A colossal recruitment billboard draped across a tall building, a boiling city and bustling streets, dense crowds in every direction with blurry, indistinct faces...
A lonely, bewildered figure stood at the street corner, gazing all around.
Han Qingyu could not comprehend why his hometown had become so proud and thrilled like this.
He was not swept up in the emotion of the scene, nor did he feel embarrassed or ashamed. For regarding that title, "Major Qing," and the silhouette on the recruitment advertisement—apart from knowing that "he" was probably himself—Han Qingyu had no concrete experience or real sense of connection whatsoever.
"He's me, and yet he feels like a stranger."
And so, the boisterous scene continued unabated. After perhaps two or three minutes, a trace of unease and panic began to stir in Han Qingyu's heart. By now, he knew for certain that he had amnesia; he had forgotten certain things... but he had no idea what he had forgotten.
He began to fear that unknown past, afraid that it held memories of pain and sorrow.
This stemmed from a personality trait that had never changed, regardless of what he experienced, what he forgot, or whether he was nineteen or twenty-four... Just as he had done all these years, he always wanted to protect everything he cared about around him.
"Honk! Honk honk!"
Suddenly, a sharp car horn sounded behind him.
Han Qingyu looked back.
An off-road Jeep pulled over to the curb.
Wen Jifei leaned forward, rolled down the window, and gave Han Qingyu a smiling wave.
This was their very first encounter since Han Qingyu had woken up. *That bastard wouldn't fail to recognize me, would he? After all, I'm pretty damn cool these days...* Wen Jifei thought.
"Plague Chicken!" Han Qingyu recognized the Wen Jifei from "five years later" at a single glance, without even noticing the changes and differences at first, calling out in hushed excitement.
"Yeah. Get in first." Wen Jifei gestured with his chin and pushed open the passenger door.
Han Qingyu ran over and slid into the front passenger seat.
...The off-road Jeep made a U-turn, accelerated, and left the intersection. Right now, it was the only car in motion throughout the entire county town, the hum of its tires rolling over the asphalt lending a strange sense of serenity amidst the boiling sea of people...
In the rearview mirror, the dense crowds receded into the distance.
The colossal recruitment billboard receded into the distance.
The roar of human voices grew distant, slowly fading to silence...
Wen Jifei glanced sideways at Han Qingyu, noticed Han Qingyu studying him, and said with a smile, "So, what do you think? Big change? By the timeline of your memory loss, it's been five years since we last saw each other."
Five years? So it was five years. The forgotten span of time stretched across five whole years.
Over five years, Wen Jifei had indeed changed considerably, both in appearance and bearing. He wore black attire adorned with a red moth badge, somewhat resembling what the figure on the recruitment poster wore. He didn't carry twin blades behind his shoulders, but on his back was a device centered around a metal box, just like the figure on the advertisement.
*It seems over these five years, Plague Chicken and I walked the same path; we must have experienced it together.* Thinking this, Han Qingyu hesitated... and slowly shifted, turning his head to look into the side mirror...
At last, he saw his own face from five years later.
Familiar.
Unfamiliar.
"Major Qing." It was the face from the recruitment billboard. What Han Qingyu saw was the face of a warrior that belonged both to himself and to the battlefield.
However, the eyes were different. The gaze reflected in the mirror was still that of his nineteen-year-old self, tinged with confusion and unease.
"Hey, Qingzi." Giving Han Qingyu a few minutes to process it all, Wen Jifei reached out and bumped his arm.
Han Qingyu turned back.
Wen Jifei held an opened pack of cigarettes, four cigarettes poking out unevenly from the opening.
"Take one. I'll fill you in on the way."
"Okay." Han Qingyu took one.
Wen Jifei drew back his hand, flicked one between his own lips, lit it, and then lit Han Qingyu's. Slowing the Jeep down, he began to speak:
"The year after the college entrance exams, due to an accident, you joined a special military unit called Azure. And then, I boarded that train as well..."
Wen Jifei's explanation was not detailed. Aside from explaining what Azure was, what the Great Spikes were, the extraterrestrial invasion, and humanity's resistance, he only touched lightly upon their personal experiences.
Because over those five years, they had been through far too much. At the same time, Wen Jifei had to consider Han Qingyu's current ability to process it all, so he omitted anything that was too brutal, complicated, or heavy.
*Anyway, Qingzi will regain his memory soon,* he thought.
*No wonder I suddenly knew how to speak English,* Han Qingyu thought.
"And finally, in Oceania, your single strike ended the Zenith War..." Wen Jifei wrapped up the broad strokes of the story, glancing sideways at Han Qingyu.
"You mean that suit of iron armor in the Zenith was me?" Han Qingyu asked hesitantly, his eyes full of shock.
"You remember?!" Wen Jifei asked in surprise.
"I vaguely dreamt about it, but I had no idea that was actually me."
"Oh, I see." Wen Jifei paused, then added, "After that battle, we returned, and you ended up injured and lost your memory."
"Yeah."
After Han Qingyu hummed in response, Wen Jifei said nothing more. He handed him another cigarette, lit another one for himself, and silence settled over the cab.
The tires quietly rolled over the road.
It wasn't until roughly half an hour later that Han Qingyu straightened up, flicked away the long-extinguished cigarette butt, and turned back.
"How about it?" Wen Jifei asked with a grin. "Can your head wrap around it now?"
"More or less." Han Qingyu believed him and had come to terms with it. "But can you understand, Plague Chicken? I don't feel any real sense of it. Everything you mentioned, no matter how much I believe it, feels totally abstract right now. Including those other people you said shared all this with us over the past five years—I'm not familiar with them anymore either."
"Right... but don't worry, you'll remember eventually anyway."
"Yeah."
"Actually, looking at it as getting to know each other all over again isn't a bad idea either... Yeah, getting reacquainted might not be the worst thing," Wen Jifei said, chuckling to himself.
"Sounds like the reputation I built over these five years wasn't particularly great," Han Qingyu remarked.
"Haha, sharp as always."
In fact, Wen Jifei noticed that Han Qingyu had neglected to ask about one thing: exactly how powerful he was now.
*He might have overlooked it, or maybe he already drew his own conclusion, or perhaps he just doesn't care much about that right now? Fine, I won't bring it up for now. As long as I don't mess with him, it doesn't matter.*
"There's one more thing," Han Qingyu suddenly added.
"Hm? Go on."
"If you made me sound so formidable, why am I only a major?" Han Qingyu asked, puzzled.
Wen Jifei's recount hadn't touched on the details of their forced flight as fugitives back then... *Better to wait until Qingzi recovers his memory to learn all that,* he thought, and quipped, "Probably because you're stingy and stupid, haha."
Han Qingyu was rendered speechless for a moment. "What about you?"
"...Major General," Wen Jifei said.
*That... seems like a pretty huge gap.* Han Qingyu was momentarily stunned, then changed the subject. "By the way, what's the deal with that giant portrait?"
"It's an advertisement for Azure's global recruitment drive. Worldwide, they picked seven or eight figures as propaganda icons, and you're one of them..." Wen Jifei explained. "Actually, Azure was only just gearing up to launch the recruitment campaign. It's probably because this is your hometown that they put it up early."
"Oh."
"How does it feel? Inconvenient?"
"Not really. Since I have no memory of it, it's pretty abstract, so I don't feel much," Han Qingyu said. "Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be able to take it."
"Yeah... but you'll get your memory back," Wen Jifei said thoughtfully. "That was a profile shot... probably the clearest view of your face they had. They shouldn't have any clearer photos. How about this: I'll contact Azure later and have them pull down any posters showing your face too clearly. As for your iconic silhouette, let them use it—after all, this concerns all of humanity right now. What do you think?"
"Either way is fine by me. I'll defer to you," Han Qingyu said.
Wen Jifei was slightly taken aback. Glancing at him, he smiled. "Then that's settled."
"Yeah." Han Qingyu nodded, leaned in closer, and asked in a whisper, "Do they pay for it?"
"..." Wen Jifei paused. "Of course they have to pay! Don't worry, I'll go shake them down for it."
Han Qingyu felt relieved.
...
In fact, the car had long since driven past its destination. Wen Jifei turned around and drove unhurriedly back toward Fenglong'ao. In the Jeep, the two had completely slipped back into their natural, easy banter.
"Right, you mentioned earlier that those alien... Great Spikes, they've all headed to Antarctica now?" Han Qingyu suddenly asked.
"Yeah. In Azure's propaganda terms, it's called 'total retreat into their shells,'" Wen Jifei replied.
"So that means there's still more fighting to be done. It really isn't over..." Han Qingyu muttered, feeling a twinge of apprehension.
No matter how formidable Wen Jifei made him sound, if you asked him to go hack alien monsters right now... Han Qingyu wasn't at all sure he wouldn't just turn tail and run.
*Those things must be terrifying... Who knows when we'll have to fight them, or if they'll call on me... I've lost my memory, damn it!*
*Maybe I should just go back home and pretend to be in a coma again?*
"What are you brooding over?" Wen Jifei asked.
"I was just thinking, after what happened in the county town, I'll barely dare step out the door from now on," Han Qingyu said, glancing back toward the crowds and voices that had long since vanished.
"You think this is big?" Wen Jifei laughed. "This is just our hometown, a small place where people react pretty simply. Wait until you go outside to the big cities and see the world—only then will you truly understand what your existence means and represents right now..."
As they spoke, the car pulled up outside the Han family courtyard.
This time, the villagers of Fenglong'ao were no longer held back. Standing at various distances, they watched with timid, awkward expressions, calling out tentative greetings. The members of Stream Vanguard no longer hid from him either, all standing in the courtyard waiting.
Even that expert who snapped a steel rod with his bare hands was there; Han Qingyu spotted him.
From Wen Jifei's explanation earlier, Han Qingyu knew that these people had originally been very close to him, especially a portion of them who had shared life and death with him over the past five years.
Yet, he didn't know them anymore.
Not only did he not recognize their faces, Wen Jifei hadn't even gone into detail about their names.
*How am I supposed to greet them? Act familiar, or polite and distant? Do I owe them money? Do they owe me money? And what about Mom and Dad...*
Han Qingyu hesitated, bracing himself as he prepared to push open the car door.
"You're finally back! Qingzi!" His mother's voice suddenly rang out, just like when she used to call him home for dinner—urgent and laced with a touch of exasperation.
Followed by a flurry of hurried footsteps.
The car door was yanked open from the outside.
"Qingzi, come on, get out. Mom needs to talk to you."
Zhang Jiexia grabbed Han Qingyu by the wrist and dragged him out of the car.
Chapter 705