Zhe Qiuhong's true identity was precisely the reason why, during all the years Han Qingyu and the others had knocked about the City of Iniquity, Voyage had never come to rescue her, nor made any fuss whatsoever.
After all, she had been kidnapped by Han Qingyu back then.
And on that occasion, the only reason Voyage had mobilized so much military strength was simply to bring her back. To that end, they had even applied for permission to fly helicopters within Huaxia territory.
Yet once she was taken, Voyage—including Zhe Shouzhao, who had neglected his duty and caused the whole mess—had quietly pulled back entirely, doing nothing at all. They had not even protested to Azure or asked them for help.
Zhe Qiuhong's authority and prestige within Voyage, as well as her position as Navigator, had in fact never been derived from the Zhe family's influence.
On the contrary, the Zhe family had risen because of her, and had naturally defended her with all their might ever since.
This was because Voyage itself was a survivalist organization founded by ultra-wealthy elites and scientific researchers, and Zhe Qiuhong was perhaps one of the most brilliant scientists and doctors in the world.
Countless lives and hopes within Voyage rested in her hands.
"Yanxiu, aircraft..." Stepping out of the military tent into the night wind and firelight, Zhe Qiuhong pondered, muttering the two words under her breath.
She bore no malice toward Han Qingyu and his companions.
On a direct level, Voyage bore no ill will toward Azure either.
They merely used the advantages they had accumulated over the years to fully assist Azure in developing source energy aircraft technology, quietly steering the direction of research from combat and resistance toward "space exodus" or "space exploration."
To put it in more palatable terms, it could perhaps be called "Project Fireseed."
Over the two-plus years that followed, Zhe Qiuhong had stayed with them to make researching the Yanxiu easier, but also because, without realizing it, she had grown fond of that way of life.
On occasion, Zhe Qiuhong had considered asking Han Qingyu and the others whether they would like to venture into deep space one day, bringing their families along.
For if Project Fireseed truly came to pass, they and their families would certainly qualify for selection.
Yet this bunch was far too eccentric. One of them, already among humanity's top ten combatants and commanding over ten thousand troops, still spent his days dreaming of winning the war so he could go home for blind dates. Another could not even recognize directions. And two of them seemed to have made tossing and smashing their teammates around their ultimate life goal...
Zhe Qiuhong felt that asking would likely accomplish nothing. Worse, the Plague Chicken and the Little Prince would probably catch on immediately, and Han Qingyu would tie her up right away to extort Voyage.
She considered that outcome very likely.
...
"How are you feeling?" Her expression calm as usual, Zhe Qiuhong walked into the military tent and over to the bedside.
"Not bad. Everything's recovering." Han Qingyu looked up at her and tried lifting his left arm... His face instantly contorted in pain. "Except for this arm. There doesn't seem to be any sign of recovery."
Of all his injuries, his left arm was in the worst shape. In the preceding battle, it had already been ruined once; then, during his second sneak attack, he had relied entirely on bone source to move the arm like a piece of dead iron to strike that decisive slash, aggravating the damage exponentially.
Yang Qingbai had already stepped out.
Zhe Qiuhong unwound the bandages from Han Qingyu's arm, wiped away the medicinal ointment, and inspected it. Her brow furrowed. "The situation really is worse than I imagined. I still can't find a single intact piece of bone or muscle."
So it really wasn't recovering. Han Qingyu nodded. "Yeah. Will it be crippled for good?"
"I don't know. I only say I don't know because it's you. In an ordinary person, it would almost certainly be gone for good, unless..." Zhe Qiuhong hesitated. She had a surgical procedure that existed only in her theoretical deductions.
Yet over the past two years, Han Qingyu had never accepted surgery from her beyond basic wound treatment. Perhaps because he had never needed it, or perhaps because he was afraid he might accidentally end up dissected.
Then—
"Is it worse than Milla's?"
Lying in bed and enduring the searing pain, Han Qingyu suddenly asked, his eyes brightening.
In that moment, watching and listening, Zhe Qiuhong understood. Her heart gave an unbidden tremble.
So this was what he was thinking.
After three years, Zhe Qiuhong still could not fully understand this man. His dead-iron ruthlessness and his delicate tenderness stood in such stark, irreconcilable contrast.
"Yes. Far worse." Reining in her emotions, Zhe Qiuhong kept a straight face and gave an impassive nod.
"That's good. Don't you have that surgery? The theoretical one... Use me as the test subject. It doesn't matter if you have to do it several times. Once you're sure it's reliable, do it on Milla."
"...All right," Zhe Qiuhong said, then turned away.
Walking through the campsite to order the preparation of surgical equipment, Zhe Qiuhong passed by the campfire. Milla sat there, her face flushed red in the glow of the flames.
"What a lucky person she is, even if things are usually a bit rough for her," Zhe Qiuhong whispered, unable to help a soft laugh.
...
"Still coming?!" Under the night sky, Ye Jian pointed He Tangtang's greatsword forward with a locked arm, threatening, "Come at me again, and don't blame me if I play for keeps!"
Opposite him, in a fallen stretch of woods on a battlefield that had drifted an unknown distance away, Amugulang came to an out-of-breath halt and exchanged a glance with the super combat power beside him.
They had been fighting for a long time. While peak supers wouldn't stake their lives under these circumstances, they had roughly gauged the depth of each other's strength by now.
If not for the additional super by his side, Amugulang would never have held out this long.
"Watch it, or I'll put on the tenth-generation device and beat you so bad your own mother won't recognize you," Ye Jian said, flaunting the set of gear in his backpack once more. "Nearly 1.3 times the efficiency of the ninth generation! Do you have any idea what that means?"
1.3 times?! Amugulang did the math in his head and asked, "With a decimal point and all—is that a lot?"
In truth, it was indeed a massive leap, especially for ordinary soldiers, who relied primarily on source energy from their devices; for them, such an improvement was tangible and absolute.
Super combat powers, on the other hand, had life source energy, unique traits, and other factors, so the actual boost in efficiency suffered some diminishing returns.
Even with those discounts factored in, however, it remained an immense increase.
Amugulang was looking at Shu You when he asked; he didn't trust a word out of Ye Jian's mouth now.
"It's quite a lot. So hurry up and hack him to death," Shu You advised earnestly, having tagged along to watch the entire fight.
Amugulang's eyes flashed with a surge of excitement.
"Look, let me tell you something, A-Mu. Even if the two of you really manage to hack me to death... what happens afterward? Won't you two be just about spent?"
Amugulang nodded.
"And then, he'll hack you both to death." Ye Jian gestured toward Shu You.
The words had barely left his mouth when—whoosh! Ye Jian erupted into an explosive burst of speed, fleeing into the distance.
Whoosh! A beat behind, Shu You surged in pursuit.
Amugulang did not move.
"Aren't we chasing them?" the super beside him asked, covered in wounds.
"No," Amugulang said. "You're half-dead already. The hell are we chasing for?"
"Oh. Then what do we do?"
"We go snitch to Azure." Amugulang tried to squeeze out a sinister smirk, but ended up looking as simple and honest as ever.
Up ahead.
Shu You: "Stop."
Ye Jian: "I'm really just going to deliver something!"
"Stop, and then we'll talk."
"We fight after I deliver it!"
Two peak supers, like twin gales, bounded over hills and ridges.
And so one chased and the other ran, all the way to their destination.
"Looks like things are already over here," Ye Jian remarked from afar, spotting the campfire in the camp.
"Yes." Alphonse was dead. Shu You smiled, his eyes rimmed with red. "Be careful, or Han Qingyu and I will team up to kill you—and Wu Xu too."
"Heh!" Ye Jian veered sharply. Whoosh!
He Tangtang was currently roasting sweet potatoes. Because he was carrying such heavy thoughts for the first time in his life, the sweet potato had already burned to a cinder without him noticing.
Smack!
Something came flying through the air and struck him square on the head,
knocking him out cold.
Chapter 588