When Xiao Li burst into wails, it wasn't just from the pain, but also from overwhelming terror and grievances. She was truly afraid. A young girl of only sixteen who had never set foot on a battlefield—truth be told, how could she not be terrified?
Those were enemies, after all—sharp points and honed edges, real flesh and blood being torn open, life and death completely out of her own control. It was just that she was genuinely stubborn, stubborn as an unyielding, valiant female warrior.
Beneath the cliff face, the crying proved contagious, spreading rapidly until many of the doctors and nurses were weeping. Even those who had teased the others at first suddenly found themselves unable to hold it in; their noses stung, their eyes reddened, though they still managed to smile through their tears.
Most of them were young, and a great many bore injuries. Some had been battered during their capture, some were bruised and scraped from tumbling along the road or in the vehicles, and others had been struck with the flats of blades or nicked by dagger tips.
Before, they had held back with fierce resolve, refusing to cry and showing no cowardice before the enemy, because they all belonged to Azure. But now they wept. The immense panic and dread they had bottled up for so long burst forth like floodwaters breaching a dam once Han Qingyu and the other two arrived, once safety became real.
Suddenly faced with such a scene, Han Qingyu and Wu Xu were both at a loss. They exchanged glances, even wondering if their methods had been too brutal. The two of them were adept at fighting, but hopeless with something like this.
Wen Jifei entered carrying a hastily made torch. In truth, there was probably no need for it—the weather wasn't very cold, there was light outside, and they could have simply led everyone out... yet he had done it anyway. Holding the glowing red torch aloft as he stepped inside, he planted his feet and exclaimed with sighing admiration:
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What is combat effectiveness? Now this is combat effectiveness! Look at you all, blossoms of white and pink drenched in rain—who could have the heart to see this... Once more people arrive and see it, our Azure's fighting spirit will definitely jump up a whole notch."
The girls were all coaxed into tearful laughter by his antics, crowding closer to the torchlight.
"We brought shame upon Azure," a female doctor looked up, blaming herself.
"How could you have brought shame?!" Wen Jifei said, sounding angry yet full of guilt. "It was us! We failed to protect you properly... Thank goodness none of you came to any real harm in the end."
The torch and the flashlights brought from the vehicle lit up the hollow beneath the cliff, revealing the wound on Xiao Li's leg. Beside her, a doctor was applying medicine to it.
"Wu Xu, hold the torch for a second." Wen Jifei's expression darkened. Passing the torch to Wu Xu, he walked over to the side, picked up his knife, and said, "Big brother's going to vent some anger on your behalf."
He said it like an eight-year-old brother speaking to his five-year-old sister. For his sister's sake, an older brother would pummel trees and punch the ground.
To say nothing of these beasts.
"So, Xiao Li, you threw this hairpin too?!" The hairpin in his hand was exceedingly flashy; its beads and glass mirror shone bright and sparkly in the firelight. Han Qingyu found it both amusing and admirable. As he handed it back, he reached out to pat Xiao Li's head. "Xiao Li really is amazing. When we get back, I have to make sure the legion commander records a merit for you."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Mmh-hnh." Xiao Li cried and laughed at the same time.
"Let's go." Their weapons had already been retrieved. The surviving captors couldn't escape anyway, so it was best to leave them for the arriving follow-up units to handle—especially the guards from the defense squad, who harbored the deepest hatred this night. Taking back the torch, Wen Jifei asked, "Aside from Xiao Li, can everyone walk? Then let's move... Xiao Li, you can't walk, right? Then..."
Xiao Li looked up, blinking her eyes in confusion as she looked at him. Then she realized what he meant, and color rushed into her pale cheeks—whether reflecting the firelight or from embarrassment, it was hard to tell.
"But you'd better think it through first. Right now, people all over the mountains are heading this way. If you let someone carry you in his arms and that many people see it, you might have a hard time finding a husband later."
He was telling the truth. After tonight, if Han Qingyu or Wu Xu carried a girl in his arms, practically nobody would dare pursue her in the future.
"Huh?!" Xiao Li panicked instantly, shaking her head like a rattle drum. "Then I don't want that! I don't want you carrying me, I'll walk by myself!"
Sure enough, the young girl still held great longing and obstinate persistence when it came to getting married.
Subconsciously, she had never even considered Han Qingyu or Wu Xu in that way. They were heroes, while she was just a little nurse. Besides, she definitely didn't want a firecracker. And as for a blockhead—if a blockhead understood a girl's heart, would he still be a blockhead?!
Even as she said this, she tried to stand up on her own with the help of others.
In truth, with a leg injury, being carried in someone's arms would hurt easily anyway. Han Qingyu and Wu Xu went to fashion a makeshift stretcher, stripping off the three men's bloodstained coats to line it.
...
It was late at night, past three in the morning and nearing four.
Most of the reinforcing units had already departed. Having had time only to exchange hurried greetings with the doctors and nurses, they rushed back under the starry night to hold their respective posts.
The personnel who remained behind were carrying out another thorough sweep and cleanup of the medical station.
Medical Station 101 leaned against the mountains and ran along the river, its four sectors—A, B, C, and D—ascending sequentially in a terraced layout. Because Sector D had been the battlefield, bodies were currently being cleared away there. Sector A had suffered the greatest destruction.
Because it was nighttime, and fearing that one or two stragglers from the Seven Families might be lurking in some dark corner under cover of darkness, command dared not allow anyone back to the quarters to rest. Instead, sentry posts were established in an open space along the river in Sector B, cordoning off an area where medical personnel without emergency duties and the lightly wounded could wait for the time being.
Tonight, Medical Station 101 was destined to be sleepless.
There were far too many severely wounded, and the medical workload was immense. The entirety of Sector B, including all operating rooms, was brightly lit. Any doctor or nurse who could still lend a hand did not rest for a single moment.
Those men had just protected them.
Now it was their turn to spare no effort for those men.
The river water, the moonlight, military tents, and stretchers serving as makeshift hospital beds... Han Qingyu sat on the grass. He was injured too, of course, but his injuries were mostly internal. Since he could use source energy for nourishment to nurse them himself, he hadn't bothered the doctors.
Wen Jifei was bustling about, helping wherever he could.
Wu Xu walked over and sat down. His wrist was bound in bandages from a quick emergency treatment; considering everything that had happened tonight, even the injury to his wrist was regarded as only minor.
Han Qingyu turned his head and asked, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Wu Xu replied. "What about you, Qingzi? That blow earlier..."
Han Qingyu shook his head. "My strength might have actually progressed a bit."
"Mine too," Wu Xu said.
"Hm?"
"It seems my surge limit has increased."
"That's a good thing."
"Yeah, but that also means I'll have to use more source energy blocks from now on." Wu Xu paused, looking out over the surface of the river. With a hint of awkward embarrassment, he whispered, "I secretly picked up a few just now."
Han Qingyu looked at him with slight surprise. "I did too, but not very many."
"Will the army give us a reward?"
"There will definitely be honors. In a few days, an official word should be out." As a seasoned medal collector, Han Qingyu wasn't particularly thrilled when speaking of this. Aside from the Star of Azure, the source energy rewards accompanying other honors were far too meager. Collecting them all wouldn't yield as much as looting a stash somewhere.
Wu Xu turned his head and asked, "What about source energy blocks?"
"Not very many," Han Qingyu said.
"...Oh. How can they do that?" Wu Xu lowered his head and muttered under his breath.
Han Qingyu laughed and turned to look at him again. This guy had only officially joined Azure today!
"Yeah. And I heard they've already raided the He family and hunted down the survivors. Sigh, they didn't leave us a single scrap." Han Qingyu didn't know that over on that side, someone had actually escaped—Pang Jinghe had gotten away.
Doing a careful tally of his expenditure, Han Qingyu began to ache with regret. Although the physical enhancement gained from absorbing the metal blocks was genuine, using four blocks in a single night still hurt. Furthermore, if things continued like this, triggering another life source energy overflow in the future would likely demand an ever-increasing quantity of metal blocks.
Thinking of this, he tried once more to sense the three mysterious cleft bones on his person... There was no reaction from the cleft bones. They seemed perceptible only when life source energy overflowed.
In the temporary camp not far away, because some had stayed in the basements, some had been hiding, and some had only just been brought back... people were telling their stories.
About the jeep falling from the sky.
About Wen Jifei's peerless slash.
About two men fighting back-to-back in a bloody battle...
The unstoppable spear in Wu Xu's hands.
And Han Qingyu's final, mace-snapping slash that parted the moonlight.
Chapter 222