Scavenger

Han Qingyu did not speak heavily. His tone was remarkably similar to how he used to sound. In the past, he was just like this—looking neither angry nor indignant... before killing countless people and countless Great Spikes. Among those were many famous slaughterous battles. His opponents had included Red Shoulders and Daies, top-tiers and super combat powers, and even Azure's first-generation Starlight had died by his hands. Most of these battles later became legendary tales within the world of source energy, continually passed down and discussed by people across this world until virtually everyone knew of them. And so, the moment his words fell and his gaze darkened slightly, the Voyage elite commander beside them froze entirely. He could clearly feel right now that what he was facing was the wrath of Major The Qing. He had no confidence in surviving a single slash from Major Qing. Even though Zhe Qiuhong had emphasized time and again that Han Qingyu could not have truly recovered, the sheer face-to-face pressure was enough to make even a peak top-tier combat power struggle to hold his ground. Within these ten seconds, even Zhe Qiuhong herself, standing on the other side, showed lingering bewilderment in her eyes. *Speaking like this feels so damn good. It's almost addicting,* Han Qingyu thought secretly, keeping his head slightly lowered and taking the opportunity to marvel to himself. Who wouldn't want to be resolute and powerful? That included being powerful inside. Throughout the recent period, Han Qingyu had spent far too much time being cowardly and evasive. Suddenly discovering a new side of himself—even if it was an act—still filled him with pleasant surprise. His performance this time was simply too convincing; he had completely immersed himself in the role first. Because of "Major Qing's" appearance, the hall fell into a brief, heavy silence. Among them, because Little Prince had not attended the earlier military funeral, he was currently the most bewildered out of their group. *That bastard Han? Is he really back?!* *Is this supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?* *Why don't I feel very happy about it?* Little Prince had always possessed exceptionally sharp judgment, yet right now, even he couldn't tell. It was only because of the delicate situation that he forced himself not to show it. The silence continued to stretch on. *So, what now? Do I look up? If this were a movie or TV show, the moment I raise my head, Wu Xu and the others will probably take it as a cue to slaughter their way through... leaving corpses strewn across the floor.* *Sure enough, Xu'er's hand is already gripping the Binggu Spear.* *Tangtang is itching for a fight too... He's probably completely given up on having Zhe Qiuhong treat his head. He's written it off entirely.* *Rusty Sister is guarding Plague Chicken. When the Elegy of the Square sings, bodies will probably start falling here like shot birds.* *Are we really going to kill them?* *Kill dozens of people?* It seemed that only at this very moment did Han Qingyu truly realize that with his identity, he could take other people's lives on a single whim—and that number could be vast, unimaginably vast. *But I don't want to kill anyone.* *If I don't kill them, what should I do? I can't just keep my head down forever, can I? In a standoff like this, I probably can't just say, 'Never mind, let's hold off on fighting for now.'* *Dammit, will one of you say something already?!* *If nobody speaks, I'm really going to look up! People are going to die...* Zhe Qiuhong opened her mouth, taking a step forward. "Fine. I choose to hand over all of Voyage's hidden resources. Roughly six hundred metal blocks in total, plus two modified ten-man flying crafts and forty single-pilot exploration vessels." Even though she harbored deep doubts and believed it was impossible for Han Qingyu to have recovered, Zhe Qiuhong still yielded to his intimidation. Out of the three options Wen Jifei and Little Prince had offered earlier, she chose this one. Then, without waiting for Han Qingyu's answer, she turned her head first. "By the way, Tangtang, I took some time recently to look into it, and I found that the consciousness inside your body most likely isn't a Yanxiu." He Tangtang froze. "Bullshit! If it's not a Yanxiu... then what else could it be?! Besides, haven't you been busy plotting how to assassinate Qingzi recently? Where the hell did you find the time?" He Tangtang thought to himself, *I've already bragged to everyone, already put on the grand act. I have to be a Yanxiu—a super Yanxiu!* "It... You can think of it as a type of scavenger," Zhe Qiuhong said, ignoring his retort. "Like a dung beetle?" The tense atmosphere softened inadvertently as Rusty Sister earnestly chimed in. "...A-A dung beetle?!" He Tangtang hadn't quite grasped what a scavenger was at first, but with that, he understood instantly, as if struck by lightning. "No. While a dung beetle is indeed a scavenger, the consciousness inside Tangtang—I've concluded that it should be a Yanxiu scavenger beast." "Oh, so it's a dung beetle that only eats Yanxiu dung?" Rusty Sister pressed on. "Rather picky about its diet, isn't it?" Little Prince seemingly couldn't hold back either, chiming in with a smile while quietly observing their surroundings. He Tangtang snapped, "Piss off! Piss off, Zhu Jiaming, and you too, Shen Yixiu!" "No, it eats Yanxiu," Zhe Qiuhong said with utter composure. On the spot, everyone went still. "...Fuck!" He Tangtang shuddered all over and slowly muttered, "I really am badass after all." With that, he quietly shifted his gaze toward Han Qingyu and Wu Xu. The mental picture turned bizarre—like a monster lurking carefully in the dark jungles of the Yanxiu era, biding its time as it waited for prey that was far too formidable to provoke head-on. Though not exactly glorious or honorable, it did, after all, prey upon the rulers of that era. "Based on my deductions, under normal circumstances, it primarily feeds on dead Yanxiu or those in a weakened, dying state. Of course, once fully grown, there is also a certain possibility that it could directly attack healthy Yanxiu," Zhe Qiuhong continued. By this point, He Tangtang was practically walking on air. Yet after finishing her explanation, Zhe Qiuhong did not look at him again. She turned straight back around. "Now let's discuss the method of handover. How do we leave, and how do we deliver the items to you?" she said. "The goods aren't here." She directed her gaze toward Han Qingyu. "You state your terms, and I'll decide," Han Qingyu said, still maintaining his act, his tone steady and composed. Yet the moment he answered, Zhe Qiuhong suddenly smiled, her tone turning gentle. "You're wrong, Qingzi." *Wrong? What did I get wrong?* Han Qingyu's expression remained unchanged, but bewilderment surged through his mind. "So you truly haven't recovered after all," Zhe Qiuhong said, looking away. "If you were the old you... you would never actually accept picking one out of three options. You would want them all." She was right. This enemy understood Major Qing far too well. When she finished speaking, even Wen Jifei and Little Prince showed silent agreement. "I'm saying this because even if you haven't recovered, with those two around, the result would still be the same." Zhe Qiuhong pointed toward Wen Jifei and Little Prince. Those two rascals shared the exact same style as a certain someone from before. So, choose one of three? Out of the question. "In addition to the resources, I will hand over all of Voyage's reserved technology regarding airship modifications. Naturally, this tech won't just be given to you; I'll hand it over to Azure as well," Zhe Qiuhong stated crisply. "However, I truly do not know where Shouzhao is. Because I've been too close to you all this time, he didn't dare let me know." Amid a string of truths, Zhe Qiuhong slipped in a lie. In truth, once the hidden resources had to be surrendered, she didn't care at all about making the reserved airship modification technology public. In order to advance Project Fireseed, those things would have to be brought out sooner or later anyway; releasing them now merely meant losing their value as bargaining chips. Zhe Qiuhong had no time to worry about that now. What she truly sought at this moment was to preserve these people of Voyage, as well as Zhe Shouzhao. As for what came later... Hadn't it just been confirmed that Major Qing still had amnesia? His feat of splitting the mountain with a single slash also had an element of clever trickery involved. Since he still hadn't recovered, the plan to advance Project Fireseed had merely run into a minor twist. Once the next arrangement was prepared, it could proceed just the same.