Going After the Mothership

"How is Qingzi doing right now, roughly?" Wen Jifei asked with concern. He didn't even know why he was asking Ye Jian—probably because only Ye Jian was capable of making that kind of judgment here. He Tangtang and Liu Shiheng turned their eyes toward Ye Jian as well. Compared to the slaying of the Red Shoulder, they clearly cared far more about the figure who had now vanished from the broken cliff. "Suddenly remembered... seems back in the day, I once thought about it too. One day, the Azure banner resting on my shoulders." Ye Jian muttered quietly to himself, a self-deprecating smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "What did you say?" None of the three caught it clearly. "Nothing." Ye Jian turned his head. "What did you guys just ask me?" Wen Jifei helplessly repeated the question. "Oh, that." Ye Jian thought for a moment. "He'll be fine. Just think back to how he picked up his weapons and planted the banner, and you'll know there's nothing seriously wrong with his body." Raising a hand, he mimed thrusting a flagpole into the ground twice. Ye Jian continued, "That wasn't a state of being too weak to hold on. He was doing it unconsciously, which was why he looked like an ordinary person who was a bit exhausted." The three felt slightly relieved hearing this. Yet, "Unconsciously? Qingzi..." Wen Jifei pressed. "Source energy turbulence causing mental confusion, followed by the sudden drainage of source energy, leaving his consciousness completely dazed," Ye Jian said, patient and meticulous. "Something like that. I don't know the exact details either." "Then what will happen to him?" "Who knows? Maybe his strength will advance, or maybe... nothing at all will happen." Ye Jian paused, seeming to hold back a few words, then smiled and suggested, "Shall we head back over there to chat?" The four returned below the snow slope where they had been earlier and sat down against the ice. Ye Jian fished out some cigarettes, flicked four out, and offered them over. "Dare to smoke my cigarettes?" The three quietly took them and lit up. Ye Jian lit one for himself as well, took a drag, tilted his head back, exhaled, and suddenly said, "Actually, maybe one day I'll be hacked to death by him... Don't look at me like that, don't get excited... It's just a maybe. Or maybe I'll hack him to death?" He Tangtang rolled his eyes at him. Ye Jian rolled his eyes right back and said, "By the way, what is he good at? Mind sharing a bit?" When it came to a question like this, anything regarding martial prowess was naturally off-limits. Liu Shiheng changed the subject: "He... is very good at being alone. Right, good at keeping to himself, especially when facing a girl, or lots of girls." "A block of wood?!" Ye Jian laughed. Wen Jifei and He Tangtang couldn't help but chuckle as well. What else could they do? They were in a situation where death could strike at any moment, yet there was nothing they could do about it—they couldn't beat him in a fight, nor could they get communications to work. They might as well relax... As long as they knew Qingzi was all right, that was enough. The four of them gradually opened up and chatted away. "If you ask me, you're something else too." He Tangtang tapped the back of his hand against Ye Jian's arm, signaling for another cigarette. Once he took it and lit it, he said, "Refusing to stay a proper Azure hero, and going off to the damn Snow Lotus instead." "That... that's something I can't explain clearly to you guys. Let's just say to each their own, all right?" Ye Jian said. "As for that business at the medical station you mentioned earlier, Snow Lotus has many branches. It really wasn't me. I can swear an oath." He Tangtang: "Then swear it." "Wait... doesn't it usually end after someone says 'I can swear an oath'? You really want me to swear?" Getting an unmistakable look from He Tangtang, Ye Jian raised his hand and actually swore a solemn curse. This guy was truly incomprehensible. Wen Jifei pondered in silence, barely saying a word. "Guess what the Azure Alliance Council is doing right now?" Ye Jian suddenly asked. No one answered him. "Let me tell you. Right now, they're listening to battle reports while debating whether to disclose the truth to the public, endless arguments flying back and forth. And those representatives dispatched by national governments? In the name of a crisis facing all humanity, they'll seize the opportunity to demand that Azure share its source energy weapons technology..." "But we don't have that much source energy or dead iron in the first place. What good does opening it up do?" Liu Shiheng chimed in. "Exactly." Ye Jian leaned back. "So what do you think they'll do if source energy weapon technology is made public? ...They'll do whatever it takes to get source energy and dead iron. They might not even hesitate to launch sneak attacks on Azure's supply depots." Facing the stares of the three, Ye Jian said calmly, "That's the world for you." Silence. Then Wen Jifei quickly steered the conversation elsewhere... without trying to probe Snow Lotus's secrets or gain anything, just rambling, meaningless chatter about random nonsense. Finally, Ye Jian checked his watch again, got up, and said, "Time for me to go. I was glad to witness that scene on the cliff tonight, and glad to meet you guys." Wen Jifei looked a little surprised. "You've actually been worried this whole time—fearing I'd brainwash you, or that I was planning to make a move on the mothership in the end, right? Nothing like that. Truly, I just came on my own to take a look. After all, this is humankind's first large-scale war against the Great Spikes." After speaking, Ye Jian turned his head and looked at the dazed black-armored Great Spike not far below. Wen Jifei and the other two eyed him warily. "A problem has come up," Ye Jian said, turning back. "It seems there's a real chance this Great Spike could be captured alive." "And then?" He Tangtang reached toward his blade, asking warily. "And then, by rights, I ought to bring it back to Snow Lotus. With such a great opportunity, you three couldn't stop me anyway." Ye Jian looked down in thought, then said, "How about this: I'll just chop it down... Hostile factions or not, I can't let Azure get their hands on it either way." He spoke in a conversational tone. Yet the moment he finished speaking, Ye Jian jumped straight down from the snow slope and, from behind, cut down that black-armored Great Spike with a single slash. "Fuck you—" He Tangtang drew his blade and chased to the edge of the snow hollow in a fury, cursing mid-stride before Wen Jifei grabbed him from behind, stopping him short. Hearing him, Ye Jian walked up from the snow hollow and turned his head to look at him. "Geh geh geh geh geh..." He chuckled like a goose, yet somehow managed not to lose an ounce of charm. "Don't say that, I prefer women. Women, and liquor. Those are the two finest things in the world. You'll understand later." Then he looked at Wen Jifei. "I did have half a mind to gift you a bright future, thinking of leaving this Great Spike for you to claim major credit... but even rising to Azure's upper echelons isn't nearly as happy as staying right here with your brothers." With that, he waved a hand, turned toward the flank, and walked off, seemingly genuinely ready to leave the battlefield. Whenever he came across lingering Great Spikes and squads locked in hard fighting along the way, he would step in and help cut down the Great Spikes. And just like that, he vanished into the night. *** Shouts of slaughter still echoed across the battlefield. Han Qingyu had never fallen unconscious; his mind had merely been in a haze, which culminated in a sudden snapping-to of awareness... Consciousness returned, but his body felt entirely hollow. The very first thing he did was raise his hands and pat down his person, searching for his gear... at the same time sweeping his gaze around, looking for people. "Where's Wu Xu?" Seeing Shen Yixiu and Yin Caixin, Han Qingyu asked anxiously. "He's standing guard outside," Rusty Sister said. There were no medical stations on the perimeter position; they were currently resting in a glacial cluster guarded by three squads. Yin Caixin was there as well, wrapped in thick bandages, leaning weakly to one side. As for the other wounded, they were all kept at a certain distance. "They're here. Your things are all here. I've been watching them for you the whole time," Shen Yixiu added, before asking, "How are you feeling now, Qingzi?" "I'm fine." He just felt completely drained of source energy within his body. Han Qingyu looked down and realized that while he had been in a daze, Rusty Sister had placed dozens of source energy blocks around him, practically soaking him in them. Should he absorb some? With his current capacity for liquid source energy, he did need dozens of blocks to fill up. "Caixin, you all right?" "Mm." "That's good." As Han Qingyu spoke, he was just about to start absorbing when he suddenly noticed that the blue glow across the ground was very bright. Turning his head to look, he saw the Great Spikes' mothership not far away in the night, and across the intervening distance, there were virtually no Great Spikes. Fewer than two hundred of them remained outside, almost all standing around the mothership's perimeter. Seeing this, Han Qingyu gave up on absorbing for now. He only replaced the source energy blocks in his device without channeling any into his body. Then he got up, crouched low, and began creeping up the mountain... "Qingzi, what... what are you doing?" "Going to get some stuff." Han Qingyu nearly blurted out that he was going to refill some gas cylinders. For the moment, that really was what he was thinking. Yet in the eyes of the wounded allied soldiers nearby, The King looked as if he was going after the Great Spike mothership. His physical condition seemed decent enough. And so, toward someone who constantly created surprises and miracles, no one knew whether they ought to try and stop him.