It was a little past seven when Han Qingyu and his friends left the equipment hall and headed back to the barracks.

The streetlights and floodlights around the barracks were on. Over a dozen buildings ringed a large rectangular communal laundry area in the center, which was really just rows of faucets and concrete slabs. The whole place buzzed with activity, filled with the sounds of water splashing, scrub brushes swishing back and forth, and metal basins clanging against the ground. The voices of male and female soldiers mixed ‌with the clamor.

Surprisingly, the male soldiers actually washed their clothes more frequently than most would expect. It was hard to say whether this was because the combat uniforms genuinely looked good, or because female soldiers made up nearly a quarter of the forces. Men and women stood in the same formation on the battlefield, and no...