After waking Bart, Constant’s heart finally settled. As another explosion echoed, he hauled Bart up from the ground and sprinted toward the rappelling cables on the upper level.
Bart hadn’t expected to see the world again. When he opened his eyes to see Constant—their Team 3 Captain—he thought he had arrived in heaven and that even their Captain hadn’t been spared.
Little did he know he had returned to reality.
Back on the laboratory level, the trio dashed toward their pre-scanned route. Just then, a flurry of footsteps approached from behind. With a gunshot, the wall to Constant’s left was pierced by a bullet and instantly blasted open.
It was the Butterfly Special Forces.
The Butterfly and Zerg races were polar opposites: the Zerg were male-dominated, while the Butterfly were female-dominated. Due to a potentially low reproductive rate on their home planet, they lacked the raw numbers to seize resources from other worlds.
However, in recent years, they had managed to secure a foothold in the interstellar chaos. The resources they acquired allowed them to bolster their military strength through advanced research and development.
Their best-equipped units were these Special Forces.
The hail of bullets behind him made Constant pick up his pace. Because he had previously destroyed the receiver, he had no way to call for reinforcements from the surface.
Even in such a dire state, fate refused to let them go—blocking their path forward was another group of Butterfly soldiers equipped with ore weapons, seemingly waiting for them to walk into a trap.
At this point, he had to risk everything.
Pulling the pin, Constant hurled a gas grenade forward. The moment the smoke billowed, a bullet grazed the edge of his helmet. Following his command, Lester and Bart charged into the thick of the Butterfly soldiers behind him.
The gas grenade’s range wasn’t huge, but in such a narrow corridor, it was more than enough.
Surrounded by the Butterfly soldiers, Constant holstered his energy gun and drew two daggers from his lower back. Though surrounded by the numbing scales from their wings, he could still track their forms through the infrared thermal mapping on his helmet, allowing the trio to save energy by efficiently evading attacks.
After breaking through a certain distance, the pursuers were greatly reduced in number, though they remained relentless. Regardless, Constant pulled the pin on a demolition charge. With a violent blast, the building behind them collapsed, finally isolating them from the Butterfly army.
While retreating along the original route, Constant finally placed the name he had heard in the lab.
—The Snatcher.
He remembered hearing his Nal mention this name in his previous life. At the time, he had been semi-conscious following a car accident, so he hadn’t heard it clearly.
Nathanael had chosen to remain silent about it once he realized Constant was awake—that was right after Constant had heard the news of his Father and Papa’s deaths.
Thinking of this, Constant steadied his mind. He believed that in this life, if he asked Nal personally, the other would surely answer him.
“Team 3, Team 3.”
The voice in the earpiece prompted Lester to call out immediately, “Captain, the command center.”
Constant gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he looked at the structural map showing they were mere steps from the exit. After confirming the direction, he asked, “How much time until the biochemical explosion?”
“Fifteen minutes,” Lester relayed the prompt from the command center.
“That’s enough.” The ore in his backpack was shielded by an isolation layer, so it wouldn’t affect Zerg soldiers. They were only two minutes from the exit.
Getting from the exit back to the battleship would take ten minutes at most—if nothing went wrong.
Naturally, that was when the accident happened.
Following a sudden explosion, the gates—which were finally in sight—began to slowly descend. At this point, there was only one thing to do: gamble.
As the one in the lead, Constant reached the gate first. However, the speed of the descent wouldn’t allow all three of them to pass.
To make matters worse, a sudden gunshot shook Constant to his core. Bart collapsed in front of him, his knee severely wounded, making it impossible for him to maintain his speed.
Hearing this, Lester threw a flashbang from his bag behind Bart, then charged forward without hesitation to drag Bart toward Constant.
To stop the gate from falling, Constant used his shoulder as a brace. The resulting surge of pain made him hallucinate the sound of his own bones snapping.
The full weight of the gate now rested on his shoulder; he knew that if this solid metal slab fell, it would crush him into a pulp.
As the metal gate continued to descend, Constant’s body was forced into a painful crouch. He watched Lester and Bart, who were still some distance away, and braced himself with everything he had to lift the gate higher, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Allex!”
Just as Constant felt a dampness spreading across his shoulder, a familiar voice appeared behind him.
Bai?
Constant looked to the side. Bai appeared in his field of vision. With his vision blurring, he could hardly tell if it was the person he was thinking of.
“How did you…” When Bai reached him and saw Constant half-drenched in blood, his voice choked up for a second, but he quickly suppressed his emotions.
The arrival of Team 5 gave Constant’s group a moment to breathe. Once everyone was moved out of the base, the metal gate—no longer supported—finally slammed shut. Constant collapsed along with it.
“Captain!”
Lester’s cry rang in his ears, allowing Constant’s thoughts to return for a split second before he plummeted back into total darkness.
When he finally woke up, he was met with a silent world of white.
He raised a hand to touch the oxygen mask on his face. Looking up, he saw he was completely encased in a healing pod, the comfortable temperature offering a sliver of solace.
However, as he regained consciousness, the agonizing pain in his shoulder returned. Even a slight movement of his hand sent a piercing throb through him.
“Allex?” When the sensor door opened, Bai saw Constant opening his eyes in the pod and rushed over. “You’re finally awake!”
“How long was I out?” Due to the electromagnetic interference from the war, his light-brain had entered a protective mode with blocked signals.
“Five days.” Bai’s gaze fell on Constant’s shoulder. “Why is your self-healing so poor? A female bug would be fully recovered from the same injury in three days, but you took five.”
Constant said nothing. He pressed the release button on the pod and stepped out.
“Are you sure you don’t need more rest?” Seeing Constant’s unsteady gait, Bai hurried to support him. “The Butterfly army in the Western District was pushed back five times after losing that secret weapon. They just announced their retreat.”
“Mm.” In this moment, the only thing on Constant’s mind was his Nal. He remembered that in his previous life, Nathanael hadn’t contacted him for a long time after this campaign, and he hadn’t cared back then.
But in this life, he wanted to know why the other hadn’t managed him as usual—why he had been left entirely to his own devices.
“What about the other war zones?” Supported by Bai, Constant sat on the sofa outside the pod. To avoid aggravating his wound, he leaned to the side.
“The Bee-race in the Eastern and Northern zones stopped attacking once they heard the secret weapon was lost. They’ve unusually withdrawn all troops.” Bai handed Constant a glass of water, his expression darkening. “But the Southern zone…”
Realizing Bai’s face looked off, Constant’s hand paused before reaching for the glass. He waited for Bai’s next words.
“Major General Nathanael was in the main target area for the Bee-race in the Southern zone. He lost a massive number of soldiers, and the Major General himself…”
The string in Constant’s mind nearly snapped. He feigned composure, raising the water to his lips, but the rim never actually touched his mouth.
“The Major General lost an eye.” As he said this, Bai’s eyes turned red. “He was ambushed by an enemy general; a Bee poison needle slashed his left eye on the battlefield. Because the fighting was too intense, he couldn’t get immediate treatment. Although he was moved to the sanitarium after the war, he’s fallen into a coma. If he doesn’t receive mental healing, he might never…”
As the words left Bai’s mouth, Constant’s mind went blank.
So, that’s how it really was in the last life.
Nathanael had been severely wounded in this campaign—it had nearly cost him his life.
Yet Constant had known nothing.
Even when Nathanael had finally reappeared before him after narrowly escaping death, Constant had still been sulking and throwing a tantrum.