CH 213

Upon hearing this address, the tall man was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at Ge Xiu who was standing beside him:

“…Captain’s wife?

Ge Xiu: “…”

He pretended not to hear anything, he turned his head to stare at the wall beside him, as if studying the cracks on it intensely.

”U2625 pondered for a while, looked at the bewildered Xiao Yi and gave him a nod:

”Mhm, hello.”

Xiao Yi’s face was blank: “…???”

”…” Ge Xiu was choked, “——cough, cough COUGH.”

He turned to look at Xiao Yi, his dark eyes were hiding faint killing intent, looking extremely chilling in the dark corridor, “So, what are you doing here? Has the fight ended? Have the enemy’s garrisons been disarmed?”

Xiao Yi: “But…”

…Didn’t you ask me to wait outside?

Ge Xiu’s eyes were frighteningly cold, Xiao Yi choked on his words, subconsciously swallowing the rets of the sentence. He straightened his waist and saluted Ge Xiu, “…this subordinate will go there right now!”

Looking at the running figure of the young man, escaping in a hurry, U2625 pondered,

“Is he this Xiao Yi?”

Ge Xiu shrugged unnaturally and quickened his pace, “Mm…”

He kicked a piece of rubble on the ground and watched it roll into the distance, and said, “When he was a teenager, he accidentally wandered onto deserted planet and I rescued him as he was about to be sold. At that time, I’ve just taken over Leviathan and I urgently needed a trusted subordinate. He had quite the potential in piloting and controlling warships, so I let him stay.”

Although those virtual worlds were constructed and created by the Research Institute, they were still influenced by Ge Xiu’s brain. Although he lost his memory, he still possessed an astonishingly powerful spiritual power, so his subconscious projections would cause slight changes to those virtual worlds… For example, replacing two virtual characters who had similar experiences, but were not valued by the Research Institute, with his experiences.

Xiao Yi from the virtual worlds was different from other characters. His image came from Ge Xiu’s subconscious memory, the deep asleep Pandora choose to use this character to give him a hint.

U2625 didn’t ask any more questions.

He turned his head to look at Ge Xiu beside him, his dark and peaceful eyes stayed on his side face for a few seconds and then he stretched out his hand to gently hold Ge Xiu’s wrist:

”…you worked hard.”

He had been asleep for a long, long time.

For such a long time, he’d been completely out of touch with the whole world, ignorant of everything that happened outside.

However, when Ge Xiu recovered his memory, their spiritual power was still connected.

Watching those memories quickly pass by before his eyes, he seemed to accompany the other person to experience everything again… from beginning to end, fully encompassing everything.

From the lonely escape of dangerous pursuit in the dark night, to the declining star pirates fleet, expansion, war, fighting back against the malice of the whole world.

Until…he bet everything and came back to him.

Inside his palm, the young man’s slender wrist bones trembled slightly.

Ge Xiu turned his head to one side, and said dryly:

“…Even if you weren’t here, I would still dig three feet deep to find this ghostly place and then take the battleships to blow it up.”

The man looked down at him, his usually cold and emotionless eyes were as soft as spring water, he didn’t expose the other and just smiled, nodding,

“Yes, I believe you.”

His voice was very soft and gentle, almost being drowned by the sound of gunfire that was still ringing above their heads, but these words came with great clarity to the other’s ears.

Ge Xiu walked forward expressionlessly.

He pursed his lips tightly and his eyes fell on the ground in front of him.

For some reason, all his senses seemed to be concentrated on his wrist.

The man’s palm was wide and slender, but because he had just left the cultivation cabin, it was a bit cold to the touch. However, a strange heat begun spreading from the place where the two skins touched, like a faint dark fire burning the flesh and bones, burning all the way to his cheeks and ears, rising and boiling under the skin.

As if being scalded, Ge Xiu quickly shook off the opponent’s hand, put his hand behind his back, and asked seemingly unintentionally:

”Hmm… By the way…”

”Huh?”

”What name do you like?” Ge Xiu turned to look at him.

”Name?” The man froze for a moment and then asked in surprise.

”Yeah…” Ge Xiu shrugged: “After all, we’re not experimental subjects anymore, so of course we can have our own name.”

”Hmm…” U2625 pondered for a few seconds: “I think captain’s wife is quite good…”

”Hey!” Ge Xiu interrupted him angrily: “Be serious!”

The corners of U2625’s lips curled up involuntarily.

Seeing Ge Xiu’s sharp glare, he suppressed the smile in his eyes and tried to be serious: “Cough, um… what name would you like?”

”What would I like?” Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows in confusion.

U2625 repeated patiently:

”What do you think is the best name for me?”

Ge Xiu choked for a moment: “… how would I know!”

The two walked quietly for two or three minutes, and Ge Xiu suddenly spoke, breaking the silence: “Actually…”

He scratched his hair awkwardly: “You know how I raided that research base before? Although the information about the Pandora project had been completely blocked and destroyed, I was able to restore some documents in that research base and I found some interesting things…”

”Early concept for Pandora project was different from what it’s now. At the beginning, it was only meant to study potential of humanity’s spiritual power. It used to be called… Isis Project.”

Unlike Pandora, which symbolised a hidden calamity and hope dead in its wake, Isis was the god of life and prosperity.

And…

Ge Xiu paused, and continued: “The code in the single code in the computer is…U+2625.”

”…It sounds nice.”

The man’s eyes curved slightly: “I like this name.”

It’s like…back to the way things should be.

·

Half of the main control room collapsed.

The director’s complexion was as pale as paper and the white ironed clothes on his body were now crumpled and covered with dust and some blood that belonged to someone. He wiped the wet, cold and sticky sweat on his forehead with trembling hands, leaving behind dirt marks, making him look even more embarrassed.

His eyeballs twitched uneasily in its eye sockets, making the blood red veins in his eyes more prominent, as if he was on the verge of collapse.

He was circling around the chaotic room like a headless chicken, yelling agitatedly at the trembling researcher beside him:

”…have you sent out the distress signal!”

The researcher watched the frequently flashing device in front of him and looked up at him helplessly: “This… this… director…all the signals have been cut off by the outside…” 

“Idiots! A bunch of idiots!!!” The director shouted hysterically: “If it fails once, try it again! The third time! The hundredth, thousandth time!!”

”Ye… yes!”

Watching the group of researchers continue to work, he lowered his head and anxiously gnawed on his fingernails, even if he tasted the smell of blood, he would not stop.

Now everything was done for.

It’s all messed up.

Eighty percent of the automatic defense devices on the outside had lost their function. The surrounding garrison may have been wiped out at the very beginning, the escape route was blocked and the ships had been blown up. Now even the sound of firefights and bombings outside has become intermittent… This would only make the director more anxious, because it showed that their attack capabilities were getting less and less with the passage of time…

And those two freaks are in this building! !

He couldn’t imagine the consequences after he was found.

The director frequently looked at the metal gate not far away that had been locked for the first time. Although he knew that the gate was strong enough to withstand the direct bombardment of most starship artillery fire, the terrifying premonition still lingered in his heart, refusing to dissipate for a long time.

It’s fine… It’s fine…

The army should soon receive the information that there was an attack here, and if Pandora was released, the entire starnet would collapse, so they would definitely come here to rescue them… 

Hold on, as long as they hold on…

”Boom!!!!”

A deafening cannon sounded very close without warning, at once, the ground shook, and everyone fell to the ground in chaos.

The director fell into the rubble and turned his head to look behind in horror—

a huge hole was blasted out of the wall, outside a dimly lit corridor and two figures standing against the light could be seen.

The cold sweat dripped from the director’s back in an instant, soaking the clothes on his back, and a sense of terror as if his heart was being squeezed, which made him almost unable to breathe.

In the half-dimmed light, the young man’s beautiful and aggressive face had a chilling and bewitching look. He was wearing a prison uniform and there were still scorched marks left by the electronic shackles on his wrists. He slowly removed the small energy transmitter on his shoulder and whistled: 

“Although it’s the first time to use it since it was developed, it works pretty well.” 

The man behind him was taller, with wet black hair hanging on his broad shoulders. His cold and sharp eyes looked at the director’s body, his gaze was cold, without any emotional fluctuations, as if he was looking at something dead

Ge Xiu stepped forward.

The director struggled and wanted to escape subconsciously, but his legs were pressed by the steel beams that fell down just now, making him unable to move.

He could only watch helplessly as the young man approached him slowly, then squatted down in the ruins, and looked at him from his level.

Ge Xiu looked at the man in front of him who was nearly ruined, his eyes slowly moved from his unkept hair to his pale face and then to his limp limbs.

He sighed,

“What a pity.”

Isis came in, stood beside him and looked down at the worn out director, and asked, “What’s a pity?”

“Of course, it’s a pity that the director in charge of us is already dead.” Ge Xiu shook his head regretfully, “otherwise, I’d really want to see the look on his face when he sees us.”

His eyes focused on the current director, with a smile on his lips, but there was no warmth in his eyes as he said casually,

“I don’t know if it would be as pleasing as it is now.”

“Ye, yes…” the director swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, moistening his dry and aching throat, and stammered, “The ones that did… those things to you guys, no, it wasn’t me! I was just a scapegoat who was called to take over the previous director’s mess… I, I don’t know anything!! I’m only acting based off the instructions above! I, I was also forced, please…”

He was panting hoarsely, talking nonsense incoherently.

Unexpectedly, the young man in front of him lowered his eyes, pondered for a few minutes, and then nodded seriously:

”You’re right.”

As if a drowning man caught a life-saving straw, the director’s bloodshot and chaotic eyes lit up with hope, he raised his voice and nervously echoed: “I can tell you where the descendants of the former director are! The injustice will be revenged! I, I will cooperate with you…”

Ge Xiu laughed shortly and said,

”Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.”

The director was stunned for a moment and then ecstasy flashed in eyes.

However, before he had time to thank him, the young man in front of him raised his eyebrows casually: “I just want you to taste what you created with your own hands.”

The director’s face froze immediately.

His face was frozen between two emotions of ecstasy and fear, the muscles on his face twitched slightly, making his face look distorted and horrifying.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably: “No…no…please…”

”You…you’d better kill me…” The director raised his twitching fingers, trying to hold the hand of the young man in front of him, begging in horror.

However, Ge Xiu avoided his hand:

”Why should I kill you?”

He raised his hand casually, patted the sweaty and cold cheek of the director, as a soft smile appeared on his lips:

”There is an injustice being revenged, right?”

After finishing speaking, Ge Xiu stood up and took two steps back.

The man who had been silent since just now stepped forward, bent down, and lightly brushed the director’s swollen and protruding temples with his fingers.

His fingers were very cold, chilling like ice. The moment the director was touched, he felt an irresistible dizziness. He was pulled by a powerful force and dragged to a darker place. Before he even had time to shout a single syllable, he was already swallowed by the boundless darkness.

When he opened his eyes, the scene in front of him had completely changed.

Boundless piles of rubbish piled up into high hills. Everything one could see was covered with all kinds of rancid rubbish, fermented at high temperatures into a stench on the level of a biochemical weapon. Through the gloomy and dull skies, the extinguished stars could be seen not far away, and a huge starship that was hovering in mid-air, blocking the sky. This planet covered in rubbish looked dead, like a corner abandoned by the world.

This scene was so familiar.

He used to order a great number of staff to work day and night, just to shape the most terrible and most painful environment for human beings.

The director trembled uncontrollably. He turned his head and looked around in horror. At this moment, a cold mechanical female voice came from above his head:

“Welcome to the punishment world 1: Garbage Star.”

No… No, no, no, nononono…

The director muttered in fear.

His eyes were filled with madness, he raised his hand to touch a sharp stone beside him, and stabbed it towards his throat—

But then, in the next second, a terrifying electric current so strong it felt like a violent attack swept across, directly acting on his spiritual body, but it with the right strength to ensure that he would suffer the greatest pain without falling into a coma.

After an unknown amount of time the director finally recovered from the terrible pain.

However, the scene in front of him did not show the slightest difference from before.

As far as the eye could see, there were boundless piled up mountains of garbage, the rotting waste with no colour giving off an unpleasant and disgusting smell.

Like the embodiment of a boundless hell, gloomy, crushing all hope, with no way out.

Trembling, he raised his hand and touched his throat –

the skin was smooth and unscarred, without any wounds.

Despair hit like a landslide and tsunami.

Suddenly, at this moment, a deep male voice sounded in my ears, distant and alienating, calm as if without any emotion: “Please don’t try to commit suicide again.”

”Also, I made some innocuous revisions to each script, as to make the game more enjoyable.”

.

The man on the ground fell into a deep coma, his face was distorted, his limbs constantly twitching.

Ge Xiu looked away, stood up, and patted the dust off his body.

At this time, the sound of fight in the distance had completely stopped, the defense device that was stubbornly guarding the land had completely lost its effect.

Across the top floor of the building that was already fragmented, still barely standing, one could hear the whistling wind brought by the huge ship approaching.

Here came the Leviathan.

In the next second, the wall in front of him was deformed by some kind of force and collapsed with a crash, revealing the awe-inspiring and dark night outside. The cold wind blew in with the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood, billowing Ge Xiu’s hair and clothes, making them flow in the ruins and night like a torn flag.

The huge ship with a mottled surface slowly descended, the hull reflected the faint luster of the metal, then with a “cluck”, the hatch of the ship slowly opened.

Ge Xiu raised his hand to brush the hair in front of his eyes and turned to look at the man standing beside him.

——The only one of his kind in this world, the other half, the friend who has known the longest, the comrade-in-arms who had the most tacit understanding, and…

his future partner.

His voice was blown away by the strong wind: “Let’s go?”

Isis raised the corners of his lips slightly, his sharp facial contours softened in the night, his dark and deep eyes fixedly stared at the young man standing beside him, the other’s face reflected at the bottom of his eyes, as if the only thing that could his heart contain was him, his eyes containing his whole world.

He gave a low “hmm”, the corners of his lips raised involuntarily, and he asked softly,

”Where do you want to go?”

In the light and shadow, the boundary between darkness and light, Ge Xiu showed a pure, heartfelt smile: “The end of the world?”

”…good.”

Isis laughed too.

He stretched out his hand and took Ge Xiu’s hand— this time, the other party did not shake it off, but gently held it back.

A gust of wind blew up in the night as their fingers clenched in the most intimate way, palms touching, fingertips intertwined, as if they would never let go—

until the end of the world.

———————————————————————————————-

——End of the full text——

The author has something to say: The novel is over!

Thank you all for being willing to accompany me on this journey for so long, I’m really happy!

Although the road they have traveled is very difficult, they will be happy forever!

PS: don’t worry! After that, there will be some extra episodes and sweet daily routines!