Rong Zhiting packed everything he needed to take into the spatial storage device, and after confirming that nothing had been left behind, the two of them put on their protective suits and prepared to leave the house where he had lived for three years.
At this time, it was six days earlier than the time Rong Zhiting had originally planned to leave this place and head to the entrance examination for the Seventy-third Military Academy. Although the time had been brought forward, he had long since made preparations to leave, so the packing was not too rushed.
Oh wait, midnight had already passed, so now it was five days. On the morning of five days later, a starship from the Seventy-third Military Academy would arrive at the spaceport of the fringe star EQ952B3 to transport the candidates who had signed up for the entrance examination to the examination venue, Sahomusi Star, which was also the location of the Seventy-third Military Academy.
Perhaps because the number of candidates on the fringe star was small and it wasn’t worthwhile to send a ship exclusively for them, the starship allowed family members of candidates to accompany them at their own expense. During this time, Rong Zhiting had already arranged a fake family member identity for his older brother on the black market, intending to bring Bai Jinqiu along to Sahomusi Star.
Unlike the fringe star, that place was a normal habitable planet with very complete various infrastructure. Moreover, because of the military academy’s location, the garrison scale was not small, and they were all regular troops, unlike the fringe star’s garrison which was practically for show.
Bai Jinqiu should be able to contact his own people there and receive proper medical care and treatment.
According to his original plan, by that time Bai Jinqiu should have already been able to walk normally. But at this moment his plan had been disrupted, and his brother’s leg injury could not yet support him in walking for extended periods. For the next five days, they needed to find a safe place so that he could continue recuperating.
Before leaving, Bai Jinqiu looked at the four unconscious space pirates collapsed on the ground and asked Rong Zhiting:
“What do you plan to do with these four people?”
Rong Zhiting glanced at those people, knowing that Brother Bai was reminding him, sighed inwardly, and gritted his teeth as he made up his mind.
When he was in the black market, he had always worn a mask, so those space pirates originally did not know his appearance. But these few space pirates had followed him here and had already seen his and Bai Jinqiu’s faces.
Although leaving these space pirates here meant they wouldn’t live much longer because the toxic gas in the air would soon take their lives, what if someone came here later and rescued them? Then his and Brother Bai’s situation would become extremely dangerous.
He himself was just an insignificant little character; if he got caught, he got caught. But Bai Jinqiu’s existence absolutely could not be exposed, otherwise it might very well attract even more terrifying enemies. Given Bai Jinqiu’s current situation, he dared not take any risks.
They could not be left alive.
Rong Zhiting took a deep breath, walked over to the space pirate closest to him, squatted down, and used that short blade to cut the space pirate’s throat.
When wielding the knife, he used a great deal of effort to control his hand so it wouldn’t shake.
Although Rong Zhiting had spent many years on the battlefield in his previous life, he was a technical personnel. Aside from a few times when the situation was critical and he had no choice but to fire a gun, he had almost never killed anyone.
Moreover, killing an enemy in a life-or-death struggle was completely different from rationally deciding to kill an enemy who could no longer resist.
Using a knife to personally cut a person’s throat at such close range was the first time for Rong Zhiting, both in his past life and this one.
The moment the blood surged out, his vision even felt somewhat dizzy.
When he stood up, his legs felt weak, and he had to support his knees with both hands to get up.
“A wise decision,” Bai Jinqiu said. But seeing Rong Zhiting keeping his head down with his hands shaking, he couldn’t help feeling a pang of heartache.
“Let me handle the rest.” He walked over, pressed his hand on Rong Zhiting’s shoulder, and gently advised, “You don’t need to carry too much burden. These people are space pirates, every single one of them has more than one human life on their hands, and they would face the death penalty if caught. Think about the way they rushed up to try to kill you just now. Mercy toward space pirates is indulgence toward evil.”
Regarding these space pirates, Bai Jinqiu had direct execution authority. He had executed many space pirates and witnessed too much evil and death, long remaining completely unmoved. But Rong Zhiting was just an ordinary person.
“I know. I am just not used to it.” Rong Zhiting turned around, buried his head against Bai Jinqiu’s shoulder, threw away the blood-stained short blade, and gently hugged his waist.
“Brother, I am sorry. Let me hug you for a moment, just for a moment.”
Bai Jinqiu froze when he was embraced, but very soon, feeling Rong Zhiting’s uncontrollable light trembling, before his brain could even react, he had already wrapped his arms around the person and held him tight, even comforting and stroking his hair.
The familiar embrace brought a sinking warmth and sense of security. Rong Zhiting’s eyes stung, and he almost couldn’t bear to let go.
How long had it been since he was embraced by this person? The last time was before his rebirth, at the moment of his death.
Bai Jinqiu was also somewhat lost in thought.
The moment he hugged the person in his arms tighter, he actually felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation and fulfillment. An indescribable cherished attachment made him wish he could knead that person into his own body so they would never be separated again.
Yet five seconds later, Rong Zhiting still took the initiative to release Bai Jinqiu, maintaining as relaxed a tone as possible as he said:
“Alright, Brother, I am fine now. We need to hurry.”
Bai Jinqiu suppressed the lingering reluctance hidden deep in his heart, released Rong Zhiting as well, nodded slightly, stepped forward, and cleanly snapped the necks of the remaining three space pirates, not letting Rong Zhiting see another drop of blood.
Upon reaching the outside, Rong Zhiting released the mecha he had brought back.
The energy tank capacity of an old-style mecha was small. In that chase battle lasting over ten hours, high-intensity flying and evasion had consumed more than half of its energy, but if used sparingly, it could still hold out for a while.
Just as he was about to board the cockpit, Bai Jinqiu suddenly stopped him: “Check if there is anything extra attached to the mecha.”
Rong Zhiting was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood his meaning. He checked around a circle and sure enough found a tracker located near the back leg of the mecha.
The tracker looked like something remotely fired into it when he was surrounded. The scene back then was too chaotic, the collapse of the building caused violent impacts, and the interior of the mecha experienced severe turbulence as well, so he hadn’t noticed at all that such a thing had been shot into his mecha amidst the confusion.
No wonder those space pirates were able to track them down silently.
This was a defect found only in old-style mechas. If it were a current new-model mecha, the pilot’s neurons and the mecha circuits would be connected, allowing them to sense every single change in the mecha, making such an issue completely impossible.
Bai Jinqiu said: “Judging by the level demonstrated by those space pirates, their tracking technology shouldn’t be exceptionally high-end. Since it took you so much time to return, you should have made sure no one was following you. If you still didn’t notice this, they must have been quite far away and mostly likely relied on something like a tracker.”
Rong Zhiting nodded with a depressed expression, forcefully smashed that tracker to pieces, and supported Bai Jinqiu as they both entered the cockpit.
Inside the narrow single-person cockpit, the bodies of the two people pressed tightly together. Rong Zhiting started the mecha, operating it to head deeper into the distant ruins.
They temporarily could not go to the underground city; space pirate accomplices were very likely lying in wait there. At the very least, they had to push through these few days first. Those space pirates usually lacked patience, and after a long time, the intensity of their search would definitely decrease. For now, they could only head deeper into the ruins, going as far away as possible to be safe.
In the gloomy night, the dark gray mecha swept past the ruins of the city. Inside the quiet cockpit, only the operating buttons glowed with a faint fluorescent light, casting the blurred shadows of two people.
As time passed, the atmosphere inside the cockpit inexplicably grew sticky.
Rong Zhiting mechanically operated the mecha’s movement while his expression remained somewhat dazed. The embrace from just now was so warm that it made him somewhat reluctant to let go and filled him with longing.
Over the past few days, out of consideration that his Brother Bai had only just met him and wasn’t very familiar with him yet, plus the fact that he was injured, he hadn’t had any intimate physical contact with him aside from changing bandages.
Once a sweetness was tasted even once, one would desire a second and third time. Especially with his lover right by his side, and the two of them pressed so closely together, Rong Zhiting’s heartbeat inevitably began to accelerate.
“Zhiting, if you are tired, you can find a place to rest for a while first.” Bai Jinqiu nearby suddenly spoke up, as if sensing his distraction.
The two of them were pressed very closely together, so when Bai Jinqiu tilted his head slightly, it felt as though he were whispering right beside his ear, and he could almost feel the faint airflow.
This single utterance almost made half of Rong Zhiting’s body go numb; he couldn’t help trembling slightly, his ears burning red.
They were already an old married couple now, why was he suddenly acting so pure and inexperienced?
Was it because a nineteen-year-old body hadn’t experienced intimate contact with anyone yet? How embarrassing.
He couldn’t help feeling glad that the cockpit was pitch black right now and Bai Jinqiu’s eyes couldn’t see clearly either, so he wouldn’t discover his embarrassing reaction.
“No, no need. Let’s find a safe place before resting. Brother, you should sleep for a bit if you are tired. It is already very late.”
Bai Jinqiu’s injuries had not yet recovered, and he required a large amount of rest every day. Under normal circumstances, they would have already turned off the lights and gone to sleep by this hour.
Rong Zhiting insisted on returning home before dark every day precisely to ensure his Brother Bai kept a regular sleep schedule. Because if he wasn’t around, even if Bai Jinqiu fell asleep, his sleep would definitely be very light, waking up at the slightest sound. That was a habit formed from years of operating in dangerous combat environments, which could save a life in a critical moment, but was extremely detrimental to recuperation. Bai Jinqiu in his previous life was like this, and so was he in this life.
His brother’s biological clock had been nurtured quite nicely by him during this period; he hoped that after this incident, all their efforts wouldn’t go to waste, especially since the two most severe wounds on his body had not yet healed and still required nursing.
“Alright.” Bai Jinqiu seemed genuinely tired. He suddenly leaned over, rested his head on Rong Zhiting’s shoulder, and softly said, “If you do not mind, let me lean on you for a while. This place is too narrow, and keeping my distance from you makes it very hard for me to rest.”
Rong Zhiting’s entire body froze, his heartbeat racing so fast he felt Bai Jinqiu beside him could probably hear it. But he quickly forced himself to relax, hoping the person beside him could rest a bit more comfortably.
He eventually found a concealed underground shelter to serve as their resting spot for the night.
That night, they rested inside the mecha. The fringe star at night was very cold, and in the narrow cockpit, Rong Zhiting looked at Bai Jinqiu’s sleeping face, quietly leaning closer and wrapping his arms around that person’s waist.
This was for the sake of keeping warm. Well, Brother Bai would understand, right?
Thinking this, the exhaustion of his body along with the body heat radiating from the person beside him quickly dragged him into sleep.
In the darkness, Bai Jinqiu opened his eyes, looking at the person who was still trying hard to shrink into his embrace even in his dreams. A smile that he himself hadn’t even noticed bloomed at the corner of his lips, and immediately afterward, he allowed himself to pull that person into his arms.
As for why he was doing this, it was probably to keep warm.
Bai Jinqiu didn’t understand it himself either, so he could only think of it that way.