Chapter 2-6: Companions(VI)
Heng and Yanwei returned in the same instant. The two held their hands as they returned. As soon as they appeared, Yanwei immediately threw his hand off. However, she didn’t say a word, not acting scathingly towards Heng as usual. She merely turned back to her room. It seemed as though there had been a large progression in the relationship between the two.
“Well, well how was it?” Cheng Xiao immediately chuckled as he went to Heng’s side, with an expression that was just asking to be beaten up.
Heng smiled bitterly. “Not too much of a improvement. There was improvement in my genetic constraint. It should reach the threshold of the fourth stage soon. That antidote really was effective, just that the process was too painful. In other areas, I didn’t manage to self create anything. We were fighting for our lives everyday, and sometimes I didn’t even have time to draw my bow and had to rely on guns to shoot the bugs. Overall, my improvement was quite large. Seven arrows is my maximum for Explosive Shot now. It has a tremendous power, enough to level a small mountain peak if I use a +3 enchanted arrow. I shot this arrow out at that time in my agitation when that Universe Faring Queen Bug took to the skies. It indeed pierced a hole straight through it, but I had to spend three days submerged in the healing fluids. It really was dangerous then. The price of this arrow is too much, although its strength is great. Still, I want to see how powerful the pinnacle is, the nine arrow Explosive Shot for shooting down the sun.”
Cheng Xiao patted Heng hard, “Don’t talk about those boring things with me. I just want to ask you… did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Damn it! Of course it’s that! Sex! Don’t play innocent with me. Tell me quickly, did you do it?” Cheng Xiao shouted at Heng like a wolf.
Yanwei, who had already walked far off, suddenly turned around and threw out her green bow. It knocked Cheng Xiao down, and she ran back to her room without even turning around, shutting her door with a bang.
Cheng Xiao rubbed his head, immediately saying when he saw Heng helplessly pick up the green bow, “You must have had some illicit romantic relationship! Haha, she used to hit you, and now she hit me instead! It’s so obvious that you two did the dirty!”
Heng smiled bitterly, shaking his head. “Don’t say it so… errr, bluntly. We didn’t. We just had some life and death experiences in Starship Troopers, so our relationship thawed somewhat. Please exercise some restraint and don’t mess up my matters more.”
“Fine. Let’s talk about serious matters. Did you two go at it on the bug’s planet?”
“Did you actually think I’ll answer that?”
Heng laughed bitterly as he pinched the green bow, recalling the situation in Starship Troopers. Yanwei and him had both entered the army, before going to planets at war with the bugs. Despite lacking leadership skills, he had still successfully become a warrant officer due to their physical constitutions and prowess, while Yanwei was his adjutant.
The two had experienced countless battles. It was as Wangxia said. The battles in Starship Troopers were endless, with the humans in a position of absolute inferiority. Apart from developing a few new weapons and a small quantity of piloted robots, humanity’s power simply didn’t match up to the bugs.
The bugs there were an intelligent lifeform which had evolved over a period of times hundreds of times longer than humans. Although they didn’t possess technology, their evolutionary pathway was completely focused on their bodies. Various types of bugs emerged in an endless stream.
It had the Warrior Bug that excelled in close combat, the Bombardier Bug suited for long-distance and even several ginormous types in the universe. This wasn’t even mentioning the Brain Bugs that were smarter than humans. Bugs were greater than humanity.
In such circumstances, every battle was an all-out effort to survive. To battle for a tomorrow, the human federation had even set the age limit on soldier recruitment as fourteen. Even then, human soldiers were still much fewer than bugs. Still, humans had their advantages. After encountering loss after loss, the power of technology slowly shone. Large quantities of weapons were researched and produced, with this increase in strength taking place much faster than the bug’s evolution. Now, the human federation could only bet that before humanity was exterminated, the power of technological weapons would prevail over the bugs. This was humanity’s sole hope.
Heng and her had entered at this time. Due to their exceptional showing, they had been deployed to the planets at the front lines. That place could only be described as a meat grinder, with ordinary soldiers surviving a month on average. The monthly mortality rate had been over ten thousand, and that was only when it came to ordinary battles. If a large campaign occured, the number of human casualties would be much heavier.
Heng and Yanwei had torturously struggled for survival in these circumstances. Heng had been the one to risk his life to save her at several critical junctures, with the most frightening instance when she had actually been dragged by bugs into a hole. Heng seemingly went insane as he incited his elven bloodline’s energy. Armed with only an army bayonet, he rushed in madly and slaughtered hundreds of bugs. He was practically on the verge of death when Yanwei carried him out. They were going back and forth across the boundary of life and death until the army rescued them.
After being saved, Heng’s squad had been redeployed to the mothership for rest. Heng’s subordinates had held a party for their squad leader. Soldiers resting on the mothership were permitted to drink alcohol, so many people had gotten drunk, including Yanwei. In the end, Heng had helped her back to her room.
Heng still remembered that scene. Although there wasn’t the acts that Cheng Xiao talked about, they had taken an important step to the estrangement between them vanishing. The drunk Yanwei had sobbed and was muttering something incoherent. After crying herself to exhaustion, she had fallen asleep in Heng’s arms.
In Heng’s heart, he was clear that perhaps… she hadn’t been truly drunk.
Since that night, their relationship had relaxed, and she was capable of speaking with him normally on regular days. She could also be nearer to him during battle…
Although this were just some insignificant minor matters, his spirit had still been slowly invigorated. He could finally feel her heart slowly opening up.
“What a pity that the time ended and we had to return.” Heng sighed. He muttered, “The final battle is next. As long it ends, even if it’s a decade or century, I’ll try my best to live. Seeking death or using death to atone is the most cowardly way out. No matter what I have to live on! I have to survive the final battle!”
This vow and resolution was what was most commonly found in the hearts of team China. Perhaps, the determination to live that Zheng had shown from the start was what had slowly inspired the rest of his team.
Everyone had their own past, future and regrets. Only living would let you change it all. Dying was an idiotic action. At least in team China, a person who wanted to die didn’t exist!
