A Request

"1990 is almost over." "I remember a rumor back home saying 1990 would be the end of the world. Looking back now, couldn't that have been deliberately spread by the Cleansing Faction?" "You bought that?" "I just listened, but some folks back home really believed it. People even paid money to join some society over it… There was a woman in our village who piled food and drinks right by the bed, holding onto her man and refusing to let him get up, saying since it was the apocalypse anyway, they might as well die together." "Haha… She probably had other ideas. Besides, they're always predicting doomsdays. If this year doesn't pan out, there's always the next." "Still, judging by how often those shuttlecraft have been landing this year, it really does feel a bit like it." "Even if it feels like it, there's barely over a month left." Small talk like this happened every day over breakfast. Occasionally, as the chatter went on, they would realize that certain things they had heard about before joining Azure suddenly showed traces of intent, or an underlying motive. Just like the people who had vanished in the waves of going into private business or heading abroad, or those who had disappeared from the world into thin air—looking back now, perhaps some of them had actually ended up in Azure. Today was the day recruits from Regiment 425 and several other regiments set out for their supplementary field training. With a little time left after breakfast, Han Qingyu went to collect his gear and blade, picking up a source energy block along the way to leave with Wen Jifei. Afterward, the two of them found an empty wall behind the equipment grounds, sitting there to smoke and chat… Wan Xiujing suddenly appeared around one corner of the wall. "Hey, you. Come over here for a second." Wen Jifei glanced at Han Qingyu. Han Qingyu looked back at Wan Xiujing. "I'm not coming over. If you have something to say, say it from there." Then he whispered to Wen Jifei, "I'm worried they'll mug me… That robot, I can't beat it… That thing guards source energy blocks like its life depends on it." "Oh." Wen Jifei nodded. "Then what do we do? We can't run." As he spoke, he jerked his chin upward. S-19 appeared around the other end of the wall, walking toward them. Just like that, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei were flanked by a robot and a young girl. Boxed in from both sides with nowhere to retreat, they were stuck in the middle. "You, you can leave first," Wan Xiujing said. "Sure thing." Han Qingyu got up to leave. "Wait, wait, not you! Him!" Wan Xiujing stomped her foot in exasperation, pointing at Wen Jifei. Wen Jifei shook his head. "I'm not leaving." Wan Xiujing sighed. "Then…" If they weren't mistaken, she had just exchanged a look with S-19. Mind control? Had Azure's technology gotten that advanced? If so, why the hell were they still fighting with their lives on the line… Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei thought to themselves. "Fine, it's fine if both of you know. You two always seem to be together anyway." Having apparently reached an agreement, Wan Xiujing spoke while gesturing toward S-19, dropping an earth-shattering bombshell: "Let me introduce her properly. This is my sister. Her name is Shen Yixiu." "…" Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei looked at each other. In 1990, their imaginations were, after all, rather limited. Wen Jifei pondered for a moment, then came to an understanding. "Back in the day, when my dad was fourteen or fifteen, he herded cattle in the village… Word is he once swore brotherhood with a cow. Something like that, right?" Han Qingyu nodded to show he understood. "What did you say its name was?" he asked Wan Xiujing with a smile. "Shen Yixiu." "Shen Yixiu—as in 'easy to rust'? Makes sense. Look, it's already rusting here." Wen Jifei looked at several mottled patches of sheet metal on S-19's body, seemingly about to reach out and touch them. Han Qingyu hastily stopped him, speaking with lingering dread: "Careful. You can't just touch that thing. Fighting it is fine, but touch it and it goes crazy." "Oh." Wen Jifei grinned, turning toward Wan Xiujing, who was already glaring at him, and continued courting death: "That name isn't great. Let me fix it for you: Shen Yixiu—as in 'easy to repair.' Meaning once it breaks, it's easy to fix." S-19 glanced at him. Wen Jifei seemed rather pleased with his own idea, getting a bit carried away as he continued: "As for nicknames, you could call her Rusty Sister, Iron Chick, Barrel Girl, hahaha… Hey, hey, wait!" Mid-laugh, he was suddenly lifted off the ground, grabbed by the scruff of his neck by S-19, and ground against the rough concrete wall. It was genuine grinding—the kind that wrung a desperate "Help!" right out of him. Until he was finally tossed to the ground. "Can you listen to me properly now?" Wan Xiujing stood backed by the machine's intimidation. Clearly just a pale, slender girl of fourteen or fifteen, she spoke with the imposing aura of someone holding power over life and death. "Yes, listening, we're listening!" Han Qingyu, sitting on the ground, and Wen Jifei, sprawled on his stomach, both chimed in at once. "Good. I'm leaving this afternoon, which is why I came to tell you. Please, take this seriously… Please, I beg you, take it seriously, all right?" Wan Xiujing's expression and tone suddenly shifted. Han Qingyu was somewhat at a loss, but he nodded. "All right." "This is my cousin. Her name is Shen Yixiu, and she isn't a robot…" Wan Xiujing said. "When my cousin was twelve…" The account that followed wasn't very long, but it covered the full story of why Shen Yixiu had ended up this way and her current situation. During her explanation, Han Qingyu glanced several times at S-19—no, at Shen Yixiu. He chose to believe it. Then he tried to imagine what a twelve-year-old girl had gone through over the past five to nearly six years, trying to picture her expression and feelings beneath that sheet metal, feeling utterly helpless. Suddenly, he remembered the places he had kicked and struck… It turned out she was a girl—a girl even younger than him. "I'm sorry," he said unconsciously. "It's fine." S-19 spoke for the first time. The voice was somewhat muffled, but it was unmistakably the voice of a young girl. Even though they already knew, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei still felt a profound jolt of shock at that moment. At the same time, they couldn't help thinking: *Heavens, how did she manage to hold it in, never speaking a word, pretending to be a robot all this time?* Wan Xiujing waited quietly beside them for a while. Seeing that all three had fallen silent, she continued, "So, I want to ask you… both of you… to be someone my sister can talk to from now on." "You still have another cycle of sparring, don't you? When the time comes, no backing out on the source energy blocks." The young girl looked at Han Qingyu, making sure to remind him. Han Qingyu nodded. "I won't back out." Wen Jifei chimed in, "But after that, he's leaving camp for the frontline." "I'm going too… I plan to join your squad." The one who answered was Shen Yixiu, though her words were directed at Han Qingyu. "Please talk to my cousin for me… Please help look after her," Wan Xiujing said, suddenly bowing deeply. Straightening up, she added, "Even though she's much stronger than you." "…" Han Qingyu paused, then asked with cautious unease, "Is she stuck in there for the rest of her life?" He still wasn't used to speaking directly to S-19. "Maybe future technology… I don't know…" Wan Xiujing couldn't finish her sentence. *Clack.* Shen Yixiu moved on her own. Her iron-clad palm reached out in front of Han Qingyu and opened flat, revealing a small object tightly wrapped in paper. "I want to ask a favor of you." At a loss, Han Qingyu took the item and unwrapped it. It was a small, round compact mirror with a bordered rim. On the back was a cartoon drawing of a princess in a long gown, the kind a girl around ten years old would love. Seeing his confusion, Shen Yixiu said, "If one day I die in battle… or when I'm about to die, help me open my visor, and let me look at myself with this. Would that be all right?" At those words, Wen Jifei let out a choked, garbled sound from the side, unable to form words through the tight ache in his chest. Han Qingyu froze entirely where he sat. "I really, really want to know what I look like now." Shen Yixiu spoke with a hint of a smile in her voice. Beside them, Wan Xiujing's eyes were already bloodshot, tears falling like pearls… This sudden request from her sister was something even she hadn't known about beforehand. All she knew was that all these years, in her grandfather's house, there had never been a single mirror. "This is my home phone number. If you make any decisions or have any thoughts about choosing a squad, you can call me." Shen Yixiu handed another slip of paper to Han Qingyu, then turned to leave. As she walked, she said, "From now on, if you want to call me Rusty Sister or Iron Chick, that's fine too. I think it's kind of fun…" "Just don't call me Barrel Girl. I'm not fat. I know that much myself."