Zhe Qiuhong had also undergone source energy nourishment. Rising from the dusty ground, she patted the dirt from her white lab coat and stood outside the doorway, peering into the room. Her expression showed a hint of reluctance, but she remained relatively calm.
Seeing this, Wu Xu felt slightly relieved. Naturally, his greatest relief was seeing that everyone was here... Turning his head back toward Han Qingyu, he asked in confusion, "Isn't she a doctor?"
In his mind, a doctor shouldn't be treated like that, even one captured and dragged back. And what in the world did she want to discuss with me? Wu Xu wondered.
"Don't worry about it. Everyone's basically healed up anyway." Han Qingyu glanced outside, deliberately taking revenge for that scalpel cut of hers. "Right now, she's just a captured fatty, nothing more."
From outside: "...I'll kill you!"
The moment before, Zhe Qiuhong had been perfectly composed. In an instant, she whipped a scalpel from her pocket and lunged recklessly into the room.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
She was blocked at the entrance, thrashing to force her way inside. Reputedly the top female physician in the source energy world, she was now throwing an utterly unhinged tantrum, even tearing her white lab coat in the struggle.
Blocking the door, Zhu Jiaming tried to talk her down in a gentle, soothing tone:
"Let it go. We can't beat them. Think about it: a proud descendant of the imperial family like me got cursed out by them from my ancestors down to my great-uncles and second great-uncles!
"These people are truly vile."
...
Day nineteen. The calendar rolled over into February 1992, and the Lunar New Year was just a few days away.
Under the ten o'clock morning sun, the armored suit gleamed with flowing luster. Darting nimbly around a corner, she leapt onto the wall.
He Tangtang pulled up below, panting heavily as he looked up, and gave up. With his strength, catching Rusty Sister was impossible. More accurately, even if all of them teamed up now, they couldn't catch her.
On the open clearing between several buildings, Jiang Chou stood watching the chase with an amused smile, not looking in a hurry at all.
Beside him on the ground stood a massive metal chest, roughly shoulder-high and over 1.2 meters wide. Inside were his blacksmithing tools.
Jiang Chou's purpose in coming this time was to add another layer of armor to Rusty Sister. They had obtained even better materials: ultra-top-tier dead iron sourced from the Great Spike mothership, salvaged from that exploded weapon, Iris.
However, once Student Shen Yixiu learned of this, she chose resistance.
"Get down here!" Han Qingyu barked up at the roof.
"No, I don't want to." Rusty Sister's voice was full of anguish as she looked down and gestured at her body. "If you add more, how big am I going to get?! I won't do it. If I have to turn into a bulky hunk of junk like a tank, I'd rather be hacked to death!"
This baffled Han Qingyu.
A female scientist who seemed barely human and cared about nothing... cared about being fat. A female warrior encased in full dead iron armor, which was just mechanical plating that had nothing to do with her actual body... also cared about being fat.
Women were truly strange creatures.
"Relax. What you're adding isn't called 'fat' at all," Han Qingyu coaxed after a moment of thought. "That's called 'buff.' It's strong, not fat."
*Smack!* A roof tile shattered against his face.
The armor vanished over the top of the wall.
*Did I say the wrong thing again?!* Han Qingyu blinked, dumbfounded.
"Forget it, there's no rush. Give me the materials, and I'll go set up the workshop first." Jiang Chou hoisted the massive iron chest with one hand, walked over, and clapped Han Qingyu on the shoulder with a smile. "Even though in my heart I was certain you hadn't died, seeing you again in the flesh really does make me glad."
"Thank you." The words left Han Qingyu's mouth, but the look in his eyes held both eager anticipation and stubborn rejection.
Ordinarily, it was difficult for anyone to convey two such contradictory emotions at the same time.
"What's the matter?" Jiang Chou was puzzled for a second... then caught on. "Oh, you're worried about the extra metal blocks and source energy blocks needed, right? Five metal blocks, a hundred and twenty source energy blocks... the corps's private reserves will cover it for you."
"Whew!" Han Qingyu let out a long breath.
Though their successive fierce battles had brought in the teapot, the iron seal, and the Bones of Eternal Life, their source energy reserves were down to just ten metal blocks and four hundred blue crystal blocks. Given their rate of consumption, they were teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
"Thank you!" With tears welling in his eyes, Han Qingyu lunged forward and threw his arms around him in a hug.
*He actually hugged me. A guy. Is this fellow always this passionate?*
"A hug from Major The Qing... I imagine countless female soldiers in Azure would die for that, wouldn't they?" Jiang Chou gave a dry smile, patting Han Qingyu on the back. "All right, don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank the corps commander, and Army Commander Liu."
He glanced over with a nod to indicate someone.
Because Liu Yiwu had gone to the Fourth Army headquarters first to meet with Zhang Chiyuan, he arrived a bit later. Flanked by guards, he was gesticulating as he conversed with an old Buddhist monk while walking over.
"Greetings, Commander Liu." Han Qingyu, Wen Jifei, and He Tangtang snapped to attention and saluted. "Greetings, General Jiang."
"At ease," Liu Yiwu returned the salute, then lowered his hand.
Beside him, the old monk also returned a Buddhist greeting, then looked at Han Qingyu... and got confused. He asked Liu Yiwu, "Who did you just say he was?!"
"Han Qingyu. And over here, Wen Jifei, He Tangtang... Wu Xu still can't get out of bed, right? Where's the little Iron Chick?" Liu Yiwu stood on tiptoe to peer around.
Jiang Longchi yanked him over by the arm.
"That's not right, Liu Yiwu. Didn't I already kill that Han Qingyu? You told me so on the plane earlier."
Liu Yiwu: "..."
Jiang Longchi turned his gaze to Han Qingyu. "I killed you—no, wait, all of you. Why don't I remember a single thing about it? Well, it's normal for me not to remember. But the question is, why are you still here?"
"No, it was fake," Liu Yiwu said.
"They're fake?" Jiang Longchi asked.
"You killing him was fake!..." With tears practically in his eyes, Liu Yiwu finally managed to explain the whole thing. Then, letting his mouth run away with him, he added, "Speaking of which, you were the one who gave him his name, right? Plague Chicken."
Wen Jifei had brought this up last time, so he nodded. "Yeah."
"The two of them come from Fenglong'ao," Liu Yiwu said, turning to Jiang Longchi.
At that instant, Master Longchi's gaze suddenly changed.
Over the years, the aftereffects of going all out as a super combat power flared up continuously, leaving his mind increasingly confused. He was constantly forgetting things, yet there were always a few core, vital pieces of information that remained etched in his memory, and Fenglong'ao was one of them.
In his memories, the days spent in Fenglong'ao were very long, and it felt as though that was where he had come from.
"I gave you your name, and you came out of Fenglong'ao... You..." The old man's gaze toward Han Qingyu instantly turned tender, even growing emotional. "You wouldn't happen to be my biological grandson, would you?"
"Ge—" Han Qingyu bit back the rest of "Get lost!" just in time.
He had once been curious about Jiang Longchi's condition and had asked around. Supposedly, every super combat power suffered aftereffects from going all out. For example, Chen Buer's legendary "one slash means death," or God Lü's hairline... Not much was left of God Lü's hair, and he treasured every strand, naming each one after a girl. Not long ago, Lingling and Erya had suddenly departed from him, leaving him heartbroken.
Among them, Jiang Longchi's condition was rather unusual—something akin to Alzheimer's disease, and it was growing progressively worse.
"No. Back then, Master, you just happened to live in a temple near our village, scam—reading character fortunes and doing divination for people. My parents gave you two dou of rice in exchange for this name."
"Oh." Jiang Longchi nodded, turned away, and fell silent.
...
Early the next morning, around seven o'clock.
*Clack... buzz, clack!*
A set of dark-golden iron armor walked out of the makeshift workshop, paused on purpose, and turned sideways to face forward.
Everyone waiting outside gasped, their jaws dropping.
"What a huge transformation."
"This is way too handsome."
"Yeah, so cool! Total demon god vibes."
"Rusty Sister? Is that you?" Wen Jifei asked playfully to confirm.
"Mm-hmm." Amid the chorus of amazed praise, the young girl's voice bubbled with delight and joy. Shen Yixiu gave a firm nod.
She hadn't just become stronger; she had become good-looking, too. While not good-looking in the conventional sense of a girl, it was still pretty amazing!
"Little girl. Not even afraid of high heat, yet she's always fretting over her looks. I touched up her exterior while I was at it." His eyes bloodshot, Jiang Chou walked to the doorway, leaned against the frame, and admired his handiwork. Smiling with confidence, he said, "The strongest defense below the super tier."
Her combat power had increased! That was far more important than looks or anything else. Han Qingyu stood up in excitement, about to go over for a closer look.
A hand reached out from behind and caught him.
He turned around.
"Are you my biological grandson? I think someone mentioned something like that to me yesterday." The old monk looked at him with sorrowful, earnest eyes.
"...No." Helpless, Han Qingyu recited the story about Fenglong'ao and his name all over again.
"Oh. Then I remembered wrong." Jiang Longchi released his grip.
Han Qingyu turned back around.
A super! One of the peak super combat powers standing at the pinnacle of humanity! In this moment, Han Qingyu suddenly felt a pang of heartache for this incomparably mighty old man, this veteran.
Chapter 418