Lead Them Away

Standing behind Wen Jifei, Yao Yue listened to his words, growing more and more confused as she did. Hadn't he said he could handle it? With a formidable enemy bearing down on them, she understood evacuating the students and teachers first, but why were all the soldiers leaving as well? Even the aircraft outside were taking off to leave. Frayed with anxiety, Yao Yue reached out unconsciously and grabbed the hem of Wen Jifei's jacket. This was, perhaps, the girl's first voluntary physical contact with him since their reunion. Back in those earlier years, apart from that tearful hug she had given him when he transferred schools, the only thing Yao Yue had ever done, permitted, or liked was holding onto the hem of his clothes just like this. Dates arranged under the guise of study tutoring had always turned into walks outdoors, which ended up like this: they talked, and she followed along tugging his clothes... being made to laugh, being provoked to anger, and being coaxed into good spirits. "So... the few of you aren't leaving?" Yao Yue asked, her eyes full of unease. "Yeah, that's right." Wen Jifei looked up, shifting his gaze from her hand to meet her eyes. "Because Red Shoulders are truly a bit troublesome. If it deliberately shifts targets and decides to attack the airship or the crowd, it's hard to stop even if we're slightly stronger than it." "Then what about your comrades? Why are they all leaving too...?" Yao Yue assumed Wen Jifei had ordered the soldiers to withdraw purely to escort and protect their evacuation. Almost every student and teacher present thought the same. Under the soldiers' direction, they were currently forming evacuation ranks and listening to battlefield precautions. Protection was certainly a primary reason, but Wen Jifei skirted around it: "Because staying here would be just as dangerous for them, and they wouldn't be able to do much. Against a Red Shoulder, any combat power below top-tier is virtually useless—unless humanity has no choice and has to grind it down with human lives... But we don't have to do that." "Oh, I see." Yao Yue did not understand such things. She nodded after hearing this, but her grip didn't loosen. Then, as if something suddenly occurred to her, she gave Wen Jifei's clothes a tug and said, "Then what about you? Aren't you in just as much danger? Rusty Sister just told me that you're actually pretty weak, and that she could beat up a hundred of you." "Me, weak?! That's crossing the line, Student Yao Yue. How could you believe that nonsense? Did you watch me in vain last night? As a matter of fact, if Student Yao Yue doesn't mind, you could immediately have the world's strongest sniper as your boyfriend." Wen Jifei smirked, patting the Elegy of the Square slung behind his back. "Oh." The girl nodded. Remarks like that rolled off Wen Jifei's tongue as easily as breathing; she used to hear them almost every day. Strung tight with anxiety, Yao Yue didn't pause to mull over his proposal, persisting, "But if there's still time to retreat, why don't you come with us? ...Come with us, okay?" "We're staying because we really can handle it. Really, trust me," Wen Jifei said with a helpless smile. Wen Jifei wasn't lying to Yao Yue. With a combat trio consisting of him, Wu Xu, and Rusty Sister, the odds of slaying a Red Shoulder were very high. Even if they failed, they would still have a chance to disengage. At the same time, the core reason they couldn't leave was that if they pulled out and the Red Shoulder touched down, Linzhou's remaining unevacuated citizens and the Azure troops operating in the city would face an outright slaughter. If luck went against them, the retreating column might even be run down. "All right, that's enough." Seeing that Yao Yue wanted to say more, Wen Jifei cut her off. As he spoke, he reached out, ruffled her hair, and said with a smile—yet with earnest eyes—"This is a battlefield. On a battlefield, you can't be like this, understand?" Wen Jifei didn't spell out what one couldn't be like. Yet Yao Yue understood. He meant that because this was a battlefield, there was no room for sentimental lingering, squeamish hesitations, or tearful, melodramatic partings like those on television. "...Mm." Yao Yue nodded obediently. "Good girl." Wen Jifei gently nudged her around with a firm push, then barked out the order: "Move out!" ...... Under the soldiers' escort, the contingent of students and teachers quickly departed, Yao Yue among them. The Qing Spear-class aircraft ascended smoothly, hurtling away toward the south. The Yuejiang University campus sank into dead silence. Wu Xu and Rusty Sister stood in the vacant square, waiting in silence. Wen Jifei, accompanied by Xu Shiliang and a spotter, remained inside a building along the side of the square. Faint black specks appeared high above. "Calling Han Green Snake, calling Han Green Snake..." Wen Jifei spoke into the communicator with his head lowered. "What is it?" Han Qingyu's voice came through, laughing. "Holding a wedding banquet?" "Not yet, but soon enough," Wen Jifei said smugly. "Let me tell you something: we might have a Red Shoulder dropping in on us." "Oh... Need help?" Han Qingyu weighed their combat strength—especially Wu Xu—and wasn't overly worried. "Nope. Rusty Sister just told me to let you know that once we kill it, if we get our hands on a blue-light column sword, she hopes you'll fix your attitude and properly suck up to us." "Then robbing you would be much more convenient," Han Qingyu laughed. "Stay safe, you guys." "Right, here it comes. That's all for now, wait—" *Boom!* A colossal crash blasted through the communicator into Han Qingyu's ears. At Yuejiang University, an arrowhead-shaped Great Spike craft slammed into the ground. The earth shook, and Great Spikes catapulted out. "Fuck!" Wen Jifei suddenly swore. "What happened?" Han Qingyu asked anxiously. "...Two." One ship, two Great Spikes—and both were Red Shoulders! ...... Two Red Shoulders had struck Linzhou at once, but Wucheng had received no warning of such threats. From late last night until now, only sporadic ordinary craft had descended here from time to time. Considering that high-level Great Spikes were currently coordinating the attacks, this was very likely a targeted, concentrated strike using elite forces—they had chosen Linzhou first, and Wucheng second. "How long until the nearest troops arrive?" "One or two squads won't be enough. The crafts dropping down here from time to time usually come in clusters of four or five." "...Understood." Han Qingyu switched off the communicator. The Rejecters were coordinating at full capacity to dispatch personnel to take over the Wucheng battlefield, but time was not on their side. If Han Qingyu simply walked away, an extensive massacre here was virtually guaranteed. Yet if he didn't leave, those three idiots in Linzhou... "Incoming! Four craft," Yang Qingbai called out from the distant ship, where he was monitoring the skies through reconnaissance equipment. Han Qingyu looked up; no black specks were visible to his naked eye just yet. In truth, under different circumstances, he would have been thrilled to see Great Spikes landing. But right now... "What do we do? Do you have an idea, Qingbai?" he asked, somewhat at a loss. "Yeah... I think I do." "You do?!" "Yeah. I remembered a report I heard over the pilot frequencies last night. It said that over in Dongjing, one of our ships was spotted by Great Spike aircraft as it took off... and over a dozen alien ships chased after it." Yang Qingbai's voice was subdued; clearly, that ship's pursuit had not ended well. As copies that had emerged less than two years ago, Azure's craft were still noticeably inferior in performance compared to those of the Great Spikes. "We could give it a shot... but it might be rather dangerous," Yang Qingbai said. This time, he didn't brag about how incredible his piloting skills were as he usually did. "Yeah, I understand," Han Qingyu said decisively. "I'm heading over right now. We'll go to Linzhou—and lead them away while we're at it." ...... Above Wucheng, beneath the morning sun. A faintly glowing Needlefish-class two-man source energy craft traced an arc across the sky. It swept right past the four Great Spike craft. Leading them in tow, it sped directly toward Linzhou.