Becoming an Officer

He hadn't spoken very loudly, but neither was it quiet. Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang, who happened to be leading his men over to shove people into the water, heard it. He stopped in his tracks, extended an arm to hold back the soldiers behind him... and after a moment's thought, rather than continuing forward, he actually led his men two steps back. This was not the first instance of a member of the Cleansing Faction coming forward on their own within the coalition forces. By the lakeshore, the occupants of Dormitory 11 involuntarily froze when they turned around. At first they found it absurd, but then different thoughts began racing through their minds. "Grave Robber, stop messing around! I know you're terrified of going to the front lines." Liu Shiheng glanced across the crowd gathered there, then darted a look at the regimental commander not far away. His gestures were erratic, his tone urgent as he said, "I'm scared too, even more scared than you! Still, this is way worse, do you understand? If it were something good, do you think I'd let you beat me to it? Hurry up, Grave Robber, take it back right now!" As Liu Shiheng spoke, the other six all focused their gazes on Grave Robber's face. Lai Shitou smiled. The smile was a bit strained, tinged with bitterness, yet strangely sincere. "I know," he said. That smile, combined with the tone of his voice both times he had spoken... Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei exchanged a glance, and roughly knew it was true. Because even his entire demeanor had transformed. If he were still the Grave Robber from their impressions, even if he were an infiltrator, even if he confessed, there was no way he would be this calm... He would probably be weeping in terror while trying to explain himself as he confessed. Liu Shiheng had not realized it yet and pressed on. "It's impossible, Grave Robber! A coward like you, what Pure Purgatory? You cleaning toilets is more like it... You, destroying the world?" What he remembered was the Grave Robber who, on their very first night in Dormitory 11, was the only one to admit he was trash under Zhang Dao'an's coercion; the Grave Robber who had always been subservient, cowardly, and plagued by an inferiority complex in their daily lives. "But could a person truly that cowardly and useless dare to spend half a month alone in deep mountains prowling with wolves and boars looking for old graves, and then dig them up in the middle of the night?" Grave Robber asked. No one could answer. "You should know, since our area has so many ancient tombs, there are actually a lot of terrifying tales passed down, too..." Lai Shitou's attempt to persuade them seemed absurd, like someone calmly seeking his own death. He even smiled again and said, "I thought the cover story they made up for me was terrible... but pretty funny. And funny things always make people overlook a lot. "Also, that supply depot was actually not easy to find. Even with the rough coordinates they gave me, I had a very hard time locating it." He added another sentence. When the people of Dormitory 11 heard this, their hearts merely sank. But when Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang heard it, a massive wave of vigilance instantly surged within him. That was the second one—the second supply depot whose approximate location was known to Pure Purgatory... The inside story behind this was definitely not simple, because even a regional captain like Lao Jian only knew the location of at most one supply depot. Even so, Li Wangqiang still granted them the chance to finish talking. "So... you really are?" Yang Qingbai asked hesitantly. "I really am, Qingbai... Look at that lousy name of yours. How dreadful. In the beginning, I even suspected you were one of ours." Lai Shitou grinned and chuckled soundlessly. After laughing for a moment, he finally walked toward Han Qingyu. "You bastard, Qingzi... You made yourself far too worth killing. A Grade A recruit, and coincidentally the exact target the organization wanted revenge against... If not for that, the guy on the ground and I wouldn't have been exposed so soon... We probably could have gone on being brothers for a while longer." So spoke Lai Shitou, who had switched himself into self-destruction mode. And afterward, he didn't mention their time together, didn't say how great, warm, or fun the people of Dormitory 11 were... nor did he mention that Miss Milla never played favorites when handing out fruit... nor did he say that he had actually grown a bit fond of these days. "If I'd known you were so worth killing from the start, I probably would have really killed you in the night," he followed up, speaking with a candor that chilled the blood. "Then in the two days after you came back from the test, you actually still had opportunities," Han Qingyu said, looking at him. In truth, ever since the test results came out, he had already been warned of the danger and had begun participating in this lure-and-kill operation. "They said that too, but I felt I couldn't beat you hand-to-hand—not after that combat display of yours... So I was afraid of startling the snake." He glanced back at the water. "The plan was for me to put on the apparatus in the water after diving in today and make my move... But Miss Milla was too beautiful, and a bunch of useless bums like us didn't dare go into the water... No, wait, you guys were prepared all along." Mentioned by name, Milla stood behind the crowd, looking at Lai Shitou. She parted her lips, but in the end said nothing. "Alright, then." Having finished speaking, Grave Robber waved a hand, turned around, and prepared to walk toward Regimental Commander Li. "No matter what, the fact is that over these past two days, you had chances to try..." Wen Jifei said from behind him. Grave Robber froze mid-stride, his back still turned. On Tradition Night, when grabbing meat, he had been pinned down by a veteran. That probably hadn't been anything life-threatening, and everyone else at the time had just been laughing and joking, but Han Qingyu had turned back to save him without a second thought... He had even been stunned by it back then, and Han Qingyu had practically dragged him away by force afterward. It was a trivial thing, but the look in those eyes caught in the flicker of firelight in the darkness at that moment had made it impossible for him to strike. Lai Shitou turned this over in his mind, yet chose not to say it. He was accustomed to never acknowledging the existence of any warmth. "Is your real name really Lai Shitou?" Han Qingyu asked in the end. "Really," Lai Shitou nodded, seeming genuinely a bit happy because of it. He smiled and said, "And I really am from that place. Those dozen or so years, that kind of fate... all alone in the world." "Even so, that's no reason to destroy humanity or anything, is it? No reason to join that... whatever it is, Pure Purgatory," Yang Qingbai said, feeling distressed. "Actually, I don't really understand either." Lai Shitou paused, then said, "But I... once had a younger sister. Back then, I saved money, sold my blood, so happy to send her to junior high... Later, all of a sudden, she was gone. "They said... they said the people who bullied my sister... were all minors, so nothing happened to them. Actually, one of them was an adult. I knew it, but still nothing happened to him—his papers said he was a minor. "Later, that lawyer, the principal, the village chief... I went to all of them. I got down on my knees and begged... but it was useless. "Then there was no other way... Only I, her older brother, could get justice back for my sister. "I killed them all. I thought I would die, and I was prepared to die... but I didn't. Someone helped me. He gave me food and clothes, taught me to read and write, taught me so much, for two whole years..." Reaching this point, Lai Shitou turned around and looked at Regimental Commander Li. "I'll tell you everything else, but who he is, I won't say even if I die... Actually, even if I told you, you probably wouldn't find him. Before I came here, he had already left." With that, he turned back around and walked toward those soldiers alone. "Then since you fucking couldn't bring yourself to kill Qingzi, and those guys are already dead... couldn't you have just kept quiet, forgotten the past, and truly become a person of Azure like Regimental Commander Li just said?! Why did you have to step forward?!" Wen Jifei roared from behind. At this moment, Lai Shitou had reached the soldiers and stood before them... None of them made a move to seize him. He lowered his head and stood in silence for a few seconds, then tilted his head up to gaze at the sky. "You're right... But why should I fight for a world like this?" Even if there were good people, even if there were feelings he liked and held dear, and things he had no desire to destroy... still, his life—why should he fight for this world? Lai Shitou was a person who no longer had any foothold in life. Pure Purgatory was always searching for people like him. They even manufactured them. And just like that, Grave Robber was led away by Regimental Commander Li's men. After returning, Han Qingyu privately asked Regimental Commander Li if Lai Shitou would be executed. Regimental Commander Li replied, "No. Interrogation, hard labor, eating..." ... And so, the first person to leave Dormitory 11 was Grave Robber. Then came Yang Qingbai. The vehicle from the Order Legion arrived first to pick him up. He slung his luggage onto the transport, caught an apple tossed to him by Milla through the window, and mimed taking a bite... Reluctant to actually eat it, he rubbed it with a smile and tucked it into his pocket. "In the future, I'll fly planes for everyone!" he shouted as the vehicle drove away. The remaining recruits also had to relocate, heading to the Ninth Army's command-wide training base for the armor-attuning stage. The veteran instructors wouldn't be going, but Zhang Dao'an was still going, and Milla would be going as well. They weren't set to depart until the afternoon. For the midday meal, Master Geng personally took up the ladle and cooked for all the recruits. While the recruits ate, he limped slowly from table to table, his voice gruff and loud: "Scramming, finally scramming... Next time you come back, you bastards can actually order off the menu with me." After lunch, Old Geng, like Commander Li, the chief of staff, and the other officers, stood in front of the three-sided compound to see off the kids who were about to board the trucks. He simply stood alone in a corner, waving. A scene of farewells: saying goodbye to instructors, saying goodbye to the veterans, saying goodbye to the female squad leaders... Rumor had it that over these last two days, some boys among the recruits had become men—though of course, it was all just talk. "Why didn't that bastard Lao Jian come see the two of us off?" Wen Jifei said as he climbed onto the truck, tossing his luggage down by Han Qingyu's feet and sitting down. "That's way too cold-blooded and ungrateful." Han Qingyu actually harbored the same question, but an even bigger puzzle for him was why Plague Chicken was here. "Wait, what are you getting on for?" Han Qingyu was a bit exasperated, bewildered, and depressed. During their farewell earlier, he had tried so hard to control his emotions, and when Plague Chicken had said he would probably choose to go to the Rejecters, his mind had finally been set at ease. Wen Jifei leaned all the way back and grinned triumphantly. "Pulled a few strings and landed myself an official post. From now on, I'm the one managing you guys." The truck started moving, and the big yellow dog chased blindly after it. No one dared make a sound. Leaning out of the truck window from the front row, Zhang Dao'an looked back and called out, "34473, go back... guard the house."