A Colossal Scene of Awkwardness

At the trumpet-shaped Qianchao River estuary, the river waters emptied into the sea. Waves surged back against both banks at an unhurried pace, and a white waterline advanced from afar across the surface of the ocean, only to break against the shore and recede. When Han Qingyu and the others finally arrived, the place looked somewhat too peaceful. A great number of ordinary soldiers who had come from the Shenghai battlefield to assist in the search halted far along either side of the estuary. Facing the threat of a red-shoulder, all they could do was help locate its general position. Piloting the Needlefish craft, Yang Qingbai first searched upstream toward the Qianchao River for quite a while without finding anything, then circled back to search farther out over the sea. Yet doing so really only allowed them to inspect conditions on the ocean surface. "Beep, beep-beep!" The communicator chimed. Dripping wet, Han Qingyu answered the call. He had just surfaced from the sea after searching a wide perimeter below, but had discovered nothing. Not only was there no sign of anyone, there was not even a wisp of source energy fluctuation. "Major Qing," the search force commander on the other end said without pausing for pleasantries. "Judging by the current situation, we believe that commotion might not have been Lieutenant Wu Xu and the red-shoulder after all. It was only a faint sign, after all, and no one saw it with their own eyes. If that's the case, perhaps we shouldn't continue wasting time here..." "Yes, you're right." Han Qingyu agreed with the assessment. Not finding a person was one thing, but the complete absence of source energy fluctuations in the vicinity was far too abnormal. Unless Wu Xu and the red-shoulder were both dead. "How about we head elsewhere to keep searching? In the meantime, we can request help from the conventional forces and ask them to dispatch a few ships here to attempt a broad salvage operation..." Because he had used the word *salvage*, the commander's voice sounded somewhat subdued and cautious. This was undoubtedly the most reasonable course of action right now. Han Qingyu fell silent for a moment, then turned around to look out at the sea once more. Beside him, Wen Jifei, Shen Yixiu, and nearly a hundred equally drenched Stream Vanguard fighters followed his gaze. Quite a bit of time had passed already, and no leads had been reported from anywhere else. They were terrified that Wu Xu truly was down in that sea. "He won't be... Come on, let's keep looking." Han Qingyu spoke and turned around. Everyone turned with him. Yet they realized Han Qingyu had not taken a single step. He had frozen in place, a dazed look on his face, before whipping his head back toward the water in wild ecstasy, staring intently at the surface. "What's wrong?" Seeing the sea as calm as ever, Wen Jifei could not help but ask. "A source energy fluctuation," Han Qingyu said. The fluctuation was tiny, but it was undoubtedly there—and growing clearer and clearer. Perhaps a minute passed. Or perhaps a little longer. *Crash, crash.* The sound of the waves. "Look over there! There's movement!" "..." The shouts quickly died down. Across the seemingly calm waters, along a receding white waterline, a reverse ripple formed. *Something* underwater was approaching the shore. *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* The sound of displaced currents. The cadence sounded like footsteps. *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* The sound drew nearer, growing louder. "Wu Xu!" "It's Wu Xu!" Wu Xu had returned. Step by step, his figure slowly emerged from beneath the surface. As the seawater receded from his face, a faint halo of crimson spread across the water. A jagged tear ran downward from the left shoulder of his black combat uniform, with another across his abdomen and more along his arms. The Binggu Spear and greatsword were both slung across his back... His right arm hung down, seemingly clutching something. His left arm trailed behind, as if dragging something along. "Holy... shit!" Over the still-open communicator, the distant search commander's stunned cry rang out, followed by a flurry of chatter from the soldiers beside him. For Lieutenant Wu Xu, who had by now stepped into the shallows between water and shore, held a blue starlight column sword in his hanging right hand—and in his trailing left hand, he was dragging the corpse of a red-shoulder. "Report! Qianchao River estuary: Lieutenant Wu Xu has survived!" "Report! Qianchao River estuary: Lieutenant Wu Xu single-handedly killed a red-shoulder and survived!" Over the communicator, the commander's voice rang out with fierce excitement as he reported the news up the chain of command. Standing between the waterline and the sandy shore, Wu Xu struggled to lift his head. He looked at Han Qingyu, Wen Jifei, and Rusty Sister, his gaze softening as a faint gleam drifted through his eyes. Then he flung his hand. *Whoosh!* The blue starlight column sword was tossed through the air. Han Qingyu caught it with one hand. "I... *cough, cough*—" Wu Xu raised his head while flinging his left arm. With a wet crash and a dull thud, the heavy corpse of the red-shoulder slammed onto the sand. "I killed it." Wu Xu had killed the red-shoulder. One-on-one, on the seafloor, he had slain a red-shoulder, nearly dying once himself in the process. That was why Han Qingyu had failed to sense any source energy fluctuations earlier. To tell the truth, facing a scene like this and looking at the people on the beach—especially a certain Han—Wu Xu felt a flicker of pride inside, along with relief that he had made it back and could see them again. Of course, as always, he let none of it show on his face. Han Qingyu walked toward him. Wu Xu hesitated, stunned for a beat, and instinctively tried to dodge. But his body swayed, and he failed to pull away in time. In that instant, Wen Jifei, Rusty Sister, and every Stream Vanguard fighter on the shore witnessed, for the very first time in their lives, a vivid expression and intense emotion on Wu Xu's face—Wu Xu was terrified. He was seized in a fierce hug. Just once. Han Qingyu let go immediately, looking intensely awkward. After a two-second pause, he cleared his throat. "Ahem. Sorry." In truth, between brothers-in-arms who had just survived a brush with death, such a hug was nothing out of the ordinary, nor was it uncommon. But when the two were Han Qingyu and Wu Xu... these were two hopelessly straight guys, both suffering from severe cases of sentimentality phobia. "Yeah." Wu Xu felt a surge of gloom inside. A colossal scene of awkwardness. Fortunately, Rusty Sister came forward at that moment. Sniffling softly beneath her iron armor, she gave Wu Xu a gentle, cautious hug. "Wuu, you scared us half to death, Xu'er." Then Wen Jifei gave him a hug as well. "Xu'er, you're freaking legendary." Then he chuckled. "Han the Bug was scared out of his wits today." Han Qingyu had already seized the chance to retreat to the back. In fact, just as Wen Jifei said, this day had perhaps been the most terrifying and anxiety-ridden day Han Qingyu had experienced in the past three years. Today, they had almost lost Yang Qingbai, and for a time they had truly believed they would lose Wu Xu... Although Han Qingyu had shown no outward signs of panic or intense emotion all day long, those close to him, like Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister, could feel it. Like that hug just now. And like how, over the past four years, the others had constantly called him *Xu'er*, yet Han Qingyu had never once used that nickname because he found it too cringey. Yet today, while speaking over the communicator with someone else, he had blurted it out without even realizing it. "Oh." Wu Xu nodded. "There's something..." "What is it?" Wen Jifei asked. "I've fallen back down again." "What?!" "I'm not a super anymore," Wu Xu said. On that day, June 28, 1994: Former Azure lieutenant and current Stream Vanguard super combat power, Wu Xu, in the East Sea of Huaxia, at the Qiantang River estuary, wounded, single-handedly slew a red-shoulder and survived. In a single battle, his name became known to the world. And on that very same day, Wu Xu fell from the super rank once more.