Chapter 305 – 『Azure Mercury』

Su Ming had already decided earlier to use this villa as the team’s base and headquarters.

Having a base for the team was quite important. Without one, there wouldn’t even be a place to gather, assigning tasks would be troublesome, let alone allowing team members to bond with each other.

Chi Qian’s previous team had used that small forest cabin in the suburbs as their base.

Now, Su Ming naturally treated this villa lent to him by Xu Xiayan as the base, allowing all team members to move in.

That’s right—Su Ming intended for all team members to live together.

There was no particular reason other than convenience.

After all, Su Ming had promised to train the team members.

The resources Su Ming planned to use for training weren’t locally produced in Tianfeng City; many would come from Golden Finger packages.

He didn’t want those resources exposed carelessly outside.

Additionally, with a training ground beneath the villa, concentrating everyone made management easier and facilitated using resources for training anytime. Thus, Su Ming felt it necessary for the team to live together.

Hmm, it definitely wasn’t because all the team members were young, beautiful women that Su Ming wanted this.

…At least not entirely!

“To be fair, I never expected that all the members I recruited after forming the team would be female.”

Su Ming himself muttered a bit upon seeing a house full of lovely young women.

Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, and Tong Xinyao were all former members of Chi Qian’s old team, which only recruited women. Through various twists of Destiny, Su Ming had encountered them and had the chance to recruit them into his team—so ending up like this was unavoidable.

“Next time, I’ll recruit a few male members.”

Su Ming felt the team was a bit too female-dominated, and the villa had too much Yin Qi, so he grumbled this.

But he still had to do what needed doing.

So, after the villa’s thorough cleaning, Su Ming gathered everyone and told them they’d be living in the villa from now on.

The result was somewhat unexpected.

“I’m fine with it!”

Feng Qing’er agreed readily.

“We get to live together with everyone? Then… I agree too!”

Little Tong Xinyao was more delighted than worried.

The two mature women, Chi Qian and Mu Yan, said nothing, but their lack of opposition suggested they agreed.

This surprised Su Ming, who had expected some resistance.

“I thought you’d object,” Su Ming said.

“Why?” Feng Qing’er asked curiously.

“Why?” Su Ming was momentarily stumped. “No reason, just thought since you’re all girls, you might dislike living with a man.”

Unexpectedly, none of the young women seemed inclined that way.

Which made sense.

Tong Xinyao was still young and naive, likely not even having a strong concept of gender differences—understandable.

Feng Qing’er, carefree as she was, probably didn’t care much about such things.

As for Chi Qian and Mu Yan, these two Young Misses were more rational.”Living together makes management and team operations more convenient. If conditions allow, I’m quite in favor of this arrangement.”

Having once served as Commander, Chi Qian habitually considered matters from Su Ming’s perspective and therefore expressed no opposition whatsoever.

“The villa is so spacious. Living under the same roof doesn’t necessarily imply anything.”

Mu Yan added these words with particular nonchalance.

“Alright then.” Su Ming scratched his cheek and spread his hands. “I thought since your previous team consisted entirely of women, and you only recruited female Professionals when taking in new members, you’d probably be quite averse to living closely with men day and night.”

This remark caused subtle shifts in the expressions of all the young women present.

“What’s wrong? Why do you all look so strange?”

Seeing their reactions, Su Ming grew genuinely puzzled.

Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, and Tong Xinyao appeared caught between speech and silence, seeming to want to say something yet uncertain how to phrase it.

Finally, they all turned their gazes toward Chi Qian in unison.

Chi Qian’s expression immediately became somewhat awkward.

“What exactly is going on?”

Su Ming’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

Judging by the girls’ expressions, was there some hidden story behind this matter?

Su Ming immediately turned his attention to Chi Qian as well.

Under Su Ming’s direct gaze, Chi Qian grew visibly uncomfortable, fidgeting as if sitting on pins and needles.

“Let me explain.”

At this moment, Mu Yan stepped forward.

“Commander… I mean Sister Qian, when she first established the team, she never actually intended to create a female-only organization.” Mu Yan stated expressionlessly. “It’s just that in the beginning, every Professional who joined 『Crimson』 did so purely out of admiration for Sister Qian.”

Su Ming could understand this reasoning.

“Indeed, Chi Qian was once a legend in Tianfeng City. When she formed a team, she’d naturally attract many female admirers, right?”

The Chi Qian of the past was undoubtedly an extraordinarily inspirational figure.

Rising from humble beginnings as an ordinary person with no family wealth or background, she relied solely on her own efforts and determination to climb steadily upward, accomplishing bold feats that even many men couldn’t achieve. To other young women, her life story appeared not only motivational but truly legendary.

To those young girls, this version of Chi Qian must have represented the ultimate standard of a strong, independent woman.

And as everyone knows, many women harbor an inherent desire to prove they’re no less capable than men.

Chi Qian’s life experiences perfectly demonstrated this possibility, making it natural that she’d attract countless devoted female followers.

However, this situation eventually spiraled somewhat out of control.

“Those who joined the team initially all somewhat spontaneously created an atmosphere that excluded the opposite sex, making it very difficult for men to integrate into such a group.”

Mu Yan revealed the truth.

“Many among them even declared they had zero interest in men, stating their life’s goal was to become powerful women like Sister Qian. Some even outright proclaimed they didn’t need men at all—having their sisters’ company was sufficient.”

Hearing this, Su Ming was rendered speechless.

What kind of people had they been recruiting anyway?

What Su Ming didn’t realize was that the reality was even more extreme.

Among those female Professionals who joined 『Crimson』, quite a few had joined specifically because of Chi Qian herself.Mu Yan had lost count of how many times she’d overheard those fujoshis whispering in corners, fantasizing about pink scenarios with Chi Qian…

Well, those people definitely wanted to “charge” at Chi Qian.

How absurd.

Mu Yan really wanted to declare that although she had a somewhat cold personality, her preferences were quite normal, and she shared no common topics with those sisters.

Therefore, she had mentioned these matters to Chi Qian numerous times, making Chi Qian equally aware of such situations yet unsure how to handle them, ultimately choosing to pretend they didn’t exist.

Now, Mu Yan was sparing Chi Qian some face by not spelling everything out completely.

However, she did explain the reason why the team had become like this.

“Because the original team members only showed completely unreserved acceptance toward same-gender individuals, the team’s recruitment tendencies naturally developed in that direction over time.”

“As days passed, female members in the team kept increasing while male members remained nonexistent. At that point, recruiting male members would instead raise concerns about potential improper intentions or ulterior motives that could cause serious internal problems.”

“Plus, with so many women already in the team, it became inconvenient for men to join. Eventually, Crimson simply decided to only recruit female Professionals and not accept male members.”

Mu Yan’s explanation left Su Ming both speechless and suddenly enlightened.

So that’s how it was?

“No wonder you don’t seem like someone who rejects men at all – how did you end up establishing a team that only recruits female professionals?””

Su Ming looked at Chi Qian with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Chi Qian avoided Su Ming’s gaze, cleared her throat awkwardly, and said:

“The Commander should pay more attention to this going forward. Since the team already has a female majority, to prevent the team atmosphere from becoming too peculiar, we should recruit some male members next.”

Chi Qian’s suggestion prompted Mu Yan and others to voice their opinions.

“Yes, let’s recruit some handsome guys! Preferably young and handsome ones like our Commander!”

Feng Qing’er threw a flirtatious glance at Su Ming, who responded with an eye roll.

“I… I’m not very good at dealing with men…”

Little Tong Xinyao appeared somewhat timid and hesitant.

“As long as they don’t hold us back.”

Mu Yan spoke coldly.

The three displayed different attitudes, but at least none seemed completely averse to the opposite gender, suggesting they weren’t cut from the same cloth as most female Professionals in Crimson.

Su Ming felt relieved.

“Alright then, since you have no objections, go choose your rooms tonight and move in officially tomorrow.”

Su Ming clapped his hands as he spoke.

“We’ll take one more day off tomorrow. Starting the day after tomorrow, our team will officially begin accepting missions and conducting activities.”

With the team now taking initial shape, Su Ming felt it was ready to begin operations.

At this point, recruiting more members likely wouldn’t yield significant benefits. It would be better to first complete some missions honestly, raise the team’s Rank, and establish the team’s reputation before recruiting new members – that would proceed more smoothly.

Once the team’s Rank increased and its reputation spread, even without actively recruiting, promising talents would come seeking to join on their own initiative.Just like Chi Qian in the past, who had a reputation that preceded her, the moment the team was established, a large number of admirers flocked to join, allowing “Crimson” to become a B-Rank team in just two short years.

…It’s just that those admirers ended up a bit… warped.

Hopefully, this team of his would develop more healthily.

“Commander! I have a question!”

At that moment, Feng Qing’er suddenly raised her hand.

“Go ahead.”

Su Ming looked over.

“What’s the name of our team?”

The question Feng Qing’er posed was unexpectedly thought-provoking.

It was only then that Su Ming remembered he hadn’t given his team an official name yet.

“Give us a name, Commander,” Chi Qian said to Su Ming. “A team’s name is quite important.”

“A team name is like a banner,” Mu Yan added calmly. “Without a name, no matter how great our achievements, our reputation won’t spread.”

If they wanted others to come seeking them out for their fame, they naturally needed a “name” to begin with.

“Alright then,” Su Ming shook his head helplessly, muttering to himself, “This is really tough for someone as bad at naming as me.”

In that moment, Su Ming truly couldn’t think of any good names.

“Do any of you have good suggestions?”

Su Ming could only seek the opinions of the female comrades.

“How about ‘Mobile Special Forces’?”

The unreliable Feng Qing’er began offering terrible ideas.

“Maybe we should just stick with the old name and call it ‘Crimson’.”

The young Tong Xinyao said this somewhat hesitantly.

Mu Yan offered no opinion, indicating that any name would do.

“It’s better for the Commander to come up with one.”

Chi Qian, meanwhile, seemed inexplicably nostalgic, before finally shaking her head with a bitter expression as if trying to erase memories of the past, throwing the difficult task back to Su Ming.

Su Ming thought for a moment, then seemed to recall something. He lifted his head and looked up at the sky.

“Mi-ling!”

There, Little Hai’er was swimming about, swaying her fishtail and creating ripples in the water. While amusing herself, she looked down at Su Ming from above and gave him an innocent, beautiful smile.

It was this mermaid girl who had traveled all the way from Longyao City to Tianfeng City with Su Ming, starting from scratch together to establish this team.

Su Ming glanced at the beautiful mermaid princess, then looked at his own right hand. Finally, as if inspired by divine insight, he uttered a name.

“Azure Mercury.”

When this name emerged from Su Ming’s lips, Little Hai’er paused in mid-air.

“Azure Mercury…”

Chi Qian, Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, and Tong Xinyao—all four of them—were momentarily stunned, murmuring the name among themselves.

“That’s it!”

Su Ming came to his senses and suddenly laughed.

“Let’s call it ‘Azure Mercury’!”

The “water” naturally referred to Little Hai’er.

The “silver” referred to Su Ming himself.

As a mermaid, a darling of the sea, no character represented Little Hai’er better than “water.”

And “silver” referred to Su Ming’s right hand—the existence he called the [Silver Arm].As for “Azure,” when Su Ming used the power of his right hand, it would shimmer with an ethereal blue light. Little Hai’er, needless to say, had hair, eyes, and a fishtail all in the color of water-blue. When she used her power, whether summoning clear streams or icy blizzards, it was always inseparable from the color blue.

Combining the two—water-blue within ethereal blue, blue within blue—that was azure.

『Azure Mercury』—this name perfectly represented the existence and combination of Su Ming and Little Hai’er, the human and his pet.

“Mirin! Mirin mirin!”

For some reason, Little Hai’er suddenly became excited, throwing herself into Su Ming’s arms, hugging him, and chirping happily.

Unconsciously, Su Ming smiled as well.

The women watched this scene, glancing at each other before they too broke into smiles.

And so, Su Ming’s team name was decided.

(End of Chapter)