The next morning at breakfast, Wen Jifei, He Tangtang, the Little Prince, and Yang Qingbai were, as usual, not sitting at the same long table as the others.
They called this daily hour their "recess."
During this time, they would leave Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, and Zhe Qiuhong behind to sit with the young nurses of the field hospital, eating breakfast while chatting away.
Surrounded by those clear eyes, gazes full of excitement and reverence, and the bright laughter of young women, they gathered good moods and energy to start a wonderful day.
"To be honest, when we chat in private, the person everyone is most worried about is you, Tangtang," a young nurse suddenly said, giving He Tangtang an affectionate, gentle look.
Another nurse chimed in, "Yes, exactly! Tangtang, when you go on missions with Major Qing and the others, you must, absolutely must stay safe."
He Tangtang had been through enough to know what they meant. Looking at their small team, it was true that as things stood, the weakest and most unsupported member seemed to be him.
Yang Qingbai and Plague Chicken were weak too, but one piloted an airship, and the other wielded a sniper rifle whose name had become legendary: the Elegy of the Square.
"Heh." He Tangtang was not angry at all. He looked up with a mysterious smile. "Thank you, but you're probably underestimating me. In reality, I'm not as simple as you think."
"...Wow. Does that mean you're actually really strong?" the young nurses asked eagerly and earnestly.
"Haha, classified." He Tangtang clutched his chest, putting on an air of harboring an earth-shattering secret. "Ever heard of hiding one's light under a bushel? Just you wait. One day, all of you will be shocked by me. Not just you—even the Great Spikes will be scared out of their wits..."
Across the long table, the young nurses froze with their chopsticks and spoons suspended in midair, staring at him wide-eyed like a row of entranced marmots.
"All right, fine, I'll let you in on a little secret." He Tangtang glanced left and right, then leaned over the table and whispered hurriedly, "Truth is, I'm a future pinnacle super. You know what that means? Even among super combat powers, I'll be the strongest kind."
"Whoa!"
At another long table in the same row, Rusty Sister's iron suit watched them for a moment before clicking around. "Why are they going whoa, whoa, whoa... Qingzi, what's Tangtang saying?"
"He's saying he'll be very strong in the future." Han Qingyu shook his head helplessly and glanced over as well.
Given the current situation, if he gave the green light and handed He Tangtang a megaphone, Tangtang would probably tell the whole world within ten minutes that he was a Yanxiu—and one capable of eating Great Spikes, no less.
Zhe Qiuhong had already submitted her research report on the Yanxiu a few days ago. Naturally, the report had omitted the individual case studies on Han Qingyu and Wu Xu.
Right now, Azure was almost certainly carrying out relevant research and preparations in an effort to identify as many unawakened inheritors of the Yanxiu will as possible during the upcoming general conscription.
Just how many Yanxiu existed on Planet Azure? Or rather, how many Yanxiu wills had already been inherited in this world?
Even Han Qingyu and the others were filled with curiosity and anticipation regarding this.
*Patter, patter, patter...*
Footsteps echoed at the entrance of the dining hall. The nurse they had met yesterday in the ward came running in, her expression ecstatic.
Because the floor was somewhat slippery, she nearly took a tumble.
Her rubber soles screeched against the floor. Han Qingyu turned sideways, reaching out to support her and help her steady herself.
"Th-Thank you, Major Qing." The young nurse gasped for breath, hastily blurted her thanks, and then turned to Zhe Qiuhong. "Dr. Zhe, reporting to Dr. Zhe—Grandma Yuemei is awake!"
"Awake?!" Zhe Qiuhong froze in surprise and stood up.
Just an hour ago, she had told Han Qingyu and the others that after passing the night, it was impossible for the old woman to ever wake up again.
Because she was Zhe Qiuhong, she had no reason to doubt her own judgment.
Yet Grandma Yuemei had woken up.
After she had already been pronounced practically dead by the world's most capable doctor.
"Yes! Thank you so much for operating on her, Dr. Zhe." The young nurse nodded vigorously. "She really did wake up, but her condition is still very poor..."
"It doesn't matter. As long as she can wake up, I can keep her alive." Zhe Qiuhong set down her chopsticks, stepped aside, and said, "Let's go. I'll take a look."
The two hurried figures vanished through the dining hall doors.
"Incredible," Rusty Sister turned back, murmuring in a daze. It was hard to tell whether she was praising Zhe Qiuhong's medical brilliance or Grandma Yuemei's sheer will in wrestling with the Grim Reaper.
"Yeah," He Tangtang, the Little Prince, and Yang Qingbai had already walked back over, their faces equally bright with joy and amazement.
"Qingzi... Qingzi, what's wrong?" Wen Jifei nudged Han Qingyu's shoulder.
"Ah... Nothing." Han Qingyu snapped back to reality and gave a perfunctory reply, though his train of thought was far from broken.
Because he believed so completely in Zhe Qiuhong's medical skills and her diagnostic judgment, he vaguely sensed that some unique element of the situation had been overlooked.
What could it be? He tried to puzzle it out, but came up empty.
Back in the ward, near midday, Zhe Qiuhong finally returned. The first thing she did was cast a deeply meaningful, perplexed look at Han Qingyu... but said nothing.
"How is she?" the others asked in anxious concern.
"Still very weak, but she will live," Zhe Qiuhong said.
Grandma Yuemei had survived. Her life force was faint, yet steadily recovering... It was a situation Zhe Qiuhong could not fathom.
If Grandma Yuemei had an S-grade or A-grade degree of fusion—or even B-grade—Zhe Qiuhong could attribute it to source energy nourishment yielding extraordinary effects. But the old woman's file clearly stated she was Grade E-. In terms of both absorption rate and conversion rate, such a recovery should have been entirely impossible.
***
Saint Petersburg, Xiongzhanli. This was one of the twenty-seven cities worldwide under blanket alien assault.
Because only this single city was being blanketed, the Xiongzhanli Front had simply moved its front headquarters from the Siberian wilderness to the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, committing their entire force to fight the Great Spikes to the bitter end.
After nearly three months of brutal fighting, the situation had gradually stabilized.
At the same time, perhaps because the neighboring Huaxia Front was far too dominant and drew too much attention, not a single red-shoulder had appeared on the Xiongzhanli side before now.
For the Xiongzhanli Front, this was probably considered a blessing in disguise.
*Wuuu... Wuuu!*
On September 13, 1994, air raid sirens abruptly wailed across the skies of Saint Petersburg, shattering the hard-won stability everyone thought they had secured.
The descent of ordinary Great Spikes had long become routine and never warranted an alarm. Thus, the sirens meant only one thing... an invasion of massive proportions, or at least the arrival of a red-shoulder.
*Wuuu... Wuuu!* The sirens wailed continuously.
In the Krasnoselsky District on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, on the third underground level of Azure Xiongzhanli No. 1 Top-Secret Prison...
Due to layer upon layer of containment, nothing could be heard down here.
Yet the frantic footsteps of the officers and guards rushing to deliver military alerts, along with the grim expressions on their faces, gave away the dire crisis unfolding outside.
"Can you tell me what's happening out there?"
Behind a massive, thick wall of dead iron, devoid of any gaps except for an opening the size of a palm, an unkempt, stubbled man appeared at the small opening and asked.
His name was Stepan... a super combat power of the Xiongzhanli Front.
Because he had taken part in the earlier separatist rebellion, he had been stripped of his device and locked away here. Imprisoned alongside him in the adjacent cell was Gennady.
Gennady was also a super combat power who had joined the mutiny. The two of them were the only prisoners on the third underground level of Prison No. 1.
Outside the cell, the guard heard the question, turned, and hesitated.
Toward these two former Xiongzhanli generals and super combat powers, the guards felt deeply conflicted. The reverence of the past could not be entirely erased, yet they harbored intense hatred for the civil strife and blood debts the separatists had brought upon them.
For that very reason, the guards normally never spoke to Stepan or Gennady.
"It's fine. Please, tell us. I gather things look rather grim," Gennady's eyes appeared at the opening of the neighboring cell.
"...It's a red-shoulder," a guard finally answered. "A red-shoulder has arrived."
"If forced, we may have to seal this place temporarily."
Another soldier raised a hand and pointed toward the overhead corridor. "So, we are preparing long-term rations for you two generals. Please do not worry. Some of us will stay behind with you until the crisis abates..."
"I see. Well, can Anton and Mikhail handle it?" Stepan asked. "They're the only two left, right? Has anyone new emerged recently?"
Because of that earlier rebellion, and because General Ivan had gone missing once more after it was crushed, the Xiongzhanli Front currently had only two super combat powers available for battle.
"Perhaps. Both have been outfitted with tenth-generation devices now. With some of our top officers backing them up, they should manage," the guard captain said without conviction.
"That's good, then," Stepan replied calmly before vanishing behind the opening.
"Actually, if needed... no, if permitted, don't forget we're still here," Gennady added before also slipping away from his opening.
Less than a minute later...
*Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!*
A furious flurry of footsteps came charging down the stairs from above.
Before the person even came into view, their voice rang out, "Seal it! Seal the prison! Colonel Aleksey has received orders to deploy... Two of them! My god, when they don't show up, none come, but the moment they do, two arrive together! Those bastards must be terrified of our Huaxia allies!"
Another one had arrived. That meant two red-shoulders, accompanied by a massive horde of black-armored and blue-sheened Great Spikes descending in coordinated assault.
The Great Spikes seemed to have chosen Xiongzhanli as their breakthrough point.
The officer dispatched to deliver orders appeared at the top of the stairwell, waving frantically without descending. The guards sprang into action at once.
Stepan and Gennady reappeared at their cell openings.
"Can you have Aleksey come down here? In a situation like this, Anton and Mikhail can't possibly hold them off, and sending you out there will be useless," Stepan said.
The soldiers froze in heavy silence.
"Please tell him," Gennady said, "if possible, these traitors would choose to die in battle."
Chapter 644