It's been seven months since Division 4 of the scouts have been wiped out, the only survivor being their commander, Gu Xing. A young man, barely 18 years old, he fought through hordes of the Orthodox soldiers, managing to escape to the Demonic Cult's support, causing a month long stalemate between the two armies.
Bad rumors have been spreading around Commander Gu Xing.
–He sacrificed his men because they were twice his age, how cruel.
–He's the toy of the Ice Witch! I've seen the two commonly meet up behind closed doors!
–He's gone through six entire division recruitments… Anyone that's drafted into Division 4 is bound to die…
The first two are simply rumors, but the third one has more truth in it. Seven months of battle have passed, and Division 4 has already been wiped out six times. There have been a few survivors here and there, making it a ratio of 1 to 14.
"Hu Qing!" A firm voice called out, yet the firm commanding voice came from none other than our young commander.
"Here!"
The commander has changed a lot if we were to look at his earlier photos. His hair has grown out, unkempt as it's a mess with bangs long enough to completely cover his eyes.
But despite this, we all understood behind his hair was a cold, emotionless sharp gaze.
"Great. Nine new recruits…"
Without even introducing himself, Commander Gu Xing leaves the room, leaving behind only a cold air and a few crystals of ice stuck to the ground beneath where he stood.
I look over at Luo Chao, my best friend since childhood.
"What the hell is his problem?"
Luo Chao shrugs, "No clue. Maybe he's tired of all the bad rumors around him."
"Well surely we don't end up dead like the others."
Seeing the sad looks of the other new recruits, I couldn't help but let out a sigh. "So how about we all introduce ourselves, you know? Get to know each other to form a bond." Pausing, I look over at the survivors in their own corner, waving them over. "Some experienced veterans would be nice to have as well."
The survivors let out a sigh, letting out a nervous smile as they shuffled their chairs over to join us.
"How about some ice breakers? Let's see… What were we all doing before this war? I mean, we all seem pretty experienced around the edges."
Without having to wait for volunteers, Luo Chao goes first.
"My name's Luo Chao, I'm 32. My name means surpassing. I supposed my parents wanted me to surpass them and live a life of abundance, but I ended up dropping out of school and running away to join the Demonic Cult."
Everyone nods in understanding, this was a norm for members of the Demonic Cult. We simply didn't fit into any other place, so we turned here.
"I'm Shen Yan, also 32. My parents named me this because a swallow had flown through the hospital window and slammed into a wooden pillar, dying from that."
Silence. And then laughter. Everyone around started to laugh, whether it was in humor or pity, whether it was even funny or we just wanted to think of something else, we all laughed until we couldn't.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously what?"
"Your parents named you Shen Yan because a swallow killed itself at your birth? Isn't that a poor taste of humor?"
"Jesus man, shut up… Not like I could name myself."
The man speaking with Shen Yan chuckled and slapped his back, his laughter dying down as he wiped away a few tears and cleared his throat.
"I'm Mo De, 30. Seems like you guys are my seniors, so please take care of me. I've got a long life ahead of me unlike you old heads."
"Old heads? We're only a few years older than you!"
"Yeah? Then how about we have a veteran introduce themselves."
Hearing this, one of them sighs and speaks up. "I'm Li Bolin, 36. Before being enrolled in this division, I was just a common foot soldier that guarded one of the Demonic Cult's hideouts."
"Woah, what was that like?"
"It was tame. Basically no different from any other factions."
We all nod, moving onto the next person–
"I'm Zhu Yunru, 33. I used to be an assassin for the Demonic Cult, but eventually my assassinations became so stale that I eventually took on a normal life working at a noodle station.
And the next–
"Cai You, 38. A second rate warrior of murim. I used to go around challenging people but they eventually got too strong for me and it gave me an inferiority complex which then led to me beating up civilians."
"Woah, a true evil we have here."
And the next –
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Wei He, 30. Seems like I'm the youngest of us here. I used to be a butler for a great beauty within the Orthodox faction, She had such a defined face and smooth skin, white like snow. She's short but sexy, a true-"
Noticing our weird looks, Wei He quickly cut himself off, awkwardly avoiding bringing it back up as we moved on. And after a handful of people, we finally got to me.
"Hu Qing, 33. I was born and raised within the Demonic Cult. Not much to say besides that."
"Really? You were born into such an unlucky place? What did you do in your past life?"
"Shut it Lao Chao, you're not any better being born from a common street whore."
The atmosphere of the room had drastically changed. The one cold empty room was filled with people who knew one another, comrades in war. The friends we were once separated from could not be replaced, but the feeling of connection will always form.
Out of nowhere, Cai You proposed something out of this world. "Why don't we ask the commander out for a drink! We've got a whole week until our deployment so letting loose now would be perfect!"
Stares and eyes wandered between one another, an exchange of words and debate without a single word being actually spoken.
"Yeah, let's do it."
Boots shuffled as chairs skid across the floor, each man filing out of the door and into the halls as we approached the commander's door. And without even looking, we could obviously tell which door belonged to him just from the change in temperature alone.
"Who's going to knock?" Mo De asked, looking at Zhu Yunru.
"Don't look at me, Cai You's the one that proposed this idea, he should do it."
"Hey, that's not fair, I'm the youngest here so the elders here should be the ones inviting him out to drink."
"Talking about drinking…" Su Cai pauses before resuming, "Is the commander even old enough to drink?"
"I don't know… He did seem pretty young…"
"God dammit… Move out the way."
Gently pushing some people aside, I stand directly in front of the commander's icey cold door, hearing a faint clanking of metal from inside. Taking in a deep breath, I knock on the door, holding my breath as I wait for a response.
After a few, seemingly long seconds passed, the door creaked open as the commander came into view, though we did have to look down a little.
"So? Why have you all appeared at my door at this hour?"
"Well… Uhm… We wanted to invite you out for a drink?"
Silence fell. Not a single one of us dared to peep a squeak as we waited for a response.
"Sure. Drinks would be nice now."
As the commander left his room and closed his door, I managed to catch a glimpse of a box of dulled pieces of iron in the room, each piece worn down and seemingly looked as if it was ripped off of something.
"Hu Qing!" Lao Chao called out. "What are you doing just standing there, the commander's already leaving you behind!"