Chen Buer had said he could not afford to die yet. Even when saving Han Qingyu back then, he would not have chosen to fight to the death, because a Daie was still merely a Daie, and his own current condition was not good either.
As for when his condition would improve, or what it would take to mend it, no one knew for now besides himself.
Among the Great Spikes, there were beings even stronger than the Daie. That much was certain by now, even if the details remained murky. Yet humanity's true high-end combat power was still far too scarce, far too weak.
To put it into perspective, when humanity had only learned to slaughter wolves, a tiger had suddenly lunged into the world. Someone had to be able to kill it; otherwise, all the strongest men would be mauled to death by that tiger.
Zhe Qiuhong had said Chen Buer might actually have died more than a decade ago...
Yet he was still standing right here.
As for the battle at hand, what little high-end force humanity possessed could essentially only be reserved for emergency rescues and countering the possible appearance of Red Shoulders. In truth, the ones exerting the greatest battlefield leadership within Azure were the top combat powers and elite squads.
A single top combat power would lead and look after several regular squads, while elite squads were split into groups of three to five to reinforce regular squads...
It was they who led humanity's forces across all twenty-seven battlefronts, in every single sector, stubbornly fighting back against the massive swarms of Black Armors and blue-sheened Great Spikes.
And so,
Re-equipment and the widespread rollout of the Tenth-Generation device had become an urgent priority.
The forging and distribution of advanced weapons continued unabated.
A universal screening for degrees of source energy fusion and a comprehensive conscription drive were also underway in tense preparation.
...
"Open wide. Let me see if your teeth are sharp."
"Hey, this just made me wonder—are snakes considered smart or dumb among animals? I heard you failed the college entrance exams twice."
"And the ladies don't care for him either."
"Well, he's a cold-blooded creature. What the hell does he know about girls?"
Inside the hospital room, Chen Buer and the old chief of staff pulled up chairs by the bedside and sat down, studying with great interest whether Han Qingyu was a snake or some other species.
Now that everything that needed to be said was out in the open, Chen Buer and the old chief of staff were not worried for the moment.
Han Qingyu lay motionless on the hospital bed, ignoring them completely.
It made him look as though he truly were crippled.
Yet, of course, he was not crippled.
On a level beyond the doctors' comprehension, Chen Buer understood. The truth was, at their tier, unless one was slain outright or worn down to death by the backlash of a full-scale outbreak of life source energy, as long as a person drew breath, they could never be crippled.
"By the way, you already know there's a monk staying at your house, right?" Chen Buer asked out of the blue.
Han Qingyu finally opened his eyes to look at him. "Yeah."
"Impressive, isn't it? I arranged for the second-ranked figure in Huaxia military history to stay at your home. Aren't you touched?"
As if deliberately trying to restore their old, familiar rapport, Chen Buer smiled and continued prodding.
"What's that got to do with you?" Han Qingyu grumbled stubbornly.
Regarding Jiang Longchi's presence in his household, Han Qingyu had already heard all about it from Tu Zi.
The master's aftereffects had reached an exaggerated degree by now. Under such circumstances, his willingness to remain peacefully at the Han family home was a miracle in itself, not something anyone could have forced.
"Fair point." Chen Buer nodded, unfazed. "It's rare to see him able to slow down and live such peaceful days. If possible, I'd actually hope he can live out his days there until the end."
Then Chen Buer began telling a story.
In the era of that story, he had not yet met Xu Xiaohong, the old chief of staff beside him.
Back then, he and Jiang Longchi had both only recently passed thirty. Thanks to the nourishment of source energy, they were still young, high-spirited, and vigorous.
Chen Buer had also been turning down higher ranks and posts time after time. Back then, all he wanted was to be a martial fighter.
"In those days, Great Spikes didn't descend very often. The local garrison squads had it rough, but they could manage..."
"In comparison, the prevailing consensus within Azure was that Snow Lotus was the most hateful enemy before us, the greatest bane of humanity. As long as we rooted them out, Azure could enter a relatively stable period of rapid growth."
"Both of us thought the same."
And so, two beings standing at the pinnacle of humanity, two friends, joined hands to accomplish this feat.
"Truth be told, back then I might not have been a match for Ne. He was extraordinarily strong and bizarrely cunning, while I had never found a way to resolve the wound left from slaying a Red Shoulder. At the time, I even thought I was on the verge of dying."
Chen Buer looked out the window, a look of reminiscence surfacing on his face as he went on:
"So that battle was fought almost entirely by Old Jiang alone..."
"For five days and six nights, he fought his way alone across the frozen plains, all the way to Ne's headquarters back then."
"Throughout that time, I stayed hidden without making a single move."
"According to our plan, I was waiting for Ne."
When Ne appeared, Jiang Longchi was still the first to engage. Unleashing a desperate outbreak, he fought until he was grievously wounded and on the brink of death, but he had dealt Ne a grievous wound in return.
"In that moment, before losing consciousness, he was smiling—smiling with immense joy."
"It was precisely after that battle that Longchi began growing forgetful, and his strength virtually stopped improving..."
Chen Buer paused there.
"Too bad you still couldn't kill Ne back then?" For the first time throughout the entire tale, Han Qingyu pressed for what followed, because he knew Ne was still alive.
Even Wu Xu, lying in the adjacent hospital bed, turned his head to listen intently with anticipation.
Chen Buer turned back and looked at him.
"He could have killed him," the old chief of staff said from the side. "Under the circumstances, Ne was grievously wounded by Jiang Longchi. Facing Chen Buer next, his death was already an absolute certainty."
"Then..."
The old chief of staff glanced at Chen Buer and said without emotion, "He let Ne go."
After that battle, Chen Buer began accepting ranks, positions, and responsibilities.
It was also after that battle that Azure began guarding against, suspecting, and watching him at every turn.
At the same time, Ne himself vanished without a trace.
"Does Master Longchi hate you?" A sudden surge of protective affection welled up in Han Qingyu's heart, as if the master were his own elder, making him feel a touch indignant.
"He... he forgot. Later on, all he remembered was that I was his best friend," Chen Buer said slowly, his eyes still turned away.
A brief quiet fell over the hospital room.
"Why?" Wu Xu suddenly spoke up from the side.
He was asking Chen Buer why he had spared Ne.
"Because he convinced me to believe that he could offer humanity another path. Even if it was not a path Azure or I were willing to accept, it was indeed an alternative."
Chen Buer phrased it awkwardly. Wu Xu turned his neck, looking bewildered.
"Actually, if we put it in concrete terms, it will be easier for you to understand. You've heard about where our Azure Ninth-Generation device came from, haven't you?" The old chief of staff tried offering a simpler explanation.
Wu Xu nodded.
Azure's Ninth-Generation device had been copied from Snow Lotus; he had heard of that. In fact, the advances in human source energy technology spearheaded by Snow Lotus went far beyond just that.
Then the old chief of staff turned to Han Qingyu and continued, "I imagine you can guess by now that the source of your Tenth-Generation device was actually Snow Lotus—Ne. Of course, why he chose to deliver the device through you is something I don't understand."
"Oh, I don't understand either," Han Qingyu muttered glumly.
So what on earth did Ne want? What was he doing? It was all so convoluted; better to just remain a simple martial fighter. Han Qingyu couldn't figure it out and felt exhausted, so he simply closed his eyes and chose not to think about it.
*Knock, knock-knock.*
Footsteps paused as Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister appeared at the door of the hospital room, accompanied by Zhe Qiuhong, He Tangtang, and the Little Prince.
"Catching up?" Wen Jifei asked with a smile, addressing the commander and the chief of staff. "Could we trouble you two to step outside for a bit?"
Chapter 629