Beyond the Zenith

Bang!

He fired the gun the instant he raised his hand, with the muzzle less than two centimeters from his temple.

Almost all recruits instinctively reacted. It didn’t matter if they were A-rank or B-rank. Some flinched and shrugged their shoulders or squeezed their eyes shut. Others shielded their faces with their elbows or jumped back.

Then, a metallic clang echoed—the sound of a brass bullet hitting the ground.

The maneuvering device on Qi Shantong’s back briefly flashed blue.

“Thrilling, isn’t it?” he asked, raising his head with a genuine smile.

After laughing for a moment, he added placidly, with the sincere guidance of the most patient and skillful teacher[1], “We’re not Sharpies. We’re not as strong as them, and we don’t have a full suit of dead iron armor. So the speed at which we can call on and channel source energy determines whether we live or die. It has to be fast—very fast.”

Basically, given the surging nature of source energy, there was no way to have it continuously blanket the entire body of the device’s wearer at once. Everything about offense and defense was based on activation speed, proficiency of control, and channeling frequency.

Put another way, he was saying that gunfire could still kill them.

“Then, what if we come under sustained fire?” He Xianxiu asked.

Qi Shantong chuckled and shook his head. “No one can maintain sustained fire against an Azure Coalition soldier wearing a maneuvering device. No one.”

With those last two words, he shut his mouth and raised his arm behind him without looking back.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

He emptied the magazine into an assistant instructor standing less than five meters behind him. His aim shifted to track the instructor’s movements, and he fired at every body part from shin to head.

The instructor dodged three of the bullets, then drew his blade to deflect the seventh—aimed squarely between his brows—before coming to a halt. Only then did the sixth brass bullet fall from where it had been lodged in his neck and hit the ground.

He was at least thirty meters away now, and the blue glow coming from his back was fading.

“Fuck, that scared the shit out of me!” the instructor cursed, spitting as he sheathed his blade.

Considering the distance he had traveled, if he had decided to move forward and fight back, Qi Shantong would’ve been dead a couple times over by now.

Qi Shantong took no offense and just said with a smile, “These are my soldiers.”

The recruits finally snapped out of their daze and started murmuring animatedly among themselves.

At that moment, Han Qingyu thought to himself, If the two Pure Purgatory soldiers from the Supply Depot 700 incident had been at this level, or if there had been a significant gap in skill between us, I would’ve been long dead.

Qi Shantong was already on his feet on the command platform, pacing back and forth. “There are only thirty-four of you left here. Among you are A-rankers, even A+, but the vast majority of you are B-rankers. I remember every one of you... Well, except for the one name I don’t recognize, I remember all your names and profiles. I’ll be firing at you like that in a month.”

With that, he turned around, waved his hand, and said, “Dismissed.”

***

In truth, the person most deeply affected by this series of events wasn’t among the recruits standing before the command platform with excitement and passion gleaming in their eyes.

The one truly shaken and left feeling depressed was Wen Jifei. He had stood alongside Mira and Zhang Dao’an at the edge of the training ground, witnessing everything unfold.

At that moment, he was holding the Mira 9 assault rifle in his arms. It was one that Mira had loaned to him for practice.

Noticing his dejection, Mira asked with a smile, “Feeling down?”

“Ah...” Wen Jifei turned his head, not even having the mind to deny it.

“Give me the gun and follow me.” Mira took the black, custom-made assault rifle from his arm, shifted to carry it by the strap, and walked ahead.

Wen Jifei hurried to keep up.

The crowd in front of the command platform was just starting to disperse when Mira walked by with the rifle. Everyone’s attention naturally drifted to her, and they held up on departing. All eyes were on her.

Mira saluted Qi Shantong. “Hello. Could I give it a go? I mean, I saw what happened just now, and I think your aim is... kind of lousy.”

Qi Shantong froze for a moment, as did the instructor he had shot at.

“Give it a go then,” Qi Shantong said with his usual, irksome smile.

The instructor spat out his freshly lit cigarette and nodded.

“I’ll start firing then,” Mira warned, raising her gun.

Bang, bang, bang!

She fired three shots.

The first shot, aimed at the instructor’s face, was easily dodged.

The second shot, however, was a preemptive strike, fired along the instructor’s anticipated evasion path. As the instructor had just moved to dodge the first bullet, he couldn’t react quickly enough to evade it, and so raised his arm to block it.

The third shot, aimed at the ankle, hit its mark.

There was no blood, but he lost his balance, staggering two steps before falling to the ground.

Mira lowered the gun, turned around, and handed it to Wen Jifei. “This is what we can do—seize those split-second moments when source energy shifts and surges to create breathing room for our teammates, or openings to land a killing blow. So...”

“I’d be happy to, Miss Mira.” Wen Jifei took the gun and carefully examined it.

Qi Shantong raised his hands in applause, then turned to the felled instructor. The instructor had just picked himself up off the floor, looking thoroughly displeased.

“Stop looking so aggrieved,” Qi Shantong said. “If I’m not mistaken, you deserved to go down.”

He then turned to Mira with a sincere smile. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re Mira, right? Miss Qiao? The only Coalition soldier in the Ninth Army permitted to use firearms on the front lines?”

The word “only” carried incredible weight, and Mira had just demonstrated exactly why that word applied to her.

The recruits had been simply admiring this foreign beauty, but now, their gazes held a newfound measure of respect.

Mira nodded and saluted. “Yes, Major General Qi.”

The recruits erupted in an uproar. Major general?! This lunatic’s a major general?!

“If he weren’t a madman, he’d probably be... more than just a major general,” Zhang Dao’an said, having appeared behind Han Qingyu at some point.

“What exactly did he do?”

“Qi Shantong was the fastest recruit in the history of the Oriental Republic to be kicked out of a platoon, and also the one kicked out the most times,” Zhang Dao’an said. “The third day after he finished his recruit training and joined a platoon, he started instructing the platoon leader and the veteran members on how to improve their combat positioning.”

“And they listened?”

“Of course not. That’s why he was kicked out.” Zhang Dao’an paused, then abruptly jumped ahead in his story. “Later, he got married and had a son. When his son was ten, his integration level was measured at E-. Qi Shantong started teaching him assassination techniques and camouflage, preparing to send him undercover to the Wipers once he came of age at sixteen.”

Han Qingyu was speechless.

“His wife divorced him over it, and to protect their son, she revealed all of his plans. After that, Qi Shantong fell madly in love with eight female soldiers and publicly proposed to each of them, all in a year.

The madman in question had since jumped down from the command platform, saluted, then extended a hand toward Mira with an enthusiastic smile. “I’ve admired you for a long time, Miss Mira. At long last... Could we get to know each other better?

Han Qingyu rushed over and stepped in front of Mira.

When Wen Jifei saw this, he quickly followed suit.

Although he looked bewildered, He Tangtang also walked over and stood with them.

“That won’t be necessary,” Han Qingyu said, meeting Qi Shantong’s baffled gaze.

Qi Shantong blinked in surprise, then rose to his tiptoes to look at Mira. “Miss Mira, you see...”

Mira snapped out of her flustered thoughts, jerked her head up, and smiled. “I also think... there’s no need.”

Qi Shantong stood there, dumbfounded.

Snickering filled the air as the recruits dispersed.

1. The idiom used here is 循循善诱. The doubling of 循循 emphasizes the gradual, step-by-step guidance, while 善 describes the skillfulness of said guidance. 诱 can mean to entice or tempt, but in this case, it has the nuance of leading. Basically, this idiom describes an excellent teaching method that is patient, skillful, and systematic in such a way that it leads students to easy understanding. ☜