That night.
The fierce battle fire finally ceased temporarily.
The twin blue moons of the alien planet hung high, snow was still falling from the pitch-black sky, and several fires from the bombing had not yet been extinguished. The wind blew, causing the firelight to flicker in the snowy night.
In the eastern zone of the fortress, the imperial soldiers who had fought all day were exhausted.
Many people simply found a place that could block the wind among the broken buildings, wrapped themselves in thermal blankets, placed their weapons and water nearby, and rested like this, leaning or lying down.
A figure hurried by.
Jiang Jianming pulled up the collar of his military coat in the cold wind, covering half of his pale and handsome face. The white mist he exhaled rose along the edge of his collar, blurring even his eyes.
He was still a bit late.
He had been cautious, fearing that Lava might go back on their word, and had specifically turned back halfway to arrange some people in the rear. When he reached Beta Alien Star, he talked with Lieutenant General Jin, who was on guard, for a long time before rushing over. By then, the battle had already ended.
Jiang Jianming felt somewhat frustrated. For him, it was the first time to only be responsible for strategizing without being able to personally go to the front lines.
He climbed the broken steps, panting lightly as he looked around. His vision brightened considerably; this was the highest level of the eastern zone.
Among the resting soldiers, someone first caught sight of his face and called out, “Colonel Jiang?”
Jiang Jianming turned towards the voice and saw it was a Golden Sun Wheel soldier with a dusty face. He nodded gently at him, “Yes, I’ve come. You’ve worked hard, rest well.”
As soon as he spoke, those soldiers who had collapsed like corpses on both sides all woke up startled. They supported each other to stand up, and the lights on their wrist devices lit up in twos and threes.
“It’s Colonel Jiang.”
“Has His Highness the Crown Princess’s come?”
More and more people gathered around, though no one dared to block the way. They just crowded on both sides, with expressions of excitement and concern, chattering:
“Colonel Jiang, why did you come personally? There are still scattered alien creature activities in some areas, and those on night duty are working hard to clear them. You shouldn’t wander around alone!”
“And we just finished fighting those bastards from the Crystal Cult, the crystal particle concentration is terribly high. Why don’t you go back to the rear after your inspection? We promise we’ll return victorious!”
“Is the Colonel looking for His Highness Ryann? We’ll go find him, you sit down and rest for a while…”
It was half-dark all around. As Jiang Jianming walked quickly, he didn’t know which soldier had taken off his outer garment and tried to wrap it around his shoulders. He pushed back one piece with a bitter smile, but a second piece was thrust at him.
“No need, no need, you’ve worked hard, sit down and lie down, don’t get up… Has anyone seen His Highness?… Don’t give me any more clothes, really, I don’t need tranquilizers either…”
Jiang Jianming was both helpless and a bit touched by these people, wondering why the soldiers weren’t this excited after the victory in the last great battle?
Thinking carefully, it wasn’t right. It seemed that after winning that counterattack against the Crystal Cult last time, he was sent directly for emergency treatment…
So, you can’t blame others for staring at you with those terrified eyes all day, at least not entirely – Colonel Jiang finally realized this point, although it was a bit too late.
He walked on through the snow, lost in these random thoughts. Ryann’s communication seemed to be malfunctioning, and he couldn’t be contacted. Some soldiers along the way said they had seen His Highness in the eastern zone after the troops withdrew, but no one could clearly point out the direction.
It’s actually very frightening when someone can’t be contacted and can’t be found after an intense battle.
Jiang Jianming thought for a moment and circled around this crowded area. He carefully climbed along the broken black wall, looking down along the outer wall of the fortress.
He remembered that in the past, that person would occasionally like to sleep outside the fortress, or run out very early in the morning to feel the snow.
He had complained that His Highness was like some wild creature, not staying in his perfectly good home, but wanting to build a nest outside the eaves.
Now that he had returned here after a long absence, perhaps he would have trouble sleeping. No, trouble nesting… that seemed even more incorrect.
Jiang Jianming searched slowly like this for about another five minutes, when suddenly his gaze paused.
…He found him.
Ryann was indeed in a gun port on the outer wall, leaning against the ruins of the building, with a thin layer of snow flakes on his shoulders and sleeves. His eyes were closed, his breathing somewhat erratic, one hand resting on his raised knee.
His curly hair, wet with sweat, clung to his forehead and temples, along with his curled long eyelashes, reflecting deep and light golden-red in the distant firelight.
His Highness.
Jiang Jianming’s heartbeat imperceptibly quickened a bit. He thought Ryann had fallen asleep from exhaustion, and swallowed back the call that was about to leave his mouth.
He climbed over the wall, turned on the lighting function of his wrist device, found a good foothold, and slowly moved down.
Soon, his military boots stepped onto the alloy steel plate of the outer wall.
He slowed his pace, approaching step by step.
Unexpectedly, after just a few steps, Ryann suddenly opened his eyes and looked up, a flash of ferocity passing over his face.
Someone who had just returned from the battlefield was too sensitive to such stealthy footsteps. A dense fog had not yet dispersed from the depths of the Crown Prince’s eyes, his body instinctively tensed, about to thrust out his crystal bones—
“Your Highness, it’s me.”
The golden crystal bones stopped abruptly in mid-air.
His vision focused, and under the moon and snow, the disabled human in the Silver Big Dipper uniform looked over calmly.
Ryann woke up.
He woke up, but for a moment thought he might be dreaming, and after a while slowly frowned. “Jiang…!?”
Jiang Jianming smiled at him. “Yes, I came over.”
Only then did Ryann see clearly that Jiang Jianming was standing on a very narrow iron pipe protruding from the outer wall, and the distance above was almost vertical. He didn’t know how this person had come down.
Now the night was all around, ice was forming everywhere. If he slipped or any alloy steel plate broke, he would fall before he could even activate his folding mecha, impossible to save.
The Crown Prince, who had seemed like a god of death descending during the day, was now scared cold, and was about to shout sternly. “Don’t…!!”
But he suddenly realized that shouting might make the other person panic and slip, so he swallowed back the shout that was about to come out, “…Don’t, don’t move.”
Jiang Jianming was confused. “What?”
Ryann: “Stay where you are, don’t move.”
Ryann quickly got up, strode over in a few steps, and stretched out his arms—
Jiang Jianming only felt a flash before his eyes, and the next second he was embraced around the waist and lifted up. His feet left the ground, and his eyes widened slightly. “Your Highness!”
The faint smell of gunpowder and blood entered his nostrils.
Ryann closed his eyes and took a breath, hugging him tightly, rubbing his face against Jiang’s, then adjusted his arms, holding him more securely.
When those jade-green eyes opened again, they reflected the face of the black-haired youth in miniature. Ryann’s voice was even lower and hoarser than usual. “…Jiang.”
Jiang Jianming was half surprised and half amused, his hands propped on Ryann’s shoulders. “So you still have the strength to carry me? Alright, alright, put me down quickly.”
Ryann didn’t let go, but instead carried Jiang Jianming directly back to the corner he had been leaning against, slowly setting him down on the inside.
“When will you,” Ryann pushed Jiang Jianming, their noses almost touching, and said through gritted teeth, “develop some self-awareness as a patient, and stop scaring me like this.”
“?” Jiang Jianming found this absurd. He grabbed Ryann’s collar, “I searched for you from the first floor to the third floor of the eastern zone, nearly going to the medical area to rummage through the severely wounded and corpses, and now you’re saying I scared you?”
“…”
In the distance, the night wind blew snow particles. The two of them, hiding in a gun port on the outer wall of the fortress, stared at each other in a deadlock for a long time.
After a while, they both reluctantly let go at the same time.
Forget it.
Pointless bickering should be stopped at the right time.
“I’ll send a message to Major General Xie,” Jiang Jianming sighed, “just to say that our Crown Prince has built a nest on the outer wall of the fortress, so there’s no need to come looking.”
Ryann sat down, reached out to hug Jiang Jianming, and grunted softly, indicating for him to come closer.
Jiang Jianming sent a message reporting their safety on his wrist device, but didn’t dare to lean on Ryann as usual, cautiously asking, “Your Highness isn’t injured, right?”
“No, listen to me about important matters.” Ryann forcefully pulled Jiang Jianming into his arms. The temperature was too cold at night, and now there was no treatment cabin to put people in. If he got too cold, there could really be trouble.
“We fought all day today. We successfully regained control of the first and fourth main cores, basically taking back the northern and eastern zones. However, the major systems in the other three zones were destroyed by them, so to reclaim them, we can only rely on human power to fight hard.”
“Now, the starship is in a standoff in the outer space of Alpha Star, and the mecha troops are inside the fortress. Looking at this situation, it’s very likely…”
Ryann’s eyes darkened slightly. “It will be difficult to take it down in three to five days. There’s a possibility it could turn into a protracted war.”
Jiang Jianming nodded, “I understand.”
Their battle plan hadn’t failed; in fact, it had been executed quite smoothly.
But they hadn’t achieved the most ideal effect either.
These Crystal Cult people were more troublesome than imagined.
The biting cold wind lashed at the fortress. Ryann watched the snow flowing outside, his fingers idly stroking Jiang Jianming’s black hair.
Suddenly, Jiang Jianming asked again. “Your Highness isn’t injured?”
Ryann: “No. You smell blood? It’s someone else’s.”
Jiang Jianming was silent for a moment, then said softly. “The crystal bones you just released were very unstable, and your speed was also much slower.”
He reached out, wanting to lift Ryann’s clothes, but his wrist was held down.
“Don’t look,” Ryann said in a low voice.
“There’s a little backlash.”
Jiang Jianming felt a chill in his chest. He suppressed the sudden spasm rising in his throat and removed Ryann’s hand, asking hoarsely. “Did you take a tranquilizer?”
“Jiang.” Ryann stubbornly refused to let him see under the clothes, “Listen to me, it’s a normal range of backlash, but it won’t look good.”
Jiang Jianming: “I’m not at the point where I can’t bear to see blood.”
“It’s very late, and your current physical condition is very poor. You need a stable mental state before sleeping.”
Jiang Jianming: “Yes. But if you don’t let me see, I might not be able to sleep at all tonight.”
Ryann sighed and gave up resisting.
Jiang Jianming moved behind him and carefully lifted the edge of his clothes. Each new human has different preferences when releasing crystal bones. Ryann liked to use his back, especially the line from the shoulder blades to the spine, as support to release larger crystal bones, so if there was backlash, this area would be the first to suffer.
That patch of back was exposed to the cold air.
Jiang Jianming’s pupils trembled. He took a deep breath, his face pale and teeth chattering. “You…”
He didn’t see the normal backlash phenomenon: that horrific state where excessive use of crystal bones causes human flesh to split open and bleed incessantly.
Shimmering golden crystal covered most of Ryann’s back.
Beneath the layer of crystal, vague, soft red could be seen.
—To minimize the decline in condition caused by blood loss on the battlefield, when backlash occurred, he chose to use crystal bones to seal his own split flesh, preventing blood from flowing out.
But the more he did this, the worse the later backlash would be.
So now, this crude method of drinking poison to quench thirst had caused almost two-thirds of Ryann’s back to rot, with blood plasma and flesh pulp mixed together, too horrible to look at.
Jiang Jianming could no longer hold back. He suddenly braced himself on the ground and began to cough violently.
