"So, you're really going on a blind date with the old army commander's granddaughter? Looks like you're on the fast track to fame and fortune, Qingzi!" After listening to Han Qingyu's recount, Wen Jifei gave an excited, lecherous grin.
"No." Han Qingyu turned his head to look around, confirming once again that the dorm was empty, and lowered his voice. "Back then, Regimental Commander Li was sitting right there. He kept one index finger hidden beside his thigh, wagging it left, right, left, right... signaling me not to take the bait."
"Oh." Wen Jifei thought about it. "Why would he do that? Did you ask Commander Li afterward?"
"I did. He wouldn't say."
"Could it be he sees you as a romantic rival and deliberately screwed you over?"
"...If she's the right age to make me Commander Li's rival, I'd rather pass on that auntie." Han Qingyu forced a bitter smile. He wondered if that was really possible. *Could what the old army commander said about 'similar age' actually mean older than my mom?*
"Fair point." Wen Jifei considered it and agreed. "Did the commander say anything else?"
Han Qingyu nodded. "He also told me that if the old army commander asks to borrow source energy blocks... unless I'm truly swimming in them someday and don't expect to get them back, never lend him any."
"Oh, those kinds of loans definitely never get repaid. My dad deals with officials in business all the time... I know how that game works like the back of my hand." Wen Jifei rambled for a bit, then snapped back to attention. "Wait, where would you get source energy blocks?"
"I haven't had the chance to tell you yet." Han Qingyu gestured to him. "Come here." He walked over, saying, "This time, they gave me a medal—a silver one—and ten thousand yuan. I plan to send the money home tomorrow... I'll say it was an award for meritorious service, which isn't a lie."
The joy and reassurance in his voice as he spoke were far greater than when his Grade A degree of fusion result had come out.
Wen Jifei wanted to laugh seeing this, but he understood completely.
"And on top of that..." Han Qingyu paused as he unlocked his metal locker and pushed aside a pile of clothes, revealing four blue crystal source energy blocks underneath. "They gave me four all at once. They said I'll get another one each quarter from now on, and I can keep receiving them for five years."
"Oh... so these are the source energy blocks issued by the military?" Wen Jifei stared in a daze. As he spoke, he reached out, picked one up, and looked at it. "They're actually pretty nice."
"Yeah. Once your test results come out and you get your gear... two for you, two for me," Han Qingyu said.
Non-combat source energy blocks could be used for regular bodily conditioning and laying a foundation. Han Qingyu had specifically looked into it, so he knew people like Lao Jian and Commander Li had to slowly absorb the energy through their gear... Otherwise, coalition tradition wouldn't use the phrase "conditioning."
At the start, ordinary soldiers were never allocated source energy beyond combat needs. That was why Han Qingyu intended to save two blocks to help Wen Jifei build up a base first.
Wen Jifei didn't stand on ceremony with him and nodded directly. "Sounds good."
Just as they were speaking, Lao Jian called up from downstairs.
Han Qingyu hastily covered the blocks with clothes, locked the locker, and went downstairs with Wen Jifei, carrying the two bottles of liquor they had bought earlier... headed to Zhang Dao'an's place for dinner.
It really was Zhang Dao'an's home.
The only thing not sold in the Azure living base was prepared food. There were no restaurants because the mess hall catered to every soldier's palate, even accommodating dinner parties and late-night drinks.
Yet Zhang Dao'an was the only person in Regiment 425 who didn't eat at the mess hall. It wasn't that he was unwilling, but that the head chef, Old Geng, refused to let him.
He didn't bar him at the door, either. Instead, whenever Zhang Dao'an went, Old Geng would call that big yellow dog named 34473 over to squat right next to him. Whatever Zhang Dao'an ate, Old Geng fed the exact same thing to the dog.
***
"Hey, Captain Lao, I wanted to ask you something." On the way to Zhang Dao'an's, Han Qingyu seemed to suddenly remember. "Does our military have a habit of leaders borrowing source energy blocks from soldiers under them?"
Lao Jian reacted strongly to the question.
He practically whipped around, seized Han Qingyu's arm, and fired off in rapid succession, "What, did you run into the old army commander? Right, he was the one who came to present the medal... Did he ask to borrow source energy blocks from you?! Did you lend him any?!"
Han Qingyu was taken aback. "No, I just heard about it."
"Good, good..." Lao Jian breathed a sigh of relief, let go of his arm, and said, "Don't go listening to wild rumors, and don't go asking around... It hasn't been easy for the old commander either."
"Oh." Han Qingyu shut his mouth. His principle was that once something had passed and was none of his business, he would let it drop.
Wen Jifei, listening nearby, couldn't hold back and exaggerated, "That can't be right, can it? He's an army commander! Could an army commander really be short on source energy blocks? Even a township chief back home..."
Lao Jian instantly understood what he meant and let out a cold laugh that felt rather uncharacteristic of him.
"The principle of fair and open source energy distribution is the very foundation and bottom line of the Azure Alliance's survival... do you understand?" He paused, then spoke slowly and solemnly, "No exceptions. The penalty is death."
Han Qingyu silently drew a deep breath, keeping himself from breaking into a sweat. "...Fair is good."
"Yeah." Lao Jian said, "By the way, you have so many source energy blocks—make sure you keep them safe."
"Are they a lot?" Han Qingyu asked, surprised.
"Are they not? Four at once, plus one every quarter—you think that's not a lot?" Lao Jian nearly jumped out of his skin. "Look at me!"
Han Qingyu looked at him.
"Me, a regional squad captain with the rank of captain... do you want to know how much I get a year outside of combat needs?" Lao Jian suddenly held up a hand. "Only five blocks! Only five! Do you understand? I've slogged away for ten years!"
It was fine until he actually stopped to compare, but now Lao Jian suddenly realized that ever since he met Han Qingyu, his life had somehow looked more and more pathetic.
To make matters worse, Han Qingyu asked, "What about that Black Iron Medal of yours... Don't you have two? Don't those come with extra source energy blocks?"
"...No. The bonus only starts at bronze—two blocks a year," Lao Jian replied testily, an uncontrollable sense of grievance welling up inside him.
"What about gold?" Han Qingyu asked.
"Gold? Gold... keep dreaming!" Lao Jian bellowed before catching himself. Feeling he had lost his composure, he took a breath and softened his tone. "Don't aim too high, Qingzi. Gold is... extremely difficult. Even if the entire Huaxia region agrees that a silver medal isn't enough and reports it up... it still requires approval from the World Azure Alliance Headquarters Council.
"Because source energy is involved, Azure never hands out medals of bronze rank or above lightly," he added by way of explanation.
"Oh. What about military rank? Ranks have source energy block allocations, right... Is it hard to get promoted?" Han Qingyu shifted angles and continued, "Does my silver medal help with rank promotions?"
"..." Lao Jian said, "It does."
"Then—"
"Stop asking. My head is starting to hurt."
Lao Jian held up a hand to cut him off and shook his head. After a moment, he finally thought of something to be pleased about. "Wait until next year. Azure only evaluates ranks once a year... and they just finished this September's review."
"Oh." Han Qingyu felt a little disappointed. The more he understood how scarce source energy blocks were and the danger of "stealing" them, the more urgent he felt about any legitimate channel to obtain them.
"What the hell are you in a rush for? Do you think they'd promote you much even if they reviewed you now? Right now, your foundation is just an ordinary grunt, got it?" Finally feeling comfortable again, Lao Jian proudly pointed at the star insignia of a captain on his shoulder. "You still have a long climb ahead of you."
As they talked, the three of them went up the instructors' building.
*Sizzle.* It sounded like greens hitting a hot pan.
It smelled like some crispy pork cracklings had been tossed in too.
Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei followed the sound, and when they looked into a small room near the turn of the second-floor corridor, both froze... because the scene was thoroughly absurd.
It looked like a utility closet converted into a tiny kitchen, containing two coal stoves. One had rice cooking on it, while the other held oil greens that had just hit the pan, crackling and releasing a delicious aroma alongside the pork cracklings.
A burly, bald-headed man over a hundred and ninety centimeters tall was bent over, stir-frying with a little spatula that looked comically tiny in his grip.
"Shh."
Neither made a sound. They tiptoed away and turned back down the hall.
Inside the kitchen, Zhang Dao'an didn't turn around, but his shoulders gave a slight shudder.
Fifteen minutes later, the three of them came up from downstairs once more with the liquor. Standing before Zhang Dao'an's door, they knocked and asked, "Instructor Zhang, are you there?"
"...I am." Zhang Dao'an opened the door.
The food was already laid out on the table.
"We brought... here, Instructor Zhang... the liquor." Wen Jifei held it out with both hands.
"Good. Come in and sit."
Zhang Dao'an took the liquor and welcomed the three inside. Then, keeping his head down, he opened the bottles and poured the drinks by himself...
***
After dinner, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei returned to their dorm. There were still one to two days left before the results would be out, they discussed.
Then, around nine o'clock, Lao Jian came back and called them downstairs.
"I want to confess something to you two first," Lao Jian said, his voice somewhat somber in the darkness of the night. "Actually, what happened at the train station that day was like this..."
"Back then, I only exchanged a couple of words with that person before turning back to chase after you." Lao Jian looked first at Han Qingyu, then turned to Wen Jifei. "Then, I saw him running toward you from the other side of the train carriage... It was me who told the guard to step aside and let him follow you inside."
Han Qingyu: "..."
Wen Jifei laughed. "Why bring that up all of a sudden tonight? It's not a big deal."
Lao Jian looked at him. "Because the source energy test results just arrived at the regiment. I had someone help me copy yours down."
As he spoke, he slowly unfolded a strip of paper in his palm:
F.
"What the... fuck, am I really that trash?" Wen Jifei spun around and kicked a pebble.
A guy who could laugh even upon learning he had been set up onto the train blew up in an instant, utterly dejected.
"But I clearly felt it... and I gathered it with all my might, I tried so hard..." he stammered, panicking. "Th-this has to be wrong, right? If you're an F, you can't feel anything at all, right?"
"Don't panic yet," Lao Jian said, looking down and unfolding the paper a bit further.
E.
"What's going on? How am I an F and an E?"
Lao Jian didn't speak, continuing to unroll the slip upward.
D.
C.
B.
A.
Unrolled completely, a full row appeared: A, B, C, D, E, F. Every single one was there.
"Which one is it?!" Han Qingyu finally grew anxious too. He thought Lao Jian was teasing them for fun. "Which one is it really?"
"Yeah, Captain Lao, point me to a better one!" Plague-Chicken Fei pleaded.
"I can't point to one, and it isn't any single one... It's all of them. All six—A, B, C, D, E, F—are yours."
Lao Jian didn't have the slightest hint of a joke on his face.
Han Qingyu froze. "How is that possible... Does that kind of situation even exist? Has it happened before?"
"Yes, it exists, and it has happened before. Though it's rare, it's not just one or two cases." Lao Jian thought for a moment and said, "Azure even has a specific term for this kind of fusion result: Dice."
Wen Jifei asked, "What does that mean?"
"It means you're a die."
As Lao Jian spoke, worried it wasn't clear enough, he made a hand gesture like rolling dice.
Chapter 43