Ryann struggled to stand up.
Crunch, he stepped on snow beneath his feet.
Only then did he realize the mecha was open, and outside seemed to be night. Fine snow fell through cracks in the Stele of Heroes’ dome, coating a thin layer of white on the front of the mecha.
In the silence, the Crown Prince slowly walked towards the pilot’s seat.
“…Jiang?”
He circled to the side, lowering his eyes to look at the figure sitting there.
There was no suspense.
Ryann saw Jiang Jianming.
The person he loved. The person he deeply loved, both in his initial Base Body and after losing his memories.
The person he had hurt and abandoned, then cherished and protected again.
His shackles. The support, guidance, and destination of his soul. His destined encounter. His…
His Jiang Jianming was right in front of him.
In the pilot’s seat, the black-haired youth rested on snow, his head and neck slightly tilted to the side where Ryann stood.
Jiang Jianming’s eyes were gently closed, his eyelashes laying like raven feathers, his thin chest without a trace of movement.
His expression was peaceful. Though his cheeks and uniform were stained with blood, they were covered with a layer of frosty white, giving him a heart-stirring beauty.
“Jiang?”
Ryann called out softly again, enveloped by a dreamy and unreal feeling.
He stood there for a while, finding that Jiang Jianming didn’t respond to him, so he extended his arms and lifted him from the pilot’s seat.
This body was as soft as if the bones had been removed.
It was ice-cold, without a hint of body heat.
Ryann stepped back twice, holding Jiang Jianming as he slowly sat on the ground.
The black-haired officer’s neck hung in the crook of his arm, bending back, his hair swaying gently.
Ryann carefully cradled the nape of his neck in his palm, straightened Jiang Jianming’s face, and let him lean into his chest.
Then, His Highness also buried his head deeply, hugging Jiang Jianming tightly, pressing close to this body that had gone completely cold, as if waiting for something.
For instance, this person opening his eyes and waking up, or softly calling him “Your Highness”; or a finger twitching, or even just his throat trembling, unconsciously letting out a weak breath.
Or the next heartbeat, or the next breath, or… anything would do.
There was only the faint falling of snow.
Despairingly dark and silent.
Ryann waited like this for a long time, until he began to doubt his perception of time.
Was it because he was too nervous, too afraid, that he imagined such a brief moment to be so long?
Ryann pressed his cheek against the chest of the person in his arms.
Anything would do, he thought.
But there was nothing.
Jiang must be very tired, he thought again.
The journey had been so long, so difficult.
Ryann stood up, carrying the body in his arms, and placed it in the treatment cabin, closing the lid.
Just like before, he shut the frail, disabled human inside. Jiang was asleep, so he didn’t resist.
“…But, you can only sleep for a little while,” he thought in his mind.
As he began to speak, his voice was frightfully hoarse, “We’ll have to wait until we get out, then let the medics check you before you can sleep well, okay?”
In the dark medical mecha, Ryann’s Adam’s apple moved painfully as he watched motionlessly as the treatment cabin’s diagnostic program began to start.
[Beep—]
Dizzying small text began to scroll.
[Patient’s internal crystal particle content coefficient: Exceeds threshold, uncountable]
[Crystal particle disorder level: Abnormal]
[Confirmed mid-stage chronic crystal disorder, multiple organ weakening, cardiopulmonary failure]
[Right abdominal laceration, blood loss exceeds 25%]
[Confirmed patient has no spontaneous breathing]
[Heartbeat stopped, pulse stopped]
[Blood pressure zero, blood circulation stopped]
[Pupils dilated, brainstem reflexes gone, brain waves disappeared]
[Diagnosis result: Death confirmed]
Ryann knelt there, tracing the words with his finger, reading them one by one, trying to understand their meaning word by word.
Whir… With a faint sound, the mechanical probes in the treatment cabin retracted.
They did not perform treatment, but instead pulled out a white cloth from the tail of the cabin, intending to cover this corpse.
Just as the white cloth was about to cover Jiang Jianming’s body.
An indescribable sound erupted inside the mecha. It was heart-wrenching yet suppressed to the extreme. To describe it as a wail, cry, or roar would be inaccurate.
Ryann suddenly sprang up as if ignited, his eyes blood-red as if about to kill someone. True crystals exploded out of thin air, blowing away half of the treatment cabin.
He stood up, breathing rapidly, his eyes darting around wildly, shaking his head neurotically as he stepped back.
No.
No, no, no.
The mecha wasn’t large to begin with, and Ryann’s back hit the inner wall. The unhealed wound instantly caused excruciating pain, shocking him awake again. He helplessly returned to the treatment cabin once more.
Of course, a specialized medical mecha wouldn’t be equipped with just one treatment cabin. Ryann picked up Jiang Jianming again and moved him to another intact one.
With a distraught expression, he pulled out an oxygen mask, manually adjusted the oxygen concentration, the tranquilizer concentration, and added a bit of pain medication.
He gently placed it on Jiang Jianming’s pale face.
He took out a blood pack of the matching type, picked up the patient’s limp arm, and inserted the thin needle for the blood transfusion.
He lifted the blood-soaked silver-black military uniform, seeing the wounds left from the disabled human’s battle with the alien creatures.
He suddenly froze, hurriedly grabbing the beam treatment device, shining it on those gruesome wounds.
In just a minute or two, Ryann’s eyes could no longer focus, cold sweat drenched his temples, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
He kept doing these things, stubbornly trying to salvage something, to save something.
How could he have suffered such severe injuries, he thought dazedly. So Jiang Jianming had endured such serious injuries and illness while carrying him to the Stele of Heroes.
No wonder he didn’t want to wake up. It really was too painful, too exhausting.
And now?
Do you feel a bit better, a bit more comfortable?
When you’ve slept enough, can you wake up?
Come back to my side.
The beam treatment device scanned futilely, but the wounds didn’t heal, and the blood had long since coagulated.
The principle of the treatment device was to promote cell regeneration, but now the cells in the body had already died, naturally powerless to reverse the situation.
“…”
A heavy black fog rose before Ryann’s eyes, and he gently put down the beam treatment device.
He slowly bent his spine outside the treatment cabin, curling up and gasping.
“You lied to me…”
He muttered to himself with a dazed look, “You lied to me… you said if I died, it would protect him…”
At some point, the screen next to this treatment cabin also flashed with the same small text as the previous one. This time Ryann saw it clearly and understood it clearly.
[Diagnosis result: Death confirmed]
Death confirmed.
Death.
Ah, so his Jiang Jianming had died.
That military school student who languidly lowered his eyes to read books in the summer library, that thin young man wrapped in a coat holding a latte to warm his hands on a winter street corner.
That disabled human who had quietly gazed at the boundless sea of stars, suddenly turning back with a glance, eyes clear, like a piece of uncut jade containing infinite talent.
Gone forever.
Bidding farewell to this world forever.
That person who had rushed to a brutal battle with all his might, who had performed heroic feats beyond his frail shell countless times, finally died at the bottom of the Stele of Heroes, died in the depths of darkness, died at the end of wind and snow.
With no company except for the heavy injuries and illness. The result of a lifetime of struggle was an extremely lonely death.
Inside the medical mecha, time passed unknowingly.
Until Ryann reached out and removed the rescue equipment he had just frantically applied from Jiang Jianming’s body, one by one.
He checked the mecha’s storage compartment and indeed found several sets of brand new Silver Big Dipper uniforms. He chose one that fit Jiang Jianming’s size and changed him into it.
Using a towel dipped in clean water, he wiped away the blood stains.
The revealed face was still handsome and beautiful.
Ryann looked at it quietly for a long time, unable to resist bending down to kiss the disabled human’s brow and lips.
Finally, His Highness took out the white cloth from the treatment cabin and carefully covered Jiang Jianming’s body.
He stood up, lifting Jiang Jianming horizontally along with the white cloth, and walked towards the outside of the Stele of Heroes.
How strange.
He couldn’t cry at all.
****
Outside the First Fortress, the sky was just beginning to dawn.
The war ended in a hard-won victory.
The Crystal Cult, targeted and out of options, could no longer turn the tide. At this point, the Imperial army’s advantage in manpower and resources finally became evident, annihilating most of the heretics on the Alpha Alien battlefield.
The remaining Crystal Cult members who escaped to the universe were pursued relentlessly by the Imperial starships, now driven to bloodlust. The close distance prevented the Crystal Cult from opening jump wormholes, leaving them only able to flee desperately.
Unfortunately, after nearly three hours of fleeing, they still couldn’t break free from the jump blockade. What happened afterward was tragic.
First, they encountered the reinforcement fleet that had jumped from the Third Fortress, and after being beaten badly, the forces deployed by Jiang Jianming also arrived.
By this time, the Imperial army had successfully driven the Crystal Cult out of Alpha Alien Star and entered the space combat stage.
As the combat distance units extended, the Crystal Cult’s tactic of “dragging others into crystal disorder” became difficult to implement. Xie Yuduo followed Jiang Jianming’s strategy steadily, choosing a stable area of space and surrounding the Crystal Cult.
After a day and night of fighting, this heretical cult that had plagued the empire was finally almost completely eradicated.
The only regret was that the Archbishop Gaius and the Bishop of Destruction Su had disappeared without a trace. It seemed they had escaped again.
Before daybreak, Xie Yuduo led his troops back to the First Fortress.
They had finally won. The Major General let out a long sigh. His whole body ached with fatigue, and he wished he could throw himself into bed and sleep for three days straight.
But there was also an exhilarating sense of satisfaction in his heart.
They had won. Facing such inhuman enemies, they had reclaimed their fortress and avenged the empire’s attack. What next? Could they now set their sights on the Crystal Nest?
This sentiment now filled the heart of every soldier.
So even though they were as tired as dead dogs, there was still a light in everyone’s eyes. They couldn’t stop talking, and the army was buzzing with excitement.
Amid the excited clamor, suddenly a Silver Big Dipper officer couldn’t help but ask Xie Yuduo over the communications channel:
“By the way, Major General, is our Little Excellency on your Tianshuhao flagship?”
Immediately, a second person followed up: “Yes, how are the Crown Prince and His Highnes Jiang? Are they badly injured? Why haven’t we seen them?”
“Ah, it was too close this time. If it weren’t for the two highnesses holding out in two waves, I dare not imagine what would have happened.”
“Speaking of which, I hope His Highness Jiang won’t fall ill from exhaustion again. Yesterday, when I heard him commanding, his voice made me tremble with fear, worried he might faint at any moment…”
Xie Yuduo had just disembarked from the starship and taken only a few steps on the fortress’s alloy steel plates. Listening to the voices in his earpiece, his expression stiffened a bit.
The soldiers, immersed in boundless joy, asked one after another where their heroes were.
But…
It had been almost a whole day, and Little Excellency Jiang hadn’t responded to his messages since he left.
Xie Yuduo wasn’t unconcerned, but with both highnesses absent, he was the highest-ranking commander. Earlier, with the raging battle in space, he couldn’t afford to think about anything else.
Now that they had finally returned to the fortress, the Major General was even more anxious than those clamoring soldiers — how were the two highnesses doing?
But he still couldn’t go look for them personally.
The Third Fortress had come to their aid from afar, and he had to at least go greet them first.
Moreover, it was said that the Mecha Master in charge of developing the mecha’s mental manipulation system had also come with the army. And he was anxiously wanting to see the Major General, seemingly to inquire about someone.
