Lava

The figures of the war correspondents were quickly swallowed by the wind and snow. When they powered up their gear and ran, their speed appeared hardly inferior to that of regular soldiers. It made sense when one thought about it—how else could they traverse and document battlefields rife with immense danger? "Smack, smack." When Duocha turned back, he thumped the back of his hand twice against Jazar's chest. Wearing an ambitious look, his eyes glittering with excitement, he blinked once and looked out toward the hazy icefield in the distance. "Let us make our names shine, General Jazar." "Of course, General Duocha!" A soldier who didn't want to be a general wasn't necessarily a bad soldier, but many couldn't help yearning for it, and Jazar was just as thrilled. Their generation of new recruits was different from the veterans. Their very first impression of this century-long civilizational war was an unprecedented triumph for humanity, one where humanity's new stars shone brilliantly. This naturally made them more optimistic than their predecessors, and far more prone to romanticized fantasies about a brutal civilizational war. When they had stepped toward the recruitment stations after the Zenith Battle, alongside the resolve to die defending humanity, their minds had been filled with the glory of becoming humanity's heroes. The young sentries aligned their footsteps and snapped to attention on the deserted icefield. "Huh?" Duocha let out a soft sound of confusion. He pointed into the distance, turning to Jazar. "Look over there. Was that ridge there a moment ago?" Through the hazy visibility, the snowfield resembled a mound of white flour, its surface bulging with numerous irregular swellings, one of which seemed vaguely too neat. Snow and ice hummocks formed all too easily in Antarctica. Jazar hesitated before answering. "Was it? Maybe it was. Or maybe it just piled up, considering how fierce the wind and snow are... It's fine, as long as we don't forget the way back." "...Fair enough." Equally uncertain, Duocha didn't pursue the matter. The terrain here changed constantly; there really didn't seem to be anything unusual about it. Around the same time, through the haze, the Huaxia press team finally spotted the encampment of the Fourth Battle Group and the active figures of its soldiers. They didn't look like they were about to depart immediately. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, slowed their pace, and tidied their uniforms. He Daqing rummaged through his backpack for their credentials. "Lin Ya, look." Holding a map in one hand, Yao Yue tugged at Lin Ya, who was excitedly looking around. "Look at what?" Lin Ya leaned over. "To the east... Mount Erebus. That's where they're headed." Yao Yue's voice carried a hint of worry. By "they," she of course meant Stream Vanguard. She had come to the battlefield, and only after arriving did she truly understand what a unique and powerful presence Wen Jifei and Stream Vanguard were. With her current capabilities, her lens could never capture the figure she held in her heart. "Right..." Lin Ya seemed to be pondering something. "The soldier just now said they've already been marching for six days." "Yeah, but why would there even be a volcano in Antarctica? Wouldn't it freeze over?" Lin Ya asked, her thoughts leaping as unpredictably as ever. Yao Yue: "..." *** "Why would there even be a volcano in Antarctica?" He Tangtang tilted his head back and blew a smoke ring that instantly fell apart in the wind. Over the past six days of marching, aside from during combat, he looked entirely like a man suffering from heartbreak, even though he thought he was hiding it well. "There are quite a few." Through his sniper scope, Wen Jifei could already see the massive, snow-covered mountain, as well as the grayish-brown circular crater at its summit. Plumes of white steam billowed ceaselessly from the crater. "Must be dormant, right? As cold as it is, it should be frozen solid," He Tangtang said. "It's active. Rolling lava, perfect for roa—" Wen Jifei suddenly recalled the time when Qingzi had first received General Ivan's specialty energy and couldn't control it, living alone in a cave while they used his heat to roast meat. He had almost said the volcano could be used to roast meat. "Roasting what?!" He Tangtang suddenly grew agitated. "If you have something to say, just say it! It's not like I ate that roasted fish..." "...Whatever. Whether you ate it or not is your own business, and only you know whether you regret it." Wen Jifei rolled his eyes at He Tangtang and paid him no further mind. In truth, the moment lava was mentioned, something had crossed Wen Jifei's mind. He turned his head and began searching for Han Qingyu. Over the past several days, Qingzi had been placed among the regular soldiers to fight alongside them, forced day after day to watch comrades fall around him, bearing witness to blood and death. Aside from that, most of the time he was like a bystander. Just like now: Wu Xu, along with Theodore, Rusty Sister, and other super and top combat power, was currently battling two Red Shoulders. Qingzi stood atop an icy rock watching from afar, his expression showing a hint of yearning mixed inevitably with fear. What they had discovered along the way was that there didn't seem to be very many Red Shoulders left in Antarctica. Perhaps more of them had moved to the western front, where casualties were substantially heavier. "Those Red Shoulders are very strong, aren't they?" Han Qingyu suddenly asked. "Y-Yes." Ian, standing on the same icy rock, turned from behind his camera. As sincere and down-to-earth as ever, he replied, "Very strong. At one stage, they were a nightmare for all of humanity. But we've grown stronger. Look at Lieutenant Wu Xu and the others..." "The old you could send one to meet Satan in three strikes," Ashleia interjected, turning with a deep, veiled sorrow in her eyes as she looked at Han Qingyu. His harmless demeanor and gently melancholic gaze were truly endearing. Yet Ashleia found that she still preferred and yearned for his past aloof, infuriating face. Because of the delicate distance in their relationship, Ashleia's grief and heartache over Han Qingyu's current state were actually far more tangible and intense than what those closest to him felt. "I know... I've heard." Han Qingyu offered a helpless yet calm smile. "By the way, it's been six days. Are you disappointed?" His eyes, tinged with a touch of helplessness, looked over. "No, just a little uneasy at times," Ian admitted honestly. Given Legion Commander Chen's condition and General Bochen's injuries, the person humanity should have relied on most right now was the very man before them: Major Qing. Sadly, tragedy had struck him as well. Thus, beneath humanity's apparent strength and successive victories in this battle lay a complete absence of beyond-canopy and half-canopy level combat power. So long as that issue remained untouched, things held together; but once it was exposed, it would become an enormous hidden peril that humanity could hardly withstand. "Fortunately, the current situation looks quite good," Ashleia said reassuringly. "According to the news I received, although the western offensive has suffered heavier casualties, their advance has been faster than ours. They've already pushed to White Island and are preparing to cut back along a route closer to the South Pole. At the same time, Azure has dispatched another two hundred thousand troops to advance toward them from the opposite direction. Once these three forces converge near the intersection of 80 degrees south latitude and the prime meridian, the true general offensive will likely begin." That general offensive would involve 1.6 million human source-energy-armed troops charging full throttle toward the tractor field at the South Pole. As a correspondent, Ashleia couldn't help picturing that scene in her mind, her heart surging with excitement. *Will our six thousand troops join the general offensive and launch an eastern assault? Will we arrive at the tractor field even earlier?* Ashleia pondered the thought, but seeing the Little Prince nearby, she wisely refrained from asking. Of course, even if she asked, judging by Han Qingyu's state, he likely wouldn't know either. "Also, the Rejectors' base station construction is going very smoothly," Ashleia changed the subject. "Soon, Ian and I might be able to transmit our reports. Lieutenant Wu Xu will once again inspire the world..." "Qingzi!" Wen Jifei waved from the distance, interrupting Ashleia. "Huh?" Han Qingyu stood up blankly. "Leave them be. Xu'er can handle it. Come on, let's go check out the crater." "...All right." Because Han Qingyu had to separate from the main force, the Little Prince quickly organized a squad to escort him up the mountain. In reality, they didn't need to lift a finger. The Great Spikes in Antarctica weren't packed densely together, and the slope from the foot of the mountain up to the crater was gentle. The few scattered Great Spikes roaming about were taken care of under Wen Jifei's rifle. *Bang! Bang... Bang!* Oddly enough, it felt like setting off firecrackers while ascending the mountain. As they climbed, the ice and snow beneath their feet grew steadily thinner. At last, their boots met soil once more. The biting cold receded entirely, replaced by billowing waves of heat striking their faces... "He..." Ashleia had been standing frozen for over twenty seconds. Now she looked worriedly at his receding back, trying to speak. "Shh." Wen Jifei quickly hushed her with a warning look. Then, everyone remained rooted to the spot, watching in silence as Han Qingyu's back moved step by step toward the crater. Due to the extreme heat, they could go no further and had stopped, but Qingzi hadn't noticed. He seemed completely oblivious to the scorching temperatures... His figure radiated a focused intensity as he walked unhurriedly all the way to the rim of the crater. Below, red and yellow lava churned and surged. With two blades strapped across his back, Han Qingyu stood still, gazing silently into the lava. One minute passed, then two... No one disturbed him. Inside his chest, alongside his heart, something else seemed to be pounding violently—a strange yet familiar fanaticism... Puzzled, Han Qingyu raised a hand and pressed it against his chest. "It looks like he's about to turn around." "Yeah, he noticed something's off." "Please throw me upward!" Ashleia pointed above her head and suddenly shouted to the Little Prince. With the strength of a top-tier peak expert, the Little Prince casually grabbed and hurled her. Ashleia's entire body shot into the air. Clutching her camera with both hands, she struggled to adjust her posture midair. In truth, she could have captured Major Qing's figure at the rim from where she had stood earlier. But in that sudden, fleeting heartbeat of inspiration, Ashleia wanted to capture him framed together with the churning lava inside the crater. Just like that day on the coast of Oceania a year ago, when he stood at the zenith, alongside that river of molten lava cutting across the sky. Looking back now, that had undeniably marked the dawn of a brand-new era. *Click, click!* Midair, Ashleia rapidly pressed the shutter. She captured it. Just as she had stood on the shores of Oceania a year ago, disregarding the brutal and bloody battlefield beside her to look up and freeze that eternal moment in time. Today, he was merely standing beside lava once more; he hadn't stepped into battle, much less returned... Yet in that instant, the sentimental reporter found her eyes welling with tears. Two photographs. Out of the vast number of images Ashleia and Ian had captured over the past six days, these were the very first with Han Qingyu as the subject. In the first, Major Qing stood at the crater's edge, blades on his back, looking over his shoulder. In the second, Major Qing raised his head, looking toward the sky. In the background of the photographs, within the depths of the crater, red and yellow lava surged and churned.