Zhao Erzhu and Hu Biaomao were knocked out by Han Qingyu around eleven o'clock at night. By the time they finished explaining the situation and left Lao Jian's office, the clock was pointing at 1:43.
In other words, Han Qingyu hadn't hit them hard, and they hadn't been unconscious for long.
By this point, Bu Mang and Mangmang Mangmang had both returned to the squad's station. With no fixed abode and fleeing for their lives every couple of days, Wu Xu and Rusty Sister had no way to take them along.
However, several other people who were supposed to stay near the station—the "outsiders" Lao Jian had mentioned earlier—had mostly slipped away in secret.
At around 2:11, the rain began to fall again, coming down harder and harder until it hung like a curtain. Having retrieved the bullets and a slab of cured pork, the six took another route, continuing their flight through the rainy night.
They had to run. Han Qingyu's injuries had been inflicted by a super combat power. Qu Zongxing's initial sneak attack in particular had landed solidly because Han Qingyu hadn't had enough time to muster a full source energy surge defense. That, combined with having had no time to stop, sleep, and readjust, meant he hadn't recovered as swiftly as he usually did.
A valley shaped like half a peach opened upward, narrow at its mouth. Lush trees flanked both sides, pitch-black in the dark.
Rainwater pooling in the grass splashed up constantly from beneath their soles.
The six darted forward like arrows, leaning slightly as they sprinted. In mid-run, Han Qingyu looked up, wiped rain from his face with his right hand, and with his left drew his blade—Rusty Sister Dimple Slash!
They were being watched. Someone had circled around from the other side of the valley and was waiting for them here. It was almost certainly not Qu Zongyan's men, because if it were Qu Zongyan, they would have charged straight out to kill.
The blade spun silently through the night and the rain curtain. Thick trees over twenty meters tall were severed clean through, shifting sideways in midair, dropping straight down, and only then toppling over...
The creaking groan of crushed foliage echoed continuously.
"Clang!" The war saber was deflected back.
Han Qingyu leapt to catch the blade and landed. This strike hadn't managed to flush them out. Pain tore through his sternum. Standing at the edge of the woods, he listened intently to the low, spreading rasp of drawn blades amidst the falling rain, estimated their numbers, and slowly drew the second blade from behind his shoulder.
Behind him, Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, Zhu Jiaming, and He Tangtang quickly formed a simple formation facing all four directions. Wen Jifei stood in the center, gun held low at his right side, gripping two magazines in his left hand.
Nobody spoke. Neither side uttered a sound.
"Whoosh!" A low whistle cut through the air.
A black figure leaped silently from the shrubs on the rock face, blade shrieking as it slashed toward Wen Jifei in the center of the ring.
Wen Jifei looked up at him calmly, gun still at his side, still unloaded.
From the front, Wu Xu stepped forward two paces. The Binggu Spear rose, sweeping an arc through the rain curtain, and with a hollow crunch, smashed the shadow dead in midair.
Smashed him backward.
"Patter-clatter..." Heavy water droplets struck the ground and the broad leaves. Rainwater accumulated on the boughs of a large tree showered down under the impact of the corpse.
At the same time, the iron armor shifted a step sideways, covering a wider angle.
Ahead, the Binggu Spear surged. Wu Xu struck with the spear like a quarterstaff, smashing directly into the upper reaches of the woods without any prior warning or calculation.
Two shrill screams rang out from the darkness.
Then came the sound of violent clashes.
"Boom... clang clang!" Two resonant, heavy impacts boomed in succession.
Spear held horizontally, Wu Xu was blasted back out of the woods. He landed firmly on his feet and said, "There are a lot of them. More than one top-tier."
Calm returned amidst the wind and rain. The wooden box lay on the grass without making a sound.
The squelch of boots stepping through muddy water echoed in the woods, along with the snap of a few dry twigs. A young man's figure emerged into view, dressed in a dark green military raincoat.
"Black spear, Lieutenant Wu Xu. Top combat power."
His Chinese pronunciation was precise, but even a cursory listen revealed it was learned later in life. As the young man spoke, he lowered his head and pushed back the hood of his raincoat.
He had an East Asian face, but the color of his eyes was unusual. Very pale, very handsome, yet carrying a bizarre, sickly air.
"The girl in the iron armor is Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu, top combat power. Tsk tsk, what a formidable crew. And the gunner, Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei, is a Dice. He Tangtang didn't die on the plateau after all. Of all the people rumored dead, the only one who actually died might just be that coward Liu Shiheng."
The man turned his gaze over and said, "Am I right? The King of Xilang Peak. Oh, we're within Huaxia territory; I suppose I should call you Major The Qing."
Han Qingyu glanced at him. There were probably more than a hundred people hiding in the woods behind. This person clearly wasn't from the hidden clans, yet he dared to operate with so many men on Huaxia Front territory. What was his identity?
"My name is Zhe Shouzhao."
He Tangtang: "Never heard of you."
He Tangtang didn't know Zhe Shouzhao, nor did Han Qingyu or Wen Jifei. But anyone even slightly higher up in the Huaxia Front had heard this name.
Zhe Shouzhao of the Voyage organization. He had previously represented the Self-Preservation Faction organization Voyage in cooperation talks with Azure.
Because he had suddenly made outrageous demands on top of the agreed terms and threatened Azure, Chen Buer ended up defying the Alliance's intentions, acting unilaterally and adamantly rejecting them, which caused the cooperation to collapse.
Now he was here.
"Doesn't matter," Zhe Shouzhao smiled and said. "I'm from Voyage."
Han Qingyu and the others had occasionally heard of Voyage—its neutral stance, its advocacy for space refuge, and how it had nearly cooperated with Azure on spacecraft technology before negotiations fell through. None of this was a secret in Azure.
"You must be wondering why I dare operate with so many people inside Huaxia territory, right? Ha, guess where I just came from?" Zhe Shouzhao asked with a laugh, then answered himself: "From Squad 1777's station."
Zhe Shouzhao said he had come from Squad 1777's station. He explained, "Voyage has cooperated with Azure again. No, it shouldn't be called cooperation; it should be called joining, bowing our heads to become a subsidiary organization under Azure and accepting a great deal of condescending conditions. Speaking of which, this is all because of you, all thanks to you, Major The Qing. Because you kept that mothership on Xilang Peak, Azure became Voyage's daddy."
He Tangtang: "Then shouldn't you make way for your daddy?"
"..." Zhe Shouzhao decided to ignore him.
Turning away slightly to regain his composure, he continued, "Originally, I was just passing through to rest for a few days and incidentally see what was so special about the squad that the man from Xilang Peak had stayed in. I didn't expect such a coincidence. Tsk, killing someone again who is already listed as dead in Azure's public records shouldn't be a problem, right? Nobody should find out, either."
"You can try," the iron armor drew her sword, speaking with contempt.
"Mm." Zhe Shouzhao glanced at Han Qingyu. "To tell the truth, if we hadn't discovered and confirmed that Major The Qing was heavily injured, we wouldn't have dared show ourselves. But since we found out, such a rare opportunity—I don't think I should waste it."
After a brief moment of eye contact, Zhe Shouzhao looked away and suddenly directed his gaze toward a certain spot within the five-person formation. "If I'm not mistaken, you must be Zhu Jiaming, right? Little Prince Zhu, descendant of the Ming Dynasty Prince of Shu?"
Zhu Jiaming: "..."
Zhe Shouzhao's abrupt pivot stunned everyone on Han Qingyu's side, including Zhu Jiaming himself. By all accounts, he shouldn't know Zhu Jiaming.
"However, since he called out Zhu Jiaming by name, it probably means he knows about the Bone of Eternal Life, and knows a great deal about it," Han Qingyu thought.
He Tangtang turned to look at Zhu Jiaming and whispered, "So you're still working as a mole? Dammit, you didn't tip them off this time, did you?!"
"If I'd tipped them off, would I be standing right here where you could hack me to death anytime?" Zhu Jiaming retorted helplessly.
He Tangtang thought about it. "True enough."
Up on the rock face, Zhe Shouzhao spoke again: "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to ask Major Qing to leave Zhu Jiaming with me."
"..." You can do that?! Zhu Jiaming was dumbfounded.
He really had no damn clue who this Zhe Shouzhao was. But looking at the situation, staying behind meant he was finished. By comparison, even if he wasn't well-liked, sticking with Han Qingyu was definitely better.
Besides, since Han Qingyu and the others already knew his true situation and knew how important he was...
"All right," Wen Jifei said, chiming in for the first time.
"Why didn't you say so earlier! We thought you had some serious business worth fighting to the death over! Fuck!" He Tangtang grumbled angrily.
The iron armor sheathed her sword.
"Then we're good. Let's go," Wen Jifei called out, turning around. Including Han Qingyu and Wu Xu, the other five walked forward together.
Leaving Zhu Jiaming standing there all alone. "..."
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Clang-clatter—the longsword snapped out, and Zhu Jiaming held it level across his chest.
"I, Zhu, will fight to the death today with nothing held back. I will never break my word."
What a clever man.
Han Qingyu and the other four halted their steps.
"If we make it out alive tonight, there are a few things I can tell you, Major Qing."
Han Qingyu and the other four drew their sabers and swords.
Chapter 398