Your Name (Part Two)

Earlier that same day. The plane carrying Wu Xu and Wen Jifei on their return from the Alliance touched down at the overhauled Third Fixed Exploration Site just as the sky began filling with swarms of Great Spikes. For this first run, because Azure had proactively coordinated for battlefield needs, they brought back only five hundred tenth-generation devices. As for the Third Fixed Exploration Site, which had already been a dense landing zone for Great Spike craft, the day's anomaly meant that slightly more enemy craft touched down than usual. Yet this was far from a concentrated offensive. For Stream Vanguard's ten thousand battle-hungry fighters, calling it a delivery of supplies would have been more accurate. "Have you gotten through to Tu Zi yet?" Han Qingyu asked, his eyes bloodshot as he strapped on a new device and hurried toward the airfield. They still didn't have a complete picture of the situation. He wanted to go home. "Not yet. The Rejecters are probably swamped today." Yang Qingbai shared Han Qingyu's anxiety. His own situation was rather unique; back when he was chosen to test-pilot the source energy aircraft, his family had already been relocated into an Azure base. Given the current circumstances, both the City of Iniquity and the Azure military bases were undoubtedly safe. "Forget waiting, then," Han Qingyu said. "Call those two Azure pilots. We'll split up and set out right away to pick up our families. Tangtang, take the Little Prince and Lao Xiu, plus pick a few more people. Plague Chicken, you and I will head back together—" Right at that moment, Yang Qingbai shouted excitedly, "It's connected! It's connected!" He hastily passed over the communicator. "Tell me how things are back home, Tu Zi," Han Qingyu said directly into the handset. "Everything's fine, Brother Qingzi. There's been no change there. I was just about to contact you—I knew you'd be worried," Tu Zi said rapidly over the line. "Based on current surveillance and tracking, the logic behind the Great Spikes' movements this time is different from before. They're concentrating solely in the skies over twenty-seven cities, including Dongjing, St. Petersburg, New York, London, Melbourne... Shenghai, and Yuzhou." Hearing that his hometown was safe, Han Qingyu breathed a temporary sigh of relief. His taut nerves eased slightly. "Keep going." "Right. At this stage, they're only carrying out small-scale landing probes against the central cities and surrounding regions. A full-scale offensive hasn't materialized yet. Azure's various front armies are sending all available reinforcements to those cities. While they can't launch an active counterattack, they can still mount a barely effective ground defense." Tu Zi added, "By the way, Brother Qingzi, the commander in chief personally assigned a squad to operate near your family all along and keep them safe, and—" "...Yeah, I know." Before Tu Zi could finish his thought, Han Qingyu turned his head and looked at Wen Jifei. "Regardless, we're going back for a visit." Wen Jifei looked at him. "I... wait a second, Qingzi." Wen Jifei took the communicator and spoke into it. "This is Wen Jifei. Tu Zi, of the cities covered by the Great Spikes you mentioned, Shenghai was one of them, right?" "Yes." "And you said their probing attacks are spreading into the surrounding areas?" "Yes." "Will they launch a large-scale assault soon?" "As of now, there are no signs, but we can't be sure." "Got it." Wen Jifei finished his questions. Yuejiang University was in Linzhou, and Linzhou was right next to Shenghai... Handing back the communicator, he looked into Han Qingyu's eyes. "Pick up my parents for me, Qingzi. I have to go to Linzhou to find Yao Yue... She's there all alone." It had been a very long time since Wen Jifei had brought up Yao Yue's name. During the past three years, when death could have come at any moment, he hadn't written her a single letter. Only recently had he begun planning to disguise himself and sneak back to see her... to see what kind of life she was living, and whether he had any right to appear before her again. He hadn't expected the Great Spikes' full-scale invasion to beat him to it. "All right," Han Qingyu nodded, then looked up after a moment of thought. "Here's the plan: Tangtang will do as we said earlier—take the Little Prince, Lao Xiu, and two others, and fly back in the Swordfish. Qingbai and I will head back first together." Over this period, Han Qingyu had tried learning to pilot a source energy aircraft, but just like with driving cars, he had no talent for it. He turned to Wen Jifei. "Plague Chicken, take the Qing Spear. Linzhou is too close to Shenghai, so there might be combat. Wu Xu and Rusty Sister will go with you, along with eighty handpicked fighters equipped with tenth-generation devices... Once things are settled there, swing back to our hometown to pick up us and your parents." "Okay," Wen Jifei nodded. "That's settled then. Stay in touch through the frequency Tu Zi set up for us." With that, Han Qingyu boarded the two-man Needlefish craft with Yang Qingbai and was the first to take off into the sky. The rest organized their boarding swiftly. The three source energy aircraft of the Third Fixed Exploration Site set off on their separate routes immediately. *** Boom! At Yuejiang University, in the academic area, students were self-studying in a vacant classroom on the sixth floor of a teaching building. Yao Yue was just tipping her head back to take a sip of water. A deafening crash suddenly echoed from the open ground outside the window. Startled, Yao Yue choked on the water, spilling it over herself. She lowered her head, coughed a few times, and looked up again. Boom! Boom! Two more thunderous booms resounded, as if something immensely heavy had slammed down. The windowpanes cracked from the tremor. A brief silence... "What was that?" "What happened?" "Where was that explosion? Not the cafeteria, right?" The students in the study room walked to the window to look. Yao Yue stood behind the crowd and stood on tiptoe to peer out. Then, every single one of them froze, staring outside. There on the lawn not far away, beside a pitch-black, shuttle-shaped object, stood two colossal monsters wielding grotesque greatswords... "Aliens?" someone asked dully. "Like the movie! The ones in the movie!" someone yelled at the top of their lungs. Thanks to the impression left by the movie, their reaction time was cut short, sparing them unnecessary confusion and hesitation. In the next instant, screams erupted as everyone scattered in a headless panic. Someone instinctively tried to gather their books, only to abandon them halfway. "Run!" Young men quickly grabbed their girlfriends' hands and rushed downstairs. Some grabbed brooms or mops to use as makeshift weapons. Yao Yue ran along with the crowd all by herself. But the stairwell was far too crowded, and she was wearing a skirt. She tripped and fell, but fortunately scrambled back to her feet fast enough to avoid being trampled... By the time Yao Yue finally made it to the entrance of the teaching building, few people remained around her. Standing there, Yao Yue looked out at the crowds fleeing in all directions across campus, and then at the massive monsters roaming with swords in hand. Alone, she didn't have the courage to dash out. Terror and isolation brought tears streaming down her face. Crying, Yao Yue stumbled back inside. Reaching the third floor, she found a janitorial supply closet and pulled the door open... "Ah!" In the pitch-dark closet, two girls already huddled inside clutching their knees trembled and screamed at her sudden entrance. "Quick, shut the door!" one girl said nervously. "Oh, okay." Yao Yue slipped inside, closed the door, and used a mop and dustpan to bar it. Then she collapsed weakly into a sitting position in the corner. Just like that, there was nothing else she could do. The chaotic, terrifying din outside continued unabated. The monsters were still out there, and their numbers seemed to be multiplying, as the thunderous thuds of heavy objects crashing down still came at intervals... Thud! Suddenly, the entire building shuddered. The three girls tried desperately to hold back, but quiet sobs escaped them nonetheless. "Are we going to die?" one girl sobbed. "I don't know," the other said in despair. By any ordinary train of logic, hiding like this was no different from waiting for death. "I might die... Mom, Dad, Wen Jifei..." "The world has become so terrifying all of a sudden. Where are you?" "Sniff... Will you ever know that I died, classmate Wen Jifei? If none of this had happened... would you have come looking for me?" Clutching her knees, Yao Yue wept softly as the thoughts drifted through her mind. Screams, explosions, gunfire... The gunfire ceased, but the screams went on. "How long has it been?" one girl asked, clutching her chest. "I don't know," the other replied. They had no idea how much time had passed. Thud! The building shook once more, followed by what sounded like fighter jets screaming past overhead. A roar of gasps and shouts erupted outside. "Has the military arrived?" "I don't know!" "Should we go look?" "No!" Gunshots rang out a few times and stopped again, followed by the clashing sounds of fierce close-quarters combat. The girls didn't dare go outside or open the door to peek. "Huff! Huff-puff!" Just then, someone could be heard blowing into the microphone over the building's public address system. The three girls pressed their ears against the metal door to listen. "Yao Yue. Yao Yue, are you there?" came the voice over the intercom. Yao Yue suddenly heard her own name. Calling her name was a voice so achingly familiar to her. Yet outside, the crashing thuds of heavy impacts and the clatter of battle showed no signs of stopping. "Can you hear me? Yao Yue, it's Wen Jifei. I came looking for you, but I couldn't find you. One of your classmates said you went to self-study." "Things are a bit chaotic here right now... I'm standing on the roof of Building 2. Are you somewhere you can see me?" The voice over the broadcast continued. So Wen Jifei was here. He said he was standing on the roof of Building 2. It sounded almost impossible to believe. Is he an idiot? Why would he stand on a rooftop in a situation like this? Yao Yue thought in a daze. "If you can, find a way to let me see you." "Don't be afraid. As long as I can see you, everything will be fine." "..." Click... Clang! Yao Yue opened the door. She couldn't let Wen Jifei stand on that rooftop forever. But the other two girls quickly reached out and slammed it shut. "What are you doing?" "They're still fighting out there! Why are you opening the door?!" Tears streamed down their faces as they cried out in panic. "Because... I'm Yao Yue," Yao Yue said, gesturing upward toward the speakers carrying the broadcast. "My boyfriend has come for me."