Yao Yuan opened his eyes to a warm glow. Swaddled in a warm blanket, he hadn't felt so comfortable and relaxed in a long time, which in and of itself was alarming. He quickly scanned his surroundings and mentally checked his body's condition.

(My upper thigh's bandaged in plaster, so it does appear that I've suffered from broken bones. I'm no longer in my combat suit, and this looks like the Hope's infirmary. So they've carried me back to the Hope… I wonder what else happened on the wars.h.i.+p husk… Were there any deaths? Did we manage to carry some of the broken robot parts back to the Hope? Have there been other discoveries?) Yao Yuan thought to himself. Suddenly, he felt an intense ache in his head as if it a vise was clamping down on it. Unable to tolerate the pain, he screamed out in agony.

His scream attracted 4 Black Star close guards who stood outside his room to come rus.h.i.+ng in. Expecting an a.s.sault, they entered the room with their weapons drawn. Their experience as Special Forces made them spread out to secure the perimeter while one of them squatted by Yao Yuan's side, s.h.i.+elding him.

"The room's clear! The Captain seems to be in extreme pain. Call the doctor, quick!" The person who knelt beside Yao Yuan quickly performed a check on Yao Yuan's signs of life. By then, Yao Yuan had stopped screaming, but he sweated profusely, gritting his teeth. This was the face of a man who was fighting for life.

The 4 close guards were shocked by the quick development of events, but their formal training helped them speedily recover. One of them pressed the emergency b.u.t.ton beside Yao Yuan's bed and another kept a close hand on his pulse while talking slowly to Yao Yuan to keep him from slipping into unconsciousness, the third one kept a vigil over Yao Yuan's body, while the last lopped out of the room to get the doctors.

In less than 2 minutes, the doctor on duty and a group of nurses entered the room. Yao Yuan had started foaming at the mouth, and the whites of his eyes were showing. After feeling his pulse and breathing, the doctor ordered, "Give him a shot of tranquilizer and painkillers, now. And then get me his X-rays. I'm afraid we have overlooked some internal wounds the captain might have suffered…"

That was all Yao Yuan could capture before the chemicals took effect and fatigue overtook him. He barely uttered a sentence before slipping back into sleep.

"…You're feeling tired now, aren't you?"

"Hmm… Yes, you're right. I'm physically, mentally, and spiritually tired. I feel like even my soul needs a rest…"

"…Then why don't you use this opportunity to take a good rest? But promise me you'll work that much harder after this. For me and our child's [1] sake, you mustn't slack off…"

"Of course… I'll do anything for our child…"

When Yao Yuan opened his eyes next, he feigned yawning and surrept.i.tiously wiped the tears that had gathered at the corner of his eyes.

He found himself sleeping on another bed, but this time it came with a decontamination layer, not unlike the one they had at the Hope's ICU room. Not far away from him was a nurse who was trying her best to not nod off. Yao Yuan calmed himself and surveyed his surroundings.

After some time, he uttered in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "h.e.l.lo, nurse, I'm awake."

Shocked into response, the nurse almost tripped on her way over to Yao Yuan's bedside. After checking all the monitors around Yao Yuan's bed, she exhaled in relief and steepled her hands in apology, saying, "Captain, I'm so sorry. I stayed up late last night catching up on a drama series. I swear I'm normally not as clumsy as this, so could you please keep this between us and not tell my supervisor?"

Yao Yuan smiled. "Don't worry, I won't rat you out, but please don't stay up late again. Your work requires full concentration. Human lives hang in the balance here."

The 20 something nurse stuck out her tongue innocently and replied, "Captain, please wait for a moment. I'll go get the doctor."

Before she left, Yao Yuan asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

"12 days," answered the nurse as she walked out of the room.

Memories from his previous resuscitation slowly came back to Yao Yuan. The ghost of the pain from back then still lingered. Wary of exacerbating his situation, Yao Yuan let his focus wander around the room, waiting for the doctor to arrive.

Doctor, nurses and guards arrived not long after.

After another series of check-ups, Yao Yuan asked hesitantly, "Doctor, tell me honestly, is there something wrong with my brain? Like a tumor, or I've contracted some weird brain virus? Please be frank so that I can arrange for the Hope's future."

The doctor shook his head. "Don't worry, Captain. Your results have come out negative for all the tests that we've done. In fact, you're at the pink of health. The CAT scan showed you were in deep sleep for the past 13 days, so you weren't in a coma. But I'll be frank, we were quite worried should you decide to continue sleeping."

"13 days?" Yao Yuan scanned the crowd for the nurse. He found her pulling an innocent face in the crowd while stealthily begging him to keep his promise. Yao Yuan smiled in spite of himself and decided to let it go.

More tests followed, and in the process, several government officers, Black Star members, Ren Tao, Chou Yue, members from the Academy, all came to pay Yao Yuan a visit. They totaled up to about 200 people, and they had to line up on a field in front of the hospital because the hospital wasn't large enough to accommodate such a crowd.

The ma.s.s of people in turn had attracted more people, and it didn't take too long for the field to throng with life. Many westerners even came with banners in their hands, ready for a celebration.

Inside, Guang Zhen was relaying to Yao Yuan the things that had happened on the Hope in the past 13 days.

First, it took 9 hours for the wars.h.i.+p husk exploration team to return to the Hope. Other than exhaustion, no one was hurt. The moment they descended from the shuttle and went through the decontamination room, most collapsed on the spot.

Soldiers, scientists, and government officers who stood by waiting rapidly rushed into the shuttle to inspect its load. There were 5 relatively intact robot remains and alien products of varying sizes. After removing the s.p.a.cesuits, they discovered the injury on Yao Yuan's thigh and immediately rushed him to the infirmary. Everyone else was sent to the hospital to recuperate.

Yao Yuan was still in slumber when everyone awoke the day after… "The first time you rose was 2 days after, but that period of cognizance didn't last for long and, from what I've heard, was critical and painful. The hospital conducted more tests after that, but all the reports said you were fine."

While they were waiting for more medical machines to be wheeled into the room, Guang Zhen continued.

"There was nothing of note in the first week, but inflammatory statements started to circulate among the public after you'd been in bed for more than 7 days. They said that you had entered a vegetative state and I will usurp the administrative power to remodel the Hope under a draconian rule. And that's not even the worst. Some doomsday cult started a rumor that we're sinners for having escaped G.o.d's rapture, while some mysterious party said that since the alien civilization behind the junkyard has been proven to be more advanced than ours, we should find some ways to appeal to them so that they would teach and lead us."

Guang Zhen concluded with much derision and anger.

Yao Yuan, on the other hand, sat quietly and listened. After the inspection had been completed, the doctor once again declared Yao Yuan was fit to go but expressed the hope that he would remain in the hospital for further observation.

Yao Yuan declined on the spot. There were simply too many things he needed to take care of. While the inspection was going on, Yao Yuan tried exercising his mind and realized with much relief that the pain was gone. Since the doctor couldn't provide him with an answer, Yao Yuan speculated that the pain was the result of him exhausting 3 superhuman powers at the same time. n.o.body knew what the side-effects of overdoing the All-Rounder state was, so Yao Yuan concluded that this was probably it.

"Ol' Wong, I know we have to nip these issues at their buds before they unsettle the s.h.i.+p's societal structure. Rest a.s.sured that I will take care of them carefully and firmly, so I hope you can leave them to me… But now we have a bigger fish to fry. I want you to help me train a troop of about 300 soldiers to get them familiarized with s.p.a.ce combat. Other than that, we also have to increase the productivity for combat suit prototype 1, Gaussian guns, and s.p.a.ce-use shuttles.

If a small exploratory team is not going to cut it, we're going to overcome these wars.h.i.+p husks by the numbers!"

Translator's Thoughts

Lonelytree

[1] No idea whether it is child or children, will stick with child for now.