Harvest Day

Inside the confidential reception room, the atmosphere had abruptly shifted into the kind Han Qingyu had originally imagined—carrying the unmistakable aura of a secretive agency at work. He had been played. So this pair, old and young, had been putting on an act the entire time? Granted, he had been acting too. Still, how could they do this?! Maintaining the blank, unreadable expression of a living corpse, Han Qingyu raised his hand and looked down at his sleeve. Then he shifted his gaze to the little gadget in Tu Zi's hand, before finally looking up at Tu Zi himself. In appearance and demeanor, the youth still seemed like a kid brother, looking fifteen or sixteen at most. And yet, his grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother were all in prison—having gone in at an early age—and in all likelihood, were all genius convicts of Azure. He had misjudged. He had let his guard down. This kid was a crafty little devil—or at the very least, a two-faced creature whose innocent personality was utterly divorced from his deceptive methods. In short, he had been thoroughly set up. And for an official as high-ranking as a Rejecter to come in person, they clearly took this matter quite seriously. No wonder Lao Jian had warned him to be careful. Feeling rather gloomy, Han Qingyu snapped irritably, "If you have something like this, why don't you use it to test those undercover Cleansing Faction agents?!" "This device actually is meant for testing Cleansing Faction infiltrators," the plump old man chimed in frankly. Looking steadily at Han Qingyu, he added without any attempt to hide the truth, "Though it isn't always accurate and can't serve as definitive evidence." *So they really were testing me as a sleeper agent from the Cleansing Faction,* Han Qingyu thought. *Well, I suppose I do fit the profile—like some master spy playing the long game.* "But I really do believe you, Brother Qingzi... It's just that you truly are special," Tu Zi said again, speaking cautiously. "So, about my proposal earlier?" His proposal earlier... to retest next year? Han Qingyu pushed aside his annoyance and bowed his head in thought. In truth, over the past two days, he had been mulling over that old dilemma once again: *What kind of existence am I, really?* For instance, why had the source energy field treated him as an enemy and rammed into him? Why could he instantly absorb an unrefined metal block, yet his absorption of blue crystal blocks was far slower? And as little Baldy had just pointed out, had his heartbeat really remained as calm as a dead man's throughout the entire process? Come to think of it, why was it that he never felt nervous during life-and-death, critical moments, yet sometimes felt anxious in everyday life? With so many perplexing questions piling up, he desperately wanted answers on one hand, while on the other, he harbored an unavoidable fear of the unknown and hidden threats. On the whole, Han Qingyu's current state of mind was like that of a patient who refused to see a doctor out of fear of what might be diagnosed. His subconscious default response was simple: stall. So, retest in a year? Such a compromise and buffer seemed to align perfectly with his present psychological state—craving answers while dreading the diagnosis. Having made up his mind, Han Qingyu looked up and said, "All right." The moment the word left his mouth, he felt an immediate weight lift off his shoulders. "That's great! Haha, all done!" Tu Zi let out a sigh of relief. Just as he had mentioned earlier, they hadn't actually received interrogation-level authorization this time. All their probing had been conducted behind Chen Buer's back, and they didn't dare force Han Qingyu's hand or make things difficult for him. Tu Zi happily packed up the observation log. When he looked back up at Han Qingyu, he seemed a bit guilty. Offering an awkward, placating smile, he explained, "Brother Qingzi, aside from that, everything else I said was true. I didn't lie to you at all. I genuinely want to be your friend. Just reading your battlefield reports made my blood boil. Also, you must take care of yourself in the army from now on. We were worried..." Han Qingyu stared at him with an unhappy gaze. He remained silent for quite a while—deliberating, in truth—before finally speaking: "Do you have source energy blocks on you? ...You just conned me like that, so if you want to apologize and be friends, shouldn't you show some sincerity?" "Huh?" Tu Zi looked bewildered. "Sincerity—source energy blocks," Han Qingyu said. "I heard you Rejecters never lack them. Besides, since you can run around in the division at such a young age and even carry out tasks alongside a supervisor, your status can't be low." "Yeah." Tu Zi nodded, then lowered his head to search through his bag. "Then, how many do you want?" "Ten," Han Qingyu quoted, waiting for this little devil to bargain or play dumb. He thought to himself: *Since you love to act, go ahead and put on a show.* "But I only brought three this time... I usually use them for experiments, and since I wouldn't need them out here, I didn't pack more." To demonstrate his honesty, Tu Zi lifted his small backpack and held it open for Han Qingyu to see. Three translucent, breathtaking blue crystal source energy blocks lay at the bottom of the bag. And the words he had just used were *only brought*. *This kid is loaded.* Han Qingyu had merely shaken the tree on a whim without expecting any fruit to fall, so the sight took him completely by surprise. His one-time reward for the Silver Azure Guardian Medal had only been four blocks, and even Lao Jian, a captain, received an annual regular allowance of merely five blocks outside of combat supplies—excluding battle merits, of course. *I'll just take it as compensation.* Keeping his expression steady, Han Qingyu casually stacked the three blocks together, set them in front of himself, and said coolly, "No problem. You can just owe me the rest for now." Though thoroughly satisfied inside, Han Qingyu spoke with supreme nonchalance. To his surprise, Tu Zi actually agreed. "Okay." *Well... now it'd be rude not to be friends.* After pocketing the items, Han Qingyu chatted warmly with Tu Zi for a while, inquiring about miscellaneous matters that didn't involve state secrets, until his stomach began to rumble. After making a deal with Tu Zi to take him along to hunt Great Spikes in the future, Han Qingyu took the source energy blocks and bade them farewell. He first stopped by the cafeteria to wolf down some cold rice, then headed over to Wen Jifei's quarters, intending to hang out for a bit and share one of his hard-earned source energy blocks with him. Inside the recruit equipment room of Regiment 425, He Tangtang, Liu Shiheng, and several others from the dormitory were present, which was normal. What was unexpected, however, was that Milla was there too. Truth be told, in the two days since her return, Milla hadn't spoken a word to Han Qingyu yet. With all the rumors and gossip circulating about mutual life-saving sacrifices, she had probably felt awkward and hadn't known how to break the ice. "Qingzi, come outside with me for a moment." Seeing Han Qingyu enter, Milla spoke abruptly. The moment she finished, she got to her feet and walked out the door. The others left in the equipment room silently mouthed *"Whoa,"* looking at Han Qingyu with bizarre, leering grins. Han Qingyu followed her out in bewilderment. At the corner of the training ground, Milla looked up at him, cleared her throat twice, and adopted an exaggeratedly stern instructor tone: "I remember back then, you mentioned that you wanted prize money. Over the past couple of days, I happened to ask Captain Lao about it and learned that your family's situation is quite difficult, and that you need money... Here. Both my parents earn high salaries, and I don't really have any use for money in the military." As she spoke, Milla brought her hands out from behind her back, holding two neat, thick stacks of hundred-yuan bills. "Take this and send it home first." Just like that. She didn't offer any words of gratitude, nor did she bring up the battle of Squad 1123. Comrades rescuing each other on a life-or-death battlefield probably required no such formalities... especially not with Milla holding out cash. Twenty thousand yuan. Han Qingyu wondered if today was some kind of auspicious harvest day. Glancing sideways, Han Qingyu noticed that Wen Jifei and the others were gathered behind the wall, and Plague Chicken in particular was frantically making wild faces and waving his hands. *Right, I can't take this. Taking this money will weigh on my conscience, and I won't be able to hold my head high.* "There's no need, Captain Milla." Han Qingyu didn't mention that Milla had been the first to save them on the battlefield either. He simply said, "I'm not short on money anymore." Milla was struck speechless. "My family is from the countryside, and my parents don't actually need much to live on. When I joined, Azure already gave me an allowance to leave with them. Then, when I received that silver medal, they awarded me ten thousand yuan, which I've already sent back. There'll probably be more for this recent mission... In short, it's more than enough." Having offered an honest explanation, Han Qingyu truly felt little desire for money now. What he desperately craved and lacked was source energy blocks—a craving that seemed bound to be endless. He craved and lacked them to the point where he couldn't even bear to absorb the few blocks he currently held in his hands. He craved and lacked them to the point where he wanted nothing more than to rapidly boost his strength, get onto the battlefield, earn combat rewards, or—hunt down the Cleansing Faction. "Then..." Milla spoke, cutting through Han Qingyu's thoughts. The words *"Then do you have any spare source energy blocks?"* nearly spilled from his lips, but Han Qingyu snapped his mouth shut just in time. Milla had only just been promoted to lieutenant in September; where on earth would she get surplus source energy blocks?! "Really, there's no need," Han Qingyu said. Fearing an awkward back-and-forth would follow, he turned on his heel and walked straight back into the equipment room. Inside, Wen Jifei, Liu Shiheng, and the others stood in a row, glaring coldly at him. "I didn't take it," Han Qingyu hastily explained, thinking they had misunderstood. He assumed they would praise him and applaud his noble conduct, but no praise came. "Are you missing a chunk of your brain, Qingzi? Couldn't you have just taken it and said you'd pay her back slowly, or taken it and said you'd let your parents know?" Liu Shiheng said, venting his frustration at Han Qingyu's sheer hopelessness. "Is this about the money? This is Milla giving you money to send home to your parents! With all the rumors flying around about the two of you right now, Milla is..." Han Qingyu blinked. "Huh?" Liu Shiheng choked on his words. Wen Jifei held Liu Shiheng back. "Save your breath, it's useless. He's hopelessly brain-dead." With that, Wen Jifei walked over to the equipment rack, pointed at a hanging dead iron straight sword, and asked, "Qingzi, look at this. What is it?" "A sword." "Say the whole name." "A dead iron straight sword." "Right, a dead iron straight sword—a match made in heaven for you... because you're a fucking dead-iron straight man."