Lin Ya knew she couldn't keep letting herself envy them. Once something like envy took root, there was no telling what strange fruit it might bear. Besides, she could no longer keep calculating, hoping to pick one for herself from Stream Vanguard.
Not a single one among this bunch was normal.
It was just that Second Lieutenant Wen’s abnormality went in the exact opposite direction of everyone else's. He stood alone at the far end of tenderness, romance, devotion, and wit.
Where he stood, a shower of petals drifted down, while opposite him lay nothing but a pitch-black jungle of steel.
*Any sensible young woman who spent some time around this crew would almost certainly end up choosing Second Lieutenant Wen, wouldn't she?*
*Of course, there are plenty of insensible girls in this world. After all, Major Qing is so powerful and handsome—so what if he's a dead-iron straight man? Even if he were a complete eunuch, people probably wouldn't care. What if he lost his memories? Even if he turned into an idiot, they probably wouldn't mind.*
*Then there's Lieutenant Wu Xu—tall, handsome, cold, and mysterious. Even if he's a wooden carving, he's the kind plenty of people would gladly sleep hugging, waking up with a smile. Even if he were an ice sculpture, there'd probably still be people lining up to hold him in their sleep.*
*Sigh! If only Human Iron Armor, Second Lieutenant Shen, were a guy!* In the end, thousands of thoughts collapsed back into the very same sigh as before.
After all, long before the public learned that Second Lieutenant Shen was actually a woman, the scene at Yuejiang University—where she leaped across a hundred-meter gap between rooftops clad in iron armor with a longsword on her back, cradling Yao Yue in her arms—had thoroughly shattered the defenses of countless girls' hearts.
"Lin Ya... Lin Ya?!" Yao Yue called out twice. When Lin Ya finally looked over, Yao Yue happily opened her right hand to show the sweet osmanthus blossoms gathered in her palm. "Look."
"Yeah, I see them," Lin Ya replied with a lukewarm smile. "Though you might want to look over your right shoulder... and turn like you're trying to snap your neck."
"What? Look at what?" Yao Yue asked blankly, straining her neck to turn and look.
And then she saw it.
A vibrant red cotton rose, still attached to its stem, rested right behind her shoulder, its petals and leaves fresh as could be.
Yao Yue froze, her mind going completely blank.
"If you ask me, you should just marry him," Lin Ya said with an utterly deadpan, world-weary tone, sounding like an ascetic urging someone to renounce the world. "Why bother being a war correspondent? Why go to the battlefield? Just go to his home, warm his bed, do his laundry, cook his meals, and bear his children..."
Before her voice had even faded,
*Thwack!*
*Thwack!*
What echoed across the grounds was not the roar of devices activating, nor the collective unsheathing of blades. It was merely the heavy, synchronized marching steps of Stream Vanguard's fully armed warriors.
Clad in matching "Moth to Flame" combat uniforms and equipped with uniform Tenth-Generation devices, dozens of crisp columns marched in succession onto the open ground in front of the command platform, assembling into formation.
Were it not for the non-standard, mismatched weapons strapped across their backs, their wild, unkempt hairstyles, and the unbridled arrogance and ferocity etched onto every face, this band of savage outlaws would have looked hardly any different from the regular forces of Azure.
Moreover, at present, Stream Vanguard remained indisputably the faction with the highest average combat capability in all of humanity.
The reporters had finally gotten the deployment ceremony they had been waiting for. This was also the first time since Stream Vanguard's founding that they had appeared before the outside world at such a scale and in such a manner. The aura they radiated was entirely distinct from that of any Azure front army's departure ceremony.
Under normal circumstances, when soldiers from the various front armies deployed to slaughter Great Spikes, the crowds seeing them off would think: *What terrifying, monstrous enemies the Great Spikes are, yet how resolute and brave our warriors look.*
Stream Vanguard, on the other hand, struck the reporters as perhaps even more savage and terrifying than the Great Spikes themselves.
Nor did they need to project resolve—because they did not appear to harbor the slightest hint of panic or fear to begin with.
These were Major Qing's troops!
***
*Gulp.* Lin Ya swallowed hard. She blindly flailed her hand around, grabbed Yao Yue, and hauled her close. "Let's still go to the battlefield, Yao Yue. Bring the camera. I want to see a bunch of people like this hack Great Spikes so badly..."
Yao Yue laughed. "Didn't you just tell me to go have his babies?"
"No babies! No, there's no rush! Just think about it—a warrior that formidable, and instead of letting him lead these people to slaughter on the battlefield, you'd keep him at home to be your husband and sleep with you? What a waste! How boring would that be..."
Lin Ya’s yearning for warriors and the front lines was rare even among her peers; right now, she was not even looking at Yao Yue as she rambled.
Yao Yue was at a loss for what to do with her, yet she found it amusing. She turned her head toward Wen Jifei.
Wen Jifei was staring at the formation on the field. To tell the truth, he had no idea his three gunshots would trigger a scene like this. *What are they doing? Deploying just like that? I haven't even eaten lunch yet...*
Nearly a hundred members of Stream Vanguard had accompanied Wen Jifei on the rescue mission before and had seen Yao Yue. They were naturally inclined to make a fuss, and on top of that, the Little Prince had deliberately slipped down earlier to organize them... In truth, their formation today was meant as a guard of honor to welcome their "sister-in-law."
Considering the core figures of Stream Vanguard—Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, the Little Prince, He Tangtang—it wasn't easy for the brothers to ever have a sister-in-law. Besides, for the "leader's lady" to visit the base for an inspection was an occasion that might happen only once in a lifetime.
When it came to romance, their only hope was Wen Jifei. Fortunately, he hadn't let the brothers down.
"Ready!" Wen Jifei had not uttered a word, but the Little Prince shouted loudly from the side.
Instantly, *hum-hum-hum-hum*—rows of source energy apparatuses roared to life, casting an ocean of flickering blue light across the field.
The surrounding air grew progressively heavier, turning thick and stagnant.
Every warrior was doing their utmost to rein in their power, temporarily suppressing the turbulence of their source energy.
*Tick. Tock.*
Silence fell over the grounds once more.
"Draw blades!"
*Clang! Clang-hum...*
*Boom!*
A forest of warblades rasped from their scabbards with a vibrating ring that culminated in a singular sonic boom. All the temporarily suppressed source energy surged upward in unison along the drawn weapons, then cascaded outward in waves.
*Rustle-rustle-rustle...*
The sweet osmanthus blossoms and intermittent cotton roses planted within several li were almost entirely torn from their branches in that moment, swirling aloft into a drifting, fluttering gale...
"Stream Vanguard, marching from Snowmelt!"
At the Third Fixed Exploration Site, a magnificent shower of blossoms descended.
*This spectacle is grand and solemn enough, isn't it?* Feeling he had provided more than enough face, the Little Prince felt rather smug and glanced toward Wen Jifei.
Wen Jifei was looking right back at him, his eyes seeming to ask:
*And then?*
*Do we just dismiss on the spot and go eat?*
For the expedition to the Lost Continent, departure ceremonies across the globe all saw the formations march straight out the moment the atmosphere peaked, embarking on their journey.
In his memories, departure ceremonies in the ordinary world seemed to work the same way.
The two high-level strategists stared at each other for three whole seconds.
The Little Prince turned around slowly, naturally tilting his head up. With a serene, classical demeanor that belonged to him alone, he spoke calmly:
"Autumn, the ninth month. The road is laden with sweet osmanthus; auspicious to march forth on expedition."
"...Fuck." *He actually managed to smooth it over.* Helpless, Wen Jifei glanced back at Han Qingyu, then snapped back and drew his blade.
*Clang!*
"March!"
March? What about lunch? The warriors froze for a second, then snapped out of it and turned as one.
*Thwack—boom!*
Their grounded steps immediately surged forward. Column after column, somewhat bewildered, stepped upon the carpet of fallen blossoms and set out on the journey toward the distant battlefield.
***
"They're leaving just like that?" Han Qingyu asked, somewhat dazed. "What about lunch? We haven't eaten lunch yet."
"The Little Prince will probably have someone deliver it to the vehicles, or have the ship by the coast cook fresh food," Yang Qingbai said with a laugh. "Though if you want to eat here, you can. The warriors have to take ships, but we're flying on an airship."
"Oh." Han Qingyu looked ahead. "But Plague Chicken has already followed them."
"He has to go. After that grand display, he was the one who shouted the order to march!" He Tangtang roared with laughter.
At the very same time.
Yao Yue was asking Lin Ya a similar question. "Are they... are they really leaving just like that?"
"Yeah. Aren't departure ceremonies always like this?" Lin Ya countered.
"Then what about lunch? Didn't he just say we'd eat lunch together?"
"Lunch? They'll probably leave some for us," Lin Ya said after serious consideration.
"..." It wasn't lunch that Yao Yue cared about. She had originally hoped to find an opportunity during lunch to meet with Wen Jifei in private, yet now he was suddenly gone.
She wanted to see him. She wanted to have a proper talk with him...
Before coming here, Yao Yue had been reading in her dormitory one day when a sentence had caught her eye: *This world is very large and very chaotic. If you do not make a deliberate effort to see certain people, you might never see them again.*
The moment she read those words, they struck deep into her heart. Yao Yue had spat several times on the spot, insisting that it wouldn't happen, that it never would.
Yet the words remained seared into her soul, echoing ceaselessly. That was why Yao Yue had come, bearing in her heart so many words she had previously been too embarrassed to say, along with so many tender exhortations.
"Yao Yue!" Lin Ya called out.
Ahead, the reporters were following Stream Vanguard's columns to take pictures. Without a word, Yao Yue suddenly took off running, sprinting forward through the crowd of reporters...
Closer.
The distance shrank until it was just like Wen Jifei walking ahead with her following behind. Back in school, whenever classes ended, they had walked just like this to avoid fueling rumors.
"Second Lieutenant Wen," Yao Yue called from behind him, remembering all the warnings not to throw herself straight into his arms.
Wen Jifei's footsteps halted briefly. He turned back to look at her. "...Hello."
"Yes!" Yao Yue nodded. What should she say? An interview? Say *for everything that breathes*... or *return in victory, stay safe*?
The ranks continued marching forward.
Wen Jifei had no choice but to keep moving with them.
The reporters caught up once more.
...Yao Yue's mind was a complete blank. Running amidst the reporters who stopped and started, she pretended in her heart that she was accompanying Wen Jifei every step of the way on his expedition.
"Hey, you're too close," Wen Jifei's quiet reminder suddenly sounded.
Yao Yue blinked, only then realizing that she had drawn closer and closer without knowing it. Even though she held a camera to take pictures, not a single reporter on the field dared to shoot from this close.
"You can't come any closer," Wen Jifei said, glaring with a teasing smile.
"...Okay." Yao Yue's eyes looked like those of a child caught doing something wrong, and she quickly stepped back to maintain distance.
"If you get any closer, I might not be able to stop myself from hugging you," Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei said with a deadpan face, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Chapter 769