Both of Yuan Mu’s legs had been amputated at the roots. Once he left the chair, the fact that only half his body remained became painfully obvious, making the difference between him and everyone else especially stark. That was also why he had never gotten onto a bed in front of Cheng Li.
The illusion he had desperately clung to, the lie he told himself that he could still live like a normal person, shattered completely in that instant. He was nothing more than a hideous cripple now.
In front of so many people, the SS-rank genius of the First Military Academy had been treated like a chick or duckling and tossed outside.
Never in his life had Yuan Mu felt such unbearable humiliation. It was so unbearable that he wanted to die right there and then.
At that moment, he was leaning sideways against Cheng Li’s embrace. Cheng Li was not looking at him, and neither was anyone else. That made him feel slightly better.
His head rested against her shoulder, the side of his face only a centimeter away from hers. He could hear her heartbeat and feel the warmth of her breath brushing past his ear.
He had never been this close to another person before, not even his closest friends. Strangely enough, he did not dislike the feeling. If anything, there was even the faintest trace of reluctance to leave it behind.
Yuan Mu’s thoughts gradually drifted away, while Cheng Li kept her eyes fixed on the star pirates, carefully observing their movements. Once the pirates had gathered all the passengers together, the burly man finally spoke.
“All guides and sentinels, step forward on your own.”
No one in the crowd moved.
“I’m giving you a chance right now. Step out willingly, and I’ll treat you a little nicer. But if I have to drag you out myself later…” The burly man’s voice turned vicious. “Then don’t blame me.”
“I-I’m a sentinel. D-rank.” The first sentinel stood up.
“I’m a guide, C-rank.”
“I’m a sentinel, C-rank.”
“……….”
One after another, people began stepping forward.
Cheng Li looked at Yuan Mu. “Should we get up too?”
Yuan Mu bit his lip. “Don’t move. I’ll go out myself.”
“My husband is a sentinel,” Cheng Li said, ignoring him as she raised her hand.
“He’s just a cripple. Stay where you are.” The burly man glanced at Yuan Mu and sneered. He hated delicate pretty boys like this the most, prettier than women themselves.
Yuan Mu’s expression darkened, his sensual lips pressed into a hard line. Cheng Li gently supported his back and whispered by his ear, “Good thing we don’t have to be separated.”
The moment he heard those words, all the bitterness weighing on Yuan Mu’s chest vanished instantly.
The sentinels and guides were separated and escorted away. When it came to a fair-skinned fat guy, he burst into loud sobs.
“Waaah, don’t take me! My family’s rich! No matter how much you want, my dad will pay you!”
Snot and tears smeared all over his face. The man grabbing him by the collar immediately switched to pinching the back of his clothes instead, then barked coldly, “Shut up. We’re not short on money. We only want people.”
“What do you want people for?” The fat guy became even more terrified. “Are you selling organs? I have heart disease, weak kidneys, and my corneas are artificial…”
The burly man chopped a hand against the back of his neck. “Shut up!”
The sentinels and guides were imprisoned separately, while the ordinary passengers were divided into groups and locked inside larger areas like the gym and restaurant.
“They changed course.” Looking out the window, Yuan Mu frowned slightly.
“How can you tell?” Cheng Li asked curiously. Beyond the glass stretched the vast sea of stars. To her, everywhere looked exactly the same.
Yuan Mu shot her a sideways glance. “Did you really get into the First Military Academy through your own abilities?”
Cheng Li stiffened and shut her mouth. The one who had passed the exam was the original host, not her.
“They’re not interested in money. They only want people. Most likely, they’re taking us to mine ore,” Yuan Mu said with certainty.
With technology this advanced and automation so widespread, people still needed to mine by hand? Cheng Li was astonished, but she did not dare ask, afraid of sounding ignorant again.
“There’s an extremely rare mineral called Blue Keystone,” Yuan Mu explained on his own initiative. “It’s incredibly hard, only about the size of a soybean, and entirely blue, even more beautiful than gemstones. Because of its hardness and tiny size, Blue Keystone ore is extremely difficult to extract.”
“It must be worth a fortune!” Cheng Li’s eyes sparkled as if she were staring at treasure itself. She quickly asked, “Does Blue Keystone count as a metal?”
For a brief instant, Yuan Mu lost himself in those shining eyes fixed on him. He looked away. “It does. Its yield is extremely low, and it’s incredibly expensive. You can’t buy it on the market. Right now, its primary use is in medicine. It’s a life-saving drug for many severe illnesses.”
Cheng Li became even more interested in the Blue Keystone Yuan Mu described. “Just because the star pirates aren’t extorting money, you concluded they’re taking us to mine Blue Keystone? Isn’t that a bit rash?”
“Some time ago, there were rumors that someone discovered a Blue Keystone mine in the Chaos Interstellar Region,” Yuan Mu explained.
Cheng Li waited for him to continue, but he simply closed his mouth, even shutting his eyes afterward. Unfortunately, the star pirates had confiscated her smart terminal. Otherwise, she could have searched up the Chaos Interstellar Region herself.
Cheng Li still was not sleepy. She stared at the sea of stars for a while before looking back at Yuan Mu. When she noticed his body gradually slipping downward, she reached out to catch him and gently rested his head on her lap.
The position was somewhat intimate, but Cheng Li was not thinking that deeply about it right now. She only wanted this stubborn, pitiful boy before her to be a little more comfortable.
She had long noticed that he was trembling. The veins bulging on his clenched fist showed he was desperately enduring some kind of pain.
Gradually, Cheng Li closed her eyes as well.
In her hazy state, her consciousness suddenly left her body and entered a dark, freezing place. She shuddered and thought, ‘Aren’t I dreaming? Then why can I still feel cold?’
Where was this place?
Cheng Li tried to see her surroundings clearly. The next second, a strange scene unfolded before her eyes. The darkness slowly receded, revealing a devastated world filled with twisted black withered vines tangled across the ground, chaotic beyond measure.
Cheng Li found herself trapped within the mess of tangled dead vines. An icy chill continuously seeped into her body. It was not only cold, but painful too, like countless needles piercing her skin.
The sensation was far too real. It did not feel like a dream at all.
What exactly was going on?!
Cheng Li closed her eyes, only to discover she could not leave this place no matter what she tried.
She let out a sigh and could only use her one remaining arm to slowly push aside the “dead branches,” intending to clear a path forward.
The seemingly heavy, rigid “dead branches” unexpectedly turned soft the moment they touched her hand. Cheng Li toyed with them for a bit in her palm. In the end, she could not bear to snap them apart, so she carefully straightened them out and placed them to the side.
“Mmn…”
A soft groan escaped Yuan Mu in his sleep. The tightly furrowed brows on his face gradually relaxed and smoothed out. Meanwhile, Cheng Li beside him frowned instead. Her eyes remained tightly shut, and her small face carried a serious, focused expression, as though she were doing something extremely important.
Yuan Mu slept deeply and peacefully. Ever since losing his legs, this had been the most comfortable sleep he had ever had.
He looked around before lowering his gaze to the legs he had been resting on, a bitter smile appearing on his face. So the reason he had slept so well… was it because of this gym, or because of the legs beneath his head?
Supporting himself with one hand, he slowly lifted his head away. He had slept through the entire night like that. Her legs had probably gone numb long ago.
Yuan Mu pressed his lips together, annoyance flickering through his eyes. Perhaps… he should not have slept so deeply.