CH 51

Before his consciousness completely disappeared, Lin Han saw a person in his field of vision running towards him as fast as he could, moving through the blood on the ground.

Lin Han moved his lips to call his name, wanted to smile comfortingly and say he was fine, but in the end it was difficult to even reach out and touch the other person, he couldn’t do anything.

But luckily… he still caught up.

All the tiredness finally overwhelmed him at this moment, but Lin Han felt like he was much more comfortable, and when He YunTing rushed over to embrace him, his body only felt relieved. Even though the temperature was still too hot and dreary for him to get up, he still thought so.

Lin Han woke up to find himself firmly in someone’s arms. He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, or even where he was now. He tried to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the thin material of the man’s clothes, and his chest rising and falling slightly with his breathing.

Lin Han’s entire body was embraced by the other in a position of absolute safety and protection.

He YunTing’s breathing and heartbeat didn’t fluctuate, as if he had been in this position for a long time without being disturbed by anyone.

But Lin Han’s slight movement still caught his attention.

When he noticed that his hands were loosening, Lin Han subconsciously tried to find a comfortable position in He YunTing’s embrace, but as soon as he turned his head, he saw the mess in the cockpit.

There wasn’t much pure water left, some strange things Lin Han had never seen, and a spread out emergency medical kit. But He YunTingtried all of these, and didn’t dare to hurt Lin Han, and finally chose to hold him personally, doing nothing, thinking nothing, until he woke up.

Anyway, in this desolation, time was the most worthless thing. Either wasted on unnecessary thoughts, or wasted in the ambiguous warmth.

Both seemed to be the extremely right choice.

“Mr. Lin.” He YunTing’s voice, however, was really hoarse, as if it had been suppressed for a long time, finally finding his voice after seeing Lin Han wake up and become less natural.

Although the movement of his hands loosened a bit, He YunTing didn’t mean to let go of him, instead, he continued to call him again, afraid that Lin Han would faint in front of him again in the next second.

Lin Han wanted to answer him, but found that his throat hurt so much that a simple vibration made his vocal cords feel a tearing, stabbing pain.

His voice didn’t come out, but the fishy sweetness in his throat couldn’t go down. Lin Han felt like his lungs to throat were blocked by something, but his body rejected it as if to get rid of these foreign substances, so Lin Han began to cough violently, his body trembled violently, until he coughed out a mouthful of crimson blood, and then began to breathe air in large gulps.

He YunTing immediately picked up a side of water to help Lin Han moisten his lips, but the action was gentle, and He YunTing didn’t even dare to pat his back, waiting for Lin Han himself to calm down.

And after coughing up a mouthful of blood, Lin Han felt a lot more relaxed, although he may not have much strength until there were some nutritional supplements.

Lin Han took two breaths in a row before he let out a, “Hmmm. I… How long have I been out?”

He YunTing was silent for a moment before saying, “An entire day.”

Lin Han became anxious, “So where are we now? General, you didn’t drive the mecha back, right? I…”

He still had something he had to tell He YunTing.

But He YunTing just silently hugged him a little tighter.

Only then did Lin Han truly calm down.

There was no way that he wouldn’t wait for He YunTing for no reason and take the risk of driving the M2742 to find him. Just from these two points, something must have happened.

“I’ve already driven away from that place, don’t worry.” He YunTing said.

“I opened the communication when you left and was contacted by Lieutenant Colonel Lu,” Lin Han told He YunTing everything he heard the day before, “I was worried that it would be unsafe to stay where I was, so I tried to come to you…”

Lin Han didn’t finish his next sentence.

If not for He YunTing, the course of all events would’ve been different again.

He didn’t reject the embrace of the other party, and he didn’t have the strength to push away now anyway.

He YunTing’s hand was extremely steady, while holding the gun, and while operating the mecha, but just now when he saw Lin Han coughing blood and when handing over the water, there were a few trembles.

“I…” Lin Han heard his voice, a little hesitant, “Whether Mr. Lin came or not, I would’ve tried to get rid of those from the Kozeon clan, before definitely going to find you.”

“The Kozeons?” Lin Han repeated the unfamiliar name, remembering those hideous and disgusting looking monsters.

“Hm.” He YunTing’s voice calmed down again, “It’s kind of a special category among the Oddbound creatures. Their appearance is their characteristic, they are sensitive to smell, they have no fixed residence, and no special diet, but will attack humans and devour them. I didn’t expect to meet them here either.” He YunTing paused, “Probably attracted by the decaying Zerg corpses, they groped their way here step by step.”

He talked continuously, but deliberately avoided what happened after he met them, just said “They will definitely come back. But Mr. Lin did a great job.” He YunTing’s voice was light, as if those events had been a long time ago, and he had only just returned from looking for food.

“Thank you.” There was his usual coldness in his tone, but there was also an unadulterated seriousness in the coldness. “Is Mr. Lin hungry?” He YunTing said, “I didn’t find anything else this time, so we only have a bit of Jinlin fruit left over from last time that Grr brought with it.”

Lin Han nodded and froze for a moment when he heard Grr, as if something had been pestering him since he woke up, “By the way, it…”

His words didn’t finish as he lowered his head, only to see the well-behaved little guy by his feet. Grr wasn’t bothering him anymore, even afraid that his little weight would make Lin Han more uncomfortable. He didn’t dare to rub against him, its previous excitement was gone, and it even let out an inaudible whine.

Lin Han saw it like this, got up from He YunTing’s embrace, then squatted down and touched its head with his hand. The little guy seemed to be very greedy for Lin Han’s action, but it carefully pulled out his paws and hooked his fingers. The black bean eyes diminished the light, and looked very aggrieved.

As if it wasn’t Lin Han who fainted, but him.

Therefore it asked for a little comfort, and a little intimacy.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Han remembered that it also watched him faint. He gently touched Grr’s little tail with his palm, while his thumb wiped his face, and softened his voice, “I’m sorry.” Lin Han, although his hand was still on Grr, he looked up at He YunTing, who looked tired, and finished the apology, “I made you guys worry.”

“No.” He YunTing replied, “It’s fine since Mr. Lin is okay.”

Grr seemed to be still very upset, so Lin Han let it hold onto his finger. He came closer, looked at the aggrieved little guy and said, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to leave you.”

Grr’s nostrils twitched when it heard this, and it was finally convinced by Lin Han. Lin Han spread his palm, “Don’t you want to come up?”

The little one squirmed for a while, but gave in and jumped back up before gently rubbing his hand. Lin Han felt the familiar fluffy touch, Grr buried his face in his palm, and after a while, he jumped up on his shoulders aggressively.

And Lin Han actually found a little bit of very light wetness in his palm. Perhaps it was during the time he was unconscious that Grr thought he was dead.

So the Oddbound creatures could also cry?

Lin Han’s heart trembled lightly, he wiped off the wetness with his thumb, and gently patted the little one on his shoulder again, “It won’t happen again. Don’t cry.”

In the moment of wiping away Grr’s tears, Lin Han was suddenly lost in thought.

Was He YunTing sad? If he really had an accident… What would happen to him?

This vision made Lin Han feel sad again, he envisioned two scenarios, but found that none of them was acceptable to him. He didn’t want to see He YunTing upset, much less be able to assume such a cruel possibility.

So he struggled to take a bite of the only food that didn’t taste good and swallowed the dryness and fishy sweetness in his throat.

He couldn’t stop yet. There was still much to be done.

Lin Han walked over to the console as the shift in position and weapon use occurred, causing another considerable energy drain for the mecha. He checked it from the inside out and said to He YunTing, “We don’t have much energy left.”

The two men had known this for a long time, so He YunTing wasn’t surprised when he said it.

“Even if we stop where we are and turn on the minimum energy consumption, we only have one day left.”

They still didn’t know when the reinforcements would come, and whether the other group of people who didn’t want them to go back would arrive here before the reinforcements.

But sitting on the sidelines was never an option.

When Grr saw that Lin Han had recovered a little, he finally started to try to rub against him, but his movements were still very careful.

Lin Han raised his hand and scratched its head, “I have a…”

“I think—”

He and He YunTing spoke at the same time.

Lin Han let He YunTing speak first.

“How long can the remaining energy last if we go at full speed?”

Lin Han didn’t expect He YunTing to think of the same thing as him and said, “Three or four hours. And you can’t use the arsenal.”

“I’m willing to gamble.” He YunTing looked at him with downcast eyes.

Lin Han smiled, his eyes curled up.

Grr followed suit when he noticed this and began to circle around him again.

“Let’s gamble.”

“I’m not so sure, though, that they’ll welcome us when we get to the Oddbound creatures.” He YunTing said, “But I probably remember the directions.”

Lin Han’s eyes blinked, “I don’t know either.”

For example, this little thing on his shoulder.

There was no turning back anyway, so they might as well give it one last try and have no regrets. Although they all knew that if the mecha’s existing energy wasn’t enough to get them to the planet of the Oddbound creatures, or if they were subjected to great rejection or direct attack like the Kozeons when they arrived…

Then they wouldn’t even have weapons, and the mecha would just be a bunch of cold iron shells. But in any case, at least starting tomorrow, there would be results. Their eternal return to the universe, or a turnaround.

“Mr. Lin,” He YunTing called him, saying something that had little relevance to the present, “do you know the flowering date of purple tulips?”

Lin Han shook his head.

“The tulips at my estate should be blooming soon.” He YunTing said, but his eyes looked up at the depressing and empty sky. The only reason he had planted that field of flowers was that he thought they looked a lot like the Erinnerung Nebula when they were in full bloom.

He didn’t tell this to Lin Han.

“Let’s see it together when we get back.” He YunTing said. His tone was full of certainty, as if the two weren’t on a barren planet, their mecha was full of energy, and they had infinite possibilities.

Lin Han tilted his head to look at him and called He YunTing’s name.

“Does General have any faith?” He couldn’t help but ask. Lin Han once thought that he was strong. But in this situation, he realized that he was still very fragile, and there were still a lot of doubts and denials that were breaking down the things he had built up.

But not He YunTing.

He seemed to be ever firm, no matter where he was. A lot of people in the Empire would have their own beliefs, as if just having this seemingly non-existent thing would make one a hundred times stronger and never fall down again.

Yet He YunTing only frowned slightly, as if in doubt, “Faith?”

“For example a thing, or God.” Lin Han had no way to explain this, because in fact he himself had never believed in God.

“I don’t know.” He YunTing said. “Maybe there really is a god.”

Lin Han didn’t expect him to answer this way and looked up at him again.

Even now, He YunTing’s aura hadn’t changed a bit, while his eyes were like stars, his face was cold, as he said indifferently, “But even if there are gods, they are still at my disposal.”