Let's See What He Has to Say

If running together had been an option at this moment, Han Qingyu certainly wouldn't have put on some theatrical performance of "you go first, I'll hold them off." He wasn't good at that sort of thing, nor had he ever intended to do it. The problem was, with Rusty Sister severely injured, could they really out-crawl monstrous pythons inside a narrow tunnel? That was no different from courting death; when the time came, neither of them would even have room to swing a blade. It was simple logic, understood in an instant. Once clear on it, the choice was obvious, so he stayed behind first. In the face of mortal peril, Han Qingyu had never been one to drag his feet or whine and dither. This had been true long before he enlisted, on the night he hunted down those two Pure Purgatory men at Reserve Station 700, and later during his first battle against a Great Spike in Area 1123, and when facing a hundred foes in the canyons of Nepal. It had always been this way. Occasionally he would feel lingering fear after the fact, but in the moment, he was never afraid. As for the reason behind this, claiming it was merely because his ancestors had caught snakes for eighteen generations, making him calmer than ordinary people, certainly didn't hold up—that was far from enough. But if pushed to look deeper, not even Han Qingyu himself could think of what other factors were at play. Today's situation was largely no exception. From the monstrous python suddenly bursting into violence and Rusty Sister getting injured and constricted, to Han Qingyu taking a crushing blow from the giant python's tail against his back to rescue her, and then their subsequent sprint to escape, he hadn't shown the slightest hesitation or delay throughout the entire process. If there was any difference, it was only one thing: that final glance back from Han Qingyu. Right now, he was falling through the air, his blade breaking the wind above, while the bloody maw of the monstrous python below reared up to bite... By all rights, this was when he needed to be most focused, yet he still glanced back. He was afraid Rusty Sister might die today. With combat prowess this formidable, and armor that seemed so defensively resilient on the surface—virtually a perfect combat frame—why had Old Commander Shen spent so many years preferring to swallow his pride and borrow source energy blocks everywhere, struggling at every turn, rather than let her go to the front lines? Because Shen Yixiu was simply not suited for the battlefield. Others might get hurt more easily than her, but once injured, they could be treated, or even live on disabled. But her—as long as the iron armor suffered even the slightest breach, even if her flesh was untouched, death was almost a certainty. This was why the very first thing Han Qingyu had asked her upon reuniting in the canyon was, "Are you broken?" rather than asking if she was all right or injured. It was fine if her body inside the iron armor got injured, but the moment the iron armor broke, she was gone. Besides, that suit was reportedly forged only from dead iron and alloy, and in many places, it was not truly reliable enough. And yet this time, their enemy was a python. A python's lethal move was constriction... Just now, the dense, grinding screeches of the armor being coiled and crushed indicated that it was already nearing the breaking point. *Don't die... Rusty Sister.* Even as that thought crossed his mind, the edge of Han Qingyu's blade slashed down with the rush of wind. *Splatt!* The monstrous python's upper jaw was sliced open into a bloody gash. Its body twisted, neck wrenching sideways to snap at Han Qingyu again as it let out a pained hiss. Shen Yixiu heard that cry. Inside the pitch-black tunnel, she halted in her tracks. Go back? There were five monstrous pythons down there. She had seen it—the moment Han Qingyu rescued her, the serpent's tail slamming into his back, smashing him heavily into the ground. She had seen that too. Qingzi had coughed up blood. He was fighting with his life on the line. So... I have to obey. I will crawl. *Why am I so useless?!* Shen Yixiu wanted so badly to go back and fight alongside Han Qingyu, yet she knew with absolute clarity that returning in her current state would only make her a burden to him. The style Han Qingyu had instilled in this informal squad of theirs never allowed such things to happen. He trusted them, and he demanded utmost trust and obedience in return, never offering explanations... only ever shouldering the most dangerous and difficult parts himself. Pain. Severe agony radiated from all over her body. This wasn't the pain from being constricted and squeezed by the monstrous python earlier; rather, cracks had likely formed on the surface of the iron armor. At this moment, it felt as though countless fine needle tips were piercing into Shen Yixiu, attempting to drain her flesh and blood, stripping away her life. Every step forward was agonizing torture... But crawl. Survive. Crawl. "I'm crawling really fast!" Turning her head back in the dark tunnel, unable to judge the distance, Shen Yixiu shouted with all her might. Perhaps Han Qingyu wouldn't hear it, but she hoped he could. *The faster I crawl, the less time he has to stand guard back there.* *Then he can get away.* Even if one day she truly had to die, she couldn't die at a time like this, not while Qingzi was desperately buying time for her, fighting tooth and nail. If that happened, how disappointed would he be? He would scold her, wouldn't he? He will definitely make it out alive to scold me. Crawl. In the dark tunnel, she lost track of distance. Fortunately, there was no need to navigate. In a haze of dazed consciousness, Shen Yixiu crawled forward stubbornly, numbly, pouring every ounce of strength into it. Having just entered the source energy field, the source energy cloaking her body kept her just lucid enough to keep crawling forward. Crawl. *It's too dark here. I won't die here.* *I still want Qingzi to show me the little mirror. Mm, and let Qingzi look at me too. Maybe he'll even say I'm pretty—though that would definitely be asking a lot of him.* *** Han Qingyu's left-hand blade was embedded in the wall, leaving him suspended high above. In that clash just now, he hadn't allowed himself to fall. Planting a foot on the monstrous python's head, he had bounced back and hooked himself onto the rock face with his blade. He didn't dare drop down. The clearing below, once relatively spacious, was now crowded with five monstrous pythons. Their writhing, thick, serpentine bodies practically blanketed the ground, making the area look like a mountain of flesh. Dropping down might present a chance to target their weak spot, but the probability was far greater that Han Qingyu would be instantly coiled up, unable to break free. *Could these things really be evolving?* Han Qingyu took a split second to observe. Among the five giant pythons below, at least two had horns that had broken through the skin on either side of their heads, resembling the horns of young calves. "Hiss—" In the brief instant his attention wandered, one of the horned pythons suddenly slammed its massive tail against the ground and shot upward. Its body stretched through midair, snapping directly toward Han Qingyu on the wall. Pulling his blade free, Han Qingyu let himself drop slightly, then pushed off the wall with all his might, swinging sideways several meters to evade the strike before driving the blade back into the wall to hang suspended. Up high on the flank, the monstrous python cast a glance at him, then turned and actually began plowing through the dirt, crawling straight toward the tunnel in the cliffside! "Fuck! They have brains?!" Han Qingyu didn't dare hesitate. Kicking hard against a jutting stone on the wall, he hurled himself across, slicing into the serpent's flank and dragging the blade downward. "Get the hell back here!" Rusty Sister definitely couldn't crawl fast. He had to guard the tunnel entrance—or even the entire wall. As for how he would get out in the end, he hadn't figured that out yet. *Still, I'm fast. I run fast, and I don't crawl slow either. If the pythons don't take the tunnel and have to chase me by breaking through rock and soil, they definitely won't catch me... The problem is, the tunnel is right there. Once I go in, what do I block it with? Doesn't look like I've got anything.* *** Still wearing her one-piece dance leotard and white ballet slippers, the girl had merely wrapped a heavy coat around herself, clutching it tight with both hands as she jogged along a mountain trail choked with shrubs and weeds. They had already noticed Han Qingyu's absence earlier. Just around then, the guards stationed at the back mountain came to report that there was commotion in that direction. The garrison squad soldiers who had come to watch the performance immediately rushed back en masse. The girls from the outreach troupe asked Wu Xu whether the ones in the back mountain were them. Wu Xu said nothing, walking away immediately to fetch his gear and the Binggu spear. So it was them after all. No wonder not a single one was around... The girls were incensed, and seeing the guards heading back, they trailed after them. "This time is really too much." The night air was somewhat chilly, and the brambles whipped painfully against legs clad only in thin tights. When Nie Xiaozhen said this, there wasn't a trace of teasing or petty spite in her voice—only anger, and perhaps even hurt. The thin soles of their dance shoes offered little protection, making every step on the gravel ache. "Mm," the girls agreed. "Let's see what he has to say this time." The words were thick with grievance. "If I ever forgive him again, I'm a dog." That, too, was spoken through gritted teeth.