CH 56

Heroic Spirit (3)

Like this, the scene became very peculiar.

Garcia, who was almost on top of the treatment cabin, retracted his upper body as if nothing had happened. He rearranged his posture, crossed his legs, and sat gracefully and indifferently.

While Jiang Jianming also calmly waved at Tang Zhen, “Come, did you train so late today? Come and sit down.”

“……” Tang Zhen, who was still kneeling at the door, merely stared blankly.

A certain famous saying crazily flashed in his mind: As long as you are not embarrassed, it’ll be someone else who is embarrassed.

(t/n It means that when an embarrassing moment occurs, as long as you are thick-skinned and don’t care, then the embarrassed one will be someone else.)

Thus…..no matter how Young Master Tang seemed to break through the lingering scene between his friend and the imperial prince with a sense of deja vu, even the atmosphere of this “late night ward” had the tone of a restricted romance movie scene…..

But as long as His Royal Highness Garcia and Lieutenant Jiang were not embarrassed, it would be Young Master Tang himself who would be embarrassed.

“Coming……coming.” Tang Zhen walked in with hands and feet on the same side moving at the same time, and with a stiff face as if he had suffered a stroke.

Jiang Jianming sighed helplessly, and thought to himself: It seems that Young Master Tang is still as afraid of the Little Highness as before, no matter which Little Highness it is…… He got up and said to Garcia, “Your Highness, perhaps you want to eat an apple?”

Garcia was just stretching out his arms to help him get up, but his movements froze when he heard this, and he said with a blank expression, “If you want to send me away, you can just say so.”

“Okay,” Jiang Jianming directly followed his suggestion and said, “Then I’ll trouble you to go outside and peel the apples.”

Tang Zhen’s eyes widened on the spot, wondering if Little Jiang swallowed the guts of an alien creature before he fell into a coma, and daring to treat other people like his former fiancé? 

In the next second, Garcia stood up, went to pick up two apples from the condolence goods piled on the other side of the ward, took a fruit knife, opened the door and went out to find a place where the fruits could be washed and peeled.

Tang Zhen: “……”

The door to the ward closed. Tang Zhen then said numbly, “Little immortal, do you want to get a professional license as a prince trainer after you retire?”

Jiang Jianming: “Wake up, there is no such license.”

Tang Zhen immediately grabbed his wrist in disappointment, and made a painful expression, “It’s a loss!”

However, after His Royal Highness disappeared, Young Master Tang finally returned to normal, and sat down next to the treatment cabin under Jiang Jianming’s call. Apparently, he just came back from the training of officers in the adaptation period, the collar of his military uniform was a bit messy, his hair was still a little wet with sweat, but his spirit was as usual.

“Say, Little Jiang, why are you getting more and more insane?”

Tang Zhen heaved a long sigh, and couldn’t stop being a chatterbox once he started, “How come you still scared me half to death even if we’re fucking not together anymore, do the hard things and make the impossible successful?”

“However, rumors are going crazy in the fortress now, saying that there is a newly promoted disabled young officer, a formidable individual. Many veterans have come to inquire about you with us rookies in the adaptation period…”

“The soldiers of Silver Big Dipper also love gossip. What we said yesterday can be passed on to something completely different the next day. Sigh, really can just say anything…….and will likely also be passed on to you and His Royal Highness.”

Jiang Jianming was still nodding perfunctorily following Tang Zhen’s nagging before, but when he heard the end, he was suddenly interested, “Passed what?”

Tang Zhen: “…..Forget it, it’s nothing. “

Jiang Jianming then asked him about the Commanding Officer Huo Lin’s funeral.

Tang Zhen shook his head with a complicated expression, “The body was cremated. The commanding officer seems to have no wife and children, and his parents have also passed away. Silver Big Dipper will comply with his wishes before his death and will bury his ashes in the underground of the fortress.”

Jiang Jianming: “In the Stele of Heroes?”

Tang Zhen nodded, “Yes, it will be tomorrow. Afterwards…..”

His expression became a little unnatural, and he scratched his face with evasive eyes, “After that, this was actually what Lieutenant Raymond meant, he said, the commanding officer missed you in the end, and that after you recover from your injury, come and see him at the Stele of Heroes…something like that.”

“Uh, but,” Tang Zhen quickly added with shame after speaking, “If you don’t want to, of course, we also don’t want to wrong ourselves, right! Raymond is also afraid that you will be angry, so he asked me to speak.”

“Look, anyway, that guy, commanding officer Huo Lin, made things difficult for you when he was alive…..He has a bad temper and swears….and fucking blindly discriminates against disabled people,” As he talked, Tang Zhen was a little bit at a loss for words.

The corners of his mouth twitched twice, and finally turned into a sigh, “Yet……Alas.”

A few seconds later, the young man lowered his head like a frosted eggplant, pursed his lips and clenched his fists, the complicated emotional entanglements in his eyes finally turned into deep sadness.

Although he also had all sorts of dissatisfaction with Huo Lin, it was impossible for him to feel nothing at all after spending two months with him in the distant star.

After all, he was the one who yelled at him when he made a mistake in training, and he was also the one who rushed up to drag people from the alien creature’s crystal bones in the next moment regardless of the danger.

But that one person disappeared in a blink of an eye. So unexpected, even too abrupt. All of a sudden, he no longer existed in any corner of the world.

Jiang Jianming sighed softly in his heart, reached out and patted his friend.

The moonlight outside the window flowed on his fingers, and also illuminated Tang Zhen’s slightly trembling shoulders.

Sometimes silence was more powerful than words.

Didi……

An electronic sound sounded at this time, and the two turned their heads together.

Jiang Jianming: “Ah, my wrist device……Help me get it.”

****

The next day.

A new day had ushered in the fortress of Silver Big Dipper. In this steel fortress, everything was operating as usual.

Soldiers came and went quickly, and their black boots stepped on the alloy floor, making a sharp sound. The newly repaired mechas were sent to the mecha hangar, and sometimes the wounded were sent to the treatment area, while recovered people came out steadily as well.

A young officer walked towards the direction of the elevator.

It was Lieutenant Raymond, with bruises around his eyes, a serious face, and a black lacquer box in his hand—this little thing was his commanding officer.

In Silver Big Dipper, a personnel sacrificing himself was too common. Sixty percent of them would choose to bury their ashes in the Stele of Heroes instead of sending them back to their relatives in the empire.

Therefore, the matter of sending an urn to the Stele of Heroes was actually not as solemn and serious as outsiders imagined, and there would hardly be any formal funeral.

After the comrades-in-arms or the subordinate of a superior obtained the approval, they could go in with the urn in their arms, stay inside for a few minutes and come out empty-handed, this would be considered as the completion of the process.

Some clamor crept into his ears, Raymond couldn’t help standing still, and then raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Ahead……..It was the place in front of the elevator he was going to. There was a group of people, at least a dozen or so.

Crowds gather and clamor for whatever that was fresh and novel, this kind of scene was too common in any star city in the empire. However, this was the fortress, and here, few people would stop their busy steps for something outside their own lives.

Three soldiers passed by Raymond, were talking, and he heard one of them muttered:

“It’s really a disabled human being. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, who would have believed that such a pretty boy could actually drive a mecha like the Slash Comet?”

Raymond was taken aback for a moment, thinking that it wasn’t impossible.

Just as he was thinking about it, two young female officers who joined the army last year or the year before came in front of him. They were blushing and whispering to each other:

“Hey, Lieutenant Jiang just talked to me and smiled at me!”

“He’s so good-looking…he seems to be better-looking than our major general!”

“I didn’t expect Lieutenant Jiang to be without pretentiousness, modest and with an approachable attitude. I thought that with the support of His Royal Highness behind him, this Sir would be one of those, even more inhumane……”

Raymond hurriedly took two steps, only to see a familiar thin figure standing in front of the elevator.

Jiang Jianming stood there peacefully, dressed in a black and silver military uniform of Silver Big Dipper, with a pale face that had just recovered from a serious illness, but was standing very upright.

The sight of the surroundings did not move him at all. If someone came to talk, he would respond in a friendly manner; if no one spoke, he would just stand quietly with his eyes downcast, unexpectedly standing out in this kind of military fortress full of human hormones, with an air of independence from the world.

Raymond stepped forward in surprise, “Lieutenant Jiang?”

At this moment, the elevator made of black steel fell from above, and Raymond’s voice coincided with that of another person.

Xie Yuduo walked out from the elevator. “Little Excellency Jiang, you were looking for me……huh?”

Surrounded by a great crowd of people watching the “Legendary Disabled Human Being”, suddenly, silence fell.

Xie Yuduo swept his eyes sharply around, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, showing his signature sardonic and mocking smile.

“—Big brother, big sister, uncle, sister-in-law, and younger brothers and sisters, what are you doing all over this place? Are you all so idle?” Major General Xie shook his head like a hooligan, and lazily clapped his hands.

“Answer me, have all the alien creatures in the outer space been killed, and have the wandering space bandits already been found and beaten one by one? This year’s—oh, this year is almost over, so has next year’s real crystal ore collection target been completed?” 

“Not yet? Not yet, then why don’t you get out and do your own work!?”

Seeing that Major General Xie opened his mouth to scold again, most of the officers ran away in panic and embarrassment.

A small number of young people who only saw Major General Xie with their own eyes for the first time, with “slag filtered” and “disillusioned” ashen faces, were also taken away by the veterans.

Raymond stood aside in a daze. Xie Yuduo went to Jiang Jianming’s side then said, “Little Excellency.”

Jiang Jianming turned to the major general, and gestured to the scattered crowd, “How did this happen, they scared me.”

Raymond couldn’t help the corners of his eyes twitching, and said to himself–Where does it look like you’re scared?

He walked over with the urn in his arms, “Don’t you know, some Silver Big Dipper soldiers who fought that day sold their mecha recorded videos in the trading area?”

“At that time, you were still in a coma. Many officers and soldiers were unconvinced by the rumors that the person who took the lead in this battle was a disabled human. Thus they watched live videos at that time. Three days later, things became what you just saw.”

Jiang Jianming: “Sell mecha videos?”

Raymond: “Oh, selling is also an old tradition of Silver Big Dipper. The first-hand videos of some special battles are quite valuable.”

“Although the fortress will regularly make simulated replay materials and distribute them to everyone for free, there is no simulation from a first-person angle live video.”

Jiang Jianming nodded calmly and took note of it in his head.

Raymond wondered, “So, why are you here?”

He also knew that Jiang Jianming was seriously injured this time, and he had just woken up from a coma, therefore he should not be in a state where he could walk around casually.

“..This..”

Jiang Jianming lowered his head and smiled softly, as if a few snowflakes from the Alpha Alien Star had fallen in his dark eyes.

He then said in a low voice, “I heard that today is the day of Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin’s burial, can I go and see him off together?”

The underground Stele of Heroes, these snow-white obelisks still sunk in the dark space for decades. Numerous monuments exuded faint fluorescence, leading the way for the three people who entered this place.

“Sorry Major General, I sent a message specifically asking you to come over.”

Jiang Jianming talked while walking, and in such a solemn place, his voice was lowered a bit.

“I do have something I want to tell you personally, but His Highness does not allow me to hang around outside for too long with my injuries…..Due to the time limit, I can only trouble you to accommodate me and to walk a few more steps away.”

“It’s okay,” Xie Yuduo said, turning his head to look at the urn in Raymond’s hand, “I really should come and see him off as well.”

“Back then…” The major general’s eyes showed a little reminiscence, ” Back then, I’d only been the supreme commander of the fortress not long ago. A newcomer with a good family background was inserted into Huo Lin’s team and he came in through connections from the empire. I am also responsible for this matter, and it is my fault that I did not discover it in time..”

The three of them stopped in front of a monument, but it was not a new monument, but an old one engraved with names.

It’s just that among the densely packed names, there was an unexpected vacant spot.

Raymond stepped forward, and with a special laser point, wrote Hou Lin’s name stroke by stroke, and the gap was immediately filled in this way.

Jiang Jianming immediately understood that perhaps the names before this vacant spot was Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin’s companion back then.

Perhaps after that incident, the lieutenant colonel had regarded himself as a walking corpse, and thus asked the fortress to save a place for himself next to his teammates. Until today’s arrival.

Xie Yuduo said in melancholy, “This fool is really stupid too. He was afraid of embarrassing me, and was afraid that I would be impulsive and cause trouble, so he didn’t tell me a word and only endured it. He may think of newcomers as just newcomers, taking care of them for a year and a half and then bringing them out afterwards, silly…….later, there was a mistake in the mission, and out of more than a dozen people, only Huo Lin came back.”

From then on, the sole survivor was no longer the hero of the expedition; he chose to stay in the fortress and temper the recruits who came to Silver Big Dipper every year.

Destroy their innocence of ignorance of the world, polish their outdated edges and corners, and become the devil commanding officer who many youngsters curse behind their backs.

Xie Yuduo sighed, “Ever since Huo Lin served as the new recruit instructor, the death rate of recruits in the First Fortress has dropped by a full eight points.”

“This guy did have a bad temper, but he was a respectable soldier.”

After Raymond finished writing, he was holding the urn next to him, and his eyes turned red in silence when he heard this sentence.

He covered it up by wiping his face, bent down and groped on the ground. There were originally densely packed black bricks, but at this time one of the black bricks was pushed open, and its bottom was actually hollow.

Raymond put the urn in carefully.

The real names of the heroes would turned into groups of light, hanging on the white stele in the air, forever illuminating the latecomers who step here year after year; and the ashes of the heroes’ bones would quietly rest under the black bricks of the ground, becoming the cornerstone that later generations would tread upon.

This was the whole picture of Silver Big Dipper’s Stele of Heroes.

After closing the black brick, Lieutenant Raymond began to choke up, his jawline tightened, and he kept wiping away the tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes.

Xie Yuduo and Jiang Jianming closed their eyes in silence for a minute, then quietly walked away, leaving time for Raymond.

The two stood still at a distance, and Jiang Jianming began to talk about himself.

“I received a message on my wrist device last night,” Jiang Jianming said to Xie Yuduo, “it’s about His Majesty’s birthday banquet this year, the old Marshal Chen asked me to go too.”

Xie Yuduo was stunned, but Jiang Jianming frankly admitted first, ” –Must have already suspected, or that the old marshal probably already knew that I came to the Far Star.”

In fact, Major General Xie, very much had the intention to help the desperate former crown princess to suppress the news very strictly. But the commander-in-chief was still the commander-in-chief after all, how could it be possible to never hear of it for a long time?

Xie Yuduo: “Then what do you want to do?”

Jiang Jianming helplessly said, “What else can I do? It’s beyond my expectation to successfully conceal my whereabouts. When I’m in better condition, I’ll send a message to apologize to the old marshal.”

What’s more, if he wanted to use the credit of this incident to apply for special promotion, to go in circles and take a detour or to go directly to the marshal, sooner or later, he would know.

Unexpectedly, Xie Yuduo stroked his chin and thought for a while, and suddenly said something that Jiang Jianming didn’t expect at all, “Little Excellency, why don’t you just go back to the Empire?”

“Didn’t the old marshal ask you to attend His Majesty’s birthday banquet? This year’s display of splendor should be pretty big, you definitely should go.”