Beyond the Zenith

After entering the base, the truck slowed its previously jolting pace, occasionally blasting its horn to warn off soldiers walking too far into the middle of the road or not watching where they were going.

The soldiers jumped aside hastily, but grumbled under their breath and shot them angry looks.

This elicited a strange familiarity. At one point, it even gave Han Qingyu a sense of warmth, or rather, a realness that touched a nerve.

Almost without thinking, he made his way to the back of the truck, where the view was. The moving vehicle was like a camera slowly pulling out, revealing to the newcomers, bit by bit, the world they were about to throw themselves into.

The smooth road surface kept extending underfoot. Buildings of varying heights stood in the distance, their dull grey walls lacking a certain vitality. In contrast, the clothes hung out to dry on the balconies came in all kinds of colors, with a notably sizable proportion of women’s undergarments among them.

People, alone or in groups, crossed through their field of view, heading off in different directions. A fair number wore military uniforms, but not all. At a glance, you could spot dresses and white shirts both.

Han Qingyu even spotted a blond dog trotting down the road with its tail held high, as well as a tabby cat poking its ears and eyes up from a garbage bin.

“What do you think?” Wen Jifei asked in a dull voice, lying propped against the side as he watched the world go past.

“Not quite what I imagined.” Han Qingyu also kept his gaze outward. “But what exactly I feel about it... I can’t quite say. I don’t know how to describe it.”

In the few minutes that had just passed, he had caught a glimpse of the everyday life within the base and spotted many, many people like himself.

The walk toward the unknown was the most disorienting and frightening part, but once inside—able to see and touch the reality of that life—one realized that the people within had already long since settled into a new kind of normal. It was not so inconceivable to find one’s footing and adapt from there.

A group of female soldiers walked past, laughing and joking around.

One of them suddenly turned her head.

“Hey newbies, don’t dare stare like that,” she said with a bright, mischievous grin, raising a fist in a mock threat. Her shirt sleeve slid down, revealing a livid scar along her forearm, though it didn’t seem to bother her in the least. “Still looking?! Watch yourself, or big sis will yank you right off that truck and dish out a proper knuckle sandwich.”

The moving truck pulled them apart, leaving the group of laughing female soldiers behind.

If I’d met someone like that back in school, Han Qingyu thought to himself. I probably would’ve been a little scared. I’d have kept my distance whenever I could.

“They seem a bit wild.”

“Yeah,” Han Qingyu agreed.

Only after responding did he realize that the comment hadn’t been made by Wen Jifei.

The guy who had asked Lao Jian about marriage and kids was lying at the back of the truck. Clicking his tongue, he muttered, “Looks like it’s not going to be easy.”

Lao Jian broke out into laughter behind them. “The girls here tend to be a bit more outgoing than outside. I trust you can figure out the reason for that yourselves.”

Han Qingyu grunted in agreement.

“Just don’t go picking fights with them.” Lao Jian glanced at the guy who was eyeing potential wives with a smile. “Be careful, or you’ll get beaten up. The four of you put together wouldn’t be enough for that one just now. Even if she were bare-handed.”

The young recruits turned to stare at him at once, their expressions somewhere between confused and disbelieving. Though a beat slower, Han Qingyu ultimately also did the same.

That girl looked thin and fragile.

“She’s a veteran rotating back to the base for rest. You’ve only seen her with her long hair down and wearing a dress. You haven’t seen her with her hair up, gear on, and going at the Sharpies shoulder to shoulder with the strongest men,” Lao Jian said.

Sharpies? Just the thought of those things left the four of them in tense silence.

Lao Jian broke into a sly grin, clearly relishing their discomfort. “Also, harmless teasing of the new recruits is a traditional pastime for veterans on leave.”

The truck kept moving.

“This here is the bar. It was built two years ago. Some of the younger ones like to go there. That place is for buying clothes. That shop sells cassettes and books. General goods...” Lao Jian kept up a running commentary.

“They actually sell things here?!” Wen Jifei asked, puzzled.

“Of course. Basic necessities are provided at no charge. If your uniform was damaged or you grew fat, just go to Logistics for a new one. Tobacco and alcohol also come with a partial ration, but anything beyond that, you buy yourself. These are all non-profit shops, so they’re cheaper than outside, and they even carry things from countries like Mitaly and Franss.”

The new recruits remained silent.

“Don’t worry. Once you’ve finished recruit training and formally enlisted, you’ll receive a salary. It won’t be low by outside standards, but people here generally don’t make a point of saving money.” Lao Jian glanced at Han Qingyu. “Give yourselves time to get used to the day-to-day routine here. The main thing for you guys is to get through recruit training.”

From the sound of it, it seemed like new recruits had few rights around here.

***

Han Qingyu never did get the opportunity to ask about source energy.

The truck stopped at an open yard flanked by buildings on three sides, and they disembarked. People were waiting, though not just for them; someone was waiting for Lao Jian too.

Two soldiers stepped forward politely, saluted, and greeted, “Captain.”

Nodding, Lao Jian turned around and said, “Take care of yourselves. Don’t disappoint me.”

Then, he went with the soldiers. There were no handcuffs, nor any semblance of being detained. Han Qingyu had almost forgotten that Lao Jian had actually come to headquarters to explain the missing source energy core and submit to an inquiry.

However, by the looks of things, there was no true problem—just procedures and protocol.

Hmm, if I can’t help myself from absorbing the source energy cores in the future, my future platoon leader will probably just end up living here. That’s tough, Han Qingyu thought suddenly.

At that moment, another soldier walked over and called out, “New recruits, follow me.”

The enlistment procedures felt simple and casual. Han Qingyu wasn’t sure if Lao Jian had put in a word for them, but he and Wen Jifei ended up being assigned to the same dormitory room, while the other two were not.

“What, we’re not with the other two?” Wen Jifei asked the soldier guiding them, feeling a little sorry to be parted from the two they had grown somewhat close to over the journey.

The soldier glanced at him. “That shared journey was just a chance meeting. Next time you see them, either they or you could be corpses. That’s normal here.”

Wen Jifei and Han Qingyu were stunned.

“I’m just kidding. You’re all doing recruit training together, at least.” The soldier snickered at his own joke before looking down at the recruit roster in his hand. “Big intake this round. Over 430. And the head instructor is... Huh. You lot are in for it.”

By the time Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei hurried to the assembly point, the recruit formation was almost fully lined up. The two of them reported in quickly and took their places in the ranks.

The light bulbs under the shade of the secondary command platform were high-wattage. A shaven-headed, bearded middle-aged man stood directly under them. Insects flew all around his face, yet he stood there as though he felt nothing at all.

A few bolder, less cautious recruits sniggered at the sight, but the man paid them no attention.

“My name is Zhang Dao’an. I’ll be the head instructor for your recruit training. I’m glad to meet you, and I hope you’re glad to meet me too. All right. It’s late. Go have some noodles, then sort out your quarters. Rest quietly. Recruit training begins tomorrow.”

With that, he wrapped up his first address as head instructor. Quite a few people looked a little lost, but they were hungry, so they let it go.

The recruits’ first meal was noodles. That seemed to be a tradition in quite a few regular units as well.

After eating, they went back to the dormitory.

Wen Jifei turned his head before going in. “Our instructor didn’t look that scary.”

“Yeah,” Han Qingyu agreed.

Then, they went inside.

The Azure Coalition used the district platoon as its basic unit and had no squad-level structure. The only exception to this was recruit training, where eight people in a dorm made up a provisional squad.

Everyone in the room was present, but the atmosphere was subdued, with each person quietly sorting out their own things and making up their beds.

It wasn’t until lights-out, when they all lay sleeplessly in their bunks, that someone finally broke the silence. “Looking at the mood in this room, I’m guessing none of us are here voluntarily. My name is Yang Qingbai. Glad to meet you all as fellow soldiers.”

“Liu Shiheng. Non-voluntary.”

“Han Qingyu. Non-voluntary.”

“Wen Jifei... I guess I count as voluntary?”

His case, honestly, was neither voluntary nor involuntary. As they went around introducing themselves one by one, it became clear that they were all forcibly conscripted. There was not a single volunteer among them in Team 11, save for Wen Jifei’s gray-area case.

“No wonder,” said Yang Qingbai wistfully. “I was wondering why the other dorms I looked at were all fired up and full of spirit. Those were all filled with volunteers. Seems like they just threw all us ideologically backward types together in one place.”

Low, resigned laughter rippled through the dark.