Beyond the Zenith

Tu Zi had mentioned during their casual conversation that the Snow Lotus faction of the Wipers could actually be ahead of the Azure Coalition in certain areas and held secrets that even the Coalition didn’t know.

After all, its founder was Ne, the person who once carried all the Coalition’s research hopes on his shoulders. Although he had defected and become an enemy, his past discoveries and contributions couldn’t be denied or erased. The real question was why he had suddenly left.

For a longer life? For the chance to explore the universe and the unknown? The first of these had tempted humanity since the dawn of time. The promise of discovery, on the other hand, would have likely tempted a scientist of Ne’s caliber much more than the promise of life itself.

Two hours passed in the unlit corridor. Maybe longer.

Throughout that entire time, the voice in the darkness spoke slowly and with great effort about the ideas that Snow Lotus upheld, though he made sure not to divulge any revealing information about them.

He talked about elimination, selection, and evolution. Like a patient instructor, he kept trying to enlighten and guide Han Qingyu.

Han Qingyu, however, rarely responded, and he never asked questions.

So why does Qi Shantong want me to hear all this? Is he a Wiper too? Is this just an obvious ploy at a recruitment pitch?!

These questions churned in his mind. It had been long enough that he was getting hungry, so he stood up and headed back the way he came.

“You’re not going to kill me before you go?” the voice called after him once he was some distance away.

Han Qingyu ignored it. That wasn’t his responsibility. He just kept walking forward through the darkness.

“May you witness the new world. At that point, you’ll know we’re right. Do not attempt to resist... the coming of the divine!” the voice behind him sounded like someone in the grip of religious fervor, intoning the words like a prayer.

That tone filled Han Qingyu with a sudden, overwhelming disgust, and he couldn’t help but sneer. “I forgot to mention something. By your philosophy, I wouldn’t be one of those so-called chosen. I come from the people you consider unimportant, the ones who should be sacrificed, enslaved, and discarded. Fuck your ‘worthy humanity.’”

With those parting words, Han Qingyu left.

At the end of the long corridor, he found Qi Shantong in an illuminated room just inside the corridor’s entrance. He sat on a wooden couch, elbows propped on his knees and smoking alone, the picture of normality.

When Han Qingyu appeared, Qi Shantong turned his head and smiled. “You’re back? You listened for a long time. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

“Are you a Wiper? Snow Lotus?”

“No, of course not.” Qi Shantong laughed, stubbing out his cigarette and standing up. “We fight against the Sharpies too. We bleed and die for the Coalition, just the same.”

His words were simultaneously an assertion of solidarity, yet drew a clear dividing line.

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Us. A group of people who share the Coalition’s goals and principles but hold slightly different views,” Qi Shantong openly admitted as he stretched. “You have to understand, the Coalition is very large. Even if we’re working toward the same goal, some will advocate for different ways to get there.”

He turned and looked at Han Qingyu.

“Oh, well, if the people in charge don’t have a problem with it... then it’s fine, I guess,” Han Qingyu said, preparing to excuse himself. He had no interest in hearing more. “I’m just a soldier. All I do is pick up a blade and go after Sharpies. I don’t think I need to know any of this.”

“You do need to know. An ordinary Coalition soldier probably doesn’t, true, but given your performance and potential, you’re almost certain to become a core member of the Coalition’s next generation of young officers. When that happens, you’ll need to have your own convictions.”

“My convictions are energy cores and staying alive.”

Qi Shantong laughed. “That won’t be all. It can’t be. You only think that way now because you haven’t seen enough yet. You haven’t reached that height... but you’ll get there, eventually. Especially now that you’ve become acquainted with two particular people.”

“Who?”

“Tu Zi and Xin Yaoqiao. The Azure Coalition as it stands is foolish. The current method of resistance is laughable. Change it.”

Qi Shantong was almost certainly recruiting him into some internal faction within the Coalition at this point.

“What does any of this have to do with making me talk to the Snow Lotus guy?” Han Qingyu asked.

“Because some of what he said is actually correct. I thought it might be more convincing if it came from an enemy. The Sharpies are a crisis, but they’re also an opportunity. A chance for humanity to leap forward after millennia of clawing and crawling through evolution... Perhaps even a chance to enter the interstellar age. But that kind of gain isn’t won through submission and begging. It’s won through victory. No matter how devastating, any victory is worth it.” Qi Shantong’s eyes had a manic gleam in them.

“So, what do you want to do?”

This was the first time Han Qingyu had shown “interest.” At least, that was how Qi Shantong read it.

“Sit,” Qi Shantong eagerly invited. After watching Han Qingyu take a seat, he took his own across from him. “Do you know what the Coalition’s structure looks like and how it functions?”

Han Qingyu nodded slowly. “Roughly.”

“Inefficient. Passive. Conservative. Destined to fail,” Qi Shantong said bluntly, delivering four consecutive negative judgments.

Han Qingyu stared at him in bafflement. “Aren’t you guys worried about being lined up and shot?”

Qi Shantong didn’t understand how Han Qingyu’s mind worked, but somehow the kid always made him laugh. “No. We don’t go around making speeches about it, do we? We fight in the same trenches, bleeding and dying just like everyone else, all while quietly pushing for what we believe in. The Coalition is tolerant enough for that.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not just us, either. Plenty of people within the Coalition have long argued to break down this isolationist situation and build closer cooperation with national governments,” Qi Shantong added.

Han Qingyu candidly remarked, “Our instructors used to say that since there’s no set timeline for a large-scale Sharpie invasion, the Coalition is essentially a dangerous military force.”

“Right. A large-scale invasion might not come for hundreds of years. Under those circumstances, the Coalition would become a weapon used in competition or even warfare between nations.”

“Then...”

“The Coalition should unify the world first.”

Han Qingyu didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Eliminate governments, erase borders.... Only then do we have a chance at winning.” Qi Shantong’s gaze burned as he looked at Han Qingyu.

“I’m kind of hungry,” Han Qingyu said after a pause, shooting him a faint smile in return. “Major General Qi, I think you have the wrong idea about me. I’m not cut out for thinking about or doing big things like that.”

With that, he stood up and excused himself, an uneasy feeling sitting in the pit of his stomach. All he wanted was a small, quiet life, even if that life sat at the edge of life and death.

“Maybe not right now, not yet,” Qi Shantong called from behind him. “When mutual selection comes, join the White Erasers. Consider this an official invitation.”

Han Qingyu stopped for a moment, turning the implications over in his mind.

“No rush.” Qi Shantong walked over and clapped him on the back. “Come on. Let me give you a gift first.”

He pushed Han Qingyu forward.

Han Qingyu hoped the gift would be a crate of energy cores, but he ended up disappointed.

The pair left the underground corridor, returned to the surface, and walked for a long while through the base, which had already gone dark. Finally, they reached a remote corner of the Ninth Army’s barracks.

“This is Old Wu’s home in the Coalition.” Qi Shantong pointed at the building in front of them.