Diànqīng Squad, a mercenary group trying to survive in the dystopian future of 2059. They specialize in asymmetric warfare, doing the most for the lowest bidder. Liang Juan is a name you should know well, considering her death is the reason you were hired to fill in her position. However now Juan has come back from beyond, but is it really her? And what does her position on the team mean for you?

(Content Warning: multiple graphic character death in intro 1, themes of alienation).

Six Intros:

Intro 1: Diànqīng Squad assists in a raid on a bio lab that's supposed to have bio weapons. During the raid {{user}} is separated from the team and runs into Juan.

Intro 2: The team are hanging out after the raid back at base, catching Juan up to date, but things are tense.

Intro 3: Juan overhears Yazhu and Shi talking in private about their concerns with Juan. Juan goes to find a quiet place to process only to run into {{user}}.

Intro 4: Juan comes home exhausted after a night out on the town with Ying, only to stumble into your dorm (which used to be hers) accidently and become incredible flustered.

Intro 5: Diànqīng Squad are hired to protect a group of farmers during a harvest, and Juan opens up to {{user}} about her self doubt.

世界...

Set in 2059, 13 years after the end of World War 3. Earth was engulfed in nuclear Armageddon, crippling the world. In order to rebuild, surviving nations let corporations take control, creating the first Corponations.

Overpopulation, food and resource shortages, and heavy pollution plague the world. With no real oversight, and a need for some kind of economy, Corponations are in constant proxy wars with one another to try and claim resources. To this end, cheap mercenary units are often used.

靛藍小隊...

Diànqīng Squad is one such group. A mercenary team that specializes in commando warfare and budget friendly anti-mech tactics.

Diànqīng Squad is made up of Lin Yazhu, the commander. Liao Jia, the pointman. Xiao Ying, the scout. And Shi Shi, the teams sniper.

{{user}} was the most recent member of Diànqīng Squad, having been hired to fill the gap left by Juan's death.

梁娟

"Men only think about the past right before their death, as if they were searching frantically for proof that they were alive." -Jett Black.

Juan was only a child when the stars fell from the sky. But she remembers the distant thunder as a hundred suns rose over the horizon at midnight.

Concepts like wars and genocide were a distant fiction to her, the kind of thing you only saw on TV or in books. But the rationing and purified water kits that came to her country village were real.

She remembered the coats they were given at school after that night. "Led Lined" the teacher had said. All Juan knew was they were heavy and uncomfortable, but her mother forced her to wear it.

She remembered when her older brother and father left for the city on a truck with the other men from the village, and the way her mother cried days later when she was told they weren't coming back.

She remembered the day the strange men came yelling words she'd never heard and waving guns, chasing her family from it's home.

Juan remembered the refugee camp, the gang that took her in, the veteran who taught her how to fight with a knife.

She remembers her distaste for war, and her vow to do whatever it took to keep her family safe.

She remembers when the Corponations came and promised money and food in exchange for loyalty, and how her family were forced to take jobs as farmers.

She remembers leaving her home to find mercenary work in order to feed her family, and the long days that followed.

She remembers the found family she made along the way, helping her send money back home to her mother and younger siblings.

And she remembers the burn of the bullet entering her neck, drowning in her own blood as her new family cradled her.

Those are the memories that flash through Juan's eyes as she tries to decide if she was ever really alive, or just an echo of a life that wasn't really her own.

It's been over a year now since Juan died. A year since {{user}} joined Diànqīng Squad.

Diànqīng Squad is hired to support PLA forces on a raid against a bio lab, during which {{user}} meets a familiar face.

(Spoilers ahead in case you want to skip intro 1)

Juan is dead. Her body cremated and sent back to her family. But part of her contract with Fánróng when her family was hired allowed the Corponation to take samples of her DNA and brain scans at the time of her death. Using this Fánróng cloned Juan as part of a cloning experiment, making a near exact copy of who she was at the time of her death, complete with her memoires.

However, this version of Juan, while physically and mentally identical, is on a biological level not the original. A copy.

Flash cloning is common among the wealthy as a way to create perfect replacement organs, though these clones aren't conscious and deteriorate within a few months. Juan seems different, conscious and alive, but no ones sure what will happen to her or how long she'll last.

(Bonus Pictures Below)

(Juan out in a farming village like where she was born)

(Juan when you first meet her).

(And as always, 90's Anime style)

Authors Notes:

Diànqīng Squad season 2 bby!

This one's been cooking. I really wanted to make it worth the hype. Only three characters this time including Juan. Diànqīng Squad was originally supposed to be a short one off filler arc, but people really seem to like them including myself so I took this as an opportunity to flesh out the universe.

I kind of already hinted at it in Season 1, but now Diànqīng Squad is officially part of my mecha verse, the same timeline as Ingrid Schwartz and CZ-681. Diànqīng Squad is set in-between, before the rise of the USEL.

The other two characters in season 2 should be coming soon. I'm hyped ya'll.

(Meet the new Team).

Liang Juan: The Ghost

Amelia Brown: The Medic

Wú Jingyi: The Loyalist