Ning Qing was temporarily staying at the clinic. He took some time to return to the villa to pack up all his belongings into a single suitcase.
The tea in the glass teapot had dried up completely, leaving behind only brown tea stains. The housekeeping robot had been left uncharged for several days, its screen displaying two “X”s for eyes. Ning Qing plugged it into the power supply and issued a cleaning command, prompting the robot to start humming and chugging away at its chores.
Cyril was nowhere to be seen.
The large bouquet of blue-green roses had already withered, mirroring the state of their relationship. Truthfully, he had felt quite happy back then, but later on… he was still not very good at dealing with people, Ning Qing thought.
It felt like abandoning a large dog with a truly terrible temperament, unfamiliar and strange, but life was undeniably much easier without it.
If nothing else, without Cyril’s constant surprise intrusions, Ning Qing was finally able to free up his hands to do what he ought to be doing.
For instance, meeting Moli, whom he had crossed paths with on the competition grounds.
“First Capital Star Teachers College, this should be the place.” Ning Qing politely inquired at the guard post, “Excuse me, is student Moli still on campus?”
He noticed the celebratory posters looping on the bulletin board below the dormitory building. Warmly celebrating our school’s victory award in the Interstellar Mech League, achieving a historic breakthrough from zero.
The truth was just that cruel. The Empire divided people into distinct social strata, and higher education institutions were naturally segregated by clear hierarchies. Schools bearing the titles “Royal” or “Imperial” enjoyed all the attention and resources, whereas regional, minor schools like this one lacked even a handful of training mechs.
Among the names of the contestants listed below, Moli’s name was printed in a tiny font that made it difficult to read. In fact, Ning Qing remembered that Moli had held the highest score at the time of elimination, yet he was treated like this. Ning Qing couldn’t help but sigh softly.
Sometimes, even after dedicating oneself and making sacrifices, one’s contributions might never be known to others.
Ten minutes later, a gloomy Moli peeked one eye through the crack of the door to look at him. “You’ve finally arrived. I thought you were already so deeply immersed in the blissful life of the Lancaster family that you couldn’t pull yourself out.”
Sarcastic and biting.
However, Ning Qing didn’t get angry over it; he didn’t like making things difficult for pitiful people who were having a hard time. “I have already severed contact with him. Besides, how did you know I had dealings with the Lancaster family?”
Meeting in person, the impact of Ning Qing’s beauty was even greater. Wearing a plain white shirt with a camel colored trench coat draped over his arm, he radiated a subtle, faint glow. Compared to his cold aura in public broadcasts, his demeanor in person was softer, carrying a subtle, almost motherly warmth.
Like a peach on the verge of ripening, quietly awaiting someone to pick it.
Moli felt a chill at his own train of thought. He looked left and right, and then the door, smelling of damp mold, swung wide open. “Come in. Nobody else is inside.”
It was evident that Moli lived alone in the dorm. Miscellaneous clutter was stacked everywhere, and boxes were plastered with newspapers bearing unknown painted symbols.
He rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a few printed photographs.
“This one, this one, and this one. You were secretly photographed at the Don River Manor banquet. Although you look very attractive, was it really necessary to dress so scandalously? You are the most powerful mech pilot among us Betas, you know?!”
Moli was full of righteous indignation and sorrow, the collapse of a fan’s idolization. It was like discovering that a pure, innocent celebrity he had loved for a long time had suddenly joined the adult entertainment industry without warning him first.
Ning Qing couldn’t quite understand the heartbreak of a devoted fan. He quickly scanned the photos; that camera angle was clearly taken by an insider. Strange, everyone had been searched before entering, and the recording and photography functions on all terminals had been disabled. How had this photo been generated?
“Setting that aside for now, where did you get these materials from?”
Moli choked up. “Don’t ask about that. I have my own news channels.”
Having been tempered by Cyril, that old fox, Ning Qing had developed a bit of shrewdness himself. “During the competition, regarding the words you left unfinished, did they reveal those things to you and send you to contact me?”
Moli: ?
“Then, as a trade-off, I can teach you the weaknesses of different mech models, as well as how to improve your attack accuracy under limited mental strength. Still not satisfied? Hmm, then I’ll guide you through hands-on practice step by step.”
In order to close the distance between them, Ning Qing mimicked Cyril’s gentle, spring breeze smile, and slid an apple candy into Moli’s pocket.
In the end, the stubborn Moli fell to his idol’s sugar-coated bullet.
He couldn’t help it, the offer was simply too generous.
The Resistance, the organization behind Moli had been banned by the Empire over a dozen times in history. Along with its previous aliases like “Mayflower,” searching for it on search engines returned nothing but a blank page.
What Ning Qing hadn’t expected was that they were actually stationed in the port area, which was regularly patrolled by military police. They were less than five kilometers away in a straight line from Ager’s black market clinic, hidden beneath the shadows of space stations and starships.
Moli led him via rail transit, transferring to a bus and then walking to reach the Resistance’s base. Gardenia Bar.
The bar was a mixed bag of people. Drunken workers were playing drinking games and boasting, or groping and teasing male and female strippers. Yet when Ning Qing walked in, everyone paused their actions for a fraction of a second, their attention drawn entirely to him.
Ning Qing’s long hair and most of his face were hidden beneath a hoodie. Even so, the small portion of his exquisite profile left exposed was enough to spark wild imaginations.
Could they hook up with this newcomer beauty? Some people’s minds began to race with ideas.
“Don’t any of you dare look! Look one more time and I’ll gouge your damn eyes out!”
Moli looked gloomy, but he was remarkably loud and fiery when picking a fight. After cursing right at those perverts’ faces, he immediately pulled Ning Qing by the arm and brought him into the backstage breakroom.
Sitting inside the breakroom were not the mysterious masterminds one might imagine. There was merely a bald cook, a bartender wearing an apron, and a cleaner standing on a ladder using a broom to clear away spider webs.
Ning Qing pulled down his hood and introduced himself. “Hello, I am Ning Qing, a cadet currently attending the Imperial Military Academy.”
“Welcome, welcome… Woah, catch me!”
The cleaner turned around at the top of the ladder and lost his balance, falling with a sudden crash. Unfortunately, whether the other two were too slow or unprepared, they failed to catch him.
Thud.
Such a chaotic, noisy, yet deeply warm and human scene actually gave Ning Qing a favorable impression of this mysterious organization.
The bald cook was somewhat shy, so the female bartender stepped up to explain the entire background to Ning Qing.
In truth, their connection with Ning Qing went way back. They had been involved in planning and organizing the massive demonstration that had sent Ning Qing into the Imperial Military Academy years ago.
Ning Qing paused briefly. “I have never seen you before.”
When he was eighteen, Ning Qing had graduated from a boarding secondary school for refugees. He wanted to apply for the Mech Combat Department in the core star sector’s university, a department that was rarely open to Betas. However, due to the scarcity of mech resources, he hadn’t touched a mech in years, let alone possessed the money to obtain a mech pilot certificate.
Just as he was working a part time job in a coffee shop on a peripheral planet, the manager walked over in great excitement and said, “Ning Qing, I didn’t expect you to be such a big celebrity!”
It was only then that Ning Qing saw the massive uproar on the Internet. That very afternoon, people wearing military police uniforms came to take him away to the Capital Star.
He had desperately wanted to meet those friends whom he had never seen before, yet who had supported him so sincerely.
However, after waiting four years, no one had ever contacted him. He remained just as lonely as he was before he turned eighteen.
The female bartender handed him a glass of lemon soda. “It couldn’t be helped. The Empire’s surveillance was too strict. We couldn’t risk dragging you down and ruining your chance at an education.
“But the situation is different now.”
Moli added, “Things have been chaotic across major star sectors over the past few months, which is why we can be a bit more active. In the past, we would have been wiped out by the military police in no time.”
The previous leader of the Resistance had already gloriously ended up in prison. Right now, all they could do was sponsor Beta children to learn mech piloting and gather intelligence.
After listening, Ning Qing was neither moved to tears nor filled with hatred and disappointment. He simply said calmly, “So now that you’ve contacted me, what do you hope I will do?”
To confirm that he hadn’t defected to the noble clans, and to encourage him to work harder in the Interstellar League to achieve a good ranking, what else was there besides that?
“Ning Qing, you should also know that the Emperor doesn’t have much longer to live. The political landscape of the Empire is about to be reshuffled. If that day comes, we hope you will stand on our side.”
Ning Qing indicated that he still needed some time to consider. When he left, an anonymous transfer from an unknown source had been added to his account, along with a one time key to a database on the Internet, this was his additional request.
[Profiles of Heads and Heirs of Major Families (Read and Burn)]
He clicked on it. Lancaster Family, Cyril.
An exceptionally brilliant resume, attended prestigious schools, skipped three grades consecutively, and served as student council president from childhood to adulthood. The only exception was a strange three years gap between the ages of six and eight, listed as “recuperation due to illness.”
Although Cyril had mentioned this before, Ning Qing felt a strange sense of familiarity with this specific timeframe. Checking it against his own date of birth…
Was it just a coincidence? Right after Planet Pioneer was annihilated, Cyril happened to recover from his illness.
His own destiny, as well as Cyril’s, had undergone a drastic turn at the exact same point in time. The difference was that Cyril’s life went upward, while his went downward.
In a few days, the next round of the regional tournament would take place. Like a divorced couple bound together by a child, no matter how reluctant he felt, Ning Qing still had to go see his partner, Cyril.
Dazedly, Ning Qing pulled his towels and clothing from his suitcase, only to accidentally shake out a few dried rose petals and a perfumed sticky note.
“Senior, remember to eat well today~”
Seven hundred light years away on a certain planet, Cyril, inside his mech cockpit, specifically minimized his operation screen and brought another floating window to the foreground.
On it was a secretly taken photo of Ning Qing. Because the surveillance cameras and hidden networks in the port area had mostly been destroyed, this image had been pulled from a passerby’s post.
In the picture, Ning Qing was holding arms with a Beta who was as thin as a bean sprout. The poster asked if this was his boyfriend and whether he was single to pursue.
Cyril was going insane with rage. “Ning Qing, Ning Qing, Ning Qing, Ning Qing! How can you be so intimate with just any random trash?!”
He abruptly drew his blade. In an instant, the head of the shell covered bug in front of him was severed, rolling away on the ground.
“Sample collection is complete. I’m returning right now.”