Most of the plateau residents spoke a different language.
Yet on the three iron chains stretching across the river, almost every resident strapped to the back of an Azure warrior kept turning their heads to look back behind them.
Children like Jiayina were weeping, their lips pressed tightly together as they endured the tears without making a sound. The adults prayed in low murmurs to the grassland gods, their eyes fixed on the riverbank where Azure warriors fought desperately to hold off the monsters.
Those gazes invariably fell upon Han Qingyu—especially when he had just finished his task, crouched on the ground for a brief moment, then stood back up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and threw himself back into the battlefield.
Inevitably, the scene was somewhat touching.
In truth, Han Qingyu himself had never harbored any thoughts of greatness, dedication, or sacrifice; he had never given such concepts any concrete consideration at all.
Compared to such virtuous ideals, his self-perception tended toward being petty and bearing grudges.
And the reason he did all this now was simply because he knew full well he was the strongest person here. He could do it, so he did it, hoping that as many people as possible would make it out alive.
Could this logic be called following one's true nature?
Much like Liu Shiheng, who now had a bloody gash torn open across his shoulder. After feeling what it was like to be a hero and then enduring everything that had happened over this period, the young master's true nature had only grown firmer: *I'm really not cut out to stay in Azure, neither in body nor in mind.*
Wu Xu and Rusty Sister had not found He Tangtang either.
Not daring to hold out much hope was one thing; truly failing to find him was another. Everyone, Liu Shiheng included, was affected by this gloom. It was only because the dire situation before their eyes left no time for thought that none of them showed it.
On the field, the residents were swiftly ferried across to the far bank.
Across the chaotic riverbank battlefield, the clashing of dead iron rang out incessantly.
Wen Jifei tossed the knight sword he had taken from Sean to Rusty Sister, allowing her to cast her small blue starlight column sword directly into the swarm of Great Spikes as well. Unlike Han Qingyu, however, once she threw it, she had to run in and retrieve it herself.
One Great Spike after another collapsed, self-destructed, and shattered into fragments...
The booming detonations of elite source energy bursts erupted one after another...
Squad leaders shouted at the top of their lungs to their members...
The battle grew fiercer by the second.
Amid the relentless clamor, a sudden moment of sensory detachment made everything seem eerily silent and changeless—smash, kill, smash, kill...
Han Qingyu's consciousness began to haze.
Soon, the evacuation of the residents was complete.
"All Grade D and Grade E, move! Take the wounded!" Wen Jifei shouted into the battlefield from the edge of the river, preventing the soldiers on the opposite bank from returning.
A moment later, he yelled, "Those within their two-year service, move!"
"Grade C, move! Take the wounded!"
"Grade B..."
"All comrades of the regular squads, cross the river!"
"..."
Group after group evacuated the battlefield.
The defensive perimeter guarding the iron stakes grew smaller and smaller until only the elites remained.
"Qingzi, pull back, catch your breath, and recover your strength. You'll take the rearguard in a bit. Can you handle it?" Wen Jifei asked.
Han Qingyu glanced back. "Yeah, no problem."
The elite soldiers seized their chances to cross the river one by one.
Han Qingyu took a few steps back, took a breather, and casually swapped out a source energy block.
"Qingzi." Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to him softly from the side.
Taken aback upon hearing it, Han Qingyu turned his head to check and froze.
Not far away, Wen Jifei was just as startled.
Because the person standing there speaking... Young Master Shiheng hadn't left yet!
In Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei's minds, Young Master Liu was the kind of person who would hide and rush to leave first even before his turn was called. Yet with his Grade D combat rating, he had somehow remained behind until now.
"You... get out of here! What are you doing here?!" Under the tremendous pressure of the battlefield, Han Qingyu roared in panic, having noticed the blood coating Liu Shiheng.
Liu Shiheng stood at the edge of the riverbank. He had found a chunk of dry timber somewhere and was leaning on it, hunched over to support his weight. The device on his back was humming... He slowly released his grip on the dead iron straight sword in his hand, lifted his head with obvious difficulty, and said:
"This sword of mine... back then, it only ever hacked Great Spikes in Instructor Zhang's hands. But now, in mine, it's hacked them too. More than once."
His combat sword dropped, piercing into the ground.
"Cut the crap and get moving!" Han Qingyu barked anxiously.
"We'll praise you when we get back!" Wen Jifei chimed in.
Liu Shiheng raised his head again and offered them a slow, faint smile. There was blood on his teeth. He shook his head and said, "Get back... I probably won't be going back this time, Qingzi."
"Are you... badly hurt?!" Han Qingyu snapped his head toward Wen Jifei. "Plague Chicken, strap Shiheng to your back. Go!"
Wen Jifei nodded instantly. "Right!"
Yet Liu Shiheng slowly shook his head. "It's too late."
He slowly pulled away his left hand, which had been clutching his stomach, opening his palm to reveal it slick with blood, dripping steadily.
In his abdomen was a massive, gaping hole of shredded flesh.
Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei were struck dumb on the spot, freezing where they stood.
"I... Listen, you guys remember never to try to act brave in the future. Trying to be a hero gets you killed... Fuck their mothers!" He gave a ragged gasp. "Tangtang is gone too... Cough, cough... I want the rest of you to live well. Keep on living... *Pfft!*"
The moment the words left his mouth, he bowed his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Liu Shiheng seemed to want to straighten up, but his body swayed. He took a step backward, stepping into empty air... and plunged straight toward the churning river.
*Whoosh!* Han Qingyu lunged with an outstretched hand, but grabbed only thin air.
He stood paralyzed.
"Shiheng! Liu Shiheng! I—"
Wen Jifei looked down toward the river. Amid the rolling waves, Liu Shiheng's silhouette surfaced faintly twice, then was swallowed whole by the rushing torrent.
Everything had happened too fast. In the midst of battle, they had overlooked Liu Shiheng, knowing he always hid himself... and now, it had come to this.
"Qingzi?!" Wen Jifei turned around numbly.
By this point, the swarm of Great Spikes was bearing down on them, less than a hundred meters away.
"Cross the river. Move!" Han Qingyu turned. He did not scream or shout, but his gaze was terrifyingly fierce. "Everyone, move!"
With that, he hurled himself into the swarm of Great Spikes.
Under his urging, every remaining soldier stepped onto the iron chains to cross. They were all elites, moving with remarkable speed. The entire crossing took barely over twenty seconds. The moment the last man, Wu Xu, stepped onto the opposite bank, Han Qingyu yanked his column sword free, broke away from the swarm, charged to the water's edge, and ripped out the combat swords securing the stakes.
Deprived of their anchors, the three iron chains howled as they plunged toward the river surface.
Han Qingyu leaped into the air, threw his arms around one of the falling chains, and dropped into the river along with it, hurtling downstream in pursuit.
***
Han Qingyu failed to recover Liu Shiheng.
Just as they had failed to find He Tangtang.
Hope was virtually nonexistent; it was merely an unwillingness to let go.
"I just heard them say the elite squads from Xilang Peak will be dispatched soon to clean up the battlefield..." Further down the riverbank, Shen Yixiu could bear it no longer. She hurried a few steps forward to block Han Qingyu's path, looked up at him, and whispered, "They'll help keep searching. Once you and Plague Chicken get your wounds treated, we can come back too."
Han Qingyu was gravely injured.
In truth, all four of them were battered and bleeding.
"Let's... go back first, okay, Qingzi?" Rusty Sister asked with timid unease.
A brief silence fell.
Surprisingly, Han Qingyu gave a slight nod. Then he turned, looked around his surroundings, and asked, "Which way?"
Azure's forces in this sector were currently split between two battlefields with two respective command posts. One was the Main Peak Command where Chen Buer was stationed, while the other was the Perimeter Xilang Peak Battlefield Command.
In the middle of the night, the four of them arrived at the location of the Perimeter Xilang Peak Battlefield Command.
Apart from Lao Jian, the vast majority of Squad 1777's members were already gathered here.
And serving as the front-line commander representing the Nepal Front in place of Upadhyaya, three generations of the Alphonse family were present as well.
***
"I didn't expect them to arrive before me... Well, tell me, how is the kid doing after getting back?" Caked in exhaustion and having just arrived from the Xilang Peak battlefield, an elderly staff officer squinted at the major general standing before him.
"He only asked me if he could see the Legion Commander. I told him the Legion Commander is still on the main peak. He said 'oh,' and then asked me to help him pass along word," the major general replied.
"Is that so..." The old staff officer nodded, then pressed further, "What else? What about his emotional state, from what you observed?"
The major general lowered his head in thought for a moment before looking back up. "He seemed pretty calm. After getting his wounds patched up simply, he went around to check on every member of his squad, and then went straight to bed."
Chapter 342