To Play
On this day, the conversation in the underground Stele of Heroes ended with Jiang Jianming’s sentence: “There are too many unknowns in the future, please let me consider it slowly.”
Xie Yuduo returned to his regular appearance, and after coming up from the Stele of Heroes, he sent Jiang Jianming back to the treatment area with a grin. “You don’t have to be too stressed either, just go back for rehabilitation, you see, staying in the Far Star will consume tranquilizers in vain.”
Jiang Jianming: “Don’t talk about tranquilizers.”
Xie Yuduo: “…….Okay, Little Excellency.”
When the two returned to the ward, they were dazzled by the sunlight when they opened the door. The curtains were rolled up and hung on both sides of the window sill, and there was a vast expanse of light inside.
Garcia was sitting at the small table beside the bed, eyelashes drooping, peeling the apple seriously, the contrast between the snow-white fingers and the bright red apple skin was too strong.
He put down the fruit knife when he heard the door open, and stopped the timer on his wrist with the back of his hand that wasn’t stained with fruit juice.
Then he turned his head and scolded with a heavy face, “I said you can’t go out for more than an hour. Now, it’s nine minutes and thirteen seconds overdue.”
Jiang Jianming: “I’m sorry.”
Garcia raised his eyebrows and snorted coldly, “I’m sorry? What’s the use?”
Jiang Jianming: “…Your Highness, how old are you, haven’t you been a little too mischievous these past few days?”
Garcia: “Didn’t Major General Xie tell his beloved little excellency that I only have three years of memory?”
“….”
Jiang Jianming didn’t bother to pay attention to him, he walked to the side of the hospital bed and sat down with the support of the head of the bed. Of course the overtime was to be blamed on Major General Xie, but he didn’t say anything, for fear that His Highness would get angry if he knew that the Major General Xie was trying to abduct him.
Garcia walked over and placed a plate of apples and hand sanitizer wipes next to him, gesturing to him to eat by himself, then pointed to the pillow and said, “Lie down, show me the wound.”
Again……..Xie Yuduo, who was on the sidelines, who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, hurriedly said, “Then this lowly official will take his leave first, you two have fun-”
Garcia didn’t even look back, “Stop, I still have something to say to you.”
Xie Yuduo had no choice but to turn around feeling aggrieved. It happened when Jiang Jianming was carefully wiping every finger with a towel, and when the prince’s hand had untied the belt of the disabled human officer.
To look at the wound, taking off the clothes was reasonable.
Halfway through, Garcia quickly glanced at Xie Yuduo vigilantly, stretched out his hand and pulled the white gauze curtain over the hospital bed, covering the scene on the bed.
Xie Yuduo: “……”
Garcia obviously didn’t think that there was anything wrong with his excessive “food” protection behavior. While taking off Jiang Jianming’s clothes on the bed, he said to Xie Yuduo lightly, “Just now I received a communication, someone told me to go to the empire.”
Jiang Jianming was suddenly startled, and the finger that was about to touch the apple to eat stopped, “Are you going back to the empire?”
Xie Yuduo, who was pretending to be a light bulb nearby, was even more frightened. Three years had passed since “Ryann” sacrificed himself on the surface, and it had also been three years since the identity of “Garcia” appeared in the world……..
For nearly a thousand days, His Highness Garcia had never stepped into the territory of the empire, yet now someone wanted him to go to the empire?
But last night, Little Excellency was also called back by the old marshal, and now, it was His Highness. If one said that there’s no connection at all, even ghosts would not believe it.
Xie Yuduo quickly asked, “Who?”
Garcia: “The chief.”
Just like “Great Emperor”, the common word “chief” also had a specific reference in the empire, it was referring to the base leader of the Black Shark Base.
“This is very interesting……”
Garcia sneered, and slowly said with self-mockery between his teeth, “They dare to let me show my face in the empire, they are not afraid of causing public commotion.”
“Don’t move, I’m changing the dressing.” The prince said and pressed Jiang Jianming, who moved a bit, “Make a sound if it hurts.”
Xie Yuduo: “This, so you want to..?”
Garcia began to remove the gauze, while occasionally glancing at Xie Yuduo behind him, “…the chief did not tell the reason. As for me, I have no concept of the empire, however, I don’t like being misunderstood as a dead person by foolish people, let alone being ordered.”
“Therefore I won’t go back. I am telling you this to prepare you in case the empire sends someone to capture me in a starship…to be careful of your fortress getting involved in the crossfire.”
“Your Highness.” Jiang Jianming said suddenly.
The new gauze soaked in the cooling medicine fell on the wound on the waist and abdomen, causing the skin to tremble slightly.
He moved his Adam’s apple faintly and stared at Garcia’s hand, “It should be the job of the medical staff to change the dressing.”
Garcia wrapped the gauze around him, bowed his head and said, “I’ve been mischievous these past few days.”
“No, but then, Your Highness Garcia…”
Xie Yuduo’s mind was in a mess, the expression on his face changed into an extremely complicated expression and finally he squeezed out an awkward but polite smile, “Do you know that the Little Excellency also wants to go back?”
Garcia’s hand froze suddenly.
The expression on his face became extremely sinister and terrifying for a moment.
It’s hard to describe that kind of demeanor, but if insistently wanting to describe it in words—
It’s as if you’ve gone out of your way to cook yourself an extraordinarily sumptuous dinner, unfold your napkin, pick up your knife and fork, and pour yourself a glass of chilled red wine, just about to enjoy dinner elegantly.
But then the roast duck in front of you suddenly jumped up, quacked and laughed at you three times, and then flew out of the window….it was like that.
The prince’s emerald eyes slowly fell, and they looked even thinner and sharper under the sunlight.
He stared at Jiang Jianming, whose clothes were half-opened on the bed, and gritted his teeth, “You want to go back?”
Jiang Jianming took an apple and ate it, and then nodded upon hearing this.
Garcia grabbed his wrist coldly, not letting him enjoy the fruit he had peeled, “What are you going back for?”
“Meeting acquaintances, rehabilitation, and saving money.” Jiang Jianming replied.
“Because my tranquilizers were almost emptied out by someone.”
“…….”
Xie Yuduo struggled to hold back his laughter.
“Rehabilitation is a good thing, and I will compensate for the money.” There was no trace of either joy or anger in Garcia’s tone, “When are you going to leave and when will you come back?”
Jiang Jianming: “The major general will arrange a starship for me, about a week or two later.”
Garcia: “Return date?”
Jiang Jianming: “…..don’t know when.”
“Tsk.” Garcia’s face turned cold all of a sudden, and he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed Jiang Jianming’s earlobe with the momentum of a lightning strike. “Ah!” Jiang Jianming let out a soft cry, and the apple in his hand almost slipped off.
What kind of unpredictable way of throwing a temper tantrum is this!?
Garcia seemed to feel better after the ruckus was over. Turning around, he said to Major General Xie nonchalantly, “Let’s go back together, Major General, make the arrangements.”
Xie Yuduo: “?”
“Cough cough.…..” Jiang Jianming choked on the apple juice in his throat, and looked at the prince in disbelief.
Garcia, as if he had found evidence, put the quilt on Jiang Jianming and said in a mocking tone, “You see, he is so prone to trouble, and he still has injuries on his body. Someone needs to watch over him.”
After he finished speaking, His Royal Highness snatched the piece of apple that Jiang Jianming took two bites in his hand, turned around and put it in his mouth.
Jiang Jianming: “……..”
What’s the matter with this man today?
Is really pretending to be a three-year-old mischievous child, addicting??
****
Far Star, at an asteroid belt several light-years away from Alpha Alien Star.
The starships of the Lava Pirates were settled here.
It was still an extravagantly decorated hall, and there was still the long golden red carpet. Only this time, there were space bandits standing in twos and threes on the carpet, looking up at the seat at the end.
A black cat licked its fur next to a throne studded with jeweled diamonds. Chilong sat on the seat with a sullen expression, slowly stroking a scar on his cheek. It was a gift left by the bullets of the disabled human officer when they were on the Alien Alpha Star.
Suddenly, Chilong’s finger forcefully pierced the freshly scabbed wound with his nails, causing blood to flow down again!
“Disabled human…….”
The red-haired boy lowered his head and laughed grimly. He stared at the blood on his fingertips, and shrugged his shoulders, “Hehe, hahahaha, I was shot by a disabled human, a disabled human could actually make me bleed…..”
“Ahahahaha!!” He laughed wildly, flicking his red hair wildly, “It’s fun, it’s so fun, I like it so much!!”
“Next time, next time I’ll kill him with my own hands. No, I’ll beat him down, trample him, watch him cry and beg for mercy—and then kill him!”
The space bandits below had long been accustomed to the madness of their young leader, and did not show any special expressions.
Instead, one of them scratched his head and snorted through his big nostrils, “Boss, the old woman of the empire, the emperor is going to celebrate her birthday again, recent ideas were impossible, no good to fight.”
Chilong suppressed his laughter, squinted his eyes and said, “Foolish thing, then wait to starve to death this winter. Use your rotten meat to cook a pot of soup and feed it to my Hululu.”
The black cat “Hululu” wagged its tail and showed its belly beside the seat.
The space bandit shrank his neck and stepped back. Then another space bandit asked loudly, “Hey, boss, what about those mysterious guests who were willing to join forces with us last time? What plans do they have?”
“They…..”
Speaking of this, Chilong’s eyes sank. He unconsciously rubbed his lips with his fingers, and the blood painted his lips a bright red color.
“That’s right, who exactly are they?”
****
Far Star, unknown universe.
More than a dozen starships were slowly driving between the galaxy, dragging out a light blue wake. The strange thing was that each of them had bare metal exteriors, the metal was not painted with protective paint, nor was it printed with any patterns indicating the affiliation of the forces.
They flew silently in the universe like this, giving people a feeling of inorganic dead silence.
A mecha flew from afar and hovered beside the flagship at the forefront. A few seconds later, the ship door opened, and the mecha drove into the interior of the starship.
The mecha still in flight glided along the aisle in the starship, and finally stopped at an entrance of a room.
When the cockpit opened, a man came out of the mecha. He was wrapped in a very large black robe, and his face and figure could not be seen clearly.
A voice came from the inside of the room.
“You seem to have failed, my ‘Destruction’.”
The man in black took off his black robe, he turned out to be a young man in his thirties, but his hair at the temples was gray and white, like that of an old person.
He walked inside and said lightly, “Yes, I was careless, and I am willing to accept the punishment I deserve. I didn’t expect that in the current imperial army, there are still people who can overcome the difficulties of my layout.”
“You’re excited.”
In the room sat a mysterious man in white, “Is it because the “chess” met its opponent, is this what you’re happy about?” (TL: opponent that could overcome his chessboard or layout)
“Yes, unfortunately, it seems that I can’t completely get rid of these lowly emotions and desires. And you…..you never seem to be excited, your presence makes me feel like a shame in this place.”
The man called “Destruction” lowered his head, “Your Excellency, the Archbishop.”
The man in white smiled softly, but did not speak. Two temperaments of indifference and compassion, which should be completely different, flowed in his eyes. His face and facial features were very gentle, making it impossible to distinguish his age.
Beside the man in white, sat a girl who appeared to be sixteen or seventeen years old. The girl was wearing a beautiful dress, with a snow-white hem that spreaded on the ground, like layers of petals.
When the two were talking, she was holding a pile of real crystal ores in her arms, repeating a series of actions without distraction—
Opening her mouth, releasing crystal bones from her teeth, biting into the real crystal ore, absorbing the crystal particles in it, and then closing her mouth to digest.
Repeatedly, an infinite loop.
The man named Destruction looked at the girl and said, “Margaret…’Death’, she’s eating too many real crystal ores. She’ll be in pain.”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
The girl raised her head, her eyes were as pure as crystals, “Anything His Excellency the Archbishop gives to ‘Death’ is good, and ‘Death’ is very happy.”
The man in white smiled again, touched the top of the girl’s head tenderly, then turned around and said to Destruction, “Wasn’t the task very difficult, you can go rest now.”
Destruction couldn’t help but say, “Archbishop, I hope to be able to do it again……”
The man in white shook his head, raised his index finger, signaled the other party not to say any more, knitted his brows then said softly, “No, your piece has been played temporarily, don’t make it difficult for me, okay, my Destruction?”
“The human army has taken precautions, and the time to strike the grass to scare the snake has not yet come. Since we missed this opportunity, we still need to lie dormant.”
Destruction placed his hand above his chest and backed away. “I am self-willed, please forgive me, Your Excellency the Archbishop.”
The man in white casted his eyes out of the window, “In the next tale, let’s listen to the play of ‘Chaos’ in that beautiful Golden Rose Star City…”
Outside the window, the gorgeous star ring was like a fairy’s ribbon, slowly moving back and forth, as it was being left behind by the high-speed starship. Farther away, there were more stars of different colors. The universe was never desolate. Stars lie in the universe, just like shells lying in the sea.
Looking at such a scene, Destruction’s eyes could not help revealing a trace of bewilderment, he said to himself, “Ultimate…..when will our Ultimate be willing to bestow its coming?”
The man in white withdrew his gaze and said meaningfully, “It depends on our efforts, does it not.”
