CH 83.1

Chapter 83.1 – Parents, Teacher

So “Deep Dive” was set：

Elton was very far from the main city of the Alliance, and large transport ships were too risky to travel.

The most ideal state of the “Deep Dive” plan was to contact the Empire and arrive at the bottom of the abyss on a frigate, obtain data, and simulate the infection. Then, the simulated wavelengths would be used to protect the transports until they arrived at Elton.

After that, the simulated wavelength would cover Elton, making it the last pure land and the absolute barrier.

—This was the most ideal situation.

No one knew how far the Alliance could go.

After all, until now, they hadn’t even spoken to the Empire once.

The communications center actively contacted the Empire, while the engineers continued to maintain and debug “Seeker One”.

Professor Luo, an old researcher, studied electromagnetic waves on the channel every day, but he still had no clue.

He said to Lu Tinghan: “I personally think there are two possibilities. One is that the signal is unstable and subject to strong interference. We have repeatedly tested this electromagnetic wave. It can resist more than 95% of the abyss interference, but we are too far away from the Empire, and no one knows what is on the way.”

He continued: “The second is that there is a problem with the equipment. For example, when I call you, I can hear you, but you can’t hear me. It may be that my transmitter or your receiver is broken. Regarding the ‘Echo’ channel, we can guarantee that our ‘transmitter’ has no problem, but the ‘receiver’ on the Empire side? Who knows what’s going on? If the Empire’s battle situation is in a worse state than ours, they may not even know that there is a problem with their equipment, or… they can’t fix it.”

“Keep trying,” Lu Tinghan said, “You guys concentrate on your research, I should worry about other things.”

Professor Luo nodded: “We are also considering other possibilities and are investigating them one by one.” He smiled, “The Empire discovered and joined this channel, no matter what, they are also trying to contact us. I hope we can meet one day.”

Lu Tinghan nodded: “Have hope.”

Lu Tinghan went to the Second Military Region again and talked with the commander-in-chief for half an hour.

More than a dozen engineers were busy, and workers in yellow hats stood next to the frigate performing maintenance, sweating profusely.

This was a brand new hope, and everyone was doing their best.

Before Lu Tinghan went home, he went to the food distribution office to pick up Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan was at the table in the corner, eating white steamed buns with Lu Bafang. Lu Tinghan stood behind Shi Yuan. As soon as Lu Bafang looked up and saw him, he jumped up from his chair in fright and said unclearly with the steamed bun in his mouth: “Lu—Lu—Lu—General Lu!”

He dropped the steamed bun, stood up straight, and saluted.

Lu Tinghan returned the salute.

Shi Yuan was very happy and told Lu Tinghan: “This is the Lu Bafang I told you about!”

—One night, Shi Yuan told Lu Tinghan that it was Lu Bafang who told him that “1” represented a powerful human being.

Lu Bafang: “……”

Lu Bafang: ????!!

At this moment, words couldn’t describe his horror: What do you mean, “The Lu Bafang I told you about”?! Why did Shi Yuan talk about him to the general? What had he done, he respected the old, loved the young, respected the teachers, and respected the Dao. Except for occasionally taking a look at beauty magazines, he didn’t hurt anyone, right?

Lu Tinghan looked at Lu Bafang.

He had no expression, but Lu Bafang felt a sense of…exploration and scrutiny, he was obviously remembering him.

Lu Tinghan said, “I heard that you can lay eggs?”

Lu Bafang knew that he was done for.

Fortunately, General Lu was tolerant and open-minded, and did not blame the culprit who brought Shi Yuan to the wrong path.

He withdrew his gaze and said, “Shi Yuan, when you’re done eating, let’s go home.”

After getting home, Shi Yuan took a shower and went to the study to find Lu Tinghan.

They came back very early, it was close to summer, the day was long, and the sky was still dimly lit. Lu Tinghan opened the window, and Shi Yuan saw the dark purple sunset and the huge sun sinking towards the wasteland.

Beautiful dusk.

Shi Yuan lay on his back by the window, pillowed on his tail, and fell asleep while feeling the evening breeze.

While half dreaming and half awake, he heard the sound of the chair dragging, Lu Tinghan got up to get water, and kissed the side of his face when he came back.

Shi Yuan didn’t know how long he had slept.

He was woken up by the quarrel outside the window. He vaguely heard a voice from far away: “…General Su, you can’t come here…!”

“…please stop, don’t make it difficult for us.”

“General Su!”

Then there was the old man’s voice: “Go and tell General Lu that I’m here!”

Shi Yuan raised his head and saw Lu Tinghan’s hand pause from flipping the page. He got up, opened the door, and ordered to the guards: “Invite General Su over.”

Two minutes later, Su Enqi stood in front of their house.

Shi Yuan poked his head from the study and watched in secret.

He hadn’t seen him for more than a year. Su Enqi had more gray hair and his back was bent even more – he looked a lot older.

From a procedural point of view, he retired honorably, and he had a lot of benefits after retirement, and it could even be said that his old-age life was very nourishing. But it was unknown if it was because of Jiang Huazhi’s trial, Su Liang’s sacrifice, or because a person like him who was extremely proud and stubborn, once he lost his power, once he was idle, would be worn down by time.

Since that day, Lu Tinghan had never seen Su Enqi again.

He didn’t know Su Enqi’s intentions, and asked, “General Su, what are you…”

“Even if I only want to talk about the old days, there are a hundred people blocking me, fearing that I, an old man, will try to do something wrong,” Su Enqi said, “General Lu, it’s not easy to see you.”

Lu Tinghan waited silently for his following.

Su Enqi looked at him and said, “I won’t talk nonsense. ‘Echo’ got a response, you are preparing for the “Deep Dive” plan, right?”

Lu Tinghan: “Yes.”

“If the Empire really exists, and if we will really go to Elton someday, we should start now and learn the topography along the way, the distribution of the Empire’s cities, including the defenses, landmarks, and resources they may have left behind,” Su Enqi said, “There isn’t much relevant information, and you’ve never even experienced a time when the Empire was still there.”

Lu Tinghan said: “The civilian staff is sorting out the information, and I will discuss the matter with other military officers.”

Su Enqi pulled the corner of his mouth: “Have you forgotten that there is another person, who is too old, old enough to have touched the Empire?”

Lu Tinghan: “……”

At this moment, he understood what Su Enqi meant.

Su Enqi still stared at him closely: “I am the one who knows the Empire best in the entire Alliance. I have experienced the era of the Alliance and the Empire. At that time, the end of the world had just begun, both sides were unwilling to cooperate and fought on their own, and the Alliance still studied and watched out for the Empire as its number one enemy – and I was part of it. Later, when the war intensified, we began to cooperate and exchanged a lot of information before we lost contact, and I had knowledge of it.”

Lu Tinghan asked, “Do you remember this information? Can you still find relevant documents?”

“General Lu, after so many years, the documents are probably gone. But I’m still around, and although I’m old, I’m not so old that I’ve forgotten it all,” Su Enqi’s eyes were bright, “I still have some skills that others don’t have. I’m not considered useless, right?”

Lu Tinghan took a deep breath almost silently, and said in a low voice: “Maybe you don’t want to admit it, maybe it sounds hypocritical, but in my opinion, you have always been my teacher. And I have never thought you were ‘useless’.”

Su Enqi said, “You did what you had to do. I have been paying attention to you and supervising you at the same time. In the end, I have to admit… Without you, I’m afraid Fengyang City wouldn’t have lasted even three months. I can’t do this, only you can, only you can do it in this world.” He paused for a moment, “But that doesn’t mean I forgive you – although, you don’t need this kind of thing either. I will not admit that you are my student, my friend, you are ‘General Lu’, nothing more.”

“…” Lu Tinghan asked, “Then, would you like to teach ‘General Lu’ again?”

Su Enqi looked at him and smiled suddenly, with deep wrinkles at the end of his eyes. He said: “You are still the same as when you were a child, your eyes haven’t even changed… Monsters should be afraid of people like you.”

Su Enqi said again: “I am willing to tell you everything I know. This matter has nothing to do with individuals, it’s just for the Alliance, understand?”

Lu Tinghan nodded: “I understand, just for the Alliance.”

Su Enqi: “Then, why don’t you let me find a place to sit down?”

Lu Tinghan smiled and made a gesture: “Please.”

Su Enqi entered the house. He came prepared, holding a lot of handwritten manuscripts and notes in his hands, and without any nonsense, he went straight towards the study.

Shi Yuan was still in the study.

He was a little afraid of Su Enqi, so he quickly hid behind Lu Tinghan.

In order to protect Shi Yuan, only three people in the Alliance knew his identity – Lu Tinghan, Chai Yongning, and Professor Guan. Su Enqi didn’t know about him, so he glanced at him a few times, a little surprised.

Shi Yuan’s tail curled up nervously, trying to run away and go to the bedroom to hide.

But Lu Tinghan hugged him.

He told Su Enqi: “I haven’t found a chance to introduce you. This is Shi Yuan, my lover.”

Su Enqi studied Lu Tinghan’s expression.

He still knew his student, and only saw pure seriousness and honesty. So he understood Lu Tinghan’s determination for this relationship.

He once thought that it was impossible for him to see this kind of thing in Lu Tinghan.

Su Enqi said, “Congratulations.” He nodded to Shi Yuan, “Nice to meet you, Shi Yuan.”