Xu Xiaohong caught up.
After decades together, Chen Buer was already more than familiar with the sound of those footsteps... Turning around, the comrade legion commander spoke first. "Don't get sentimental on me. You know that disgusts me more than anything."
"Oh? Then damn it all, are you going to die or not? Don't lie to me," Chief of Staff Xu Xiaohong warned with his eyes.
"No lies. Eighty percent chance I won't die," Chen Buer said. "If that thing had come two years earlier, I would have sliced it down without breaking a sweat. As things stand now, though, there's a strong chance I'll end up a cripple. But..."
Chen Buer wanted to share with his old comrade what he had thought about aboard that severed half of the Qing Spear-class craft. "Still, perhaps I shouldn't always assume the future of this world can't do without me. Besides, if we can't get past this hurdle before us, who's to say there will even be a future at all?"
"That wouldn't be so bad, actually," Xu Xiaohong cut in before he could go on.
"Yeah. At best... I guess I'd recover to around Bochen's level," Chen Buer said.
"Lucky for you General Bochen is unconscious." Xu Xiaohong wore a helpless expression. "Just come back alive. That's all that matters."
"Mm, though I might end up a vegetable. That still counts as coming back alive, doesn't it? Hahaha..." Chen Buer laughed.
Comrade Xu Xiaohong said, "Get lost!"
Chen Buer got lost.
Then Xu Xiaohong left as well, going in person to inspect every procedure of the second decapitation operational plan. Barring any surprises, he would also be the one to give the final order to initiate the plan shortly.
About half an hour later, a grim, imposing suit of iron armor crossed the battlefield and arrived outside the command post. The guards were presumably all familiar with this suit of iron armor.
"Stream Vanguard, I'm Shen Yixiu. I'm looking for the legion commander and the chief of staff..." Rusty Sister said to the officer summoned by the guards.
The guard handed her credentials to the officer.
After checking them, the officer looked up. "I'm sorry, but both of them have already gone out."
"Huh? But Qing—Major Qing said he had something very important and told me to give it to the legion commander." Rusty Sister raised her hand and spread open her palm.
Inside was a block of dead iron roughly the size of a matchbox. Han Qingyu had told her the legion commander might have to fight Daie while injured, and that inside this block were his special insights into the application of characteristics, which the legion commander could refer to.
Rusty Sister had been in the middle of hopping out of the vehicle to cut down Great Spikes when Han Qingyu suddenly tossed the iron block to her and said those words.
And then the jeep had left her behind.
She hadn't thought too deeply about it; out of worry for the legion commander, she had simply sprinted all the way back across the battlefield in the opposite direction.
Yet according to legend, the legion commander had no characteristic at all, nor did he need one in the slightest...
"How... how could I be so stupid?!"
Rusty Sister stared blankly at the small iron block in her hand. Qingzi, he...
"Um, Second Lieutenant Shen, if it's not an issue, could you open it? If it's truly that important, we could still try to send it over to see if it reaches him in time."
Seeing her suddenly freeze like this, the officer offered a cautious suggestion from the side.
***
After leaving Rusty Sister behind, there were still four people in the off-road jeep.
Among these four was the person at the center of it all, and the other three generally knew what was about to happen—and they hadn't just realized it now, either.
No one spoke. Apart from the friction of tires against the ground, with a sharp screech, Yang Qingbai stepped on the brakes, and the jeep swung its rear around, coming to a halt at the mouth of the cave they had left earlier.
This was where aircraft were parked. There had been three previously, but now only one remained—a Needlefish-class, two-person human source energy aircraft.
It was named Little Red, possibly one of the most maneuverable source energy craft humanity currently possessed. The modifications Azure later made to its craft had largely used Little Red as a reference.
Its pilot was also one of the best craft pilots in the world.
Truth be told, if it were up to Yang Qingbai, he would drop the "one of," because damn it all, he had flown a train in the sky before.
The cave entrance had been camouflaged beforehand with boulders and trees, quite a large number of them. After getting out of the jeep, the four worked together to clear away the debris.
Silence, broken only by the thud of rocks landing far away, while fallen trees were hurled like arrows back into the woods.
"You will die," Zhe Qiuhong said suddenly as she hurled a boulder outward with both hands.
Han Qingyu stood holding a small stone, looking at her. "Not necessarily, right?" Since his smile couldn't be seen, he tried hard to convey lightheartedness and amusement through his tone.
In reality, things were far from lighthearted. Han Qingyu feared death; he had feared it for many years. And with what he was setting out to do today, if he went, he was very likely to die.
Never mind how terrifying Daie was—having nearly kicked him to death last time—there was also his own condition...
After consuming half a set of remains, including two horn bones, Han Qingyu had never unleashed his full power. What level that state would reach, even he didn't truly know.
At the same time, he needed to draw on the characteristic energy General Ivan had ignited with the last embers of his life to strike; otherwise, it would be impossible for him to kill Daie.
This meant that his current peak combat state did not entirely belong to Han Qingyu himself.
General Ivan's characteristic energy was immensely powerful, perhaps the strongest offensive characteristic currently known to humanity. However, it was almost certainly the root cause of General Ivan's descent into madness.
Back then, when General Ivan passed it over at the end, although it was vast and terrifying, its nature held no active intent to attack.
And shortly, Han Qingyu would use it to attack, unleashing its inherent aggression.
All in one go, burning it completely out.
What would the outcome be? What would be the consequences? Han Qingyu didn't know either. Over this past period, he had only suppressed that energy with all his might; he didn't understand it, let alone command mastery over it.
In fact, it had continually been attacking Han Qingyu's body on instinct.
Following this logic, if this surge of energy erupted all at once, the probability of a massive backlash was very high—especially if it hit while Han Qingyu was in a weakened state...
"Oh." Only after all the rocks and trees at the cave entrance had been cleared away did Zhe Qiuhong respond with that single syllable, and then she said, "That injury of yours is fake."
Zhe Qiuhong had always been a deeply rational person. By this point, she knew she couldn't stop him. In that case, she couldn't leave him with any psychological burdens... Han Qingyu had to still fear death, and fearing death was a wonderful thing.
"I knew it... I had a guess, more or less." Han Qingyu smiled and said, "Thanks... damn you."
This was the first time he had ever cursed at Zhe Qiuhong so earnestly. Throughout the long time they had spent together, Han Qingyu and the others were thoroughly vulgar with one another and often treated Zhe Qiuhong casually, but they had never spoken to her like this.
Perhaps it couldn't really be called a curse—at least to Zhe Qiuhong, it was far better than him calling her chubby.
Lifting her head, Zhe Qiuhong looked at Han Qingyu. Somewhat uncharacteristically, the corners of her mouth curved upward as she flashed him a radiant smile.
"As long as you come back with a single breath left in you, I'll bring you back to life."
"Deal... But hey, what's with that?" Han Qingyu turned around, laughing heartily. "Can you not make it feel like a final farewell? I'm clearly going because I'm going to win."
"Makes sense," Wen Jifei said from just behind him. Cradling the Elegy of the Square, he walked up and stood in front of Han Qingyu. "Which is why I'm not stopping you."
Han Qingyu nodded.
"I'm going with you."
"Huh?! You're going to take on Daie with that broken gun of yours?! And besides, do you even know how to fly a craft?!" Han Qingyu cocked his head and asked with a scoffing tone.
"A little," Wen Jifei said earnestly. He really did know a little. Back when Stream Vanguard had trained craft pilots, he had tagged along to learn. For instance, flying the craft back to Fenglong'ao would be no problem at all.
However, "A little isn't enough. Can you pilot the craft right in front of Daie?" Han Qingyu pressed on mockingly.
"Only I can." Inside the cave, with a zip, Yang Qingbai pulled open the bag containing his flight suit and said.
Chapter 695