The moment she arrived at that deduction, the girl gave herself quite a fright. Knowing there was no way she could keep her mind on her work for the time being, Xin Yaoqiao actually took the afternoon off, went home, and went to sleep.
In her dreams, she saw Han Qingyu. She tried very hard to dream that indeterminate beast into something cuter and more pleasant to look at, but that seemed to leave it lacking in combat capability, neither fierce nor imposing enough, which left her thoroughly conflicted.
For an unimaginably long stretch of time, this planet had once been ruled by "beasts" (broadly defined)—a period of history humanity had continually striven to explore and pursue, yet could never clearly peer into:
[What had truly existed here? What had happened? And what had been left behind?]
In fact, if Xin Yaoqiao were to tell Chen Buer and Jiang Longchi what she had guessed today, certain conclusions might immediately present themselves.
One day more than twenty years ago, Chen Buer and Jiang Longchi had detected an inexplicable, immense surge of source energy around Fenglong'ao in Houshan Township, Huaxia.
Afterward, General Jiang Longchi had personally gone to inspect and keep watch, but right up until he left, nothing ever came of it.
And similar occurrences—just among those documented on record—had happened several times on the Azure planet.
A conceivable answer: [Certain things, temporarily impossible to define, originating from this planet's distant past and tied to source energy, were devoured or inherited.]
Perhaps she was simply exhausted, and the dream had been far too fraught; Xin Yaoqiao slept all the way past eight in the evening.
She walked out of her bedroom in a daze.
Her mother turned her head, saw her, and turned up the volume on the television. On screen, experts were using science to explain the recent situation around Xilang Peak to the public, earnestly debating among themselves the species of Yetis and their destructive potential.
The whole situation felt somewhat delicate. Reluctant to turn it off, Mother got up from the sofa, brought over the food she had kept warm, and sat down to eat with her.
"Mumbling and muttering sleep-talk all afternoon—what were you dreaming about?" Mother Xin asked around a mouthful of rice.
"Huh?" Xin Yaoqiao felt a fluster of panic and said, "Nothing. I don't remember."
Her mother couldn't be considered an entirely safe discussion partner. What if she heard and immediately told Grandfather? Xin Yaoqiao didn't know what Azure would do to Qingzi then.
In any case, everything was going well for him right now, so there was no need to upset that balance.
Xin Yaoqiao chewed slowly and swallowed, eating until her little white bowl was nearly empty. After a moment's thought, she asked, "Mom, you know the story of Beauty and the Beast, right?"
"Of course," Mother Xin said, somewhat puzzled.
"I dreamed about that story. Haha, I found it pretty amusing."
At this time, it was around nine at night on September 6, 1991.
In the battlefield surrounding Xilang Peak, Liu Shiheng lay flat on his stomach in the grass.
His camouflage suit of cow dung and weeds made him look like part of the steppe itself.
Liu Shiheng had no idea where he was, but he estimated he couldn't be far from Squad 1777. Just a short while ago, he had spotted someone guiding a running Great Spike past, heading south.
On the opposite ridge, a squad of combat engineers was setting up a makeshift communication relay station under the cover of night. Given his earlier assessment, Liu Shiheng had no idea whether they would be able to finish it smoothly.
Holding his squad communicator, he remained hidden and waited.
Ever since fleeing the squad that night, running across the plateau for days and nights on end while carrying immense panic in his heart... Liu Shiheng's body and mind were both completely exhausted and weary.
His head drooped lower and lower involuntarily... *Crack.* His forehead bumped against a sharp pebble, snapping him awake from the pain.
"Fuck, almost fell asleep."
If he really nodded off, disaster would strike... Lingering fear welling up inside, Young Master Shiheng reached up and tore at the small cut on his forehead, letting the sharp spike of pain keep him lucid.
Blood trickled down. He caught it with his lips and swallowed it.
A grasshopper hopped past nearby. Liu Shiheng snatched it out of midair, shoved it straight into his mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed.
"Man, how great would it be to have a handful of roasted grains right now?" Liu Shiheng felt so tired he could barely move his legs.
Curled up in the grass, he rolled onto his side and unfastened the Azure combat boots from his feet.
These things were quite heavy; embedded horizontally across the front section of the sole was a plate of dead iron.
Just like in the lining of their combat suits—depending on the person, either the left or right sleeve had a thin dead iron plate embedded inside, and there was another over the heart.
This sort of design was usually of little use in actual combat, but occasionally it could save a life.
He didn't dare throw the boots away. Liu Shiheng carefully tucked them into his pack... then paused. "Wait, if I'm carrying them on my back, isn't it the exact same weight?!"
He cursed, put the boots back on, and fastened the Velcro straps.
In his field of vision, the combat engineers on the opposite ridge withdrew.
The makeshift relay station remained there. Liu Shiheng glanced left and right, took a deep breath, raised his squad communicator, and attempted to connect. *Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch... Beep, beep, beep... Click.*
"Captain Lao?! Captain Lao, can you hear me?! It's Liu Shiheng!"
The signal was still somewhat weak, but it had connected. Liu Shiheng was shaking all over, nearly bursting into tears.
*Once I spit it out, it's none of my damn business anymore,* he thought.
It was definitely Lao Jian's voice on the other end. Regarding Liu Shiheng's sudden contact, Captain Lao seemed to have mixed emotions, sternly saying something.
Liu Shiheng didn't care what he was saying. Growing impatient, he cut him off: "Shut up... No, wait, just listen to me first!"
"It doesn't matter what happens to me right now. Trust me, if this wasn't such an enormous deal, having already run away, there's no way in hell I'd come back to contact you, Captain Lao!"
Under the cover of night, Lao Jian frowned in thought. Turning his head, he glanced left and right at the teammates around him, then lowered his head. "Go ahead, speak."
Liu Shiheng thought for a moment. He didn't jump straight to his conclusions; he didn't know if he was still in his right mind after these past few days, or if his deductions were correct.
Therefore, he chose to lay out all the suspicious details he had witnessed and hear Captain Lao and the others' judgment first.
"That corpse was dumped out in the wilderness. The column sword wound was in the back."
"Here's another detail: they seem to send people out in pairs to search for Great Spikes. But they don't kill them—they guide them."
The dead man might have died doing just that. That was Liu Shiheng's own judgment, but he held his tongue and refrained from saying it.
"The direction they're corralling them toward should be Purang. They explicitly mentioned Purang," he said.
"None of them are weak. There's an expert among them—extremely strong, possibly even a super."
Having reached this point, he felt he hadn't left anything out. He paused for two seconds, then asked in a low voice, "Captain Lao, where are you guys now?"
On the other end, Lao Jian went silent for a brief moment before answering, "Halted on the outskirts of Purang."
"How's communication?"
"Bad."
"Then talk it over and analyze it," Liu Shiheng said. "Can you hand the communicator to Tangtang first?"
"All right." Lao Jian handed the communicator to He Tangtang, then turned around to look at the squad members gathered around him. "What do you think..."
"It should have something to do with us, but the real target isn't us," Qi Rourou, as a veteran, was the first to speak, his voice grave.
All eyes turned toward him.
"We're not worth that much," Qi Rourou said calmly.
The line of thought snapped into focus instantly. Qin Guowen blurted out, "Qingzi?!"
"Most likely. They're coming for the few of them. We're the bait. If we can't get out, Qingzi and the others will have to fight their way in step by step," Qi Rourou continued.
Lao Jian's mind was in a whirl. When He Tangtang asked him for a map, he handed it over blankly.
To be specific, someone was plotting and preparing to drive Squad 1777 into a hopeless dead end in Purang—a siege by perhaps two or three hundred Great Spikes.
And Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, Shen Yixiu, and the others would be informed of the news, after which they would definitely come.
They were remarkably strong, but once trapped in such a battlefield, unable to decisively abandon their comrades, they would inevitably be dragged down by those very comrades and die at the hands of the Great Spikes.
That way, everything would be seamless.
"There might be more to it," another veteran said. "Besides the Great Spikes, don't forget that squad of experts, plus the suspected super Shiheng mentioned. They could emerge from the shadows at any moment... They're laying an inescapable dragnet here, waiting for Qingzi and the others to arrive."
Silence fell over the scene.
Lao Jian's expression and gaze were fraught with anguish. Clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white, he growled, "Who is it? Who the hell are they?! Snow Lotus? Pure Purgatory?!"
No one could answer him.
Nearby, He Tangtang was examining the map.
"Hurry up, see it yet? Where exactly is Purang located?" Liu Shiheng pressed.
"On the bottom corner, wedged right into Nepal," He Tangtang found it and said flatly.
"Yeah." Liu Shiheng's voice turned chilly. "That pack of cigarettes I took off the corpse was called Surya. If I remember right—think about it too—it seems... it's a Nepalese brand."
The conversation halted momentarily. Neither spoke the answer aloud, but as people close to Han Qingyu, the answer was already blindingly clear: the Alphonse family.
In that case, once Qingzi ventured deep into Purang... the Alphonse family and the forces of the Third Fixed Exploration Site might even step in directly if their plan failed. Could Alphonse himself make a move?!
"They don't dare let Qingzi get the Star of Azure. They have to make their move before that happens," Liu Shiheng added.
*Clatter, clatter, clatter...*
On the opposite ridge, the makeshift relay station was suddenly smashed by figures emerging from the dark. Liu Shiheng saw it... lowered his head, and buried himself entirely in the grass. He tried his best to control his trembling body, tears beginning to spill from the crushing oppression and terror.
"Fuck his mother... I'm just a piece of trash, a coward... Why did I have to get dragged into something this huge?!"
"No, I'm not dragged in. I'm not. I've done everything I can. Whatever happens next has nothing to do with me. I'm done caring, I don't give a damn anymore... I'm leaving. I'm out of here."
Muttering to himself, Liu Shiheng crawled through the grass. He had done all he could do; he needed to get away from this place.
"Fuck... what about those old folks and kids?! I forgot to tell Captain Lao!"
Even if he had mentioned it, he probably wouldn't feel any easier. Liu Shiheng's fingertips dug hard into the roots of the grass, sinking into the dirt.
The communication cut out. After several failed attempts to re-establish contact, Liu Shiheng could no longer be reached. Unsure whether something had happened to him... Lao Jian silently put the communicator away.
"We can't stay here, Captain Lao... everyone," He Tangtang said.
"Right, let's move!" As Lao Jian gave the order, he signaled with his eyes... The squad began moving. Qi Rourou and Qin Guowen split off in different directions, vanishing into the night at the same time.
Squad 1777 maneuvered laterally through the darkness for a while, circled back, shifted directions several times, and then halted.
Qi Rourou and Qin Guowen rejoined the ranks one after the other from the darkness. "Confirmed. Someone's watching us."
Heavy, muted breathing filled the silence.
The soldiers tightened their grips on their blades.
"In that case," standing bathed in the light of the moon and stars, Lao Jian swept his gaze over every single one of his squad members, "we circle our way out, we run our way out. If we can't circle out and we can't run out—we fight our way out."
Chapter 317