Three days after Qi Yan boarded the Expeditionary Army’s command ship, the debugging of the new detection system was completed.
Judging by the speed at which he had worked at the White Tower, it should not have taken him this long but compared with the pace he had maintained back on Leto, this was actually quite close.
Once again, Pojun reminded him that it was time to drink some water.
Qi Yan leaned against the edge of the desk, holding the glass in his hands.
“I know. I’m resting.”
Back on Leto, Lu Fenghan had always reminded him about these little details. Now that Lu Fenghan was no longer by his side all the time, Pojun followed Lu Fenghan’s instructions and carried them out without the slightest deviation.
Pojun particularly enjoyed chatting with Qi Yan.
“I found more than a million pieces of information on the Star Network concerning ‘fatigue and sudden death.’ Your workload is far too heavy. You need sufficient rest, otherwise you can easily become ill.”
“Mm. The debugging is finished and I don’t have any projects I want to start for the time being. I won’t be very busy from now on.”
After setting down the now empty glass, Qi Yan’s gaze unintentionally fell upon his fingertips.
The edges of his nails had been trimmed very neatly.
Qi Yan stared at them quietly for a while before suddenly asking in a soft voice, “Why do people cry?”
Without waiting for Pojun to answer that question, he changed it instead.
“What is the General doing right now?”
But the moment he asked the question, Qi Yan suddenly realized something.
“He’s the commander in chief of the Expeditionary Army. Am I not supposed to ask about his whereabouts and schedule?”
“No. The General has already issued the relevant authorization. All of his information is open to you. You may confirm his location and activities at any time.”
Pojun answered quickly. “The General is currently speaking with Weiss, the former acting commander in chief of the Expeditionary Army.” He paused, then corrected his wording. “Having a rather unconventional conversation.”
…..
The interrogation room.
The buttons on Lu Fenghan’s white military jacket were left undone, while his rolled up sleeves revealed the firm, well defined muscles of his arms. He casually pulled out a single chair and sat down, glanced at Weiss sitting opposite him and asked Vincent, “Did you torture him?”
“We’re a clean and upright Expeditionary Army. We would never use such inhumane methods as torture!” Vincent looked extremely innocent as he spoke, then added, “We simply haven’t allowed him to sleep since we brought him back.”
Weiss’s light brown hair looked as though it had not been trimmed for several months. It fell partly over his deeply sunken eye sockets, making it obvious that the several months he had spent fleeing and hiding had not been particularly pleasant.
Lu Fenghan looked him over from head to toe.
“Your parents died when you were sixteen. Their deaths were indirectly related to the Great Technological Destruction. From that point onward, you probably came to hate the Alliance.”
Because Weiss had become so thin, his cheekbones were especially prominent. His lips were cracked and dry.
“Was I not supposed to hate it? If the Great Technological Destruction had never happened, all those hidden dangers wouldn’t have been left behind. The particle flow storms wouldn’t have destroyed the navigation routes and the starship my parents were on wouldn’t have met with an accident!”
“Everyone here has taken courses related to interrogation. You can spare me the tricks about playing the victim and setting logical traps.” Lu Fenghan remained completely unmoved after hearing him out and instead asked, “Then what about the people who died because you colluded with the enemy and deliberately allowed us to suffer defeat? Who should their children hate? The Alliance? The rebels? Or you?”
Weiss avoided Lu Fenghan’s icy, cutting gaze and said nothing.
Lu Fenghan did not linger on the question.
“Let me guess. You were the one who leaked the coordinates of the jump point during the first great defeat. Your superior and also your accomplice, Dyson, opposed leaking the coordinates, so you had him sent back to Leto and kept him under control there. After he witnessed the great defeat take place, you used ‘Fuse’ to fabricate a hovercar accident and eliminate him. Am I right?”
Mockery and contempt appeared in Weiss’s eyes.
“He got scared. He was afraid you would discover what he had done, so he didn’t dare act. His lover was aboard the same starship as my parents back then. After they died, not even their remains could be found. He kept saying he wanted revenge but in the end, it proved that he was nothing more than a coward!”
Lu Fenghan was not particularly interested in understanding the motives behind the actions of people like Weiss. However, those motives had to be included in the reports submitted to his superiors, so he needed to ask about them according to procedure.
There were others like him, too.
Laurent, who had been in the same class as Qi Yan, had been willing to frame his fellow student for money and provide scientific research data to the rebels. Jiang Yunyue had tasted what it was like to hold power in her hands and had voluntarily colluded with the rebels, caring nothing for human lives. As for Climo, in order to preserve the military’s privileges, he had done one ridiculous and brainless thing after another.
Everyone had their hidden circumstances. Everyone had their reasons and causes.
Lu Fenghan simply did not have the time or energy to understand and empathize with all of them.
Because when it came to certain matters, right was right and wrong was wrong.
If you were wrong, you had to bear the consequences.
“Donald has abandoned you. You should have realized that by now. To the rebels, you can barely be considered someone Donald was willing to sell to me as a favor.” Lu Fenghan’s tone was perfectly ordinary but his words were hardly pleasant to hear. “Don’t glare at me. You know very well whether or not what I’m saying is the truth.”
Of course, Weiss knew.
Otherwise, after he had spent several months hiding in fear and constantly worrying for his life, sending more than a hundred distress signals to the rebels, Donald would not have waited until he happened to be carrying out a mission before casually picking him up aboard his starship.
And then, of course, he had thrown him to Lu Fenghan without the slightest concern.
Lu Fenghan continued, “You haven’t said a single word since you boarded the ship. I suppose you thought Vincent wasn’t qualified enough and wanted to wait until I came personally?”
Vincent could not hold himself back.
“I’m at least the deputy to the commander in chief of the Expeditionary Army! I’m a genuine direct subordinate and trusted confidant!”
Weiss looked directly at Lu Fenghan. Because of the angle, a sliver of white showed beneath his pupils, making his expression appear even more gloomy.
“I’ll write down every name I know. I won’t leave out a single one. You let me go.”
Lu Fenghan raised an eyebrow.
“You’re negotiating terms with me?”
“I know I’m completely at your mercy right now. Whether I live or die is nothing more than a single word from you, Commander Lu but the information I have is extremely useful to you.” Weiss’s speech quickened. “As long as you’re willing to let me go, I won’t hide a single thing!”
Vincent looked at Weiss, then at Lu Fenghan and remained silent.
He thought to himself that Weiss really wasn’t very bright. After spending so many years in the Expeditionary Army, he still had not understood that threatening Lu Fenghan would only make him die faster.
Lu Fenghan’s expression did not change much. He tapped his fingers twice against the tabletop, speaking as though he were calmly discussing terms with him.
“Then I’ll give you two choices as well. First, write down every name without leaving out a single one and I’ll give you one shot. You’ll die easily. Second, refuse and I’ll have my people torture you until you talk. Which one will you choose?”
After leaving the interrogation room, Lu Fenghan asked Vincent with considerable interest, “Do I look like a particularly kind hearted person? So many of my subordinates died because of him yet he actually thinks I’d let him go just for a list of names?”
“His eyes are blind,” Vincent said. Then he shook his head. “His brain isn’t particularly bright either. That’s probably the only thing he has left to rely on.”
Lu Fenghan’s eyes were dark and cold.
“Once he starts talking, have someone verify the list from beginning to end. Deal with everything according to the results.”
Vincent nodded.
“Understood.”
The dead could never be brought back to life.
All those of them who were still alive could do was give the dead a complete accounting.
On the other side, after Qi Yan sent Lu Fenghan a message informing him that the detection system had finished being debugged, he prepared to return to his room to rest.
After turning two corners in the corridor, the corner of his eye caught sight of a figure. Not entirely certain, he called out, “Mondrian?”
“Qi Yan?”
Ye Pei was still exactly as she had always been, her hair tied up in a high ponytail. When she saw Qi Yan, she initially thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
It was only after Mondrian called out Qi Yan’s name that she hurried over.
Her eyes were already red.
There were countless things she wanted to say, countless questions she wanted to ask yet when she finally stood in front of him, she did not know what she should say at all.
Six months ago, they had still been second year students at Turan Academy. Now, when they met again, it was aboard the Expeditionary Army’s command ship.
Qi Yan followed them to the technical department’s lounge.
Seeing that Ye Pei’s eyes were still red, he found a topic to talk about. “Why are you here?”
Ye Pei proudly pointed at the uniform she was wearing. “We’re all active duty soldiers now.”
The light in her eyes was still as bright as it had been before yet there seemed to be something else mixed into it now.
“On Founding Day, after we parted at Sky Dome’s Diamond Plaza, I took Mondrian back to my house. My parents wanted to leave Leto to avoid the disaster but before we had even driven halfway, the rebels launched their attack.
“A bomb exploded on the lane not far from us. It was terrifying. We had no choice but to turn around and go back home the way we had come.
“Later, Leto fell. General Nie Huaiting and the Secretary General both had to go to the Kepler Administrative District. My parents tried every possible way and, in the end, finally managed to leave Leto together with General Nie.”
Even now, recalling the chaotic situation from that period still left Ye Pei shaken.
“After we arrived at Odin, Mondrian and I applied to enlist together. We were already adults and we also had Professor Fu’s letter of recommendation, so we were assigned to the Expeditionary Army as technical soldiers. Our five month assessment period is already over. Because Mondrian and I performed very well, we were transferred into the technical department of the command ship.”
“I still remember how we left Odin with the other new recruits. There were so many people being transported to the front lines that Odin’s spaceport directly closed its civilian channels and allocated all of them to military starships instead. Family members weren’t even allowed to see us off.”
There was a heavier note in Ye Pei’s voice.
“That was the first time I truly felt what it meant to be in a state of war.”
Mondrian brought up another matter. “Qi Yan, do you remember Chagall? He joined the Expeditionary Army too. He’s currently in the interceptor fleet and has already become a captain. We happened to run into each other twice in passing.”
Qi Yan nodded. “I remember.”
On Founding Day, they had all gone to the launch tower together and retrieved the source architecture of the starship’s central control system. At the time, when Lu Fenghan had asked Qi Yan what he planned to do, his answer had been that he wanted to join the Expeditionary Army.
Speaking of military ranks, Ye Pei smiled again and pointed at her shoulder insignia.
“Look! Lieutenant! I’m an officer with a military rank now, too!”
The smile on her face gradually faded.
“We used to promise each other that if we ever got the chance, we would travel to Woz Star together.”
Qi Yan said, “Once we take Leto back, we can go together.”
Although no one knew how long it would take before that sentence could actually become a reality.
Qi Yan asked, “What about Xia Zhiyang?”
Mondrian answered, “Xia Zhiyang is still on Leto. The rebels have imposed extremely strict controls there and don’t allow any outside communications. We’ve completely lost contact with him.”
Ye Pei actually wanted to ask Qi Yan why he had suddenly appeared aboard the command ship and where that bodyguard of his with the surname Lu was now, whether he was safe.
But Qi Yan had not offered any explanation himself, which meant the reason might not be something convenient for others to know. Ye Pei and Mondrian therefore did not rashly ask.
They talked a little more about their time at Turan Academy. Ye Pei could not help sighing.
“It really feels like a dream. If nothing had happened on Founding Day, I should be a third year student at Turan Academy by now. I’d probably be preparing for exams and if I did badly, I’d probably sneak off somewhere and secretly cry for a while.”
None of the three spoke again.
At that moment, Ye Pei and Mondrian’s expressions both changed slightly at the same time, their eyes narrowing as though they were concentrating on something they were listening to.
Qi Yan knew that a communicator had been implanted into every person’s personal terminal aboard the ship. The sound was connected directly to the auditory nerves, ensuring that real time communication would not be restricted by distance and would not be easily exposed.
Just as he had expected, more than ten seconds later, Ye Pei spoke.
“The notice says everyone in the technical department has to attend a meeting. There’s a new system that needs to be familiarized with. Qi Yan, we’ll go first. Can you find your way back?”
Qi Yan nodded. “Mm, I can.”
Ye Pei looked rather reluctant to leave.
“Then let’s talk again when we get the chance!”
After Ye Pei and Mondrian went to assemble with the others, Qi Yan remained standing there for a while before turning back along the route he had come and returning to his room to sleep.
Qi Yan was awakened by Pojun in the middle of the night. The lights in the room were very dim.
“What is it?”
Pojun said, “The General asked me to bring you to the combat command room.”
Qi Yan’s voice was still slightly hoarse from just waking up but he had already become completely alert.
“Has the battle begun?”
“Yes.”
When Qi Yan arrived at the command room, the meeting had just begun. Lu Fenghan was the first to notice him entering and pointed toward the empty seat behind him.
Qi Yan felt nothing in particular under the various scrutinizing gazes that turned toward him. Following Lu Fenghan’s indication, he walked over and sat down beside him.
Lu Fenghan went straight to the point without wasting a single word on small talk.
“The new detection system provided by ‘the other side’ has been successfully debugged. The code name for this mission is ‘Salute.’”
He raised his head and looked toward a middle aged military officer.
“Is the Pingning fully equipped?”
“Reporting to the commander, the Pingning, its escort ships and its comprehensive supply ships have all been fully equipped!”
“Mm.” Lu Fenghan issued his next order. “Pojun, let me see the Pingning.”
The next second, a holographic image appeared above the center of the round conference table. A starship materialized before everyone’s eyes.
Two high energy particle cannons were mounted on either side of the starship’s front section. Forty nine missile propulsion units were installed along the left side, while thirty six high sensitivity cannon and laser weapon turrets were positioned on the right. The entire vessel was black, resembling a ghostly shadow drifting through the vastness of space.
Lu Fenghan said, “Inside.”
The instant the word left his mouth, the starship’s outer shell rapidly peeled away, revealing forty interceptor ships and twenty small reconnaissance vessels concealed within.
Lu Fenghan gave a slight nod and swept his gaze around the room.
“Prepare for action. May all of you achieve a victorious first battle.”
The people seated around the conference table immediately rose to their feet. Their heels clicked together as they saluted Lu Fenghan, then quickly filed out of the command room.
Once the command room had emptied again, Lu Fenghan took off his military jacket and draped it over Qi Yan’s shoulders. Compared with the voice he had used moments earlier, his tone now seemed to have shed a thin layer of ice.
“You were sleeping just now?”
“Mm. I was a little tired, so I went to sleep.” Lu Fenghan’s body heat still lingered in the jacket draped over Qi Yan’s shoulders. Qi Yan quietly breathed in its familiar scent, inexplicably wanting to say a few more words to Lu Fenghan. After thinking for a moment, he brought up what had happened. “I ran into Ye Pei and Mondrian after I came out of the equipment room.”
There were quite a number of new recruits sent over this time and Lu Fenghan only had a general understanding of their assignments and training situation.
“They’re in the Technical Department?”
“Yes. Professor Fu wrote their letters of recommendation.”
Hearing those names, Lu Fenghan suddenly had the strange illusion that a hundred or more pages of the calendar had been flipped backward.
When he looked out through the porthole again, he could no longer escape the unmistakable realization that this really was the front line of the Southern Cross Region.
At this moment, the PINGNING, which was serving as the main battleship for this operation, had already begun to move slowly. Its enormous, cumbersome hull seemed almost incongruous with the astonishing lightness of its movements as it silently sailed into the sea of stars.
Seeing Qi Yan looking out through the porthole, Lu Fenghan explained, “The battle plan this time is very simple. The PINGNING will serve as the main force. We’ll first wipe out several of the enemy’s resource supply stations, then use the high sensitivity cannons to shoot down a few asteroids. Once Tang Na receives the signal, he’ll naturally lead his forces over through the jump channels.
“However, there are many jump channels, so there’s no way to determine which one they’ll come through. That’s where ‘Chasing the Wind’ comes in. Whichever side shows a high density heat signature, we’ll make use of the time difference and set up an ambush in advance at the corresponding exit.”
Vincent revealed a broad, gleaming smile. “This time, we’ve prepared quite a few gifts for Tang Na without worrying about the cost. We’re just waiting for him to bring his main forces over so we can greet them with a barrage of cannon fire!”
It was not long before battle reports began coming through the communications channel one after another.
“Reporting to the commander, supply station F 074 has been destroyed!”
“…Supply stations F 075 and F 077 have been destroyed!”
“…”
“Defense network of mining star K N765 is 98% destroyed.”
“Landing ships are in position…”
Barely half an hour had passed when five planets on the virtual star map had already raised the flag bearing the shield and sword once more.
At that moment, Pojun issued a warning: “General, the detection system has detected a high density heat signature in jump channel Y801. Prediction: two main battleships. Estimated time until they exit the jump channel: two minutes and twenty one seconds. The signal from jump channel Y806 is relatively weak. Prediction: one medium sized ship and twenty fighter ships. Estimated time: two minutes and fifty five seconds.”
Judging from the distribution of their forces and the difference in timing, Tang Na was planning to attack from both ends and encircle them.
Lu Fenghan issued his orders at the same time. “Unload the bomb reserves of the escort ships until they’re at twenty percent. The main battleships are to unload theirs to fifty percent. Once unloading is complete, withdraw along an E shaped route until you’re thirty firing ranges away. The PINGNING is to turn its cannons toward the exit of Y806. As soon as anyone comes out, hit them with missiles. Don’t be too stingy with the ammunition. Fighter ships, prepare to provide support.”
“Yes!”
Two minutes later, the rebels had only just escaped the crushing sensation of the jump channel and had not yet had time to react when they triggered the bombs that had been placed at the exit.
In the vast expanse of space, black as a curtain, enormous flames suddenly erupted. The orange red blaze was so intense that even the pitch black surface of the PINGNING was coated in a faint layer of color.
At the same time, aboard the command ship where Tang Na was stationed, countless points of light representing the starships extinguished themselves within three seconds, startling Tang Na into abruptly rising to his feet.
“What happened? Confirm whether this is communications interference!”
The communications officer quickly reported, “Reporting, Commander, no interference signals have been detected ahead!”
At that moment, Tang Na’s heart pounded like a drum and not a single person in the command room dared to speak.
If it wasn’t communications interference, then what did it mean for all those points of light to go out at the same time?
It could only mean one thing: the entire fleet had been annihilated by the expeditionary forces within a matter of seconds!
At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. The most likely possibility was that a traitor had leaked the coordinates of the jump points and Lu Fenghan had deliberately recreated the scene of the Great Rout!
Tang Na’s face turned ashen. He slowly sat back down in his chair, his hand gripping the armrest tightly.
“I want to know exactly what just happened!”
Meanwhile, aboard the expeditionary force’s command ship, Qi Yan was studying the information transmitted from the front.
After comparing the data from the three seconds immediately after the rebels emerged from the jump point with the data obtained by the new detection system, he reached a conclusion, there was no discrepancy.
After the PINGNING had dealt with the rebels’ main battleships at the front, it left several fighter ships behind to mop up the remaining forces. It then swiftly passed through the jump channel and advanced all the way toward Dulin Star.
Lu Fenghan had seven tenths of his attention focused on the battle, while the remaining three tenths were on Qi Yan. When he saw Qi Yan secretly cover his mouth and yawn, the tears brought on by the reflexive yawn immediately dampened his eyelashes.
“Tired?”
Qi Yan shook his head.
During the half a year they had spent together on Leto, Lu Fenghan had become so familiar with Qi Yan’s little expressions that he probably understood them even better than Qi Yan himself did.
Without exposing Qi Yan’s lie, Lu Fenghan patted his own thigh.
Qi Yan hesitated for two seconds but in the end, he still moved closer and rested his head on Lu Fenghan’s thigh. The coat that had been draped over Lu Fenghan was immediately spread open and placed over him again.
Lu Fenghan covered Qi Yan’s eyes with his hand and said softly, “Sleep.”
Qi Yan could not help blinking beneath his hand.
He couldn’t help reflecting that, over the past few days, the logic behind his own behavior seemed to have gone wrong somewhere.
Now that it had been confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the new detection system, he could have simply returned to his room to rest. Even if he had wanted to stay behind just in case, he could have slept with his head resting on the conference table.
So why had he wanted to sleep on Lu Fenghan’s thigh?
Then again, he had slept like this before and it had happened more than once or twice.
Whenever his memories of the past served as a reference, Qi Yan would simply give up thinking about it.
Thus, it was not long before Lu Fenghan noticed that Qi Yan’s breathing had become slow and even. He had already fallen asleep.
The battle did not last long.
After eliminating the rebels’ vanguard forces, the PINGNING advanced with overwhelming momentum. Taking advantage of the fact that the rebels had yet to figure out what was happening, it caught them completely off guard. They were so slow to react that even when missiles were already thrust directly in front of them, they still failed to respond in time.
By the time Dulin Star had also raised the shield and sword flag on the star map, Lu Fenghan gave the order, “Everyone performed very well. Finish things up, then come back.”
This battle had two purposes. One was to test the new detection system and the other was to use a victory to raise the morale of the expeditionary forces.
Or rather, it wasn’t only the expeditionary forces. The entire military and even the entire Alliance, desperately needed a victory like this, an utterly complete and decisive victory.
On the very anniversary of the Alliance’s founding, they had lost the Alliance’s capital planet. By now, countless rumors claiming that “the rebels are invincible” had already spread throughout the Alliance, filling everyone’s ears.
And such rumors could only be dispelled by one thing, a perfect victory.
Therefore, Lu Fenghan had no intention of pursuing the enemy while they were on the back foot. After taking Dulin Star, he immediately ordered everyone to return.
An hour later, the fleet began its journey back. Countless repair robots came forward to meet them, immediately beginning inspections and maintenance on the starships that had sustained battle damage.
Leaving the subsequent matters to Erich, Lu Fenghan bent down and lifted Qi Yan into his arms.
Qi Yan’s eyelashes merely trembled slightly but he did not wake up. He even instinctively tightened his grip on one side of Lu Fenghan’s collar, just as he had in the past, like a small animal afraid that it would be abandoned.
Lu Fenghan tightened his hold on him a little more.
Before leaving, Lu Fenghan turned to his adjutant. “The Alliance moved its entire center to Odin but the Leto Daily is still around, right?”
Vincent nodded. “It moved with everyone else. When they first relocated, morale was unstable and someone even suggested changing the name to the Odin Daily. The proposal was rejected. General Nie said that once we eventually return to Leto, we’d have to change it back again anyway. Too much trouble.”
Mindful of the sleeping Qi Yan, Vincent kept his voice very low as well.
Lu Fenghan nodded. “Send the detailed information about this battle to the Leto Daily and have them write a proper front page headline about it.”
Vincent immediately understood. “Would it be best if we made sure the people of Leto also heard the news of our first victory?”
“Mm.” Through the porthole, Lu Fenghan looked toward the slowly moving hull of the PINGNING. “People need something to look forward to. They need hope.”
Just like during those six months on Morningstar, the person in his arms had been his something to look forward to, his hope.
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
✦ A tiny offering to the translator may please the spirits of the Realm. ☕
☕ 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.