Sorry, It Was a Bit Crooked

At this moment, apart from the helicopter still struggling and wheeling in the air, silence descended over the scene. "Tsk, tsk. So this is how it can be done?!" From afar, the old chief of staff squinted up at the helicopter that had lost one of its rotor blades. Then he turned back, trying to spot the Azure Medals that had fallen to the ground earlier. The medals were already half-buried in dust and sand. Even squinting his presbyopic eyes into slits, he couldn't see them clearly, but what he did catch sight of was the back of Wei Jiang, captain of White Eraser. "Right," the old chief of staff said, turning back to ask Shao Xuan beside him. "Did you expect this beforehand, Captain Shao? That the ones leading the defiance of orders this time would be your army's White Eraser?" As fellow ace squads of the Ninth Army, Gold and White had vied with each other openly and secretly for years as old rivals, knowing each other inside and out... Shao Xuan gave a nod, his gaze fixed ahead as he said, "I could. Since they were here, I knew it had to be them." The old chief of staff turned to look at him, an inquiring look in his eyes. "White has always been like this. They never care about outside opinions; they only heed what they themselves believe to be right and wrong. After this incident, even if Wei Jiang is stripped of his rank because he led the charge and White gets a new captain, he will simply stay there as a private, and White will still be White." Having explained the reason, Shao Xuan paused, as if something else had just crossed his mind, and continued, "Besides, with their consistently radical mindset, the interests of Azure always come first. That they chose to do this now is probably not to repay Han Qingyu for saving their squad before, but simply because they believe Han Qingyu is worth it." "Oh, so that's it." A distinct glimmer flashed in the old chief of staff's eyes—a mix of joy and anticipation, yet not merely simple joy. The old man nodded slowly, then suddenly snapped back around to face Shao Xuan, exclaiming with deep feeling, "Then aren't they a lot more interesting than your Gold?!" White was a lot more interesting than Gold?! The corner of Shao Xuan's mouth twitched. In the end, he chose to keep his mouth shut, because he had realized that this seemed to be a fact. "Gold, White... Speaking of which, some time ago I just so happened to hear a saying among the frontline soldiers. Want to hear it, Captain Shao?" the old chief of staff asked with a sly smile playing at the corners of his mouth. It was plain to see that the old man was bursting to say it, and whatever he was about to say probably wasn't flattering... Shao Xuan's eyes flashed with helplessness as he played along, asking, "What?" "It's what the rank-and-file soldiers said, I just happened to overhear it," the old man prefaced. His preamble finished, the old chief of staff pondered for a couple of seconds before speaking unhurriedly: "They say that if you compare the ace color Eraser squads of the Eraser Ninth Army, it roughly goes like this..." "What? How does it go?!" Captain Shao grew impatient and pressed him. The old chief of staff looked at him and said slowly, "'In prosperity, Gold; in adversity, White; in desperation, Blood never knows defeat.'" As he spoke, he stole a glance at Shao Xuan, turning his gaze away the moment he finished. "What?!" Captain Shao flared up instantly, growing childishly agitated and visibly incensed. "What kind of bullshit is that?! Where did this 'Blood' even come from right now?!" In truth, Shao Xuan knew about it. At the All-Army Conference not long ago, Squad 1777 had provisionally ranked first in annual points across the entire army, and their fame had soared through several campaigns. Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang had privately discussed the choice of Eraser color with Wen Jifei and the others, and once "Blood" was settled on, he had acted like a child hiding an exciting secret—whenever someone praised them, he couldn't help but bashfully and gleefully let a little slip. Thus, Squad 1777, the future Blood Eraser of the Ninth Army... many people had indeed heard of it, and they all acknowledged it was only a matter of time. As a major general of the Ninth Army, Shao Xuan naturally was no exception. After his initial burst of indignation, the captain of Golden Eraser continued aggrievedly, "Damn it all, is it our fault that we're so strong things go smoothly for us?! And as for 'in prosperity'... wasn't that because our Gold missed the battle at Xilang Peak last time, having received orders to stay behind and guard the fort?! If we had gone too..." "Yes, yes, yes, I thought so too. Bunch of nonsense, really," the old chief of staff chimed in, sounding completely perfunctory. Hearing this, Captain Shao felt a wave of gloom... Pondering further, he muttered to himself, "Still, over this past year, from the station to Medical Station 101, to Xilang Peak, then to the All-Army Conference when Ye Jian came, and up to now... 1777 really has fought a lot of tough battles and performed brilliantly. Those kids, putting their lives on the line time and again, managed to hoist the banner of a color Eraser well ahead of schedule." "More than that." The old chief of staff shook his head, his tone suddenly turning solemn. "Looking at this plateau breakout battle, Squad 1777's character as a whole has actually begun to take shape. Although their overall strength is still lacking somewhat, that self-awareness of wanting to be an ace squad and the instinct to defend who they are have both been drawn out." "That..." Shao Xuan thought about it and nodded. Involuntarily, he cast his gaze once more toward that figure standing with his back turned by the airfield cliff. How should one describe him? That kid was both cunning as a fox and stubborn as iron! Yet these two seemingly contradictory qualities, when imparted to an Azure squad by Han Qingyu, endowed that squad with both its spirit and its soul. "Tell me, if he can make so many elite squads defy orders on the battlefield for his sake today, how many people will willingly follow him into battles to the death in the future?!" While Shao Xuan was still pondering, the old chief of staff suddenly asked again. Shao Xuan: "..." He finally couldn't help himself. Rolling his eyes fiercely at the old man, he pointed toward the edge of the cliff and said, "Chief of Staff, why don't you tell me first how you intend to clean up this mess for him today?! If this isn't handled properly, his future is practically ruined." If Han Qingyu was locked up in the future, forced to deal with daily investigations and interrogations, Shao Xuan felt that would be tantamount to ruining him—ruining a hope of Azure who had grown to this point in just over a year. The old chief of staff turned to look at him and said, "I don't know either. Chen Buer thumped his chest and swore he had a way." "Chen..." Shao Xuan wanted to say Old Man Chen was terribly unreliable when it came to these matters, but it wasn't right to slander the corps commander so directly. Growing anxious, he pointed over there and said, "Then are you just going to stand by like this, doing nothing, and let him kill them?!" "What do you mean, 'let him'?! If I could talk him out of it, I definitely would have convinced him to bide his time for a few years first! But didn't you see the reality of the situation? Apart from abusing my authority to force him down, could I have stopped him? There was no stopping him!" Before the old chief of staff could finish his words— Boom! The helicopter high in the air in the distance suddenly exploded mid-flight. A massive fireball detonated in the sky. However, this was not caused by Han Qingyu. In the instant before the helicopter plunged to the earth, the three members of the Alphonse family had actively triggered the explosion, maximizing its detonation. The shockwave whipped fire and dense smoke across the sky, blanketing a vast swath of airspace. The helicopter hurtled toward the ground. At the same time, shielded by the flames and thick smoke on the other side of the helicopter's fuselage, Denis, Eric, and Charles had already leaped out ahead of time, diving down below the cliff. It was tremendously high and deep; with stone cliffs standing some distance across, the abyss below was pitch-black and impossible to fathom. All three carried parachutes and source energy apparatuses, and possessed formidable physical strength; they could even wait until they neared the ground before opening their chutes. This was their last and only chance. As long as they could use the explosion's cover to drop beneath the cliff safely, they stood a chance of escape. This sudden turn of events caught everyone present off guard. Amid the smoke and fire, all three generations of the Alphonse family vanished from sight. "Did they escape?!" "Probably. There's no way to pursue—Han Qingyu and the others don't have parachutes." "True..." Whoosh... rip! It was as if someone had violently whipped a massive banner downward, swatting away the fireball and smoke in a blast of turbulent air currents. Immediately followed by a resounding boom! The lingering flames flared once more, and dense smoke billowed up again. The wreckage of the helicopter crashed onto the cliff's edge with a deafening clang, bounced slightly outward, and then plunged down into the chasm below. The fire and smoke dissipated with it. Those present turned their heads blankly to look—and saw across the chasm: A large blue starlight column sword pinning Denis Alphonse suspended against the stone cliff opposite. A small column sword pinning Charles Alphonse. A pitch-black spear impaling Eric Alphonse. None of them were dead yet, hanging there and struggling in agony. The entire scene was dead silent. Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, and Shen Yixiu stood in a row at the cliff's edge, their backs turned to the crowd surrounding them on three sides. Behind them, dense, hurried footsteps rang out. The Alphonse family's remaining deathsworn charged forward with raised blades. Han Qingyu did not look back. Flicking his right hand behind him, a dead iron straight sword spun through the air and struck the ground directly before the charging enemy ranks... No one knew which person among the group had stopped first, but in the end, every single one of them froze in place. At that moment, Han Qingyu looked up at the sky and spoke, as if earnestly addressing someone: "Sorry, we were in a rush and pinned them a bit crooked. I hope you're still satisfied."