Passing through a village along the way, they had stolen a rain tarp—leaving money behind in its place—and while securing it over the roof of the van, they also cordoned off the rear section of the cabin so Shen Yixiu and the young girl wouldn't see each other face-to-face.
Just as dawn was breaking, they dropped the girl off at an intersection on the other side of the county town.
As she got out, they gave her the usual parting warning: "This was a counter-terrorism operation by a state secret department, a matter of grave importance. You mustn't talk about it carelessly to anyone. Nor can you mention having seen your big brothers, or you'll be in serious danger."
In truth, even if the girl actually talked, it wouldn't matter much. What she had personally witnessed and experienced was, on the surface, just a kidnapping case. As for cleaning up the scene and handling the subsequent communication with the relevant authorities, higher-ups in the Ninth Army would naturally take care of all that.
"Mm, I promise." The girl—who had mentioned on the way that she was a tenth-grader this year—was fairly calm and well-behaved. Repeatedly promising that she wouldn't blab, she bowed to her saviors by the roadside and said, "Thank you, big brothers." Then she turned to He Tangtang and bowed separately to him. "Thank you, uncle."
He Tangtang: "..."
In fact, He Tangtang was the youngest one there aside from Shen Yixiu.
"Well, study hard once you get back home." When it came to parting admonitions, a Chinese elder or peer could never resist throwing in that quintessential line, delivered with absolute sincerity... even if Wen Jifei himself had only scored 230 on the gaokao.
"Mm... goodbye."
"Goodbye."
The girl stood at the crossroads, waving continuously as she watched the van drive away, thinking to herself how incredible state secret departments were, filled with a deep sense of security.
After dropping off the girl, they drove a long distance along the provincial highway before finally turning off into a desolate mountain stream valley with no signs of human life ahead or behind. They pulled the van into the woods and concealed it.
The group hiked upstream along the creek and found a pool flanked by large shielding boulders. They split up to scout the surroundings and confirmed it was safe.
The case containing the source energy blocks was placed on a flat rock surface and opened once more. Eighteen blue crystal source energy blocks lay arranged inside, looking like gemstones that had locked the shifting flow of light within them.
"Let's split them," Han Qingyu said directly as he sat down.
The remaining four looked at him, pondering.
Only after quite a while did Shen Yixiu break the silence, speaking with a trace of hesitation and unease: "Is us doing this... is it really okay?"
Right, she was a child raised in an Azure family after all. Once the initial rush of excitement faded and she cooled down, she began worrying about rules and discipline again... Everyone had the same thought, their gazes slowly drifting toward her.
"Is it just this once? Or in the future too..." Shen Yixiu was entirely oblivious to the others' reactions, continuing on her own and earnestly asking about "the future."
Her gaze couldn't be seen beneath the faceplate, but judging by the way she stared straight at them, she was likely full of anticipation and deep earnestness.
"Acquired a taste for marrow?" Wen Jifei chuckled, tossing out the idiom.
"Taste of what?" He Tangtang didn't get the idiom and put it into plainer words. "What it means is, we only committed a robbery on a whim... and Iron Chick is already planning which way the gate should face when we become mountain bandits."
Laughter gradually broke out among the group.
Shen Yixiu felt a moment of embarrassment. Turning to Han Qingyu, she thought, *Didn't you say we'd make money together from now on?*
In fact, by this point, Liu Shiheng and He Tangtang had mostly figured it out as well. They had deduced that this entity definitely wasn't some artificial intelligence or robot... but that there was a real person inside, someone called Iron Chick, or Rusty Sister.
Once the laughter died down, what remained was the question of how to divide the spoils... This was their first time dividing loot, so there were no established rules and they weren't used to it. Everyone fell silent for a moment.
"Me," Liu Shiheng was the first to speak. He raised a hand in gesture, pulling at the wounds on his back and furrowing his brows. "Strictly speaking, as dead weight and someone unwilling to risk his life, I shouldn't take any... but I want one... I want to try and see if I can get a little stronger."
Han Qingyu looked at the wounds all over his back. "Take two."
Liu Shiheng shook his head. "One is enough."
With that, he reached out, took a block, and set it down in front of himself.
Next was Wen Jifei.
"I won't take any," he said, meeting the slightly startled looks from the others, and explained, "I'm not someone given to false modesty or unnecessary politeness. Aside from Iron Chick, whom I don't know very well yet, you guys should all know that when Qingzi gave me some before, I never stood on ceremony... But after last night, I genuinely feel it's useless for me to take any right now.
"So that's that... I'll head back and practice my shooting properly first. Whenever I find that I can be useful, I'll take my share." With that, he crossed his arms.
"Then consider it banked for you," Han Qingyu said, settling the matter.
"Then... my turn?" He Tangtang asked, cutting straight to the point. "I want two... I can't afford to be polite here. If I stay polite, I'll fall even further behind Qingzi and Iron Chick... If I can't even lend a hand down the line, why would you guys take me along?"
"All right." Han Qingyu nodded, taking two blocks and setting them in front of him.
Their gazes turned toward Shen Yixiu.
Shen Yixiu paused in silence. "Then I'll take two as well, okay?... I'm already very satisfied. I only get two blocks a month as a sparring partner. As long as in the future, we still..."
"Future your head! You think there's loot to rob every day?" Wen Jifei said. Both he and Han Qingyu knew that Shen Yixiu needed source energy blocks to sustain her life.
"Then... I take three?" Shen Yixiu asked hesitantly.
"Take four for now," Han Qingyu said. "This has nothing to do with how much you need; we only look at what you contributed... If we hadn't brought you along last night, the four of us would've been done for."
Four blue crystal source energy blocks were set before Shen Yixiu...
The iron armor didn't react.
Only after a moment could faint, muffled sobs be heard coming from within.
Not until the others broke into gentle laughter did Shen Yixiu awkwardly try to hold back her sobs—she didn't even have tears to cry with.
There were eleven blocks left in the case. Smiling eyes settled on Han Qingyu.
For Wen Jifei, He Tangtang, and Liu Shiheng, viewing Qingzi as the core of their survival squad in Azure had already become an ingrained, long-established habit, and he had indeed produced miracles and lived up to great expectations... Thus, everything felt completely natural.
As for Shen Yixiu, the girl thought for a long while before blurting out an odd, seemingly nonsensical line: "Here, you are the army..."
What did that mean? Rusty Sister probably meant that for this squad, he was the organizer and the leader; the squad only existed because of him, and without him, it would fall apart.
Han Qingyu smiled and said, "I'll take four as well. The rest will be banked for now."
"Banked?"
"Right. Didn't we agree to make money together in the future? Then there's no rush; we'll save them for reserves." Han Qingyu took four blocks and set them before himself, then shut the leather case containing the remaining seven.
No one objected.
"The problem is, where do we keep them? Where do we put them?" Liu Shiheng said. "It'll still be a while before we join a regional squad."
This truly was a dilemma. When Han Qingyu had kept his blocks in the dormitory before, Lao Jian had specifically warned him several times that doing so wasn't safe.
"Do you guys trust me?" After a moment, Shen Yixiu asked. "If you do, hide them at my house. My family has a detached house on the base, and I live on an entire floor by myself. It's just that I need source energy blocks so badly... so if you're worried..."
"We trust you completely," Han Qingyu cut her off.
"Yeah." The others nodded in agreement as well.
"Still, your family... a detached house? Which leader of our Eraser is your family member anyway?" Wen Jifei couldn't help asking.
Shen Yixiu looked up at him, then turned to look at Han Qingyu. "...I can't say."
"Oh, that's fine then."
Han Qingyu nodded with understanding. He had actually deduced most of it, but thought it best not to lay it bare.
Dividing the loot was finished.
Wen Jifei and Liu Shiheng exchanged long looks.
"Um, if there are operations like this in the future, the two of us won't participate for now."
"Yeah, we hold you guys back too much. If we two hadn't been there last night, the three of you would've fought with even greater strength."
"We'll train on our own for a while first."
"Right. But that way, you'll only have three people, and none of you can drive... How about you recruit two more?"
That made a lot of sense. The question was, whom should they recruit?
They had to be strong.
They had to be trustworthy and reliable.
They had to be close.
They had to...
"What about that Da Wa of yours, could he work?" Shen Yixiu asked earnestly.
Chapter 89