Chapter 22#
Crossing the Line#
That day’s conversation had ended on a bad note, and Ning Feng was so angry he couldn’t eat for days.
Whenever he had free time, he would go to the garage to visit his beloved vehicle, even picking up tools to try and repair it. However, the Jiaolong-2 was severely damaged, and a complete overhaul was a massive undertaking. Since the entire base was currently preparing for war, this matter could only be put on hold for now.
Looking at the battered and broken chassis, Ning Feng ground his teeth in vexation.
Damn it, when the time comes, he’d make that bastard pay until he went bankrupt!
Perhaps out of guilt, Qu Jingshan stopped giving him the cold shoulder over the next few days, and even Qiao Xi vanished from his sight, which finally gave the man a few days of peace and quiet.
After several days of preparation, the troops finished mobilizing.
Several space battleships carrying thousands of combat units, along with over a dozen transport ships, took off one after another from the starport. Encircled by the fleet was the flagship—the Nora.
This was a massive space battleship, a Behemoth-class capital ship. It had ample space to stockpile weapons, supplies, and even small reconnaissance vessels. Built with a new type of steel developed by heavy military factories and bristling with laser turrets, it was a perfect match for the most legendary major general in the Imperial Army, Yin Beichen.
“Sir, we have cleared imperial space. The ship’s warp jump is ready.” Ning Feng followed a meter behind Yin Beichen, walking up the wide companionway to the command deck upstairs.
“Mhm.” Yin Beichen pulled open the heavy door and entered the control room—the bridge of the Nora.
The bridge was massive, surrounded by consoles and various monitors. In the center lay a star map nearly two meters wide and long, and a giant screen was embedded directly ahead, taking up an entire wall. It looked more like a library than the nerve center of a fleet. The soft voices of various operators drifted from the communicators, and the cool white lights overhead illuminated the room brightly.
“Awaiting your orders, Sir.” Ning Feng received the data reported by various units, leaning his sturdy body against the console between the command chair and the navigation panel.
Yin Beichen nodded, leaning his hands on the star map to examine it closely.
Since the Hive Star was not very large—at best a class-three satellite—this mission wasn’t particularly difficult. However, to investigate the high-ranking insectoids hiding inside the Hive Star, he still made dual preparations.
The glowing green light reflected on his face. Yin Beichen turned to look at the man, only to find him deliberately turning his face away. He pressed his lips into a tight line and slowly straightened up.
“Ning Feng.”
“Here, Sir.”
“Set sail, full speed ahead.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Amidst the deafening roar of the engines, Ning Feng turned around, quickly inputting the coordinate commands, and picked up the microphone, flipping the switch to the ship-wide broadcast position.
“Attention all units, this is Ning Feng.” His expression was still lazy, but his tone was deep and powerful. “Nora, spool up engines three and five. Prepare for warp on my mark!”
The next moment, all staff members on the bridge began calling out parameters in an orderly fashion, and mechanical electronic beeps echoed throughout the space. He checked his wrist watch. Just as the second hand hit twelve, Ning Feng barked out the order.
“Engage!!”
The space around the fleet suddenly expanded. A massive black body vortex composed of dark matter materialized ahead. The fleet paused for a brief moment before being violently sucked in, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Yin Beichen stood behind the star map, gazing out at the pitch-black space through the window. The surrounding space suddenly warped, and the giant vessel rapidly broke away from physical space, speeding toward the target celestial body at full velocity.
He stared at Ning Feng, who kept avoiding his gaze, and said in a deep voice, “Ning Feng, report any issues immediately.”
“Understood, Sir.”
Seeing Yin Beichen turn and leave the command deck, Ning Feng couldn’t help but sigh in relief, though a trace of bitterness quickly welled up in his chest.
Ever since their last argument, his fists would itch whenever he saw that face. To avoid getting thrown into solitary confinement again for insubordination, Ning Feng deliberately avoided the other man, keeping their one-on-one time to a minimum. Even during daily interactions, he only maintained the most basic conversation.
Later, during the final mobilization of the troops, both of them were busy with their own tasks and rarely met, which spared them a lot of awkwardness. But now, they were sharing the same flagship, and their quarters were even arranged directly opposite each other. Avoiding each other was simply impossible.
Ning Feng pulled a bitter smile.
What was this? A lovers’ spat?
Or kindergarteners threatening to break off their friendship?
Truly childish.
Rubbing his face hard, Ning Feng forced himself to focus on the screen in front of him.
**
A few days later, the fleet neared the high orbit of the Hive Star.
Ning Feng walked down the narrow corridor, refreshing the data on his datapad while casually chatting with Qu Yan. “What’s up, Professor Qu?”
【How’s the battle going on your end?】 The sound of rustling paper came from Qu Yan’s side.
“Battle? It hasn’t even started yet.”
According to preliminary scans, the entire planet of the Hive Star was dotted with frequently erupting volcanoes. The terrain in some areas was highly unstable, slowly shifting under the influence of the high-temperature magma beneath. It was also surrounded by a wide golden ring filled with a thick particle belt and debris large enough to pierce the ship’s hull. It took them a long time to navigate past it.
The journey had been incredibly peaceful, with only the occasional scout insectoid floating in the upper atmosphere. A standard machine gun squad could handle them; they didn’t even need to deploy the artillery.
If he hadn’t seen the state of the Hive Star with his own eyes, Ning Feng would never have imagined it could be this peaceful out here.
It was unbelievably quiet.
However, the planet was teeming with insectoids, leaving only a tiny safe zone where they could establish a terrestrial base. Even within firing range, the fleet had to be extremely careful with where they targeted their artillery, otherwise they would drive a massive swarm of insectoids into what was supposed to be the safe zone. Consequently, the battleships hovered outside the atmosphere, waiting for the celestial body to rotate to the correct coordinates.
As for the others…
Qu Jingshan was on another escort ship and hadn’t come to bother him, and Qiao Xi had been stationed on a transport ship. A couple of days ago, he heard from the military doctor that the guy seemed to be suffering from space sickness.
【This mission won’t be easy. Are you confident about getting the sample?】
“With me on the job, is there anything that can’t be done?”
Hearing this, Qu Yan chuckled.
【If all goes well, the antidote will be solved on my end very soon.】 He paused, then continued, 【Consider it an early birthday present.】
A birthday present?
Ning Feng froze, glancing down at his personal terminal, only to realize that today was already November 20th.
His birthday was only twenty days away.
Come to think of it, he had been so busy lately, running between the bridge and the command deck every single day, that he had forgotten all about it. He was lucky Qu Yan still remembered. Yet, the person who used to remind him every day hadn’t given it a single thought.
Masking his bitterness, Ning Feng smiled. “Thanks, brother!”
After a bit more banter, the man arrived outside the door of the officers’ lounge.
“Alright, I’ll stop here. Got to get to work.” He hung up the call.
Perhaps because his avoidance had been too obvious, Yin Beichen seemed to have picked up on his thoughts. He had tacitly offset their rest hours. Outside of working hours, he didn’t require him to be on standby either, only needing him to come by at a fixed time every day to report.
And every time he went to report, Ning Feng always had the illusion that he was visiting a grave.
He took a deep breath before the door, inputting the passcode to enter the room. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Yin Beichen asleep, leaning back in his command chair.
Ning Feng blinked. Standing at the door for a moment, he quietly walked over.
Yin Beichen was sleeping deeply.
His hands were folded over his chest, the coffee on the desk long cold, and the screen still displayed the data for this operation. His head was tilted down as he lay there quietly, his bangs falling naturally, half-obscuring the coldness in his brow. The light from the screen cast a glow on his face, outlining a sharp, handsome profile.
He looked like a serene Sleeping Beauty. The immediate impression was that he was too clean—so clean that even a touch might defile him.
Ning Feng looked down, watching silently.
This was Yin Beichen, the person he had loved for so many years.
It was like holding crushed glass in his palm; it hurt terribly, but he didn’t want to let go.
Sometimes, Ning Feng utterly despised himself for this. Every time he resolved to give up, he would be dazed by the man’s beauty. After receiving the slightest scrap of kindness, he would eagerly run back to kiss his cold ass.
Yet, on second thought, he found a bit of solace in the fact that Yin Beichen gave everyone the same cold face. By comparison, he was still the special one, even if that specialty was strictly professional.
But what he wanted was far more than that.
His heart felt squeezed by something, aching dully.
The man sighed silently and half-squat down. His gaze drifted from the eyelids to the bridge of the nose, and all the way down to the thin lips… in those brief few seconds, sketching the man’s features in his mind.
Finally, Ning Feng pressed his lips together and quietly leaned down.
His fingertips tangled in the stray locks of golden hair as his nose drew close to the fair neck. His light breath brushed against the skin, carrying a clean and pleasant scent. They were so close, yet over this tiny distance, even reaching out to touch was an act of transgression.
After a long moment, Ning Feng raised his head, instantly locking eyes with a pair of deep blue eyes.
Yin Beichen: …
Ning Feng: …
Yin Beichen’s eyes were completely clear, the glow of the screen reflecting in his sapphire eyes with a brilliant luster. How did he look even remotely like someone who had just woken up?
At that moment, Ning Feng was completely dumbfounded.
Holy shit!
It was a setup!
The air between them fell momentarily silent, as if time had frozen.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. Yin Beichen’s breathing hitched slightly, then he exhaled softly. He pursed his thin lips, his deep voice completely flat.
“What are you doing?”
The heat billowed up from behind, and a warm breath brushed against the top of his head. Ning Feng’s face grew hot. The punishments for harassing one’s superior flashed rapidly through his mind, but he forced a calm twitch of his lips.
“Launching a sneak attack on you.”
“…Why?”
“Because I like you, little Chen-chen.”
Quickly masking his emotions, Ning Feng smirked like a rogue. “When you like someone, you want to be close to them and get near them. Isn’t that perfectly normal?”
He showed nothing on his face, but the erratic pounding of his heart ruthlessly betrayed his hidden thoughts.
To his surprise, the moment Yin Beichen heard this, his eyes turned cold.
Here it came again.
He shoved the man away, stood up, and looked down at him, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust and… anger.
“Stop saying such disgusting things to me!”
Shoved without warning, Ning Feng fell back onto the floor, completely stunned.
Disgusting.
In Yin Beichen’s eyes, his feelings were disgusting.
He felt the blood throughout his entire body boil, as if he had swallowed a mouthful of shattered glass, his mouth filled with blood he couldn’t spit out. After a long silence, the smile on his face grew even more brilliant, making it impossible to tell if it was genuine or fake.
“What? Are you shy?”
Yin Beichen’s eyes remained cold. He didn’t speak, nor did he even look at him. After a long while, he exhaled a somewhat helpless, deep breath.
“Ning Feng, we are friends and comrades.” An indescribable emotion flashed across his face before quickly vanishing. “But as for this talk of liking or not liking, I am not your target audience. Go say it to someone else.”
Not the target audience, so he didn’t want to hear it.
Yet, from beginning to end, the only person he wanted to say those words to was Yin Beichen.
Ning Feng lowered his head, struggling to part his lips, but ultimately said nothing. Pain and sorrow swirled in his eyes. A faint curve tugged at his sharp lips, and a fragmented light flickered in his eyes—all of it a mockery of the scene before him.
For a moment, a stifling atmosphere hung in the air.
Beep beep beep!!—
Just then, the man’s terminal rang loudly. Not until the alert had sounded for a full half-minute did he finally move and connect the call.
“It’s me.”
【Brother Feng, the celestial body has rotated to the target angle, and the artillery groups are fully preheated!】
Ning Feng pressed his lips together and slowly stood up. “I got it. I’m on my way.”
He turned to look at Yin Beichen, his expression returning to its usual carefree, roguish look, though the smile at the corners of his mouth slowly faded.
“Ah, little Chen-chen, you’re so serious. Getting mad over a little joke, you’re no fun at all.” He patted the dust off his pants, flashed a smirk, then turned and waved his hand lazily. “Off I go, off to work.”
Gazing at the tall figure leaving the room, Yin Beichen stood quietly for quite a while.
His eyelids flickered, his gaze falling upon a stray lock of golden hair, his eyelashes trembling slightly. After a moment, he slowly raised his hand, his fingertips gently touching the strands of hair that still carried the other man’s warmth, rubbing them lightly before letting them slide slowly from his fingertips.