Falsely claiming merit was a crime; the greater the merit, the greater the offense. Correspondingly, submitting false commendations for subordinates was naturally also a violation, carrying its own accountability.
What lay before them now were the lives of sixty-three Azure Coalition soldiers, all the source energy and supplies stored at Reserve Station 700, plus twenty-two non-combat personnel hanging by a thread between life and death.
This was a monumental deed, which made utmost caution all the more necessary.
In truth, after listening to Lao Jian's recap of the situation the previous night, Li Wangqiang had felt thoroughly conflicted.
On one hand, the final unresolved mystery of the Reserve Station 700 incident finally had a lead, and all possibilities pointed toward the recruit named Han Qingyu. That was a good thing; the kid belonged to his Regiment 425.
On the other hand, immediately believing and accepting that an ordinary kid had pulled it off was simply too difficult for a combat-hardened veteran.
That was precisely why Regimental Commander Li had taken it upon himself to conduct this surprise interrogation today to get to the bottom of things.
What else could he do? It wasn't as if he could say, "Come, come, Comrade Han, there's a massive achievement lying on the ground here—is it yours?"
That fellow was the mastermind who had killed the lights and snatched the meat last night. If he had the guts to rob, would he lack the guts to pick up an unearned prize?
"So, you're saying you killed those two people?... Are you certain?"
The interrogation was still underway. The female officer kept her face as stern as possible as she looked at Han Qingyu.
Han Qingyu said, "Yes, two were killed by me. The other one wasn't—he died first, killed by those two."
The phrasing was a bit convoluted, but fortunately, everyone present understood.
"All right. Then there's an inexplicable point here." The male officer rapped his finger hard against the desk and said, "No matter what, there was no reason for you not to tell Lao Jian, the captain of Area 752 who brought you there."
"There was," Han Qingyu replied. "I was afraid he would kill me."
"What?!"
The male officer said it, the female officer said it, and even Li Wangqiang muttered it under his breath. In the adjacent compartment, Lao Jian stood up, wanting to say something, but was held down.
"Am... am I that kind of person?" Lao Jian forced a bitter smile, whispering an aggrieved complaint to the regimental staff officer.
"He's the kind of person who repays kindness with enmity."
Outside the door, Han Qingyu's voice carried over.
Lao Jian shot to his feet again. Fortunately, the regimental staff officer was prepared; with quick eyes and hands, he threw one arm around Lao Jian and clamped a hand over his mouth, pinning him down firmly.
The voice outside continued.
"Captain Lao... maybe his stress was too great, so he's a bit... temperamental," Han Qingyu continued earnestly. "Once before, I saved his life. When he woke up, he first thanked me... and then, he immediately turned hostile, held a blade to my throat, and asked if I wanted to kneel and beg for mercy..."
A completely faithful recounting, delivered matter-of-factly by Han Qingyu.
"I said I'd beg, but he said it wouldn't do any good."
Was this not deliberate humiliation? Trampling? Torment? By this point, the two officers could barely listen any further, holding themselves back.
Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang frowned, his expression turning rather sour.
As for inside the compartment, the way the regimental staff officer looked at Lao Jian had completely changed.
"I was just... joking around at the time, testing him. I really did appreciate him, and my gut told me this kid had great potential."
Lao Jian couldn't deny Han Qingyu's words and could only offer a feeble explanation.
The Azure Coalition's actual policy, of course, was not as Lao Jian had framed it—killing any outsider who witnessed them on sight. In fact, aside from enlisting, there were several other options available.
Otherwise, what if an elderly grandmother witnessed it? Would they force her to enlist, too?
Of course that wouldn't work; maneuvering three-dimensionally was hardly something an old granny could pull off.
It was just that in most practical situations, when squad captains came across someone they liked, found intriguing, or considered suitable, they tended to deliberately frame enlisting as the path—even claiming it was the only path... Higher-ups turned a blind eye to the practice.
Even so, to anyone listening, Lao Jian's conduct sounded thoroughly excessive.
That was one aspect. Li Wangqiang pondered it on the spot, held back his irritation, and made a mental note of it for later.
On the other hand, the officers were not so easily misled. If fear of Lao Jian were his only reason, Han Qingyu wouldn't fully convince them.
"Still, the most important reason I didn't dare say anything wasn't Captain Lao," Han Qingyu paused. "It was that I wasn't at all sure whether I had killed the right people. I was afraid that if I mistook friend for foe..."
The two officers exchanged a blank look. That made sense. But a new question immediately arose, and they asked in near-unison, astounded, "You mean to say you killed them without even knowing whether they were friend or foe?"
"Not completely. I was at least sixty to seventy percent sure they were enemies... because the person they killed wore the same clothes and equipment as Captain Lao and his men," Han Qingyu answered honestly.
The female officer asked, "And because of that sixty-to-seventy-percent certainty that they were enemies, you decided to kill them?"
Han Qingyu shook his head. "No. If it were up to me, I would have preferred to stay hidden and not get involved at all."
How authentic. Such an honest kid. After a moment of thought, the female officer's gaze softened, turning coaxing and inquisitive. "Yet you killed them in the end... So, did you hear them say something afterward? Or did you sense what they were planning to do?"
This question was already leaning toward leading the witness; after all, they weren't professional interrogators.
The male officer quickly nudged his colleague to warn her against it.
Fortunately, Han Qingyu remained honest to a fault. "No," he said.
At this point, Li Wangqiang couldn't hold back any longer. He stood up, walked over with a stern face, and asked, "Then why did you kill them?"
"Because after killing that person, they lay prone on the ground not far in front of me."
"So..."
"The dead man's blade had dropped right by my feet. If I didn't run, once they came to pick it up, they'd see me. When that happened, I could only gamble on whether they'd show mercy and let me go."
"And you thought that unlikely?"
"Yes."
"So why didn't you flee in the end? Why choose to kill?"
"Because fleeing meant crawling dozens of meters, maybe hundreds of meters, gambling that they wouldn't hear me the whole time... But killing them only took one leap forward."
"..." Li Wangqiang could scarcely suppress the urge to applaud the kid's decisive boldness. He had to pause and compose himself before asking, "But how did you know you could kill them? You must realize they were wearing gear. Before that, you should have already seen..."
"Their gear wasn't glowing at the time," Han Qingyu said.
Li Wangqiang said, "Oh?"
"It just so happened that during our casual chat in the car earlier, Captain Lao mentioned that someone like him, if his gear wasn't activated, would still die if stabbed... I figured those two probably weren't that much stronger than Captain Lao."
In the compartment, Lao Jian thought, "..." What do you mean 'not that much stronger than me'? If I took on the two of them alone, I could spot them an arm and a leg, all right?!
Captain Lao was worked up. After all, he was a man who, for the sake of Squad 752's captain's dignity, had forced himself to hold the frontline while injured, waved off concern with nonchalance, and held back spitting blood until he made it down the mountain!
In the office, Regimental Commander Li pondered, then looked up. "So you pounced and killed those two?"
Han Qingyu: "Yes."
"So you truly didn't know anything else?"
"I didn't."
"And there was no element of wanting to avenge a fallen Azure comrade?"
"No, I didn't think about that... because I didn't have that capability."
"You..."
"I just wanted to survive."
Up to this point, every single word Han Qingyu said was the truth. He merely quietly omitted a portion of the details, doing his best to steer the questions away from them.
"Hahahaha..." Regimental Commander Li suddenly burst into hearty laughter. Leaning forward, he slapped Han Qingyu firmly on the shoulder. "Good kid! What guts!"
"And your luck wasn't bad either. It was precisely because our warrior fought to the end and exhausted one enemy's source energy block while leaving the other with only a sliver... that you got such an opportunity, you understand?" Li Wangqiang added.
"..." *Right.* For a metal block to happen to deplete and vanish right upon crashing down was abnormal and exceedingly rare, but for a blue crystal block to be depleted through combat was completely normal. Han Qingyu realized this and nodded. "Yes."
"So I killed two enemies?" he asked after a couple of seconds.
"That you did, hahaha..." Li Wangqiang laughed.
"How much money will you reward me? Will my pay go up after recruit training?"
Li Wangqiang: "...If you love money so much, did you remember to sweep the battlefield back then?"
"Yes. At first I messed it up on purpose, and later I tidied it up neatly." Approaching the question he feared most, Han Qingyu maintained the exact same tone and demeanor as before.
Li Wangqiang said, "What I mean is, didn't you take anything with you?"
"I did. At first I took a knife and a spike, but later I got scared, so I put them back."
"Hahaha, and then?"
"Then I found a new pit and lay prone in it."
Li Wangqiang laughed heartily once more, and the two officers responsible for the interrogation and transcription couldn't hold back either.
The interrogation concluded here. For them, everything was clear.
As for Han Qingyu, he still didn't truly grasp what he had achieved; he merely felt he had cleared another hurdle, and there seemed to be a bit of sweetness in it for him.
Regimental Commander Li didn't explain things clearly on the spot either. He simply urged him to get back to training, throwing an arm over the recruit's shoulder to personally walk him out the door.
Immediately afterward, he signed the interrogation transcript and said excitedly, "Submit it! Put in for the commendation!"
"Report everything truthfully? Including the part where he admitted he didn't even know..." The female officer looked somewhat hesitant.
Li Wangqiang said with certainty, "Of course."
"Yes, sir."
The two officers saluted and took their leave.
When Lao Jian came out of the compartment, Regimental Commander Li was muttering to himself in triumph. "Reserve Station 700 belongs to Regiment 423, doesn't it? Hahaha... Chen Mazi, you owe my Regiment 425 a massive favor this time! Hahahaha!"
Standing by, Lao Jian felt a vicarious glow of pride, sharing in the joy—mostly happy for Han Qingyu. That stinky kid... business was business, though.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh—what the hell are you laughing at?" Li Wangqiang glanced over at him, suddenly putting on an indignant face. "Get ready to salute the kid! Let me tell you, don't you forget that among the sixty-three Azure soldiers counted as saved at Station 700, there's you, Lao Jian! Twice! That kid has saved you twice! If you had a daughter, you'd owe her to him in marriage... Not that he'd necessarily want her, of course."
The sudden barrage left Lao Jian completely bewildered. After a long pause, he protested, "Wait, what about me? I contributed too, didn't I?"
"Contributed my ass! As an area captain, you violated regulations by taking an unenlisted civilian onto the battlefield without authorization. Just wait for your disciplinary sanction!" Li Wangqiang continued to dress him down.
Lao Jian was baffled. His old squad leader had been so warm and friendly yesterday; what was this all about?
Of course, he wasn't genuinely worried. While he had broken regulations, between his intent to reinforce Station 700 and his merit in doing so, the two would cancel out at most, leaving him with neither reward nor penalty. The issue was...
"Squad Leader—no, Regimental Commander," Lao Jian said, "why do I suddenly get the feeling you're targeting me?"
"Yeah, I am targeting you. What of it?" Li Wangqiang acted brazen. "Are you going to beg for mercy?... It won't do any good."
31. Medals
From Lao Jian's perspective, both matters hanging over him were now settled.
In summary, his merits and faults roughly canceled out—no loss, no gain. Except he had somehow inexplicably "offended" his old squad leader, while simultaneously bringing an honest kid named Han Qingyu into the Azure.
Honest. Yes, at least judging from today's "interrogation," the kid was almost honest to a fault.
Even Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang felt a pang of regret on his behalf, thinking that if the kid had only offered a line or two of proper rhetoric:
For instance, "Even if it killed me, I couldn't stand by and watch them harm my future comrades," or "For every breathing soul upon the Azure..."
The higher-ups would certainly have been happier, more inclined to grant greater rewards and prop him up as a model soldier.
Yet instead, he insisted he was only seventy percent sure, insisted he would have stayed hidden if he had a choice, and insisted he acted purely to survive... That made it rather hard to hold him up as an exemplar.
Even as Li Wangqiang felt regretful, he thought to himself: *Why do I like this kid so much?* A large part of it was probably because of that very honesty.
After all, he himself had come from a rural background as an honest lad, and had likewise been threatened and tricked into enlisting.
Now, he only hoped the kid's degree-of-fusion test would yield a grade B or higher. Then everything would be perfect.
On the other hand, Lao Jian also felt Han Qingyu had been far too honest today. In fact, thinking about what the boy had recounted, objectively speaking, it was all true.
"Yet the boy clearly has the disposition of a bandit... Sigh, what exactly is my role in all this? What kind of self-inflicted misery is this?!"
Captain Lao pondered that staying here any longer simply wouldn't do. If he lingered, he might inexplicably end up owing a third debt of salvation, and where on earth would he find a daughter to give?
In short, he needed to hurry back to the sighting frontline to take the brunt of the battle, so he could win back his dignity and face as a former university physics teacher.
Why did anyone think he was either getting blasted flying or spitting blood every single time? His lifelong obsession was holding the front!
He wrote up his application to rejoin his unit on the spot and submitted it to the corps. All he had to do next was wait.
On one hand, he waited for approval to return to his unit; on the other, Lao Jian was also waiting for the higher-ups' final verification and grading of "that deed."
"There's no way not to be curious," Lao Jian said in the office, discussing it with Regimental Commander Li and several regimental staff officers. "Such a major achievement by a recruit hasn't been seen in years, has it?"
"Yeah. Once the verification goes through, a medal is practically guaranteed," Li Wangqiang said with certainty, then mused, "It's just a question of which tier they'll award."
The Azure medals were named the "Azure Guardian Medal," consisting of only six ranks.
Among them, the Iron Azure Guardian Medal could be approved and conferred at the corps level, making it relatively common. Moving up, Bronze and Silver Medals required personal approval from the Huaxia Supreme Council. Higher still, the Gold Azure Guardian Medal and the supreme Starlight Azure Medal required direct approval and conferral from the international Azure Alliance Supreme Council.
Because of this, there were always people within the Coalition complaining that Azure medals were too hard to earn.
In short: stingy.
After all, an Azure Guardian Medal meant far too much. The pay was secondary, and the bonus points on rank assessments were secondary... What mattered most was the source energy stipend beyond combat requisitions.
The Azure Coalition's source energy distribution system consisted of two parts.
First were combat requisitions—that is, operational needs. Soldiers tallied and reported their combat consumption monthly, which was reviewed by higher authorities and replenished by reserve stations.
Second were various stipends, such as allowances for key duty posts, annual rank allowances, and fixed tier stipends for Azure Guardian Medal holders.
This second portion—the quota outside combat requisitions—could be used for daily physical conditioning or specialized training. It was of paramount importance to the development of one's foundation and strength.
"Wonder what color the kid will end up with," someone in the office remarked.
"Hmph. If they only give him an Iron one... I'm definitely going to raise hell at corps headquarters," Li Wangqiang declared, sounding every bit like a protective parent refusing to let his own child be slighted.
The regimental chief of staff laughed. "And what if he gets an expensive one?"
Over the years, sheer envy and jealousy within the Coalition had spawned a teasing saying regarding the Azure Guardian Medals: "Scrap iron and bronze aren't worth a dime; only silver and gold are worth your time."
The saying was generally tossed around by people who couldn't earn one to poke fun at others... The regimental chief of staff was deliberately ribbing Regimental Commander Li and Lao Jian.
Prompted by the remark, Lao Jian couldn't help thinking of his own two pieces of black iron—both earned through years of stubborn frontline grit, taken blow after blow.
Li Wangqiang also silently counted his one Bronze and three Irons.
If the kid really landed a valuable one... according to Azure protocol, on special occasions where medals were worn, it would be the squad captain and regimental commander who had to salute first!
"Hey," a regimental staff officer chimed in at that moment, "do you really think it makes sense that he didn't touch the spoils of war at all?"
"Hah, why wouldn't it make sense?! What do you think he should have taken? Source energy blocks or gear? Did he know what they were back then? What use would he have for them?!"
Lao Jian suddenly flared up, overreacting to the point of making the staff officer look quite awkward.
Then: *Wait... why am I defending him again?! God, why do I do this to myself?!* Captain Lao felt thoroughly exasperated with himself and hurriedly raised a hand in apology to his old acquaintance.
"Well, the kid was scared, just like he said."
"Yeah, and he actually did take something—the most reasonable things: a knife and a spike for self-defense... It was only out of fear that he later put them back. I heard that matches the forensics team's site inspection results perfectly."
Nearly everyone in the room chimed in on his side. After all, the facts and logic stood firm—and besides, he was Regiment 425's own boy.
"All right, no need to defend him. Xiao Liu was just making a casual remark. There's zero issue with this... In fact, we should all be thankful he didn't take anything," Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang said with a smile, deliberately leaving them in suspense.
Once all eyes were gathered on him, he continued, "Think about it. The kid didn't know any better. If he had taken things without knowing what they were... and while lying back in his pit, pulled out that detonator to study it, pressing buttons a few times..."
That was a rather tricky angle to view it from, but as everyone gave it thought, a genuine shiver ran down their spines.
"If luck had been against us, with one *boom*, you'd have been gone," Regimental Commander Li said, turning toward Lao Jian and pointedly targeting him. "You see that? So that counts as another debt of saving your life."
*Does that even count?! Can you force a debt of gratitude like that?!* Lao Jian was nearly driven out of his mind.
...
Outside the base's training grounds stood a three-story building reserved for the instructors, situated so they could observe training at any time.
Chief Drill Instructor Zhang Dao'an's office was on the second floor.
Wen Jifei was walking past downstairs. Training was about to begin. Because Qingzi had been summoned away today, he had wandered around on his own and was now heading toward the training grounds.
"Hey, you recruit!"
Zhang Dao'an leaned out of the upstairs window and shouted down at him.
Wen Jifei heard it... but pretended he hadn't, keeping his stride.
"Hey, you jinx of a soldier!" Zhang Dao'an's tongue slipped. Seeing Wen Jifei pick up the pace, he hurriedly corrected himself and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Recruit Wen Jifei... Attention! About face! Look up!"
Called out by name, Wen Jifei had no choice. He complied, snapped a salute, and offered an awkward grin toward the upper floor. "Greetings, Chief Instructor Zhang! Were you calling for me?"
"Fine, don't play dumb with me, kid. You did that on purpose..." Zhang Dao'an seemed to be in a rare good mood today. He chuckled and said, "Before I even called out, I knew you'd try to run. How about that..."
"Right?" Wen Jifei picked up smoothly, saluting again and bellowing, "I am honored not to have disappointed the Chief Instructor!"
Zhang Dao'an was taken aback. "You're proud of that?... What kind of logic is that?"
"Reporting to the Chief Instructor! You believed I would run, and I indeed ran just as you expected," Wen Jifei shouted at the top of his voice with the full, crisp cadence and spirited vigor expected of an exemplary soldier. "In my view, that probably counts as a form of obedience!"
Chapter 30