At the very top of Heavenreach Tower, less than a minute after Li Xu fired his gun, Zhou Yan received the surveillance footage projected by his subordinate. In Alto City, almost no one did not know him, but only a handful of people knew his real name.
There were two people in the footage. He was certain he had never seen the young woman before, but he stared at the young man holding the gun in disbelief. When he heard the man call his name, he instinctively stood up.
Fifty years, and it was still a conditioned reflex.
But fifty years had passed, yet this person’s appearance had not changed at all. Where had he gone? Why had he suddenly appeared?
Zhou Yan frowned, recalling the news he had received some time ago about Gray Dove Base being attacked. According to the reports, there had been only one attacker, yet he had run Arvid in circles.
Was it really him who had returned, or had someone come using his name to settle old scores and muddy the waters?
But fifty years ago, Zhou Yan had personally witnessed that flagship fighter explode before the jump point. It had been completely blown apart. After the situation was brought under control, the military had thoroughly combed through that section of the battlefield, yet not a single fragment belonging to a human being had been found.
Although Zhou Yan had always firmly believed that the commander could not have died so easily, fifty years had passed, and everything had settled. The merits and wrongs had all been written into history. Otherwise, he would never have left the military in despair and withdrawn to this remote corner of the world.
Having exactly the same appearance did not prove that he was the same person. In this era, modifying a person’s organs, appearance, and even genes was easy. Zhou Yan paced around the room several times, ran a hand through his hair, and gradually calmed down. He tapped his wristband and issued an order to his subordinate.
Three minutes after the corridor was sealed, the door at one of the exits opened, and four humanoid robots walked in. They stood in a neat line, dressed in crisp blue-and-white uniforms. Their faces still had a metallic quality, but their bodies…
Cheng Weilu stared speechlessly at the robots’ bulging chests, arms, and thighs. The owner of Heavenreach Tower really did have an utterly muscle-oriented aesthetic. Not only did he himself have to be bulging with muscle, even his robots had to be bulging with muscle.
The robots walked up to the two of them, separated to either side, and respectfully saluted before gesturing for them to follow.
Li Xu frowned, drew his photon gun, pointed it directly at one robot’s forehead, and said coldly, “Zhou Yan, who’s meeting whom?”
The robot’s movements paused. Behind the surveillance monitors, Zhou Yan actually began to sweat nervously. His voice came from the robot’s mouth.
“Sorry, but I need to confirm that you are really you first.”
“Come upstairs first. It’s inconvenient down here.” Zhou Yan thought for a moment before adding, “If… if you really are him, I’ll apologize to you afterward.”
It was the first time Cheng Weilu had seen Li Xu being so forceful. She followed beside him as the robots led them around the crowds inside the building and into an internal transport room reserved for employees. She watched as the number jumped from 1 all the way to 198 before finally stopping.
Heavenreach Tower really was living up to its name.
The four muscular robots brought the two of them into a spacious and luxurious room. Outside the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows was a panoramic view of Alto City. There were also several built-in suites within the room. Uniformed staff politely greeted them, served them tea, and then left without saying anything.
Li Xu swept his gaze around the room. His patience seemed to have run out. He turned to Cheng Weilu and said quietly, “Wait for me a moment.”
Cheng Weilu nodded and settled onto the sofa. Li Xu walked into one of the suites on his own, and the four robots hurried after him, trying to stop him. Li Xu then shut the door.
The moment he drew his photon gun, Zhou Yan immediately warned him through the robot, “There are suspended dust particles here. They’ll explode when exposed to a heat source. If you fire that gun, all three floors above and below this one will be blown away.”
Li Xu simply tossed the gun aside. Looking at the four muscular robots in front of him, he said calmly, “You’re using physical ability to verify my identity? That’s just like you, Zhou Yan. Has your brain really not developed much over the years?”
“…”
Behind the surveillance monitors, Zhou Yan was so thoroughly insulted that he did not dare talk back. That familiar sharp tongue had tormented him ever since he was a cadet at the military academy.
“All of you, come at me together,” Li Xu said.
He undid the top button of his shirt. As the four robots closed in, he swiftly shifted into a fighting stance and swept out with his long leg, fast, precise, and ruthless. The two robots closest to him were knocked off their feet by the tremendous force, their heavy bodies crashing to the floor with dull thuds.
The other two had barely closed in when he grabbed them and struck their wrists heavily with two knife-hand blows. A crisp “crack” came from the joints. The pain-insensitive robots continued attacking even with their wrists hanging limp. Li Xu moved behind them in an instant, hooked an arm around one robot’s neck, and kicked hard at its knee.
Another pair of cracks rang out, and the two robots collapsed one after another, unable to stand again.
The internal metallic nerve fibers in their joints had snapped. Behind the surveillance monitors, Zhou Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead. These four robots had basically been custom-built according to his physique and usually served as his sparring partners during physical training.
Seeing two of the robots get back up and prepare to pounce on Li Xu, Zhou Yan immediately pressed the stop button.
The commander’s combat style involved no unnecessary movements. He struck vital points quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly, aiming to deprive his opponent of the ability to resist in the shortest possible time. If he did not stop him, the remaining two robots would not survive either.
Zhou Yan immediately emerged from the safe room where he had been hiding and took the internal passageway to the 198th floor. He jogged out from the partition and gave Li Xu a standard military salute.
“Commander, Zhou Yan reporting.”
Li Xu expressionlessly fastened his collar and sat down inside the room.
Zhou Yan stared at his face for a long time. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to ask something, but ultimately held back. This person really looked exactly the same as he had fifty years ago.
“After the warship was destroyed, I entered a hibernation pod. The impact from the explosion sent me into the jump point. For certain reasons, I was swept into a remote star system and remained in hibernation for fifty years. I was only recently retrieved.”
Li Xu gave a concise answer to the questions troubling him.
Zhou Yan stared at him in astonishment, mouth agape, before nodding. Some things that seemed unreasonable might actually have very simple explanations.
“Now, I ask, you answer.”
Li Xu sat upright, one hand supporting him, his tone cold. It was the familiar posture of the commander interrogating someone.
“What happened to Nianchuan Fortress?”
Zhou Yan stood to the side, struggling to figure out how to explain it.
“That… was Cynthia’s idea.”
Zhou Yan scratched his head.
“After your accident, there were a lot of changes within the military. In the end, they still needed a positive public figure to face the masses, so the people in the Cabinet pushed her forward. Later, Cynthia proposed using your name to establish a new fortress. It was positioned near the Freedom Corridor as an important defensive installation at the passage checkpoint.”
“The name was meant to commemorate you, Commander.”
Zhou Yan secretly glanced at Li Xu, whose expression had grown increasingly displeased, and muttered quietly, “I thought you knew how she felt.”
Li Xu shot him a cold look.
“So the Alliance commander stationed at Nianchuan Fortress now is Cynthia.”
“Yes.”
“She was at least dragged into the game by those old bastards and made it to that position, yet she ran off to the frontier to play guard dog.”
Li Xu lowered his eyes and rubbed the wristband on his left wrist.
“Who is she putting on this act for? Pathetic.”
His displeasure was obvious in his words. Zhou Yan wisely kept his mouth shut. Ever since the day the fortress had been given that name, he had felt something was off about it. Now that the person himself had returned, sure enough, he was here to demand an explanation.
“And you? Why did you leave the military?”
Li Xu lifted his eyes. His cold gray irises made Zhou Yan’s scalp prickle.
He hunched his broad shoulders, looking as though he was about to fall apart.
“During the Dawnlight Fortress incident, more than half of our people were lost. Those of us who survived were detained and put on trial for treason when we returned. They pinned all kinds of fabricated charges on us and demoted or dismissed every one of us. When you were there, Commander, you could still keep those people in check. After your… accident, the military underwent tremendous changes. Several factions within the Cabinet sent their own people in, and those people spent all day fighting among themselves. After being demoted, we no longer had any say. I became completely disillusioned, so I…”
─────── ✦ · ˚ ✧ · ˚ ✦ ───────
Cheng Weilu only sat outside for a short while before several dull thuds came from the inner room, followed by silence. About half an hour later, the suite door opened, and Li Xu walked out completely unharmed. His clothes were neat, and his expression was composed, but Cheng Weilu’s senses were very sharp. She could tell that Li Xu was in a very low mood.
Li Xu pointed at the muscular man following behind him with his head lowered and introduced him to Cheng Weilu.
“Zhou Yan, my former subordinate. We served together in the military for many years.”
Then he gestured toward Cheng Weilu.
“Cheng Weilu, my traveling companion and lifesaver.”
Cheng Weilu took a closer look. This muscular man was none other than the one whose charm had been on full display in the holographic projection in the lobby.
The two exchanged greetings. Li Xu said to Cheng Weilu, “We’re going to his armory to pick out a few things.”
His tone was so casual and natural that it sounded as though they were going to the market to pick out vegetables.
This was basically getting things for free.
Cheng Weilu nodded and followed the two of them into an internal transport pod. Zhou Yan operated the panel inside a few times. The route to the armory seemed rather complicated.
On the way to the armory, Cheng Weilu curiously glanced at the muscular and charismatic man beside her. Aside from noticing that the four robots looked extremely similar to him, she also secretly discovered that the lord of Alto City, who was so respectful toward Li Xu in their conversation, actually looked several years older than Li Xu.
“Can I ask what he used to confirm your identity?”
The somewhat oppressive atmosphere made her uncomfortable. Cheng Weilu moved closer to Li Xu and said softly, “Li Xu, are you really his commanding officer? The difference in your styles is really quite huge.”
“Of course he is. I’ve followed Comman— I mean, Commander Li, since I was a cadet at the military academy. I was a soldier personally trained by the commander. We’ve known each other for more than twenty years.”
Zhou Yan jumped into the conversation on his own.
“And Commander Li has a very recognizable style.”
Zhou Yan ingratiatingly flattered him.
“He’s handsome and can fight.”
Cheng Weilu had never seen Li Xu fight, but there was no denying that he was handsome.
Her gaze wandered over Li Xu again. He had thick, jet-black hair, smooth, flawless skin, and a slender, well-proportioned build. He looked exactly like the twenty-five- or twenty-six-year-old men she remembered from her previous life.
During the fifty years he had spent in hibernation, time had stopped for him.
Sensing Cheng Weilu’s gaze, Li Xu turned his head slightly toward her.
“What?”
Cheng Weilu secretly tugged at Li Xu’s clothes and asked curiously, “He was a soldier you personally trained, and he’s already this age. So how old are you, Commander?”
Li Xu was already in a bad mood. At her words, he glared at her as though his eyes were armed with blades. Cheng Weilu rubbed her neck and shrank back.
Zhou Yan, whose ears were sharp, immediately caught the key phrase. He looked at Cheng Weilu in shock and dismay.
“Already this age? You mean I’m old?”
Cheng Weilu watched as Zhou Yan walked toward her, his two enormous wheat-colored pectoral muscles swaying before her eyes. Zhou Yan waved his hands and gestured at himself.
“My face, my body-fat percentage, the muscle definition in my shoulders, all of it is completely natural! Everything about me is the charm of a mature man! And you call me old?”
His beautiful physique and elegant bearing were precisely what made him an outstanding man for his age. And this woman had only evaluated him with the phrase “already this age”?!
“No, no.”
Cheng Weilu hurriedly denied it, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible as she desperately backed into the corner.
“That’s not what I meant. Really.”
Li Xu walked over to Cheng Weilu and blocked Zhou Yan’s line of sight. Then he gave Zhou Yan a cool glance.
“She was saying that I’m old.”
Zhou Yan looked at the expressionless Li Xu, then at Cheng Weilu, who was cowering behind him. His mouth fell open in shock.
The commander had never been like this before. He had always been so cold and proper that no one dared approach him, let alone joke and bicker with him like this.
Who among the commander’s subordinates did not know about Cynthia’s feelings? Yet she had never had even the slightest opportunity to become close to him. She had only dared to use his name for the fortress where she was stationed after he had been missing for decades.
Zhou Yan’s gaze moved back and forth between Cheng Weilu and Li Xu. It was as though he had suddenly understood something. A look of realization appeared on his face, and he gave Cheng Weilu what was probably his gentlest and friendliest smile.
Cheng Weilu stared blankly, completely unable to understand what was going on. Why had this man suddenly changed his expression?
Li Xu’s icy gaze swept over him. Zhou Yan flinched and took a step back. Then he looked down at himself and silently raised a hand to fasten his open collar.
…
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