The Choice

The five of them stood together once more. The night wind after the downpour was biting cold; blowing past them, it plastered their drenched clothes flat against their skin. Everyone present could see the wounds and blood covering them, but no one could see their eyes clearly. As the miniature column sword flew back, Qu Zongxing's body was dragged up from the ground, twitched once, and settled back into stillness. Han Qingyu reached out and returned the miniature blue-light column sword to Rusty Sister. Rusty Sister ran over to take it, thrilled at having made such a massive contribution this time. She turned her head and asked in excitement, "Is he dead? Qingzi, should I go over and hack him a few more times?!" "Shh... We run," Han Qingyu said. His voice was faint; there was no need to deliberately lower it. Right. Run. Regardless of whether Qu Zongxing was dead or locking down his final spark of vitality with life source energy, Han Qingyu and Wu Xu had completely lost their combat effectiveness. He Tangtang could not hold out much longer in another fight, and between Wen Jifei's two guns, only Elegy of the Square was usable—with just one bullet left. As the situation stood, if not for him and Wu Xu still standing, if not for the immense shock of them taking down a super combat power like Qu Zongyan, and if not for Zhe Shouzhao constantly cowering after a single clash... If Zhe Shouzhao simply dared to come down, raise an arm, and lead the charge, then with only Rusty Sister having preserved a decent amount of combat power, they would be utterly powerless to fight back. She would even struggle just to protect the wounded. On top of that, what about those who had gone to cut down the Little Prince? What if they finished hacking him down quickly and came back? So—run. "Walk first," Han Qingyu whispered again. "Right, pick up our stuff first." What followed next was a scene that Zhe Shouzhao and the hundreds of people present watched in dazed bewilderment: their opponents almost completely ignored them, taking their sweet time picking up their sabers and swords from the ground before gathering together, turning around shoulder-to-shoulder, and walking out of the valley in a line. "Are they just walking away?" "Then... should we chase them?" Qu Zongyan was most likely dead, and Voyage had lost two top combatants in one go... Should he gamble on this? Concealed behind a boulder on the cliff, Zhe Shouzhao hesitated. Walking toward the valley's exit, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei flanked Wu Xu, supporting him on either side—though Wu Xu had, in fact, already lost consciousness. The truth was, the moment he stood back up earlier, Wu Xu had completely blacked out. He was merely still standing, holding the Binggu Spear, unaware of what state they had hacked Qu Zongyan into. "How does it look behind us?" Han Qingyu whispered. "They're following on foot, looking hesitant," He Tangtang said. Hearing that, Han Qingyu thought for a moment and said, "Then keep walking like this. If they don't run, we won't run either. If they start running, we bolt. I'll see if I can recover a little bit..." He managed a smile after speaking, but blood welled out of his mouth ceaselessly. Han Qingyu's footsteps appeared steady, but with every step, his legs were on the verge of giving out. Consciousness seemed to be slowly slipping away from him as well. Right then. "Holy... shit..." With a bitter face, Wen Jifei turned his head and slowly let out an exceptionally foul curse. A crowd of people was sprinting over from that direction. In front of them, a figure drenched in blood was stumbling along in a run—yet still running remarkably fast. *Don't you fucking come over here!* Wen Jifei cursed and pleaded in his heart. Yet, "W-Wait for me! Brother!" Zhu Jiaming yelled out directly, raising a hand in greeting. "Save me!" For some reason, under such wretched and perilous circumstances, seeing Wen Jifei again suddenly gave Little Prince Zhu an inexplicable surge of pleasure. *Come on, since we're both bastards, let's drag each other down! I'm taking you with me!* Save your mother! Wen Jifei cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted loudly, "Qu Zongyan is dead! Hang in there, Little Prince! Hold them off for a second, we're coming to save you right away!" The words were yelled for Zhu Jiaming's ears, but equally for the crowd behind him. However: *Like hell I believe you!* Zhu Jiaming didn't bother to reply at all, keeping his head down and sprinting madly toward them. Then there was no choice. "Run! Start running!" Wen Jifei pushed himself to accelerate, only to feel a heavy weight on his shoulder... Qingzi had pretty much passed out too. ... A sliver of light was gradually emerging from the night. The rain-soaked ground was slick. It was once again the familiar scene of these past few days: they were still running, and Wen Jifei was still firing shots behind them. The difference was that this time, Zhu Jiaming trailed slightly behind with no leisure to fillet fish, and Wen Jifei desperately wanted to shake him off too. Meanwhile, He Tangtang carried Wu Xu on his back, the armored girl carried Han Qingyu, and Rusty Sister ran with him on her back while holding her sword in one hand to clear the path. Stream Vanguard's two strongest combat powers were now completely out of commission. Once daylight truly broke, things would only get worse. *Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump...* The sound of a helicopter. Surging with sudden excitement, Wen Jifei looked up, then peered through his sniper scope. "Fuck your..." An even fouler curse than before slipped out. It was Voyage's helicopter! Zhe Shouzhao was aboard, observing from above. Voyage was actually permitted to use helicopters within Huaxia's borders! Wen Jifei raised his rifle, making the motion of swapping magazines. The helicopter quickly pulled away into the distance. Yet Zhe Shouzhao had already spotted them—he had seen Wu Xu and Han Qingyu being carried on people's backs. That likely meant the subsequent pursuit would become even more frenzied and brazen. "Which way?!" The valley split ahead, and He Tangtang yelled over his shoulder. Wen Jifei quickly glanced down at the map. Ahead, the closest and most certain source of rescue remained the station of Squad 1777, which they had left earlier. They were people completely worthy of trust, who would fight to the death to protect them. As long as they could hold out, they could call for higher reinforcement. Neither Regiment 425 nor the Ninth Army would stand idly by. However, Squad 1777 numbered just over sixty people including logistics personnel, with no top combat power... While running, Wen Jifei glanced back at the commotion in the mountain forest behind them, then looked at Qingzi. "This way!" His hand ultimately pointed in a different direction—one leading away from Squad 1777. They couldn't go to the squad's station unless it were a top-tier squad... In this direction, farther out, the classified map Liu Yiwu had left behind marked a former advanced command base of the Fourth Army, but they didn't know if it was still active, nor were they familiar with it. They could only gamble, turning to sprint toward that location. "Tangtang, can you hold up? Swap with me—you shoot." "No need. If you carry... don't go dropping Wu Xu. I'm doing great. Besides, you need to scout and make the calls..." Distracted while speaking, He Tangtang stumbled and crashed to the ground along with Wu Xu. During the fall, he cushioned Wu Xu with his own body. Struggling back to his feet, he hoisted Wu Xu onto his back and resumed running, mumbling forward: "Rusty Sister! Don't go silent on me! Make more noise when you run so I can keep up with you!"