The Alliance Gazette published the obituary on the second morning.
The Alliance had lost a heroic and skilled Major General. Many citizens spontaneously took to the streets to offer bouquets of white chrysanthemums in mourning for the officer who had sacrificed his life. He had perished while safeguarding the safety and freedom of the Alliance’s people.
An hour after the news spread, Li Yixing was granted three days of special leave.
The Fuxi ship, where Feng Zhao had been stationed, was completely obliterated. Under the force of such a terrifying explosion, not even a body remained. The Great Wall Fortress dispatched a small fleet to search the floating wreckage in space, only to find half of a destroyed ecological capsule and one of Feng Zhao’s epaulets, still attached to a scrap of his uniform.
The cruel reality was laid bare before everyone.
It was said that both of Feng Zhao’s fathers were devastated upon receiving the news. Fang Shengwan even fainted and was rushed to the Sacred Heart Hospital in the Yas District.
This sudden news also caught Li Yixing off guard.
Feng Zhao was actually dead? The news was unexpected and sounded somewhat absurd. Anyone whose husband died less than three months after marriage, regardless of the nature of the union, would find it unreal.
Dark clouds hung over the Angel Hall Cemetery. Dense rain and fog enveloped the thousands of gray tombstones. Feng Tingsong stood with a group of government officials, while Feng Zhiyu stood beside Li Yixing, holding a black umbrella.
Li Yixing clutched a brown-black wooden box in his arms, which contained Feng Zhao’s military dress uniform and the Alliance flag.
To the onlookers, Li Yixing, dressed in pitch-black attire with a piece of black gauze covering his face, his pale hands with protruding knuckles tightly hugging the box, and his eyes so red they looked as if they were dripping blood, appeared to be grieving the Major General’s death to the extreme.
Li Yixing never expected that one day he would have to personally preside over Feng Zhao’s funeral.
He was naturally not as heartbroken as he looked in the eyes of others, grieving as if he were dying. However, he did feel a sense of regret and a hint of sadness for Feng Zhao.
Even though they were mortal enemies who wished for each other’s downfall, they had not reached the point of wishing for the other’s death. Moreover, Feng Zhao was such a young life, and he had died for the Alliance, which was worthy of respect.
The deceased deserve the utmost honor. In the face of life and death, past events can be set aside, and those messy grievances could be temporarily pushed to the side. Li Yixing knelt solemnly on one knee and placed the wooden box into the grave.
The rain grew heavier. Li Yixing cupped black earth in his pale, slender fingers to bury the box, then covered his face and wept aloud.
The media reporters on the scene were all moved. Fate had torn apart such an affectionate couple! It was truly hateful!
In reality, the reason Li Yixing covered his face was that he could no longer squeeze out any more tears. He had displayed high professional standards from the start of the funeral. He had kept his eyes filled with tears, dropping a few every now and then, but after crying for a whole morning, Li Yixing had exhausted his tear ducts. He truly could not cry anymore.
Therefore, he could only cover his face and make sounds; that counted as crying, too.
About five minutes later, Department Chief Li, who appeared to have suffered a complete emotional breakdown, was helped up from the ground by the Major General’s brother and sent into the aircraft.
Inside the aircraft, Feng Zhiyu set the coordinates back to the Green Leaf Peninsula.
This had been Li Yixing’s request. According to the persona they had established of being deeply in love, it was inappropriate for him to return to their marital home at this time. A person grieving would only be more heartbroken in their wedding suite. Nor was it appropriate to return to his original residence, as that would appear cold-hearted.
After careful consideration, he chose to return to the Green Leaf Peninsula with Feng Zhiyu. It was logical. They had lost a family member, and Li Yixing had lost his lover; it was only natural for them to stay together to lick their wounds.
Feng Zhiyu sat in the pilot’s seat, watching Li Yixing compose himself and return to his expressionless state.
He could not help but lick his lips and said to Li Yixing: “Senior, my brother has sacrificed himself without leaving a single last word. But rest assured, I will look after you in his stead.”
Li Yixing was lost in thought at the time and non-committal toward Feng Zhiyu’s words. He did not catch the hidden meaning, responding indifferently: “It is fine. My marriage to your brother was merely a political union. Everyone in your Feng family is well aware of that. There is no need to treat me specially; I can take care of myself.”
Feng Zhiyu’s smile flattened at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes grew dark.
It was already afternoon when they returned to the Green Leaf Peninsula villa. No one was home; Fang Shengwan was at the hospital, and Feng Tingsong had already left with the officials, likely to handle important matters.
Li Yixing went into Feng Zhao’s room and opened his wrist communicator.
An encrypted communication channel contained a video sent half an hour before the funeral began, from the contact Feng Zhao.
“Warning! Cannot calculate attack method or range. Please switch to manual command!”
This video was clearly recorded on the fly. The Fuxi was shaking violently. The starship’s control console displayed that the ship had been completely surrounded, with a sea of scarlet indicator lights flashing in succession! A pair of hands quickly entered several defensive and attack commands on the console.
“Warning! Attack system malfunctioning! Warning! Attack system malfunctioning!”
“Warning! Protection system damaged to 45 percent… 50 percent…”
Feng Zhao’s voice was chaotic amidst the noisy background, his hands still pressing buttons on the console: “…Li… immediately initiate the self-destruct sequence!”
“Received. Preparing to initiate self-destruct sequence. Countdown 10 seconds. 10, 9…”
Following this, a brilliant white light exploded on the screen, and the video ended there.
The room fell into silence. Li Yixing saved and encrypted the video, then deleted all records in the communication channel.
This video had been sent via encryption, with the code designating only him as the recipient. Li Yixing gripped his wrist communicator tightly. Feng Zhao’s death was not as clean as the Alliance reported. The Alliance reported that he had been destroyed by a high-energy particle cannon, but it was clear from this video that Feng Zhao had initiated the self-destruct sequence while his protective systems were still at half capacity.
What exactly happened?
What made Feng Zhao choose to initiate the self-destruct sequence at the moment of death, and why did he choose to leave such an ambiguous video recording for him?
Just then, the door was knocked twice gently.
Li Yixing got up to open the door and saw Feng Zhiyu standing outside with Los.
Feng Zhiyu explained to Li Yixing: “Senior, Major General Los said he wanted to see you.”
“Major General Los is your brother. I thought seeing family might make you feel slightly better,” Feng Zhiyu said politely, “so I brought him up.”
Li Yixing: “…”
The air pressure around him dropped significantly. Feng Zhiyu sensed it acutely. He froze for a moment, realizing he had likely done a good deed that turned into a disaster, but it was too late.
Los had already grabbed Li Yixing’s gloved fingers, jerked him into Feng Zhao’s bedroom, and locked the door behind him!
Feng Zhiyu’s eyes widened, and his fist slammed against the door panel!
Thump! Thump!! Thump!!!
“Open the door, Major General Los!” Feng Zhiyu was almost roaring, and anyone could hear the anger in his voice. “What are you going to do to him!!!”
Los paid no mind to the commotion outside, only whispering a plea: “Li, come home with me.”
“Feng Zhao is dead, and there is no one left who can stand in our way,” Los’s green eyes were bright, filled with excitement and joy. “Come home with me, and in a year’s time, I will marry you!”
Li Yixing: “…”
He wanted nothing more than to kick Los out of the room.
Los knelt on one knee in front of Li Yixing, clutching Li Yixing’s hand and shaking it gently, saying with deep affection: “I know you want to say something about not liking me or talk about family again, but you didn’t like Feng Zhao either. If you could marry him, why can’t you marry me? Besides, I have an advantage over him: I love you.”
Li Yixing: “…”
He scanned the surroundings, looking for anything suitable to crack open Los’s amoeba-like brain.
His gaze caught a photo frame on the desk. Li Yixing thought it looked promising, but upon closer inspection, the person in the frame was none other than the Major General himself.
The photo of the late Major General was perfectly encased in the frame. In the picture, he was wearing casual attire and a sun hat, his handsome face bearing that familiar, cheeky smile, his gray eyes fixed directly toward him and Los, as if watching this grand drama with great interest.
Li Yixing: “…”
It was then he remembered this was Feng Zhao’s room.
Feng Zhao had only just passed away, yet Los was smiling in Feng Zhao’s bedroom at the news of his death, and even dragging him—a man bearing the title of the Major General’s widower—to excitedly propose marriage.
Absurd! It was simply too absurd!
Outside the door, Feng Zhiyu’s voice continued: “Major General Los! Please open the door! If you do not open it, I will call the intelligent security team!”
Los continued to act as if he heard nothing: “Li, let us go home together. He is already dead; Father will not blame me.”
Before the word together could be fully spoken, a crisp slap echoed through Feng Zhao’s room! Los’s head jerked to the side, his left cheek burning with pain, and it soon began to swell!
“You… you hit me?!” Los was incredulous, his chest heaving violently. “Li!”
“Are you sober now?”
Li Yixing shook his aching palm, looking at Los with a blank expression.
“Los, stop daydreaming. I will not go back. This political union began, and it will not end. I do not like you, so even as a widower, I will not be with you.”
“Furthermore, Feng Zhao sacrificed himself at the Great Wall Fortress to protect the peace of the Alliance. His fearless spirit and courage are worthy of admiration,” Li Yixing stated his position flatly. “Even I, who had many disagreements with him, feel regret for his sacrifice.”
“Yet, you are feeling excited and joyful at his death, speaking words in his bedroom that show no respect for him or me,” Li Yixing lowered his eyes to look at Los. “Los, I am extremely disappointed in you.”
“You should be glad that you did not say these things in public, and you should be thankful that I was the one listening. If you had said this in public, or if your father, Stan Davis, had been the one listening, you would have been whipped far worse.”
Los was completely stunned.
At the moment the last word fell, the door was flung open by an anxious Feng Zhiyu. He wanted to ask something, but seeing the truly ugly look on Li Yixing’s face, he swallowed the “Are you alright, Senior?” he had been about to say.
On the other side, Li Yixing walked out the door without looking back, leaving this place of trouble behind.