CH 38

Dark Blood (2)

Their voices and footsteps echoed inside the Stele of Heroes.

Xie Yuduo: “……In short, that’s how it is. Now Silver Big Dipper internally acknowledges that there is such a second prince, that grew up in the Black Shark Base since childhood, and only entered the battlefield three years ago……”

“However, many people still mutter in their hearts, thinking that the so-called Second Highness is the Crown Prince who resurrected from the dead, or has not really died. After all, you have also seen that face, it is so similar.”

“This is the minefield for His Highness Garcia, first-time offenders and unintentional slips of the tongue will not do anything to him, but if someone imposes his feelings for the crown prince on him, or wants to force him to accept the identity of Ryann…….”

“……Let’s put it this way, last year there was a man who was short-sighted, and because of that incident, His Highness became irritated, and eventually chopped off an arm using his crystal bone on the spot. “

“In fact, at that time, I rushed over to persuade him to stop, otherwise there might be more than just one arm.”

While speaking, Xie Yuduo had already led Jiang Jianming out of the area of the white pointed steles, leaving only the empty ground paved with black thin bricks in front of him. These spaces were obviously prepared for erecting a new memorial stele.

Jiang Jianming pondered for a moment, then nodded naturally: “..I more or less understand the reason why. “

Xie Yuduo was stunned, “You actually understand!?”

Jiang Jianming: “The Little Highness, he…..has a strong arrogance in his bones. He hates being bound by external forces and things imposed by outsiders. He is a natural conqueror, and when he is at fault, he will admit that he is really at fault.”

Xie Yuduo smiled in surprise, “Conqueror, Your Little Excellency would say such a thing, yet how could the crown prince only dare to be awe-inspiring in front of you back then…..”

Jiang Jianming also smiled gently, “He is a lion, he just likes to act like a big cat in front of me.”

In short, he’s quite rebellious and quite capricious.

As long as one wouldn’t mess with him, he wouldn’t have the airs of an imperial prince at all.

This person would go to the trading area in the evening to buy apples and swiped coins in person, he would drive his mecha overnight to rescue a group of little brat officers who were still on adaptation period, and could even…….let a disabled human being rub his hair.

But if he becomes upset when provoked, then even if it was the crown of the Crown Prince of the Empire being held in front of him, this person would throw it on the ground and simply step on it.

………So, this new identity, the second prince, could it be that Ryann requested for it after losing his memory?

Jiang Jianming was sorting out his logic secretly, when Xie Yuduo’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

The major general raised his finger and said: “We are here, this is the secret door.”

After Xie Yuduo said that, he turned on the lighting function of his wrist device. Jiang Jianming squinted his eyes at the strong light, and looked up only after adapting to its brightness. Sure enough, there was a piece of floor tile that was different, Xie Yuduo stepped forward and it wobbled a few times, then the “floor tile” moved, revealing a downward passage.

Xie Yuduo stepped down the steel ladder first, and Jiang Jianming followed behind.

By the time his foot stepped on the ground, Xie Yuduo had already illuminated the scene in front of him with his wrist device.

Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but hold his breath.

Because there, it simply laid quietly.

At that time, since Crown Prince Ryann directly drove this mecha into the universe, thus the Crown of Golden Dawn in front of him was still in its flight mode.

It was a huge dark-gold animal-like mecha with four legs and two wings, like a griffin in ancient mythology. Human beings were as small as a leaf in front of it. Right now, its head was drooping, its body was lowered, a pair of broken iron wings were dragging on the ground, and fine crystal grains were condensed between its cracks. Even though the whole body had lost its luster due to dormancy, there was still an invisible sense of oppression.

This was it—the most powerful mecha of the human interstellar empire today, the L-Crown of Golden Dawn.

“Golden Dawn…I haven’t seen it for a long time.”

Jiang Jianming took off the glove in his right hand, reached out and stroked the fuselage littered with scars, his movements were so gentle to the point of almost being compassionate.

This was the mecha flying outside the Crystal Nest……surpassing the limits of what human beings could.

Over the years, going off on expeditions and lighting the flames of war, traveling thousands of miles and wading through the universe.

It must have been very hard too.

Xie Yuduo folded his arms across his chest, looked up at the mecha again, and narrowed his eyes. “At that time, I personally led people to recover the Crown of Golden Dawn. We only found it in the outer area of the Crystal Nest.”

“There were traces of fighting with powerful alien creatures on the fuselage, but it is not to the extent of death. His Royal Highness should have stopped the mecha before entering the really dangerous area.”

Jiang Jianming looked up, “Does he deliberately want to keep Golden Dawn?”

Xie Yuduo: “It may also be a forced landing after its energy was exhausted, but this possibility is very small.”

Then he can only open the mecha and check the energy situation to know.

Jiang Jianming tapped on his wrist device, “Seth, get up, can you open your fuselage?”

[Woof! Woof woof]

On his wrist device, a line of blue light suddenly popped up, and this blue light flew towards the Crown of Golden Dawn with a trail, and gradually became golden as it approached.

[Seth Henry is in contact with its fuselage]

[Attempting to establish a consciousness coupling…]

Jiang Jianming and Xie Yuduo raised their heads, and they stared at Seth Henry’s ray of golden light entering the fuselage of the Crown of Golden Dawn.

[Confirming the status of the mecha…….]

[Consciousness coupling 39%……..Attempting to take over the master control……]

[Consciousness coupling 57%… Body induction complete, data synchronization complete]

Xie Yuduo was short of breath, and he licked his lips. 

Jiang Jianming said, “Seth, try to open the second cockpit.”

[Consciousness coupling 80%…..The handover of master control is complete!]

[Sensing the second cockpit, the hatch safety lock has been unlocked!]

Xie Yuduo shouted in a low voice of surprise, “It’s done!”

Without saying a word, Jiang Jianming immediately climbed up the fuselage to the position of the cockpit door, and clasped his right hand on the edge of it.

[Attention, attention! The concentration of crystal particles in the cockpit has been detected to be too high. Master, please be careful, woof woof!]

……What?

Jiang Jianming couldn’t help frowning. How could the concentration of crystal particles in the cockpit be so high……..Was it because it had flown over the Crystal Nest area?

But with Golden Dawn’s performance, crystal particles shouldn’t even be able to penetrate into the cockpit.

“Little Excellency?”

Seeing that he stopped moving, Xie Yuduo called out from below.

Suddenly, Jiang Jianming smelled a faint sweet smell that drilled out along the gaps of the cockpit door.

It’s the smell of blood.

“!?”

Jiang Jianming’s expression suddenly changed.

With both hands, he slammed open the hatch!

In the next moment, thick blood energy and violent high-concentration of crystal particle waves mixed together rushed towards his face!

Jiang Jianming was forced to stagger by this wave of crystal particles, and immediately frowned. If he hadn’t prepared for any special situations before coming here, it was estimated that he would be injected with more sedatives which would be enough to knock him out.

An ominous premonition suddenly came to his mind. Jiang Jianming endured his discomfort and palpitations, turned over and jumped into the cockpit.

In an instant, the scene in front of him caused his pupils to contract violently, and the hairs all over his body stood on end, he felt numb from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

Blood…..the color of blood was everywhere in sight.

In the dim cockpit, there was dried and shocking dark blood everywhere.

The armrest of the driver’s seat was covered with blood, blood was congealed in the gap of the console, a large amount of blood was splashed on the dark screen, even above…..on the ground……it was everywhere.

It was as if a person’s body had been torn apart alive, and all the blood in the body was splashed in all directions.

And this terrifying trace had been hidden inside the mecha for three years without anyone knowing it.

“Little Excellency, please slow down……!?”

Xie Yuduo had just rushed into the cockpit, but was immediately shocked at the scene that greeted him and took two steps back, unable to speak!

Jiang Jianming’s stomach suddenly convulsed violently, his face turned pale, his legs softened and he fell to his knees. He held onto the cold bulkhead and retched.

This was the inside of the cockpit of the mecha, specifically the second cockpit of the mecha. There was no sign of the hatch being damaged by any invasion, and there were no traces of battle inside the cockpit.

Then these bloodstains that decorated its interior could only belong to….

“Ry….ann.”

Jiang Jianming gasped, the darkness and silence around him seemed to be stretched infinitely thicker.

Amidst the confusion, he vaguely felt a tearing pain, the pain of bones being pulled out of his body alive.

His Little Highness, his….

Jiang Jianming’s eyes widened blankly, and tears fell without warning—without any reason, as if it should be like this in the surrounding darkness.

Xie Yuduo suddenly lifted him up by the underarms from behind. “No, Little Excellency, the concentration of crystal particles here is not right! Let’s go out first, let’s go out first!!”

Jiang Jianming’s consciousness was in utter confusion. He tried his best to break away from the major general’s support, but then he fell back to the ground again immediately.

His wrist was propped on the blood-stained floor, and he noticed traces similar to fingerprints in the black and red, which was very messy.

Has anyone fallen here in pain? Those hands that once hugged him, did he struggle in this pool of blood?

This excessively high concentration of crystal particles in the cockpit… Could these crystal particles be of what was released from the flesh and bones of a new crystal human being?

Jiang Jianming let out a low gasp, seemingly on the verge of death. He suddenly couldn’t take in air, his throbbing heart jerked suddenly and then stopped unexpectedly, his lips turned blue-purple at a high speed, and the feeling of suffocation swept through his lungs.

He seems about to…..

About to die in this dark blood.

Amidst his daze, he felt a stabbing pain coming from the back of his neck.

It was the familiar feeling of liquid being pushed into his body.

“…….” 

After a while, Jiang Jianming took a slow breath and opened his eyelashes dripping with cold sweat.

Tears were still hanging on his eyelashes, and through the misty water, he saw the retracting mechanical paw with a needle on its tip.

Seth manipulated the Crown of Golden Dawn to give him a crystal particle tranquilizer.

Afterwards, the pain on his body was suppressed little by little.

With the injection of the drug, his collapsed emotions also calmed down.

“Little Excellency!!”

With a clear vision, he saw Xie Yuduo holding his shoulders anxiously, “Look at me, breathe in slowly…..yes, breathe in.”

Jiang Jianming let out a long breath, and propped his forehead wearily, “It’s okay, it’s okay…I’m fine, sorry, maybe I was……a little frightened just now.”

Xie Yuduo shook his head solemnly, looked around, and then said in a low voice, “Don’t think aimlessly, it may not be…..we don’t know anything yet.”

Jiang Jianming was helped up by Xie Yuduo.

He remained silent, raised his sleeves and wiped away the remaining tears with the back of his hand.

The quickening heartbeat in the chest cavity had not yet calmed down. Jiang Jianming walked to the screen with difficulty with the support of the wall, and sat down on the blood-stained driver’s seat.

Xie Yuduo felt hesitant but eventually didn’t speak. He wanted to persuade Jiang Jianming to go out and have a rest, but when he saw the latter’s eyes, he swallowed his words back.

Then, the slender fingers of a remnant human landed in front of the screen. The virtual console unfolded, and a faint golden light surrounded Jiang Jianming’s fingertips.

“Golden Dawn is not an ordinary mecha, even if ordinary people enter the cockpit, they won’t be able to control it.”

Jiang Jianming’s voice was still a little hoarse, but he had recovered his calmness, “Force access will only cause backlash, all I can do is start the body’s energy and nothing more.”

He used to drive it several times back then, but those were all temporary permissions granted to him by the Little Highness, thus it should be expected to be very difficult if he tried to open it now.

Xie Yuduo said in a deep voice, “That’s enough.”

Soon, the screen lit up, and various data graphs dazzled the eyes.

Jiang Jianming checked it, then turned around and said, “The energy is still enough, the mecha was indeed parked there deliberately by Ryann.”

“The mecha video and crystal particle monitoring data can still be viewed, and its duration is not short. I will send it to you.”

“Others…..hm?”

Jiang Jianming suddenly frowned, tapped his fingers a few times quickly, and found a message showing “unread”.

This message was sent on the same day the mecha was shut down and became dormant, and the sender was……

L-Crown of Golden Dawn.

It was Ryann himself who sent the message.

He clicked on it, and familiar static lines flashed on the screen, then a few lines of “text” that were too blurry to read popped up.

Xie Yuduo’s face changed color. What kind of a knowledgeable person was this major general? He immediately realized that it was an encrypted text message.

“Last words?”

Jiang Jianming was stunned for a second, then laughed angrily, “Leaving his last words in a mecha that won’t open until I come here? It really is him.”

Xie Yuduo’s fingers were shaking, and his Adam’s apple moved, “I’ll make a copy and let the technical department decipher it as soon as possible……!”

Jiang Jianming tapped his fingers quickly, “No, I’ll try it first. I am familiar with several codes that the Little Highness likes to use——Seth, help me calculate.”

About fifteen minutes later, Jiang Jianming’s eyes lit up.

“…Right on track.”

Starting from the first line, the blurred parts gradually solidified and became the common characters of the Empire.

The first line was a simple two words.

“My Love.” 

Xie Yuduo silently looked at Jiang Jianming.

Jiang Jianming became shocked.

This message was really for him.

What did Ryann write in it?

He must have known his fate, what would he say to “his lover”— the “lover” whom he had already sternly severed ties with?

Jiang Jianming even thought, that if the message contained the truth, about the conspiracy and the murderer. Then the rest of his life would be destined to step on the bloody road of revenge from this moment, and he wouldn’t be able to turn back.

The following text was also solidified.

Surprisingly, it was very short, only four lines in total.

Jiang Jianming moved closer and read it out gently.

“Please…..”

“——Please ignite the withered years, through the remnants of the old civilization and thousands of miles of cold stars, and wake up in my arms, before the dawn of mankind. “

Suddenly, silence fell inside the cockpit.

After more than ten seconds, Jiang Jianming leaned backwards on the back of the driver’s seat, and looked at Xie Yuduo in confusion.

This…….What does this mean? He couldn’t understand it.

There is no truth, no conspiracy or murderer, not even the words of entrustment that a will should have.

The flickering words that reflected the dark residual blood on the screen—

—was like a tender yet cruel parting poem.