Chapter 10#
An Agreement#
Their eyes met.
His broad shoulders and back cast a shadow. Backlit, Yin Beichen’s expression was indistinct, but his blue eyes were unfathomably deep.
His hands were braced on either side of Ning Feng’s body, looming over the man. A few strands of golden hair hung down along his cheek, intertwining with the black hair.
Warm breath landed on Ning Feng’s face, invading his senses. Ning Feng’s throat felt dry, and the skin where that gaze swept over him tingled and itched. It was as if something was spreading through his blood, his chest feeling slightly tight and sore, forcing him to struggle to suppress it all in vain.
Suddenly, Qu Yan’s words echoed in Ning Feng’s mind.
[If you want something, go for it.]
Go for it.
Go for it.
His heart thumped like a drum. Ning Feng swallowed secretly, clenching his fingertips.
“Beichen, I——”
[Deedle deedle dee!! The current time is exactly six o’clock in the morning!!]
Suddenly, the electronic clock overhead let out a thunderous noise, followed by playing a remix of “Happy Birthday to You.”
Ning Feng: …
Yin Beichen: …
The stirring, tacky electronic sounds reverberated in their ears. Ning Feng swallowed hard, deciding to have someone dismantle this cute clock later.
An awkward silence descended. He cleared his throat. “Hey, you’re heavy.”
Yin Beichen pressed his lips together and slowly stood up. “Useless.”
“I’m oppressed by people every day, worn down from exhaustion, sir.”
“Looks like you’ll need extra training tonight.”
“Any sparring partners?”
Yin Beichen stared at him steadily, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
“If I have time.”
Ning Feng, who had expected an outright refusal, was stunned for a moment before his face broke into a bright smile.
“It’s a deal.”
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he said with a lazy, casual air, “Today is November 6th, Star Era 1648. It’s been ten years, nine months, and twenty-two days since we met. Seventy-five days until your 28th birthday, and thirty-five days until mine.”
Ning Feng grinned as he gazed at Yin Beichen. “Good morning, little Chenchen.”
Yin Beichen frowned slightly but didn’t say anything more. He just wiped his sweat with a towel and turned to leave the training room.
Just before he stepped out, he looked back.
“Morning.”
**
After returning to their respective rooms to freshen up, the two had breakfast together and then quickly dove into the war deployment.
The cleanup operations over the past two days had gone smoothly. Most of the known insect nests had been cleared out. But at the same time, it confirmed Ning Feng’s earlier speculation—these insect tribes were clearly being commanded by a mastermind behind the scenes.
However, most of the cleared nests only contained fifth or sixth-tier bugs, which, to put it simply, hadn’t even grown a brain, let alone possessed the ability to direct combat. So, their mastermind must be hiding somewhere, and there might even be a main base in the star domain.
The chaotic morning passed quickly. To save time, the two ordered lunch in the office and ate while discussing.
Just as they were getting into it, a notification sound came from the communicator. Ning Feng opened it, saw that the sender was clearly marked as [Qiao Xi], and immediately dismissed it, continuing to eat.
“What is it?” Yin Beichen asked.
“Scam message.” Ning Feng took a big bite of meat.
After the party that day, this Qiao Xi guy had somehow gotten it into his head to send him messages every day, begging him to do him the honor of having a meal together, claiming it was to apologize in person for the Silver Fruit incident.
Ning Feng just wanted to laugh at the thought.
Tch, they weren’t even close. Who had time to eat with him?
He could eat wherever he wanted, for all Ning Feng cared.
Before he could take two more bites, the communicator beeped again. Ning Feng frowned and glanced at it, then immediately grinned.
“What now?” Yin Beichen glanced over.
“Didn’t you get a message? The allowances came in today.” Ning Feng was very excited.
Yin Beichen paused, opened his communicator, and realized he had indeed received a message.
But he came from a well-off family and rarely cared about such things, his mind entirely focused on eliminating the insect race. Looking at the man, he suddenly realized that most people in the base actually did care about how much allowance they got, and Ning Feng was no exception.
Ning Feng ignored him, focusing on the amount while calculating rapidly in his head.
The Jiaolong-2 needed a new engine; that required a reserve of funds. The monthly support for the welfare home couldn’t be stopped either. He also had to set aside some for living expenses and purchasing antidote agents, plus the regular monthly savings…
After dividing everything up, Ning Feng looked at the balance, which only had three digits left, and sighed.
Every single star coin was accounted for with perfect clarity.
“What now?” Yin Beichen frowned again.
“I’m thinking about which direction the northwest wind blows hardest around the base.” Ning Feng turned off his communicator and buried himself in his food.
“Are you short on money?” Yin Beichen was a bit surprised.
The military provided meals and lodging. Apart from going to bars and other personal entertainment expenses, basic living didn’t actually require much spending. For Ning Feng, aside from needing a little money for motorcycle maintenance, what other expenses did he have?
“Yeah, ridiculously short.”
“What do you need it for?”
“Saving up to marry little Chenchen.”
Ning Feng looked at Yin Beichen seriously. “You’re a Major General, and your family conditions are good. The bride price can’t be sloppy.”
Hearing this, Yin Beichen lowered his eyes to mask his emotions.
He had heard before that men who constantly talked about “getting married” weren’t really intending to get married; it was just an empty check they issued during flirtation.
Just for flirting.
“Is that funny?” Yin Beichen’s gaze turned cold.
Ning Feng’s expression froze, then he grinned. “Just joking! I’m really just saving up for retirement.”
Then he started rambling on with nonsense again, but Yin Beichen remained silent, exuding a dark anger and a suffocating coldness.
What was going on?
What had he said wrong just now?
After thinking hard and failing to figure out which sentence had hit a nerve, Ning Feng’s eyes darted around, and he chuckled twice. “Little Chenchen, are you free tomorrow night? How about going shopping with me? I want to buy a massage chair.”
The “shopping” the man referred to wasn’t actual street shopping, but the full-simulation platform on the Empire’s StarNet. There were many online stores and entertainment facilities there. Once you placed an order online, it could be delivered to your door quickly.
Ning Feng had grown up in a welfare home, where only the director and a few teachers looked after over a dozen children. Although conditions were difficult, under the teachers’ meticulous care, little Ning Feng had grown up surrounded by love, so he was especially attentive to matters concerning the welfare home.
A while ago, he had called back and heard the old director mention back pain. He planned to buy a massage chair to send over. If he could drag Yin Beichen along, it would basically count as a date.
Also, he remembered he still had a few discount coupons from the last double-digit shopping festival that he hadn’t used.
Ning Feng’s mental calculations clicked away.
However, changing the subject didn’t work on Yin Beichen. He wiped his mouth and said lightly, “The battle situation is urgent now. If you have this kind of leisure, why not think more about how to deal with the insect race?”
With that, he returned to studying the holographic sand table.
Ning Feng frowned and clicked his tongue.
“What’s with him? Wasn’t everything fine this morning? Did he swallow a photon cannon or something?”
**
Lunch ended in a somewhat unpleasant atmosphere, but fortunately, Ning Feng was long used to Yin Beichen’s occasional cold remarks and didn’t take it to heart. In the afternoon, he accompanied Yin Beichen to the Science Department’s office to hear Qu Yan’s report.
Saying it was an office wasn’t quite accurate, because at first glance, it looked like a garbage dump.
The room was thick with smoke. Documents were scattered everywhere—on the desk, on the coffee table, on the floor, even on the sofa blanket. In the corner sat a cup stuffed with cigarette butts. A half-closed laptop hummed quietly, still running calculations on various data.
Qu Yan had a cigarette dangling from his lips, his beautiful eyes bloodshot, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and tea-colored curly hair tied at his shoulder. He fished out a tablet from somewhere and tapped away on it.
“A while ago, I scraped some micro-slices off a sample to observe the random mutations in heteroderm cells.” He showed the display to the two men. “And I found a very interesting side effect.”
On the screen, Ning Feng saw a basketball-sized neural cortex-like organism, resembling an eye-shaped organ. It seemed the heteroderm substance had transformed into a rather dense yet flexible material.
“What’s that?”
“A regenerative substance grown from the sample.”
“Regeneration?”
“Exactly.”
Qu Yan took off his glasses, closed his eyes, and wiped the lenses.
Heteroderm amino acids could combine dead cellular material with normal proteins to generate new cells. This combination wasn’t affected by the degenerative rules of generational cells; they could constantly renew themselves, but it would lead to a complete change in their cellular structure.
“Simply put, heteroderms never die of old age.” He added another sentence.
“What does this have to do with the insect toxin?” Yin Beichen asked.
Glancing at Ning Feng, Qu Yan said slowly, “This is precisely why the infection from insect toxins cannot be cured.”
Hearing that, Ning Feng’s expression turned sour.
“Also, I suspect they are undergoing self-evolution.” Qu Yan withdrew his gaze. “They can infect the human body, and the effects go beyond just the physical.”
“What do you mean?” Ning Feng pressed.
Qu Yan pointed to his head.
“They could potentially directly influence the thoughts and actions of the infected.”
Control thoughts?
Ning Feng’s breath caught, and a very bad thought suddenly came to mind.
“Can it be cured?” Yin Beichen glanced at the man and said flatly.
“Objectively speaking, of course it can, but I haven’t figured out how yet.” Qu Yan took a slow drag on his cigarette.
“What’s the good news, then?”
“At least we’ve identified the cause. The rest is just a matter of time.”
Hearing this, Ning Feng couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Time—but that was exactly what he was most short of.
Recently, he had felt his body growing more and more fatigued, and the attacks were becoming more frequent. The most recent interval had been only five days. If this continued, he feared he wouldn’t live to see the day the antidote came out.
Still, he put on a bright smile. “Exactly. Once we find the cause, everything else will be manageable.”
Qu Yan stared straight at him. “I’ll find a way.”
Ning Feng was momentarily stunned, a flicker of suspicion rising in his heart. He suddenly recalled Qu Yan’s suspicion of him from the party that night, and instinctively stepped back a little, nodding.
His gaze traveled between the two men. Yin Beichen’s brows furrowed slightly as he tossed down the tablet. “From now on, everything concerning the insect toxin, you report directly to me. No need to liaise with Ning Feng.”
“Why?” Ning Feng was taken aback.
“I want to oversee the progress.” Yin Beichen turned his face away, no longer looking at him. “You focus on monitoring battlefield information. Leave the rest alone.”
Ning Feng: …
Oversee?
He didn’t think this busy man would have the inclination to follow up on such a trivial matter.
Qu Yan, however, raised an eyebrow and let out a soft laugh.
“Yes, sir.” He turned off the screen. “By the way, I still need to access the Imperial database to look up some information. Should I come to you or Vice Adjutant Ning—”
“Come to me.” Yin Beichen didn’t hesitate.
“No problem, sir.” Qu Yan smiled, as if getting exactly what he wanted. “I’ll have Qiao Xi contact you shortly.”
Yin Beichen shot him a cold glance, then turned and left the room. Ning Feng, still lost in his own thoughts, was startled and quickly followed.
“Take care, sir. No need to see me out.” Qu Yan waved a hand, a half-smile on his face.