"If the two of you really came to haul me in, I'd have had no choice but to surrender without a fight, shed a few tears, and recite: 'The bright moon shines upon the drainage ditch.'"
Liu Shiheng grinned. He said this only in jest; inside, he wasn't panicked in the least.
Had this been right at the start when he had first run off, if Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei had suddenly tracked him down, Liu Shiheng likely would have felt genuinely scared, and ashamed to boot.
But now, after everything had taken so many unexpected twists and turns, he figured that since Qingzi and Plague Chicken had the time to come looking for him, Squad 1777 must have gotten out safely.
His own efforts had contributed greatly to that. His role had been crucial.
Tossing the cigarette in his hand into his mouth and biting down on the filter, Liu Shiheng leaned sideways and called out:
"Hey, guy inside! Come out and light Young Master Liu's cigarette!"
Han Qingyu glanced back at him, finished his butter tea, and set down the bowl. Walking out the door, he took the lighter from Wen Jifei's hand and lit Liu Shiheng's cigarette... and finally raised a hand to pat his shoulder.
"Thank you, Shiheng."
Now was not the time to harp on desertion, which hadn't come as much of a surprise to any of them anyway. In truth, whether for bringing word to Squad 1777 or for what he had done right here, Young Master Liu had earned Han Qingyu lighting his smoke and offering those words of gratitude.
Han Qingyu was thrilled to have finally found one of their people. Seeing Liu Shiheng safe and sound felt like a good omen, giving him some comfort and lifting a fraction of the weight from his chest.
Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei finding this place had an element of coincidence, but it was also quite natural. There were very few people left in this sector to begin with, and the herd of horses made plenty of noise, making it difficult to miss.
These riders were the able-bodied generation of the clan the children in the shack belonged to. Knowing about this place, they had risked their lives to come back and save their people. It was a stroke of luck that Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei had spotted them first; otherwise, they likely would never have made it this far.
Drawing a blissful puff of smoke deep into his lungs, Liu Shiheng felt thoroughly at ease.
This time around, he had embraced the mindset of a hero and backed it up with real action. From now on, his Azure career would have a story worth telling... and in the end, he didn't actually have to face death. How wonderful.
Silently weighing his next move while keeping the cigarette clamped between his teeth, Liu Shiheng took another delicious drag and asked offhandedly:
"By the way, is everyone back in the squad doing alright?"
As he asked, he looked over, only to abruptly notice the strange expressions on Qingzi's and Plague Chicken's faces. He quickly snatched the cigarette from his lips and asked in flustered panic:
"What's wrong?! ...Did—did they not make it out?"
Wen Jifei looked at him. "They made it out. But counting you and Tangtang, we're down seven people. Also, Miss Milla might be heavily injured."
Liu Shiheng froze stiff.
Only after Wen Jifei finished recounting everything they knew did he let out a low "Mm." Then, silently turning around, he walked outside, found a rock to sit on, and buried his head.
He began to weep softly. Over the past few days, Young Master Liu had neared the breaking point multiple times. Many times, he had desperately wanted to cry, but had held it back. Now, he collapsed completely.
"Tangtang is gone."
No matter how Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei insisted they believed He Tangtang was still alive, Liu Shiheng could not escape his own reason. He knew Tangtang was gone. In that situation, there was no way he could have survived.
Countless memories flashed through his mind in an instant...
Because they were fellow members of the useless trio, Liu Shiheng had actually spent more time hanging around with He Tangtang and Wen Jifei, accumulating a mess of shared memories.
On top of that, within their little clique, only he and He Tangtang hadn't gone back to attend the All-Army Conference, remaining behind at Xilang Peak. In those days, terrified of dying, Liu Shiheng had clung desperately to He Tangtang every single day. And after the squad mobilized for battle, He Tangtang had looked out for him every step of the way.
Liu Shiheng remembered their final parting.
In that valley, he had been a deserter. He Tangtang had chased him a long way, drawing his blade to block his path and shouting curses at him... before finally turning his back in cold silence, refusing to look at him, and letting him go. Yet out of worry, He Tangtang hadn't had the heart to strip away his gear on the spot, telling him instead to leave it at the perimeter of the battlefield...
From the perspective of the whole squad at the time, Liu Shiheng had felt his departure didn't matter at all. But looking back now from the perspective of their little circle, he had actually abandoned He Tangtang all alone.
And now, he was gone.
Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei sat down beside him. Together, they quietly finished the cigarettes in their hands before Wen Jifei said:
"Don't worry. Rusty Sister and Wu Xu are looking for him. Once the two of us get all of you out, we'll keep searching too."
Liu Shiheng hesitated, then nodded. Clinging to a glimmer of hope was always better than none. He said, "If you can't find him, remember to kill them."
"We will," Han Qingyu replied evenly, yet Liu Shiheng could hear a coldness and resolve in his voice unlike anything before.
It was already afternoon, long past lunchtime, and none of them had the stomach to eat anyway. Liu Shiheng wiped his tears on his sleeve, stood up, and said:
"Then let's go. The nearby Great Spikes seem to be sweeping and clearing the area..."
He went over what he had observed. Of course, he wasn't terribly worried now that Han Qingyu was here.
The Great Spikes were most likely preparing to set up a traction device in this area. Han Qingyu could deduce as much, but for now, he had no time to search for and stop it.
His current mindset was much like Chen Buer's: if they really pulled one down, then let them come—it wasn't like he hadn't hacked them down before. Nothing was more important than the lives before him and the ones waiting to be saved.
The problem was...
"It won't be that easy." Han Qingyu tilted his head toward the civilians, gesturing to the elderly and children among them. "Earlier, we rode in from the flank, and even that wasn't easy. The Great Spike swarms have considerable depth this time.
"More dangerous still, after all the commotion in this area... the Alphonse family is almost certainly waiting for us on the outer perimeter."
At this, Liu Shiheng grew tense. "That suspected super?!"
"He should be there," Han Qingyu said.
Liu Shiheng looked at Qingzi. Strictly speaking, the only person here capable of contending with top-tier fighters was still just Qingzi... Worried, he hesitated and asked:
"Can we contact Wu Xu and Rusty Sister? How about we wait for them to get here first?"
Wen Jifei shook his head. Given the circumstances, even if they could reach them, they might not have the time to wait, nor was it certain that Rusty Sister and Wu Xu could slip inside safely.
"Then what do we..."
"Wait until dusk, then break out directly," Han Qingyu said.
Under these conditions, dusk was the best time to break through. When they set out, daylight would still linger, allowing them to see the terrain clearly along with the Great Spikes' distribution and the enemy's deployments.
With the setting sun as a landmark, even if they got scattered in the rush, everyone would have a general heading.
And by the time they fought their way out, night would be falling—making it easy to hide, easy to shake off pursuit, and hard for anyone on the outer perimeter to hunt them down.
...
Time marched on. The surrounding area was relatively safe for the time being, so there was little need for concealment.
Behind the dilapidated shack, the elders watered the horses, fed them grass, and used knives to slice thick black cloth into pieces.
The women carried iron pots out of the shack, using stones to build makeshift hearths for dinner and gathering dry grass and branches from the vicinity.
Soon, they would need to cook for many people so the men could fight on full bellies.
Food was running short, but the riders had brought highland barley noodles, which would be boiled shortly—a process that took a long time.
The clan's young men sharpened their blades by the stream—knives unique to their people.
They had once swung such blades against those iron-armored monsters and likely understood all too well that it was futile; on the road, they had even seen bullets from Wen Jifei's gun get deflected by the creatures.
Yet they did it anyway, meticulously grinding their edges sharper.
As the clan's fighting strength, they prepared themselves to draw steel and follow Han Qingyu and his two companions into battle, while also bracing to sacrifice themselves at any moment to lure away the Great Spikes.
Han Qingyu did not stop them.
Liu Shiheng was practicing riding with the children.
A breakout with Han Qingyu and one without him were two completely different prospects. Considering the interception they might encounter on the outer perimeter and the need to shake off pursuit afterward, they would choose a gap and break out on horseback, all together.
Counting only combatants, there were more horses than needed.
Fortunately, nearly every thirteen- or fourteen-year-old child here could ride skillfully and sprint at high speeds, as could the elders and women.
Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei had already picked up the basics on their way here. Given their physical prowess, they didn't need mastery; as long as they didn't make wrong moves that caused the horses to stop or slow down, staying in the saddle wasn't difficult at all. And even if they were thrown, it wouldn't hurt them.
Now, only Liu Shiheng still needed practice.
The forty-year-old man whom the children called Uncle Duoji walked over, bowed deeply to Liu Shiheng in gratitude, took the reins, and guided him in riding.
"Clop-clop-clop-clop... Whoa!"
He got it. Liu Shiheng rode a lap around and returned, leaping down from the horse under the watchful eyes of the children.
After greeting everyone, Liu Shiheng suddenly realized that Jiayina wasn't there. That yellow-haired little girl seemed to have been absent ever since he returned.
"Where's Jiayina?" Liu Shiheng turned and asked Duoji anxiously.
A flicker of emotion stirred across Duoji's dark, weathered face. "She... has been crying the whole time."
Jiayina's mother had passed away a few years ago, and her father had never remarried. He was the clan's leader. In the battle earlier to draw the Great Spikes away, many men had fallen. He had ordered them to peel away from the monsters' pursuit one or two at a time.
That was how this clan had preserved the survivors standing here today... while Jiayina's father, as their leader, had held out to the very end.
He hadn't made it back.
"Mm," Liu Shiheng murmured softly. Guided by the children, he walked into the inner room and found Jiayina curled up in a corner, sobbing into her knees.
Gesturing for the woman watching over her to step outside, he sat down beside the little girl.
When Jiayina looked up and saw it was him, she burst into loud wails.
Hearing her cries, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei walked in as well. Soon after, the clan's men, women, elders, and children all quietly drifted back inside.
Apart from the weeping girl, no one made a sound.
On a wooden cabinet nearby, Liu Shiheng found Jiayina's toy piano. Picking it up, he asked, "Was this piano a gift from Daddy?"
"Mm," Jiayina whimpered, lower lip trembling. "For my birthday. Daddy went into the city."
Liu Shiheng reached out, ruffled her hair, found the batteries for the toy piano, and popped them back in.
Then, tapping the keys, he hummed softly:
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, sparkling brightly from afar... Hanging high and shining light, like small eyes of twinkling bright... Twinkle, twinkle, little star, sparkling brightly from afar..."
To Jiayina, who had lived through all of this, the sky had become terrifying. Because horrifying monsters came from up there, harming them and their loved ones.
So that future children could gaze at the starry sky and still find it peaceful and beautiful; so that when they saw the stars, they would only see stars, not slaughtering fiends and hideous faces—this world needed people to guard it with their blades.
Liu Shiheng hadn't thought that far ahead.
"Your daddy did something truly great," he said. "When we break out later, ride on Uncle's horse, Jiayina. You won't be hurt anymore."
...
The grassland, the stream, the dilapidated shack. On the horizon, the setting sun began its gradual descent, casting a golden radiance over the earth.
Steam rose from the pots of water, though the temperature could not reach very high. The noodles had to boil for a long time and probably wouldn't even be fully cooked in the end, but no one cared.
Over twenty horses were tethered securely beside the large boulders in front of the shack.
The men sat or stood, sharp blades at their waists.
Wen Jifei went outside, snapped tree branches to use as chopsticks, and returned to hand them out to Han Qingyu, Liu Shiheng, the herders, the elders, and the children.
Liu Shiheng held his up and sized them up, exclaiming in exaggerated outrage, "The fuck did you break them so damn long for?!"
Wen Jifei retorted, "What the hell do you know? Chopsticks for noodles have to be long. One bite gets you a whole skein!"
Chapter 327