Can Major Qing Go on Blind Dates?

The images currently playing across television screens could not actually be seen from the venue itself. Naturally, Harada Niisa on the stage was also captivating to behold. A pretty young girl letting loose an astonishing, gifted voice to perform a rousing, passionate anthem—the striking contrast made it all the more compelling, drawing everyone's rapt attention and admiration. Her singing continued as a background voiceover. The television screen began cycling through text, photographs, and video footage, introducing the century-long history of humanity's resistance against the invasion of the Great Dagger civilization—from the origins of Azure, to its development, to the names of those heroes, those great and unknown battles, and those glorious milestones in history... "Why isn't Qingzi anywhere in this?" "Yeah, where's our Qingzi?" Seeing that the ceremony was already drawing to a close, the villagers of Fenglongao gathered in front of the television in the Han home began to feel somewhat frustrated, which soon turned into indignation. "He's in there, right? That streak of blue light shooting toward the sky from the summit of Xilang Peak earlier—they said that was him. And in a little bit, they'll definitely replay that slash at the Zenith too." "How does that count? I mean, why hasn't our Qingzi shown his face at all?" Han Qingyu had not shown his face. The worst part of this affair was that Azure had actually promoted it in advance. After receiving an affirmative response from Stream Blades, they had jumped the gun and announced that Major Qing would be appearing at the enlistment launch ceremony. They had been so eager because, following that strike at the Zenith, Major Qing's influence and appeal were simply unparalleled. And the public was thrilled because, for the vast majority of people in the world, this would mark Major The Qing's first true public appearance. Although some clips and photographs of Major Qing had leaked in the past, they were all far too blurry. Thus, countless people—those who knew him and those who did not—had been waiting in eager anticipation. Yet up until now, their wait had yielded nothing. The subsequent communication from Stream Blades had left Azure in an awkward, passive position. When Major Qing personally stated that he did not wish to appear, Azure had no choice but to scrap their original plans and arrangements, which included his scheduled speech on stage. On paper, this did not seem like the kind of mistake an event of this scale ought to make. The issue was that Azure, after all, was not a government of the ordinary world. It had no long-term experience in dealing with the general public, and it possessed severe shortcomings in its ability to organize mass events and handle public relations. Azure had already recognized this problem itself, recently conscripting a cohort of specialists in this field from various national governments. From last night until now, these experts had been frantically deliberating over countermeasures. "Qingzi's mother..." In the Han family's living room, Han Youshan, who had been staring intently at the television screen, suddenly spoke up. The room fell silent immediately. Across the television screen, the waist-up image of an Azure soldier glided past. A clip from an interview given not long ago by Colonel Lao Jian, commander of Squad 1777 of the Sole Witness Legion of the Azure Huaxia Front, had been fortunate enough to be selected to appear in the live broadcast of this momentous ceremony. The footage merely served as an introductory segment gliding smoothly across the screen, featuring only a single line from the interview. Facing the camera with pride in his eyes, Captain Lao said: "The most correct thing I've ever done in my life was bringing that kid Han Qingyu into Azure." Then, the broadcast cut to the Zenith War. The people of Fenglongao had already watched this segment of footage from the Zenith War countless times, especially Han Youshan and Zhang Jiexia. Even so, they were still eager to watch it, their eyes glued to the screen. "That bastard," someone suddenly muttered in a measured, even tone in the quiet room. Had Zhang Jiexia been the one cursing, it would have seemed normal enough—she had cursed Azure several times before. But this time, it was Han Youshan who had spoken. Throughout all the trials his son had endured over the years, Han Youshan had always displayed a quiet calm and composure that far exceeded his own station and background. Yet today, at this very moment, he finally lashed out with an obscenity. Back then, it was that bastard on the screen who had swindled their Qingzi away, even resorting to threats. He Tangtang had already told them the whole story. Recalling that day, the man had actually had the nerve to come to their house for dinner! Han Youshan had even opened fine liquor he had saved for over a decade to treat him, calling him brother and begging him to look after Qingzi in the military. And the man had replied: *Leave him to me, you have nothing to worry about.* "That's right, it's him! That shameless crook!" Zhang Jiexia recognized him as well; she had known who it was at first glance, her stomach burning with curses on the spot. At the same time, Captain Lao was at home, completely unaware that he had stirred up a massive hornet's nest. Cradling his newborn daughter in his arms, Lao Jian was watching the television screen with smug satisfaction. *I look pretty handsome on camera, and that was beautifully said,* he thought to himself. "What did you just say? I didn't quite catch it," came the gentle voice of his wife, Shang Nianhua, from behind him. "I said the most correct thing I've ever done in my life..." Halfway through his sentence, Captain Lao's heart gave a sudden lurch and sank. "Oh." The voice of his wife behind him turned instantly frosty. Shang Nianhua set down her knitting, stood up, walked forward two steps, and held out her hands. "Give me the baby." With a sullen face, she took their daughter from Lao Jian's arms, cradling her as she looked down with an aggrieved gaze. "He says the two of us weren't the right thing, sweetheart. Did you hear that?" *** On the television, the broadcast was clearly winding down, yet Han Qingyu had still not appeared. *What a fool. Passing up such a great opportunity to go up and show his face,* Zhang Jiexia grumbled inwardly, accidentally letting the words slip aloud. Though she often complained about her son being too wooden, she remained thoroughly confident in his looks. If he had seized this chance to show his face, he could have definitely hooked quite a few... Just then, the singing serving as the voiceover began to fade away amidst the high, soaring notes of its final line. In truth, the song's lyrics were not particularly grand on the whole. Apart from a short passage at the end of the chorus, most of it consisted merely of a girl speaking to a boy who was about to head to the battlefield. Even so, when it was actually performed, no one felt it was out of place. First, this was because the melody itself was passionate and burning with spirit; second, from a realistic perspective, even among Azure's soldiers, there were not actually many who had set out from the beginning with the fate of the world in their hearts. Most of them had initially only wanted to protect a handful of people. It was only through their experiences that their mindsets gradually shifted. Among the audience at the venue, Yang Qingbai and the others beside him had already raised their hands in excitement, ready to applaud. Han Qingyu sat dutifully between Wu Xu and Rusty Sister, occasionally glancing left and right out of boredom. Overall, this ceremony had nothing directly to do with him, which made him quite pleased. Suddenly, the television feed switched. It was clearly a last-minute decision, the camera cutting abruptly to focus entirely on Harada Niisa. Originally, she was not supposed to appear directly on camera. In front of television sets around the world, some people looked bewildered, while others began to cheer. As the final trailing note fell... Harada Niisa lifted her head. Giving the performance her absolute all had soaked the bangs on her forehead with sweat, and as the perspiration trickled down her face, it made her eyes gleam brightly. Raising a hand, she wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her wrist. When her face was revealed once more, it held a touch of bashfulness, breaking into a brilliant smile as her gaze directed itself toward the seats below the stage. "I wrote this song thinking of you, Major Qing." "If I enlist to slay Great Daggers after singing this song... would you be willing to go on a blind date with me?" She spoke in English. Han Qingyu understood her words. He looked up abruptly, utterly at a loss. As agreed, the camera did not seek him out, yet with that single statement, everyone became aware that he was indeed present at the venue as an important representative—including the viewers before their television sets. In a roundabout way, it was practically equivalent to showing his face. When the voiceover translation came through, back in Fenglongao, even the couple Han Youshan and Zhang Jiexia were momentarily stunned. Then, Zhang Jiexia grew thrilled, though for a moment she was not even sure what she was so thrilled about—perhaps simply because her son was being pursued by someone. At the same time, in the Azure Huaxia Front's Institute 2 Song and Dance Troupe, at Medical Station 101... countless girls waved their hands frantically in front of their screens. "No way, absolutely not, you can't..." The people in charge of Azure's broadcast were crafty. The feed was cut right there and then, leaving behind only the warm, beautiful resonance that followed the fiery passion for the rest of the world to savor. Meanwhile, at the venue... "What should I do?" Han Qingyu turned his head to look at Wu Xu. Wu Xu looked back at him, their expressions equally blank. Then Han Qingyu looked at Rusty Sister, who was in much the same state. It seemed that when facing a predicament like this, two top-tier fighters were entirely useless. Out of options, Han Qingyu turned his gaze toward Wen Jifei and the Little Prince, who had already been placed on his "untrustworthy list." "Isn't this probably a deliberate ambush by Azure? First, to capitalize on Major Qing's appeal," the Little Prince muttered. "Second, didn't Qingbai say this girl is currently the hottest star in the world, and she really is pretty good-looking too. The story of a hero and a beauty—how many people's blood is that going to send rushing to their heads?" "Yeah, it had to be permitted by them. But she had to be willing herself too. Look how sincerely she spoke, how brightly she smiled, how full of hope her eyes were..." Wen Jifei wore a sly grin, glancing over at Han Qingyu. "Give her some kind of reaction, Qingzi. She's waiting, and she wrote the song thinking of you..." Clearly, they were merely making sarcastic remarks and had no intention of offering advice or assistance. Han Qingyu made a mental note of this. Turning back in bewilderment, he discovered that nearly every pair of eyes in the entire venue was fixed on him. *What should I do? Should I just give a blind date a shot?* he thought to himself. *Clack! Clack! Clack...* The rhythmic, orderly thud of combat boots striking the concrete floor suddenly echoed from the entrance at the very back of the hall. The entire venue turned to look... A young major wearing the uniform of the Huaxia Front's Sole Witness Legion appeared in their line of sight. "A woman? Who is she?" This was the launch venue for Azure's enlistment ceremony, with tens of thousands of fully armed soldiers lined up in formation outside. For this female major to emerge through the main entrance meant her status was bound to be extraordinary. "Azure Huaxia, Xin Yaoqiao, one of the researchers who contributed the most in this Zenith War." "She's also the one currently considered most likely to receive the Star of Azure down the scientific research path in the future." "She cracked the language system of the Great Daggers." "A chief scientist of a civilization's language system before even turning twenty-two." With heavyweights gathered throughout the venue, a portion naturally recognized Xin Yaoqiao, knowing her status and contributions, and even her family background. Xin Yaoqiao had not appeared alone. As she walked forward, more than thirty fully armed Azure soldiers flanked her on either side. That was perhaps more than enough to demonstrate her current importance to humanity. *Clack! Clack! Clack...* The orderly sound of combat boots striking the ground continued to resonate. As Xin Yaoqiao walked, she lowered her head to fasten the velcro strap on her cuff; she seemed to have arrived in something of a hurry. Then she raised a hand and untied the band holding her hair back. Her long hair cascaded down with a gentle sway. Xin Yaoqiao looked up toward the stage, her smile radiant and warm as she spoke: "That won't do. Major Qing can't go on blind dates right now."