What If No One Can Defeat Ne?

"Damn it, has this already spread around? Fine. Even if it hadn't before, everyone knows about it now." "And those bastards probably have no idea just how complicated and rigorous the selection criteria were." Richiero's immediate reaction was like a bull struck squarely by a sledgehammer. After a momentary stumble, he spun around to glare at Luka in fury. "If we weren't in the proving ground's most dangerous zone right now, I'd make you realize that even the level of an unpicked candidate is far beyond what you could withstand, you idiot frailer than an ice sculpture." Taking a deep breath, the young squad leader fought down his humiliated rage and said in a low voice, "I bet you won't end up dying at the hands of a Great Spike, Luka." "Why? Is it because I—" "Because that meddlesome, filthy mouth of yours will get you killed first." Even in berating him, Richiero didn't dare raise his voice too loudly. Feeling helpless, he waited until the Stream Blades squad had faded into the distance before continuing: "Maybe I should've let them overhear you and Teo just now. Then we could see what would happen right here on the battlefield where Major General He Tangtang fought bathed in blood and ultimately took Miss Nisha away..." Right, if the rumors were true, wasn't this precisely where they had been parted by life and death? Luka and Teo instantly tensed up. In a fight, they knew with absolute certainty that they stood almost no chance against that squad. Under that banner, they had just seen that quite a few of the horns strung in those two hanging strands gleamed with a blue sheen. "Even if Major General He Tangtang didn't care, that doesn't mean that bunch of thuggish brigands wouldn't launch a sudden charge at us over it, understand?" "No matter how warm and friendly relations are between Azure and Stream Blades right now, it wouldn't stop those guys from beating the crap out of you two and leaving you here to freeze solid." "..." Richiero had finally vented his spleen while successfully deflecting the squad's attention away from the rejected candidates. He waved his hand and directed the team toward the site where the super tractor field had once stood. Far too many resources had been left behind there back then: countless dead iron fragments, along with ship after ship's worth of source energy metal blocks of varying sizes. Due to the intense fighting, explosions, and collapses, some had plunged hundreds or thousands of meters deep into the ice and hadn't been fully cleared away by Azure authorities. "Every now and then, those things rise back toward the surface with the shifting of the ice. The official rules explicitly state: whoever finds it or digs it up keeps it." "Just like a river where you can pan for gold, an abandoned gold mine, or a diamond park." "Rumor has it that a squad from the last batch salvaged over three hundred kilograms of high-grade dead iron. And another lucky guy kicked right into a metal block three fingers wide." "Whoa!" An excited stir rippled through the squad. Richiero and Marshall chimed in one after the other, quickly stoking the squad members' interest and anticipation. One by one, they drew their combat sabers, preparing to use them as shovels. The sounds of battle echoed from ahead, just beyond visual range. "Sounds like they're in combat." "Should we go help?" "The fighting sounds intense... Let's go take a look." Richiero looked slightly anxious, but his steps remained cautious. As he set off, he added, "Advance in defensive formation! Watch out for Great Spikes that might lunge out from the snowstorm, and stay close!" It took only about five minutes for Richiero and his squad to traverse the obstructing terrain. Yet by the time they arrived, the battle at the center was already over. A total of four Great Spikes, including a towering blue-sheened Great Spike, lay strewn across the snowy ice, their brow horns already severed. "Fuck, they're terrifyingly strong!" Marshall murmured under his breath from five hundred meters away. This was different from their previous observational and analytical conclusions; it carried a visceral shock, because this was an actual, concrete clash, and the results were right in front of them. The trial squad from Stream Blades was far stronger than they had imagined or conjectured. Even though Richiero, Marshall, and their teammates were also capable of dealing with a group of Great Spikes like this now, the fight would have been an arduous struggle. They would have had to continuously maneuver, divide, and pin down the enemies, focusing fire on them one by one to secure the kills. "Yet they only took five minutes." "Yeah. Which means they must have made a direct frontal assault to slaughter them, without even bothering to divide the battlefield. They just split into four groups and executed simultaneous takedowns." "...That's just absurd. Aren't they supposed to be recruits with barely half a year under their belts? This is practically approaching the level of an ace squad from the combat units of the past." Even in this era where Generation 10 apparatuses were widespread, recruit fusion standards had surged dramatically, and core resource supplies were pouring in—significantly elevating the overall combat prowess of humanity's source energy armed forces—such a stark contrast still felt utterly outrageous and unreasonable. "Actually, if you think carefully, it isn't hard to understand. Any one of them, placed in one of the front armies, would likely be cherished by the commanders as a rare prodigy. Besides, the difficulty and intensity of their daily live-combat drills are already higher than battling Great Spikes..." Richiero spoke in a subdued tone, his cadence a bit slow, sounding as though he were muttering to himself—tinged with a melancholic grievance, like an abandoned child. Sure enough, the squad leader's heart was still stuck on Stream Blades, still burning with indignation. The squad members caught on, stifling their laughter internally while keeping their mouths firmly shut. "All the better! With them handling the clearing, we can hunt for treasure in peace!" Luka beamed cheerfully, glancing left and right. "Hold on." Shaking himself out of his daze, Richiero promptly raised a hand to stop the eager squad members. Once everyone looked back at him, he signaled with his eyes and whispered, "Are you sure you want to search within their line of sight? Have you considered what happens if one of us gets dog-shit lucky and finds a massive metal block, and then..." "You think they'd rob us?" Luka said. "We're allied troops." "I wouldn't rule out the possibility." Richiero gestured toward the Stream Blades squad assembling into formation. "See their squad leader? He looks Huaxian." "Huaxians are usually prudent and polite," Teo remarked. "The ones from Stream Blades are different. After all, you've probably heard about the things that Major Qing has done." Richiero paused and added, "Besides, there's an old Huaxian saying that goes something like, 'Split halves on sight.'" "So will they split half with us?" Luka asked. "What do you think?" Marshall countered on Richiero's behalf. Luka: "..." Not far off, the Stream Blades trial squad had finished assembling. In rare solemnity, the members faced the battlefield and held a salute that lasted for more than ten seconds. In last year's Antarctic expedition, their predecessors in Stream Blades had fought as well. During the final phase, when the entire battlefield was collapsing, only they had charged forward against the tide toward the tractor field, pinning down the elite main force of Great Spikes and turning the tides of battle... In that war, eight thousand from Stream Blades had come, but only three thousand returned. Among those who never returned were three branch commanders and more than twenty top combat powers... "Fall in." Richiero knew this well. With a single command, his squad formed into ceremonial ranks once again, just as they had on the perimeter. "Salute." In that final battle back then, Azure had likewise left behind the lives of countless soldiers and officers on this ground, including the supreme frontline commander of Azure's Lost Continent Expedition, General Siglo. When the salutes ended, the two squads finally locked eyes. Perhaps because a sense of shared empathy had just formed between them, none of the arrogance or aloofness they had previously anticipated materialized. As the leader of the Stream Blades trial squad, Zhang Chengxi took the initiative to raise his hand in a salute. Richiero hurried to return it. After a moment's hesitation, he called out, "Is Major Qing's health holding up well?" "Good," Zhang Chengxi replied with a nod, even though he didn't actually know what their boss's condition was after aggravating his injuries during the battle against Puta'er. In any case, back at the base, he could frequently be seen chasing He Tangtang down to beat him up. Of course, the premise behind that was that during the preceding three months, He Tangtang had often been seen chasing Major Qing around the base, hollering about wanting to eat him. "That's good to hear." Richiero's mood brightened immediately, and his squad members felt the same, a measure of reassurance mingling with their relief. After all, the old man from Huaxia who had been invincible for over thirty years was very likely in poor shape right now. No matter how repeatedly Azure emphasized that Corps Commander Chen was recovering rapidly, it was hard for anyone not to think it was merely propaganda meant to steady public morale. Some even privately suspected that the old man had already passed away. In that case, humanity could only place its hopes in Major Qing recovering and advancing quickly—at least for a period of time. Otherwise, who would keep Ne in check? Ne was still an enemy to "this world." Fighting side by side during the confrontation against Puta'er hadn't changed that reality. ... "Why didn't you slip over earlier and ask if there was any news about Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu?" Marshall couldn't help asking Richiero after they parted ways with the Stream Blades trial squad. The deputy leader Marshall was an ardent fan of the Human Iron Armor. To this day, he still treasured the complete set of recruitment posters Second Lieutenant Shen had shot during Azure's last global recruitment drive. And as it happened, so was Richiero. "Ask my ass! True devotion includes keeping our curiosity in check, understand?!" Richiero snapped irritably. "Alright, you're right. I just wanted to know so badly whether Second Lieutenant Shen is truly still alive, even if it's just the faintest hint," Marshall said sheepishly. Last year, after the final battle at the South Pole, Azure had officially told the world that Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu had fallen in battle. Yet after their initial grief, Marshall and Richiero simply didn't believe it. They believed Azure was merely hiding Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu away. Because nearly everyone knew the situation leading up to Puta'er's descent last year: Ne's faction had stopped at nothing in their attempt to seize Second Lieutenant Shen from Stream Blades. She seemed to be of paramount importance to Snow Lotus and Ne. Therefore, when no one was currently capable of keeping Ne in check, declaring Second Lieutenant Shen dead and keeping her hidden seemed like the only sensible choice.