My Dad Flew Away

That evening, at dinnertime, not a single person from Stream Vanguard came over, wanting to let Han Qingyu and his family talk in peace. This meant that so far, aside from Wen Jifei, none of them had truly greeted Qingzi or reacquainted themselves with him. "Sit, sit. See if anything whets your appetite." The table was laden with Han Qingyu's old favorites. Zhang Jiexia's tone and expression carried a touch of guilt as she spoke, and after setting the dishes down, she headed back into the kitchen to fetch more. She had little schooling and an impatient temperament; her son had only just awakened today, and she had already put him through several exhausting ordeals. Only just now, when she caught the helplessness and timidity in his eyes, had the mother's heart ached for him again—an ache that had already lasted over three months before this. Han Qingyu hadn't eaten anything for more than three months either, having relied entirely on the nourishment of source energy. While his body was certainly fine now, his stomach and intestines were hardly accustomed to food. A plate of fried pork slices garnished with chopped scallions sat before him. Just looking at it brought a wave of nausea. Han Qingyu turned his head and saw three bottles of Wahaha milk drinks on the table. Thinking he might start with some milk, he reached out to take one. "Hey, don't touch my wine! Children shouldn't drink wine." An old man walked over, snatched the Wahaha from the table into his hands, and sat down clutching them to his chest. "Wine? This is wine?!" Han Qingyu panicked in utter confusion. Wasn't this Wahaha? Had his amnesia gotten so bad that he couldn't even tell what this was? He looked up. The old man across from him was wearing monk robes, yet he had hair, and his complexion looked healthy and energetic. The old man was staring back at him as well. The two of them sat there, suddenly blinking at each other across the table... Separated by the dining table, both were quietly contemplating the exact same question in their heads: Who are you? Ordinarily, Han Qingyu should have been able to make the connection to Master Longchi. Back at Legion Square, he had figured it out. Right now, however, his thoughts were in disarray; whenever he ran into someone he didn't recognize, he instinctively attributed it to his amnesia, which ironically kept him from grasping the truth. Besides, Jiang Longchi hadn't announced his name—he had forgotten it. His current appearance had also changed considerably from before. Aside from growing increasingly forgetful, he was in very good shape in every other way. "I gave it some thought. I might be your grandfather," Jiang Longchi spoke first after roughly a minute, proposing a possibility. "Get lost!" The words slipped out on instinct. Catching himself, Han Qingyu quickly softened his tone. "You're not. My grandfather passed away." "Is that so?" "Yeah. Although I've forgotten a lot of things, I remember that." The old man knitted his brows. "Then who am I?" "Huh? How should I know?" Han Qingyu grew even more bewildered. "Then who are you?" "I'm Han Qingyu." "Oh. Then what are you doing in my house?" "...This is my house." "Really?!" Jiang Longchi looked left and right. "Then why am I in your house?" "How would I know?!" "I got it." "Huh?" "I might be your grandfather." "Get lost!" What was wrong with this old man? Han Qingyu thought to himself: *I haven't been back in five years. Coming home to find an extra younger brother or sister would make sense, but what is the deal with an extra grandfather?* They really shouldn't have laughed. Both were family, and in terms of status, one was an Azure General and the other was Major The Qing. Mocking them was downright audacious. Yet standing by the doorway, the couple Han Youshan and Zhang Jiexia were already laughing their heads off. "Come, come, come, let me sort this out for you two." Han Youshan sat down with a laugh and, after much effort, managed to explain the past and present, their identities, and their current circumstances. *So it's that old monk who used to scam free food and drinks back in the day—Master Longchi, who gave me my name! To think he's actually an Azure General, something that extravagant, with a military rank even higher than Plague Chicken's.* Thinking this, Han Qingyu instantly felt a bit intimidated, not knowing whether he should stand up and salute the old man or something. "Don't worry about it. Just treat him like an adoptive grandfather. Master was such good friends with your real grandfather back then anyway." Zhang Jiexia brought over bowls of rice, setting them down one by one, and whispered to him in dialect, "Come tomorrow, he'll ask who you are all over again. But once you've spent enough time together, he'll know you're family." "Yeah." Han Qingyu nodded, thinking, *My real grandpa was petty as can be, though. Old friendship or not, he'd definitely be sulking in his grave if he knew.* As he picked up his chopsticks, he looked up at the old man once more. A pang of melancholy suddenly touched Han Qingyu's heart. An Azure General... who would have thought his twilight years would turn out like this? The old man himself was quite cheerful, though, happy for Han Youshan and his wife, and delighted that there was one more person in the household. He took a contented sip of Wahaha and put on the air of an important figure, declaring: "The boy isn't bad. If anything comes up from now on, let me know. I'll watch out for you all." "Right, right," Han Youshan and Zhang Jiexia replied, smiling in reassurance. ... After dinner, while Zhang Jiexia was clearing the table, Han Youshan quietly called Han Qingyu outside. Basking in the lingering twilight, father and son wound their way along the mountain path and turned into the orchard at the foot of the back hill. "Your mother's been running you ragged all day, and the two of us haven't had a proper chat." Han Youshan smiled with a hint of awkwardness. "Qingzi." "Yeah, Dad." Figuring his dad had something to tell him, Han Qingyu waited patiently. "Look at this." *Clang-chua-clang!* Han Youshan suddenly produced a source energy apparatus from the bundle of his jacket... then said excitedly: "I borrowed it from the Stream Vanguard soldiers. Originally, I thought about using yours, but they told me yours was different—you have to be a super to use it, and if an ordinary person puts it on, they could lose their life in a heartbeat. "They said this one should be fine. To tell the truth, I've wanted to try one for a long time, but then the TV broadcast that news, making me the father of Major Qing. So I thought, what if I try it and can't handle it? Wouldn't that be humiliating?! So I put it off until now." As Han Youshan spoke, he began putting on the apparatus. Watching from the side, Han Qingyu felt a bit of a headache coming on. To him right now, this gear was completely unfamiliar too. And judging from what his dad just said, this thing could be dangerous if handled incorrectly. "Dad, do you know how to wear that? Don't put it on wrong," he said worriedly. "Don't worry, I've watched them for months, and I've asked around," Han Youshan said confidently. "Still," Han Qingyu paused. "There's only the two of us here, and I don't understand it right now either. If anything goes wrong, I won't know how to handle it. Shouldn't we call someone over first? Like Plague Chicken..." "No need, I already called someone," Han Youshan said, looking around. "I called the most reliable one." As his voice fell, a figure clad in a black combat uniform strode toward them through the slanted beams of twilight piercing over the ridge. The person carried a black spear and a blue column sword on his back. His name was Wu Xu. He was currently ranked seventh on the Dome Leaderboard, and was deemed by both Han's dad and mom to be the most reliable person in Stream Vanguard. As he walked, he kicked aside branches he had placed on the ground to mark the trail. After all, having only just re-met, Wu Xu didn't want Han Qingyu to discover right away that he had no sense of direction. He saw Han Qingyu. Han Qingyu was looking back at him, seeming a little shy around strangers. "Hello, my name is Wu Xu... Hello, Uncle." "I'm Han Qingyu." "Mm." With just that single syllable, Wu Xu didn't know what to say next. Thinking about it, the feeling was truly subtle. The guy in front of him had originally been a comrade who fought alongside him through life and death, as well as the leader of them all—the backbone, the pillar. What kind of person had he been before? Setting aside all those formidable, awe-inspiring deeds, Wu Xu still remembered the first time they met, when Han Qingyu had picked up his Binggu Spear as a matter of course. Later came the bloody battle in the canyon. They stood on opposing sides, yet Wu Xu had refused to strike at him even if it meant death... and Han Qingyu had slaughtered his way through that canyon all by himself, asking him: *Come with me.* Yet the Han Qingyu before him now looked somewhat flustered, with bewildered eyes. Not only had he returned to being nineteen years old, but amid the drastic changes in the world and his lost memories, he was currently lost in confusion and apprehension... Faced with those shy, nervous eyes, Wu Xu wanted to say more to him, but couldn't find the words. "Wu Xu, take a look, did I put it on right?" Han Youshan asked, walking over while holding back his excitement. Wu Xu inspected it carefully, nodded, stepped forward, took a source energy block from his pocket, opened the metal casing on Han Youshan's apparatus, inserted it, and said calmly, "Ready." Ready. Han Qingyu looked at Han Youshan with tense unease. Han Youshan raised his hand to the switch over his chest and paused, looking rather nervous himself. *Whew, I am Major Qing's own father!* he thought, and pressed it down. *Hum!* The apparatus gave a low buzz. *Crack.* Han Youshan fainted dead away. Spurting a mouthful of blood in response, his body pitched forward in a straight line and crashed to the ground. Fortunately, the ground was soft dirt chosen beforehand, so he didn't smash his head. "...Dad?!" Han Qingyu panicked instantly. "Dad! How are you?! Quick, turn it off! Call a doctor..." "He's fine. This is normal." Wu Xu squatted down without shutting off the apparatus, simply turning him over onto his back, and did his best to explain: "I loaded him with one of the source energy blocks you reverse-channeled. He'll wake up very soon, without any injury." "...Really?!" "Mm." Wu Xu stood up and nodded. "He'll be fine in a moment." "..." "Really, I promise." Well, if that was the case... While waiting nervously, Han Qingyu glanced hesitantly at Wu Xu. The man didn't seem fond of talking and had a rather wooden expression, but he genuinely felt like a good person. "Were we close in the past?" After hesitating a bit longer, Han Qingyu ventured to ask. "Mm." Wu Xu looked at him and nodded vigorously. *Close? We shared life and death together.* He wanted to offer the nineteen-year-old Qingzi a smile, but after trying, he still couldn't manage it. "Then right now, am I really..." Han Qingyu wanted to ask if he was terrible right now, causing them worry and disappointment, but thought better of it, feeling it sounded overly dramatic. Giving a faint, meek smile, he asked, "So, what are you guys thinking right now?" What were they thinking? Wu Xu pondered the question right then and there. He didn't know the exact level of Qingzi's current combat strength, but in terms of the battlefield, his combat experience, skill, and even willpower were definitely unsuited for it... In the words of the Little Prince and Wen Jifei: under special circumstances, even a top-tier might have a chance to assassinate him. That was precisely why they had kept the news of Qingzi's amnesia under wraps from the outside world. "I will protect you," Wu Xu finally said plainly. The words sounded a bit strange, but seeing how earnest he looked, Han Qingyu was just about to say thank you when— *Whoosh!* His dad flew away. All of a sudden, he leaped straight up from the ground. Because he leapt so high and floated so lightly, it genuinely looked like he was flying. The orchard was terraced down the slope of the hill, each terrace stepped about a meter high. Han Youshan cleared three terraces on his very first leap; his second leap crashed down between the third and fourth terrace, gouging a pit into the earth, but he didn't stop... "Ouch, ouch... wow, this is amazing!" In the lingering glow of the setting sun, the father of Major The Qing bounded up and down, leaping straight up toward the mountaintop.