CH 37

Why? Why was there a particle cannon? Why did the mecha, which was clearly used for maneuvers, turn into an attack with live ammunition?

In the silence, He YunTing was the first one to react.

His expression seemed to change only at the moment he connected to the video, and soon returned to his initial coldness, turning on all the mecha’s backup communicators and announcing the termination of the exercise, with all the mecha immediately unloading their arsenals and landing at the nearest border of the strange creatures, with all of them standing by in place.

Due to the thin gravity, Redberry didn’t immediately fall after the attack, but hung overhead, its forehead already broken in pieces, the metal floating in the air, slowly descending.

Lu AnHe seemed unable to accept this fact, clenched his teeth, his eyes filled with blood, but he didn’t say a word.

All the mecha began to slowly put away all their weapons, including the Group A M21 that had attacked Redberry.

But the one with the most ugly face in the room was Wen TianYao.

His face was full of disbelief, even with a bit of panic, his eyes widened, and he took a step back unconsciously.

But no one cared about him now.

The place where the incident happened was some distance away from the warship, and the person in charge, Ji Meng, could no longer make a sound. Lu AnHe was trembling and saluted He YunTing, “I’ll go there now. Reporting to General, I apply to take over Major Ji Meng’s position and continue to be in charge of this matter.”

He YunTing’s eyes were deep as he nodded.

After the instant appointment was over, Lu AnHe grabbed his mecha’s key and was about to rush out.

“Stay in place and keep in touch.” He YunTing also stood up after handing over to Ye Ling beside him, “I’ll go too.”

He YunTing paused when he reached the door and turned back, “Mr. Lin, stay here.”

Lin Han actually wanted to follow, but finally looked at Wen TianYao beside him and nodded in silence.

He YunTing and Lu AnHe moved quickly, and it didn’t take long for Lin Han to see M2742 and Aegis Shield landing in place as fast as they could on the screen in the captain’s room.

All the pilots of Group A and Group B came out of the cockpit, some of them were still unsure when they first arrived at the scene, but when they saw the Imperial General standing in front of them, they still subconsciously huffed.

And Lu AnHe piloted Aegis and picked up Redberry.

It was only when they saw Lu AnHe come out with his hands holding Ji Meng, who had no breath, that all of them realized the seriousness of the matter.

A group of pilots except the M21, the rest of the people gathered together, glanced over, Qi Jiamu surprisingly also among them.

Lin Han’s mentality was forged and a certain string in his heart was loosened at this moment, and a kind of gratitude was born.

Two minutes later, M21’s pilot came out with shaky legs, holding the hatch.

Lin Han wasn’t familiar with this face, so he was thinking for a while before he remembered; it was a new recruit whose strength was inferior to Qi Jiamu. In fact, his overall strength wasn’t bad, but probably Qi Jiamu attracted all the attention, so he couldn’t care about him.

“It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, it really wasn’t me…” The moment he saw the person in Lu AnHe’s arms, he seemed dumbfounded and kept defending incoherently, “I really didn’t expect to hit, I just wanted to score, I just wanted to score…”

Lu AnHe heard a voice and looked up stiffly with a cold tone, “Then why did you use the highest attack level?”

The recruit was almost on the verge of falling to his knees in shock, “I don’t know! I don’t know! I just heard that the hit rate would be higher, Group A had already shot down three units. I could only try, I never knew the ammunition had been replaced from the beginning! I didn’t want to kill anyone!”

He was about to fall in front of everyone, a few pilots’ faces emerged with a look of intolerance, but it was quickly squashed again.

Lu AnHe tightened the force of his arms after hearing the word ‘kill’ and restrained himself for a moment before saying with red eyes, “So you know… It’s murder…”

The man was still explaining in a pale and feeble manner.

A pair of military boots stopped in front of him.

The man who was begging for mercy was suddenly subconsciously silenced in fear.

He YunTing stood in front of him, obviously not as anxious and angry as Lu AnHe, and his tone was cold and emotionless, but it made the other person’s voice rise two points in fear.

“Take him back.” He said.

While in the captain’s room, Lin Han’s gaze landed on Wen TianYao.

That was the reason for him to stay here.

The other’s face looked bad, his lips were white, his eyes full of panic, but probably to maintain his image that he held on, he was silent.

Ye Ling was still in charge of communication, so Lin Han looked around and took a step back.

“Your Highness the Prince.” He took the initiative to open his mouth, his tone calm.

Wen TianYao didn’t expect Lin Han to take the initiative to talk to him, and was surprised for a moment before he could barely hold his composure and respond, “Mn.”

“I heard that this isn’t the first time that Your Highness has participated in practical training,” Lin Han’s face gradually showed a puzzled expression, as if he was really just curious about this issue, “was there a similar situation in the past?”

“No, no.” Wen TianYao answered quickly, “Never before.” After he finished his answer, he realized that his tone was too nervous and quickly regained his composure and gave Lin Han a decent smile, “Don’t be afraid, Mr. Lin, this must be an accident, I believe we’ll find out the truth soon enough.”

“Okay.” Lin Han listened, as if relieved, “Then I’m relieved.” The look on his face seemed to relax, and then he smiled at Wen TianYao, extending his hand as if to express his gratitude, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Wen TianYao didn’t know why Lin Han made this gesture and why he wanted to shake his own hand when thanking him, but his long-standing habit made him subconsciously extend his own hand and politely shake Lin Han’s, “No need to say thank you. We both want to know the truth as soon as possible.”

“Indeed…” Lin Han drew back his hand, and his ears were filled with the other person’s heartfelt words.

【Impossible.】 

【No way.】

【I’m really just here to spy on them.】

【Luo also said that there would be no accidents.】

Two hours later, due to the sudden suspension of the exercise, all mecha temporarily returned to the warship. Lin Han came out of the captain’s room and started checking the mecha one by one.

The mecha of Group B had no problems, including the weapons arsenal — while all the mecha of Group A had their weapons arsenal replaced with weapons with real lethality without anyone’s knowledge.

In other words, at that time, as long as any of the Group A mecha launched an attack, it would cause the exercise to go out of control.

But why did it have to be Ji Meng?

A long time had already passed after Lin Han had verified all the mecha. In the middle of the day, he couldn’t even eat a meal and only took two token supplements to barely keep his body functioning. His stamina was as poor as ever, and when he finished the last unit of testing, he planned to rush again to tell He YunTing what he had heard earlier.

It took two people to get him to the command module where He YunTing was.

Lin Han knocked on the door twice, and only after identifying himself did a “Come in.” come from inside.

He pushed the door in and saw Lu AnHe, who was covered in disheveled clothes, and He YunTing, who was as cold as ever, his face not reflecting what had happened.

Lin Han had probably heard some of the aftermath of the incident.

No one knew who had replaced the mock-ups for the exercise, and M21’s pilot who had opened fire had become fragile and broken under multiple interrogations, and only kept emphasizing that his family had told him that he would get extra points for attacking Redberry during the exercise.

“I really don’t know anything else, I just want to get extra points so badly, really…” That was all that came out of the man’s mouth after that.

Lin Han walked in and closed the door.

No one spoke, and the air was tinged with an oppressive silence. He took two steps forward and decided to state the reason for his visit directly.

“I’m sure it’s not Wen TianYao,” Lin Han didn’t bother to explain why he learned the news so quickly, nor did he emphasize the fact that he could read minds, but simply stated calmly to the two people in front of him, “When you didn’t come back earlier, I already checked this fact.”

Lin Han didn’t know how much they could believe him, but decided to help anyway.

“Mn.” Surprisingly, He YunTing didn’t have any doubts, but answered in a low voice, “I understand.”

Indeed it couldn’t be him.

The radicals, as radical as they were, were only targeting the Zerg, and now being in the border area, the Zerg were nowhere to be seen, and the Oddbound creatures were even less likely to be a threat, and in any case, there was no rounding up of their motives and logic for wanting to disrupt this exercise.

Lu AnHe leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, his eyes empty and powerless, unlike the other man.

Lin Han looked at him helplessly.

“Mr. Lin.” Lu AnHe’s voice was faint, completely different from the previous days, as if he had lost his life.

Lin Han looked at him with downcast eyes, but only nodded his head, unable to even say words of comfort.

Lu AnHe didn’t cry, even the original red eyes were held back by him, but his voice was still hoarse, with an uncontrollable trembling.

“Mr. Lin.” Lu AnHe rearranged his emotions, “How much do you know about Wen TianYao?”

Lin Han replied frankly, “Not much. But I can assure you that all the information I give you is true.”

“I know, I don’t mean to doubt you.” Lu AnHe paused for a moment, “…The Empire has long been not what it appears to be. There was nothing wrong with Old Ji. If I have to say he has any fault, it’s that he just rose in rank this year and has been in charge of this.” Lu AnHe exhaled and continued in a tone of pain that reopened the wound, “He was the most suitable.”

Lin Han heard the word ‘suitable’, his heart inexplicably stung a little.

“But if next time they aim a little higher, and the target is old Ye, me or even the General, the price is too big. If the other side of the plan has the slightest omission, the consequences are unimaginable. But if it’s just the prospective pilots involved in this training, they’re not strong enough. Even if they are accountable, they can’t be turned over, after all, they are just newcomers who haven’t officially entered the squad yet. So, so…” Lu AnHe tilted his head, his lips were trembling as he spoke, and said the final conclusion, “He was the most suitable… —It could only be him.”

“He can attract enough attention without much risk. After all, it’s borrowing the hand of the new recruits. That’s so calculating.” Lu AnHe finally laughed, with mockery and contempt, “Fantastic.”

Lin Han looked at him, and remembered the melody Ji Meng had once hummed, and for a moment couldn’t even bear to say an apology.

“Have you ever hugged a corpse?” He suddenly asked in a low voice.

“I got to hold him today.” Lu AnHe shuddered, “The corpse would still breathe out slightly under my movements, which made me feel that he was still alive, still winking at me, still smiling at me, listening to my complaints, and then whispering softly. Mr. Lin…” At this moment Lu AnHe seemed like he had more to say, so he first glanced at He YunTing and saw that the other didn’t have any other expressions before he said in a tone that sounded a bit strange in a desperate and hesitant manner, “What if I say… All this has been arranged, but not for a day or two, but for years and years in a conspiracy?”

He YunTing finally seemed to stir, and he gave Lu AnHe a sideways glance, but didn’t know whether he was disliking him for saying too much, or simply wanted to know what Lu AnHe would say next.

Lu AnHe only ended up sighing, “But I still don’t know what the other side is up to.”

“Luo Qi… What exactly does he want to do?”

After saying this, Lu AnHe seemed to be finally unable to bear it, said “sorry”, and pushed the door to leave.

At the moment of closing the door, Lin Han heard a long-suppressed whimper.

He YunTing stood still like he had no feelings, from the beginning to the end, his expression didn’t change.

Only two people were left in the room.

He YunTing’s expression was cold as usual.

After a long time, He YunTing said, “How’s Mr. Lin?”

His tone didn’t sound different, the events of today didn’t seem to have any effect on him.

Lin Han gave a “hmm” and said he was fine. But there was always an uneasiness that lingered in his mind for a long time.

He YunTing was too calm, from the moment everything happened, he was the fastest to react. Whether it was the reaction after the incident, or the command and assignment of tasks made. As calm as… an emotionless machine.

And he looked the same now, as cold as ever, as Lin Han did when he first met him. But Lin Han just felt at this moment that it was more than that.

“General,” Lin Han called out to the other man.

He YunTing lowered his eyebrows to look at him, and his blue eyes seemed to be tired, but he couldn’t find a place to rest peacefully. Lin Han thought back to the entire day after the incident, He YunTing was the most indifferent and heartless, as if the death of this subordinate didn’t cause the slightest fluctuation in his heart.

He raised his hand.

Lin Han thought ot himself, even if it was despicable, he still impulsively wanted to touch the other at this moment.

Was he really as calm as he seemed?

Lin Han tentatively stretched out his index finger and gently tried to put it on the back of He YunTing’s hand. But just before touching each other, Lin Han was suddenly overwhelmed by a strong wave of emotions.

This burst of emotion was so strong with sadness that it almost swept Lin Han away.

It was as if… 

He had been in contact with He YunTing so many times that when his hand was placed on the other, he didn’t just read the other side’s heart, but was electrocuted, creating a feeling similar to empathy.

Pain with his pain, sorrow with his sorrow.

When he touched He YunTing, it was as if he felt the other’s pain at that moment, an indescribable pain passed through their fingertips touching each other, spreading through every inch of Lin Han’s nerves.

Lin Han closed his eyes.

A sigh of relief preceded the sound of his heart.

He YunTing was clearly still expressionless at this moment, but Lin Han heard his sigh in his heart. Not only that, he unexpectedly spied too many complex emotions in this brief contact.

It was a deep sense of powerlessness, a feeling of guilt, a self-condemnation of oneself.

And behind the censure and sigh, He YunTing hid all these emotions, put them away in his heart, and then used his heart and blood to inscribe a tombstone for these warriors who had sacrificed their lives.

Then he stood up again and told himself, as he wouldn’t have any other emotions, that he couldn’t be powerless, nor could he be sad.

——Because he could sweep away everything before him, because he was able to triumph in every battle.

But behind that sigh, Lin Han heard the other clearly again.

【It was my fault.】

【I couldn’t say anything to AnHe because… It was my fault.】

“General,” Lin Han suddenly called out.

He YunTing’s fingers moved, seemingly still immersed in the emotions in his heart, subconsciously unwilling to let Lin Han touch——

And it was at this moment that Lin Han stretched out his hand again and firmly clasped the other party’s fingers that wanted to break free.

The author has something to say: 

I need to explain the various accusations received from the last chapter. This is an interstellar novel, there will be war and casualties.

The setting is such that his role, the emotional point he has to bring is thought of before, if replaced by someone who doesn’t even have a name, the big plot twist may not be enough. I’m a pretentious person, if I don’t like the character of Ji Meng and why render his persona, why waste all this ink, I don’t know how to become indifferent and dispensable, as for the abrupt, I’m afraid to drag a chapter or two to write this plot again people will be more upset, I also can’t bear, so it was written in the last chapter.

To ensure that the emotional line didn’t knife is to give an account, but really don’t want to take the initiative to dramatize.

My previous novels are cheeky little sweet novels, this one I wanted to try to write a plot and starry sky on the basis of emotional lines, but it doesn’t seem I’m doing well.

But at least now I’m writing what I want to write.