Once the concept of a suspected sixth super was established, minds were buzzing on both ends of the telephone line.
Super combat powers were simply too rare, let alone one picked up practically for free. The Huaxia Front currently had only five super combat powers out in the open, which was few enough just hearing about it, and among them...
Shao Xuan's arm injury wouldn't heal in less than a year.
Marshal Hua, Hua Bixuan, was trying to turn the tide in Xiongzhanli.
General Jiang Longchi couldn't be found, and even if they found him, he would wander off again, so they couldn't assign him any tasks.
The Legion Commander was the Legion Commander.
God Lü, Lü Moyi, pretended to be at Institute 1 one moment and Institute 2 the next, only making commotion without ever showing his face, doing the work of two people playing hide-and-seek with every enemy trying to pry into Huaxia's scientific research bases.
In short, they were stretched thin, completely insufficient.
Under such circumstances, Pang Jinghe's emergence meant far too much.
Especially for the Council, this Comrade Pang might be the only super combat power among the Huaxia Front's existing forces who had grown up without Chen Buer's heavy influence or any friendship with him. That was far rarer than the super combat power itself.
Not that they were already thinking about checking and balancing Chen Buer—in reality, they couldn't counterbalance him anyway—it was just that having a super combat power in the Council's own hands would make everything feel easier and give them more confidence.
"Still, we can't deploy him right away," a long sigh came over the phone, lingering misgivings evident after all.
Holding the receiver, Yu Sixian nodded in agreement first before saying, "Still, the probability is very low."
"The probability is very low" meant that the likelihood of Pang Jinghe infiltrating Azure as a spy to cause destruction with the status of a super combat power was minimal; nobody was that lavish. It also meant the probability that all seven Azure soldiers from various nations had been turned or duped was exceedingly low.
Moreover, although Pang Jinghe's past track record was sparse in the extreme, with Azure's resources, it wasn't completely uncheckable.
A bastard son of a hidden clan whose mother had held low status and died young, he had always been despised. Under such circumstances, hiding his strength, staying out of affairs, refusing to serve his clan, or even inwardly leaning toward Azure were entirely possible.
What was more, his actual battle achievements this time were right there for all to see. If this were a pledge of loyalty, it was big enough to cover a quilt.
The other end of the line gave a grunt of acknowledgment.
Hearing that, Yu Sixian thought to himself, *What are you 'mm'-ing about? The problem right now is what I should do on my end. This is a super, after all...* Striving to steady his breath, he asked, "Then what should we do now?"
What to do? The Council was not the Sole Witness Legion; it lacked the bedrock confidence of Chen Buer standing towering like a mountain, capable of suppressing all beneath him. Having a super combat power who was still subject to doubts go straight to headquarters to meet top leadership was simply not quite appropriate.
If you took heavy precautions upon meeting, activating defense systems or stripping his gear, it would easily poison the foundation of goodwill from the start.
Yet if you didn't guard strictly or strip his gear, you couldn't help but worry.
A murmur of quiet discussion arose on the other end... Then the receiver was picked up again. "How about this: first pick a nearby unit and have him stay there for a period of time. Under the logic of an invitation to join, say we'd like him to familiarize himself with our Azure first..."
Yu Sixian thought about it. "That works too."
"In short, respect him and observe him."
"Understood."
"We'll keep tracking it from our end as well," the person on the other end smiled and said. "For instance, we'll start preparing a silver medal..."
The call hung up. Standing where he was, Yu Sixian first lit a cigarette and pondered for a while amid the swirling smoke.
"What if I just keep him here with me and use him like a force falling from the heavens? Hahaha, Rejecters Southwest Bureau Base No. 7, super combat power descending upon the enemy."
Just thinking about it was thrilling.
…………
Pang Jinghe sat alone in his room. The furnishings were top-notch. Azure's specially supplied cigarettes were completely white except for the filters, bearing no markings, but they smoked remarkably well.
Nobody was watching him outside. Pang Jinghe could walk around wherever he liked or even leave at any time, but he didn't.
Having lived through days of being ostracized and drifting without roots, Old Pang had long since resolved to put down roots in Azure.
Besides, speaking of which, he really wanted to run into that group of kids again—to shock them, of course.
*Still, they must have already realized how strong I am, right? Qu Zongxing's final desperate strike, and I just cut him down with one slash.*
Scenes replayed in his mind over and over. Like watching a movie, Pang Jinghe gazed at his own familiar yet unfamiliar silhouette, tanking Wen Jifei's bullet, killing two men in succession with a broken saber, and then slicing Qu Zongxing out of the air...
A crunch of footsteps sounded outside the door.
Pang Jinghe hurriedly stood up, walked over to the window, and stood looking out with his hands behind his back.
"Knock, knock. Comrade Pang?"
"Enter." A flat response. Pang Jinghe didn't even turn around—because he was an expert, an exceptionally high-level one.
Yu Sixian pushed open the door and saw his back. *It's fine. A super combat power having an aloof personality is completely understandable.*
Truth be told, Yu Sixian's own age and seniority were by no means low, and in terms of military rank, he was an imposing lieutenant general. However, he ultimately belonged to the civilian-administrative branch, which in Azure's unique structure operated on an entirely different track from combat forces like the Sole Witness Legion.
So speaking of close contact with a super combat power, today was his first time.
In truth, Pang Jinghe simply didn't recognize the insignia of a civilian lieutenant general; otherwise, steeped as he was in traditional officialdom culture, he would have shown Yu Sixian at least some deference.
And so, with one standing in front and the other behind, Yu Sixian first mentioned that the Council was reviewing him for a medal, then conveyed their earnest hope that Pang Jinghe could stay, inviting him to get familiar with Azure nearby first. Finally, he asked with cautious hesitation:
"In my view, I wonder if Comrade Pang would be willing to..."
"I'll go stay with a squad for a while," Pang Jinghe turned to look at Yu Sixian and took the initiative to say. "Squad 1777 will do. I heard those young soldiers say that squad recently suffered heavy losses in top combat power. I'll go check it out."
The subtext was Old Pang saying: *I'm going to hold down the fort for them.*
Deep down, Pang Jinghe genuinely cared about his friendship with Han Qingyu and the others. Although that bunch had "bullied" him too, they were also his first true friends.
Old Pang's choice of Squad 1777 was partly to go down and show off, and partly as a gesture of favor and face to Han Qingyu and the rest.
"Ah... alright." Yu Sixian had no grounds to object, and after a moment's thought said, "I'll go arrange it right away. The procedures might be a bit complicated, though, so until then, I must ask Comrade Pang to stay with us for a few more days."
In asking Pang Jinghe to stay a few extra days, Yu Sixian was secretly hoping some trouble would crop up quickly so Base No. 7 could deploy a super combat power just once, letting him enjoy the thrill.
…………
"Another cave, Han Green Snake..." Rusty Sister said with intentional vagueness. "Why can you always find caves? And such big ones at that."
Han Qingyu didn't bother to acknowledge her.
Leaning against the rock wall, he involuntarily coughed twice more, still coughing up blood. Earlier, Qu Zongxing's teapot strike had directly cracked his sternum, and the clash of blades with Qu Zongyan during the subsequent flight had aggravated his injuries even further.
So under their current circumstances, they had zero capital to go head-to-head with a super.
And in truth, they remained hunted and pursued; hiding here was merely holing up to catch their breath. Even hiding, one of them still had to crawl into the bushes outside on lookout, terrified that Qu Zongyan would lead men and corner them.
In He Tangtang's unfiltered words, this situation gave off the feeling of stray dogs with nowhere to go.
"Speaking of which, we're actually not far from our squad," Wen Jifei said with a faint laugh, tossing over the map in his hand.
Han Qingyu caught it and looked; it really wasn't far. But they couldn't go back. Thinking from the perspective of their secrets, they couldn't; thinking from the fear of leading Qu Zongyan there, they couldn't even more so.
"I have to make a trip back," Wen Jifei said, shaking his empty cartridge pouch. "I'm out of ammo. I need to sneak back to the guard post and scavenge some bullets."
Chapter 396