of shackle had been unlocked as a huge and powerful force swept through Qin Sheng’s body like a torrent.

Old Li smiled and said, “Qin Sheng, you’re the last Rider.”

But suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out from the mountains in the distance. Old Li and Qin Sheng turned around to look. The anguished wails of humans followed after the gunshots. Who could be fighting in the mountains? Could it be that the Qing Consortium and the Zhou Consortium have started engaging in war?

A moment later, a gray figure climbed to the peak of a nearby mountain. Old Li frowned when he saw that figure had climbed up at a shockingly fast speed. The physical strength of the other party was probably even comparable to that of a Rider!

The gray figure standing at the top of the mountain across from them did not have any hair or even eyebrows. The other party looked quietly at Old Li and Qin Sheng with a gaze like that of a normal, callous human being.

The description might not be accurate, because in Old Li’s opinion, the other party was almost the same as a human being except for its telltale skin color.

It was an Experimental!

This word immediately flashed across Old Li’s mind. They had heard of the Experimentals before. After all, they were known to be wreaking havoc in the Southwest for a long time now.

But Old Li could not understand why the Experimentals would suddenly come to the Central Plains.

Besides, didn’t they say Experimentals moved in a reptilian-like crawl? Why was this Experimental in front of them so special then? It even had an expressive gaze in its eyes like that of human beings?

Old Li stood upright in confrontation with the other party. However, the Experimental actually smiled at Old Li before heading back down the mountain. It seemed like it had climbed to the summit just to take a look at them.

After the Experimental left, Old Li immediately secured the rope he had brought up with him to the summit. “Let’s leave here quickly. We have to inform the Zhou Consortium about the arrival of the Experimentals. If Stronghold 74 is caught unprepared, I’m afraid that everyone in the stronghold will be in trouble!”

In that instant, a scene of the stronghold residents wailing in anguish appeared in Old Li’s mind. It was a sight no humans wanted to see.

Just before they headed back down the mountain, Old Li even purposely turned around and took a look. He saw in the distance a dense group of Experimentals crazily surging forward in the valley. The number of Experimentals covering the entire wilderness was probably close to 10,000 strong.

Even someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Old Li could feel his scalp going numb at the sight of this. How did the number of Experimentals grow so rapidly?!

They could only pray the garrison troops of Stronghold 74 were sufficient!

As Old Li and Qin Sheng sprinted towards Stronghold 74, Qin Sheng’s joy at becoming a Rider vanished.

When they arrived at the stronghold gate, Old Li did not hide his identity and directly produced his Riders’ identification. Then he told the Zhou Consortium troops that there was a large number of Experimentals right behind them. Even by their most conservative estimate, there were still around 6,000 of them!

But before they could explain further, the Zhou Consortium troops suddenly received news that the brigade sent from Stronghold 73 to reinforce their defenses had been ambushed by the Experimentals. More than half of the reinforcements had been injured or killed and were retreating back to Stronghold 73!

As it was already dark, that brigade did not even manage to figure out how many Experimentals they were ambushed by. Before they received more precise intelligence about the Experimentals, the troops from Stronghold 73 could only wait until they were joined by more soldiers before coming over to reinforce Stronghold 74’s defenses.

In other words, Stronghold 74 would be an isolated city for at least the next seven days!

Old Li said in a solemn voice, “The Experimentals behind us can’t run faster than us, so that must be another group of Experimentals that ambushed your troops. They’re attacking the stronghold from both the east and the west. If that’s really the case, then we must be prepared that their numbers exceed 10,000!”