This Was the Fear in Everyone's Heart

In a white lab coat with her long hair tied back, Zhe Qiuhong carried a tray out of the operating room and walked down the long corridor. She was tall and solidly built. Though perhaps not as fat as Han Qingyu made her out to be, she certainly was not slender—standing at 170 centimeters and weighing over 120 jin. She always walked with her spine straight, her expression stern, her pace steady, and her gaze fixed forward. She had only arrived this morning at this field hospital on the outskirts of Linzhou, and her name had just begun to spread. As she walked along, doctors and nurses lining the corridor—men and women, young and old—all took the initiative to greet her, their demeanor respectful and slightly formal. She did not even pause to acknowledge them. Strictly speaking, Zhe Qiuhong had always been the one in the small group of Stream Vanguard who was truly indifferent to the world—if she could even be considered one of them. The special education and conditioning she had received in Voyage since childhood had left her fundamentally unconcerned with this world, accustomed to disregarding the life and death of the ordinary masses. Because beneath the fanaticism, their ideals and pursuits were cold and formulaic by nature. Just like the impression her mother had always left on her. In the winter when she was seventeen, with her mother on her deathbed, they had brought her before her. Zhe Qiuhong remembered that was the first time in that entire year she had seen her mother. After completing a brief handover, her mother had finally turned her head in her frailty, glanced at her, and suggested, "Dissect me." She had answered, "Okay." "Then freeze a portion and take it into deep space." "Okay." That was the entirety of the conversation between mother and daughter. Afterward, her mother handed over Voyage's most precious data and secrets, without so much as brushing a hand against her cheek, and simply closed her eyes, passing away peacefully. Thus, even though Zhe Qiuhong was a doctor, that was merely part of constructing her personal scientific framework, as well as a means of steering Voyage. For instance, during the years she helped treat many soldiers in Azure, she had never derived any sense of happiness from saving lives or being thanked. To her, those were nothing more than fair trades and experiments to accumulate case histories. In daily interactions, Zhe Qiuhong rarely even bothered to put on a show of surface politeness or warmth. Right now, for instance, her spirits were low. In deceiving Han Qingyu, how much of it was genuine concern, and how much was planning and calculation for Voyage? At this moment, even Zhe Qiuhong could not quite tell. With the arrival of the full-scale Great Spike invasion, Voyage was currently doing everything it could to induce and push the Azure top brass into allocating resources and strength toward preparing the "Spark Escape" plan. Following this logic, they actually hoped Azure would grow more desperate. The more desperate Azure became, the more smoothly the plan could be advanced and implemented. Turning her thoughts back to Han Qingyu, there was no doubt he had a very foolish side. Zhe Qiuhong had always thought so. When viewed in isolation from the world, he was shrewd, cunning, greedy, powerful, and even possessed a commoner's earthy selfishness. Yet once you connected many threads to him, he turned foolish—because tied to the other ends of those threads were simply too many people. His ties to Azure, or rather to this world, had already grown too deep. Never mind the people close to him, and not to mention Squad 1777 or Stream Vanguard... If one day people like God Lü, Shao Xuan, and Liu Yiwu went to their deaths, could he just stand by and watch? If Boss Dao, Shu You, and the others from the City of Iniquity went to their deaths, could he just stand by and watch? If one day even those squads from Mexico and Venezuela who owed him favors went to their deaths and he saw it, could he just stand by and watch? If an ordinary Azure squad fell into a desperate plight right in front of him, could he just stand by and watch? He would almost certainly charge right in, wouldn't he? Time and time again... Like a moth to a flame. Therefore, talking about breaking away from Azure was entirely meaningless. And so, the more powerful he became, the more danger he was actually in. In Zhe Qiuhong's eyes, Han Qingyu was now practically doomed to die. He, Wu Xu, Wen Jifei, Rusty Sister, and He Tangtang were all practically doomed to die. And Zhe Qiuhong wanted to take them away. Because they already cared about too much, and that included an old man named Chen Buer. Once they refused to let Chen Buer die, they would inevitably be drawn by him onto that expedition of no return. That Daie had likely already discovered Han Qingyu's peculiarity. According to Zhe Qiuhong's deductions, if they truly joined the siege, the target of the Daie's dying struggle would definitely be Han Qingyu. And then, even if they succeeded in killing that Daie, what of it? There was surely more than one Daie. Furthermore, above the Daie, there were bound to be stronger and even stronger existences. They all knew this, and if they continued down this path, it was something they would inevitably have to face. ... *Boom! Boom!* Silent roars reverberated within his body. Wu Xu lay on the hospital bed, enduring excruciating pain, silently forcing source energy surges again and again as he attempted to break through into an outburst of super-level strength. The steel armor sat on the floor against the wall with one leg bent and the other outstretched, intently staring at its shoulder, seemingly lost in thought. "What did Doctor Zhe say?" At the doorway of the ward, Wen Jifei stopped Han Qingyu. "She said bone fragments grew into my heart tissue, so I can't exert my full outburst. But I don't feel a thing. Personally, I feel completely recovered." Han Qingyu stretched his body. Wen Jifei looked at him, tilted his head slightly, and said, "Come on, let's get some sun." With that, he headed outside while handing Han Qingyu a cigarette. By the time the two arrived at the open ground downstairs, the cigarettes were already lit. Wen Jifei sat and took a few quiet drags before speaking up: "Qingzi." "Yeah?" "What's the old man's actual situation right now?" Wen Jifei asked with some concern. "He can kill the Daie, but doing so comes at a huge price, so he said it's not worth it. He might be gravely wounded, or he might never be able to cut down anything stronger again," Han Qingyu said. "I see," Wen Jifei muttered. Knowing full well that the Daie had to be killed, he didn't bring it up, saying instead, "I'm actually a bit scared right now, Qingzi." "Yeah." "If it weren't for Xu'er, Rusty Sister and I might already be dead. Then Xu'er almost died himself, Qingbai almost died, and if the Lord Commander hadn't happened to be there, you'd be dead too." Wen Jifei paused, then said, "I really can't bear to imagine what it would be like if, today, right now, here, some of us were no longer around." "Also, I used to feel like you'd never die, but suddenly I don't feel that way anymore—even though you just swallowed those bones. And this is only the first, second day..." Wen Jifei added, looking up at the endless sky as he spoke. Han Qingyu remained silent, for this was a question with no real answer. "So, if things are confirmed safe back in our hometown, let's keep our families there for now. Then, if we have time, we'll make a trip back." Wen Jifei changed the subject of his own accord. "All right." Han Qingyu twirled the old silver bracelet on his wrist and asked, "By the way, what about Yao Yue?" "Hm? After she evacuated, regular troops took her in along with her teachers and classmates. They're probably being relocated right now—to an Azure base or somewhere, or maybe back home. Can't reach her for the moment." "Oh." In that split second, Han Qingyu almost said, *Why don't you head back, Plague Chicken?*—intending to entrust his family to him, just like before they came to Azure years ago. But he didn't say it aloud... Instead, he asked, "Right, Milla didn't come. How is Milla doing now?" "Far from ready. Her arm's still recovering. Captain Milla isn't a monster like you." He Tangtang walked up from behind, chiming in. He sat down, asked for a cigarette, lit it, and said, "Hey, you think there's any chance I could eat a Great Spike?"