Seeing that Lu Fenghan did not answer, Vincent did not press the matter any further. Instead, he brought up another issue.
“Commander, we’ve been so busy fighting these past few days that I almost forgot Wise is still locked up in the interrogation room but Wise has been like a tightly shut clam all this time, his mouth is sealed so tightly that he hasn’t let a single thing slip. What do you think?”
This was, in fact, exactly what Lu Fenghan had expected.
Leaning back against his chair, he said, “He won’t be able to keep his mouth shut for much longer. Have the guards watching him chat with him about how we won another battle this time and mention the military factory we just seized.”
“Ruthless! So that’s why you haven’t paid any attention to him these past few days, Commander? You want him to realize that whatever intelligence he has is completely useless to us and then make him understand that the rebel army has been beaten so badly by us that they’re running for their lives, so his fantasy of the rebels coming to get him out is nothing but wishful thinking?” Vincent grew more and more excited as he spoke. “Exactly, exactly! Shooting him would be letting him off far too easily! He deserves to stay locked up in that interrogation room and suffer for a while!”
Lu Fenghan remembered the bombs that had rained down on them without warning when the Eros had passed through the transition channel at this time last year and the countless people in the communications channel who had managed only a warning before their signals went silent forever. A thin layer of ice seemed to settle over his eyes yet his voice remained as calm and detached as ever.
“Yes. Wise once believed that he held the Expeditionary Army’s power in his hands, that he could toy with the lives and deaths of countless people. He colluded with the rebel army, convinced that the Alliance would inevitably be overthrown.”
Vincent immediately picked up where he left off. “Nothing could hurt more than truly realizing that you’ve become a prisoner, that your life and death are now in someone else’s hands, that you have to live in fear every single day, only to discover that your old employer is suffering defeat after defeat!”
Before Lu Fenghan could even give him an order, Vincent declared, “I know what to do!”
With that, he cut off the communication.
Four hours later, a message came from the interrogation room: Wise was demanding to speak with Lu Fenghan face to face.
Lu Fenghan refused and sent Vincent in his place.
Another half hour passed before Vincent obtained a list.
Lu Fenghan summoned Long Xiyun back.
The commander of the Special Operations Unit, Long Xiyun, still wore his usual gloomy expression, as though the Alliance owed him several months of wages. After seeing bloodshed, however, there was an even colder, more murderous edge to his presence.
He stopped in front of Lu Fenghan, saluted and waited for his orders.
“Wise provided a list. Most of the people on it were already dealt with during the screening before I returned. I’ve sent the ones who slipped through the net to your personal terminal. Keep things quiet. Don’t give them any chance to communicate with one another. Once you’ve taken these people away, hold them separately and have each person write down every superior, subordinate and accomplice they know. Once they’ve all finished, cross check their statements. Tell them that anyone who deliberately conceals information will be executed, while those who disclose everything they know will be rewarded for their contribution.”
A scar ran diagonally from the corner of Long Xiyun’s eyebrow toward the outer edge of his eye, making his gaze appear especially fierce. With the Alliance’s medical technology, wounds normally did not leave scars at all and even if one did remain, it could be removed without leaving a trace.
He understood what Lu Fenghan meant. “Prisoner’s dilemma?”
“Exactly. They don’t completely trust one another, so they’ll be more inclined to expose their accomplices with everything they know rather than all choosing to remain silent.” Lu Fenghan tapped his fingers against the tabletop, his voice low and heavy. “I have doubts about the list Wise provided. This method will take a little more work but it can help us find anyone who slipped through the cracks while also preventing us from wrongfully accusing innocent people.”
Lu Fenghan looked directly at Long Xiyun.
“I’ll leave it to you.”
Having followed Lu Fenghan for several years, Long Xiyun understood this standard trait of his commander, a predator of the wilderness who would never allow anyone carrying the scent of “something else” to remain within his territory.
Much less someone who had betrayed them and caused innocent lives to be lost.
He did not say much.
“Yes!”
Lu Fenghan nodded. “As soon as possible. Ideally, have it done before the next battle.”
Long Xiyun saluted and left the command room without another word.
Sitting on the sofa in the corner, Qi Yan had witnessed the everyday reality of Lu Fenghan as the commander in chief of the Expeditionary Army.
Countless communications were continuously routed in by Pojun, usually without even a pause between them. One moment, Lu Fenghan would finish discussing the deployment of defenses along the Lisbon Star Front; the next, the communication would immediately switch over to the Technical Department, where he would listen to their work report and give his instructions.
At first, Qi Yan had only been distractedly paying attention to Lu Fenghan’s movements. Before long, however, he found himself unable to continue with what he had been doing. He propped his chin up with his left hand, leaned lazily against the sofa and quietly watched Lu Fenghan.
The Lu Fenghan he was seeing now was somewhat different from the Lu Fenghan in his memories at Leto.
At Leto, Lu Fenghan’s life was extraordinarily simple and regular, every day following almost the same routine but as the commander in chief, Lu Fenghan had to consider how to deploy the fewest people to construct the longest and most impenetrable line of defense. He had to reflect on every battle that had just ended so that casualties could be reduced in the next one. He had to analyze the battlefield situation and calculate how many soldiers and how much artillery the enemy commanders still had in their hands…
Qi Yan did not want to miss even the smallest detail.
He wanted to remember every side of this person.
When the communication finally ended, Lu Fenghan raised his eyes and immediately found Qi Yan staring at him absentmindedly.
A smile appeared on his lips.
“Come back to yourself.”
Qi Yan blinked.
“What?”
Seeing that Qi Yan was practically enveloped in his coat, Lu Fenghan stood up and walked over. He reached out and gently pinched Qi Yan’s cheek.
“It’s time to go back and sleep.”
Qi Yan had been sitting for too long and both his legs were slightly numb. When he stood up, he instinctively grabbed Lu Fenghan’s arm to steady himself.
There was no obvious distinction between day and night aboard the starship and Qi Yan had long since lost his sense of time. Only when Lu Fenghan mentioned going to sleep did he check his personal terminal and discover that it was already nearly four in the morning.
He answered Lu Fenghan.
“Okay.”
Lu Fenghan could not help saying, “Don’t agree to everything I say with an ‘okay.’ You’ll be the one who suffers for it.”
“Okay.”
After answering, Qi Yan paused for a moment before explaining, “I don’t want to refuse you.”
He then tried to analyze the psychology behind it but in the end, he could only arrive at a conclusion that was not quite a conclusion.
“Subconsciously, I don’t want to refuse.”
The smile lingering at the corners of Lu Fenghan’s lips suddenly deepened.
He knew perfectly well that Qi Yan was simply analyzing the matter and stating his conclusion in his usual straightforward way but Lu Fenghan still had the strange sensation of having drunk a cup of sweet wine.
Qi Yan returned to his room. After washing up, he prepared to go to sleep. Perhaps it was because his medication had been reduced; for some reason, he felt a faint sense of unease and could not feel sleepy at all.
In the end, he simply opened the virtual screen and began writing down the chaotic, disorganized thoughts that had accumulated over the past few days.
Two hours later, he felt that he probably should not be this clingy but he still could not resist asking Pojun,
“What is the General doing right now?”
“He is holding a meeting in the command room. Five minutes ago, Mr. Long Xiyun submitted a list to the General. The General subsequently summoned several captains to discuss the matter.”
Pojun dutifully relayed Lu Fenghan’s words. “The General doesn’t know that you haven’t gone to sleep yet. He instructed me to tell you that after you wake up, you will undergo the second reduction in your medication. Don’t be afraid. It’s okay.”
Hearing the words “afraid” and “don’t be afraid,” Qi Yan remained dazed for several seconds.
Lu Fenghan knew very well that Qi Yan had already lost his emotions. Naturally, he would not be able to feel “fear” either.
And yet Lu Fenghan would still remind him, over and over, not to be afraid, that everything would be all right.
After that, Qi Yan could no longer concentrate on what he was doing. He sat in a daze for a while before getting out of bed and leaving his room.
His room was next to the commander in chief’s private resting quarters. When he opened the door and stepped outside, there was not a single person in sight.
Remembering something, Qi Yan asked Pojun, “Are Ye Pei and Mondrian on the command ship?”
“They are. They’re having breakfast in the lounge beside the Technical Department. Are you going to see your friends?”
Qi Yan nodded.
When Mondrian saw Qi Yan, he looked pleasantly surprised. Ye Pei, who had originally been sprawled lazily across the table, reacted even more dramatically. She shot upright in an instant, her smile bright and radiant.
“Qi Yan, what are you doing here?”
She immediately followed up by asking whether there was anything he wanted to eat.
Lu Fenghan thought Qi Yan was too thin and had been very diligent about supervising him to make sure he ate all three meals every day. Qi Yan swallowed the words “nutritional supplement” back down.
“I’ll have a set meal.”
Ye Pei tapped a few buttons on the ordering terminal and before long, the set meal Qi Yan had requested was delivered.
The three of them sat around the same table. Ye Pei looked at Qi Yan, then at Mondrian, her eyes bright.
“It’s exactly like being back at Turan Academy!”
She poked at the bottom of her plate with her spoon.
“No, that’s not quite right either. For example, there are just too many graduates from First Military Academy throughout the entire Expeditionary Army. Everywhere you look, people from the school across the river are coming and going!”
If Turan Academy could be said to supply highly educated and talented people to all corners of the Alliance, then First Military Academy was practically connected directly to the military. Among the mid and high ranking officers in the Expeditionary Army, nearly half had once studied at First Military Academy.
Ye Pei then pointed beneath her eyes, where dark shadows had gathered.
“Last night, my crazy boss kept us up for an entire night doing a massive brainstorming session. I used to be so ignorant but now I finally understand. All those assignments Professor Fu gave us in the research group were ridiculously easy!”
Qi Yan took a bite of the rice from his set meal.
“You stayed up all night because of the new weapons transported back from the rebel army’s military factory?”
Seeing that Qi Yan already knew, Mondrian explained, “Yes. The commander gave us an order to completely figure out the new weapons within thirteen hours, so everyone in the Technical Department stayed up all night. Ye Pei and I are taking turns coming out to have breakfast. Once we finish eating, we’ll go back and continue.”
Ye Pei lowered her voice and said, “Though I think that even if the commander hadn’t given that order, with our department head’s military research maniac personality, he definitely would have forced us to stay up all night anyway!”
Mondrian deeply agreed.
Ye Pei continued, “Although the workload is intense, the boss is crazy, no, everyone in the Technical Department is crazy and works themselves to the bone and the danger level is also high, I actually quite like being in the Expeditionary Army.”
Her voice softened by two degrees.
“Although I can’t do that much, there’s this feeling… like I’m doing everything I possibly can for the sake of everyone’s tomorrow in the Alliance.”
After saying that, Ye Pei suddenly felt as though she had become overly sentimental and grew a little embarrassed.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Recently, every time I’m about to fall asleep, I can’t help thinking about these things.”
She tilted her head and looked at Qi Yan, who was eating his meal seriously. He seemed almost unchanged from before and she could not help murmuring to herself,
“I wonder how everyone in Leto is doing now.”
Xia Zhiyang climbed out of a hovercar whose exterior was pitch black and strode into his home.
On the sofa, his mother was watching the news.
As soon as he sat down, Xia Zhiyang reached out and picked up a red mist fruit, tossing it casually in his hand. He glanced at the news broadcast.
“These news reports are so boring. They only dare to talk about where it rained and where the weather is good. They don’t dare mention a single other thing.”
After saying that, he fell silent.
It was not only the news that dared not mention anything else. Even in ordinary conversations, everyone was deeply wary of bringing up certain words and subjects, because no one could be certain whether there was a pair of eyes or a pair of ears secretly watching and listening to them.
It was just like how the rebel army had sent teachers into Turan Academy to teach everyone theology, while also adding new regulations to the school rules. Anyone who received a grade below B in theology would be expelled from Turan Academy.
Every student thought it was utterly absurd. Politics should not be allowed to interfere with academic affairs.
Yet the regulation had still been issued and put into effect.
And the students who had once loudly opposed the introduction of the course had not been heard from for a very long time.
Xia Zhiyang bit into the mist fruit. He could barely taste anything. There was even a faint bitterness lingering on his tongue.
On Founding Day, he had persuaded his parents to leave Leto but halfway through the journey, his father had come to believe that if the rebel army truly occupied Leto, the three of them could certainly preserve themselves by simply leaving but the people who worked for the Xia family’s businesses and had no way to leave would be left in a difficult situation.
In the end, the family reached an agreement and decided to remain in Leto.
As it turned out, his father had made the right decision. Although their current lives felt as though all five senses had been sealed away, stagnant and lifeless, with his father serving as the family’s backbone, the Xia family’s businesses had not collapsed even under the rebel army’s rule. The people who worked for the Xia family were still able to receive stable wages and support themselves.
Mrs. Xia noticed that Xia Zhiyang seemed somewhat distracted. In a quiet voice, she said,
“There’s new information.”
Xia Zhiyang suddenly came back to himself. He was still holding the mist fruit with only one bite taken from it and there was even a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“Is it good news or bad news?”
His parents had a secret source of information. Even under the rebel army’s complete blockade, they were occasionally able to obtain some news from outside.
It was like a massive stone covering the entire sky had been pried open just enough to leave a tiny crack, allowing them to draw two breaths in the midst of suffocation.
Mrs. Xia handed two sheets of paper to Xia Zhiyang.
Xia Zhiyang took them and discovered that they were the paper edition of the Leto Daily. He had only ever read its electronic version before, so seeing the newspaper in physical form felt somewhat unfamiliar.
But after reading only the headline, Xia Zhiyang no longer had any time to care whether it felt familiar or not.
He quickly scanned through the contents. His fingers tightened around the paper and then, with utmost care, he read through every single word from the beginning again.
“We won?”
Mrs. Xia’s eyes were slightly red. In a soft, quiet voice, she answered,
“We won. We won both battles in a row. The front line has already been pushed all the way to Lisbon Star.”
His mother was able to speak to him about these things without any reservations, which clearly meant that the family had activated a frequency band capable of temporarily disrupting surveillance. For a short period of time, they could speak a little more freely.
Xia Zhiyang opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say. The long term oppression had made him far quieter than he used to be yet at this moment, he desperately wanted to say something, anything. After going back and forth in his mind, all he could manage in the end were four words:
“As long as we won.”
Mrs. Xia nodded. “The news your father received says that the commander in chief of the Expeditionary Army has returned from the dead. With him there, the front line should be able to hold. General Nie is on Odin Star and has already gone head to head with Hodgkin.”
Her emotions were tangled together in her voice.
“It will keep getting better. There will be more and more hope.”
Xia Zhiyang nodded as well.
“Right.”
Mrs. Xia reminded him again, “At school, make sure you study some of the courses properly and pay attention in class. As for those classes that teach you to believe in God, just roughly go through them and pretend to take them seriously.”
Xia Zhiyang had just heard the news that they had won a battle and his mood had improved considerably. Even his tone carried a little of the relaxed lightness he used to have.
“Got it. Don’t worry, I’m not that easy to fool. My idol is Y God, after all!”
Countless light years away, starships as immense as mountain ranges floated silently through the vastness of space.
After finishing breakfast, Ye Pei and Mondrian hurried away once more. Qi Yan took his medication according to the reduced dosage and then returned to his room along the same route.
When he reached the door, he hesitated for several seconds before his footsteps changed direction, carrying him to the door of the room next door.
Pojun reminded him, “The General is still in the command room. He hasn’t returned yet.”
Qi Yan stared at the tightly closed door in front of him. He remembered that the last time Lu Fenghan had trimmed his fingernails for him, he had also granted Qi Yan access privileges to come and go from his room.
Qi Yan tentatively scanned the door with his personal terminal.
With a soft click, the door opened.
Qi Yan did not enter recklessly. Instead, he asked Pojun, “If I go in without permission while he isn’t here, will the General be angry?”
Because of his missing emotions, Qi Yan sometimes found it difficult to judge boundaries. He was uncertain what kinds of behavior would make someone happy and what kinds of behavior would make them dislike him.
Pojun answered, “The General will not be angry. According to human social norms, if someone enters and leaves another person’s room without permission, the owner of that room would normally become annoyed but the General has permitted you to enter at any time and you are different to the General.”
Qi Yan thought it might be because his medication had been reduced. Some indistinct longing gradually emerged from deep within him, urging him forward.
He gently pushed the door open.
The lights inside the room came on.
There was not much furniture in Lu Fenghan’s room. Qi Yan had already committed everything to memory the last time he had come in but he still observed his surroundings carefully.
The wardrobe doors were semi transparent. Inside hung several regulation shirts and jackets belonging to the Expeditionary Army. Beside it was a bathroom equipped with a shower, while a clean clothes box stood in the corner for storing freshly cleaned garments. The virtual screen hovering above the desk was different from the one he had seen last time. It was currently in sleep mode.
Everything was neat and orderly.
Just as it had been when Lu Fenghan lived in that house on Leto, where his bedroom was always kept perfectly tidy.
The pillows at the head of the bed were arranged neatly, while a shirt had been draped along the edge.
Following the position he remembered, Qi Yan sat down on the gray bedsheet.
Perhaps it was because this was Lu Fenghan’s private space, filled everywhere with traces of his daily life. Simply sitting there, Qi Yan gradually began to feel a hazy drowsiness settling over him.
At a little past eight in the morning, Lu Fenghan received Lorenz’s feedback regarding the rebel army’s new weapons. He then pulled several captains into another round of meetings. By the time the matters at hand had finally reached a temporary pause and he returned to his room, it was already nine in the morning.
As he entered, he kept his head lowered while approving two documents submitted by the Logistics Department. He then received a message from Vincent informing him that the Dingyuan had already been recalled.
Only after closing the door behind him did Lu Fenghan notice that the lights in the room had not automatically come on as they usually did. The room remained completely dark and the temperature inside also seemed somewhat higher than usual.
He manually pressed the switch.
The instant the lights came on, Lu Fenghan immediately saw that there was someone on his bed.
Someone was curled up with his legs drawn in, sleeping soundly while hugging one of Lu Fenghan’s regulation shirts against his chest.
There was no blanket covering him, leaving his slender figure exposed. Because of the position in which he slept, a section of his cool, pale, slender ankle was revealed, so white that it was almost dazzling.
Pojun displayed a line of text in the air using dim light.
Lu Fenghan finished reading it.
Qi Yan couldn’t sleep after returning to his room. He only became sleepy after coming to my room and then fell asleep?
He had Pojun dim the lights. Lu Fenghan lightened his footsteps as he approached the bedside, then knelt on one knee beside the bed and gently touched Qi Yan’s cheek with his fingers.
The smooth fabric of his military trousers creased slightly at the bend of his knee.
Unexpectedly, Qi Yan’s eyelashes trembled. He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze still hazy with sleep.
“You’re back?”
“Did I wake you?” Lu Fenghan’s voice was exceptionally gentle and slow. “Mm. I’m back.”
Qi Yan remembered that he had fallen asleep on Lu Fenghan’s bed. He instinctively wanted to explain himself yet he did not know how he should explain it.
Lu Fenghan saw his hesitation. A smile surfaced in his eyes.
“You just fell asleep?”
Qi Yan made a soft sound of agreement, the faint nasal quality of someone who had only just awakened still lingering in his voice.
Because they were so close, he once again seemed to fall into the familiar scent of the person in front of him. From somewhere deep within his bones came a sense of steadiness and peace, a feeling of being completely at ease.
His thin eyelids drooped again and the drowsiness deepened by another degree.
“I won’t be unhappy. Whenever you want to come to my room, whether you want to sleep or do something else, you can.”
Lu Fenghan looked at the regulation shirt belonging to him that Qi Yan was holding against his chest and suddenly felt a little jealous.
“Okay.”
Qi Yan’s mind was rarely this muddled. Sleepiness swept over him like a tide and without realizing it, he reached out and caught hold of the sleeve of Lu Fenghan’s uniform where it rested beside the bed.
Something deep inside Lu Fenghan that he had been suppressing was stirred.
Lu Fenghan had originally been quite confident in his own patience. He firmly believed that he could wait until Qi Yan regained his emotions.
But at this moment, Lu Fenghan truly could not endure it any longer.
The faint rustle of fabric sounded in the softly warm room. Lu Fenghan turned his hand and pressed the hand Qi Yan had wrapped around his sleeve beneath his own palm. He leaned down and lowered his head, placing an exceedingly light kiss at the corner of Qi Yan’s lips.
It was like a dragonfly skimming lightly across the surface of a spring on a summer night.
Every trace of his instinct to take and possess was completely restrained, leaving behind nothing but gentleness and control.
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
A wild translator appears! Their weakness: coffee. ☕
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 50 · I am Pojun.Chapter 51 · Unable to deceive oneselfChapter 52 · Resurrected from the deadChapter 53 · Hello, General!Chapter 54 · My hand is injured.Chapter 55 · Come to my place.Chapter 56 · First VictoryChapter 57 · Self-introductionChapter 58 · Never changedChapter 59 · One reasonChapter 60 · Gentle and restrainedChapter 61 · Only you are allowed.Chapter 62 · To the Souls of the FallenChapter 63 · His reliefChapter 64 · His ambitionChapter 65 · Date TimeChapter 66 Part 1 · Abducting PlanetsChapter 66 Part 2 · Abducting PlanetsChapter 67 · Did not leaveChapter 68 · Perceiving EmotionsChapter 69 · My own effortsChapter 70 · Bright FlameChapter 71 · Dress codeChapter 72 · Take me with you!Chapter 73 · MirageChapter 74 · I’m used to it.