Beyond the Zenith

The young officer wore a genial smile as he introduced in a mild tone, “My name is Hu Haipeng, and I’ll be your auxiliary instructor for this intake. I’m also the psychological counselor of the 425th Regiment, 77th Division, under the Ninth Army. I’m very glad to meet you all, and am looking forward to starting my fifth experience of recruit auxiliary instruction together with you.

“There is one rather regrettable thing, though. The time I can serve you will not be very long, as my application has just been approved. When this intake’s recruit training ends, I’ll set out on a new journey alongside all of you and go to the front lines of witnessed combat for the first time in my life[1].”

After experiencing Zhang Dao’an and Old Geng from the mess hall, this young officer seemed to come from another world to the recruits.

Hu Haipeng smiled with heartfelt joy, then turned around and switched on a fairly simple set of film projection equipment.

The footage on the screen was not from any kind of movie.

“These are things that you would never have seen as ordinary people: genuine historical footage,” Hu Haipeng said gravely, like the narrator of a historical documentary.

The next second, cries of alarm echoed through the enormous assembly hall. Not even the fear of Zhang Dao’an could suppress this shock.

Many people in the hall, including the grave-robbing guy from Dormitory 11, Wen Jifei, and others—whether they had come voluntarily or not—were truly seeing the Sharpies for the first time.

In the blurry, staticky black-and-white footage, two black-armored robots shot out of a spindle-shaped aircraft and struck the ground with their enormous, menacing pillar-swords.

Dirt and rock were sprayed everywhere.

Caucasian soldiers stood up from the trenches, either cursing or simply screaming madly.

A dozen or so men wildly fired a dozen or so heavy machine guns. Gunfire and the dust clouds from the bullets’ impact filled almost the entire frame.

The dust dispersed to reveal the black-armored robots standing completely unharmed. They turned leisurely, almost disdainfully. Then, holding their pillar-swords out, they charged head-on into the rain of bullets.

They were unbelievably fast.

In the blink of an eye, sword and armor had already cut their way to the trench.

Machine guns and human bodies were devastated as one. Severed limbs scattered into the earth like rice ears falling loose at harvest.

The scene after that showed soldiers retreating in a frenzy.

But it was futile.

The black-armored robots charged low with their pillar-swords held level, doubling back again and again. Every charge plowed a path paved with flesh and blood through the crowd. Soon, the entire field was covered in scattered corpses and broken bodies. Death filled the air. The wounded and maimed could only wail in despair.

Perhaps even the word “hell” was not strong enough for this scene.

“I’m very sorry to show you these things,” Hu Haipeng said once the footage finished.

The whole hall was silent.

Then, a choked sob could be heard. Like a dam breaking, more crying and wailing followed, erupting from almost every row and section. Many people here had come of their own free will, hearts full of passion, but the brutal reality of battle was sobering.

Hu Haipeng’s voice rang clear and resolute amid the wailing. “I’m sorry, I really am, but this is our enemy—one we still do not understand well enough. This alien civilization is constantly probing and searching the Azure, and may launch a full-scale invasion at any moment... Historically, we’ve called them the Sharpies.”

Han Qingyu could see Wen Jifei trembling beside him, but he was putting on a brave front, desperately trying to hide it, to the point that he was subconsciously cursing nonstop. This reaction was completely understandable, so Han Qingyu didn’t stop him.

“Little Qing, did you piss yourself back then?” Wen Jifei asked out of nowhere, turning to glance at Han Qingyu.

Han Qingyu felt a bit helpless. “No. I was so scared I forgot to be scared.”

“How’s that possible? Is—Is something wrong with your head? Even that didn’t make you piss?” Wen Jifei stammered slightly, having no reservations in his word choice when talking between friends.

“Maybe I just happened to have no piss in me at the time,” Han Qingyu joked.

Wen Jifei didn’t laugh or respond directly to Han Qingyu. Instead, he muttered to himself, “Guns can’t hurt this thing, and you’re telling me Lao Jian and the others really just-just go up and hack at it with blades?!”

Han Qingyu gave an affirmative hum, then added thoughtfully, “It probably wasn’t that I happened to have no piss in me, and it isn’t that something’s wrong with my head... It’s because they were present back then.”

At the same time, Hu Haipeng had started the next segment of footage and was introducing it.

“Throughout our long history of survival and growth, mankind has tirelessly studied all kinds of sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, and medicine, and enjoyed the fruits brought by the related scientific breakthroughs and progress.

“This is without doubt the greatest undertaking we humans have ever done, and are still doing. But the sudden appearance of brand-new substances easily brings rupturing change and leaping breakthroughs, to the point that we feel unable to catch up with the rate and potential of development.

“For example, new energy and materials.”

Han Qingyu knew what was coming next. Raising a hand to stop Wen Jifei from his continued chattering, he sat up straight and focused.

Soon, the picture on the screen froze, with diagrams and text displayed in sync.

[New energy in the absolute sense: source energy.]

[New material in the absolute sense: dead iron.]

The film did not introduce or explain them in any depth, presumably not intended as a science program. After a brief pause, the picture switched to a man wielding a blade, clad head to toe in strange sheets of iron and covered with connecting tubes.

He looked clumsy, his movements labored in a way that bordered on comical. Yet, with one slash, he severed the main cannon of a tank.

“The first-generation source energy maneuvering device, born in the 1910s, was created by the joint hands of three outstanding scientists of the time. They are the glory of the Coalition. Their creation saved mankind, yet they were never known to the wider world.” Hu Haipeng paused, expression solemn, then continued with the fervor of one delivering a war proclamation, “From then on, we were able to apply source energy to the human body, arm ourselves with dead iron, and cleave open the Sharpies! We gained the right to fight!”

The silence that permeated the hall seemed to contain a strange mix of wistfulness, bewilderment, and anticipation.

Hu Haipeng said nothing more, simply allowing the film to continue playing.

The footage showed the source energy maneuvering devices improving generation by generation, demonstrating their developing power one after another.

The color of the footage also gradually transitioned from black-and-white to color.

At the seventh generation, Han Qingyu saw the disc-plus-equilateral-triangle structure carried on the backs of the two Wipers members he had ambushed and killed that day.

The eighth generation showed the set of equipment worn by Lao Jian and the others.

Looking at it this way, the Wipers, at least the Wipers I’ve seen, still lag behind the Azure Coalition in equipment. Still, the gap between the two generations can’t be that great, or the Wipers wouldn’t have been able to kill that Azure Coalition soldier.

Lao Jian did mention that a new device might come out soon. Will the ninth-generation source energy maneuvering device be shown? If nothing unexpected happens, that will be my first device, the thing my life and fortune hang on...

Han Qingyu watched the screen, nervous and expectant, but the film’s showcase stopped at the eighth generation.

The footage that followed was like a war propaganda film. It was a combat montage of the eighth-generation device that cut together only the soldiers’ victorious instances and highlights of killing Sharpies.

The first scene was almost still. The only thing that betrayed it as a film was the wind. It featured a group portrait of forty-eight soldiers with their backs to the camera, wearing gray-blue shirts, long trousers, and combat boots. They carried battle cases on their backs with metal belts strapped around them.

The outfit was relatively form-fitting while still guaranteeing fluidity of movement and agility, with the shirts tucked into the belts. Every person, man or woman, looked remarkably tall and upright.

That’s not right. Lao Jian’s platoon clearly has all sorts of people. Tall, short, fat, thin... This was probably staged with specially picked people, Han Qingyu thought to himself.

“Damn, that’s so cool,” Wen Jifei blurted out.

Many others reacted just like him. At that moment, many overlooked their own builds and looks, imagining they would become just the people on screen once they put on that equipment.

The scene that followed immediately after made them cry out.

The footage switched to the soldiers wearing gray-black coats, pulling up the hoods of their autumn-winter combat uniforms.

Then came the ambush.

Han Qingyu had to admit that seeing the soldiers charging swiftly in with straight blades in hand, faint blue crystal light flickering at their backs, was kind of cool. Having watched an entire live battle, he could attest to the realness of this much.

The problem was the combat footage that came after.

Isn’t this a bit much?The Sharpies weren’t that easy to dodge. Oh, one guy struck the back of the Sharpie’s knee. Now, another at the small of the back... Side of the neck, chest, ankle, wrist... Are Sharpies really that easy to cut? As easy as chopping vegetables?

The soldiers in the footage attacked again and again, slicing open the Sharpies’ armor with a strange ease. The hot-blooded, heroic combat scenes and repeated victories stirred up the passion and fervor of the entire hall.

“That was way too fake. Is there an Azure Fraud Unit?” Han Qingyu murmured almost inaudibly amid the cheers.

Wen Jifei had turned to him, intending to comment on the footage, and just so happened to hear this remark.

“Fake?” he asked in a very small voice. “You mean the Sharpies in the footage are fake?”

“Not that. It’s just that actual combat isn’t like this at all,” Han Qingyu explained. “In reality, we’re at an absolute disadvantage, you get it? Even with numbers, we’re still at an absolute disadvantage most of the time. Moves like the ones on the screen are extremely rare. Those pieces of footage were probably dug up only through tremendous pains—”

“But doesn’t that also mean someone actually did it?” Wen Jifei cut in abruptly.

Han Qingyu froze. That’s right. Even if these scenes were dug up and edited, someone still managed to pull off dodges and attacks like these. Someone managed to cut open Sharpies like this.

This jolted him out of his despairing thoughts.

After a beat of silence, Han Qingyu turned his head and said to Wen Jifei, earnest and somewhat moved, “You’re right.”

By now, the film had finished playing. The whole hall was boiling with passion. Their earlier fear had long been burned away.

***

Once the rowdy recruits finally quieted down, Hu Haipeng shifted from his stiff standing posture to sit down somewhat casually at the edge of the stage.

“Now, let’s talk about something else,” he said with a relaxed smile. “Love.”

The recruits reacted in all kinds of ways at this pivot, from laughter to indifference, shyness to seriousness.

“Entering the Azure Coalition is for life. This is our fate. First of all, I want to say that the Azure Coalition... does not oppose love. In fact, I can tell you frankly that the circumstances here mean that love is actually often more likely to happen.”

Low laughter and whispering broke out at these words.

Then, Hu Haipeng’s face darkened, his tone grew heavy, and he raised his voice, “But what I want to tell you is this: love is also very easy to lose. Even easier to lose than it is to happen. It can vanish suddenly, just like that.”

1. The author calls direct battles with the Sharpies as witnessed combat, because they are the Only Witnesses. ☜