Get in the Pit, Girl

[Shuttle craft = metal source energy block] To Han Qingyu, this was an intensely tempting, dead-simple equation. After all, it could practically be said that his present path—and quite possibly his entire future—had all begun with that broad-bean-sized chunk of dull metal. And, of course, with that blood-gourd kid surnamed Lao. Great Spikes didn't carry metal blocks on them, or at least the one just now hadn't; he hadn't felt anything. Even though Han Qingyu had been in agony a moment ago, he had still endured the pain to frisk it through the dust, coming up empty-handed. Yet a shuttle craft... almost certainly had one. Otherwise, that blood-gourd kid wouldn't have been hauled back to regiment headquarters for quarantine and investigation just because an accident had completely drained his metal block. Any single one of those things could match thirty to forty blue crystal blocks. That was secondary, though—just as its ability to be absorbed instantly was secondary. What mattered most to Han Qingyu was that the metal block's relatively purer source energy worked directly upon the physical body. If the primary purpose of blue crystal blocks lay in combat bursts, with only a small portion absorbed by the body to gradually enhance one's basic physical constitution, then the metal block... was almost entirely devoted to laying the body's foundation. In the long run, this foundation was simply too critical. Therefore, upon hearing that sentence from Squad 1123's second lieutenant, Han Qingyu, lying on the ground, instantly snapped into sharp alertness. He struggled, turning over to listen, but with the men clustered over there, he couldn't hear clearly. "The one that died was stronger than an ordinary Great Spike... but it shouldn't be that type." Halfway through his murmur, Zhang Dao'an refuted his own guess. Han Qingyu and Milla managing to kill a Great Spike through sheer luck and teamwork was bizarre and unexpected enough; to say they had killed *that* kind was something Zhang Dao'an couldn't bring himself to believe. The severely wounded second lieutenant turned his head to look at the fragments on the ground for a while. Since that stronger one hadn't been a Red Shoulder either and bore no distinct distinguishing marks, he could only turn back and shake his head. "I'm not entirely sure either." "You... all of you, think back carefully. That one's... did its black armor have a faint blue sheen?" Asking this seemed to take an immense amount of effort from Zhang Dao'an. The six surviving men of Squad 1123 thought carefully. "It seemed like it did." A barely perceptible trace of agony crossed Zhang Dao'an's brow. He let out a ragged breath. "Then it's that son of a bitch without a doubt... It's still alive." Regarding that type of Great Spike, Zhang Dao'an harbored memories clearer and deeper than almost anyone present. "Since the craft hasn't self-destructed... and there's no word on reinforcements yet, we have to stay. If there's truly no other way, we make a desperate stand." Lao Cao of Regiment 491 spoke in words that only fellow veterans could understand, keeping his voice low. "Yeah. But no rush. First organize..." Forcibly wrenching himself from the agonizing memories, Zhang Dao'an turned, originally intending to say they should organize the children's withdrawal. Yet as he looked over, his eyes swept across the corpses on the ground, and then toward the figures standing resolutely atop the dirt bluff. "Organize the warriors... our comrades, to retreat first." The shift in Zhang Dao'an's wording was something only the veterans beside him could pick up on. Having lived through this scene today, those were no longer 'children.' "Stay dispersed. And keep it quiet. Don't alert it," Zhang Dao'an added a moment later. ... The recruits' subsequent evacuation was somewhat disorganized. After all, they had been scattered to begin with, and there was no time to properly muster or count heads. Still, they managed to maintain general alignment along several main routes, along with a functional degree of silence. If that blue-sheened Great Spike was hell-bent on slaughter, barely any of the six hundred recruits would survive. Zhang Dao'an was well aware of that fact. Along six routes, six young instructors led the recruits in their retreat, including the injured Milla. The remaining twelve instructors and the six soldiers of Squad 1123... lay in wait, watching, lingering until the recruits were far enough away or reinforcements arrived. There was one other person lying in wait... specifically, flattened out inside a dirt pit. "Qingzi? Qingzi?" A hushed voice came from behind him, accompanied by faint footsteps. Han Qingyu jumped in fright, pushing himself up and glancing back. "Why haven't you left?!" he and He Tangtang asked almost in unison. "I came looking for you! Whew, good thing you spoke up, or I might have stepped right on you without noticing." As He Tangtang spoke, he ducked into Han Qingyu's pit, lying flat side-by-side with him. He whispered, "Are you actually badly hurt and hid here so you wouldn't slow anyone down? No wonder you deliberately avoided the route Milla was leading." "Don't worry, I'll carry you," he said, patting his own shoulder. "Carry my ass! Get out of here, run... scram." He Tangtang was built too large, crowding the pit terribly. What was worse, if even this guy could stumble across it, Han Qingyu figured the spot was awful; he had to switch. From this brief exchange, seeing that Han Qingyu seemed quite lively, He Tangtang felt relieved. A new thought struck him: "Wait, you're not planning to take down another one, are you, Qingzi? I'll help you!" "Kill another one?! ...Have I lost my damn mind?!" Han Qingyu rolled his eyes at him, silently rising to look for another hole to dive into. He certainly wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could go toe-to-toe with a Great Spike. Take the one just now: without a stroke of coincidental timing and Milla's flawless coordination, he would have died long ago. In truth, his current physical capability couldn't even withstand the force displaced by a Great Spike's full-power swing without spitting up blood... though vomiting blood didn't seem to be that big a deal. "Then why are you staying behind?" He Tangtang hunched low, doggedly trailing behind Han Qingyu. "The Great Spike's position is unknown... Everyone has to leave, of course, but now that they have, I don't believe following the main group is necessarily safer than staying here." Han Qingyu said something that sounded rather selfish. Yet thinking it over, it didn't seem wrong either. In reality, just as he wasn't noble enough to plan on slaying another Great Spike for Azure, Han Qingyu's reason for staying behind wasn't entirely selfish or pure greed. He had no idea that particular Great Spike was so terrifying. His thought process had gone: *If the Great Spike goes after the recruits, or appears nearby to slaughter Old Zhang and the others... I'll slip over to loot its craft first... and then yell for Old Zhang and the rest to run, saving whoever can get away.* As for the shuttle craft, based on the conversation he had overheard, Han Qingyu gathered that Zhang Dao'an and the veterans intended to destroy it even if it meant throwing away their lives. Whereas he probably only needed to touch it. If he couldn't reach it with his hands, peeing on it might work for all he knew. He refused to believe that contraption could do anything once its energy was completely drained. On the other hand, if the Great Spike never showed up... then so be it. Azure would certainly mobilize forces to clean up the area later. Without explaining any further to He Tangtang, Han Qingyu found a much larger, well-situated pit and told him to drop down alongside him. At this point, Han Qingyu had no way to drive He Tangtang away anyway. The guy couldn't catch up to the retreating columns ahead, and wandering back might lead him right into the Great Spike. "No matter what I do later, you stay right here and don't move. Got it?" Han Qingyu warned with a stern face. "Oh," He Tangtang nodded. "Then what about..." "Shh." Han Qingyu caught the sound of footsteps—the distinct gait of someone operating three-dimensional maneuver gear, just a single person. Carefully, he raised his head a fraction to look. ... Xin Yaoqiao was thoroughly vexed. Earlier, between Number 10 being dead and then alive, the airborne leap, and the sudden evacuation, she had been caught in a daze, only to be dragged off with the retreat by an instructor. Not daring to expose her identity, Xin Yaoqiao had had no choice but to follow along for a short distance. Only then had she slipped away to find Han Qingyu... but he was already gone. Still, she had noticed earlier that some of the instructors had stayed behind. *I'll just find them first and help hack the Great Spike,* the young girl thought. "Where is everyone?" Her gear active, Xin Yaoqiao searched cautiously in all directions. "Are you on a corpse run or what?!" A voice suddenly drifted out from the woods behind her flank. Xin Yaoqiao turned around in confusion, looking in all directions... seeing no one, nothing at all. "Over here... get over here, quick." A face peeked out from beneath the shrubs, whispering in urgent beckoning. Just as the recruits from Regiment 491 had previously mistaken Xin Yaoqiao for someone from Regiment 425, Han Qingyu made the exact same error, naturally assuming she was from the Regiment 491 recruit camp. *...Number 10? Whoa, he's even better-looking than his photo. Honestly, even if you weren't good-looking right now, it wouldn't matter—a recruit flying through the air to hack a Great Spike... mm, though being handsome is definitely a bonus.* Xin Yaoqiao muttered to herself, pausing for a beat before offering a light, sunny smile. "Okay!" "Circle around! Circle around... don't step on the shrubs, don't crush the grass," Han Qingyu urged anxiously. "Okay." Thrilled to the core, Xin Yaoqiao obeyed without hesitation. "Put your gear on standby... crawl in, get down here." Han Qingyu naturally assumed this was a foolish recruit—or rather, a Regiment 491 girl frightened out of her wits; otherwise, why would she be wandering around out here all alone? "Ah... okay." Xin Yaoqiao felt this was delightfully lucky, wonderful, and fun. Before Han Qingyu noticed, she covertly tucked her backpack into the grass at the edge of the pit. Then, she saw another large head poke out from the trench. "Why don't you lie on my side?" He Tangtang offered. "There's more room over here, and I'm big, so I can shield you if anything happens." The young man's intentions were purely kind. Xin Yaoqiao glanced at him. "Thank you, Uncle, but I... I'll just stay right here." With that, she carefully lay down beside Han Qingyu. After staying quiet for barely a moment, Xin Yaoqiao turned her head. From very, very close, she studied Han Qingyu's side profile and his focused expression. "Hello, my name is Xin..." "Shut up." "...Okay."