The intense light from the main cannon penetrated the alien planet’s clouds.
Large chunks of white crystals fell in droves.
This was all that remained in Jiang Jianming’s impression of the scene.
Ryann was probably also counting time in his mind. He retracted his crystal bones just as the main cannon finished charging, turning to protect his own body. Margaret lost balance and fell forward, then the blinding light pierced through that patch of sky.
Jiang Jianming rushed into the Snow Dove to save people the moment after he pushed the firing lever. But it was still too difficult – the cannon’s energy directly blew Ryann away. Those few seconds were a matter of life and death. He intercepted based on the trajectory calculated by the intelligence.
In haste, he only managed to cover Ryann’s body with the Snow Dove’s shield before the mecha crashed headlong into the broken fortress building.
Collapse, fall, impact… buried.
Consciousness briefly flew away.
After an unknown period, in a dead silent underground, Jiang Jianming pushed open the twisted cockpit door and crawled out of the completely wrecked Snow Dove.
Darkness surrounded him, with intertwined steel bars and rubble overhead. He gasped with unfocused eyes, blood flowing down his nose bridge.
Jiang Jianming knelt at the bottom of the ruins, reaching out to lift the mecha’s protruding shield. Unable to move it, he finally pried it open using his shoulder.
Jiang Jianming embraced the motionless body underneath.
“Your Highness,” he said hoarsely, “Ryann, wake up…”
The Crown Prince lay with eyes closed, devoid of life signs. A layer of golden-red crystal bones covered his body, but they fell off at the slightest touch, like weathered dust, also resembling withered dried flowers.
Blood kept gushing out, and distorted crystals continuously burst through the flesh, like parasites gnawing through every inch of his body.
Out-of-control crystal particles were rapidly devouring him.
Jiang Jianming’s vision suddenly blurred. He gritted his teeth and held on without collapsing, taking out the tranquilizer he carried and giving Ryann five consecutive injections. At this point, he couldn’t worry about drug overdose.
Then he took off his own outer garment to wrap Ryann tightly, leaned against the broken ruins, and held him in his arms.
The wrist device was also broken, unable to call Seth Henry. In the darkness, he pressed his own wrist, closing his eyes and counting his pulse to keep time… waiting to administer more tranquilizer after an hour.
— This was all he could do now.
The wet, warm blood in his arms quickly turned cold in Alpha Alien Star’s temperature.
Jiang Jianming’s consciousness gradually became hazy. He started coughing blood again, his whole body aching and continuously shaking. He could only hear the pulse count in his ears.
Thump thump, thump thump… beating rapidly.
The dense crystal particle environment and extreme cold temperature loss, physical and mental exhaustion to the limit, followed by massive psychological stress. All these factors acting on a disabled human suffering from chronic crystal disorder.
It wasn’t surprising that it triggered an attack; it would have been abnormal if it didn’t.
In the dark bottom of the ruins, disordered breathing gradually emerged.
Jiang Jianming, tortured by pain, became dizzy. He pressed his forehead against Ryann’s disheveled curls. This person was cold now, unable to warm him anymore.
Ryann was still in his arms. He couldn’t… he couldn’t die yet.
Time passed, pulse counts accumulated.
Empty syringes fell to the ground, making a faint echo.
Later, even this bit of obsession became unclear. He didn’t know who he was or where he was. Jiang Jianming constantly experienced hallucinations and illusions, repeatedly falling into semi-coma and struggling to regain consciousness.
In his daze, he even felt his consciousness float away from his body several times, only to be forcibly pulled back into this broken shell by something.
Not yet… not yet.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Something cool fell on his eyelids.
“…”
At the bottom of the ruins, the black-haired youth leaned his head against a broken iron-gray beam.
Suddenly, his chest heaved rapidly, his pupils moved slightly under his eyelids, and he choked weakly twice, “…cough…”
After struggling for a few seconds, Jiang Jianming finally opened his eyes tiredly, his gaze unfocused as it penetrated through layers of steel bars and rubble, looking up at the sky…
Oh, it was snowing.
Flurries of snow were floating down from the clouds.
Jiang Jianming barely moved, his shoe tip kicking empty syringes on the ground.
His gaze slowly lowered. Ryann was still lying in his arms. He shifted the person to a different position in his arm, reached out to brush aside the platinum blonde curls, and used his sleeve to wipe the blood stains from His Highness’s face.
The crystallization on Ryann’s body had receded significantly. His breathing and heartbeat were weak, but thankfully stable… Although still unconscious, he had survived the most dangerous period.
And he himself seemed to have recovered a bit, perhaps the recent slumber had accumulated a little strength for life. At least now his mind was clear, and he could move his limbs.
Of course, the possibility of a final burst of energy before death couldn’t be ruled out.
He hoped it wasn’t, he thought to himself.
Jiang Jianming leaned down to Ryann’s ear and called out twice more, but seeing no response, he gave up.
What to do next…?
He let out a long sigh, staring blankly at the snowy sky.
The next moment, a shadow loomed overhead.
An alien creature, its head full of nodules and crystal blocks, suddenly poked its head out from the piled rubble, baring its serrated mouthparts!
Jiang Jianming’s scalp tingled violently. He instinctively turned sideways to protect Ryann in his arms while his right hand swiftly drew his gun. Two loud bangs rang out as bullets penetrated the alien creature’s mouth and head.
Unexpectedly, this thing had unusually tenacious vitality. Not only did it not die, but it thrashed its body frantically – falling straight down from above, landing just tens of meters in front of him!
This won’t work… A handgun can’t handle this, and now without any resources, once the dozen or so new crystal mechanism bullets are spent, it’s useless.
Jiang Jianming gritted his teeth. The Wings of Venus fell from his hand to the ground as he carefully laid the unconscious Ryann down.
He extended his empty right hand. On his ring finger, the golden-red ring transformed into a sharp blade.
…
Ten minutes later.
The alien creature’s body was dismembered, its fluids and crystal shards splattered everywhere.
Jiang Jianming staggered back to Ryann’s side, his face pale, breathing chaotically.
Before today, he never would have imagined that he, a non-crystal human, would one day be forced into close combat with an alien creature.
A disabled human couldn’t, or at least shouldn’t…
Jiang Jianming collapsed to the ground, exhausted. His body felt cold in waves, and he soon started coughing again.
In the darkness, he stared blankly at the alien creature’s dismembered limbs, finally realizing how troublesome their current situation was.
The crystal particle concentration in the central area was now too high. Apart from Ryann, who barely managed to resist with his super S-class high-level crystal bones, only someone like him with chronic crystal disorder and injected with third-generation tranquilizers could avoid immediate death.
In other words, it was virtually impossible for the Imperial army to enter. Even if they could, the remaining Crystal Cult members who hadn’t died would certainly not let them in easily.
Major General Xie undoubtedly wished he could trade his life for the two highnesses, but as the fortress general, he couldn’t lose his rationality in this situation—otherwise, the Major General wouldn’t have actually given him the unlock code in the end.
To summarize: external rescue couldn’t be relied upon in the short term.
Now they were trapped here, without food, water, clothing, or medicine, without weapons or mechas, with only alien creatures running wild around them; to survive, they had to get out of here as quickly as possible.
The problem was, in their current state—
One was unconscious, a severely injured person who had consumed his crystal bones to the point of nearly killing himself, so even if he woke up, he wouldn’t have any fighting power.
The other was a disabled human suffering from chronic crystal disorder.
Jiang Jianming stared at his ring finger for a long while, thinking to himself: right now, the most reliable combat power between them was probably this ring.
If he were to die here now, and it could somehow bring this ring to life and successfully lead Ryann out, he would gladly accept it.
Unfortunately, there were no such convenient miracles in this world.
Jiang Jianming closed his eyes and opened them again, breathing heavily. He fumbled around and pulled out an angular stone from the ruins, and began to quickly sketch a map of the fortress on the ground.
The upper levels had collapsed. With his physical strength, it was impossible to carry Ryann and climb up, so they could only try to exit from the lower level.
It would be best if they could find a usable mecha along the way, then they could drive out.
If not, they’d have to walk, gritting their teeth. After all, the Crystal Cult members in the central area should all be dead from crystal disorder. Walking all the way to the East or North zone… it wasn’t impossible.
Jiang Jianming finished sketching the rough map, then quickly calculated the structure after the collapse and their current approximate coordinates, mentally noting places where they might be able to get supplies along the way.
After making all possible preparations, he kissed Ryann’s forehead and said softly, “Your Highness, please hold on a bit longer. We’re leaving.”
He lifted Ryann onto his back and began walking forward on the uneven ground.
Footsteps echoed emptily.
Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but wonder: What was it like outside? Was Margaret completely dead?
With so many Crystal Cult members committing suicide, their strength must have greatly diminished. Had the military gained the upper hand?
Even if they couldn’t achieve immediate victory, it should be much easier now.
If he could bring the Little Highness out alive, and at the moment they saw light again, they were greeted with news of the war’s victory, how wonderful would that be?
That would be perfect.
Ahead was a narrow opening. In the darkness, it appeared to be an automatic door that had been deformed under pressure.
Jiang Jianming leaned against the doorframe, catching his breath for a moment, thinking that his stamina had really weakened too much.
Not just because of his illness, but also due to the prolonged cold and hunger, intense mental strain, and combat exhaustion.
But this was just the beginning.
In these extreme circumstances, he wouldn’t even be able to close his eyes to sleep. He feared that once he slept, he would fall into a deep slumber, unable to wake up even if alien creatures attacked.
Jiang Jianming passed through the door, but his footsteps suddenly halted.
Opposite him, dense clusters of alien creatures were crouching in the depths of the corridor. Several blurry black shadows also hung from the ceiling above, their scarlet eyeballs coldly fixed on the newcomers.
Behind him came rustling sounds, seemingly more alien creatures approaching.
Jiang Jianming’s expression turned icy.
He realized they were surrounded.
