He Tangtang had many flaws. In truth, almost everyone in Stream Vanguard had their fair share of issues and quirks, but in comparison, Tangtang’s shortcomings were far more ordinary and relatable.
Take two of his very common flaws, for instance:
First, he didn't care to follow the news. That was only natural; after all, even as a Yanxiu Devourer, Tangtang himself was fundamentally someone who had slipped through the net of compulsory education.
Second, he didn't really listen closely when people spoke. Even if he caught something by chance, as long as it wasn't critically important, it went right out of his head before long.
This particular flaw actually made it easy for a person to stay happy and cheerful. It was just that sometimes, if one wasn't careful, being happy could lead straight into trouble.
"What do we do now?" Surprisingly, it was Wu Xu who asked this. The current situation was so coincidental, peculiar, and momentous that even Wu Xu couldn't resist quietly worrying for Tangtang.
Looking at Tangtang standing tall at the edge of the icy crag, not once glancing back... disaster was clearly looming.
"This is pretty thrilling!" Having had dozens of ex-girlfriends, Yang Qingbai couldn't hold back a laugh on the spot.
Then, the person who was actually the chief culprit, the Little Prince Zhu Jiaming, chimed in without a shred of remorse. "How about we just wait until he really falls in love before we tell him? Haha!"
"Piss off!" Did these people have no heart? Tangtang was the youngest, experiencing the first stirrings of love! Rusty Sister cursed immediately.
Wen Jifei's thoughts ran along similar lines to Rusty Sister's; he felt they couldn't let things play out like this. After all, this was Tangtang's first love. What if his tender heart couldn't withstand the sudden blow...
"Tangtang!"
Wen Jifei was still thinking it over and hadn't yet spoken when Han Qingyu beside him shouted first. As he called out, Han Qingyu even reached out an empty hand toward him.
He Tangtang was gone. Taking off from the far side of the icy crag, teetering on the edge of "perversion," he spread his wings like a roc and leapt with wild abandon.
The icy crag was only a dozen or so meters high, which posed no challenge at all to top combat power—let alone someone like Tangtang, who was no ordinary top-tier fighter.
The black combat uniform of Stream Vanguard and the moth-to-the-flame insignia on his chest fluttered in the wind. As the battlefield below turned astonished gazes his way, he plunged swiftly downward. The instant he neared the ground—whoosh—a midair secondary burst erupted. The greatest kidney-striker in human history leveled out at his most familiar waist-high elevation, angling forward and streaking ahead in a straight line for more than thirty meters.
Before anyone on the battlefield could react, He Tangtang had already checked his momentum and stood before the female soldier.
"Nisha? I was watching you from up there... Do you know who I am?"
The broken English he had picked up during those three years in the City of Sin finally came in handy. In his very first romantic move, He Tangtang came across as cool, composed, and steady.
If he had genuinely been hitting on a girl, his current performance would have been enough to make everyone in Stream Vanguard present—save for Wen Jifei—concede defeat.
"Mm!" After hesitating for about two seconds, Nisha blinked her eyes and nodded vigorously with excitement. "I know. You're from Stream Vanguard, the Super Demonic Slaughter Warrior, He Tangtang."
"That reaction—damn! Totally feminine."
"Yeah, going by mannerisms alone, more womanly than a woman."
The quiet, flustered murmuring atop the icy crag did not affect the conversation down below. Having received a response far warmer than imagined, the tension in He Tangtang's heart eased considerably, and his whole demeanor grew confident.
Your boy is Stream Vanguard after all, the great... wait, Super Demonic Slaughter Warrior? Tangtang muttered inwardly, pointing a finger at his own chest. "My new nickname?"
"Mm... hee." Giving a soft nod, Nisha chuckled bashfully, her eyes curving into crescents to reveal two rows of snow-white teeth. "That's what my comrades in the recruit camp and I call you in private."
She seemed a bit shy as she spoke. To explain the context, she earnestly raised an arm and mimed choking someone by the throat and lifting them into the air.
So that's why. He Tangtang understood instantly. Back when Qingzi was assassinated in Maple Leaf Country, he had done exactly that, instantly turning one of the assassins into millennia-old rotten wood.
Perhaps that scene had been too terrifying, making him look like a demon? He Tangtang thought. Still, the moniker didn't feel bad at all; it implied that even if he truly were a demon, he was a cool, handsome one.
"Not bad. Go ahead and use it." With a completely casual curl of his lip, the aura of someone from Stream Vanguard who had seen grand scenes shone through. He Tangtang looked up. "Since you came up with a new nickname for me and I like it a lot... how about we become friends?"
"Ah?" Nisha gave a start, though it was one of pleasant surprise.
He Tangtang's expression didn't waver in the slightest. "If you'd like, you can come hang out at Stream Vanguard in the future."
"...Mm!" Nisha grew utterly thrilled.
"Once you've come by, if you want to visit often... I'll haul an airship back this time and arrange a pilot to shuttle you back and forth every day," He Tangtang said, looking away from Nisha.
If the previous exchange had merely been an exuding of personal charm, then this line carried a definite flavor of something more.
At this moment, in He Tangtang's eyes, Nisha was simply a female recruit with an impressive degree of fusion.
As for Nisha, since He Tangtang had called out her name right off the bat, and she had appeared in numerous news reports, she assumed he definitely knew about her—including what made her unique...
In reality, Nisha had encountered plenty of suitors who knew the truth.
"Okay." The girl switched into full fangirl mode, looking at He Tangtang with crescent eyes and nodding bashfully.
"It's over!" Rusty Sister cried. "She nodded!"
Wu Xu: "Mm."
Han Qingyu was somewhat flustered. "What do we do now?!"
"...He's back!" Before they could discuss it much further, Yang Qingbai suddenly hissed in a low voice.
Beneath the icy crag, He Tangtang turned to head back. Evidently very pleased with his performance, he was quitting while he was ahead.
"...Tangtang looks pretty happy."
"Yeah. In truth, he's walking on air—he's just still playing it cool."
The few atop the icy crag exchanged glances.
"Why are you looking at me?" The Little Prince noticed Wen Jifei's gaze landing squarely on him.
"You go tell him," Wen Jifei said in a low voice. "You caused this mess; you go sort it out."
There was no other way around it except telling Tangtang the truth... Just as Wen Jifei finished speaking, He Tangtang's figure reappeared at the other end of the icy crag.
"Well? Wasn't your boy awesome just now?" As he walked over, He Tangtang asked in a hushed voice, "Didn't embarrass Stream Vanguard, did I?"
To tell the truth, even He Tangtang himself was surprised by his performance just now. He was practically a genius.
He addressed his words primarily to Wen Jifei. With this first foray into flirting, Tangtang had already classified himself on the same tier as Wen Jifei.
"Yeah, awe—" Yang Qingbai cut himself off as Wen Jifei glared at him.
The group atop the icy crag stammered for a few seconds. In the end, unable to bear watching Tangtang's thrilled, blissed-out look any longer, they all turned their heads and fixed their stares on the Little Prince.
"What's wrong?" He Tangtang asked, puzzled. "Why are you looking at him?"
"Nothing. Just... speaking of which, it's about time we trained the rookie." Wen Jifei stood up and glanced at Han Qingyu. "Let's go, Qingzi."
"Ah, right!" Han Qingyu, the rookie, scrambled to his feet.
Then Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, and Yang Qingbai quickly rose as well, turning and walking swiftly down from the icy crag.
"Hey, what's with you guys? Did you see how well I did and get jealous?" He Tangtang blinked in confusion, though he remained excited. "Wait for me! I'm coming too! I'm not busy right now anyway..."
A hand reached out from behind and rested on He Tangtang's shoulder.
Then, another hand extended, offering him a cigarette.
"Tangtang," the Little Prince began after a moment's preparation, speaking slowly. "I've got something to tell you. But before I say it, I need to remind you: between our own people, whatever happens can be talked out. There's no need to stake your life using special traits. It's not worth going that far..."
...
"They won't start fighting, will they?" About three kilometers from the icy crag, Han Qingyu stood at the entrance of a snow-covered canyon and looked back.
"If they fight, Zhu Jiaming had it coming... Don't worry. If it really comes to blows, he'll run, and Tangtang probably can't catch him right now." Wen Jifei withdrew his backward gaze and gestured toward the depths of the canyon. "Head inside."
"All right." Han Qingyu hesitated briefly, then stepped forward.
Behind him, neither Rusty Sister, Yang Qingbai, nor Plague Chicken followed.
"Don't be nervous. Draw your blades first. Xu'er has already gone to lure a Great Spike." Watching Qingzi's tense, uneasy figure walk into the canyon alone, Rusty Sister didn't know whether to feel sad or laugh.
Coincidentally enough, Qingzi's true breakout battle back then had also taken place in a canyon. That time, one man with twin blades had slaughtered his way through a hundred-man encirclement, carving a path out of a canyon of death.
Back then, he hadn't yet been Major Qing either.
...
Aloft on the icy crag, the cigarettes of both men had burned down to the butts.
"A while back, there was a news story. I don't know if you heard it or remember it," the Little Prince finally spoke, squatting and smoking as he waddled imperceptibly backward in a duck walk. "That news said that over in Thailand, during their general draft, an S-grade recruit appeared. And that recruit..."
"What about it?" In truth, He Tangtang had heard the news. He couldn't recall it on his own, but with the Little Prince guiding him so solemnly and earnestly, he immediately felt something seemed off.
"That recruit, he... coincidentally, 'he' fits, and 'she' fits too." As the Little Prince spoke, he dug his heels in, ready to kick back and bolt at any second.
"What are you talking about?" He Tangtang was confused for a moment. After roughly three seconds, realization dawned. It was an enlightenment... no, a sledgehammer striking his skull.
Another three seconds passed. He stubbornly raised his head, eyes slowly widening. "Ni... Nisha?!"
"Mm... So, how about it? Thrilling, isn't it?"
The Little Prince delivered this line like a condemned man, and before the words had even faded—whoosh—he vanished in a flash, leaping down the ten-meter icy crag and sprinting into the depths of the icefield.
Chapter 774