Even though the young scientist Mr. Bixing Lu was an odd man that knew nothing and only pursued his romance in scientific reports, he still had strong motivation, an adventurous spirit, and the exceptional fort.i.tude to push things towards their limits.

Right now, he keenly detected Jingheng Lin"s unease. He quickly learned the joy of teasing a "mild outside, wild inside" type on his own, and instantly decided to push Jingheng Lin"s boundaries even further -- he stepped forward and wrapped Jingheng Lin in a tight embrace.

Jingheng Lin: "..."

It was just an impulsive decision. Bixing Lu originally wanted to see what he was like even more uncomfortable, but what he hadn"t antic.i.p.ated was how Jingheng Lin"s feel wasn"t the same as his imagination. His chest was kind of hard, but his waist was thinner than what it looked like, and his back was impeccably rigid. The most important thing was that this sculpture-like body had warmth. The temperature didn"t just stop at the skin, it also emitted through his clothes, radiating in all directions. Bixing Lu"s foolish embrace hugged it all in, drenching him in the heat, drowning him.

A buzz spread through Bixing Lu"s scalp. His whole body was numb. He even smelled the light scent of rum between his lips...almost undetectable, since Jingheng Lin had decided to hold his breath.

Then Bixing Lu heard a sharp snap -- Commodore Lin, unable to put up with it anymore, stepped back, and his overly stiff joints had complained to them both when he leaned back.

Bixing Lu was afraid that Jingheng Lin would stiffen himself until he cracked in a moment, so even though he wasn"t satisfied yet, he unwillingly let go, stepping back to safety. He said nonchalantly, "I didn"t know you were so gentle."

A "gentle" card smacked Jingheng Lin on his face. He really wanted to act enraged, and snap a "what do you think you"re doing?" at him, but then he had never put on the "commodore" facade in front of Bixing Lu before. So, of course, a sudden embrace didn"t count as an offense, and there wasn"t a reason for him to look furious.

Jingheng Lin took a few deep breaths. He had no other choice, so he only could act like nothing had happened, too. He scoffed, "I was just afraid you"re going to cry."

Finishing, he was anxious to recover his coldhearted posture, so he turned around and left. At the same time, Bixing Lu secretly let out a tiny sigh of relief. He discreetly exercised his numb limbs. He quietly recollected the embrace, feeling like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.

But just as the two were acting like nothing had happened, Heavy Mech No. 3"s medical room opened. From it, a medical cabin slid out a little. It tentatively kept turning towards Bixing Lu"s direction. Zhanlu"s voice sounded, "Headmaster Lu, I"ve detected that your heartbeat is too fast and that your blood pressure just shot up. Your body temperature is also fluctuating abnormally. May I ask if you need medical attention?"

Bixing Lu: "......"

Jingheng Lin paused and abruptly glanced over his shoulder at him.

Bixing Lu wanted to crawl into a hole. He turned around and left, "I"m...I"m going to encrypt the transfer points."

The humanoid Zhanlu stepped out of Heavy Mech No. 3"s walls. He looked at Bixing Lu"s disappearing silhouette with a perplexed look, silently searching through his database. Seconds later, the AI"s gaze refocused, suddenly understanding what was happening, "Sir, through logical deductions, I have a conclusion that I can share with you..."

"Keep it to yourself. I don"t need it." Jingheng Lin sighed. He waved his empty gla.s.s at Zhanlu, gesturing for him to fill his cup.

Zhanlu skillfully poured his cup half full, then added ice.

Bixing Lu unceremoniously flew away in a random small mech and disappeared through a transfer point.

Jingheng Lin wasn"t going back to the base, either. They floated quietly in the pitch-black universe, his gaze looking at somewhere far away. He sipped the liquor in his cup slowly.

Zhanlu reminded, "Sir, based on how your body"s recovering, I have appropriately relaxed your intake requirements. But if you keep asking for wine, you might exceed your limit today."

Jingheng Lin said uncaringly, "Oh, take back the wine cabinet then. I don"t need it."

He usually drank and smoked, but he wasn"t really addicted to either. Those simply rubbed on him as he spent a lot of time with seasoned soldiers. If there was alcohol, he"d have a sip or two; if there wasn"t, then so be it. If he was on a diet, he could withhold himself from drinking any alcohol. And whenever he was on mechs, he never lit an open flame.

Bixing Lu, the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, pranked him when he was on a diet by asking him what he liked to eat. Jingheng Lin never answered him because he didn"t know either. It was always what was accessible, or what the diet.i.tian ordered.

He didn"t like reading, hated useless socializing, and when he was in Silver Fortress, he would block any news unrelated to politics or the military. Of all the stars in the entertainment industry, the only one he knew was Yevghania. The last time he watched a movie was more than two decades ago -- it was one that the Military Committee had pitched in to propagate military sentiment. For the market, the military needed to send a few officers with a good public image to advertise. At the premiere, the old Admiral Wolfe sent a team of bodyguards to escort him to the event with guns pressed against his back. They made him sit there and let people take pictures. He slept for more than two hours after that.

His only entertainment was the small games that came with the mech. Occasionally, on long interstellar missions, he would have a few rounds with the mech. The one he played the most was "Skysc.r.a.per Bombing". In the game, a virtual building"s icon would randomly pop up in the mental network and would disappear quickly. The pilot needed to follow up in a required time and destroy the virtual coordinate. It was a game designed to train mental strength. If your mental compatibility wasn"t strong enough, you"d die off pretty soon...oh, right, and the icon Jingheng Lin set was a photo of the Union a.s.sembly Hall.

Jingheng Lin suddenly said, "I"m a really boring person, am I not?"

"According to human standards, you can"t say that." Zhanlu thought about it for a while. Then he commented validly, "You"re quite energetic when you"re being harsh."

Jingheng Lin smiled bitterly. "Okay, so you mean that I"m just intolerable."

"You are someone that"s hard to be with." Zhanlu tilted his head. "Sir, you look a little distressed, like the first time Miss Penny confessed her feelings for you."

Jingheng Lin"s brows lifted up a bit. He said nothing, but gulped down what was left in his cup.

Zhanlu resumed talking, "It is said that when humans pick partners, they usually have an ideal type in their mind. By my observations, your ideal type should be close to the likes of Miss Penny."

Before Jingheng Lin could swallow the drink in his mouth, he almost choked it into his lungs. He bent down and coughed violently, "How didn"t I know this?"

"You"re very nice to Penny, a lot more patient and friendly with her than you were with other people. You would try your best to protect her, you took care of her feelings, and almost never said rude things to her -- that"s not easy for you," Zhanlu explained reasonably, "I feel sorry for your loss -- the Beijing-β Planet tragedy was terrible."

Jingheng Lin stayed silent for a while. His gaze seemed to reach in Beijing-β"s direction through the Heavy Mech No. 3"s mental network. But there was only a black void there. Nothing at all. The lost people were like evaporated water, disappearing in the sea of stars. Jingheng Lin spun the clear gla.s.s, whispering, "I didn"t return Penny"s feelings. I"ve turned her down already. I had nothing to talk with her, actually."

When he was with Penny, he always felt like he was having history cla.s.s in the Black Orchid Academy. His thoughts wandered elsewhere easily, and he even had to carefully hide it to avoid hurting the girl"s feelings. It was tiring.

"It was mainly..." Jingheng Lin paused to think how he should phrase it. "To thank her for appreciating me. Not a lot of people do that."

"This explanation isn"t fair. Miss Yevghania"s confession of her feelings was even more pa.s.sionate than Miss Penny"s." Zhanlu said. "On that year"s military parade, she came down from the stage just to meet you. I kept a copy of the related data, and I believe that her physiological characteristics at the time is similar to what Headmaster Lu just displayed. But you"ve never expressed your grat.i.tude to her."

The last two sentences pushed his heart up to his throat. He said weakly, "Yevghania was a socialite in the Union a.s.sembly. The Eden Committee was behind her. A few heartbeats was nothing to her. A seat in the a.s.sembly or a weeklong headline in the news would probably make her heart beat even faster."

"Oh, so you agree that "politics pollute love". Seems like your view of love is as conservative as it is on the surface." Zhanlu took his gla.s.s away to clean it. "Then what about your guard captain in Silver Fortress, Mr. Lorde?"

Jingheng Lin blanched. "What?"

"The guard captain was introverted and not good with words, but every time he pa.s.sed by you, his heart rate would rise by about 10%-15%." Zhanlu wasn"t aware that he had just set a bomb off, and he said calmly, "His gaze was always following you. Every time he left your office, he would look over his shoulder at you one more time before he closed the door behind him."

Jingheng Lin stared blankly at him.

Zhanlu nodded, being user-friendly. "Alright. Based on your expression, in your eyes, except for the fact that you couldn"t flick cigarette ash on him, the captain of your guard isn"t any different from an AI -- I feel really sorry for Mr. Lorde. I hope all is well for him right now."

Jingheng Lin leaned back in frustration, sighing. He felt that talking with Zhanlu didn"t soothe him at all -- it only stressed him out even more. Thus, he decided to ignore Zhanlu.

Bixing Lu efficiently fixed the anti-tracking system"s loopholes. A second drill was quickly set up...it was a ma.s.sacre.

The second drill lasted fifty minutes. It still ended with all three teams getting negative points. Jingheng Lin found a new loophole in actual battle -- when he was close, a team of the same scale as the Golden Warriors would create a bit of an energy siphon. The team was used to staying together, which made them afraid to evacuate, and Jingheng Lin easily caught them.

This drill"s highlight was Sat.u.r.day. As the brand representative of a daydreaming fool in Jingheng Lin"s words, Sat.u.r.day went through with his absurd ideas. The last time wasn"t enough for him, so he decided to strike again on his own, bringing his team with him. Failure didn"t discourage him...but of course, bravery was nothing and he still ended up in a ditch.

The third drill lasted an hour and a half. Jingheng Lin didn"t even have to open fire this time since Weasel tried to cheat. He slipped into the mech port the previous night and tried to install a small gadget on Heavy Mech No. 3 to monitor Jingheng Lin"s actions during the drill.

Obviously, Mr. Weasel knew nothing about Zhanlu. He was trying to use the skills to steal chicken pa.s.sed down in his family to challenge modern technology. Jingheng Lin didn"t make a scene about it. He simply taught Weasel a lesson at the beginning of the drill. Zhanlu hacked into Weasel"s mech through a hidden communication port. In the meantime, Jingheng Lin took over Weasel"s mental network. The three teams watched the immobile Heavy Mech No. 3 in fear, but were unaware that a Trojan Horse were already in between their ranks. At last, Commodore Lin, with Weasel as his cover, tricked the three teams together thousands of kilometers away. They lost in fighting between themselves. He personally showed to Weasel and the others this -- it"s okay to trick people, but do it with brains.

Weasel"s Armored Cavalry ended up at the bottom of the scoreboard and was sent remote patrolling.

On the fourth drill, the anti-tracking system was already perfect. This time, both the Golden Warriors and Armored Cavalry learned their lessons, hiding deep in the anti-tracking system, planning to sit out the four and a half hours like this. After exchanging fire with them a few times, Jingheng Lin already knew what these people were like. He went around the maze-like pa.s.sages a few times and drew out Sat.u.r.day first by exposing a weak point intentionally. Sat.u.r.day was probably a suicide squad member delayed by his background. Even though he"d experienced countless times the worse than death feeling of having his mental network taken away, it did not diminish his courage to take a point away from Commodore Lin one bit.

Jingheng Lin fulfilled his wishes, and absolutely annihilated the Self-Defense Force. He also pettily used their mental networks to force Holiday to give up the other two teams" coordinates.

From this day on, Jingheng Lin seemed to have targeted the Self-Defense Force. Every time he entered the arena, he would eliminate the Self-Defense Force first before finishing off the rest. This made the Self-Defense Force"s scores drop vertically downwards. They were semi-permanently stuck at the bottom of the scoreboard, so they became professional remote patrollers.

Sat.u.r.day and the others had already stayed for two weeks in s.p.a.ce, ten days away from the base. They were almost the base"s satellites.

When Bixing Lu visited them with supplies, he found the Self-Defense Force"s mechs spinning in s.p.a.ce like bodies floating on water. Lifeless, their morale gone. They were either cl.u.s.tered in groups of three or five playing online poker, or bored to death as they played the mech"s pre-installed games. Sat.u.r.day didn"t even organize the routine physical training. He had the autopilot on and slept until all sense of time was gone.

After failing to contact him after three communication requests, Bixing Lu had to take over Sat.u.r.day"s mech"s mental network. He played a gut-wrenching heavy metal dance track in the cabin and wickedly switched off the gravity imitation system. Sat.u.r.day was busy dreaming when he was startled awake by the natural disaster-like music. He was so freaked out he kicked backward and tumbled himself into the air in the weightless environment. He spun around eighteen times before be could stop himself, and almost pa.s.sed out again.

"Good morning, Sat.u.r.day," Bixing Lu greeted him merrily, "Nice dance moves, so graceful -- would be even better if you changed out of the floral boxers."

Sat.u.r.day snarled angrily, "Give back my mental network, I"m going to puke!"

But he only puked two mouthfuls of stomach acid. His empty stomach could provide nothing else.

"Last night? I didn"t have anything for dinner last night, I slept on two swigs of liquor. I"m going to puke if I have another compressed nutrition meal," Sat.u.r.day rinsed his face, "I"ve almost forgotten what an actual meal tastes like."

"It"s normal for remote patrol missions to last months," Bixing Lu said, "You"ve got to get used to it."

Sat.u.r.day laughed bitterly. "Don"t use that bulls.h.i.t on me. They"re working hard to protect their homeland, but I"m living in s.h.i.t because I"m exiled to this."

Bixing Lu froze. Then he observed Sat.u.r.day"s expression, "Are you thinking that Lin"s singling you out?"

"I"m not," Sat.u.r.day shrugged, "He doesn"t have to. He probably thinks that I"m the easiest to eliminate, and it"s convenient. What do I even count as? I don"t have any skills, I can"t even team up to hide."

"Maybe he just wants to give you the remote patrolling missions..."

"Give me the remote boredom missions. What difference is there from being here to being locked up? Come on, jailor, send the dog food over." Sat.u.r.day interrupted him. He moved the net arm aside, ready to receive supplies. "Oh, and, Mr. Lu, stop sending food from now on. Go back and find another group of people to patrol. Tonight"s our last night here. I"m sailing back to the base with my brothers tomorrow. When we get back, I"ll disband the Self-defense Force. I"m not going to torment anyone else or myself anymore."

"You"re giving up?"

"I give up. I was too naive to not listen to you. The saying"s right, you only know that you"re not good at that after you"ve worked hard for it." Sat.u.r.day shrugged nonchalantly and watched wearily as the supply package was pushed into the mech. He suddenly asked, "Is Cow dead? Or did you guys lock him up?"

Bixing Lu was momentarily speechless.

"What, am I that stupid in your eyes?" Sat.u.r.day asked him, "It doesn"t matter anyway. I may have been raised by him by law, but he really just left me to fend for myself here, and when I grew up I could work for him. If he"s dead, it doesn"t really have anything to do with me. Some other people in the base have guessed this, and they didn"t say anything, didn"t they? Someone... a group of people without dignity. All they have is being alive. Life"s true colors are coldhearted. That"s what Cow is. That"s what we, the people working under him, are."

The people in this base were like the peasants of the lengthy feudal society in the Earth Era. They struggled from dusk to dawn, their moods constricted to a thin line by poverty. They had never heard of civilization, nor cared if the "emperor" was a pig or a dog. Surviving a day was a day.

"We haven"t killed him or abused him or anything, don"t worry. It"s just not appropriate to let him out in public right now," Bixing Lu said, "About them accusing you of murdering Mr. Spencer..."

"They"re just finding an excuse. Someone even said that I"ve slept with Cow before." Sat.u.r.day shook his head and laughed, "You"re too...hah, I don"t know how to tell this to you, why do you let all this get to your head?"

The two stayed in silence for a while. Sat.u.r.day then stood up to sort out the supply package. "But I have thought about revolting against Cow before, and taking control over the base myself. I was naive, and thought that I would at least be better than him. But I understand now."

Bixing Lu frowned, watching Sat.u.r.day"s gaunt silhouette on the screen.

"These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in the base are beyond salvation. Cow"s way of herding them like pigs is the best way for them. I"m a pig, too -- I just thought that I could fly somehow."

s.p.a.ce magnifies negative thoughts. It wasn"t a place for a heart-to-heart conversation, so Bixing Lu had to return to the base, planning to temporarily cancel the next drill, and wait for Sat.u.r.day to return to the base to talk this out with him.

But when he returned to the mech port, he touched Zhanlu"s spread out mental network before he even landed.

This time Zhanlu didn"t hold back. His ma.s.sive mental network was spread fully over everything, almost making him unable to breathe. It connected to a few far away transfer points and spread to others, even farther places by them. Bixing Lu froze for a second, then looked up at the calendar to realize that the next day was circled out using a marker.

The three month promise had expired.

Jingheng Lin had already set up remote communications. After twelve at midnight, he would start sending signals to extraterritorial areas.

This meant that the base"s peace would become a bird"s nest on a cliff, ready to topple over at any second.

These days, Jingheng Lin didn"t speak about it, but had, in reality, helped him train the "soldiers". After some time, Bixing Lu had the illusion that he had changed his mind.

So, after all...