Resolution

Around 5:20, a slightly staggering figure hurried through the darkness, darting past the beams of searchlights sweeping the ground, and ran all the way to Squad 1777's military tent on the outer edge of the command post. Lao Jian had hitched a ride back from Xilang Peak on his own, his wounds still unhealed. He was terrified that Han Qingyu would cause a catastrophe. As things stood, both sides actually understood the situation clearly, but neither had brought it out into the open. In Lao Jian's mind, the best course in such circumstances was to bide their time, holding back until the right moment. But when it came to holding back, Lao Jian didn't believe Han Qingyu and the others were capable of it. Squad 1777 had already lost five members earlier, and coming out of this battle, every single survivor was wounded. Subsequent reports indicated that He Tangtang was nowhere to be found, something had happened to Liu Shiheng, and there was no telling whether one of Milla's arms could even be saved... That kid was someone who had given up even going home on leave last time, all to protect the people around him. Under these circumstances, how could he possibly bear it?! Yet if he refused to bear it, what else could he do without evidence... march straight into the Azure frontline command and assassinate a front army commander for revenge?! If they did that, they would be utterly ruined. Lao Jian pulled aside the tent flap and peered inside. It was pitch-black, and he couldn't see anyone at first glance. Captain Lao roared at the top of his lungs, "Where's Han Qingyu?!" Wounded himself, Qin Guowen sat up groggily from his sleep. Squinting toward the light from outside and recognizing Lao Jian, he said, "He came back. I mean, he went out earlier, but then he returned just a moment ago." "Where is he?! Take me to see him. Hurry!" Lao Jian hauled Qin Guowen to his feet, and the two quickly found the tent Han Qingyu had previously been staying in. Empty. And Wen Jifei, Wu Xu, and Rusty Sister were all gone as well. *Damn it.* Lao Jian's heart sank, and he hurriedly pulled Qin Guowen along, running toward another edge of the camp. At an intersection, a young squad member standing watch during the second half of the night stood up and greeted them. "Hello, Captain Lao, Captain Qin... Captain Lao, why are you suddenly back?" Lao Jian lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Did you see Han Qingyu?! Did you?" The squad member nodded blankly and answered in an ordinary tone, "Yeah, I saw him. Qingzi came back, but not long after, he headed out again. Wen Jifei, Rusty Sister, and Wu Xu were with him too." "Wait, no." The squad member concentrated and corrected himself. "Wu Xu ran back from outside first, and then all of them went out together." The truth was that Wu Xu had been keeping watch, discovered that the people from the Alphonse family seemed to be leaving, and came back to report. That was why Han Qingyu had left in such a hurry. None of that mattered to Lao Jian. *It's over.* Stunned, Captain Lao didn't even care that the young squad member was standing right there. He blurted out, "They went to settle scores with the Alphonse family. Quick, we have to catch up to them..." Qin Guowen was yanked forward by one arm, but he remained standing, skeptical. "Surely not? Even though Qingzi was hurting tonight, he seemed pretty calm overall. When the officers came earlier to ask about the battlefield situation, he answered them coolly and composedly. Besides, since he knew to try contacting the Legion Commander first, he must know what's at stake... What you're talking about is battlefield mutiny. How could he dare?!" "Yeah," the young squad member said, looking utterly bewildered. "When Qingzi left just now, I didn't see him showing any wild emotions either. He wasn't angry or agitated, just completely calm. "He even smiled when he said hello to me, and he fished out a source energy block and gave it to me, saying it was for my daily nourishment." As the squad member spoke, he took out a blue crystal block and opened his palm to show them. "Now that's really fucking wrong. He actually parted with a source energy block with his own hands and gave it away," Qin Guowen muttered. "No shit!" Lao Jian yelled. "You don't know him at all... What doesn't that brat dare to do?! At his core, the bastard is a bandit through and through!" His voice grew more urgent by the second, and Lao Jian bolted forward as he spoke. He didn't know too much, nor too little, but what he knew made him realize the sheer gravity of the situation—it was a matter of life and death for Han Qingyu and the others. At the same time, he understood Han Qingyu. Captain Lao remembered plenty of things. Back when they first met and Han Qingyu dragged him into a pit after saving his life, Lao Jian had read from the look in the boy's eyes that he seemed to be debating whether to silence him by killing him. Later, during the period when Han Qingyu hated him the most, he had still acted completely natural and normal. And then during the Area 700 Reserve Station incident, as an ordinary nineteen-year-old village kid who hadn't even enlisted yet, he had killed two people from Pure Purgatory with his own hands, yet didn't show the slightest trace of it when they crossed paths. The calmer that kid was, the bigger the storm brewing inside him. *** The makeshift airfield was located behind the command post, on a safe stretch of open ground by a cliff, capable only of handling helicopters. The Alphonse family's request had been approved, and they were departing overnight. In truth, even without approval, they probably would have fled in panic; such was the nature of that family. Just a short while ago, Wu Xu had noticed something amiss and returned to report, prompting Han Qingyu to grab his gear immediately and head for the airfield. This was far better than barging directly into the command post. The severity was much lower, and they could circle around from the flank. They were terrified of letting their targets slip away... Once they escaped, as Wen Jifei had put it, there was no telling when they would ever catch them again. Given the character of that family, they would most likely turtle up indefinitely from then on and send people to strike from the shadows. At 5:30, on the open grassland beside the command camp, faint light touched the sky, and wind swept through the grass. The four of them activated their devices, sprinting down the path in total silence at top speed. The hair on their foreheads whipped in the wind, the weapons slung behind their shoulders bobbed with their strides, and their combat uniforms snapped against the rushing headwind. "Made up your mind?" Wen Jifei asked suddenly into the sound of the wind, without turning his head. Han Qingyu didn't turn his head either, his eyes fixed straight ahead. "Yeah." "Then that's that. We won't stop you. We're going together." Wu Xu: "Yeah." Rusty Sister: "Yeah." The camaraderie and resolution contained within that brief exchange were things no outsider could truly fathom. Familiar faces flashed through their hearts. Ahead, *whoosh*... Shao Xuan charged out from an angle. He blocked their path. "What do we do? It's Captain Shao... a super!" Wen Jifei asked. Han Qingyu didn't slow his pace. "He's injured... Speed up. Go around him." "Han—" Shao Xuan froze mid-word, staring in shock as the four before him suddenly surged with speed, splitting sharply to the left and right to bypass him from both sides before continuing their sprint forward. "Han Qingyu!" Shao Xuan had originally intended to reason with him calmly, but this kid... Enraged, Captain Shao gritted his teeth and erupted with power, giving chase. "Do you know what you're doing?!" "I do. I'm sorry, Captain Shao!" Han Qingyu said without looking back. "Do you—do you have any idea what kind of responsibility and hope rest upon your shoulders?! All the growth you've achieved this past year might be utterly destroyed because of this one reckless impulse! You'll be derailed from here on out..." Even as he spoke, Shao Xuan endured his injuries and exploded with full force. *Whoosh!* He barred the path of the four once more. In truth, Han Qingyu could have erupted with power as well to dodge past, but Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister were cut off. He had no choice but to stop, looking up into Shao Xuan's eyes. "Captain Shao, maybe in the hearts of many people like you, what you're thinking about is holding up the world," Han Qingyu said, neither fast nor slow, neither agitated nor angry. "But inside, I've always been just an ordinary person. The people and things I want to hold up have never been that many, or that grand... "So, I'm sorry, Captain Shao... I don't shoulder righteous causes." Met with Han Qingyu's gaze, Shao Xuan opened his mouth and faltered. He suddenly realized he had no right to demand that this twenty-year-old young man, who had been coerced into joining the Azure in the first place, must carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Still, no matter how you put it, this is too reckless. It's not as if there won't be opportunities in the future," Shao Xuan said, sounding somewhat powerless in the end. "Yes," Han Qingyu agreed with a nod, then added, "but in times like these, who knows what tomorrow will bring, or whether there even is a future... So, if I have a grudge, I want to settle it now, before it's too late." Shao Xuan looked at him. Han Qingyu glanced toward the airfield, where the Alphonse family would soon take off... He said, "Wait? Wait three years, five years? Maybe ten years... Ten years without being able to give an answer to the brothers of 1777 who died... Just waiting endlessly for an uncertain outcome? "No. I'll hack them down first, and we can talk about the rest later." "..." Shao Xuan's heart trembled. "But what about yourself? You..." Before he could finish, Wen Jifei tugged at his arm, making him turn around. "Captain Shao, let me ask you a question. If we go and take revenge, and at the same time the Legion Commander formally accuses Alphonse over there, will the few of us die?" Shao Xuan hesitated, pondering for a moment. "No." The answer was indeed no, because the aftermath was completely foreseeable: a long, drawn-out process of gathering evidence and political maneuvering. Han Qingyu might be found guilty, facing heavy culpability, or his actions might be viewed as an act of vengeance that eradicated evil. The prerequisite for all of it was that the investigation into the Alphonse family had to yield a conclusion, and reaching a definitive verdict on that would be exceedingly difficult. "See? If we do nothing and formally accuse him, there's no telling when it will ever end. If we take our revenge and then trade accusations with Alphonse, the outcome is still the same—there's no telling when it will ever end. Am I right?" Wen Jifei waited a moment. Seeing that Shao Xuan didn't reply, he continued, "So pulling off a hit first is pretty good. Besides, since the chief of staff didn't come in person to clamp down on Qingzi, that proves he's figured this out too. What do you think, Captain Shao?" Shao Xuan remained silent, lost in thought for a while. He said nothing, but suddenly stepped aside. After standing still for a few seconds, he vanished into the darkness. Almost at the same moment, shouts echoed from behind: "Qingzi! Han Qingyu!" Because of Shao Xuan's obstruction, Lao Jian and Qin Guowen, who otherwise could never have caught up, had desperately managed to get within visual range. They were running and shouting at the same time. "Hey, Captain Lao, you're back?" Han Qingyu turned around, responding and greeting him with surprising calm. He even led Wen Jifei and the other two back toward Lao Jian. Standing together, Lao Jian finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, panting heavily. "You... you little bastard..." *Clack!* Catching him off guard, Han Qingyu clamped a hand onto his shoulder, pinning him firmly, and popped the metal latch open, pulling the source energy block right out of his device. At the same time, Wu Xu and Rusty Sister performed the exact same maneuver, removing the source energy block from Qin Guowen's device. "You..." Lao Jian turned around, dumbfounded. "That should do it. This whole matter has nothing to do with 1777 now." As he spoke, Han Qingyu stripped Lao Jian's entire device off him, while Rusty Sister and Wu Xu followed suit with Qin Guowen's. Then, the four of them turned back around and resumed their sprint. Lao Jian and Qin Guowen were left standing where they were. "Qingzi, don't do anything reckless! I know you're hurting! I'm hurting too, and I want to kill people just as badly, but..." Gazing at Han Qingyu's receding figure, this former university teacher, an Azure captain who had always been rigid and upright, shouted at the top of his lungs, "You must have heard the saying: justice may be delayed, but it will never—" "That's not true," Han Qingyu answered from afar. "It's just that the justice that never arrived was forgotten by everyone." Lao Jian: "..." "So, the justice our Squad 1777 wants—I'm going to take it myself."