The opening of the Antarctic proving ground, an unprecedented abundance of source energy resources, and the enlistment, tempering, and growth of yet another batch of new recruits made it seem as though the world had swiftly entered a new era.
Compared to their Azure seniors—including Major Qing, Pink Peggy, and the rest of that crowd—this generation of recruits undoubtedly possessed better baseline conditions, far loftier room for growth, and boundless potential.
Yet time was the problem...
Did this clash of civilizations, already raging for a century, truly leave them enough time to finish growing and uphold the world?
No one knew where the main battle fleet of the Great Spike civilization had advanced to within the sea of stars.
Yet a being as high-ranking as a Puta'er had already arrived.
Imagine: if the Puta'er that came last time had been in prime health, what would the state of the world be today?!
Would everything have already ended?
These thoughts were not something ordinary civilians or frontline soldiers contemplated. On this matter, Azure officialdom had deliberately concealed the true situation, avoiding the spread of panic and anxiety.
Yet reality was reality, immutable. Beneath the world's unprecedentedly prosperous facade, it stood closer to the brink of the abyss of destruction than at any prior point in history.
"Captain," a team member called out.
Zhang Chengxi looked back. "Speak."
"Do you think... our Big Sister really fell in battle? If she did, it seems this is where she died."
After Richiero led his squad around another way to hunt for treasure, someone on the Stream Blades side raised a similar question.
The team member called the Iron Armor of the Mortal Realm "Big Sister" because when this batch arrived, they couldn't call Major Qing "Qingzi" like the old-timers and seasoned veterans did, so they began calling Han Qingyu "Boss."
And so, Rusty Sister became Big Sister.
In truth, everyone knew that beneath that cold suit of iron armor, the super combatant Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu was actually quite young.
Among this crop of genius recruits in Stream Blades, a portion had joined because of Rusty Sister. First, owing to the previous recruitment campaign, Rusty Sister was widely famous; second, the combination of heavy armor, a long blade, and a girl seemed to be the true ultimate romance in the eyes of these spirited young men.
"Is there really no word at all?" Seeing that Zhang Chengxi didn't answer, the member couldn't help asking carefully once more.
"None," Zhang Chengxi shook his head, his expression dejected.
The truth was, even at Stream Blades base, there had never been any news about Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu. Not a trace.
...From Antarctica to the mountains of South Asia...
Nepal Third Fixed Exploration Site, now the headquarters base of Stream Blades, had entered the muggy, humid rainy season since June. Today was a rare, bright, sunny day.
Last winter, the base had dug out some caves beneath the snowy mountain. Big and small, there were several dozen in total.
However, no one had ever come out to explain the caves' specific purpose. After lying idle for a time, they were used by He Tangtang's mother to store salted fish and cured meats.
During that period, Tangtang's mother had just learned that her son actually ate Great Spikes, and she had indeed panicked for a few days, but she soon calmly accepted it.
"You're asking how I feel? What can I do about it? He's my flesh-and-blood son! Even if he liked eating shit, wouldn't I still have to stand by him as his mother? Still cook it for him..."
That was how a mother put it. The earthy logic brought tears to many people's eyes.
Not only that, when the previous recruit trial squad set off, Tangtang's mother had even made a special point to ask them to see if they could bring back a few frozen Great Spikes, so she could slice and cure them herself once they arrived, lest her son crave that bite too badly as time went on.
Amid the salted fish and cured meat across the mountain, there was an oversized cave with guard sentries stationed below.
"Who came by?" A patrol leader passed, glanced at the cave entrance, and inquired of a standing sentry.
"Lieutenant Wu Xu came to chat with Weize," the soldier replied.
The person living in the cave above was Corpse Man Weize. To be precise, he wasn't living here so much as frozen here. In the battle of Antarctica last year, Weize had survived in the end, but ever since returning from the Pole, he had looked like a shriveled ancient corpse.
This condition was caused by his innate characteristic, with the underlying mechanism unknown; no doctor from any field possessed treatment experience or specific countermeasures.
In the end, completely out of ideas, they had no choice but to treat him like cured meat—setting him up in a cold, dry natural ice chamber to keep him frozen for the time being, lest this current super weapon of Stream Blades suddenly grow moldy and decay.
"Chat? Those two?" The patrol leader chuckled, picturing a block of wood and a dried corpse standing opposite each other, utterly motionless.
"Yeah, they've exchanged quite a few sentences," a standing sentry said.
"Two hours, seven sentences, and Lieutenant Wu Xu even cracked a joke during it," another soldier chimed in, speaking with excitement as if he had discovered a cosmic wonder.
Two hours ago, Wu Xu had walked into the cave and said, "I brought you life source energy blocks."
"Mm." After acknowledging, Weize paused—probably for twenty minutes or so—before suddenly remembering to ask, "Is Qingzi recovering well?"
"Well. He's stronger."
After answering, Wu Xu sat there watching Weize replace the life source energy block and begin slowly absorbing it. This process lasted about an hour.
An hour later, Wu Xu finally picked up the thread of their previous conversation and asked, "How are you doing?"
"I will keep living until I kill the next opponent. Probably anyone, including Ne." This time, Weize uttered a long sentence, completely devoid of joking intent—though even if he had meant it as a joke, neither his expression nor his tone could have conveyed it.
"Impressive. Impressive bragging." Wu Xu made a joke.
"Ha. Ha." Weize laughed.
That was the entirety of the conversation that had taken place over the past two hours.
"I have to go. Azure sent a liaison officer," Wu Xu said, getting up to take his leave and bringing an end to today's lengthy chat.
After the battle in Antarctica, relations between Stream Blades and Azure entered the closest, friendliest phase in history. Though still two separate organizations, the vast majority of their affairs were now highly coordinated.
Just a few days ago, Azure had initiated its Nth proposal to station a liaison officer with Stream Blades.
Little Prince Zhu Jiaming had rejected it on the spot.
Until the other side mentioned that the liaison officer chosen this time was a young super combatant—a female.
...
At the entrance to the path leading out of the base, the pairing of an old tree and a large boulder gave the setting the look of the village entrance to some old Huaxia village. People sat or squatted on the rock, or stood below it.
This welcoming lineup...
The presence of Wen Jifei and the Little Prince was standard protocol for an official reception; He Tangtang and Yang Qingbai showing up was also fairly normal; Han Qingyu's presence somewhat exceeded the customary standard, something Azure would presumably find quite a pleasant surprise; but that Wu Xu had actually shown up too... unless he had gotten lost and happened to pass by, ordinary people couldn't comprehend it at all.
"Here it comes," He Tangtang suddenly spoke up, giving a reminder.
From the bend ahead, where the trees blocked their view, the rolling sound of an off-road jeep's wheels and the disorderly slapping of branches against the windows grew clearer.
No one spoke at the scene... right until the off-road jeep came to a halt before them.
The driver sent to pick her up did not get out.
The jeep's rear door was pushed open from the inside. A pulled-up Azure uniform sleeve revealed a section of scallion-white wrist.
Then, a military boot stepped out.
In that posture, there was a pause of about six or seven seconds before the hand shoved the door wide open.
Immediately after, the figure of a young woman in her early twenties leaped down from the vehicle.
She wore a standard Azure officer's uniform with major general epaulets, and on her back was a custom-made source energy device dedicated to super forces, which matched what had been told beforehand; her standard battle blade was nothing out of the ordinary.
The girl was beautiful—the sort of beauty one wouldn't find a match for even after walking the streets of ten cities. Large eyes with bright, pure pupils, along with eyebrows of perfect shape and thickness without a trace of makeup, all radiated a rare, valiant spirit.
Her height was estimated to be around one meter seventy. Her curves were not particularly pronounced, but balanced just right; she was not heavy, yet far from frail.
Her jet-black hair was tied into a ponytail behind her head. Though attractive, it was inevitably a bit long for a soldier. Especially since it was currently clipped with a pink hair clip in a little girl's style.
Good grief, why is she wearing earrings too? What's going on here? Does she think she's on vacation?
A truly gorgeous girl, but aside from the occasional spark of heroic spirit in her eyes, she looked nothing like a warrior, much less a super combatant. In particular, she was far too fair—an Eastern fair skin, pink beneath white, without a single scar or blemish, almost absurdly so.
The few Stream Blades members simply stared at her, their gazes candid and direct, yet remaining completely silent as a group.
"Hello, everyone." Seeing this, the girl had no choice but to initiate a salute and hold out her hand. "I am Yang Tieyu, the liaison officer stationed at Stream Blades by Azure..."
On her extended right wrist, she wore a gold chain bracelet strung with plump little gold beads on a soft cord, with a tiny golden lotus seedpod dangling at the clasp.
Usually, when young girls wore gold, it could easily look tacky, but not on her, because her wrist was simply so fair. If one searched for words to describe it, "mutually accentuating" was the only fitting phrase.
"It is a great pleasure to come to Stream Blades and meet Major Qing, Second Lieutenant Wen... and everyone else. I look forward to working well together with all of you..." Though no one responded for the moment, the girl warmly continued.
However, "Let's go."
Han Qingyu suddenly spoke, jumping down from the large boulder. His face bore the look of someone who had just finished enduring an annoying chore. Walking away, he gestured for the others to leave with him.
Chapter 864