Are They Dating?

"Hey! Hey, you down by the slope, Peg Pink!" "Is that you? Peg Pink?" Standing beside a truck roughly six hundred meters away, Wen Jifei raised his muzzle slightly and shouted. Two seconds later, a reply came from beneath the dirt slope. "I hear you." Then, a tuft of pink hair slowly poked up above the ground. What entered Pegmont's sight, aside from Wen Jifei, was Milla. The dark muzzles of two Endless sniper rifles were trained squarely on him. Pegmont was not particularly afraid of guns—in fact, he had come specifically to snatch one. However, while the barrels were aimed at him, the rest of Stream Vanguard on his flanks had already begun moving to encircle him from a distance. At the same time, the three Azure squads had backed far away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. All of this had already registered on Pegmont's radar. He slowly stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes. "What do you want?" "Am I not allowed to ambush Great Spikes here?" "Why are you aiming your guns at a comrade-in-arms?" "Wait, don't tell me you guys are spies? On the Great Spikes' side?" Everyone from Stream Vanguard: "..." "I really want to hack him to death," He Tangtang said, gripping the saber in his hands. Wu Xu: "Mm." "Oh, so you were ambushing Great Spikes? Well, that's completely fine, of course. Just like how we're merely maintaining a little vigilance," Wen Jifei said with a smile. "By the way, I'd like to remind you, Peg Pink: you've strayed quite far from your unit. I imagine those civilians really need your protection." "Seems like it." Pegmont looked between Milla and Wen Jifei, eyeing the firearms in their hands as his gaze darted back and forth. "In that case, I'll be taking off." With that, he turned. *Whoosh!* Pegmont was simply gone, just like that. One had to remember that before this, he had crawled on his belly for at least two kilometers just to reach this spot. All the moving Stream Vanguard members froze, exchanging bewildered, wide-eyed stares. "So what did he actually come here for?" "No idea." "To look for Qingzi?" "Didn't look like it." "Then what was he..." "Forget it. Who cares?" Amid the chatter, Wen Jifei watched Pegmont's figure finally disappear from his sniper scope. Lowering his rifle, he turned toward Milla and whispered, "Did you notice? He seemed very interested in our guns." "Mm." Milla nodded. Through her sniper scope, every one of Pegmont's expressions and movements had been crystal clear. "What, does he use guns too? Isn't he an overwhelmingly strong super?" He Tangtang sidled up and asked. "He probably doesn't—at least, I've never heard of it," Milla said, shaking her head as she whispered, "but there is someone by his side. I think it must be him: Makarov. Back when I was still serving in Huaxia, people called him the God of Guns of Eastern Europa." Once she said that, everyone present, including Milla herself, understood. Yet understanding did not mean they could do anything about it. They could not possibly ask Qingzi to do anything else. Milla looked back toward Han Qingyu's direction, guilt in her eyes. Several days earlier at the Third Fixed Exploration Site, upon hearing that Qingzi had finally returned aboard the airship, Milla—whose injured arm had long since healed—had immediately scooped up "Captain Lady" and excitedly dashed over to find him. Han Qingyu had spoken to her from within his iron armor, taken Captain Lady, and walked into a military tent. Ten-odd minutes later, the tent had suddenly burned to ashes in a single instant. Then Han Qingyu had struggled to his feet, climbing up from the ground with great difficulty before returning Captain Lady to Milla. On the spot, Milla had nearly burst into tears. *It turns out Qingzi has to burn himself just to modify a source energy firearm...* *** Beside a small knoll overgrown with dense bushes, Pegmont leaped lightly into view and waved. "Let's go." Makarov hopped down from behind the knoll. Looking somewhat regretful yet also slightly relieved, he smiled at Pegmont. "Because we're comrades-in-arms, I ultimately decided to be honest with them about my intentions." Pegmont spread his hands, turning to look at Makarov. "Unfortunately, they know who you are, and they think your marksmanship is utter trash—not worth doing that for." "Is... is that so?" Makarov gave a weak, helpless smile. "Naturally, so they refused. And they persuaded me to abandon the snatch plan. They really were extraordinarily sincere, especially that pretty Miss Milla—her eyes even went red. So, sorry, Mark. In a situation like that, there was simply no way I could bring myself to use force and take it." "..." Makarov raised his hand helplessly, gesturing with the scope he had disassembled from his rifle. "I really, truly regret worrying about you just now." He was, after all, a super sniper; everything that had happened had unfolded within his observation and judgment. "Good lord, you actually worried? There was no need to worry at all." Caught in the act, Pegmont did not show even half a second of embarrassment. He brazenly said, "They're no match for me. I just considered things and decided I didn't want to get into a conflict with comrades on a battlefield meant for fighting Great Spikes." "Really? In that case, weren't you running away just a little bit too fast just now?" Makarov finally could not take it anymore and decided to jab back. "Was I?" "You were." "That was just my normal slightly faster pace, Mark, because we were already too far from the people who need our protection." With that, Pegmont grabbed Makarov by the collar, and with a rush of wind, bolted away at top speed. "That bastard Major Qing is there too." Though he had not laid eyes on him, Pegmont was certain Han Qingyu was in that convoy. "Otherwise, there is no way they could have detected my approach from that distance." *** Things had finally quieted down. For the moment, unsure where to head next, Stream Vanguard remained where they were, waiting to see if any more Great Spike airships would appear. "By the way, how did you guys find your way here?" Qin Guowen sat on the ground with a bunch of his comrades from Squad 1777. Taking the cigarette Wen Jifei handed over, he looked up and asked curiously. Everyone raised their heads to look at Wen Jifei. "First it was the swarm of Great Spikes, and then him—this bastard. We tracked him all the way here, and we almost lost him." Wen Jifei pointed a finger at Zhao Erzhu. "You scoundrel! Milla and I were busting our backs behind you, sniping Great Spikes for your sake, and all you did was keep your head down and sprint without even glancing back once!" "Ah? But I didn't hear any gunshots!" In front of seniors like Wen Jifei, Zhao Erzhu did not dare act too cheeky. "There was one shot. Miss Milla saw you trapped in the swarm of Great Spikes and fired right away to blow open an opening for you. After that, because the distance was so great and we were afraid the gunshots would draw even more Great Spikes to corner you, we attached suppressors." Wen Jifei feigned annoyance, though he specifically handed Zhao Erzhu a cigarette. "Even so, shouldn't you have noticed something? You were running ahead while the Great Spikes behind you were dropping like flies..." "Uh, I didn't notice. Heheh, I was wondering why they stopped chasing after I took a few strides!" Just as Zhao Erzhu finished speaking— "Did you hear that? Did you hear that?!" Lao Jian sprang to his feet, puffing out his chest triumphantly. "I told you I heard a gunshot back then! You all insisted I was hallucinating!" Then he turned back and asked directly, "Right, where's Qingzi? Why haven't I seen Qingzi around?" Squad 1777 was not the only group present. Considering Qingzi's special condition at the moment, Wen Jifei decided it was best not to discuss it publicly. *I'll tell Captain Lao and the others in private in a bit,* he thought, shooting Lao Jian a meaningful look. "Honestly, it doesn't matter whether he comes or not," the Little Prince interjected, strolling over. "He's back at the home base, crippled. Because he devoured someone else's food and forgot about it the moment he turned around, he went and crippled himself. Now he's weak as a chicken. Oh, no—weak as an egg, because even moving him around requires gentle handling." He made sure to say it very loudly so Han Qingyu would hear. In truth, the difference in someone's attitude toward others before and after receiving the Bone of Eternal Life had simply been too stark and egregious. Brother Jiaming had been brooding over it for days. In the center of the convoy, Han Qingyu heard him and smiled beneath his iron armor. Just as he was reflecting that he might have gone a bit too far, he turned to see Rusty Sister walking over in silence. Perhaps because of what she had said to the civilians earlier, past memories had resurfaced, leaving her in low spirits. Activating his "Extremely Rare Tenderness" skill, Han Qingyu's iron armor reached out and patted Rusty Sister's iron noggin. Releasing a tiny trace of energy, he teased, "Well? Is it warm?" "It's boiling!" Rusty Sister turned around huffily, and with two heavy clangs, smacked his iron helmet twice in return. "Now you know what it feels like to have your head smacked from the inside, right? I'll rattle you to death!" "Heh." The tenderness vanished in an instant. Releasing his energy once more, Han Qingyu retaliated, "I'll roast you to death!" *Thud!* Rusty Sister lowered her head and gave him a slight bump with her shoulder. "You dare? Watch out, or I'll smash you to pieces!" Trailing behind Wen Jifei, Lao Jian stopped dead in his tracks, staring blankly at the two childish sets of iron armor. "Are you saying... Qingzi is inside that?" he asked woodenly in a low voice. "...Yeah." Wen Jifei nodded. "Are they dating or something?" "Huh?" "Those two tin cans," Captain Lao said, squinting. "I remember you guys telling me before that Qingzi was dead-set straight because he'd never met his own kind. Now that he's turned into an iron suit too, did he finally find his own kind?"