4:00 am.

After an effective four-hour rest, Jingheng Lin got out of bed. He handed the completed military flight channel map to Zhanlu for the AI to perform final calibrations. Meanwhile, he directly started high-intensity physical rehabilitation training.

An hour and a half later, he came back, drenched in sweat. Through the mental network, he could see Sat.u.r.day herding his loser Self-Defence Force around like a flock of sheep. They started running laps around the mech station, while howling out brainwas.h.i.+ng marching cadences that he couldn't make out.

Jingheng Lin took a glance at his watch. He realized that these guys had actually copied the Ten Squadron's daily schedule.

He took an indifferent cold shower, and perfunctorily stuffed a nutrition meal in his mouth. During physical rehabilitation training, he had to strictly and precisely control his nutrient intake corresponding to the amount of exertion. It was impossible for normal food to achieve this level of precision, so he could only eat customized nutritional meals.

Low-quality nutritional meals could still contain some artificial flavoring, but the type he ate was completely flavourless except a light, bland saltiness. It was terrible in all aspects: color, smell, flavor... Its texture was even close to a solidified goop of snot.

Finis.h.i.+ng it made one feel ready to let go of earthly attachments, like life no longer had any meaning.

Jingheng Lin changed into a new s.h.i.+rt. In the first light of the day, he briskly walked across the base towards the mech port. He needed to collect data on the high energy particle flow pa.s.sing through to deduce the firepower Prince Cayley had used to blow up Planet Egret.

Sat.u.r.day, who was leading people for a morning jog, saw him from far away. Intending to perform well in front of him, he quickly kicked the adjacent Holiday. Hard.

Holiday stumbled, yelling like a conch, "One, two!"

The losers, drenched in sweat, stuck out their necks, mewling along with the conch.

Sat.u.r.day fumed. "Did you all skip a meal?"

The Self-Defense Force members he had forced into partic.i.p.ation were already spread out over two kilometers, despite only having run three. Dragging their feet, each one of them had a unique running posture, as though they had just feasted on rat poison.

Sat.u.r.day got p.i.s.sed. "Again! Louder this time!"

The Self-Defense Force started dragging their voices like Chinese opera actors, squeezing out a collective warble, "--Ooooneeee--twoooo--aaaahh--ooh--"

Jingheng Lin pa.s.sed through the wailing group of sc.u.m without looking up even once, and entered the mech station's elevator.

The elevator's doors closed, but pressing the b.u.t.tons did not elicit any response. Jingheng Lin frowned. The speaker suddenly started transmitting a certain migraine-inducing voice. "Welcome to the voiced smart elevator. To activate the elevator, please exchange greetings with it first — Good morning, Mr Lin."

Jingheng Lin: "..."

The 'elevator' prompted, "Sir, I would recommend answering with 'Good morning, my dearest elevator darling.'"

The corners of Jingheng Lin's eyes twitched. He directly opened base administrator access on his personal terminal and forced the elevator to start from the server side.

"Fine, I know that you've said it in your heart......uh, beep--"

Jingheng Lin had muted the elevator's speaker too.

Once the elevator door opened, Bixing Lu, who had been waiting for him at the main control room's entrance, caught him.

Bixing Lu was normally someone who already put a lot of energy into maintaining his appearance. He had probably taken the wrong medicine that day, having become even more extreme. Give him a spotlight, and he could start strutting on a catwalk.

"To be human is to have a sense of humour and an appreciation for entertainment. Commodore, you're so serious all the time — don't you find life drab, and in dire need of pleasure?"

Jingheng Lin couldn't afford to get entangled with him. He walked past him without without a sideways look, and headed into the main control room. "I don't."

Bixing Lu caught up to him. "When you've got nothing to do, don't you have anything else to pa.s.s the time with other than drinking and s.p.a.cing out?"

"I have plenty of things to do in my spare time." Jingheng Lin said.

The four students were up early, already gathered in the main control room. They sat around a round table, doing some piece of unknown homework. A variety of calculation windows were projected from their personal terminals, hovering all over the place. There was even a simple breakfast set out on the table.

The second the students saw Jingheng Lin, they stood up at attention instinctively. White hastily swallowed the bread in his mouth.

Jingheng Lin nodded at them impa.s.sively, walking directly towards the database.

Bixing Lu grabbed his arm. "You're retrieving the high energy particle flow data, right? Hey, kids, your homework checker has arrived. Get over here and present your a.n.a.lyses of the attack on Planet Egret!"

The four students stared at each other. White choked on his bread and nearly perished on the spot.

Jingheng Lin did not feel like wasting his time getting lectured by a couple of ignorant students, and frowned, glaring at Bixing Lu. However, Bixing Lu acted as if he didn't notice his impatience, generously smiling at him as bright as a sun. If he had a tail, it would probably already be wagging like a fan.

Jingheng Lin breathed out a long sigh and pulled back his arm without a word. Crossing his arms, he was forced to help in "homework checking".

The four jittery students shoved each another for a while. At last, Jingshu Huang, used to being the head honcho, stepped forward. Her voice was so quiet and reserved that it seemed like she had never cursed anybody out before in her life. She started reading her a.n.a.lysis thinly, "A week ago, based on reliable sources, interstellar pirates attacked Planet Egret. The high energy particle flow caused by the explosion pa.s.sed through the base, and was..."

Jingheng Lin calmly interrupted her, "Cut to the point."

"The, the point?" Jingshu Huang flipped to the back of her report in a panic, "Oh, I...I used triangulation to deduce that..."

Jingheng Lin interrupted her again. "Triangulation's an academic model. To apply the formula, you'd need to a.s.sume an ideal case, ignoring too many deviations. It doesn't really work in reality."

He remembered that this girl was also called Jingshu. He had a lot more patience for her because of her name, and thought that he was speaking gently.

After 'being gentle', he even asked, "Did you use any other models?"

Jingshu Huang's face flushed red instantly. She wordlessly scratched at her personal terminal.

Jingheng Lin gave her half a minute, fulfilling his moral duty to the greatest extent. "Next."

White stuttered, "I...I also used triangulation, and I nested a Cruz division in it..."

"Complete bulls.h.i.+t. Next."

"I checked Egret's profile and orbit path," Mint cleared her throat, sneaking a glance at Jingheng Lin. Jingheng Lin looked down at her, his brows scrunched together. His expression looked like he was being annoyed by a barking dog. However, the good thing was that he hadn't interrupted her yet. Mint mustered all her courage, and continued, "Egret's ma.s.s is..."

Jingheng Lin replied, "I know what Egret's ma.s.s is."

"I used the weight to create simulations of several ways Egret could've gotten attacked." Mint said.

Jingheng Lin arched his brows. "With what?"

Mint mumbled, "The...the astronomical calculator."

The corners of Jingheng Lin's mouth curved like he was smiling. "I'd recommend a children's calculator instead, it's easier to operate. Next."

Rickhead, having watched every single one of his cla.s.smates fall in battle, was terrified stiff. He was nearly embarra.s.sed to tears, whimpering, "I...I don't know how to do it."

Jingheng Lin nodded gracefully. "I admire your straightforward style greatly — saves everyone time."

Finished with talking, he gave a dismissive wave. Turning around, he headed towards the main control room's database in full a.s.shole mode, ignoring everyone.

Bixing Lu finally understood what "plenty of things" meant — in Jingheng Lin's eyes, probably every idiot in the world was entertainment.

He sighed, waved for the students to come over, and lead them over to where Jingheng Lin was.

Jingheng Lin said nothing, letting them observe however they wanted to. He was very focused when working, able to completely ignore Bixing Lu babbling out a real time explanation right next to him. Data streamed past on his terminal in a blur, without an AI's help.

After all, the Silver Fortress's biggest enemy had always been interstellar pirates. Even if he did not know who he was fighting for, going against and a.n.a.lyzing interstellar pirates had almost become second nature.

When he had finished a considerable amount of work, the sun was already in the west. The student left in a daze, their brains overloaded. A porcelain cup was handed to him. Jingheng Lin's gaze did not leave his personal terminal. He took it and took a sip. Discovering that it wasn't plain water, he stuffed the porcelain cup back in the owner's hands. He walked over to a sink and spat it out.

Bixing Lu, confused, took a sip from the cup. He didn't taste anything weird. "What's wrong? Do you not eat sweets or are you lactose intolerant?"

"I'm not that fussy," Jingheng Lin poured himself a cup of water, "I'm fine with just water."

Bixing Lu's gaze landed on his loose s.h.i.+rt, and suddenly realized why. "You're on a diet to regain weight?'

Jingheng Lin didn't have the habit of discussing his figure with other men, so he ignored him. Turning his back on him, he started checking his findings from that day.

He was propping himself up on the main control room's host computer, his shoulders slightly jutting up, showing his broad, smooth back. The artificial daylight was just about to leave the base. It shone in sideways, just pa.s.sing through his thin s.h.i.+rt, showing hints of his waistline.

Bixing Lu's gaze landed on it. He couldn't resist, and measured it with his hands a few steps away, keeping his impulse to caress it under control with a lot of effort. He coughed once, "When you injected yourself with the muscle dissolver, why didn't the torture you're going through now occur to you?"

Jingheng Lin: "How do you have so much bulls.h.i.+t to talk about?"

Bixing Lu went up next to him. He was too close. A hint of fruit wafted over, and Jingheng Lin avoided it on instinct.

Bixing Lu failed in his sneak attack, so he had to eat the half slice of apple he did not manage to stuff in Lin's mouth himself. "I think it should be fine for you to have some other food. Don't be so harsh on the world and yourself — what do you like to eat? Sweet stuff, or spicy stuff? Are you more carnivorous or vegetarian? Other than not drinking beer, are you picky about any other food?"

Jingheng Lin: "......"

Maybe he was mistaken, but even though Bixing Lu was pretty annoying before, he still knew which lines he couldn't cross, and would stay in a range Jingheng Lin could tolerate. And sometimes — at a probability close to that of being able to view a meteor rain with the naked eye — Lin was willing to admit that Bixing Lu was a bit cute.

He didn't know if it was because of the "lost and found again" filter he had on lately, making him spoil him too much. However, Jingheng Lin felt that this kid was really crossing the line.

"Prince Cayley — Ares Von's heavy mech firepower can definitely compare to that of the Union's," Jingheng Lin's put on a stern face, forcibly changing the topic. "Their capacity for heavy weaponry is much stronger than that of the Union's. They have a better offense, and even better defense abilities, but I think that they might have sacrificed some mobility. The anti-tracking system you suggested before is doable. If you've stayed back to talk to me about this, I'll give you fifteen minutes. If not, get out."

"I've already finished the framework," Bixing Lu said, "The robots are working on it day and night. We can just send it out to the energy towers with mechs by then, it won't delay your business."

Jingheng Lin's expression softened.

Then, Bixing Lu added, "Lin, do you frown all the time because you think you look better serious than smiling?"

Jingheng Lin pointed at the door, motioning for him to get the f.u.c.k out.

However, not only did Bixing Lu refuse to leave — he even grabbed a chair and sat down.

Jingheng Lin felt gooseb.u.mps rising from being stared at by a gaze full of curiosity and the spirit of exploration. He kept feeling like he had become the main character of some absurd lab report. "What else do you want?"

Bixing Lu detected a familiar challenge.

It seemed like the handful of people hardest to get along with, with the worst personalities in the world, ended up becoming his students. Jingheng Lin was an overachiever in both aspects. Yet, Bixing Lu still liked him so much.

Bixing Lu suspected that he had some kind of kink that made him extra vulnerable towards awful people like this. He weighed his options for a while, and felt that if he answered "to have a chat" at this point, this person would definitely walk out. Instead, skilfully, he picked a topic that could easily get people to drop their defenses. "What was Wotto like?"

Jingheng Lin froze for a second. The softest part in the centre of his heart felt like it was poked by a needle.

Back then, the Lu home was less than two kilometers away from the Union Legislative a.s.sembly Building. If you climbed onto the rooftop, you could see the paradise-like forest park behind it. A child, who should've been born there and spoiled with love, was now asking him what Wotto is like. He even thought Wotto would have crowded "pencil buildings" and slums.

Even though Jingheng Lin had just been reflecting on if he had been spoiling Bixing Lu too much, he squashed the thought. In a second, fe forgot how he had wanted to tie Bixing Lu up in the air and beat him up, and wished that he could give him everything he wanted.

"Wotto had a small population," Jingheng Lin said carefully. "Except for the Central Mall, there were almost no tall buildings."

"Why?" Bixing Lu asked, confused. "Don't important people like to look down at the world from their lofty perches?"

"There's always someone who doesn't like it. The ones who don't won't climb up high in the air, and neither would they like the notion of other people looking down at themselves." Jingheng Lin relaxed his permanently taut back slightly. "Everything in Wotto is a miniature version of the Union. As a result of the impa.s.se between opposing parties, a height limit was imposed on every building in Wotto. Everything outside the Central Business district was banned from exceeding the height of the sky rail. Three-fourths of the land was covered in ornamental plants. The entire capital planet was like a giant garden park."

Bixing Lu, being a country hick born and raised in the Eighth Galaxy, had only seen the First Galaxy in movies before. As for Wotto, he had only seen a few rare pictures of it on books, most of them of the a.s.sembly Building — Wotto was filled with aristocrats, which made most places off-limits from photography. To him, it was a bit hard to imagine. "Wouldn't that be inconvenient, I mean, when it comes to stuff like living facilities?"

"Wotto is different from everywhere else. There's no private property on the capital planet. All of the land is divided by rank and post. Both area and s.p.a.cing were regulated. They'd rather live more spa.r.s.ely than upset someone. All the daily commodities were rationed, and every area had their own service staff on duty. If you needed anything, you just had to send for someone from your personal terminal. As long as it wasn't illegal, they could deal with anything for you. Basically half of the sky rail was private and exclusive. Transportation was convenient, so there was little to no need for public transport infrastructure."

Bixing Lu was first shocked by the life of extreme extravagance and luxury the aristocrats had. Then, he felt a little guilty, as he doubted if he could afford such a life for the Wotto-raised Commodore Lin. As such, he tentatively asked, "Was your place like this too?"

Jingheng Lin stayed silent for a while. Then, he vaguely nodded, "Basically."

The Union's Commodores had personal estates. However, Jingheng Lin only paid his a single symbolic visit on the day it was completed. After he had recorded his genes in the gene lock, he left it to a bunch of robots to take care of. He couldn't even remember its exact address at this point. Ever since he was placed in charge of the Silver Fortress, he had never taken a day off. On his occasional visits to Wotto, he would stay unceremoniously in the diplomatic hotel in the back of the a.s.sembly Building, leaving right after he was done with his business. Home — to be honest, Zhanlu's mech was more like home to him.

"Then...don't you feel like you're suffering in this cramped base?" Bixing Lu asked.

"Not really," Jingheng Lin replied. He deigned to make a short remark, "It is a bit loud."

Bixing Lu hesitated for a second before asking, "Then why did you leave the Union back then? How did you delete yourself in Eden's system?"

Jingheng Lin skipped the first question, casually answering, "In the end, Eden's just a piece of technology, not a G.o.d. There are still flaws to exploit."

Bixing Lu continued asking, "How about your family? Won't they be worried about you?"

He had started from Wotto, closing in bit by bit. At the end, he had naturally changed the topic to Jingheng Lin himself. Unfortunately, such precious prey was not that easily captured. At this point, his questions had become overly personal. Jingheng Lin pretended as if he did not hear it, and avoided answering. Instead, he retorted, "Monoeye Hawk's never let you out the Eighth Galaxy all these years?"

Bixing Lu knew it was time to stop. "Yeah, didn't even let me mention it. Every time I brought it up, he'd explode, as if I had a bounty on my head, and will be captured if I ever set foot into the Seven Galaxies."

Jingheng Lin: "......"

Somehow, this kid managed to land on the truth, even though he was just saying a load of drivel.

"Have you ever tried sneaking out on your own?"

"Yeah, of course," Bixing Lu said, "I met you on Planet Beijing, didn't I? Actually, my initial destination wasn't Beijing-β. It's just that when I accidentally opened your ecopod back then, I thought that I had messed up, and stayed behind to take care of you. Yet, in the end, I stayed for that long, and taught a few students along the way. Then, I sold the mech to exchange it for a school. The plan couldn't keep up with all those changes, and that's how my great undertaking to tour the Union pa.s.sed away halfway through."

Confusion rose in Jingheng Lin's mind. As outlandish as Bixing Lu's mech designs were, they were still masterfully done. He could make a living anywhere. Even if he didn't have identification doc.u.ments, or cash, there would be lots of people willing to fix that for him. Plus, he was brave to the point of recklessness, daring to even carry out human experimentation on himself. Flying a mech to the union probably wouldn't even count as an adventure to him. Jingheng Lin simply couldn't conceive a way that Monoeye Hawk could trap him on Planet Cayley for more than twenty years.

Bixing Lu stuffed his hands under his head, leaning back confidently. "Now that I think of it, if I had died on Planet Beijing at that moment, it really would've been a shame. I've never traveled around the Union's eight galaxies, nor have I ever been in a relations.h.i.+p with anyone. It would have been like my whole life was pointless."

Both the d.a.m.ned Creation Project and the bird youth's terrifying chimera body were stuck in Jingheng Lin's mind. His throat felt a little tight, but he pretended that nothing was wrong. He probed tentatively, "You've never been with someone? Then what have you been doing during those twenty years on Planet Cayley? Just taking mechs apart and putting them back together?"

Bixing Lu was sharp and detected the tightness in his voice. He thought, fireworks going off in his heart, "This tsundere, so indirect even when trying to pry into my relations.h.i.+p history."

"I was also following fate," He winked at Jingheng Lin. "I walked down the path of my destiny everyday, and after all these years, I finally got to meet you, didn't I, Commodore?"

Jingheng Lin: "......"

He kept having the nagging feeling that something was off about this sentence!