Beyond the Zenith

“Platoon Leader... Mira... Platoon Leader Mira?” Han Qingyu called, unable to shake off the inexplicable feeling that her demeanor was off.

Her behavior was somewhat reminiscent of that day at the reservoir, after she had taken off the clothes she was wearing over her bikini. She stood there with her head tilted, and her hands crossed over her chest in a pose that appeared innocent but was definitely deliberate.

Obviously, she was in her combat uniform, but the form-fitting cut of the uniform admittedly showed off Mira’s enviable assets rather well—perhaps too well.

“Huh?” Mira finally acknowledged him after a few blank seconds.

“This,” Han Qingyu said with an innocent expression. He tilted his head back to peer at her from his seat and pointed at himself. “The ports, do I connect them all?”

“Ah, that’s right. This is the biggest improvement of the ninth-generation device—unified activation. Even we veterans had to go through retraining on it early this morning,” Mira explained in a rush. After all, she still used the eighth-generation devices herself.

With his questions cleared up, Han Qingyu quickly followed the others in suiting up, putting on the device and connecting the ports to his heart, shoulders, and, of course, his kidneys as well.

In truth, the terms “suiting up” and “armor” were actually misnomers, as the device was neither a suit of armor nor indeed any kind of suit.

Lost in thought, and with rising anticipation, he waited for another minute or so.

Finally, Head Instructor Qi Shantong gave the order, “Activate your devices.”

At this moment, the vast majority of the recruits on the training field were trembling in excitement. Everything they had witnessed, yearned for, and anticipated—running like the wind, striking like lightning, and charging forward like a surging tide—was finally about to unfold before them.

“Over your heart. The round metal plate on the inner side... Yeah, that one,” Zhang Dao’an instructed, standing to the side and pointing at the correct spot on the device. “Every time you first start up the device, you have to press this button. You won’t need to do this if the device is on temporary standby during combat. Once you guys have more experience, you’ll be able to activate it by channeling the source energy in your body.”

A cacophony of clicks and hmmms filled the air as thousands of maneuvering devices independently started up. The vibration and the flashing of blue lights somehow elicited the feeling of standing on an ancient battlefield, watching as countless soldiers collectively drew their longbows.

The war machines were activated and poised to strike.

Up to this point, nobody had the mind to wonder, Why are we sitting down?

By the time they realized, it was too late.

“Ugh...” Liu Shiheng let out a muffled groan, collapsed face-first to the ground, and passed out right in front of Han Qingyu.

Many others also fainted at roughly the same time. Some even coughed up blood before passing out. People fell in droves amid these muffled groans and coughing of blood.

In hindsight, Lao Jian’s silent loss of consciousness while injured was actually quite impressive.

A “grand” scene indeed.

Han Qingyu did not have the capacity to pay the others any mind, as he was also feeling it.

On the bus last night, Zhang Dao’an had described this “near-death feeling of source energy crashing against your heart and flooding your limbs with violent power” as a type of “romance.”

Source energy pouring in from the maneuvering device felt completely different from the gentle, soothing sensation of naturally absorbing it.

It was more akin to a tidal wave, especially the initial impact. It was the unpredictable crash of a towering tsunami that had been long rising right in front of one’s eyes, bringing with it the force of the entire ocean upon one’s body and heart.

This one blow had many fainting on the spot.

Han Qingyu gritted his teeth, with his brow tightly furrowed, as he braced against the excruciating agony. It felt like his heart was being shattered to pieces. Then, he felt a change. The surging energy was spreading from his heart to the rest of his body.

Still, this scattered flow remained violent, overwhelmingly so. As it passed through his arms, it gave him the impression that he could punch through a wall with a single strike. The sensation of it coursing through his thighs made him feel as if he could take flight just by lifting his legs. And so it went.

Then it started to surge back toward his heart. It came and went, the ebb and flow like the endless, steady movement of the ocean’s tide.

Han Qingyu gradually adapted to the feeling.

Opening his eyes, he realized that, of the dozens of regiments of recruits on the massive training field, fewer than a hundred remained sitting. The vast majority of these still had their eyes firmly shut, struggling through the pain of adapting.

People continued to collapse occasionally, even as he was observing all of this.

Another two or three minutes later, He Tangtang, drenched in sweat from head to toe, opened his eyes and let out a string of a dozen expletives.

“Fuck! That hurts like hell!” He then turned his head to glance at Han Qingyu. “Monster.”

By this point, no more than sixty people remained conscious on the field.

On the command platform, Head Instructor Qi Shantong, also wearing a maneuvering device, suddenly acted like a raving madman, cackling like a maniac and seeming extremely worked up.

“Morning training is over for everyone but you lot. Leave the ones who fainted where they are. Those who coughed up blood... Medical team, get up here!” he shouted in a state of manic frenzy.

Then, he bent over and hopped from side to side like a strange beast, eyes wide as he zealously studied each and every one of the remaining recruits still seated below.

He caught their eyes, forcing them to meet his gaze. Then, bearing the savage grin of a wild beast, he let out a low growl like the alpha of a wolf pack.

“Not bad, you bastards!” He let out a burst of wild laughter. “Get up! All of you, get up and run! I’m telling you to run! If you don’t make it to that wall in forty seconds, I’ll shoot you.”

As if to emphasize his point, he pulled out a pistol and fired a shot into the air.

“Quick, get up! Hurry! That guy’s actually insane!” urged Zhang Dao’an from the sidelines, the very man that the recruits of the 425th had once considered crazy as well.

He Tangtang and Han Qingyu frantically got to their feet and rushed for the wall.

“Damn it!” He Tangtang cursed as the sudden burst of energy caused him to smash headfirst into the ground.

He stood at over one-ninety and nearly a hundred kilograms. Yet as he took a moment to check himself, he realized something.

“It... doesn’t hurt,” he muttered.

“Run, I’m telling you to run!” Qi Shantong crouched on the command platform, pointed his gun at He Tangtang with the expression of a violent maniac, and said in an eerie voice, “Get up and run.”

He Tangtang hastily leapt to his feet, only to shoot up into the air and crash back down once more.

“You guys aren’t used to moving with source energy yet. Take it easy for a bit. Just stand still so you can get used to it,” Mira called from the side.

“28... 27....” Qi Shantong counted down, glancing at his watch with the gun still in hand.

Eventually, He Tangtang and Han Qingyu managed to stumble forward, although their movements were obviously disjointed.

Qi Shantong temporarily shifted his attention to the other recruits.

By the time he glanced back at the pair a few seconds later, they were already starting to get the hang of it.

“Oh? Not bad,” he remarked.

Standing up and craning his neck, he barked at them, “That’s right. When the source energy surges into your right leg, use it to push off the ground, and you’ll run like a rocket, haha! Make sure your leg is still in midair as the source energy flows back into it. That’s right, master the timing and adjust your rhythm. Don’t just focus on your legs, try controlling the source energy surges as well! Make it fast, slow, fast, slow. Now, faster, faster, faster! I’m about to shoot!”

His gestures and movements were like those of a conductor—albeit an insane one.

In the end, everybody managed to make it to the wall within those forty seconds. This was actually plenty of time, even for an ordinary person running at a normal pace. For people wearing the maneuvering device, it was a piece of cake. If they had grasped the rhythm and technique from the start, Han Qingyu estimated that six to seven seconds would’ve been enough.

Qi Shantong had just opted not to tell them that from the beginning.

“Hahaha, not bad. You’ve all got the hang of it, right?” Qi Shantong clapped his hands and nodded vigorously in approval, then grinned sinisterly and stretched out his right hand. “Now, get back to me within five seconds... If not, bang!”

He fired off a bullet into the sky with his left hand.

The recruits charged back like lunatics.

Once the last recruit, spurred on by gunfire behind him, finally returned to their original position, Qi Shantong straightened up and pounded his chest. “I’m proud of you guys, really. All of you have left me pleasantly surprised—moved, even. Now, shuttle runs. Start!”

This absolute nutcase lifted his gun once more.

“When I call for you to stop in a moment, stop immediately, then turn around and run back, you hear me? If any unlucky soul takes more than three meters to come to a halt, then I’m sorry, but a bullet will be going right through your head!” Qi Shantong cracked up with wild laughter. “Now, run, run, run... Stop!”

Bang!

A bullet really hit the ground three meters ahead.

The recruits were all frozen in shock. Is this... Is this guy for real?!

“I told you to run back! Can’t you understand simple instructions? When I shout ‘stop,’ I don’t mean stop—I mean turn around and sprint back!” Qi Shantong bellowed, stamping his foot as his frustration boiled over. “Who told you to just freeze in place?!”

The recruits had no choice but to keep their heads down and run.

The back-and-forth sprints went on endlessly.

After a long time, Qi Shantong finally calmed down, changed magazines, and lit a cigarette. He held the gun in one hand and the cigarette in the other as he leisurely sat on the edge of the command platform.

“What’s your name?” he suddenly asked one of the recruits.

The recruit stopped running. “Li Zhaoyu.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop. Keep running while you talk. Which regiment are you from?”

The recruit turned to run back while he answered, “Regiment 413, integration level—”

“Don’t give me that shit about integration levels. Voluntary or involuntary?”

“Voluntary.”

“What about you?” Qi Shantong called out to another recruit.

“Cheng Qinrui, Regiment 429... Voluntary.”

“You?” he asked another.

“He Xianxiu, Regiment 453, Voluntary.”

It was clear that the majority of people present had joined of their own accord.

“What about you?”

“He Tangtang—”

“I wasn’t asking you.” Qi Shantong waved the muzzle of his gun. “But you can go ahead if you want.”

“I’m not telling you shit then.” He Tangtang ducked his head and ran forward.

After a moment’s pause, Qi Shantong burst into raucous laughter. “He Tangtang, I’ll remember you.”

“Hey, you!” he called out once more, continuing with his inquiry. “What about you?”

“Han Qingyu, Regiment 425... Involuntary.”

“Involuntary?”

“Yeah.”

Qi Shantong chuckled in amusement. “How unlucky do you have to be?! Haha, how about I call you Unlucky Bastard from now on? Hey, Unlucky Bastard. Stop!”

Han Qingyu didn’t stop.

“Stop!”

Han Qingyu didn’t stop.

“I told you to stop!”

Bang!

A bullet hit the ground not far in front of Han Qingyu, sending dirt flying.

He still didn’t stop.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Han Qingyu, stop!”

Han Qingyu stopped.

Then he turned around and sprinted back.

“Stop, stop, everyone, stop! Everyone, stop right now!” Qi Shantong shouted.

Crouching on the command platform, he stared at Han Qingyu and said sincerely, “I’m sorry. Take this as an apology.”

Then, he suddenly raised his gun to his own temple and fired.

Bang!