Little Planes

The small plane took off without much noise, climbing into the air to meet the perfect midday sun as brilliant flashes of light burst across its silver wings. Xin Yaoqiao stood on the ground, waving. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she rushed forward, tilted her head back, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted, "Hey! Don't you actually go try to catch a Great Spike! You can't capture those anyway... Keep yourself safe!" The people on the plane waved back. "What did she say?" Han Qingyu asked, having caught only a faint trace of sound. "She asked, when are you going to catch a Great Spike?" He Tangtang mimicked her with utter confidence. "Oh, that... probably won't be anytime soon." Han Qingyu's hearing was sharp, but its strength lay in detecting ground vibrations; his reception of airborne sound waves was no different from anyone else's. So he actually believed him and chuckled. Capturing a Great Spike was still a distant prospect, but they were indeed growing stronger. Their gains from this trip to Institute 2 had been immense: Wu Xu had been fitted with a Ninth-Generation device, the defensive strength of Rusty Sister's iron armor had vastly increased, and Han Qingyu himself had raised his physical foundation significantly. Furthermore, he was gradually adapting to three-turbine combat while overflowing with life source energy. In addition, the metal blocks remaining in his possession were now essentially guaranteed to sustain two full-power bursts, which gave Han Qingyu a tremendous sense of security. All in all, the squad's top three combatants had taken form. Barring an utterly overwhelming disparity in strength, they should be able to hold their ground in most fights. "Once the three of you get back, don't skimp on source energy blocks anymore," Han Qingyu said, turning his head toward He Tangtang, Liu Shiheng, and Wen Jifei. "That goes for you too, Plague Chicken. Even if you're stuck on the flipped side, a C built on a stronger foundation is completely different from your C right now." Wen Jifei nodded. "Don't worry. Now that we have them, I won't hold back. I haven't given up on my dream of becoming a sharpshooter. This trip taught me that everything in our world is unpredictable. If even pythons can evolve, what isn't possible? ...So I don't think it's out of the question that guns powered by source energy and firing dead iron bullets might actually be built one day." He paused, stretched his limbs, and looked out the window at the clouds, suddenly sighing with feeling. "I miss Captain Milla. And I miss Captain Lao." Missing Captain Milla was hardly surprising, but missing the Blood Calabash Baby? He Tangtang teased, "If you miss our Milla, just say you miss our Milla. Everyone misses her. Don't go dragging Captain Lao into it on purpose." "But I really do miss Captain Lao! Do you think I've lost my mind, haha... Qingzi, do you miss him? Tell the truth," Wen Jifei asked with a laugh. Han Qingyu thought it over, smiled, and said, "A little." It was a strange feeling. Han Qingyu had once resented Lao Jian, and by now he could probably knock him flat with ease, yet he inexplicably found himself missing the way Lao Jian always acted tough and threw his weight around. At times, Han Qingyu even remembered the visit to his home, when Lao Jian had split a bottle of baijiu with his father, calling each other brothers. The plane's destination was not the Ninth Army War Training Base. Two days earlier, Squad 1777 had already set out under Captain Lao's lead toward their garrison area, somewhere in the Hengduan Mountains of Fuchuan Province. Having coordinated by phone to learn the convoy's route and estimated transit times, Han Qingyu and the others were flying directly to an interception point to rejoin the squad. Shen Yixiu had only been able to bid farewell to her grandfather over the phone, with no chance to see him again in person for the near future. During that call, Shen Fengting had asked to speak with Han Qingyu for a moment. He said he was overjoyed to see Rusty Sister grow stronger and independent, surrounded by such friends, but as he spoke, his voice caught in his throat, and he was choked with emotion. *** Wan City, evening. In an old, weathered alleyway, several children jumping elastic bands—both the ones holding the cords and the ones leaping—froze in unison, craning their necks upward with awe-filled cries. An adult riding by on a bicycle asked, "What are you all looking at?" The children pointed up. "Little planes! On the telephone pole... and on the roof!" "What's so interesting about those?!" The adult glanced over, muttered under his breath, and pedaled off. "Play a little longer, then remember to head home for dinner. Stay out too late and you'll get a thrashing!" He appeared entirely accustomed to the so-called little planes, without a shred of curiosity. That was simply how things were. Ever since the 1960s, these strange little planes had appeared repeatedly throughout Huaxia. In the past couple of years in particular, sightings had entered a peak period, cropping up every few days across the country. People had grown numb to them. Now, as the bicycle faded into the distance and the children resumed their games, a small craft looking almost identical to an ordinary airplane—yet measuring only about sixty centimeters in length—hovered motionless over the roof of a building at the mouth of the alley. A moment earlier, it had lingered on a telephone pole, only shifting when a child threw a pebble at it. Whatever it was, it certainly was not a toy. There were no toys this advanced in this day and age. And though they never seemed to fly particularly high or fast, not a single one had ever been caught. In truth... this was the Rejecters' final line of defense! The Rejecters' efforts to mislead and obstruct Great Spike craft were divided into four tiers. The first tier lay in outer space, conducted via lunar bases and space stations, followed by the atmosphere, then high altitude... And lower still, as a desperate last resort, came these little planes visible to ordinary citizens, equipped with signal transmitters tuned to the same wavebands as Great Spike civilization. Their mission was to make a final attempt to lure the Great Spikes away from cities. Over the past year and more, citizen sightings of these little planes had grown increasingly frequent, gradually turning into an ordinary sight... What the public did not know was that this meant Azure was facing ever-mounting danger. In the current situation, not only were Great Spike landings occurring more often, but their tendency to operate in groups was also rising. The Rejecters even judged that they might be growing smarter. The pressure on misleading operations had surged, and failure seemed poised to strike at any moment. About six hours later that day, close to midnight—somewhere past eleven. "Wan City, Baiyun Mountain, landing site of shuttle craft. City scenic area, Baiyun Mountain..." Urgent reports from the Rejecters crackled continuously across the communicators of every squad in the region. "Regional dispatch, regional dispatch. Golden Eraser eight-man unit has approached the incident site at Baiyun Mountain. Golden Eraser eight-man unit has approached the incident site at Baiyun Mountain... Are there any squads nearby capable of perimeter security? Are there any squads nearby capable of perimeter security?" *Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump...* A strange sound tore across the sky overhead. Two middle-aged men drinking to a pleasant buzz in a roadside tavern at the foot of the mountain looked up together. "What's that?!" "A helicopter." "Oh. What's it doing here? It's not like there's a war." "Who knows? Hey, it's heading down toward Baiyun Mountain! It's going down! Did you see something falling off it? ...What do you say, want to check it out? Maybe we'll find some treasure." One of them wobbled to his feet clutching a liquor bottle, gesturing with his arm. Alcohol made men reckless. The other slapped the table and stood up as well. "Let's go. Let's go find ourselves a big plane!" At that very moment, three jeeps in succession shot past them at breakneck speed. "Squad 1777 is passing near Wan City en route to our garrison post. We can deploy! We can deploy!" Lao Jian sat in the jeep, practically vibrating with excitement. "Haha! Speaking of which, it's been ages since I fought alongside my old squadmates." Qin Guowen, who had hailed from Golden Eraser, turned his head around, pretending to be nonchalant as he showed off his credentials to the young soldiers. "Squad 1777, please establish perimeter security. Squad 1777, please establish perimeter security," Golden Eraser's voice came through the communicator.