Because of his birthday, another day had been delayed. It was not until the morning of their third day back at the station that Han Qingyu finally went to see the Shang mother and daughter, who had been detained for nearly a month.
To be precise, it was a deeply loving, tolerant godmother and an adopted daughter who wished her godmother dead at every waking moment.
Furthermore, according to Zhu Jiaming, the godmother apparently had never had a husband. In her earlier years, her clan had tried to force her to marry her cousin to preserve the family bloodline, but having received a modern education, she had resisted to the death...
So the girl was probably her biological daughter born in secret out in the world, only kept unacknowledged because of the clan, ultimately breeding resentment and misunderstanding.
In short, it was a relationship that left everyone thoroughly baffled.
Squad 1777's station, like all frontline squad stations, had an underground temporary detention cell. But when Han Qingyu and the others set off toward it, Captain Lao came out and told him that the Shang mother and daughter were not locked up underground.
They were held on the top floor of the station's tallest four-story building, where wind, rain, and sunlight were all visible, and basic living amenities were provided—the only restrictions being that they could not leave the room or go downstairs, and guards were posted outside.
"This treatment seems a little too good. Could our Captain Lao have fallen for a honey trap? We can't let the Self-Preservation Faction infiltrate us like this."
Following up the stairs, Wen Jifei intentionally dropped a few steps behind, muttering among the group with a lewd grin.
"Entirely possible. Frankly, Shang Nianhua's age, figure, looks, and charm hold a terrifying lethal power over a man in his forties like Captain Lao. Besides, our Captain Lao has been single for many years, hasn't he?" Liu Shiheng chimed in, thinking it over before adding, "Still, how do you know it's us being infiltrated? Why couldn't it be our Captain Lao infiltrating the Self-Preservation Faction?"
With that, several of them snickered, agreeing that Captain Lao was indeed a tough customer.
"What are you laughing at? What are you muttering about?" Captain Lao turned back from the landing above, subconsciously straightening his uniform as he asked with a guilty conscience.
"Nothing," Han Qingyu said, looking up.
"Mm... They have no idea what's happened outside lately," Lao Jian said as he climbed two more flights of stairs, dismissed the sentries, took out the iron door's key, and then knocked on the door.
He actually knocked... Was knocking first required when interrogating prisoners?!
"Because they're women, barging in unannounced might be awkward," Captain Lao offered an explanation unprompted, even though no one had asked.
"Please come in, Captain Lao," Shang Nianhua's voice drifted out from inside.
"Sounds like he comes often," Liu Shiheng whispered from behind.
"Right, then something's definitely going on." Wen Jifei looked at Han Qingyu and said, "How are we supposed to interrogate them then? If our tone is even slightly off, Captain Lao will jump in to defend her: 'Don't you dare be so harsh with her...'"
Lao Jian heard this. He turned around to glare at him with irritation. "Plague-Chicken Fei, if you want to die, just say the word... I'm leaving as soon as I open the door." Then Captain Lao looked at Han Qingyu and suddenly confessed, "Shang Nianhua was my former student."
At that, everyone was stunned. "What?!"
"My former student. Surprising, right?" Lao Jian had taught physics at a university in the past. In the era he taught, it was quite common for teachers and students to be close in age.
"Then you two... didn't have anything going on, did you?" Wen Jifei hesitated, asking cautiously.
"No! Absolutely not! What are you letting your minds wander to?! She only attended my lecture courses for two years." Depressed and helpless, Lao Jian shook his head. "And back then, you couldn't tell at all that she came from such a clan background. I just always thought she was an ordinary, outstanding student. Later, I heard she refused her post-graduation assignment. I was surprised at the time, but looking back now, no wonder."
A portion of the Shang clan lived in the secular world, and Shang Nianhua belonged to that worldly branch. However, because the orthodox core of the clan remained secluded from the world, many traditional, conservative customs had been preserved.
To avoid suspicion, Lao Jian truly left as soon as he opened the door. For now, he had no knowledge of the bones; that had been Wen Jifei's lever against the Shang clan.
The Shang mother and daughter stepped out from behind a side partition wall. The moment they saw Han Qingyu standing in the doorway, they instinctively took several steps back. When they caught sight of Wen Jifei, they clutched each other's arms and retreated several more steps, seemingly fearing Wen Jifei even more.
To the Shang mother and daughter, Wen Jifei was much more villainous; he was the one who attacked the heart. Previously, in the span of just a few sentences, he had seized upon Shang Nianhua's weakness, casually holding Que Qingshang's life over her as leverage.
They sat opposite each other on wooden chairs and sofas.
"You should have already verified things with the He clan, right?" Shang Nianhua quickly composed herself and took the initiative to ask, looking at Han Qingyu with the calm posture of a negotiator.
Meanwhile, one of Que Qingshang's hands kept clutching her from behind.
It seemed the two had patched up their relationship quite well—perhaps a blessing in disguise had cleared up the misunderstandings and brought mutual forgiveness... But Han Qingyu was not a gossip. Without asking, he simply nodded and said, "They've been wiped out."
"Hm?" Shang Nianhua didn't seem to hear clearly at first.
"There is no more He clan," He Tangtang chimed in to elaborate. Because he had only found out later, he was particularly eager to talk about it.
"I see..." Shang Nianhua had heard of He Zengsheng's martial prowess, yet never expected him to simply be wiped out like that. She cushioned her shock, feeling a wave of relief that the Shang clan hadn't chosen to clash head-on with Han Qingyu—a decision that now looked exceptionally wise. "Then we..."
"Give me the Shang clan's piece, and I'll let you go." She was Captain Lao's former student after all, and there might even be something between them, so Han Qingyu spoke with a complete lack of principle.
"But the Shang clan really doesn't have one," Shang Nianhua said somewhat helplessly.
Han Qingyu frowned in confusion. "Didn't you say earlier that you did?"
"Earlier? Earlier, you were the ones insisting our Shang clan had one." Shang Nianhua's aggrieved look was no seductive act, but genuine distress... She shot a helpless glance at Wen Jifei and said, "I have maintained from the beginning that we don't."
"Is that true?" Confused, Han Qingyu turned to look at Wen Jifei. He had been counting on this fourth piece all along, already chalking it up on his mental ledger.
"Seems to be... but I still don't buy it." Wen Jifei took over the conversation, looking at Shang Nianhua and saying casually, "Whether the Shang clan has one or not, go get one somewhere. Leave your daughter here until you come back with a bone to trade."
"I..." Shang Nianhua choked on her words, looking at Wen Jifei as if looking at a young demon.
She had always been a woman of effortless poise, but ever since running into Han Qingyu and his group—unable to beat them in a fight, her weakness thoroughly exploited—she had felt constantly smothered and powerless. "I only know that the Tian clan holds a piece. But the clan head Tian Hetai's combat strength among our clans..."
"There is no more Tian clan," Han Qingyu interrupted.
Shang Nianhua gasped, "Ah?!"
"Tian Hetai is already dead. There is no more Tian clan."
"..."
"Tian, Ping, He..." Han Qingyu listed off all seven clans that had fallen at the medical station.
As he reeled off the names, Shang Nianhua's eyes shifted continuously—from disbelief to daze, to forced acceptance, and finally to bleak desolation.
Along with, most likely, an intense lingering terror.
"Then my daughter and I will just stay here. Kill or torture us as you please. In any case, I truly have nowhere and no ability to get a bone for you."
In the end, Shang Nianhua raised her chin, her expression resolute and even touched with relief, speaking as though welcoming death.
"Stay here? Seems like you're having quite a relaxed and pleasant stay with us," Wen Jifei suddenly chuckled.
"Huh?" Shang Nianhua blanked for a moment.
Was staying here relaxing? The answer seemed to be yes—it was a relaxation she had never known before. No need to cater to all sides, no need to shoulder the heavy family burdens she had never wanted to bear, and no need to scheme against others... Furthermore, after worrying for so long, she had grown numb to it; all she had to do was wait.
As for the impending apocalypse, if even Azure couldn't stop it, could people like them truly survive in shameful hiding?
After witnessing Azure's sheer might firsthand in Han Qingyu and the others, Shang Nianhua had actually pondered this question many times over this period. The ultimate answer was unquestionably no.
*Besides, I've been captured. Having no other choice, I'm forced to let everything go.* To Shang Nianhua, this sense of justified abdication actually felt wonderful.
By the time she snapped out of her thoughts,
Han Qingyu and the others had already left the room,
closing the door behind them.
"With seven clans wiped out all at once... we're actually out of leverage against this mother and daughter. Keeping them locked up feels pointless, but letting them go outright is a waste and can't be justified," Liu Shiheng said as they walked down the stairs. "If all else fails, let's leave it like this for now. Wait until our Captain Lao finishes slowly infiltrating her?"
"Maybe we could consider having her gather the remnants of those clans under the Shang clan's name and hold a general conference or something... If that doesn't work, releasing the mother into the Self-Preservation Faction's circles to serve as an informant for intelligence would also work," Wen Jifei muttered.
Han Qingyu nodded somewhat absently. Unlike them, his focus was no longer on the Shang mother and daughter.
"Let's go see what the Young Prince has to say," he said.
The Young Prince, Zhu Jiaming—guard of the Shang clan, savior of Liu Shiheng and the squad's wounded, and now roughly half an insider and half a cook... was seated before Han Qingyu.
"We owe you thanks for what happened this time. Otherwise, Shiheng and the others might have been in serious trouble." Regardless, Han Qingyu began by thanking him for the prior incident upon sitting down.
"Not at all, not at all," Zhu Jiaming said earnestly. "We're all in the same boat, so naturally we should pull together. To tell you the truth, I only stepped in because I thought I could win. Young Master Qing doesn't need to be so polite with me."
"And what if you thought you couldn't win?" As one of the people involved, Liu Shiheng couldn't help asking when he heard that.
"Then naturally my own little life comes first! Even husbands and wives take flight when calamity strikes, right?" Zhu Jiaming grinned at him, his answer disarmingly candid.
Liu Shiheng, Han Qingyu, Wen Jifei, and He Tangtang together: "..."
Then again, thinking about it made sense. Wandering among so many clans and constantly switching masters, by the time he reached the Shang clan he ought to have been thoroughly infamous, yet Shang Nianhua had still kept him by her side as a guard.
This man probably managed first and foremost to project a harmless aura, possessed formidable combat strength, and proved useful in many situations. One simply had to accept by default that in moments of life and death, he could not be counted on.
How to put it? He was essentially in a league of his own. His greatest trick was winning general acceptance without anyone noticing: nowhere was he a core member or confidant, yet everywhere he had a meal ticket and was never viewed with hostility.
Yet could such a man, continually drifting through those circles, truly just be carefree, unconcerned, or merely scraping by?
Or did he actually have an objective?
Han Qingyu thought for a moment and said, "Let's talk about the bones first. It seems to me you know more than Shang Nianhua."
"Mm, I certainly know more." Zhu Jiaming smiled, appearing somewhat proud of the fact. "The Shang clan truly has no Bone of Eternal Life."
"Bone of Eternal Life?"
"That's what they call it," Zhu Jiaming said. "Now, hasn't Young Master Qing already wiped out the Tian and He clans? I knew all along that Young Master Qing would definitely triumph, which was why I urged Shiheng and the others not to worry. As the saying goes, a fine bird chooses a fine tree to roost in. I suppose I've finally rendered a modest service..."
"Stick to the Bone of Eternal Life first." With the "Young Master Qing" honorifics and his self-praise, Han Qingyu no longer had the energy to correct him, so he simply cut him off.
Nodding, Zhu Jiaming looked at him and said, "Aside from the ones already in Young Master Qing's hands, I only know that the Pang clan holds one."
"The Pang clan... Pang Jinghe?!"
"Yes, his family has one."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?!" Liu Shiheng blurted out anxiously.
"You didn't give me the chance!" Zhu Jiaming argued defensively, gesturing at his own neck. "When we ran into Pang Jinghe, you weren't concerned about bones. I wanted to bring it up, but there was a blade at my throat, and then you all got out of the car."
Why did it have to be the Pang clan? No, fortunately it was the Pang clan; otherwise, Azure would probably have seized the bone long ago.
From the subsequent intelligence reports, Han Qingyu already knew that Pang Jinghe had slipped away, and his clan remnants were the only ones among the seven that had escaped Azure's follow-up hunt... After that, all clues had run cold for the moment.
"Do you have a way to find leads on the Pang clan?" After pondering, Han Qingyu asked.
"There are a few places I could try probing." Zhu Jiaming mumbled for a moment, then looked up at Han Qingyu. "But will you let me out?"
"Yes. Get yourself ready; you can leave anytime." Han Qingyu stood up, patted his shoulder, and said, "Just report back as soon as you have news. Stay safe."
Behind him, Zhu Jiaming caught on. "Young Master Qing is truly magnanimous, a man destined for great things!"
"The Young Prince is too kind."
Han Qingyu didn't turn back, unable to suppress a faint smile.
By now, connecting all the various clues, he was quite certain: Zhu Jiaming was the one truly obsessed with seeking and collecting the Bones of Eternal Life.
And now, he wanted to use Han Qingyu to accomplish this task. Therefore, before the collection was truly complete, they could temporarily remain allies, with no need to worry about him fleeing.
*Then why can't I use him to search for the Bones of Eternal Life too? With every additional piece, my combat strength grows.* Han Qingyu guessed Zhu Jiaming had no inkling that he could already manipulate the bone source energy, so Zhu Jiaming definitely wouldn't be in a rush... The man possessed remarkable patience, to an almost terrifying degree.
So let it be for now. And then, one day, they might cross blades.
The decision was made: keep the Shang mother and daughter, and send Zhu Jiaming out to gather intelligence. From their structure, the bones clearly numbered far more than four, five, six, or seven pieces, so rushing wouldn't help anyway. Han Qingyu decided to set the matter aside for the time being.
On the way to the sentry post, Lao Jian suddenly caught up from behind and asked in confusion, "Qingzi, you're going to let Zhu Jiaming go?!"
"Yeah, sending him out to scout news on the remnants of the seven clans." Han Qingyu nodded. In a sense, Zhu Jiaming wasn't an Azure prisoner; he was merely a captive held for Han Qingyu's personal ends.
"What if he doesn't come back?" Lao Jian asked worriedly.
"He will," Wen Jifei answered for him. Walking past Lao Jian, he draped an arm over Captain Lao's shoulder and whispered a secret with deadpan seriousness: "He's hopelessly, madly in love with Miss Shang Nianhua. He would never abandon her."
"..." Lao Jian froze for a moment.
Seeing this, the others snickered inwardly. It really did seem the old tree was budding—best not to say it aloud, lest speaking of it prevent the blossom from blooming.
"By the way, Captain Lao, there's something I'd like to request of you," Han Qingyu changed the subject.
Lao Jian snapped out of his daze. "Go ahead."
"I'd like to expand the sentry post soon and have the few of us move over there to live." Han Qingyu paused before adding, "It's not far anyway, so it won't interfere with training or missions."
"I know, but why?" In Lao Jian's mind, why go through so much trouble when convincing Wu Xu to move over here would be far simpler?
Han Qingyu had no choice but to tell him about the bounty placed on his head in the City of Iniquity, explaining that assassins might come, and added:
"Since they're assassins from the City of Iniquity, they'll definitely scout first. Unless necessary, they won't want to slaughter others and provoke Azure... So, I don't want the fighting to take place inside the station."
Lao Jian ultimately agreed. Full of helplessness and worry, he had no choice but to consent.
The expansion utilized stones from the mountain. During the excavation, the Binggu Spear was used as a crowbar to break ground and cleave rock, while dead iron war blades served as trowels and masonry chisels to square the stone blocks.
With the physical fitness and strength of Han Qingyu and his friends, doing all this was effortless even without activating their devices.
In the end, they only called on veteran soldiers with masonry experience to help when stacking the stones upward and tiling the roof.
The sentry post's expansion was quickly completed.
Before the walls were plastered, Han Qingyu took the opportunity to build several hidden compartments, secret passageways, and an underground room into the interior of the walls and below ground. This had been planned long ago and was in fact one of their main purposes for moving out. He had always worried that once he accumulated too many treasures, he wouldn't be able to carry them all on his person... for example, a cartload of source energy blocks, hundreds of metal blocks, or a warehouse of legendary weapons.
In short, as a farm boy, his instinct to hoard, collect, and store up for life was ever-present, grounding him more and more solidly as time went on.
And so, although Han Qingyu and the others had moved out of the station dormitories, their training and daily lives actually returned smoothly to track.
Everything was orderly and fine—pity only that no Great Spikes appeared.
And no assassins came, either.
...
Medical Station 101.
Such was the helplessness of being a legion commander—bogged down by trivial affairs, the planned itinerary had been delayed for over a month before Chen Buer finally arrived at Medical Station 101 as promised.
The first day was devoted to official investigations and condolences.
After breakfast on the second day, Legion Commander Chen dragged out a chair and sat in Area D's corner section—the primary battlefield from not long ago.
Because the scene had already been cleared and repaired, looking completely refreshed, he had people fetch a nurse who had witnessed the scene to inquire about the battle. He called an old soldier who had taken part in the fight to describe the combat. And he summoned a surviving criminal from the seven clans to recount the clash.
"How is it? Do you have a rough idea now?" Hua Bixuan asked, sitting down beside the old man, while picking up Tian Hetai's severed mace to inspect the break.
"If a top combat power channeled source energy into this heavy mace with full force, do you think you could sever it?" Chen Buer asked, then continued, "I took a look at this mace. It's likely from the first batch, forged from materials taken from the earliest mid-sized Great Spike warship. Its quality is remarkably fine."
To date, Azure had only captured a single Great Spike civilization craft exceeding the specifications of a shuttle-shaped craft, back in the very beginning. The dead iron materials from that craft were of higher grade and greater purity than those of shuttle-shaped craft, and weapons forged from it were far stronger. However, they had all been distributed as early as the 1910s and 1920s; those later rediscovered and recoverable were exceedingly scarce—a secret known only to Azure's upper echelons.
Among them, Chen Buer's war blade had been reforged from materials recovered from that batch.
Back when Azure was first established in Huaxia, because of its critical defensive position, it was held in high regard by the Alliance, and thus received an allocation of top-tier weapons—though most were subsequently lost over time.
Hearing the legion commander say this, Hua Bixuan quietly hid the severed piece of the mace behind his back, then said with calm confidence, "Then of course I could."
"Bring it out... Have some shame," Chen Buer said with deep helplessness. "Add another sentence."
Hua Bixuan didn't budge an inch in posture or expression, completely ignoring the first sentence, and earnestly responded to the second: "It might just take a bit of effort."
"Precisely. So that crafty rascal's final Moon-Splitting Slash was actually a feint." At this, Chen Buer smiled with a touch of nostalgia. The battlefield scene he had never witnessed in person surfaced vividly in his mind.
"I knew it," Hua Bixuan muttered. "Wearing armor for less than a year, breaking a mace to kill, cleanly cleaving through a top combat power—that would be utterly inhuman, too monstrously freakish."
"Is that so?" Chen Buer stood up. Walking slowly toward the spot where the mace had been severed, he looked up toward the upper window from which Han Qingyu had reportedly unleashed the Moon-Splitting Slash, saying softly, "Yet in that critical moment, with all hearts united, soaring valor, a desperate strike for dear life—that bastard actually still thought to pull a trick... That kind of battlefield instinct and mental fortitude, I must say, is also pretty damn monstrous."
He waited after speaking... Hearing no response, he turned his head. His expression froze, eyes blazing with fury.
Hua Bixuan and that severed half of the mace were already gone...
Marshal Hua used a blade smaller than standard Azure battleblades; that section of severed mace happened to be just enough material to forge one.
Only an old staff officer remained on the other side, pretending to be asleep.
"Where did that bastard Hua Bixuan go?!" Chen Buer roared from afar.
"Ran off," the old staff officer said with righteous indignation. "Who could have imagined that a dignified Huaxia super combat power could be so shameless, right?"
Chen Buer: "..."
The old staff officer chuckled under his breath and said, "You can't blame me, Legion Commander. They say Marshal Hua goes everywhere unseen, but in truth, when he wants to leave, it's even more impossible to know or stop him. Even you let your guard down, so how could I have caught him?"
Indeed, he had let his guard down—thinking that because the trip to Xiongzhanli was coming up, that bastard would chat with him a while longer!
Chen Buer kept a dark face and said nothing. He picked up the remaining half of the broken mace, handed it to the old staff officer, and said:
"This should still be enough. Have someone forge two short blades later. When the full army assembly convenes, I'll award them to those two."
"Those two" were naturally the pair who had just gained the Legion Commander's Insignia: Han Qingyu and Wu Xu.
"Right away." The old staff officer took the severed mace and suggested casually, "Then won't you drop by their station for a look, Legion Commander? It's so close."
"Ought to go, huh? But over here, with the technology exchange between Voyage and us, I have to be present."
"A helicopter round trip takes no time at all; it won't delay anything, right? A genius like that needs more care from us. We've got to keep him tied to our Azure. Otherwise, what if..." Fearing he would vex Chen Buer, the old staff officer trailed off, changing the subject: "A while back, Headquarters organized that matchmaking event, didn't they? I thought it was perfect and put his name down, but as soon as the proposal was submitted..."
"What happened?"
"Both the Council and the scientific research branch were unanimously and fiercely opposed," the old staff officer said, frustrated and confused. "When asked for a reason, they didn't even give one. Tell me, where am I supposed to find justice in that?"
"Is that so?... Wait, I can probably guess a bit of it... Qu Zhongshi and Xin Mingzhi—those two are in-laws... Ahem."
Chen Buer's relationship with the two of them was that of old friends and longtime sparring partners. Having figured it out, he grinned smugly. *So you two have a day like this too.*
"In that case, I really must go. Arrange a time. Don't make our visit look too deliberate."
Chapter 230