Chapter 61#
Gift#
A few days after arriving at the base, the members of the Blasting Sheep had adapted quickly.
However, they were still outsiders after all, and sometimes unavoidable grievances arose. So, Ning Feng’s small workshop became their temporary stronghold.
They bought a ton of snacks and somehow got their hands on a deck of cards, playing Dou Dizhu while complaining.
Although Qiu Zhen was blunt and spoke without thinking, he still had ability. With a little guidance, he gradually got the hang of many things. Wen Qianyong had been scolded by Qu Jingshan until he couldn’t find his bearings, and on top of that, he couldn’t see Sha Mu, leaving him completely listless. Among the group, only Crazy Rat remained emotionally stable, cracking melon seeds while adding insult to injury.
Ning Feng: …
From their intermittent complaints, Ning Feng learned that the patrols had caught a lot of smugglers, including several familiar mercenaries. Recently, the Federation had cut off shipping routes, preventing cargo from getting through, causing smuggling black ships to proliferate. These black ships mainly evaded taxes, sometimes also smuggling contraband.
Ning Feng thought for a moment and asked them to keep an eye on what cargo these black ships were carrying and where they were heading.
That day, he finished his work early and hurried toward the Research Department, thinking that Qu Yan must be getting impatient. But he wasn’t careful, and as he turned a corner, he bumped into someone.
“Ah!”
Crash—
A pile of documents scattered all over the ground. Ning Feng, being a big metal block, was fine, but the person he hit fell to the ground. He reached out to help, only to meet a face he recognized all too well.
It was Qiao Xi.
What rotten luck.
Ning Feng’s brows furrowed, and he said coldly, “Sorry.”
Qiao Xi was startled to see him too, then put on a shy smile, wincing as he got up. “No, no, it was my fault…”
Watching the other clumsily gather the papers, and thinking that he was the one who had knocked him over, Ning Feng rubbed the back of his neck and crouched down to help.
“Thanks,” Qiao Xi said with a bashful smile.
But Ning Feng didn’t say anything, nor did he look at him.
Compared to the last time they met, Qiao Xi looked a bit haggard, making him seem even more pitiable. Ning Feng had heard that Qiao Xi had been on leave for a while and had only recently returned to work. But as far as Ning Feng was concerned, after that bastard deliberately damaged the Loong II and kept throwing obstacles his way, not punching him in the face was already the height of civility.
Better to stay far away from such disgusting filth.
With that in mind, he sped up his movements.
But Qiao Xi seemed quite interested in him, his eyes darting over from time to time, looking as if he wanted to ask something but didn’t dare.
After hesitating, Qiao Xi finally gathered the courage to speak. “Um… are you called Blade?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you an AI?”
“Yeah.”
“I know someone else named Blade.”
“Oh.”
“Have… have you met him?”
“No.”
“Ah, I thought you might know him too.”
This time, Ning Feng directly fell silent and moved even faster.
Qiao Xi looked down with a hurt expression. “Sorry, this is my first time seeing such an intelligent AI. I—”
Slap!
Before he could finish, Ning Feng slapped the last stack of papers onto Qiao Xi’s hand. He quickly stood up, his cold camera lens looking down at Qiao Xi, and said a mechanical “goodbye” before turning and walking away.
Watching his sturdy back, Qiao Xi held the documents motionless, his gaze thoughtful.
**
The pristine white walls were spotless, and the corridor lights dazzled. Ning Feng leaned against the hallway wall outside the lab, staring through the glass door at the inside, sounding rather displeased.
“What’s this? I rushed over right after work, and your tests aren’t even done yet?”
Qu Yan was wearing a mask and goggles in full gear, standing at the workbench, surrounded by rows of reagent racks and experimental samples.
He carefully dripped a drop of liquid into a test tube, shook it, and said, “What’s the rush? The data’s still running. You think making an antidote for the Dominator is that easy?”
“Dominator?”
Ning Feng paused, suddenly remembering that his own body was the best sample. Given the Research Department’s style, they wouldn’t have passed up this golden opportunity. But hearing that his own body was being dissected… it felt weird.
“Relax, I only drew some blood.” Seeming to read his mind, Qu Yan chuckled. “I don’t dare touch your precious body. I’m afraid someone might kill me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just wait and see.”
Seeing that the other party was still busy for a while, Ning Feng wandered boredly over to a small storage room nearby.
It was a dim, dry lab. Along the walls were many glass jars of various sizes, filled with protein solution, containing eyeballs, noses, fingers, palms, and many other samples of unknown body parts. At the far end stood several giant glass tubes taller than a person, inside which were chunks of meat of different shapes, pulsing up and down with each breath.
Ning Feng scrutinized them for a while, then reached out and tapped one, producing a clear dong dong sound.
Just as he was about to wander elsewhere—
[So noisy. What’s this robot doing here?]
Ning Feng’s body stiffened, and he stopped in his tracks.
[Shh! Keep your voice down.]
[What’s there to be afraid of? They can’t hear us, hehe…]
This is… Zerg!
There really are Zerg in the base!
He stared at the floor, his mind reeling as if oil were flooding into his brain.
After standing still for a long while, barely calming himself down, Ning Feng pretended nothing was wrong and took another lap around, following the source of the voice in his head one by one. He finally stopped in front of a few large tanks.
In the colorful liquid, a newly grown eye-like organ was suspended. It was unknown whether it would grow limbs later. Wrapped around it were a few arm-thick tentacles slowly wriggling along the tube wall. He leaned in and found that the sample inside reacted to external stimuli by immediately freezing, as if “playing dead.”
The samples could already make such high-level responses?
Just as he was about to take a closer look, Qu Yan pushed the door open. “Let’s go, Mr. Radish.”
Ning Feng slowly straightened up. “…Yeah.”
Qu Yan raised an eyebrow. “What’s with that expression?”
“What are these culture tanks?”
“Mid-level Zerg samples, started cultivating half a month ago.”
“Are they alive? I mean, can they move and jump?”
“Do they look like they can jump around?” Qu Yan locked the door. “But now that you mention it, it reminds me of something. About a month ago, when you were on that mission to the Zerg Nest Star, someone reported that one of the samples tried to escape.”
“Escape?”
“Yeah, and I found some new acidic substances in the culture fluid. It probably won’t be long before they break out of their containers.”
“Does Yin Beichen know about this?” Ning Feng paused, then mumbled, “I mean Boss Yin.”
“What Boss Yin?” Qu Yan couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course he knows. He even wanted to station some marines here. But those clumsy people would definitely ruin the samples. I haven’t finished studying them yet.”
Hearing this, Ning Feng’s lips curved almost imperceptibly.
Zerg samples that can escape…
Could those [G]-marked boxes have been opened by them?
But if that were the case, the base’s guards would surely have noticed. Or did they have some way to bypass the surveillance?
Ning Feng was deep in thought, absentmindedly following Qu Yan to the cafeteria’s private room.
To avoid curious eyes, Qu Yan had booked a private room. Besides the regular dining hall, the cafeteria also had special rooms, usually used for receiving leaders and VIPs. Few people came here to pay the exorbitant service fees.
As they passed through the main hall of the cafeteria, Ning Feng noticed the aunties and uncles busy decorating. The decorations didn’t quite look like they were for the New Year.
“What are they doing?” Ning Feng asked.
Qu Yan glanced over. “That guy’s birthday is coming up. He’s the biggest leader at the base, so everyone wants to give him a surprise.”
Ning Feng’s lens slowly contracted, his gaze distant.
Birthday…
Right, in less than ten days, it would be Yin Beichen’s birthday.
Seeing his reaction, Qu Yan’s eyes darkened. He looked down at the menu. “What, already thinking about a gift?”
Ning Feng snapped back, lazily resting one hand on the table. “Where would I have the spare cash?”
“Spare cash? As I recall, you never skimped on his gifts,” Qu Yan sneered. “Last year, you went all the way to some remote planet in a mountain valley to have a master craftsman make a custom watch. That must have cost a pretty penny, right? And I don’t think he wore it more than a few times.”
Once. The day it was given.
Ning Feng silently added.
“The year before, it was a limited-edition belt. He wore that one all the time. The year before that, a custom pen—”
“How do you remember all this better than I do?”
“How could I not know what you give him?” Qu Yan snorted and snapped the menu shut. “What are you planning to give this year?”
After a long silence, Ning Feng suddenly let out a lazy laugh, his eyes narrowing with a relaxed look.
“Nothing.”
There’s no way to give anything anymore.
Seeing the robot’s reaction, Qu Yan’s gaze grew complex and subtle.
Knock knock—
Just then, a service robot knocked on the door and brought in several plates of fragrant dishes. He withdrew his gaze and smiled lightly. “Let’s eat first. We’ll hit the bar later.”
Ning Feng glanced at the food and clicked his tongue. “What, so I can watch you eat?”
“You’re insufferably talkative.”
**
Meanwhile, on the other side, Yin Beichen had just received a report on the route investigation in the military intelligence room when a subordinate knocked and entered. The subordinate was holding an oil can, reporting that the robot named Radish hadn’t gone to the cafeteria and had returned the bottle.
Recalling the incident, the subordinate still felt a chill. The mercenary who had handed it over was tall and burly, fierce-looking, yet his eyes were red-rimmed like a rabbit’s, as if he’d just been crying…
“Didn’t go to the cafeteria?” Yin Beichen frowned slightly. “Where did he go?”
“A colleague said they saw him at the bar with Professor Qu.”
“Qu Yan?” Yin Beichen’s expression cooled, and he remained silent for a moment. Instantly, the air around him seemed infected by his mood, exuding an eerie chill.
The subordinate swallowed hard. “Sir, this oil—”
“Throw it away.” Yin Beichen continued reviewing the documents.
“Huh? Throw it away?”
This was special oil exchanged for honor points, with top-notch viscosity, something you couldn’t even buy outside.
And he wanted it thrown away?
The subordinate scratched his cheek. “Throw… throw it where?”
Taking a deep breath, Yin Beichen half-closed his eyes, his gaze falling on the pen in his hand.
The pen’s barrel was a dark, matte metal with shimmering gold flecks, like stars in the universe. The cap bore a three-dimensional carving of the character “Chen” in bold strokes, while the bottom lightly engraved the character “Feng.”
The moment he saw those two characters, an electric shock jolted his mind, making it twitch painfully.
This was the gift Ning Feng had given him on his birthday.
He couldn’t recall the exact year, but he still clearly remembered the little note tucked under the gift box—
[Dear little Chen Chen:
Every word this pen writes is a love letter from me!
Your most loving, Feng Ge]
The forceful, vigorous strokes had written such nonsense, making one frown—yet for some reason, his heart raced violently. He didn’t know what this feeling was, but he didn’t dislike it.
In the end, that gift box, along with the note, was still pressed deep in a drawer.
Right, his birthday was coming up soon. He wondered… what would he receive this year?
His fingertips lightly traced the uneven texture at the bottom of the pen. Yin Beichen lowered his gaze, hiding the flicker in his eyes. After a moment, he withdrew his focus and said coldly,
“Throw it outside the door.”
**
Ning Feng couldn’t eat the cafeteria food, so he could only sit and watch. But chatting with his old friend made him very happy. They talked until late into the night before parting ways.
Walking back to the workshop in the night breeze, Ning Feng stretched and noticed his body parts were a bit stiff. He was just pondering whether to ask Big Beard for some oil when he heard a stir from a small thicket.
Rustle, rustle…
Ning Feng paused, then hid in the shadows.
The sky was pitch black, not even a glimmer of stars. Occasionally, the rustle of wind through leaves could be heard. Ning Feng peered out. It was a logistics department warehouse, used to temporarily store goods not yet unloaded. Since it was separate from military supplies, the security outside wasn’t tight.
Warehouse?
Zerg?
Suddenly, he remembered those pried-open [G]-marked crates and the samples in the lab. Looking around, he crouched low and crept silently toward it.
Rustle, rustle…
Fifty meters, forty meters…
The eerie sound echoed through the empty street, seeming to come from all directions. Ning Feng slowly approached the blurry shadow.
Thirty meters, twenty meters…
There were no lights around. He could only make out a vague, formless mass through his night vision, like some animal writhing continuously, rummaging for something.
Ten meters…
Just as he was about to get close, the shadow suddenly sensed him and lunged forward in the next instant. Ning Feng’s lens contracted sharply. He sidestepped, grabbed with both hands, and hurled the shadow away with force.
“Aaah!” The shadow yelped, crashing heavily to the ground and rolling twice.
Then Ning Feng froze.
That voice…
“Ayong?”
“Radish, why—why did you throw me?!” Wen Qianyong lay on the ground, his face covered in dust, his nose and eyes red, covered in dead leaves and red mosquito bites.
Ning Feng froze, then quickly ran to the bushes to check, finding nothing there. He frowned and crouched beside the young man. “Were you hiding here?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sleepwalking, hiding in the grass in the middle of the night?”
Hearing this, Wen Qianyong hung his head pitifully and mumbled softly, “I don’t want to go back.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not going back.”
“Why?” Ning Feng was stunned.
“No reason. I just don’t want to.” Wen Qianyong’s voice choked, he blinked hard, and tears spilled out. He quickly wiped them away with the back of his hand. “I don’t want to see Brother Mu anymore.”
Ning Feng was taken aback. He knew that Wen Qianyong was almost dependent on Sha Mu, and Sha Mu would indulge his every request, even if some were almost unreasonable.
Yesterday, everything was fine. What happened now?
He thought for a moment, helped the man up, and said, “If you’re not going back, where will you sleep tonight? Here, feeding the mosquitoes?”
Scratching the mosquito bites on his arm, Wen Qianyong sniffled, then suddenly turned his head and stared intently at the robot. “Don’t you have a single room?”
Ning Feng: …
Forget everything else, his hard metal bed was so stiff, even the pillow was a hunk of iron. Could Wen Qianyong sleep on that? And the small space couldn’t fit a second bed.
Looking at Wen Qianyong’s state, it seemed he absolutely refused to go back tonight. Ning Feng sighed deeply, sent a message to Sha Mu, then stood up and brushed the dust off himself.
“Let me make this clear: I don’t have a bed. You’ll have to make a bed on the floor. Don’t expect me to give you the bed frame.”
“Radish, you’re the best!”
“I’ve always been this good.”
…
The two bickered as they walked away. Soon, the thicket fell silent again.
Rustle, rustle…
After a moment, noise came from the bushes again. A blurred shadow poked its head out.
It sniffed left and right, confirming no one was around, then slowly straightened up, looking almost human from a distance. Then, it quickly climbed in through a high window of the warehouse.