Because My Eyes Are Big

The Alphonse family didn't want to get personally involved, and likely didn't dare take that risk, but their urge to see Han Qingyu dead seemed even more pressing than before. That was why they had used a second bounty in the City of Iniquity to get the job done. Most likely, the more they reflected on it afterward, the more uneasy they felt, suspecting it was highly probable Han Qingyu had already learned their family's filthy secret. "Could it be Snow Lotus? With what we did this time..." Having personally experienced and taken part in both incidents, Wu Xu rarely joined in a discussion like this. Though he never spoke of it, his memories of the Nepal training grounds were clearer than anyone's. It was just that his recollection extended even to the sewers of the Nepal Front base, yet seemed to have nothing to do with the Alphonse family. "The new bounty was posted before this incident. Before this, Snow Lotus didn't harbor such deep hatred for me... If their high-level leadership wanted me dead, first of all, they wouldn't need to conceal their identity like this, and second, they're not short on top-tier experts." Han Qingyu thought it over and said, "Though after what happened, Snow Lotus really might target us." "Thinking about it that way, our current situation actually seems pretty dangerous." "...Yeah." Wu Xu nodded and decided to give up thinking altogether. Glancing at Binggu resting by the bed, he thought: I'd better just focus on fighting. So the new bounty was almost certainly from the Alphonse family. "There are two things we probably handled without enough poise back then." After getting the rundown of the situation, Wen Jifei sat down to reflect and analyze. "First, contacting the military directly and requesting a plane to fly through the night to bring us home—looking back now, that seemed way too rushed. Nepal isn't that far from our borders, yet we even abandoned our vehicle there... And after treatment, your injuries and Tangtang's weren't actually so critical or urgent. The Alphonse family could definitely find out all of that afterward from the Nepal Front base. "Second, when you and Tangtang were in the operating room having your wounds tended to, the Alphonse family sent two of their private doctors over, claiming they'd come specifically to help as a gesture of apology... Out of worry and fury, I turned them down very bluntly. "In short, we lacked worldly experience back then and panicked. I should've thought things through more thoroughly and handled it with more tact." Wen Jifei added those last words seriously, carrying a hint of self-reproach in his tone. He felt that since he couldn't fight on the battlefield, he ought to do more of this kind of thinking for Han Qingyu, and he had always been working hard toward that end. "But in our situation back then, with lives on the line, we couldn't possibly consider every little detail." Han Qingyu reached out and patted his shoulder... His expression darkened slightly as he went on, "It's fine. When all is said and done, even if they hadn't come looking for me, I couldn't just stand by and watch generations of young Azure prodigies keep walking into their trap." This line of reasoning was simple, because Han Qingyu himself had always been a straightforward person. He remembered those hundreds of young, unfamiliar Azure comrades from various nations, remembered the sight of them charging across the wasteland in a mass rescue to save him, and the streaks of blue light cutting through the plains. Because they were all Azure. Hearing only a single sentence from He Tangtang and Yin Caixin after they fought their way out of the encirclement, every single one of them had turned back and charged into the canyon to rescue an Azure comrade from Huaxia named Han Qingyu. Most of them didn't even know him. They probably all had brothers and teammates who had died on the training grounds; had those fallen comrades survived, they surely would have come too. "Still..." Plague-Chicken Fei looked up, hesitation in his eyes. "The Alphonse family is just too massive for us. Especially their influence across the Azure Europa sector—they say it's terrifyingly vast." Han Qingyu nodded. "Yeah." "If we report it up the chain, for one thing, the Alphonse family has definitely destroyed any evidence by now. For another, there are probably very few people on our side with high enough rank to get involved in this. We've never met the Speaker, and as for the Commander... truth is, we don't really know Commander Chen Buer that well." Wen Jifei was right. Their knowledge of Chen Buer was currently limited to what he displayed before the public and the legendary tales told about him; they had zero actual contact with him yet. "By the way, what about Yaoyao-huanghuang's grandfather? A grand scientist—could he handle this?" "No idea. Probably not... He shouldn't be able to." The implications were too enormous. Han Qingyu dared not expose himself lightly, and he couldn't help worrying about dragging someone without sufficient standing into the mire and endangering a friend's family. The next trial opening was in 1993, more than two years away. He decided to put the deeper conspiracy aside for now and just treat it as a standard bounty: take whatever comes, counter soldiers with generals and water with earth. Assassins... experts. Just how expert could they be?! *** May 18th. Han Qingyu had been hospitalized at Medical Station 101 for over twenty days. This was his longest vacation to date. The comprehensive examination report lay on the nightstand beside his hospital bed; the doctors had finally agreed that he had fully recovered. His physical constitution seemed to have risen to a new tier—something Han Qingyu could distinctly feel for himself. Several times, he had felt the urge to borrow a gun and test it out without using a device. With the lights on, Han Qingyu packed his belongings into a duffel bag. Because of the three extra combat uniforms, his standard-issue backpack couldn't quite fit everything. "Heading back today?" Dusk had already fallen. Wen Jifei returned from hanging out in who-knew-which duty room, stepping into the ward and asking when he saw the packing. "Tomorrow morning. I just had nothing to do, so I started packing early." Han Qingyu tossed him his backpack as he spoke. "I put one of my combat uniforms in your bag. Pack up your own things too." "Got it." Wen Jifei nodded and began packing. Wu Xu had finished packing long ago. He had few possessions—just two or three changes of clothes and a newly bought radio—so he stood off to the side, watching. Footsteps—one step light, one step heavy—approached along the corridor and stopped at the doorway. "Ta-da! Today I..." Xiao Li pulled down her mask, speaking as she peeked inside. Her expression froze for a moment. "You guys... are leaving?" She had gotten used to coming by this ward every day to chat, used to her hero, Blockhead, and Firecracker friends, used to catching them cheating at cards, and used to being teased that she'd never get married and had no suitors. "Leaving tomorrow." Wen Jifei looked up and smirked mischievously. "Hate to see us go? Getting a sudden urge to cry?" "Bullcrap, I wouldn't... Well, maybe a tiny bit. Just a little." Xiao Li thought about it, walked in, found a stool, and sat down. Watching them pack, she asked, "Need any help?" "No need, almost done." "Okay." The conversation trailed off. After a while, a touch of melancholy crept over the young nurse. She rested her arms on the table and propped her chin on top of them. Sigh, it suddenly felt so empty. Sniff, sniff. She sniffled twice. It would probably be a very, very long time before she saw them again, wouldn't it? When they did meet again, who knew if they'd still be close with her. Footsteps suddenly arrived right in front of her. She looked up to see Wen Jifei. Their gazes met, and Xiao Li stubbornly put on a brave face. "What are you looking at me for? I'm not crying... Why are you still staring?" "Why do your eyes have so much white?" Seeing her slightly reddened eyes, Wen Jifei blurted out out of nowhere. "Huh?" Xiao Li jumped up agitatedly, limping slightly as she hurried over to the mirror. She peered into it closely, inspecting herself again and again, then turned back and demanded, "Look at me! All of you, look at me first." She waited until all their eyes were on her. "It's not that my eyes have so much white, it's because my eyes are big, got it?" Xiao Li tilted her head up, rolling her eyes around to show them as she explained in all seriousness, "Look, when your eyes are big, whenever I look to the side or look up, it just makes the whites look prominent. But there's really not that much—it's just because they're big..." She explained with utter sincerity until Han Qingyu and Wu Xu also conceded that her eyes were indeed big—and pretty too—before she finally broke into a happy smile.