The hazy, setting sun gradually dipped below the horizon. As the last trace of the afterglow vanished into the sky, night fell, and stars began to shimmer vaguely behind the clouds.
Rong Zhiting came home later than usual today.
Bai Jinqiu instilled eye drops into his own eyes, closed them, and leaned back against the bedside as he thought.
Did he encounter some trouble?
In the past, that person would always try his best to return before the sky turned completely dark, as if worried that something might happen to him home alone at night. But at this moment, more than an hour had passed since sunset, and Rong Zhiting still had not returned.
The eye drops brought a stinging sensation that felt simultaneously ice-cold and burning. When he opened his eyes a dozen minutes later, the world before Bai Jinqiu’s vision had grown a bit clearer.
An S-rank Omega possessed an even stronger self-healing ability than an S-rank Alpha, and Bai Jinqiu’s constitution was several times more resilient than that of ordinary S-rank Omegas. Coupled with the auxiliary effects of medicine, the daily changes in his body were astonishing.
During periods of waiting, time always felt exceptionally slow.
Bai Jinqiu had been bedridden and recuperating for a week, his body feeling stiff from lying down. Therefore, even though his body had not fully recovered, during the past few days when Rong Zhiting was absent, he would still use his equipment to perform some simple workouts, even though that had no major impact on his physical condition.
The training equipment Rong Zhiting chose was professional and basically comparable to military-grade models. However, because space was limited, the equipment was very simple, and most exercises did not require strenuous movement.
Mechanical workouts did not consume much mental energy. While exercising, Bai Jinqiu repeatedly sorted through his memories and mission information in his mind, attempting to deduce clues from them, yet with very little success.
As the night approached midnight, he finally heard the familiar sound of the door opening from the entrance.
“Zhiting,” Bai Jinqiu said. Perhaps he himself did not realize that a smile had already naturally formed on the corners of his lips when he uttered that name.
“Brother, you are still awake? Why are you not turning on the lights?” Rong Zhiting seemed somewhat startled, his voice carrying a hint of helplessness. Even as he said this, he did not turn on the lights either.
In the dark, Bai Jinqiu heard him take off his protective suit and protective mask, followed immediately by the faint scent of blood.
Bai Jinqiu could not help frowning slightly, asking with concern, “You are injured?”
“Ah, this is a minor injury, it is nothing. I got scraped while repairing a mecha.”
Rong Zhiting’s tone was light and breezy, but Bai Jinqiu still detected an unusual, deeply hidden exhaustion in his voice.
“Brother, I am going to tend to my wound, it will be quick. If you are sleepy, go to sleep first.” With that, Rong Zhiting walked into the next room, clearly not wanting Bai Jinqiu to see him dealing with his injuries.
It would be abnormal if Bai Jinqiu did not sense that something was amiss with such a reaction.
He got out of bed, intending to follow and take a look, when he suddenly paused and stood still in place, turning his head toward the entrance.
From the hallway, which should not have had anyone present, the faint sound of footsteps approached from far away.
A cold glint flashed in Bai Jinqiu’s eyes.
One, two, three, four people.
Are they here for him?
No, that is not right. Based on these footsteps, the opponents are not wearing battle armor, but their footsteps are very heavy, clearly lacking stealth training. They are not professionals, and there are only four of them. Their target is not him. If they were dealing with him, it would undoubtedly be a heavily armed elite squad.
The intruders’ target is Rong Zhiting, and they mean business, showing no intention of hiding at all.
By this time, the footsteps outside had stopped at the door. With a loud crash, the tightly locked door was kicked open, and several tall men strode inside.
Immediately afterward, the previously dim room was illuminated by the dazzling, intense glare of tactical lights.
Bai Jinqiu squinted slightly against the harsh light, and soon noticed one of the light beams falling directly on him.
“Well, well! I was wondering why that mechanic lived in a place like this. Turns out he was hiding beauty in a golden house, keeping a gorgeous Omega beauty right at home!”
The lead Alpha exclaimed in surprise, then let out a wicked smile and walked toward Bai Jinqiu. The subordinates behind him closed the door shut once again.
This was to prevent them from escaping.
Bai Jinqiu raised an eyebrow and stood in place without moving.
Because Rong Zhiting was a Beta who could neither smell pheromones nor be affected by them, Bai Jinqiu had not worn a pheromone suppression collar during his recuperation period, nor had he deliberately controlled the overflow of his pheromones, as doing so helped reduce the burden on his body and accelerate wound healing.
At this moment, the enclosed room was filled with a trace of faint pheromones naturally radiating from a high-level Omega in a relaxed state. It was the bitter, cool, and crisp fragrance of cedarwood, which the Alpha caught the moment he approached, instantly recognizing that Bai Jinqiu was an Omega with a high bloodline rank.
And, he had never been marked.
This realization instantly made the Alpha’s heart race with enthusiasm, and certain vulgar thoughts stirred into action.
He was merely a D-rank Alpha. In a remote star sector like the fringe planet, finding an E-rank Omega was already the absolute limit, and of course, the far more likely possibility was never finding an Omega in his entire life. Yet what rank could the Omega before him possibly be? At least B-rank! Looking as stunningly beautiful as this, even an A-rank was entirely possible! As for an S-rank, that was something he dared not even imagine.
As the Alpha approached, Bai Jinqiu took a step back, his gaze looking somewhat flustered, exactly like how a normal Omega ought to behave upon seeing an obviously malicious Alpha suddenly break into their home.
Seeing him try to dodge, the Alpha forcefully grabbed Bai Jinqiu’s shoulder, leaned in close to sniff his neck, and displayed an intoxicated expression.
“Leaving such a gorgeous Omega at home without even marking him? Is that mechanic no good or what?”
The three Beta subordinates behind him burst into loud laughter at these words.
“Brother!” Rong Zhiting, hearing the commotion from the next room with a bandage half-wrapped around his arm still seeping blood, widened his eyes upon seeing the scene before him, and said in a chilling voice:
“I advise you to let go of your dirty hands and stay away from him.”
“Oh? Another little beauty? What a pity, a Beta. Is this your brother? Wait a minute.” The Alpha realized something, and the look he cast toward Rong Zhiting turned surprised.
He could hardly be blamed for his astonishment. Rong Zhiting’s appearance looked even younger than his actual age. Compared to Bai Jinqiu, he belonged to the category of good-looking ordinary people, not striking at first glance, but refined and scholarly with a clear, clean adolescent voice.
In short, he was vastly different from the masked mechanic they imagined who had engaged in a dozen-hour running chase with them earlier and deliberately plotted to make their weapons collapse a building.
“Ha, no wonder you had to wear a mask and a voice modifier. With a face like that, if you showed it now, who knows which underground bar you would be picking up clients in!” the Alpha said meaningfully.
His remark provoked yet another round of laughter from his three subordinates.
In a spot where the Alpha could not see, Bai Jinqiu’s gaze visibly turned several degrees colder.
It was the kind of look that, if witnessed by Bai Jinqiu’s subordinates, would have made them flee twenty meters away at light speed and mentally light a candle for the person who had angered him.
The Alpha remained blissfully unaware as he said to Rong Zhiting, “Come with us now, little beauty. You caused two of our brothers to get hurt, and we originally intended to break your legs and make you suffer a bit before dragging you away. But for the sake of your pretty brother here, I will spare you the rough treatment. If you do not behave, your brother is going to have a miserable time.”
With that, he reached out to drop his arm onto Bai Jinqiu’s shoulder.
However, the scenario he imagined of holding a soft and fragrant Omega in his arms did not happen.
Before his arm could even land, Bai Jinqiu suddenly ducked low, thrusting his elbow upward with force directly into the Alpha’s vulnerable chest cavity. The Alpha felt as though he had been struck by some massive heavy object. A wave of excruciating pain surged through him, his ribs fractured instantly, and the air in his chest was squeezed out in an instant. He passed out, rolling his eyes without even managing a scream.
Before anyone else could react, Bai Jinqiu pivoted his cane and swept it downward. A crisp crack of bone fracturing echoed through the room as the Alpha’s legs instantly buckled in the reverse-jointed direction, and he crashed face-first hard onto the ground.
Grasping that cane as if wielding a long saber, Bai Jinqiu stabbed downward fiercely. The Alpha’s spine noticeably caved inward by a section, and he let out a miserable shriek before vomiting a large mouthful of fresh blood and instantly passing out cold.
“What the hell!”
“Boss!”
The three Beta subordinates were dumbfounded, staring at Bai Jinqiu as if looking at a monster.
That pretty Omega stood in place with a calm expression, one arm resting in a sling with a brace around his neck while the other hand leaned on a cane, looking gentle and frail, yet the object pinning the ground beneath his cane was their boss who had been beaten into vomiting blood and passing out within three seconds.
Rong Zhiting chimed in from the side with a gloomy undertone, “I told you to stay away from him. Why did you not listen to advice?” His tone clearly carried a sense of schadenfreude.
He had been chased miserably by these people for over a dozen hours. Causing them to lose two mechas was only achieved by utilizing his familiarity with the terrain, coupled with poor nighttime visibility, and tricking their weapons into destroying a building to successfully shake them off.
His ability to hold out for so long was entirely thanks to the mecha evasion techniques personally drilled into him by his General Bai in the previous life, but a chase lasting over a dozen hours had already exhausted him completely. He had not expected these people to secretly track him down here and even dare to harass his Brother Bai, making this a classic case of bringing about their own destruction.
Even injured, the combat power of his General Bai was not something this bunch of nameless space pirates could compare to.
The three Betas stood frozen in place, temporarily unsure whether to press the attack or run away.
However, glancing at the bandage on Rong Zhiting’s arm, and then at the injured right arm and left leg of the pretty Omega, they exchanged fierce glances, flashed malicious looks, pulled out their weapons, and let out a roar as they charged forward. Two of them swarmed Bai Jinqiu, while the third lunged directly at Rong Zhiting.
Rong Zhiting hardened his gaze, drew his self-defense dagger, and intercepted the space pirate rushing toward him.
His physical constitution at present was indeed mediocre, and he would lose against any professionally trained soldier. However, his combat arts had after all been personally coached by General Bai in his past life, so he was still capable of holding his own against a rookie space pirate lackey. Besides, this Beta’s constitution was not necessarily much higher than his own.
A dozen minutes later, Rong Zhiting panted heavily as he knocked out the space pirate whose leg tendons he had severed, leaving him completely immobile. Turning to look at Bai Jinqiu’s side, the two space pirates had already been lying flat on the floor for quite a while, with the same cane serving as the weapon.
Rong Zhiting could not help feeling grateful that the cane was made of high-density alloy, otherwise it truly would not have withstood such heavy-duty use.
Bai Jinqiu’s stamina had not yet fully recovered, and he was breathing somewhat heavily now. Because the door had been kicked open, the room’s seal was broken, and the intrusion of poisonous gas from outside caused the room’s air purifier to emit a piercing alarm.
Fortunately, the last space pirate to enter had shut the door again to prevent them from escaping, otherwise the indoor space would likely have been filled with toxic gas long ago.
Bai Jinqiu’s lung injuries had never fully healed, and every breath now brought an unbearable wave of pain and burning sensation. The protective mask sat on the cabinet near the door, but having taken down two space pirates, he no longer had the strength to walk over. He could only support his body to sit back down by the bedside to rest, occasionally letting out one or two suppressed coughs he could not control.
Rong Zhiting was not faring well either. The intense fight caused him to inhale a considerable amount of toxic gas, and waves of dizziness and pulmonary discomfort were washing over him.
He quickly grabbed a protective mask, put it on himself and Bai Jinqiu, and then knelt on one knee beside the bed, looking up at Bai Jinqiu as he said:
“Brother Bai, I am sorry. It was my carelessness that I did not notice them tracking us. I am truly sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing to me? Clearly you were the one who ran into danger. And besides, it was not intentional on your part.” Bai Jinqiu smiled slightly, naturally reaching out to stroke his hair.
Rong Zhiting’s ears flushed slightly.
In his past life, when he was General Bai’s subordinate, making a mistake out of carelessness would inevitably invite a few words of reprimand.
Those space pirates were not professional trackers. If he had not let his guard down too early after escaping, he surely would not have failed to notice their tracking.
Perhaps he really had grown complacent after his rebirth.
Maintain vigilance at all times, even when you are at your most exhausted. These were the words General Bai had repeatedly drilled into him during their past life. Because the situation on the battlefield changed in a fraction of a second, temporary carelessness could easily lead to unimaginable consequences.
Yet at this moment, he was not yet a subordinate under Bai Jinqiu’s command, and his Brother Bai clearly did not hold him to such high standards.
“We cannot stay here anymore. We have no way of knowing whether they are carrying locators on them. If this location is tracked, likely others will come. We must leave tonight. Brother Bai, can your body hold up?” Rong Zhiting asked.
Bai Jinqiu nodded.
“Why were they trying to catch you?” Bai Jinqiu asked while sitting on the bed, watching Rong Zhiting pack the belongings they needed to take with them.
“I was targeted by them when I went to a mecha shop to modify a mecha. They probably wanted to grab me to modify mechas or weapons for them,” Rong Zhiting said casually. For these space pirates, capturing a mechanic meant nothing more than those objectives.
Bai Jinqiu watched him, lost in thought.
This person’s mechanical skills seemed even higher than he had imagined.
A young Beta living on a fringe planet, hailing from an orphanage and newly of age, where on earth had he learned these skills?
If he possessed such high repair technology, why would he insist on taking the entrance exams for an ordinary military academy?
It seemed subject to further investigation.