A Mountain of Corpses for You

Yao Yue's roommates were stunned once again. At first, they had watched the police shooting at those monsters... then on their way, they had witnessed the suit of iron armor slaughtering them, and some had even glimpsed a figure sweeping past with a long spear. Yet at this moment, Wen Jifei's sniper rifle and such an effortless, picturesque display of killing still left them thoroughly shaken. "Yao Yue!" "Yao Yue, we're over here! No, your boyfriend is over here!" "He came looking for you, but you went to study, and we..." The girls waved excitedly, their shaken minds blurting out a jumble of incoherent nonsense. He wasn't actually her boyfriend yet. Back when they were young, the obedient, well-behaved student Yao Yue had adamantly denied they were dating... Later, when she went off to college, student Wen Jifei never brought it up again. In that case, she couldn't very well take the initiative to say, *Student Plague-Chicken Fei, can we start dating now?* So, it had remained an unspoken ambiguity—a quiet flirtation that had lingered for years and years. The wind whipped at her long hair and dress. The monsters behind her were dead, killed by that rotten Plague Chicken. Yao Yue obediently refrained from looking back, but she could feel it. Then Wen Jifei lowered his rifle, turned back, looked at her, and asked: "Did you miss me?" That single question made Yao Yue's roommates melt inside. It rang through the loudspeakers across the entire campus, right amidst the slashing and slaughter of Stream Vanguard's fighters. *Finally, they knew they had a normal "leader"—one with textbook rizz, no less,* the fighters thought with excitement. In truth, had Wen Jifei not just listened to the incoherent, rambling rundown from Yao Yue's roommates and learned that she had spent the past three years waiting—that she had never gotten a boyfriend, never even attended a singles mixer—he wouldn't have dared ask. During the days after the Third Fixed Exploration Site had finally stabilized, Wen Jifei had wanted to visit Yao Yue, but only from afar in secret. He was afraid she had moved on, afraid she had fallen in love with someone else, afraid they would be like strangers, afraid... "...No," Yao Yue said across the terrace. She didn't even know what she was being angry about, but she gave a defiant shake of her head. "Come on, this is no time to be stubborn." As he spoke, Wen Jifei suddenly spun around, raised his rifle, and fired into the distance behind him. Over there, a black-armored monster that was leaping up, trying to scale the academic building, plummeted to the ground. Then he turned back, looking at Yao Yue. "Then... I did!" Yao Yue yelled. Wen Jifei broke into a smile. As he smiled, his expression darkened slightly. "Rusty Sister." "Yeah?" "Go fetch Yao Yue over for me... These Great Spikes seem to be getting rowdier." Wen Jifei switched off his communicator temporarily and said. He didn't dare leave Yao Yue alone over there. Great Spikes no longer made orderly landings like before; they would ram their craft directly into buildings or eject before touchdown. "Got it," Rusty Sister said, backing up toward one end of the terrace. Heavy metallic footfalls thudded. Reaching the edge, *whoosh*, a section of the railing collapsed, and the suit of armor launched through the air. Flipping gracefully mid-flight to absorb the momentum, she landed on the opposite terrace right beside Yao Yue. "Hello, Yao Yue. I'm Shen Yixiu, Plague Chicken's... Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei's comrade-in-arms." From inside the cool suit of armor came the cheerful, warm voice of a young girl. "H-hello." Yao Yue felt nervous and curious. Everything she had witnessed today was utterly unbelievable. "I'm here to bring you across. Just close your eyes and hold on tight... I'm a girl too, so don't worry." As Rusty Sister spoke, she reached out, wrapped an arm around Yao Yue's waist, and turned to toss Wen Jifei a triumphant tilt of her chin. Classmate Yao, unseen for three whole years—she got to hug her first. Plague Chicken might not even get one. "Okay." Yao Yue nervously squeezed her eyes shut and held Rusty Sister tight. Then, all she heard by her ear was a sharp *whoosh!* The howling wind... The iron armor landed back on the roof of Building 2. "You..." Finally standing face-to-face with him, Yao Yue looked slightly flustered as she carefully examined this guy who was both familiar yet somehow unfamiliar. "Plague Chicken." "Hey there. Even prettier than before." Wen Jifei looked with heartache at the bleeding scrapes on her body, then turned and said, "Get the combat medic up here." A soldier answered and rushed off. "These past four years..." Yao Yue said. In his letters during her freshman year, Wen Jifei hadn't told the truth. Yao Yue understood now: for more than four years, he had been living like this, fighting monsters. He couldn't have been this powerful from the very beginning. "I'll tell you all about it later." Wen Jifei gestured toward the scene around them and turned back. Her roommates crowded around her, and the medic arrived as well. Wen Jifei picked up his communicator and told his soldiers, "We found her. Now, abandon defensive positions and push outward on full assault. Once the sweep is finished, prepare to board the ship." *** South of Shenghai. At this moment, the unit carrying out ground defense operations here was the Huaxia Front's Fourth Army of the Sole Witness Legion. "Report!" A soldier appeared at the doorway. "Cut the damn saluting at a time like this! Out with it!" The battle was brutal, panic ran rampant among the civilians, and protecting them was exceedingly difficult. Fourth Army Commander Zhang Chiyuan looked anxious; the observation report just received indicated that large numbers of enemy craft were steadily flying through the airspace toward Linzhou. Under these circumstances, it seemed they would have to divert more troops there. "Sir! According to intelligence returned by the Rejecters, there should currently be a Stream Vanguard force over there, roughly a hundred strong." "Really?" Zhang Chiyuan instantly grew energized. "Yes, sir. And it includes Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei, Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu, First Lieutenant Wu Xu..." the soldier continued. Zhang Chiyuan stood up, thought for a moment, and said, "Then leave it to them. Instruct our personnel deployed there to follow their command as well." *** "But we..." Receiving the communication from the Rejecters, Wen Jifei hesitated. His original plan had been to set off for his hometown as soon as the sweep was complete... After thinking it over, Wen Jifei said, "Understood. Please pass along that Commander Zhang can rest easy." As he said this, Wen Jifei and his group had just reached the ground floor at the entrance of Academic Building 2. "Check your solid source energy reserves." Switching to the internal frequency and speaking into the communicator, Wen Jifei glanced back at Yao Yue. Wen Jifei had always known that good-girl student Yao Yue was timid. And out there right now, the fighting was still raging. The ground was littered with Great Spike corpses as well as fallen teachers and students... Meanwhile, Great Spike ships continued to crash down from time to time. It was a hellish scene. "We might have to fight for quite a while yet... Let me get you all to the ship first." Wen Jifei took a jacket from a backpack handed to him by a soldier and held it out to Yao Yue. "If you're too scared, don't look." With that, Wen Jifei turned and led his people out of the building. Raising the Elegy of the Square—*Bang!*—the group pushed forward toward the ship, fighting every step of the way... After his trip to the Alliance headquarters, he now possessed over ten thousand rounds of ammunition, and for this outing alone, he had brought more than three thousand. *Bang!* *Clang-buzz... Shhhk...* *Boom!* The sounds of combat never ceased along the way. Finally, they reached the ship's perimeter. An expanded perimeter had been maintained here, as nearby Great Spikes would converge on the ship, attempting to surround and destroy it. "H-how are you guys so strong?" Behind him, Yao Yue's voice suddenly spoke. Having never seen that movie, Yao Yue took longer than many others to process and accept the reality that Wen Jifei and the others possessed strength far beyond ordinary comprehension. Wen Jifei turned to look at her. Clutching his jacket in her arms, Yao Yue stood among her roommates, looking back at him. Timid as she was, she hadn't shielded her eyes. In this catastrophe, many of their classmates and dormmates were missing, having fled or hidden who knew where, while other students already lay dead in pools of blood. They were the lucky ones. But countless others hadn't been so fortunate. "Aren't you scared?" "No. I'm not scared. I like watching you kill them..." Tears spilled from her eyes once more. Yao Yue and her roommates were all weeping, but the tears shed now were different from the tears born of pure terror at the beginning. "Really?" Wen Jifei looked into her eyes. "Yes, I'm really not scared." With reddened eyes, Yao Yue stubbornly turned her head toward the monsters touching down in the distance and choked out, "If it isn't too dangerous, kill them all, okay? Plague Chicken, let's kill them all..." "...All right!" Wen Jifei reached out, grasped Yao Yue's wrist, and helped her climb onto the ship. Yet he didn't lead her inside the cabin... He brought her to stand on top of the ship. The rays of the setting sun shone upon the massive Qing Spear-class craft. "Bring up the ammo crates. Have two people help me reload," Wen Jifei instructed the soldiers nearby. Next, he keyed his chest communicator: "Outer perimeter, form teams and expand the clearing zone. Stay safe, maintain contact." "Front, left, and right flanks of the ship, collapse the defensive line inward. Send people to assist, and draw them in." "Let them come..." The surrounding defense contracted quickly. Sensing an opening, the Great Spikes landing in the distance howled and lunged forward frantically. It was a terrifying sight. "Can I smoke?" Wen Jifei held a cigarette pack, turning to ask Yao Yue. "...Mm." Yao Yue, who had once despised his smoking above all else, agreed this time. Wen Jifei bowed his head and lit a cigarette. Looking up, he turned around, raised the Elegy of the Square, tilted his head slightly, buried his face behind the sniper scope... and said: "Since student Yao Yue isn't scared and likes watching, tonight I'll slaughter a mountain of corpses for you."