Chapter 129 - First Sortie

The Third Fixed Exploration Site, the territory for the trial, was a vast expanse of terrain.

It was a spectacularly beautiful region, with meltwater streams that stretched down from several towering snow-capped peaks, over a dozen alpine lakes, and a sweeping range of mountains with passes at varying elevations.

The temperature was low, and the wind cut to the bone, but it was bearable inside a cave.

“Seriously, how do you always find places like this, Little Qing? It makes no sense.” He Tangtang asked with a laugh as he ate.

Part of him wanted to ask, “Are you part dog?” but his fear of being beaten to death stopped him.

The pecking order was clear. Only Iron Maiden had the authority to pick Han Qingyu up and slam him into a wall at any given moment. He Tangtang occupied the lower end of the hierarchy, only occasionally able to trade jabs with Wen Jifei. The two of them shared the bottom rung, taking turns at each other’s expense.

The other three all nodded in agreement and glanced at Han Qingyu. They, too, found it rather fascinating.

Han Qingyu’s never been here before, so how did he find a cave on the very first night?

“I’m not really sure myself. Whenever I’m in a dangerous situation, and I need one, it’s like they call out to me.” Han Qingyu laughed it off.

It was already the third day. They had spent three days eating and sleeping well. People outside were likely already fighting and dying in droves.

Yin Caixin thought for a moment. “So, is the plan just to hide and wait? Wait for the Sharpie, wait for the aircraft to drop the raw metal cores, and not explore at all?”

The trial’s purpose, beyond victory and killing the Sharpie, was indeed exploration. That was also why many people came to participate.

After all, this area was considered one of the likeliest places on Azure to contain source energy or dead iron.

Many participants harbored the fantasy of stumbling upon it through sheer luck, like the protagonist in a martial arts novel coming by a fortuitous encounter. If they discovered it, they would become the hero and legend of their faction.

Han Qingyu sat in the corner with his back to the wall and shook his head firmly. “No exploring. What’s there to explore? All those scientists spent decades searching and found nothing. I don’t believe that a bunch of us crawling around out there are going to have better luck.”

Despite his words, every time Han Qingyu crawled out of the cave to relieve himself, he made a point of choosing a different spot each time. There was no harm in testing his luck after all.

He’d even trained himself to maintain an uninterrupted stream, but he never sensed any trace of source energy.

“Alright.” Yin Caixin nodded. “Your call.”

Nobody objected to Little Qing’s decision. They kept hunkering down, sleeping on and off, chatting together or in small groups.

After a while, Shen Yixiu scooted over to Han Qingyu and whispered apologetically, “Are you doing this to conserve energy cores? Because of me?”

“No.” Han Qingyu was firm. “Use your energy cores freely. The moment one gets low, swap it for a full one to prevent getting caught short if a fight breaks out. Remember to give me the used ones, too.”

They’d entered with twelve energy cores total, strictly inspected and verified.

The allocation for five people was one for Wen Jifei, two each for the other four, and the remaining three for Shen Yixiu.

“Give the used ones to you?” Shen Yixiu asked, puzzled. She assumed Han Qingyu planned to use them himself, which was actually dangerous, as he could easily run dry in the middle of sustained combat.

“Mn.” Han Qingyu nodded and had her swap out a core on the spot to convince her.

Shen Yixiu did as she was told, removing a partially drained energy core and handing it over.

Han Qingyu tested it with his combat case in front of her. The reading showed roughly one-fifth of its charge had been consumed.

Then he held the core in his hand and rolled it around for about five seconds before placing it back in the combat case. “Take a look.”

Shen Yixiu leaned in. Then froze.

Shaking her head, she peeked once more.

Baffled, she raised her head and stared blankly at Han Qingyu.

“Shh.” Han Qingyu reached out to cover the mouth of her metal shell.

Shen Yixiu smacked his hand away in annoyance.

He gave an awkward laugh. Then, eyes darting toward Yin Caixin, he held a finger to his lips and whispered, “I only showed you so you’d stop worrying about consumption. This is an enormous secret. I might actually be a gas canister—no, a source energy canister!”

Shen Yixiu’s entire body shook as she tried desperately not to laugh. After thinking it over, she peered up at Han Qingyu again, her expression delighted and solemn as she nodded.

“How much can you store, Mister Canister?”

“Roughly eleven or twelve cores’ worth. Depends on usage.”

“Mn.”

Around the same time, Wen Jifei noticed Yin Caixin sitting by herself and struck up a conversation.

He made a deliberate gesture toward Han Qingyu. “Jealous?”

Yin Caixin had just seen Han Qingyu asking Shen Yixiu for the energy core and nodded, looking a little wronged. “You’re all so close. Not like me. I’ve only got one energy core’s worth of bond with him. Once it’s spent, mister won’t care about me anymore.”

Wen Jifei paused. “So you want more than one core’s worth of bond, huh?”

“Of course. It’s a matter of life and heaven,” Yin Caixin said candidly, not quite getting the idiomatic expression right.

“Then you need to tell him directly. Do you know the expression for that?”

Wen Jifei leaned in and whispered the phrase to her.

***

Han Qingyu went out for another “field urine test.” He had taken up the habit of relieving himself while rotating in a circle to expand the search radius.

The result was another failure.

As he was coming back from the tree line on the other side of the slope, moving carefully, Yin Caixin suddenly stood up from the bushes.

Han Qingyu stopped and stared at her. A bolt of panic shot through him. What’s she doing here? She wasn’t watching me piss, was she? Did she discover my secret?

“Mister,” Yin Caixin addressed him somewhat nervously.

Han Qingyu had gotten used to the inexplicable title by now and gave a small nod.

Yin Caixin glanced at him again, mustered up her courage, and continued, “I-I have inappropriate thoughts about you.”

“You what?!” Han Qingyu was sure he’d misheard.

“Inappropriate thoughts,” Yin Caixin repeated.

She has inappropriate thoughts... about me?! Han Qingyu was stunned. So she didn’t actually find out my secret. She just... Are mixed girls always this forward? Out here in the middle of nowhere, too. What exactly is she planning?

After a beat, Han Qingyu asked, “Have you lost your mind?”

“What?” Yin Caixin replied, baffled.

Wen Jifei had just taught her this phrase, saying that wanting more than one core’s worth of bond could be expressed as “inappropriate thoughts.”

He had also said, “Little Qing is dense. Just tell him directly.”

So, she’d waited near the cave entrance and told him. Directly.

Han Qingyu didn’t understand women, but he understood Wen Jifei. Seeing Yin Caixin’s reaction, it clicked instantly. “Did Plague Chicken teach you that?”

Yin Caixin nodded blankly.

“You have my permission to go challenge him to a fight. Just don’t kill him.”

Han Qingyu then explained what “inappropriate thoughts” actually meant, and in doing so discovered what Yin Caixin had actually been worried about. He assured her that she didn’t need to worry about that anymore, at least while inside the trial grounds.

It was just a misunderstanding. I knew it. What woman would ever be interested in me?!

The two of them had just arrived at the concealed cave entrance when the sudden sound of clashing weapons, followed by voices, came from not far away.

Shen Yixiu emerged from the cave, having heard it as well.

“Should we go take a look?” she asked restlessly.

“Yeah.” Han Qingyu nodded. “Let’s see if there’s anything worth scavenging.”

Han Qingyu poked his head in to tell He Tangtang to stay behind and watch over Wen Jifei. With that, he took Shen Yixiu and the translator back over the slope to scout.

“Why don’t we lie down and watch from here?” Shen Yixiu suggested, stopping beside some bushes.

Han Qingyu surveyed the familiar terrain. He’d just done a field urine test in that exact spot. “This isn’t a good position. Let’s find somewhere else. Follow me.”

The three of them ended up prone behind a cluster of rocks not far away, peering through the gaps in the shrubs.

Below them was a mountain pass between two ridges.

A wildly lopsided battle of roughly twenty against one was underway.

“The ones with their heads covered, who are they?”

“They look like they’re from Arabia. Some emir’s son... a prince.”