Bounty

The one who took the stage for the Golden Eraser was not Shao Xuan. Even so, he stood up and waved to everyone, pledging amidst the hall's cheers to provide five source energy blocks to cover the needs of the combat trial. Of course, since the White Eraser had proposed the idea first, their source energy blocks would naturally be used first; if there were any left over from the Golden Eraser's five, they would be taken back. "Everyone is welcome to choose our Golden Eraser," Shao Xuan added as he sat back down. He had scored plenty of good-impression points today. However— "Heh, I'd love to choose you, but would you choose me?! Empty words, just toying with my feelings." In the back row, a mischievous young female soldier chimed in petulantly from a corner, her tone as plaintive as a young bride-to-be. A wave of low laughter rippled through the hall. The Golden Eraser had only two open recruit spots this year, and in almost everyone's eyes, one of them was already spoken for. [Last Year's Overall Ranking: First in the Entire Army] [Squad History: Participated in the campaign to strangle the Red Shoulder] [Current Status: Number One in Combat Power in the Ninth Army] The Golden Eraser's dossier on the projection was very brief. Standing on the stage as their representative, Qin Guowen smiled. "The brothers in the squad told me to make sure I add a footnote up here. This item about being 'Number One in Combat Power in the Ninth Army'... is only because we haven't had the chance over the past few years to have an all-out spar with our brother squads from the other five armies." With just that one sentence, all the confidence and dominance befitting the Golden Eraser shone through beneath the calm delivery. At the same time, attentive recruits picked up on another implication: between the Golden and White Erasers—or rather, between the top-ranked squads—there had indeed been all-out sparring matches, and the Golden Eraser had won, winning year after year. Upon asking the veteran captains, that was indeed confirmed. Having finished speaking, Qin Guowen waved and stepped down. The final segment of the agenda was for the regimental commanders, regimental leadership, and drill instructors present to replace the recruits' epaulets with official Azure soldier epaulets and offer their parting words. The recruitment briefing concluded. Han Qingyu walked alongside Wen Jifei, He Tangtang, and the others through the dispersing crowd, holding the box containing his source energy blocks and greeting familiar friends they were about to part ways with along the way. As for which squad Han Qingyu would ultimately choose, even Liu Shiheng had held back from asking ever since returning from the medical station; he felt it wasn't his place to pry and might burden Qingzi with pressure over his decision. "Hello, Han Qingyu?" someone called out in a rather peculiar tone. A remarkably broad-framed figure standing over a meter eighty stepped out from the crowd, looking quite conspicuous. The guy was built like a tank, yet looking at his face, he appeared only about twenty-one or twenty-two. "That's right, hello." With so many recruits in the army, Han Qingyu couldn't possibly know everyone, so he just smiled politely in response. "So, you're our Eraser Ninth Army's strongest recruit in the past decade?!" His voice was quite loud, his tone slightly strange, immediately catching the attention of many who stopped to watch. The burly young man seemed to pause deliberately before introducing himself: "I'm Bai Ji." Seeing from the crowd's reaction that no one seemed to know him, Han Qingyu remained silent for the moment. "Source energy degree of fusion: A+," Bai Ji added. "Whoa." Gasps of astonishment erupted around them on the spot. "Last year, no one could match me in a fight. Now, I want to fight you," Bai Ji stated his purpose directly, pausing before continuing, "Yes, last year. You might think that's a bit unfair, because I actually joined Azure last year." The moment he said that, murmurs broke out across the expectant crowd. A recruit's growth in strength was fastest in their first few years out of camp. For Bai Ji, a veteran with a year of battlefield experience and source energy nourishment, to challenge Han Qingyu was somewhat inappropriate. "However," Bai Ji quickly drowned out the chatter with his resounding voice, "I had worn the armor for less than twenty days last year when I was severely injured, and spent nearly a whole year bedridden after that... That's why the army counts me as this year's recruit, leaving camp with the same cohort as everyone else." He was establishing his standing, and it worked remarkably well; once he explained, the surrounding discussions vanished at once. Some people even secretly felt that this might actually be somewhat unfair to him instead. Han Qingyu was among them. He had initially been quite interested in sparring with an A+ veteran, and even without competing for the combat trial reward, he would have been glad to have an exhilarating match with him. But now... "I think I'd better not," Han Qingyu said with a smile, meeting Bai Ji's gaze and the eyes of hundreds around them. Does this guy not care about saving face at all? Bai Ji was momentarily stunned. "Why?" "Because I need to go back and count my source energy blocks," Han Qingyu joked, holding up the box in his hands. As he walked past Bai Ji, he whispered, "How has your recovery been? I hear old injuries can be troublesome; make sure you heal up properly." The concern was genuine. They were both Azure comrades, and Bai Ji had suffered serious injuries. Han Qingyu didn't know his current condition; he worried that if he fought seriously against someone at the same level, he might injure him again right after he recovered, but not taking it seriously would make the fight pointless. He didn't even mention this publicly as a reason to decline the fight. The two brushed past each other. Han Qingyu was one meter eighty-three himself, not short by any means, but in terms of breadth—his frame, arms, and thighs—he looked an entire size smaller next to Bai Ji. "Han Qingyu." Right then, an officer standing on the second floor of the administration building called to him. "Present!" "Take a phone call." "Yes, sir." Han Qingyu was curious. Who would be calling him here? With that thought, he hurried upstairs. "It's a classified internal line," the officer said in a low voice as he led Han Qingyu through several turns to a small room. He gestured for him to enter, then stood outside by the door. The telephone sat on the desk. Han Qingyu picked it up. "Hello, who is this?" "It's me, Brother Qingzi. I'm Tu Zi," the voice on the other end said. "Oh, are you calling to return my source energy blocks?" "...No, uh, I haven't saved up enough yet." "Oh, then why are you calling?" "I'm calling to tell you some news." "What news?" "Brother Qingzi, there's a bounty on you." "...What? A bounty?" "People from the Cleansing Faction—most likely that Mr. Zhu you nearly killed before—put out a bounty in the City of Iniquity over the last couple of days to buy your life." In the time that followed, Tu Zi introduced Han Qingyu to a world he had never known before. In this source-energy-related world, there existed a chaotic, dark corner. Somewhere on the border between Mosego and Mitli lay a small town, once the stronghold of an enormous drug lord, now devoid of ordinary residents. It was called the City of Iniquity.