Chapter 55

Ying Xun deactivated the surveillance inside the interrogation room. Aside from him and Ji Xuan, no one knew what happened inside.

The clock on the wall ticked away. Outside, Pei Yingye paced with rising irritation. The First Guard members originally involved in the interrogation were getting a headache from watching him and wanted to stop him, but remembering that this student of unknown background had arrived with Ying Xun, they swallowed their words.

An hour later, Ji Xuan emerged behind Ying Xun.

Zakun had given a detailed account of his contact with the silver-haired Zerg, repeatedly swearing that he never knew the other party’s non-human identity. He had assumed they simply had special methods or perhaps came from an old, wealthy family that secretly kept a large number of low-intelligence, low-grade Zerg.

“He should cooperate with whatever you ask from now on,” Ji Xuan said to the interrogators behind the console.

The First Guard interrogators immediately stood up to thank him, their eyes filled with a mix of awe and curiosity. They knew exactly how stubborn Zakun had been; they couldn’t imagine what method this Omega had used to actually get him to talk.

Ying Xun gave Ji Xuan a slight nod. “Thank you for your hard work. Go back and rest. We’ll leave the follow-up organization to them.” His gaze turned to Pei Yingye, who was clearly waiting with some anxiety. “You as well.”

Pei Yingye gave a casual-sounding grunt of affirmation and moved to pull Ji Xuan away. The latter suddenly paused and turned back to Ying Xun, who was still standing there.

“General, you wouldn’t believe in far-fetched stories, much less coincidences full of loopholes. Why not pursue the truth?”

Ying Xun said indifferently, “Because I think everyone probably has a harmless secret in their heart.”

Ji Xuan laughed. “Thank you. You are the most understanding Alpha I’ve ever met.”

Pei Yingye: “?”

Having finished his piece, Ji Xuan turned and left. Pei Yingye had no idea what kind of riddles they were exchanging; he looked at Ying Xun with confusion, then at Ji Xuan. The latter walked a few steps, stopped again, and turned back to meet his gaze.

“Aren’t you coming?” Ji Xuan asked. “I thought you stayed outside the interrogation room this long specifically to wait for me.”

And so, Pei Yingye abandoned the idea of pestering Ying Xun for answers and strode after him.

“What did you guys talk about in there?” On the way back to the resting cabin, Pei Yingye asked casually. “It couldn’t be that he just didn’t want to die without seeing you one last time and then spilled everything once he saw you, right?”

Ji Xuan glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Maybe.”

Pei Yingye closed the door behind them and looked Ji Xuan in the eye. “Are you really that similar to that game character? Could the devs team have specifically modeled the character after you?”

“A game from four years ago… if you count production time, you’d have to push it back even further…” Pei Yingye stepped closer to Ji Xuan. “But even for location scouting, they wouldn’t have gone to a garbage planet.”

The sightseeing ship had departed from the sea. The boundless night gradually shifted as the magnificent cosmic light filtered through the window, scattering a kaleidoscope of colors.

A few footsteps echoed in the corridor, but the resting cabin soon returned to silence.

Ji Xuan stood in front of Pei Yingye with his back to the window, watching him quietly.

After a moment, he let out a chuckle. “Then perhaps it really is just a coincidence. After all, beautiful faces always share similarities, while ugliness is diverse in its strangeness.”

Pei Yingye paused, then said, “…Fair point.”

He asked again: “You still haven’t told me how you got him to talk. It’s impossible for Zakun to not make any demands, right?”

“He did,” Ji Xuan said lazily as he sat on the edge of the bed. “So, I slapped him twice and choked him according to his request. He said he was very grateful to me for helping him find that old feeling again, and then he confessed everything…”

Thud! Pei Yingye bumped into the bathroom doorframe.

“He really said that?” Pei Yingye clutched his head, eyes wide with shock as he asked through gritted teeth.

“…I’m lying to you,” Ji Xuan laughed. “General Ying was watching from the side. He would have stopped such an outrageous request no matter what, don’t you think?”

Pei Yingye looked at him suspiciously, not quite believing it.

In fact, Pei Yingye’s suspicion wasn’t entirely baseless, as Ying Xun wasn’t as gentle and pure as he appeared on the surface. To reach the rank of Alliance General, one must have certain “methods.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have cut the surveillance right before Zakun said that specific sentence.

However, the request wasn’t made by Zakun; it was Ji Xuan who took the initiative.

He had pressed one hand onto the metal table in front of Zakun and used the other to grab the man’s hair and slam it against the table. After a few hits, he noticed the man was trembling with excitement. So, he unlocked the shackles, kicked the man and his chair to the ground, and coldly stepped on his shoulder.

And just like that, everything was confessed, faithfully and without reservation.

To some extent, Zakun was indeed, as Pei Yingye said, an absolute pervert.

But none of that mattered to Ji Xuan.

The Azure Bird Guards would continue to track the silver-haired Zerg. Ying Xun had likely guessed something but didn’t intend to expose it. Ji Xuan washed his hands at the sink, looked up, and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

[Don’t you have anything you want to explain?] He asked the system, which had been silent for a long time.

He quickly caught the slight vibration caused by data fluctuations. The system remained silent for a long while before hesitantly speaking: […Ah? What should I ex… explain?]

Since it said that, Ji Xuan didn’t bother to press further. After all, when a snail wants to retreat into its shell, unless you crush the shell, there’s no way to force it out. Besides, Ji Xuan didn’t want to be that violent with it for now.

However, a somewhat distant memory suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Actually, it couldn’t be considered that distant, as it happened after Ji Xuan killed the old Demon Venerable. But over the years, the only thing worth revisiting repeatedly was his time with Pei Yingye, so it was inevitable to forget other unimportant things.

That certain memory was of a very small boy with a malnourished face and body, huddled in the grass watching from a distance. He didn’t know the first thing about concealment; a simple turn of the head would reveal him.

Ji Xuan hadn’t cared much at first because the boy posed no threat. That was until he discovered the person was still there at night, with several whimpers coming from the wind-swept grass.

Driven by some unknown flicker of compassion, Ji Xuan had walked over and placed a hand on the boy’s head.

Perhaps thinking he was about to strike, the boy’s body trembled, and a pair of watery, cat-like eyes looked up.

Weak, cowardly, timid… that was Ji Xuan’s first impression of him.

So, Ji Xuan spoke first, asking the first question between them: “Everyone else comes here to kill me. Why are you the only one crying?”

—

The bathroom door slammed open, and a rush of steam burst out, scattering Ji Xuan’s thoughts.

He looked up at Pei Yingye, who was only dressed from the waist down. His gaze swept past the drawstring waist of his pants, grazed over his legs, and then silently retracted.

Pei Yingye sat down heavily on the bed opposite him, rubbed his wet hair with a towel, and wiped the water off his upper body. Just as he leaned over to find the hairdryer Ji Xuan had put away, he heard the latter speak softly: “You’ve been well-nourished these past few years.”

Then he added, “Next time, try to wear those gray pants less often.”

Pei Yingye: “???”

Pei Yingye: “!!!”

However, by the time he reacted and wanted to settle the score for being teased, Ji Xuan had already turned his body away, looking as if he had fallen asleep and was no longer paying him any mind.

After a night of sailing, the sightseeing ship returned to the North Star Fortress early the next morning.

The specific details of the operation were not made public, as the reappearance of the Zerg would surely cause an uproar. The only story sent back to North Star Fortress in advance was a thrilling one: “Two Mars Military Academy trainees cooperated with the Azure Bird Seventh Guard to infiltrate the circle of the smuggling kingpin Zakun, successfully dismantling the smuggling chain of the fourth galaxy and capturing the main leader, Zakun, and some of his core members.”

But even this news caused quite a stir within the fortress. After all, Zakun was a big fish that had been entrenched for a long time. Capturing him successfully was undoubtedly a major blow to border smuggling. Not to mention the participants were two military academy students. For the past few days, no matter where they went, they received many curious or admiring looks.

Even Lai Zhou, far away at the Black Stone Fortress, sent a congratulatory message: Even Lai Zhou, who was far away in Blackrock Fortress, sent a congratulatory message to the two: “With this resume, you can pick any legion you want after graduation, right? Getting into North Star Fortress will be a piece of cake! Congratulations to you two old friends. It’s true that fortune is found in danger. You’ve really worked hard. These past few days, every time I browsed the school forum, everyone was talking about this.”

Pei Yingye expressed that becoming a forum celebrity was perfectly normal, as his name had been pinned to the front page every once in a while, over the years anyway.

As for Ji Xuan, he accepted it even better. Aside from a momentary stun when he saw a strange association pop up, he had no other reaction.

Because of this mission, both of their field training ratings reached maximum capacity. Aslan was still in the middle of drafting her report, debating which class of merit would be most appropriate to record for them. Although the two were still technically listed on the Logistics Department roster, they only went over occasionally to help out; the rest of their time was spent being led on various tours of different areas within the North Star Fortress.

Word had it that the captains of several Azure Bird Guard units were all interested in snatching them, so they frequently dispatched team members to touch base. This infuriated Aslan so much that she threw a tantrum during training, piloting a mecha to challenge and defeat the other four captains single-handedly, only to be flattened by Ying Xun in the end.

Ji Jingche had been sent out to continue tracking the Zerg. Perhaps unable to reach him, Ji Yan sent another message to Ji Xuan. It opened with the usual congratulations before winding its way back to Ji Jingche’s whereabouts, expressing his deep concern.

Ji Yan had been Ji Jingche’s younger brother for over twenty years; he couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the high security clearance regarding his brother’s itinerary. Such persistent prying made it truly difficult not to suspect his motives, but Ji Xuan didn’t voice this directly, simply replying with a curt: [Don’t know.]

Finally, on the day Chen Shuo successfully passed his job transfer exam, the duo’s fortress training came to an end.

Although the little Beta was usually timid and too introverted to speak up, he was surprisingly well-liked. Director Lin and several veterans from the warehouse threw a lively farewell dinner for the three of them at a restaurant in the fortress living quarters. However, just as they started eating, they ran into Aslan and her crew, who had just finished training.

Consequently, the small table turned into a massive one, and the scene became incredibly rowdy. Amidst the clinking of glasses, Chen Shuo, as one of the protagonists, was the first to be coaxed into drinking until he passed out.

Next were the members of the Seventh Guard and the warehouse veterans, one by one. Aslan, having toyed with several people for rounds, was feeling smug. Her gaze landed with interest on Pei Yingye, immediately selecting her next target for amusement.

But to everyone’s surprise, the only Omega present turned out to be the strongest drinker.

After the party dispersed, Pei Yingye returned to the dormitory, half-carrying and half-hanging onto Ji Xuan. All the way back, he did nothing but bury his head in the crook of Ji Xuan’s neck, nuzzling him, nearly tripping over the threshold as they entered the room.

Ji Xuan tossed him onto the bed with a look of slight disdain. Before he could pull his hand away, he was yanked down by the other.

He nearly crashed into the ladder by the side of the bed.

Pei Yingye’s hand blocked the space between Ji Xuan’s head and the ladder. He let out a grunt of pain before taking advantage of the momentum to pull the other down into an embrace. Ji Xuan braced his hands against the other’s chest but failed to break free. He had no choice but to press down on him, looking down from above with his upper body slightly raised.

“Ah Ye, I’m warning you, don’t use alcohol as an excuse to act crazy.”

Pei Yingye fluttered his eyelids open, staring at him in a daze. The only thing in his ears was the whistling of the night wind, and his vision was fixed solely on the soft lips opening and closing in the darkness.

His blue eyes, soaked in alcohol, shimmered with a blurred starlight. Pei Yingye’s greedy, unshielded gaze swept over Ji Xuan’s brows, his nose, and his lips, arriving at his fair neck before following the open collar further down—

“What if I insist?”

Pei Yingye spoke in a dry, raspy voice, his tone provocative and intimate.

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