With Me, Bar the Vast Sky

In early June, the merit rewards previously earned by Squad 1777 began to arrive in succession. To start with, there were three batches in total. The first was the reward for a regular defensive mission. Up to that point, the squad had only completed one defensive mission. After handing over the dead iron fragments and metal blocks, in addition to replenishing their military supplies, the army had rebated eight blue crystal blocks according to regulations—roughly one-fifth of what the handed-in metal blocks yielded upon refining. This was the routine reward most veterans in the squad were accustomed to. The second reward came from the very beginning. Back then, the squad was still on the road to their garrison. Wan City, Baiyun Mountain, a Great Spike craft landing in the city... Squad 1777's debut battle, their first display of brilliance, working side by side with Golden Eraser to complete that emergency mission. In truth, they had simply snatched it by force. Afterward, because the nature of the mission was different, the legion evaluated the situation and decided to refine all metal blocks captured in that mission and return them in full as a reward. At the same time, to express their gratitude, the Rejecters added an extra bonus on top of the reward. Thus, after splitting it evenly with Golden Eraser, Squad 1777 received a total of thirty blue crystal blocks from that single mission alone. The concept that super squads primarily relied on snatching began to take root deeper and deeper in Squad 1777's minds. Finally, the third batch—and by far the largest portion among all the rewards issued so far—came from the unexpected annihilation of the Yu and He clans by Wu Xu, Han Qingyu, and the others. These two clans had once jointly launched a sneak attack on an Azure reserve station. Since that was an independent incident, this portion was singled out and calculated separately when tabulating the rewards. Furthermore, because the He clan had also taken part in the Medical Station 101 incident, another calculation would certainly follow later. To Squad 1777, the contribution made by the He clan could be described as nothing short of outstanding. The reward calculation for this portion was divided into two specific parts: First: hunting down and eliminating criminals. This was not a garrison squad's routine duty, so during the merit evaluation, the rating was automatically bumped up by more than one grade. Its practical significance was roughly equivalent to a small-town police station suddenly wiping out two armed squads of a terrorist organization that endangered national security. Second: the massive haul of captured spoils. The 120-plus blocks from the Yu clan, plus the 200-plus blocks seized after the He clan's homes were thoroughly raided and confiscated, along with both clans' vast quantities of weapons, devices, antiques, and the like, were all credited as Squad 1777's spoils. It was precisely this calculation method that brought the final reward for this incident to a staggering 160 blocks. Considering Azure's chronic shortage of source energy, such a generous reward was actually exceedingly rare. "So, the total is 198 blocks. I counted three times in all—last night, this morning, and just now. There is no mistake." As Lao Jian said this, the 198 blue crystal blocks sat piled on the conference room table like a small mountain, dazzling and radiant. After that single sentence, Captain Lao fell temporarily silent. Even as a veteran of more than a decade and a captain of many years, Captain Lao still appeared somewhat dazed and overly excited. An electric prickle ran across his facial skin, and his hands and feet trembled faintly. He had never seen so many source energy blocks at once, nor had he ever been captain of a squad like this. "I remember during my six years in my former squad, the highest reward in a single year was thirty-four blocks," Qi Rourou said from the left side of the conference table. Pausing, he added, "And it's only been half a year here." "In my old squad... I think our best year was thirty-eight blocks," another veteran chimed in. "Twenty-seven. My old squad nicknamed ourselves 'Born Under an Unlucky Star.'" "So wasn't that because you cursed the squad with bad luck?" "Piss off! It definitely wasn't me—look at where we are now!" "Mine was thirty-two, I think." "Me? Can't remember. Anyway, it was probably about the same as everyone else's." "Over eight hundred, I think. That year, Golden Eraser received two alliance commissions to conduct cross-border rescues." A jarringly huge number suddenly popped up. Coming from Golden Eraser, Qin Guowen spoke up, "Actually, if we count by the half-year, we're very likely first in merit points and first in rewards in the entire Ninth Army... higher than both Golden and White. And if we also had regional support and response jurisdiction and could be equipped with helicopters, it would be even better." By now, Qin Guowen had almost completely forgotten his identity as a "poverty alleviation cadre" on loan from Golden Eraser. His whole mind was fixed on treating Golden Eraser as the target to knock off its throne. It was like going down to the countryside to alleviate poverty, only to find oneself assigned to an immensely promising village of future millionaires—and enjoying being a village cadre so much that one never wanted to go back. "Are our merit points really that high?!" None of the squads Milla had served in before had been particularly strong, so she had no concrete concept of such numbers. She asked with immediate excitement. Even though her departure was imminent, she remained completely immersed in her role as Squad 1777's vice captain. Qin Guowen nodded with absolute certainty. "Without a doubt. And don't forget, our truly biggest haul—the merit reward for the Medical Station 101 incident—hasn't even been factored in yet." Many people and units had earned merit in the Medical Station 101 incident. But among them, Squad 1777 had been the first to spot the anomaly and pass intelligence up the chain, and it was also people from Squad 1777 who had carried out all the most critical actions throughout the entire event. The sheer magnitude of this merit appeared second to none in the entire army. "Then why have only the material rewards been handed out so far... without a single word about how many classes of merit citations we actually received?" Wen Jifei, who had been granted special permission to attend the meeting, asked curiously. When he asked that, "Yeah, why haven't they mentioned our merit classes or points? Where will our annual ranking end up?" Everyone present began pondering the question. Though no one said it out loud, everyone was secretly thinking about the very same thing... Squad 1777 was taking its steps toward claiming its own color. "The all-army conference is just around the corner. They're probably saving all of that to announce at the conference." Lao Jian tried his best to appear composed. Having said that, he turned to look at Han Qingyu and the others. "Ranks, medals... when the time comes, I'm afraid you guys will be going up on stage more than once or twice." "Can't they just give them to us in private?" Han Qingyu, a nobody who had never seen grand occasions, asked in all seriousness. "..." Lao Jian rolled his eyes at him, ignored the remark, and turned back to address the room. "Now, let me address the distribution of the rewards. To be honest, this put me in a very tough spot. I couldn't sleep all night yesterday just thinking about it." Captain Lao laid the issue out openly. The dilemma he faced lay between the squad as a whole and the individuals. In their present situation, if one were truly strict about it, how many of these 198 blue crystal blocks had been earned by Han Qingyu and his crew? On this point, everyone present, Lao Jian included, knew the answer full well. Yet Han Qingyu and his friends were, first and foremost, members of Squad 1777. The squad itself was an indivisible whole with its own rules and implicit balance. All of this, Lao Jian had to take into account as captain. After waiting a moment, no one spoke. "How about this? This time, the squad takes a hundred blocks, and Qingzi and his group take ninety-eight... What do you think?" Lao Jian proposed directly. He looked at the cadres and veterans attending the meeting and asked them first, then turned to Han Qingyu and asked, "What do you all think?" Deep down, Lao Jian actually felt a pang of guilt, thinking this distribution was rather unfair to Han Qingyu and the others. But he was the captain, and he had to consider the whole first. *It's truly rare to see Captain Lao so torn,* Han Qingyu thought to himself. He chuckled inwardly, but before he could speak— "In my view, that's about right. Golden Eraser has always operated this way, and so does every top-ranking squad in the army. The elite teams do more work and take more rewards. You have to tilt resources toward them to foster elite combat strength, which then drives the overall improvement of the entire unit." Qin Guowen stepped up at just the right moment. Drawing upon his experience and understanding from Golden Eraser, he spoke as though it was only natural. This tag-team performance... it was obvious Qin Guowen and Captain Lao had coordinated beforehand. In Squad 1777, only Qin Guowen had experience in a super squad. He was currently helping Captain Lao establish that special ecosystem distinct from ordinary squads. "Actually, there's no need to say all that," Qi Rourou, with his feminine features, said. Usually cold and detached in both expression and tone, he stated, "We are neither stupid nor wicked. It's not like we don't understand or accept how this works. You're worrying over nothing." The veterans all burst into laughter, chiming in that this was exactly right—Captain Lao, Captain Qin, what were you two beating around the bush for? Exposed just like that. While Lao Jian and Qin Guowen were slightly embarrassed, they also felt immensely relieved. Ease and joy filled their eyes and curled at the corners of their mouths. "Well, since everyone's so happy today, why don't you sing an opera piece for us, Rourou?" Amid the cheerful atmosphere, a veteran seized the chance to tease. This had already become part of Squad 1777's daily routine: whenever they were free, everyone would find all sorts of excuses to egg Qi Rourou into singing, though none had ever succeeded. "Get lost!" Qi Rourou kept a cold face, refusing decisively. Then, hesitating for a moment, he volunteered, "How about this... A while back, some bastard gave me a phoenix coronet. It's very old, and very fine. I kept it. When the day comes that 1777 truly earns its own color... I will sing for you once." The applause and cheers gradually died down. Without prior agreement, everyone's gaze slowly shifted to Han Qingyu. "To tell the truth, I feel it's Qingzi and you guys who might feel shortchanged," one veteran spoke up with an awkward laugh. "But isn't this a collective reward? It's not like you're carving up our personal belongings. What's there to feel shortchanged about?!" Han Qingyu said, beaming brightly. He was stingy and frugal, but his penny-pinching and calculations always depended on the timing, the matter, and the occasion. Squad 1777 was a single entity. If they truly wanted to earn their own color and live up to the name of a color Eraser, the squad's overall strength had to increase by leaps and bounds. At the same time, only if the squad's overall combat power improved enough to handle routine tasks with ease could he take Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, and the others out to hunt for extra pickings everywhere. "If you really feel bad for me, you can always slip me some more in private. I won't be too shy to take it." After cracking the joke, amid a chorus of jeers calling him "shameless" and "in your dreams," Han Qingyu lunged forward with open arms, directly raking the blue crystal blocks on the table into his embrace as he added, "Then I won't stand on ceremony!" *Clatter, clatter, click, clack.* What a wonderful sound. ... That afternoon, the sentry outpost, the basement. "This is all that was left before... No need to count, I've been keeping track the whole time. Thirty-six blocks." Shen Yixiu brought out the communal reserves she was responsible for safeguarding and laid them out on the table. Earlier, when they had left Research Institute 2, the communal tally had been eight metal blocks and 108 blue crystal blocks. The metal blocks were all with Qingzi; knowing he had uses for them, no one bothered to count them. In concrete terms, the gang's income over these past few months had been modest. Aside from taking the Old Yu family's ancestral stash when raiding the Yu clan, there were only Han Qingyu's personal quarterly rewards from the two medals he held. "Our consumption has always been rather high," Rusty Sister said, feeling slightly sheepish. In truth, however, she wasn't necessarily the biggest consumer. Among the gang's three main combatants, none consumed little—otherwise, they wouldn't possess the combat power they had today. Beyond them, He Tangtang, Wen Jifei, and Liu Shiheng all had source energy consumption that more or less exceeded that of ordinary soldiers. "It's fine. Those who can eat can earn," Han Qingyu concealed his heartache and said with a smile, simultaneously pulling out over a dozen source energy blocks and placing them on the table. Shen Yixiu looked at them, puzzled. "Where did these come from?" "Picked them up at the medical station," Han Qingyu said. "Don't worry, I still have a few left on me." "I picked some up too." Wu Xu also took out several and set them on the table. Then came Wen Jifei. "How did you guys pick up so few? ... *Rumble, clatter, roll...*" He pulled out a cloth pouch, turned it upside down, and dumped it directly onto the table. When finally counted, there were fifty-seven blocks in total. Among them, Wen Jifei had scavenged the most and handed in the most. After all, he hadn't engaged in much melee combat, and upon his return, he was completely uninjured. "Thirty-six plus fifty-seven... ninety-three blocks." He Tangtang picked up the bag distributed earlier today and poured it out as well. "Ninety-three plus ninety-eight... how much is that again?" "191 blocks." In other words, excluding the small reserves each carried on their person, their little clique's communal reserve now stood at 191 blue crystal blocks. They counted them once and confirmed the total without error. "Let me do it. I'll stash them." The 191 blue crystal blocks of varying sizes were separated into six piles. Han Qingyu located the six most concealed spots among the hidden compartments and secret alcoves throughout the outpost and placed them inside one by one. Checking each spot, locking it... closing it, inspecting, closing it tight again... confirming repeatedly that nothing could be detected from the outside. At the same time, during this process, Han Qingyu quietly and secretly buried two of the three Bones of Eternal Life. Finishing this actually left him feeling a bit tired, like the feeling after harvesting rice back home, accompanied by a warm sense of contentment. He simply sat down on the floor against the wall. Reaching into his clothes, Han Qingyu touched the four metal blocks and one Bone of Eternal Life on his person, smiling with his eyes as he silently tallied everything in his head once more. His eyes swept across the hidden compartments and secret alcoves as though surveying granary after granary. Shen Yixiu, Wen Jifei, and the others watched the entire process from start to finish, feeling amused, heartbroken, and ashamed all at once... They all got up, walked over, and sat down on the floor beside him. The six of them sat in a row against the wall. "Happy, aren't you?" Wen Jifei asked with a grin. "Only happy for a moment," Han Qingyu said. "Then I felt it was far too little. We have such a huge space here, but with just this bit of stuff, it feels completely empty." Shen Yixiu laughed and comforted him, "You can't rush these things. Besides, don't we still have rewards that haven't been tallied yet? Once we return from the all-army conference, this place will definitely fill up a bit more." "And there are the rewards for the medals. After this incident, you guys are bound to get quite a few medals, which is another steady stream," Liu Shiheng added. "Captain Lao said that because I delivered the message, I might even get a Silver one." The credit for delivering the report would actually have been the easiest for Lao Jian to claim entirely for himself, but he hadn't, nor would he ever do so. Everyone understood this. Han Qingyu thought about it and agreed, nodding. Suddenly, he gasped, "Oh, damn!" "What is it?" "The weapons," Han Qingyu said. "Tian Hetai's mace broke, but He Zengsheng's spear seemed really good too. We didn't bring it back—what a waste!" "A long spear? Who did you plan to give that to even if you took it?" Shen Yixiu asked in confusion; in any case, she would never use such a thing. "Who cares who uses it? Grab it first, think later," Wen Jifei chimed in, grinning as he glanced at Han Qingyu. "Right?" "Right," Han Qingyu nodded. "Then why the hell did you pin it up so high?!" Wen Jifei suddenly flared up, stomping his foot. "Did you think I hadn't thought of that?! I went for it the moment I got back... But damn it, I couldn't reach it! And then it was too late—the others took it away!" *Beep, beep-beep...* The communicator suddenly chimed. Connecting, Captain Lao's voice came through: "Sortie mission received, sortie mission received! Raise the warning markers, lock down all warehouses and relevant entryways, and have all logistics personnel retreat to the shelter rooms for cover... Remember to bring along the prisoners from the fourth floor." "All combat members assemble! All combat members assemble! Equip devices, cross-check gear, prepare to deploy!" Squad 1777's second mission since stationing had finally arrived. Han Qingyu and the others jumped up at once and bolted toward the main station. Less than ten minutes later, in the underground staging room. All three battle formations of the squad had fully assembled and completed their checks, waiting for deployment. Lao Jian and Milla appeared one after the other. Their expressions seemed smiling, yet at the same time they gave off an inexplicable impression of being intensely excited. Halting, Milla saluted first and said with a smile, "Relax, everyone relax... Today's mission will be very simple." "We just received follow-up notice." At the moment Lao Jian spoke, the look in his eyes burned with fierce intensity. "Do you know what it is?! ... It's the legion commander! The legion commander is coming to Squad 1777!" Legion Commander Chen Buer visiting the squad's station in person?! That was a completely different concept from catching a distant glimpse of him at a general assembly. *Boom!* In an instant, all military discipline vanished, and the room erupted into pandemonium. The veterans in particular were overwhelmed with excitement. This was something the recruits could not fully grasp for the time being, because they did not know that the entire Azure Huaxia Front had once nearly lost all faith in victory... until that man appeared. That man, even now with a head of silver hair, was still universally acknowledged as representing the pinnacle of martial might in this world. He was the Legion Commander of the Sole Witness Legion, the stabilizing pillar of the Huaxia Front, and the beacon of conviction for countless Azure soldiers... That godlike name was Chen Buer. "And the legion commander said his hands happen to be itching for a fight, so he'll take care of this Great Spike... That's what he told me personally over the line... with a laugh." Showing off just a little, Lao Jian explained excitedly, "We get to go watch! We can be right there on-site, watching the legion commander fight!" *Boom!* Once again, the entire room erupted in exhilaration. ... Roughly two hours remained before the estimated landing time of the shuttle-shaped craft. Squad 1777's station, the drill ground, under the glaring afternoon sun. *Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump...* The whirr of helicopter blades echoed down from above. The entire Squad 1777 combat unit stood formed in neat ranks. The logistics personnel stood in ranks. Three helicopters hovered, touched down, and cut their engines. The cabin doors swung open. "Salute!" Lao Jian barked out, taking the lead. *Whoosh!* The entire field snapped to a salute. Chen Buer stepped out first. Looking up briefly, he strode briskly down the stairs, came to a halt, and raised his hand in salute. The entourage behind him saluted in unison. Lao Jian jogged forward and saluted once more. "Reporting! Azure Huaxia Front, Sole Witness Legion, Ninth Army, Regiment 425, Squad 1777, fully geared and ready to deploy at any moment... Awaiting the legion commander's orders!" Although Azure's forces were not as rigorously bound by ceremonial protocols as national armed forces, over the years they had nonetheless established their own formal procedures. A ceremony was a ceremony; no matter how warm and approachable the legion commander sounded over the communicator, no matter how much he felt like an ordinary grandfather from the countryside... this ceremony had to be conducted with utter formality. This was Lao Jian's first time leading a reception for the legion commander. He was somewhat unpracticed, and nervous at the same time. Chen Buer returned the salute, his gaze carrying a touch of encouragement and reassurance as it slowly swept across them. Lowering his arm, he said, "With me, bar the vast sky." This was the order, and this was the protocol. Perhaps Chen Buer had spoken these exact words countless times while inspecting various corners of the front lines. Yet for the soldiers present, every single one of them was hearing the legion commander issue this directive in person before battle for the very first time. Or perhaps, this was an invitation from the God of War of Azure. "Yes, sir!" Lao Jian responded with fierce emotion, and all the squad members snapped to attention and shouted in unison, "For all that breathe, fight without retreat, bar the vast sky with our bodies!"