Chapter 1: Test Passed, Permission Granted to Proceed with the Mission
[Silver Bay City Grey Tower, Number 1 Hospital Double Room]
Written on the plaque at the head of the bed:
“Field Operations Unit, Team 2 Deputy Captain”
“Hospitalized one week for observation of concussion”
The patient on his left was a boy around ten years old. His calf was wrapped in a plaster cast and he was wholly absorbed in studying some postgraduate-level science course materials.
The holographic screen displayed a video from 20 years ago: A meteorite crashing into a spaceship returning from the planet Kepler-22b right on the cusp of entering the earth’s atmosphere.
The image quality is rough and the spaceship suspended in mid-air exploded, the entire screen filled with static. A supposedly breathtaking moment in human history was reduced to no more than a cheap animated film.
The mechanically monotonous lecture recording echoed throughout the medical ward, contrasting sharply with the noisy video game sound effects.
“The meteorite caused irreparable damage to the spaceship, which shattered into pieces as it passed through the Earth’s atmosphere. 98% of the samples within were destroyed and only 2% reached landing.”
A continent appeared on the holographic screen. At first, a small red dot was displayed, but it spread like a rash and the entire continent was infected.
“Despite the Kepler Exploration Alliance’s efforts to retrieve the samples as quickly as possible, they still did not arrive in time to prevent the invasion of extraterrestrial life. Faced with the greatest calamity since the beginning of human history, countries urgently initiated ecological isolation to avoid extinction, resulting in approximately 37.2% of the world being transformed into Kepler Ecological Zones…”
In a moment of carelessness, Tan Mo dropped his game console which landed precisely on the bridge of his nose, causing an excruciating pain that rivaled that of all things in the world disintegrating.
“Ah-”
The boy shot him a look and turned up the volume of his recording.
“Yo, Lao Han1, I’ve already listened to this ‘Kepler Ecological Lesson 1’ hundreds of times. Can we switch to another one yet?” Tan Mo groaned while holding his nose.
“Then I’ll put on ‘Lesson 2’.”
The kid called “Lao Han” gazed at Tan Mo disdainfully, replying “I’m so much younger than you, yet you still have the audacity to call me ‘Lao Han’?”
“My bad, my bad Lil Han – what I meant was, instead of studying this ‘Kepler Ecological Science’, let’s listen to some mathematics, physics, or chemistry?” Tan Mo proffered genially.
“I am a senior engineer and you condescendingly call me ‘Lil Han’? Even if I put on mathematics, physics, or chemistry, can you understand it?”
The little boy pointed at the plaque beside his headboard:
“Senior Engineer Han Zhun”
“Hospitalized one month due to a fracture”
“You intellectuals are always fussing over these trivial formalities. When it’s sunny, you want rain, and when it’s raining you want the sun to come out.”
Even if Han Zhun was considered a ‘genius’ in the eyes of ordinary people, Tan Mo couldn’t bring himself to address a boy who looked like he should be in elementary school as ‘Senior Engineer Han’.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
The distinct, powerful strides of high heels, matching the rhythm of a heartbeat, echoed through the hallway.
Tan Mo was too familiar with this rhythm; this was the ‘call of duty’.
Last year, his annual leave disappeared into thin air, but this year, to avoid sudden death on the job, he chose to enjoy a cushy, hospitalized life. In his eyes, for the sake of this precious ‘vacation’, all the manly dignities and boundaries could be sacrificed. Swiftly tucking the game console under the pillow, he dived under the covers and shut his eyes tightly.
Dressed in a Grey Tower uniform, a female military officer named Xia Chengfeng entered the hospital ward carrying a long black case on her back.
“Deputy Tan, your leave has ended.”
Tan Mo massaged his temple and turned away, mumbling “So sleepy… head hurts, wanna throw up… need rest…”
Next to him, Han Zhun snarkily remarked, “Those are all pregnancy symptoms. You better rest for ten months until it’s ready to come out.”
You’re the one who’s pregnant! Your whole family is ready to come out!
Xia Chengfeng smirked slightly. “He was thrown over a teammate’s shoulder during close combat causing him to land on his head and then carried to the hospital.”
“Oh, so he wasn’t hit by a game console.” Han Zhun said coldly.
“Game console?”
“Oh, he played video games for over three hours. It’s under his pillow.” Han Zhun casually answered.
The true meaning: Are you sure this guy has a concussion?
Tan Mo held back the urge to crack open Han Zhun’s head with the game console.
“Senior Engineer Han, you’re really an expert at sabotaging others! Since you like undermining so much, why don’t you go work at a construction site!”
A shadow swept over his head, and before Tan Mo could even react Xia Chengfeng had already straddled his body.
“You… what are you trying to do?” Tan Mo asked, breaking out into cold sweat.
Xia Chengfeng leaned closer, carefully examining his healthy facial complexion: This man was already born good to look at, not to mention the past few days of pampering had added a layer of milky fat to his cheeks. For a moment, she even overlooked his murderous gaze.
With one hand pressing down Tan Mo’s shoulder, she used the other to retrieve the game console from under his pillow.
“Still warm, looks like you played for a while.”
Han Zhun looked at his own leg in a cast and said, “I’ll take my leave, you all can do whatever you want.”
“We’re not doing anything inappropriate for elementary schoolers, you can stay there safely.” Xia Chengfeng smiled sweetly.
Tan Mo attempted to get up, only to be suppressed by Xia Chengfeng yet again.
“Deputy Tan, your captain left Silver Bay City this morning at 6:30 for the mission of escorting Professor Zhao. The aircraft crashed in the Kepler Ecological Zone thirty minutes after take off.”
“What?” Tan Mo immediately shot up into an upright position.
Xia Chengfeng failed to maintain her own balance in time and fell over backwards, falling towards the shelf at the foot of the bed. Right before impact, Tan Mo grabbed the strap of the black case she was carrying on her back.
“Your reaction is so energetic, looks like your concussion is all better.” Xia Chengfeng exhaled unnoticeably; just now Tan Mo’s sudden surge of strength had actually momentarily startled her.
“And then what? Talk properly, where is the rest of the sentence!”
Xia Chengfeng met Tan Mo’s cold and resolute gaze and all traces of emotion left her face.
“Team Leader Gao Zhi has… transgressed. The accompanying Inspector died on the spot. The Grey Tower of Silver Bay City believes only you… can mark him.”
Xia Chengfeng took off the black case on her back and handed it over Han Zhun, who had been watching from the side.
Opening the case skillfully, Han Zhun revealed the black sniper rifle inside. His gaze sharpened and, without any unnecessary words, he sat down cross-legged, resting the rifle on his shoulder. Based on the ecological zone information provided by Xia Chengfeng, he began adjusting the scope and then passed the gun to Tan Mo.
Tan Mo swiftly put on his coat and with basically invisible speed, grabbed the gun about to fall onto the ground out of Han Zhun’s unstable hand before effortlessly slinging the rifle onto his back.
“Such an important situation, why didn’t you say it clearly when you came in!”
“Because of your concussion, the higher ups wanted to test your execution ability. The test has been underway since I left the base. You have… 20 seconds to get to the rooftop.”
As Xia Chengfeng spoke, Tan Mo cursed her ancestors to the eighteenth generation in his heart and rushed out the hospital room.
“Gao Zhi was a good person.” Han Zhun said.
Xia Chengfeng rummaged through the closet and started packing Tan Mo’s belongings into a bag she had found.
“No worries, he will come back.”
“Are you saying Tan Mo is coming back here to sleep? I was here thinking you came to discharge him… His video games are so noisy.” Han Zhun furrowed his brow as he complained.
“I meant Gao Zhi will come back.” Xia Chengfeng said, glancing out the window as she put Tan Mo’s game console into the bag.
Tan Mo arrived at the elevator only to find a bright red sign that indicated the elevator was out of service. He immediately figured Xia Chengfeng was intentionally preventing him from taking the elevator so he sprinted to the emergency staircase and ran upwards like crazy.
The voice of his teammate came from the communicator: “Deputy, ten seconds before takeoff, can you make it?”
Tan Mo continued to sprint upwards without responding to the other.
His teammate, listening to the silence: “I understand now, when asking a man if he is capable, ‘no’ is not an acceptable answer.”
Tan Mo kicked open the heavy rooftop door and was blasted in the face by the airflow from the flying vehicle’s engines, which almost knocked him over.
The vehicle hovered over the rear side of the hospital rooftop and the bottom hatch opened. During a brief moment when the engines’ airflow changed directions, Tan Mo jumped and grabbed onto the hatch door.
A hand reached out and tightly grabbed his arm, pulling him inside with one forceful motion.
“Test passed, permission granted to proceed with the mission.” Wu Yusheng said as he lowered his eyes to look at the watch on his wrist.
Tan Mo quickly adjusted his breath and walked past Wu Yusheng expressionlessly.
[Black Queen Aircraft]
The Black Queen had already left the city behind, speeding quickly towards the target area and leaving nothing more than a fleeting black shadow in its wake.
This aircraft was pure black in color with a max speed of 15 times the speed of sound. Even when facing wind turbulence, it maintained stability and silence.
Within the airship, a team of armed young men sat with their seat belts fastened and their seat backs in upright position.
Except… Deputy Captain Tan Mo.
He turned his face to the side, intending to close his eyes and rest for a bit. However, the rookie sitting across from him was anxiously bouncing his leg with the back of his head pressed against the cushioned seat back taking deep breaths. Every couple of seconds he would gulp down his saliva, clearly dreading the moment of landing. This newbie was obviously scaring himself to death.
If it wasn’t for the teammates surrounding them, Tan Mo absolutely would have given him a knife to end it all so he could finally get some shut eye before they reached the destination.
Wu Yusheng stepped on the back of the newbie’s foot to stop his incessant bouncing. If this thing didn’t stop shaking, he could already tell Tan Mo would not hesitate to throw a tactical knife right into this poor guy’s forehead.
“Isn’t it supposed to be ‘Like a bolt from the blue, Chun Chun steals the show’? Jiang Chunlei2, what are you anxious for?” Wu Yusheng teased.
“Don’t step on my feet… these shoes are new!” Jiang Chunlei finally diverted his attention, no longer acting like a patient with Parkinsons.
As Tan Mo finally closed his eyes to rest, he furrowed his brows. He remembered now, the name of this inexperienced rookie was ‘Jiang Chunlei’, but he had always misremembered him as ‘Li Dongsun’.
1. Tan Mo is calling the boy 老韩, or Lao Han which directly translates to Old Han. (But Lao Han sounds better so I’m keeping the pinyin instead.)
2. The original phrase Wu Yusheng used was “平地一声惊雷，春春闪亮登场” which is a play on his name, Jiang Chunlei. In Mandarin, his name is 江春雷 so his nickname is Chun Chun (春春) and they are teasing him for the 雷, both his last character and part of the word 惊雷 which means thunder. The direct translation would be “like a clap of thunder on flat ground, Chun Chun makes a shining entrance”.
