"Allow me to introduce: this is Lieutenant General Shen Fengting, former commander of the Ninth Army of the Huaxia Sole Witness Legion." Inside the cabin of the Doomsday Great Wall, Yang Qingbai, clad in a bulky spacesuit, made a grand show of the introduction and added, "Heard of him, right?"
"Ah, of—of course... It's an honor."
*What Lieutenant General Shen Fengting? He's my own grandfather, okay? As if you didn't know?!* Rusty Sister was suffering immensely right now. It was something everyone already knew full well in their hearts, yet she stubbornly refused to admit it—she couldn't admit it.
Thus, she had no choice but to keep acting along. To the point where she was completely helpless as bastards like Yang Qingbai teased and pranked her.
"And this is Major General Yang Tieyu, Azure's special liaison officer stationed with Stream Blades," Yang Qingbai said, turning to introduce her to Shen Fengting. "Super-tier combatant. Supposedly very powerful, but afraid of blades, so for this expedition, Qingzi had a full-body suit of armor specially customized for her—almost identical to Rusty Sister's. Don't mistake her when the time comes, Old Commander, and treat her like your own granddaughter, eh?"
"Oh, so that's how it is. A pleasure to meet you, Major General Little Yang." In comparison, an old veteran like Shen Fengting was far calmer. As he spoke, he proactively reached out, took Rusty Sister's hand, and gave it two shakes.
"Yes, a pleasure." *He's playing along so well,* Rusty Sister thought, looking up at her grandfather with a grateful glance.
"Speaking of which, as an Azure liaison officer, for Major General Yang to get along so well with this bunch of Stream Blades rascals—even gradually integrating into the core team—is truly rare. You know, before this, Azure people sent over there were never treated very well." Shen Fengting paused here, his gaze drifting.
From his gaze, Rusty Sister vaguely sensed that something was amiss.
"So, if this old man may be so bold as to ask... Major General Yang wouldn't happen to have some special relationship with Major Qing, would you? Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Sure enough, Shen Fengting averted his eyes and continued talking.
Rusty Sister: "..."
Why?! Why was even her own grandfather like this—failing to act his age, taking pleasure in her misfortune... Was there even a single good person who came out of the Ninth Army?
"Major General Yang?" Seeing that she didn't speak, Shen Fengting actually prompted her.
"Commander Shen asked you a question, Major General Yang," Yang Qingbai chimed in from the side.
Rusty Sister looked up, her cold gaze sweeping between the two of them before finally settling on Shen Fengting. "I have long heard of Commander Shen's great renown..."
"And?" Shen Fengting asked smugly.
"How about an unarmed sparring match?" Rusty Sister raised a fist—a fist that looked fair and delicate.
Shen Fengting: "..."
While this farce played out inside the ship, elsewhere, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei were walking toward the large source energy ship carrying the people from the City of Sin.
Wu Xu was already there.
Like a block of wood, he had stood rooted outside the ship's hatch for about half an hour before Cat Girl finally arrived.
She still sported playful short hair, her black combat suit outlining a nearly flawless figure. Only now, she had an extra pack slung over her right shoulder and held a silver spear in her hand.
Though called a spear, in length and weight it still fell short compared to the Binggu Spear on Wu Xu's back; but carried by a woman, it gave her a remarkably heroic and sharp air.
Spotting Wu Xu from afar, Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet's eyes instantly lit up, shining with delight. For Wu Xu to proactively wait for her was an absolute rarity—practically a once-in-a-millennium occurrence.
Feigning nonchalance, she smoothed the hem of her clothes and tucked her sideburns neat. Pretending she hadn't seen him, Cat Girl followed her squad right past Wu Xu...
Then, slowly, step by step, she backed up.
"Hey, why is there a log here? Who hauled it over?" she asked.
Wu Xu looked at her, not saying a word.
Cat Girl grew anxious. "So you didn't come to see me?"
"...I did," Wu Xu said. "But you walked by too fast just now, so I didn't have time to call out to you."
*Fast? Fast, my foot, you wooden block!* Cat Girl thought. *I practically walked past in slow motion, okay? I was almost moonwalking.*
Never mind, he was Wu Xu, after all. Tilting her head, Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet said, "Then why did you look for me..."
"Don't go. Your trait isn't suited for the battlefield. Going won't do any good."
Three exceedingly blunt sentences. This was probably Wu Xu's version of showing concern.
Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet understood, yet she couldn't help feeling annoyed. Lifting her chin with a toss of her bangs, she said, "Isn't Lieutenant Blockhead Wu looking down on people a bit too much? We haven't seen each other in years—could I really have made zero progress in your eyes?"
With that, she gave a proud, haughty look and raised her hand, gesturing with the silver spear in her grasp.
Wu Xu: "You..."
Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet: "Care to spar?"
*It's over,* Wen Jifei thought. *It's over,* Han Qingyu thought.
Sure enough, in the next second, with a muffled hum of constrained source energy bursting forth, Wu Xu made his move. His opening strike was a source energy gravity field, clearly intending to pin Cat Girl completely in place.
She was like a feather; a feather could drift on the wind, moving with the airflow. Yet it could never escape a sudden solidification and inward crushing of the entire pocket of air.
*Whoosh!* Unable to evade in time, Cat Girl, caught inside the gravity field, unleashed her own source energy burst while surging with life source energy.
Lifting the spear in her hands like a bamboo shoot about to break through the soil, it slowly pushed upward, striving to breach the gravity field.
*Crack, crack, crack...* Dense sounds of solidified air fracturing within the gravity field rang out as the silver spear pushed upward with difficulty yet unyielding resolve.
"You do seem much stronger than before, especially your explosive power," Wu Xu evaluated like a cold-faced drill instructor, while proactively dissipating the gravity field. Then he added, "But if I had wanted to kill you just now, you would already be dead."
"Bullshit!"
"Truly."
"Like hell it's true!"
"...Oh."
"If you were an enemy, would I ever stand this close to you? If you hadn't launched a sneak attack, I... at least I could have fought back! Besides, why would I have to fight you? Just because I can't beat you doesn't mean I can't beat a Red Shoulder. Does that still count as being useless?"
"...Right. No, you're useful," Wu Xu said, somewhat at a loss.
"But going there makes it easy to die," Wu Xu continued.
"Going there makes it easy for you to get lost," Cat Girl said, then broke into a smile. "What if you accidentally end up living there all by yourself?"
"In a... grave?"
"Bite your tongue! Ptui, ptui, ptui!"
Shu You walked over toward Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei, pulling his gaze back from the little battlefield. "Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet's combat prowess has improved a lot over these past two or three years. On top of her original supple trait, she gained that sudden burst of explosive power, like your Huaxia's Tai Chi."
"Yeah." Han Qingyu nodded, then smiled and asked, "Boss Shu You, why are you going in person this time?"
"The survival of humanity is at stake, after all..." Having inadvertently become a leader of the expedition force, Wen Jifei chimed in from the side, trying to sound official.
"Don't overthink it. I don't give a damn about humanity. I'm just bored out of my mind. My life... has become increasingly meaningless since then." The "since then" Shu You spoke of naturally referred to the aftermath of Alphonse's death, though Alphonse had not died by his hand. "So I want to go outside, take a look, test myself."
"Understood." A person like Shu You might do it, but you couldn't put it into words or force him to admit he was "doing his part for humanity" or anything of the sort.
Han Qingyu humored him, then deliberately kept the conversation going. "Speaking of which, when I saw you in the ranks this afternoon, I was quite surprised. Boss Shu You, why weren't you on the rostrum..."
"Major Qing, you're getting far too good at this kind of talk. It's not good. It's not like you." Shu You's expression darkened slightly. "I wouldn't deign to sit with them. I stood in the ranks only because those people came out with me. The City of Sin doesn't have its own ships capable of reaching Mars."
*Ah, I forgot,* Han Qingyu immediately scolded himself inwardly. *Being diplomatic is too hard. As expected, I'm better off acting distant and blunt like before.*
How could Shu You ever sit with the Azure brass?
Back then, his comrades, his brothers, even his girlfriend had been murdered and refined by Alphonse. After barely escaping with his life, he had fought his way back, desperate to report the truth and seek justice... only to receive Azure's official notice: designated a defector, hunt-to-kill order initiated.
Now, even though Alphonse was dead and Azure's top leadership had changed hands again and again, the name "Azure" remained an eternal wound and thorn in Shu You's heart.
Yet even so, he had still come this time.
Because the City of Sin possessed no source energy ship capable of flying to Mars, he had brought his people here. And because they had no desire for excessive contact with Azure officials, they had demanded their own large ship, even having Stream Blades urgently dispatch a pilot just for them.
The Little Prince, who stayed behind, had assigned them Lubi Azha.
Lubi Azha was also from the City of Sin. Uncle Shiliang, his only relative in this world, had died—fallen in battle at the South Pole last autumn... Lubi Azha said he wanted to go to Mars.
Chapter 902