The place where the dream began?
Probably.
It did seem like it.
Han Qingyu stood silently, looking ahead.
Beside him, Lao Jian was still lost in sentimental reminiscence. He was in his forties—by normal standards, not particularly old, barely enough to be called in his prime. Unfortunately, over all these years, his combat capability had never managed to take another step forward.
With his strength plateaued, combined with the body full of injuries and ailments he had racked up in his earlier years, Captain Lao was, in truth, not far from retirement or a transfer to logistics.
The new generation of human source energy soldiers was growing and advancing far too fast.
Selected through wider and far more rigorous standards, they were provided with richer rations, better equipment, training, and guidance, standing in a better—perhaps even the "best"—era in human history to date.
Before long, they had left little room for the older generation who came before them.
Facing retirement, Lao Jian had regrets, yet he also had none.
The regret lay in the fact that, looking purely at his own Azure career, Lao Jian had never achieved the heroic dream he had when he first joined Azure; his completion rate wasn't even a fifth... not even a tenth of what he had planned back then.
The grand ambitions of youth were painful to recall. Looking back from the future, he had merely ended up as an utterly ordinary outpost squad leader among the tens of thousands in Azure's century-long history of struggle.
"This isn't the life Lao Jian was supposed to have! Back then, I coughed up so much blood, yet here I am, retiring after such an ordinary life?"
A few years ago, he had constantly thought this way, remembering all the blood he had vomited—estimating that he alone could have kept a whole blood bank running.
Yet he had no regrets, because Lao Jian had once pulled off an extraordinary feat: back in the day, right in this very patch of woods before them, with a blade to a neck and a pack of lies, he had coerced a boy who failed his exams into joining Azure.
Because of that impulsive move on a whim, humanity's history would see two Super-level-and-above fighters, Han Qingyu and He Tangtang, and a future Chief of General Staff, Wen Jifei, emerge from the outpost squad under his command.
If he were even thicker-skinned, Lao Jian could also count Shen Yixiu, Wu Xu, and Yang Qingbai under his squad's banner, claiming he was the one who nurtured them.
Just how awesome was an achievement like that?
"Peerlessly awesome! It's definitely unprecedented. As for whether another such great squad and great captain will ever appear again, in my view, fat chance. It's impossible for any squad, any captain, to ever cultivate six such individuals at the same time."
Over the years, Captain Lao had bragged this way everywhere he went.
No one could refute him.
Even recently, when the Azure Council approached him to discuss retirement matters, they had taken the initiative to suggest giving him one final promotion, allowing him to retire with honor as a major general and a Special-Class Merit.
"Who ever heard of an outpost squad captain holding the rank of major general?!"
"Still, this Special-Class Merit is a bit stingy. With contributions like mine, I don't think awarding me a Star of Azure would be over the top at all.
Or if that's really too tricky, a Star of Azure Gardener Special Edition would do. Worst comes to worst, I'll take just the honor without any of the material perks."
Lao Jian was dying to share this bragging right with Han Qingyu. The village youth he had recruited into Azure back then was standing right beside him now. After years of fighting across countless battlefields, the boy had become humanity's pinnacle of combat power, the vessel of fate's hope, the world's one and only Major Qing.
What was more, they had maintained a good friendship and a deep bond of master and disciple over the years... or so Lao Jian believed.
"Maybe I should mention the Star of Azure Gardener Special Edition to him? He'd definitely sup—"
*Whoosh!*
Han Qingyu hadn't brought a blade with him this time.
Yet, when he suddenly raised his hand into an empty grip and swung his arm across, the sharp sound of a combat blade tearing through the air rang out all the same.
An invisible blade halted right before Lao Jian's throat.
Invisible pressure hung over him like a suspended mountain.
Years ago, Lao Jian had pointed his blade at Han Qingyu's throat in just this way, asking him with a cold, ruthless face whether he chose "death or joining Azure."
"What the hell?" It took a good thirty seconds or so before Captain Lao finally recovered his wits. Annoyed, he reached out to shove the "blade" aside while speaking.
"Screw you, Lao Jian," Han Qingyu cursed sullenly with a look of resignation, making no effort to hold his ground as he let him push the "blade" away.
"Tsk, tsk, still holding a grudge?! I've never seen anyone as petty as you!" Lao Jian scoffed. "You extorted ten thousand bucks from me back then, and that was money I scraped together with blood and sweat! Besides, even if the methods weren't entirely kosher, the results turned out great! If I hadn't pulled that stunt back then, would there ever have been the Major Qing we have today? For all we know, humanity would've been wiped the hell out by now."
"I've never seen anyone as shameless as you either. Even after that, you still have the nerve to come to my house every year to eat and drink wine with my dad." Han Qingyu looked like he couldn't be bothered with him anymore. Turning away, he strode into the woods.
Lao Jian grinned and followed.
"Speaking of which, it was this tree, right? Where I pinned you with my blade?"
"And that source energy block—did it vanish over in that bush?"
"Just fell right on you like that, and you absorbed it directly."
"..." Lao Jian kept chattering on about the past. Seeing that Han Qingyu didn't respond at all, he suddenly paused, his tone shifting. "Something's not right, Qingzi."
Han Qingyu turned back. "What? What's not right?"
"Your state of mind isn't right." Like a completely different person in an instant, Lao Jian looked at Han Qingyu with eyes full of deep worry. "Didn't Azure say we won a massive victory on Mars, that the location of the skeleton has been narrowed down, and that the situation is looking fantastic?"
Han Qingyu: "..."
"So that's not the real situation?" "Then... Tangtang isn't off on a solo mission either? What happened to him? What happened to him?!" Lao Jian grew anxious and agitated.
"Tangtang should be fine. He's much stronger now than you imagine," Han Qingyu consoled him.
"Then what on earth is going on? What's the real situation right now, Qingzi?" Lao Jian held back his surging emotions, pressing earnestly.
Seeing him like this, Han Qingyu suddenly felt a momentary daze. The captain they had once looked up to, the man they had once relied upon, was now standing so far away—so distant that, when it came to everything that was happening to them, he knew no more than the ordinary public or Azure's grass roots. He knew nothing at all.
And when Han Qingyu moved to speak, to explain, he fell into an even deeper daze—*No, his clearance is too low. I can't tell him.*
Right at that moment, the communicator on Han Qingyu rang.
To keep Lao Jian from overhearing, Han Qingyu took several steps back before answering.
"Reporting, Major Qing! Reporting! I went to your house looking for you, but they said you went out..." The Azure officer on the other end was panting heavily. Most likely, this wasn't from running, but from sheer emotional turbulence—like extreme excitement or panic.
"Is there news from Mars?!" Han Qingyu pressed immediately with anticipation.
"No, there's still no word from Mars." Clearly, Han Qingyu had misread the tone. It wasn't excitement, but... The officer continued, "Latest intelligence: in the vicinity of the Moon, within the search perimeter for the remains, signs of non-allied vessel activity have appeared. At the same time, the Mars evacuation fleet reports that not long ago, they detected an extraordinarily massive surge of energy, and the direction in which the fluctuation is spreading points straight toward the Moon."
Han Qingyu: "..." To think unexpected crises would strike two critical locations on the very same day.
"The Azure Board of Elders and the Council would like to invite you and Second Lieutenant Wen to attend an emergency meeting remotely at seven o'clock. We have already prepared the equipment at the base," the other side continued.
"Understood. We'll be right over," Han Qingyu replied, then hung up.
When he walked back...
"Leaving already?" Lao Jian, waiting where he was, looked at him and asked.
"Yeah. Looks like I have to go," Han Qingyu replied.
Chapter 963