CH 51.1

Brawl (1.1)

Mountain Valley!

Jiang Jianming’s finger landed on a valley terrain, which was where the officers in the adaptation period encountered the subspecies, and where he set up and blew the one side of that valley.

“Your Highness, please look here. The valley is suitable for ambush, and because the two sides of the mountain wall squeeze out a narrow and closed space, crystal particles will not easily escape. It is perfect if one wants to cause crystal disorder.”

“It happens to be a necessary route thay have to pass, and it is also the area where Silver Big Dipper has done the secondary risk elimination, thus they will easily lower their defense…..If there is really an ambush, the location is likely to be here.”

Excessive mental tension and fast speech made Jiang Jianming’s pale forehead sweat a little. He stopped here, then pursed his lips and remained silent.

Even if the location where the enemy wanted to ambush had been speculated.

But what can they do?

Slash Comet had been thrown on the other side of the cliff, and in a state that couldn’t be activated; it was not impossible to forcibly venture down with Snow Dove carrying two people, but that area of the cliff had been covered by high concentration of crystal particles, Jiang Jianming wouldn’t be able to make it through, and it was also impossible for Garcia to throw him alone in the snowy mountain.

What’s more, there were alien creatures above their heads who were watching at all times. Once they make a move, they would inevitably be blocked by the space pirates. If the opponent had more than one jamming wave transmission device, rushing over there would only cause the mecha to crash.

And the most important, and also the most despairing thing, was the time and distance.

The distance from the snow-capped mountain where the two of them were to that valley was almost three times the distance from Silver Big Dipper to that valley!

“Snow Dove,” Garcia casted his eyes on the mecha on Jiang Jianming’s wrist, “is the communication system of the mecha Snow Dove still working?”

Jiang Jianming tried it, but the result was disappointing.

“It works,” he shook his head, and said in a deep voice, “but…maybe a special interference wave was placed in that forest, as the communication would be cut off once it reaches the dense forest. It can also still sense the Slash Comet, but can’t get in touch with the fortress.”

At some point, the bonfire gradually dimmed. The cold wind was still whistling outside the cave, rolling up heavy snow and fog in the dark night.

The planners in the dark had sealed off their escape routes one by one. The boundless high mountain seemed to have turned into a giant steel cage, enclosing the two of them in the corner of this small mountain cave.

In silence, Jiang Jianming bent down and slowly laid down on his knees.

The chill invaded his body, he couldn’t help covering his lips and coughing lowly, his thin spine protruded and trembled.

Suddenly, a force came to his shoulders.

The scene in front of his eyes flashed, and he was pulled into Garcia’s arms.

The fire light gradually weakened, and the thickening night blurred the rock wall of the cave, and also blurred the outline of Garcia’s eyebrows and eyes.

The prince stretched out his index finger, a small piece of golden-red crystal bone protruded from his fingernail, and then he handed it to Jiang Jianming, “Are you afraid of my crystal bone?”

Jiang Jianming naturally shook his head.

Suddenly, the wind rose. In the narrow cave, Garcia’s shoulders spreaded out crystal bones as high as a person, like wings, and wrapped the remnant crystal human in it.

“Go to sleep.” Garcia lowered his eyes, his tone was always cold and hard, but his breath was like a gentle feather when he spoke, “This way it won’t be cold.”

Jiang Jianming was slightly taken aback, he tried to put his finger on the red gold crystal in front of him.

Although hard as it is, it is warm.

Just like its owner.

He knew that the crystal bones of new humans would have body temperature. However, in his impression, the word “crystal bone” was still closer to a sharp knife and dagger, which was used for fighting and killing. He never thought that one day he would be embraced by the most respectable and powerful crystal bone in the Empire.

Garcia: “Have a night’s rest. We will drive the Snow Dove and leave tomorrow. If we encounter a battle, I will block the enemy behind and you will rush back to the fortress alone.” 

Jiang Jianming: “Are you asking me to leave you behind?” 

Garcia’s demeanor was calm, “We need someone to go back.”

“The jamming wave transmitter will not appear out of thin air. As long as you keep a distance from the enemy, you will not be in danger of a mecha crash.” Garcia said in a deep voice, “They can’t do anything to me, I will wait for you to come back.” 

—Maybe it was because of the gust of wind blowing in from outside the cave, or maybe it was because the pile of firewood picked up in a hurry had burned to the end.

With a “hu”, the fire in the cave went out.

But no one spoke, no one moved, they seemed to have anticipated the coming of the darkness.

Thump……..thump, thump.

The hearts of the two men were beating in each of their chest.

Jiang Jianming raised his eyes silently, those eyes were pitch black, but when they sunk in the darkness, they were more profound than usual. He looked at the distant mountains and snowstorm outside the cave, at the lonely pile of firewood where the sporadic fires dimmed, and at the calm eyes of the prince who was close at hand.

A word suddenly slipped into his mind.

Battlefield.

This was the real battlefield, a game between human beings. When the lives of fellow human beings were put on the table, a single wrong decision made in the moment of weakness would ruin hundreds of lives.

Was he plotting in every possible way and had suffered all kinds of hardships, just to enter such a cruel battlefield and stood in this position where human life was like a chess piece?

…No.

He once longed for the universe, but he didn’t like to fight, and he didn’t have a sense of belonging to the Empire’s top position and the military. He didn’t come here to join the war.

He was just a disabled human civilian, a widow because his ex-fiancé died, even if he joined Silver Big Dipper, he would only be discriminated against.

Apart from collecting the Little Highness’s body and exploring the truth, he didn’t want to, and shouldn’t care about other things.

But no matter what the original intention was, he had already stepped onto the battlefield.

At this moment, within three months of graduating from the military academy, this newly promoted lieutenant of Silver Big Dipper, who was only 21 years old, slowly raised his face in the arms of the imperial prince.

Jiang Jianming changed his posture in Garcia’s arms, and stared at the howling snowstorm outside the cave.

If it is said that only victory is the meaning pursued by conquerors-

-Then since he is here, he must win.

Jiang Jianming half closed his eyes, and his heart suddenly became extremely peaceful. Deep in his bone marrow, a force was trembling, and the pictures in his memory became fragments when he thought about it.

The frozen snow-capped mountains, the cliff, dense forests, the strange smiles of the alien creatures, the crashed Slash Comet, interference wave, totem of Lava Pirates, and the red L-Hephaestus…  

They swirled, dissolved, and then became one giant palette.

Silence pervaded for a long time.

It seemed as if a new storm was brewing.

In the darkness, Jiang Jianming patted the red gold crystal bone in front of him.

Without warning, he asked lightly, “Your Highness, do you have a road map for the routine patrols of the Silver Big Dipper Fortress in your wrist device?”

“No. “

Apparently, Garcia was confused by his sudden remark, he lowered his head and said, “But I remember, I can draw it.’

Ten minutes later, a rough road map was engraved on the wall of the cave by a crystal bone.

Jiang Jianming looked at it for a while, and took out a small box from the inner pocket of his Silver Big Dipper military coat.

Inside the box were twelve injections.

“You brought tranquilizers with you!?”

Garcia’s voice turned cold in an instant, and he said angrily, “Why have you only taken it out now!”

Of course, because it is too expensive and he can’t afford to misuse them…Jiang Jianming smiled bitterly in his heart.

He handed the things to His Royal Highness, “Your Highness, I need to sleep for a while, if my condition worsens and if I cough up blood during my sleep, please give me an injection.”

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Jianming took the Snow Dove off his wrist and placed it firmly into Garcia’s palm.

“In three hours, please wake me up. Then take off with Snow Dove alone……Do as I say.”

Garcia said in a deep voice, “Why.”

“Of course.” Jiang Jianming slightly raised his eyebrows, his wonderful appearance was clear and bright, “for our victory.’

****

At the other end of the night and snowstorm.

Silver Big Dipper First Fortress.

Bang!

Xie Yuduo slapped the corner of the table with his palm, and squeezed several paper documents into a ball with his five fingers.

The major general’s complexion was anxious and angry, “The Little Excellency also went with His Royal Highness Garcia!?….Nonsense.”

Apart from the female adjutant Rita, there were four or five senior military officers standing in the office, with deep anxiety on their faces.

Someone came out of the line, “Major General, it has been a few hours since the Slash Comet lost contact and we detected an explosion of high concentration crystal particles. Please give your orders.”

Xie Yuduo took a deep breath, “What about the situation of the coordinates?”

Of course, everyone knew that the coordinates that the major general mentioned at this time was the coordinate of a certain place where Silver Big Dipper detected an abnormally high concentration of crystal particles a moment ago. The mecha Slash Comet of the Second Prince of the Empire lost contact there, and the situation was still unclear.