At the end of the 64th year of the New Imperial Era.
Far Star Frontier, near the Crystal Nest cosmic domain.
The fierce battle that lasted nearly three hours had ended. The remnants of the alien creatures floated in space, with transparent white crystal blocks resembling scattered islands on a deep sea.
The Silver Big Dipper fleet emerged from the battlefield, with the mecha troops returning to their ships in formation.
This was the first White Bird Expedition force dispatched by the female emperor since the empire had fully entered a state of war. The Silver Big Dipper’s First Army formed the main force, while the Golden Sun Wheel, which had experience supporting the Far Star Frontier, accounted for 30 percent.
Major General Xie Yuduo of the Silver Big Dipper was the chief commander. His Highness Crown Prince Ryann Kaios accompanied the expedition, and the little young master Yuan Changze of the Glorious Autonomous Dominion was also secretly along. The configuration could not be considered anything less than high-end.
Inside the flagship Tianshuhao.
Tang Zhen had just vomited once. He removed the expedition army’s special battle armor and staggeringly supported himself on the mecha’s body as he jumped down, his face pale. “Damn… headache, fucking crystal particles.”
Xie Yuduo brushed past him, patting the young military officer’s back. “Not bad, XiaoTang, you’ve improved since last time.”
Tang Zhen shuddered from the pat. “…Blergh!!”
He vomited again, messily.
The closer they got to the core area of the Crystal Nest, the harder it became to maintain stable mental and physical conditions — Xie Yuduo had encountered this problem during his unauthorized expedition as well.
At that time, they didn’t know the reason, but now it was clear: it was an attack launched by crystal particles against humans.
The expedition force had been advancing for a month, and the new anti-crystal battle armor developed by the Black Shark Base was almost ineffective. The empire’s soldiers had to learn new fighting methods while advancing under such high-load conditions: using mental power to counter the crystal particle consciousness.
“Major General Xie, the mecha squad has confirmed their return to the ship,” Yuan Changze ran over, taking three steps in two, stood at attention and handed over a towel. “Awaiting your orders!”
Xie Yuduo took it, roughly wiped off his sweat, “Where’s His Highness?”
Yuan Changze: “He hasn’t returned yet… I’ll go contact him.”
The once refined and cultured little young master was now also wearing the Silver Big Dipper’s military uniform, with the pistol Jiang Jianming had given him at his waist.
Initially, no one expected him to be able to do much, only assigning him some clerical work. It wasn’t until they reached the near Crystal Nest cosmic domain that they discovered Yuan Changze, being a non-crystal human, was much less affected by crystal particles compared to the new human soldiers.
This discovery was encouraging. Xie Yuduo immediately reported to Old Marshal Chen at the military department, hoping to select more non-crystal humans to come over for further comparative tests.
From behind, a dark golden stream of light passed through the corpse fragments of alien creatures, pursuing the starship fleet with superb piloting skills. It was the Crown of Golden Dawn, responsible for bringing up the rear.
Xie Yuduo: “He’s here!”
The blood-soaked mecha gradually slowed down as it approached the Tianshuhao, folded its back wings, and slid into the interior of the starship.
With a “thud”, military boots stepped onto the floor.
Ryann Kaios walked down from the mecha. The crystal bones like iron wings were in a half-retracted state, adhering to his spine, and the golden color was slowly fading from his eyes.
His expression was indifferent. He wore only ordinary Silver Big Dipper military uniform, his long curly hair tied at the back of his head and coiled once more. He was the only one in the entire army who participated in combat without wearing anti-crystal battle armor.
“Your Highness!”
Xie Yuduo hurriedly went forward, grabbed the Crown Prince and looked him up and down. Only after seeing that he wasn’t missing any arms or legs did he let out a sigh of relief, returning to his worried and nagging state.
“My goodness, Your Highness! Normal people bringing up the rear means covering the main force as they fight and retreat. But you…you just kept fighting and didn’t come back!?”
“There was just an S-class alien creature trailing behind, it wasn’t safe, so I casually cleaned it up,” Ryann said indifferently as he walked inside. “Don’t worry, I told you… I won’t do anything risky before he returns.”
“…”
Xie Yuduo’s expression was complex as he silently watched the Crown Prince’s cold figure disappear at the other end of the passageway.
It had been more than half a year since that thrilling battle to recapture the First Fortress. This also meant that nearly two hundred days had passed since they lost Jiang Jianming.
Time could dilute sorrow, but it couldn’t erase the missing piece in their hearts.
A few days ago, some soldiers were chatting idly, saying that since non-crystal humans were less affected by crystal particles, perhaps letting non-crystal humans lead the army might be the hope for breaking through to the Crystal Nest’s mother core.
“Heh, easier said than done,” a Silver Big Dipper man said, with a harmless cigarette in his mouth and hugging his anti-crystal face mask. “We used to think disabled humans were useless, military academies wouldn’t even admit disabled kids. Now where are we supposed to find a disabled human who can lead an army?”
Immediately, a large area around them fell silent.
Everyone could think of that person.
No one had the heart to say that name.
The blood that had gushed out had coagulated, then been washed clean by the waters of time, leaving behind a deep scar.
Usually, it was fine, but when accidentally bumped at certain moments, it would suddenly hurt enough to bring unstoppable tears.
At night, 11:30 PM.
There was no sunrise or sunset in space, but the army still strictly followed a 24-hour schedule.
Ryann came out of the shower, sat down at his desk with his long hair loose, and opened his wrist device.
He slowly pulled up a small video and projected the image in front of his eyes.
In the video, Jiang Jianming lay in a special sterile treatment cabin, his face as white as snow, eyes peacefully closed.
Still the same as always… No movement in his chest, no sound of breathing, not even the slightest stirring. Completely like a corpse.
Ryann stared at it intently. He carefully stretched out both hands, cradling that square image in his palms.
As if Jiang Jianming had become a thumb-sized child from a fairy tale, able to sleep in his hands.
“Woof.”
Seth gave a small bark beside him.
Ryann tapped his wrist device, his voice hoarse. “Quiet.”
This had become the Crown Prince’s daily routine. During the day, he analyzed the war situation with Xie Yuduo, occasionally going down to serve as a human-shaped bomb to clear the way for the fleet.
In the evening, when the fleet’s progress slowed, he would handle official business, checking on the empire’s situation and such.
Before bed, he gave himself thirty minutes to silently gaze at Jiang Jianming’s image.
This had become a habit.
The video was transmitted from the Black Shark Base. Due to the great distance, real-time communication was difficult, so they could only record it and send it once a month.
According to Sylph, they re-recorded every month, but with Jiang Jianming in this state, no one could tell if it was actually re-recorded or not.
Ryann didn’t care. Every day since losing his loved one felt like it was draining him. Sometimes in the dead of night, lying in bed, hidden under thick blankets, death would come howling through the darkness.
Closing his eyes brought visions of the snow-covered depths of the mecha, the fortress peak crisscrossed with skylight. Jiang Jianming would dissolve like foam in the distance, or turn into a piece of white cloth in his arms.
Unbearable pain would pierce him at this moment. The empire’s most powerful new human would suddenly open his eyes, like a child waking from a nightmare, clumsily tumbling out of bed.
Like a lost lamb, he would wander in circles around the bedroom, trying to find some medicine to stop the pain. In the end, he would inevitably dig out Jiang Jianming’s old clothes from a sealed bag, clutching them tightly in his arms, burying his face in them and rubbing, letting out deep, pained breaths with his head bowed.
But sometimes even this wouldn’t work. He could only open those videos sent from the base, hiding under the covers to watch them over and over again.
The small screen of light flashing in the darkness would gradually blur his vision, achieving an effect comparable to taking a tranquilizer.
…Good highness, you’re being too dramatic.
In his daze, Jiang Jianming’s phantom seemed to pat his hunched back helplessly: Your Highness, even when you left back then, I wasn’t like this.
“…I’m sorry for what happened back then.”
Mm, I forgive you. Just look at me for a while and then go to sleep, okay?
Ryann’s eyes were misty as he said softly, “Jiang, I miss you so much.”
Alright, alright, I know… I miss Your Highness too.
“When will you come back?”
I don’t know either, after all, I’m just a phantom you’ve imagined.
Jiang Jianming’s eyes were gentle as he leaned down to kiss him: Go to sleep now, you’re tired today. There are still things to do tomorrow.
Ryann closed his eyes. He would fall asleep imagining his lover’s voice in a state between dreaming and waking.
In any case, this had become his last resort to keep his emotions from spiraling out of control. Those thirty minutes every night could support him to live normally through the next day.
Sometimes he would also send messages to Sylph, asking about Jiang Jianming’s condition. But the condition was always unchanged, so he would turn to asking other things.
Like “What if he remembers the past and loses his will to live?” or “Among the original body and the two Base Bodies, which one is best for him, which one does he like the most?” and so on.
Sylph rarely replied. Ryann guessed the chief was fed up and automatically filtered them as spam in her mind.
Lin Ge, on the other hand, would occasionally send him things, like photos of people in Aslan Star City spontaneously gathering to “commemorate” Jiang Jianming, or emotional short essays trending on the Intelligence Network.
Ryann knew Lin Ge was trying to comfort him, to reassure him. Now that the empire had entered a state of war, citizens were living frugally, and with the added mental anxiety, social problems were bound to arise if this continued for long.
But the female emperor never let the soldiers stationed in the Far Star Frontier know about these things, nor did she tell him.
Beep beep—
Suddenly, the square projection flickered, and a pop-up window blocked Jiang Jianming’s image. There was an incoming call.
…It was only the seventeenth minute. His important time had been interrupted.
Ryann ground his teeth in irritation as he answered the call, hoping this wouldn’t affect his combat state tomorrow.
“Speak.”
“Your Highness! I apologize for disturbing your important time,” Xie Yuduo’s tense face appeared on the pop-up window. “Urgent report from the Second Fortress, the Lava Space Bandits…”
Ryann suddenly stood up, his eyes sharp. “Lava has shown up?”
After that battle on Alpha Alien Star, the Crystal Cult had been severely damaged by the imperial army, and the Lava Space Bandits had also abandoned their positions around Beta Alien Star, retreating towards the Far Star cosmic domain.
Several months had passed since then, and the fortress had not received any new information about the space bandits.
“Yes and no.”
Xie Yuduo had just said one sentence before shaking his head and changing his words, “We did receive news about the space bandits, but not near the fortress. It’s in a remote cosmic domain.”
“Lava was betrayed by the Crystal Cult. A large number of space bandits died from crystal disorder. Old Black Sheep and Red Dragon are both severely injured. Silver Big Dipper detected L-Hephaestus in flight.”
“—!”
The Crown Prince’s pupils contracted slightly, his face suddenly tense.
“Her Majesty and Old Marshal Chen just learned about this. They told us not to be distracted, to proceed with the expedition as planned. The empire will send troops to handle it, but we must also be careful.”
Ryann’s eyes darkened. “…I understand.”
“With so many new crystal disorder deaths, the power of the Crystal Nest might increase.”
