The villagers of Fenglong'ao scrambled to their feet, hastily carrying away the chairs and stools they had brought out to chat and catch the cool evening breeze.
A source energy spaceship slowly descended onto the threshing ground of this quiet mountain village.
This was by no means an ordinary sight. Even in an era when the war between civilizations was out in the open, it remained extraordinary. All of this was simply because, years ago, this little village named Fenglong had produced a youth who fought with the power of dragons at his side.
In the blink of an eye, years had passed, and that youth was a youth no longer.
That Han family boy who had ventured out from the village had fought a hundred battles across the brutal frontline to defend all humanity against the invading alien civilization. Time and again, he had turned the tide against impossible odds, accumulating glorious feats and covering himself in renown.
No one quite knew when the world had grown accustomed to calling him Major Qing—the one and only.
Yet the mountain folk of Fenglong'ao, just as they always had, still called him Qingzi.
"Qingzi?!"
"Qingzi."
"Qingzi is back!"
Amidst a chorus of greetings from grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, older brothers, sisters, and neighbors, the hatch of CA117 slid open horizontally at an unhurried pace. Clad in a clean, crisp Stream Blades uniform—black fabric emblazoned with a red insignia—Han Qingyu appeared at the doorway and stepped briskly down from the craft.
After several days of adjusting and fighting to recover, Han Qingyu was now able to move around freely. Just as he had said, what had truly suffered the most catastrophic damage this time was the half-set of fused Yanxiu remains. As for his physical body, on the outside at least, there did not seem to be much wrong.
"Yes, I'm back," he answered, lifting his head as his boots touched the ground, beaming warmly to reveal two rows of bright white teeth.
"How are you? Not hurt, are you?"
"You fought on Mars and won there too, huh?! Amazing, well done! The TV was talking earlier about how dangerous and hard it was for you all out there, but I told your mom and dad right from the start not to worry too much. When has our Qingzi ever not won, right?"
Laughter rippled through the crowd around him, voices chiming in, "Ain't that the truth!"
Han Qingyu smiled brightly as well. "Ah... I'm all right. Didn't get hurt."
"So what's Mars like, Qingzi? Does it really have fire? Early on people were talking nonsense, saying Mars is all on fire, so how could anyone go there? I told them you're a fire dragon, so you wouldn't be scared of fire anyway!"
"Ha, there's no fire on Mars, just land."
"Oh, there's land!"
"Must be an awful big piece of land then!"
"It is huge."
"Can you farm it?"
"Probably not for now—not enough water," Han Qingyu replied. His gaze drifted past the crowd and spotted his parents walking over from the side, and he hurried over to meet them.
Meanwhile, behind him, an Azure reception unit that had been waiting at a nearby base entered promptly, taking charge of Pegmont and the other wounded from Azure and the City of Sin.
The rows of stretchers tugged painfully at the villagers' hearts. Though they understood that casualties were unavoidable in war, the crowd gradually fell quiet, no longer as joyous and excited as they had been moments before.
Most of the Stream Blades members stayed behind, including Wen Jifei, Wu Xu, Jiang Longchi, Yang Qingbai—who had finished mooring the craft—and Rusty Sister, who insisted on standing, supported by her grandfather's arm.
She was not wearing her iron armor now. Like Han Qingyu and the others, she wore a clean, neat Stream Blades combat uniform. Dense wounds still covered her body, but the wrapped gauze was hidden beneath her clothes. Her hair was tied into a tidy ponytail with only a few wisps of bangs, and her face was clean.
"All right, all right, stop asking questions now. There'll be plenty of time to chat later," the old village chief stepped forward to hold back some of the villagers who still wanted to come over and greet him. "Qingzi and his comrades just finished fighting a battle, and they traveled all the way back from Mars! After such a long journey, they must be exhausted!"
"They came back to rest. Let them rest first. Let them go home, eat a hot meal, and get some rest."
"Qingzi, get some good rest first. When you're free later, us folks will have a drink and chat."
The old village chief waved as he spoke.
"All right, will do," Han Qingyu said.
"I'll drink with you! I'll drink with you, let's go right now!" Jiang Longchi chimed in, bustling forward. He recognized this place. Just a moment earlier, right as the hatch opened, the old man had muttered to himself in a daze, "Eh? Home?! We're home."
Wen Jifei had someone pull him back.
"Reporting, Second Lieutenant Wen." An officer from the Azure reception unit walked over, saluted, and said in a low voice, "The medical team led by Doctor Zhe is waiting at the base and ready to begin examinations and treatment at any time."
"Understood. You can head back first; I'll find you later."
Wen Jifei dismissed the reception unit, then led Wu Xu and the others at an unhurried pace toward Han Qingyu's parents.
"Dad, Mom," Han Qingyu said, standing before his parents.
"Oh, Qingzi... Is everything all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Han Ma's eyes were red, tears spilling over as she spoke. She asked while reaching out a hand, wanting to check if her son was whole.
Yet her outstretched hand halted midway, terrified of accidentally hurting her precious son.
As Han Qingyu's parents, having witnessed far too many scenes of bloodshed and pain, Zhang Jiexia and Han Youshan were not like the villagers. They would never naively believe that their son could emerge from such a massive battle completely unscathed.
"Just some minor injuries, nothing serious. Doctor Zhe will come check on me later," Han Qingyu admitted candidly, not daring to claim he was entirely unhurt.
That way, his parents would be more inclined to believe him rather than let their imaginations run wild.
"Where? Where are you hurt?!" Han Ma asked frantically.
"Right here. Broke a rib, but it's not bad. It's been set, just still sore," Han Qingyu said, gesturing toward his right ribs.
"Oh goodness... Then, then is everything else okay?" Han Ma examined the spot her son pointed to closely for a moment, then looked over the rest of him, reaching out to gently touch his shoulders, arms, and head.
Han Qingyu endured the ache. "Everything else is fine."
"That's good. As long as it's nothing serious, that's good." Han Youshan let out a long breath.
As Han Qingyu's father, he had long since been forced to grow accustomed to regarding his son's injuries as routine, and minor wounds as an outcome to be thankful for.
He too wanted to reach out and feel if his child was still in one piece, but he hesitated inwardly and never even raised his hand.
"Well then, let's head home! Eat first!" Han Youshan waved toward the house and called out loudly, turning back to beckon Wu Xu, Yang Qingbai, and the others along.
Zhang Jiexia chimed in to welcome them as well, her bright, sharp eyes taking several extra looks at Rusty Sister. Seeing her being supported, worry flared up in her again, and she quickened her steps to go check on her and lend a hand.
"Godmother," Wen Jifei jumped in at just the right moment, blocking her path and patting his own body. "I'm completely fine!" Then he added, "I want to eat stir-fried pork with peppers, deep-fried pork slices, wine-fermented pork... and potato pancakes! Oh, and do we still have any of those homemade pickled vegetables? Our palates have been starved of flavor lately!"
When it came to coaxing elders and putting them at ease, Wen Jifei was undoubtedly the absolute master.
Zhang Jiexia broke into a smile immediately. "Yes! We've got everything ready at home! I'll make it for you the moment we get back—I'll make it all!"
The house truly had everything. Guessing that the Martian expedition force would be returning soon after their victory, the Han couple had made every preparation imaginable, even though they hadn't known for certain whether their son would come straight home.
Chapter 958