He Tangtang was gravely injured, but not dead—he had crawled back on his own. The news arrived near midnight that evening, brought by word of mouth, so it carried no mention of whether Liu Shiheng was also alive.
Once the messenger had left, Wen Jifei's eyes darted around. Wiping away his tears, he coughed twice and said, "Actually, there's a good chance Young Master Shiheng didn't die either. I mean, the odds are very high that he lied to us and faked his death to slip away."
Facing the shocked yet earnestly hopeful gazes of the other three, he lowered his voice to a whisper and explained, "At the time, caught up in the heat of the moment, I didn't think much of it. But once we got here and I thought back over it carefully—finding a piece of dry wood like that on the plateau isn't actually that easy."
Rusty Sister looked puzzled. "Dry wood?"
Wen Jifei nodded. "Yeah, when he fell into the water. Think about it. Would a normal person who's critically injured and on the verge of death look for a piece of dry wood to prop himself up while standing by the riverbank?"
"..."
Following that line of thought, the suspicious points immediately multiplied—including the timing of when Liu Shiheng had shown up injured and fallen into the water, chosen right after the vast majority had safely evacuated. In a sense, one had to admit the young master had really put thought into it.
"That bastard! He went too far!" For a moment, Shen Yixiu was in such a muddle of emotion that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Unable to sort through her tangled feelings, she simply let loose a few curses. "We all knew he wanted to leave, but how... how could he pull something like that?!"
Wu Xu said, "Mm."
Deep down, they were now certain of it. Bastard or not, deserter or not, as long as he was alive, that was all that mattered. Having processed the news, all four of them were in much the same state: half-laughing, half-crying, muttering curses under their breath, far too keyed up to get any sleep.
Before long, footsteps approached the outside of the tent flap.
The four quickly fell silent and looked over.
Shao Xuan ducked his head, lifted the flap, and walked inside. Standing at the entrance, he glanced around before breaking into a bright smile. "I heard the news too. Well? Happy, aren't you?"
The four felt quite close to Shao Xuan, and they all nodded with excited smiles, making no effort to hide their joy.
Naturally, they would never breathe a word about Liu Shiheng to Shao Xuan.
Why? First, there was no need. Second, Shao Xuan was a very proper, by-the-book Azure officer; Liu Shiheng faking his death to desert was something he could never be allowed to know.
In this incident, for Major General Shao to secretly help recover their weapons and send them back to Squad 1777 to be hidden was already an extraordinary and rare exception to the rules.
Stepping inside, Shao Xuan tossed a cigarette to Wen Jifei and bit down on one himself. Sitting down, he lowered his head and cupped his hands around the flame as Wen Jifei held out a lighter, saying without looking up, "Regret it? If you had held back even a little, your Star of Azure would've been guaranteed."
Only after asking did he look up to meet Han Qingyu's eyes.
Han Qingyu smiled faintly and shook his head. "No regrets. If I had to do it all over again, I'd still kill them."
Meeting Shao Xuan's gaze, Han Qingyu continued, "The lives of my other brothers in 1777 are just as much lives. They aren't any cheaper than the Alphonse family's. And whenever anyone dares hatch a plot like that against 1777, they have to pay the price."
Though he had started with a smile, Han Qingyu's voice grew heavy, turning fierce by the end, his eyes hardening with it.
Shao Xuan knew the hostility wasn't directed at him, but he still felt a touch awkward.
Seeing this, Wen Jifei hastily stepped in to smooth things over with a laugh. "Actually, what Qingzi mentioned might just be the style and temperament of our squad, haha. Speaking of which, the Ninth Army's color Erasers—Captain Shao, your Golden Eraser is immensely powerful, always upright and steady in style. As for White, aggressive, self-willed, famous for daring to make bold decisions. So if 1777 really manages to grow..."
This was music to the ears, far better than the Chief of Staff's talk about favorable circumstances, adversity, and desperate straits. Shao Xuan chuckled easily, looked around the tent, and said, "Crimson."
"Sure, let's call it that," Wen Jifei said with an awkward chuckle. "If we really do get awarded a color one day, Squad 1777 will supply another kind of style and temperament. That way, our color Erasers will have more variety."
"What kind?" Shao Xuan asked with interest.
Wen Jifei straightened his face and said, "Stingy, greedy, and seeking vengeance for the smallest slight."
He spoke with utter seriousness until he finished those words, then glanced at Han Qingyu and broke into a grin, adding, "In short, petty. Extremely petty."
Han Qingyu: "..."
He was about to curse back, but when he turned around, he found Rusty Sister and Wu Xu looking at him too, their eyes and expressions in complete agreement.
"Screw you," Han Qingyu muttered with a chuckle.
Laughter broke out inside the military tent.
Until Shao Xuan suddenly took the cigarette from his mouth, let out a sigh, and said with regret, "Honestly, next year might really have seen three color Erasers. From the word I heard earlier, higher-ups were considering making an exception for 1777. But now..."
"Never mind, no point dwelling on the past." He waved a hand and stood up. "Actually, I came to let you know: prepare yourselves for questioning soon."
Questioning? It had finally come, after nearly two days and nights.
Wen Jifei hurriedly stood up as well. "Who's interrogating us?"
"Jackson, along with a general from the French Front named Arthur, then a clerk from the Coalition Court, and our Huaxia First Army Commander, General Liu Yiwu."
A senior Coalition officer, a French general, and a Huaxian general—the implications behind this interrogation panel were quite obvious.
"Legion Commander Chen isn't on it?" Wen Jifei inwardly hoped the Legion Commander would come. After all, he was right at Xilang Peak, not far from here, and the supreme commander across these two major battlefields.
*Most importantly, he's Chen Buer. If he came, everything would definitely be different,* Wen Jifei thought.
Shao Xuan looked at him and shook his head.
"Why not?" Wen Jifei still wasn't willing to give up, brazenly pressing the issue. If possible, he planned to push for it through Shao Xuan.
"Because, strictly speaking, the Legion Commander is the plaintiff in this matter," Shao Xuan said.
All four froze in utter confusion.
"Shouldn't I be the plaintiff?" Han Qingyu asked seriously.
"The Legion Commander sued first," Shao Xuan said.
"..."
"Your current status is just an involved party—a witness, basically. Of course, if you really want to file a complaint, you can file a separate one later."
Why does this feel so casual... Han Qingyu nodded in dazed acquiescence. "All right."
Shao Xuan looked around. "Actually, as far as suspicious points go, everything that can be said has already been said. Rumors are spreading everywhere outside right now. But with no hard evidence, and with the fact that you really did kill people..."
Lowering his voice, he continued, "The Chief of Staff's view is that from here on out, it's just going to be political maneuvering; the real clashes won't happen out in the open. So your best move right now is to play dumb—neither make specific accusations nor plead guilty. Leave the matter to him and the Legion Commander to handle."
The four nodded with varying expressions. What this meant was that aside from what had already been stated, if they had any further leads worth investigating, it was best not to voice them now, but rather keep them under wraps to follow up gradually.
The rhythm of marching boots sounded outside. An unfamiliar elite squad of soldiers appeared outside the tent flap, checked their credentials with the guards, and entered the tent.
"Major Qing, if you please." A detachment stepped forward from the escort squad to stand on either side of Han Qingyu, without laying hands on him.
Shao Xuan gestured outside, and the Long Blade Squad also dispatched a group to forcefully join the escort.
The opposing squad leader glanced at them and silently conceded, proceeding to call roll one by one:
"Lieutenant Wu Xu."
"Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei."
"Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu."
And so, only upon entering the military tent serving as the makeshift interrogation room did the four realize one thing: they were being separated.
In other words, the four of them would be interrogated in isolation.
The question was, what was the point of this?
They had been held together for the past two days and two nights. If they wanted to coordinate their stories, they would have done it long ago.
*Except we didn't coordinate anything! We never felt the need to.*
Wen Jifei wasn't worried about anything else; his only concern was Wu Xu. If he just sat there and didn't say a word... Wait, not saying a word actually didn't sound bad at all.
Chapter 360