One year’s time was truly hard to say whether it passed quickly or slowly.
Ryann lay on his side on the experimental table, his emerald eyes watching the medicine drip by drip through the tube.
He turned over expressionlessly and said to the old man beside him, “If you can’t produce the medicine by the agreed deadline, I’ll go and die.”
The elderly hands adjusted the flow rate of the medicine. Vladimir frowned with a headache, muttering, “Your Highness, you haven’t actually fallen in love with someone, have you?”
Love.
Aslan had mentioned it before, human love.
What was love, Ryann stared at the alternating crystal clusters on his arm.
“Grandpa…”
A tender voice came from outside the laboratory. Vladimir’s expression changed slightly as he turned around, “Sylph!?”
“Who brought you here? This place is…”
A silver-haired little girl peeked from the laboratory door, her features as delicate as a snow elf.
She timidly said, “Sylph doesn’t want to leave with Mom and Dad. I like it here. I want to stay here and do experiments with Grandpa.”
Ryann closed his eyes, uninterested.
He knew some things about this head of the Gray Owl laboratory. Vladimir had followed Odin I for decades. Since entering the Gray Owl laboratory, he had buried himself in research, with very poor relationships with his family.
As for this granddaughter called “Sylph”, she seemed to be a prodigy in crystal particle studies. In recent years, she could occasionally be seen wandering the corridors of the laboratory. It seemed her parents had finally had enough and wanted to take their daughter away.
“Kaios.”
Suddenly, little Sylph called out to him, her azure eyes blinking, “I know your name is Kaios. I’ve always wanted to…”
Vladimir angrily rebuked, “Sylph! Get out!”
Sylph said sadly, “Grandpa, Sylph has already finished learning everything in the books. I also want to use Kaios for experiments, to research medicines that can cure people…”
Before she could finish, the little girl was picked up by her grandfather like a chick. Vladimir stormed out with Sylph in tow.
Ryann found it somewhat amusing, thinking it wasn’t hard to understand why her parents wanted to take her away.
Such a pure and innocent girl should be at home hugging dolls and fairy tale books, not calmly greeting a bloody, mangled monster of an experimental subject with: “Hi, can I use you for experiments?”
But it was just a fleeting glimpse. The tidal waves of time roared, sweeping them in different directions. Whether it was the otherworldly little girl or the young prince in the depths of the laboratory, they would soon forget each other—
Waiting for many years later, to meet again with completely different appearances.
****
Winter passed and spring came, and the spring flowers quickly fell again.
Compared to Ryann who stayed in the laboratory day after day, the changes were greater for Jiang Jianming and Lin Ge.
Since Ryann left, Jiang Jianming began drawing tally marks on the wall, counting three hundred and sixty-five days.
Lin Ge cursed and grumbled almost every day.
“Hmph, is that little bastard really so great?”
In the evening, as the young girl arranged her spoils from scavenging garbage, she muttered.
“Anyway, you think he’s a prince, so noble, unlike a lowly commoner like me who can’t even understand your grand reasoning, right… Oh, there’s a potato today! This is called a potato, right? If we cut off the green parts and boil it, we can eat it…”
“Lin Ge.”
Jiang Jianming tossed aside the rock he was using to draw tally marks. He called the girl’s name, with what seemed like dust floating in the depths of his black eyes.
“Let me tell you something. Do you want to be a lord?”
“?” Lin Ge responded with a confused look.
Jiang Jianming gazed calmly at the wall where he was counting days. “I’m asking, do you want to be a lord?”
Lin Ge: “Huh? Are you angry? Is this some kind of sarcastic reference?”
“…”
Jiang Jianming wasn’t joking. With one year left on his self-imposed life countdown, he wasn’t accustomed to waiting for outside salvation.
Before parting, he decided to leave some inheritance for the girl who had followed him for so long.
These past two days, Jiang Jianming had been pondering this matter. On one hand, Ryann had slaughtered the people sent by the “Sharp Horn” lord to extort them, which counted as making an enemy. Leaving it unaddressed would be a future trouble for Lin Ge and the surrounding vagrants.
Moreover, although he had taught Ryann some anti-detection techniques before leaving, the royal family had eyes and ears everywhere. It would be hard to guarantee they wouldn’t investigate Sharp Horn in the future, which would be even more dangerous then.
But if they could directly occupy “Sharp Horn”, then these problems would no longer be problems.
In these two years, Lin Ge’s crystal bones had begun to grow. When she reached adulthood, she would be at least top-tier B-rank, possibly even breaking through to A-rank. The little girl was born with a personality suited for fighting in the wild areas, and his polishing had gradually made her more steady. After his death, as long as Lin Ge could hold her ground, guarding a territory wouldn’t be a problem.
And… having a few underlings around her, being a big sister who could order people around in the wild areas, at least she wouldn’t be lonely.
Of course, he couldn’t say it like that. Jiang Jianming smiled slightly and said seriously, “Don’t you think it’s unreliable for me to count on His Highness the Prince to save my life?”
“So you go become a lord, and let me enjoy some good fortune before I die.”
— That was at the end of the first month after Ryann left.
The second month was preliminary work.
“Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.”
After saying this, Jiang Jianming recited all the big and small pieces of information about the Sharp Horn territory.
Lin Ge’s eye twitched, “So you’ve been eyeing Sharp Horn for a while, haven’t you?”
Jiang Jianming: “Not really, I know roughly the information of those few lords in the Z2 wild area.”
Indeed, this was the man who had easily incited two territories to fight each other years ago.
Lin Ge: “…I feel like there’s a possibility that you rebelling yourself might be more reliable than counting on that little bastard…”
The information accumulated over many years did not satisfy Jiang Jianming.
The third month began, and Jiang Jianming brought her to the old place to light a bonfire.
As expected, there were people there. The vagrants gathered in groups, timidly watching from a distance.
Clearly, the recent bloodshed had thoroughly frightened them, but they were also afraid of retaliation if they didn’t come.
For the first time, Jiang Jianming didn’t sit down, but stood. The bonfire in front of him no longer gently outlined his downcast eyebrows, but illuminated his gaunt jaw from below.
“Dawn,” someone finally said dryly, “We are, uh, I think there might be some misunderstanding between us…”
“This will be the last time I speak to you here,” Jiang Jianming said flatly without even glancing at the speaker. “Two months ago, Sharp Horn’s people died here, with no survivors.”
“They haven’t made a move yet, only because they fear that youth with extraordinary crystal bones, just like you do.”
“But that child was only a distinguished guest staying temporarily, and will likely never return to this wild area. Soon the lord’s forces will realize this, and you all know what this place will face.”
Jiang Jianming coughed twice, then lowered his gaze to the girl beside him. “…I don’t have long to live, so I don’t care about anything anymore. After I die, do you think Lin Ge will care whether you live or die?”
The vagrants silently watched him.
Jiang Jianming said quietly, “I’m tired. I can’t wait for too long.”
Finally, slowly, an emaciated figure squeezed out of the crowd.
Jiang Jianming immediately recognized him – it was the young man he had saved from Ryann’s crystal bones at the last moment.
Two months had passed, and this already thin man had become even thinner. His eye sockets and cheekbones protruded, looking somewhat eerie in the firelight.
“Before, many of us thought… as long as we could survive, living on our knees was still living,” he said, his lips twitching, his hoarse voice mumbling. His gaze towards Jiang Jianming gradually became sorrowful. “But actually, it’s the opposite.”
“For people with worthless lives, we die standing or we die kneeling.”
The emaciated young man’s face seemed to be both crying and laughing. “Dawn… we want to listen to you now. Is it still not too late?”
“I said, I don’t have long to live,” Jiang Jianming said impassively, pulling Lin Ge over. “Listen to her.”
In the fourth month, the battle began.
With manpower ready, this battle wasn’t actually difficult to fight.
The reason was simple: the Holy Human Empire’s weapon control over civilians was extremely strict. Nobles could travel with hundreds of armed starships as escorts, while lower-class people might never even touch a firearm in their entire lives.
The lords who acted tyrannically in the wild areas would have been mere village chiefs in the Old Blue Mother Star era, unable to access truly destructive weapons.
In a situation without much technological disparity, ancient tactics proved remarkably effective.
Guerrilla warfare, surprise attacks, ambushes, traps.
Timing, terrain, and unity of people.
The first operation took place on a foggy night. Jiang Jianming targeted a small troop from Sharp Horn that had gone out to scavenge.
He made several time-delay bombs using scavenged lighters, cigarettes, and expired insecticide, detonating them on a remote mountain path. Lin Ge led the group of vagrants to charge out. The disabled humans disguised crystal bones by attaching glass shards to tree branches, scaring Sharp Horn’s people so badly they fled, abandoning their supplies.
The next morning, those vagrants whose lives had been as cheap as grass tasted for the first time what it was like to eat their fill through the courage of resistance.
Victory added confidence, and confidence boosted morale.
However, Jiang Jianming’s health rapidly deteriorated.
To keep the battle plan running, he had to work day and night. The high-intensity mental consumption burned what little life he had left, and his symptoms flared up more and more frequently.
Lin Ge finally realized this couldn’t go on.
She went to confront Jiang Jianming, but he chuckled, “Otherwise, why do you think I waited until this year to do this?”
Seeing her face turn ashen, he changed his tone, “…I’m joking. You were too young before, and my preparations weren’t adequate. Even if I wanted to fight, we couldn’t have won. Now the timing is just right.”
The timing was just right.
Did he mean that by the time he captured a territory as an inheritance for her, he would have also used up his life, not wasting anything?
But what about enjoying some good fortune before dying, as originally agreed?
By this time, the Sharp Horn lord already viewed their group as thorns in his side. There was no way back long ago.
He had calculated even this.
Lin Ge gritted her teeth in hatred, her eyes red, “What about that little bastard? You won’t last a year like this.”
Jiang Jianming shook his head, “I know what I’m doing.”
……
The guerrilla warfare continued for three months.
In the seventh month, when Lin Ge had become accustomed to being called “Lord” by the initial group of vagrants, they had their first head-on clash with Sharp Horn’s forces.
The result was comical.
Sharp Horn’s people defected halfway through the battle.
Because as they fought, they were surprised to discover that the rules of the opposing side were very strange, and the teenage girl lord was even stranger — she actually let everyone have food to eat!
The elderly, the wounded, pregnant women, and even disabled humans could eat the same food as the lord herself.
Not only that, there seemed to be no concept of slaves there. No one needed to kowtow to the lord.
Surrendered prisoners weren’t killed indiscriminately. Comrades who became crippled weren’t abandoned.
The best things were always distributed as rewards to those who had rendered meritorious service, rather than to the lord and her immediate family…
Unheard of!
How could such a wondrous territory exist in this world?
The low-ranking “soldiers” of Sharp Horn territory discussed among themselves, then chopped off the heads of their minor leaders, stole their own supplies, and came to surrender.
At the same time, more vagrants from the surrounding areas were attracted, coming to pledge their loyalty to Lin Ge. The scales of victory began to visibly tilt.
By this time, Jiang Jianming could no longer manage many affairs. He began to fall into long periods of stupor, and each time he woke, the first thing he felt was pain.
It hurt so much. Every word spoken, every breath taken was like torture.
However, the subsequent plans had been arranged well, so there was no need to worry.
The only thing he needed to keep in mind was to keep track of the days clearly.
Jiang Jianming laboriously raised his hand, drawing another tally mark on the small, tattered paper he carried.
The eighth month.
Dawn Aslan had not appeared in public for a long time.
Lin Ge protected him very carefully. Some newly joined vagrants weren’t even quite clear that such a person existed.
They only occasionally heard in conversations about a black-haired youth who once wore a cloak and told stories in front of bonfires. It was he who raised the lord, and he who gradually taught the ignorant people what was good and evil, what was courage.
The tenth month.
The Sharp Horn lord was stabbed to death in an internal rebellion.
A fire burned for a whole night. The day after the flames were extinguished, Lin Ge took control of this territory.
When she told Jiang Jianming this news, his five senses had already weakened significantly. His eyes couldn’t see clearly, and his hearing and sense of taste had also dulled considerably.
After hearing it, the figure lying on the bed laboriously reached out, wanting to pat the girl’s head as he had done before.
The pale hand that reached out was trembling, the fingertips so withered that only a bit of wrinkled skin clung to the bones.
Jiang Jianming paused, thinking in his hazy state that he saw his deceased mother.
It took a while to realize that it was his own hand.
He thought dazedly, have I really reached this state?
“Don’t move, don’t move…”
Lin Ge quickly grasped his hand. She smiled, with a calm light in her eyes, “Jiang, we’ve won. Hmph, see? I can let you live a good life earlier than that little bastard who’s who-knows-where, right?”
Jiang Jianming thought she would cry, just like when she had stuffed the apple into his hand last time.
But Lin Ge just smiled, holding his arm, laying her head by the bed and talking to him incessantly… She talked for a long time. He could no longer stay conscious for long periods and fell asleep halfway through.
The eleventh month.
Neither the “good life” nor the “enjoyment of fortune” had arrived as expected.
A young lady lord not yet twenty years old, a group of the lowest-class refugees… Faced with such a force, the surrounding lords were all testing the waters.
At the same time, large numbers of refugees from other territories came flocking with their families, quickly exceeding the carrying capacity.
Signs of internal division also emerged, mainly regarding how to reward meritorious service, how to deal with Sharp Horn’s old subordinates, whether to accept outsiders, and other such issues.
Lin Ge was at her wits’ end every single day, with all kinds of choices weighing on her shoulders. Many situations had no precedent.
There was no choice but to roll up her sleeves and get to work, even if she had to grit her teeth.
As she worked and worked, time slipped away.
The twelfth month was still difficult, but thankfully Jiang Jianming could still have moments of clarity every few days to help her patch up the holes and get through these two toughest months.
So it really was just right.
The sun sank down, and the night swallowed up the last bit of twilight.
Lin Ge lay prone at the head of the bed, watching Jiang Jianming finish writing the last stroke of the character “zheng” (正).
That “zheng” was not straight at all, but crooked and twisted. The patient, in pain and weakness, could no longer write characters straight.
Outside the window, snow was falling softly. It was another cold winter.
Was this how it ended – a year?
Lin Ge felt it wasn’t real. She heard Jiang Jianming’s gentle voice.
“If someday… Ryann really comes back, help me comfort him.”
Lin Ge didn’t know what to say. She squeezed out a sound from her throat, feeling as if she was spitting out some kind of juice, “You…”
“Do you want to… wait a bit longer, I mean, until tomorrow morning when it’s warmer?”
Jiang Jianming shook his head, smiling as he panted softly, “I want the starry sky to see me off.”
What could be done? It was his final wish.
Lin Ge carried Jiang Jianming on her back and walked out under cover of night.
Just like when the black-haired youth who had lost his mother carried the dirty, smelly little garbage back home from the vast wilderness.
Only this time it was reversed.
Lin Ge carried Jiang Jianming on her back, treading through the dark night, under the starry sky, walking towards the mass grave for chronic crystal disorder patients.
Jiang Jianming stubbornly refused to let her see him die. So when she got there, she put him down and came back.
When she left, there was still a weight on her back. On the return journey she was alone, and for the rest of her life she would be alone.
Lin Ge’s mind was blank. She didn’t know how she walked. The only thought in her mind was: She was already a lord now, and could even get her hands on the little cookies that only upper-class people could afford to eat if she tried hard enough.
At this moment, why was there no one to tug at the hem of her clothes?
When she returned to the territory, the sky seemed to have brightened.
But it shouldn’t have. It should still have been the middle of the night.
Lin Ge slowly raised her head, then widened her right eye.
For the first time, she saw a starship.
It was what Jiang Jianming had spoken of, a great ship that could instantly traverse between star cities.
The starship’s tail flame lit up the night sky like daylight. Countless people in the territory were startled awake from their sleep, rushing out barefoot and looking up with mouths agape.
The armed starship that the lowly people of the wild areas had never seen before emerged from the distorted spherical space, rapidly descending towards the land.
