Chapter 79#
Frustration#
Ning Feng had barely taken two steps out of the mess hall when he heard an agitated male voice behind him.
“Thief! Get away from Beichen!”
Ning Feng turned around and saw Qiao Xi glaring at him, his face full of anger.
“Thief? Me?” He pointed at himself, a lazy grin hanging on his face.
“Yes! You!” Qiao Xi’s face flushed red. “Don’t think I don’t know Beichen likes you. He’s only nice to you because you look like Adjutant Ning!”
“…Thank you for skipping your meal and chasing me all the way here just to tell me that.” Ning Feng brushed aside his bangs, looking completely dismissive. “By the way, aren’t you the one who likes him? You two should be love rivals, you know.”
Qiao Xi was immediately choked speechless.
“I do like Beichen, and I do hate Adjutant Ning!” His eyes slowly reddened, looking quite aggrieved. “I did some really bad things before, but… but not only did he not hold it against me, he even risked his life to save me…”
He bit his lower lip and shot Ning Feng a vicious glare. “I’m warning you, don’t get any ideas!”
Hearing this, Ning Feng was quite surprised.
Qiao Xi cared this much about his death?
He didn’t think they were even that close, were they?
His dark eyes narrowed, becoming probing and amused.
For some reason, he always felt that Qiao Xi paid an unusual amount of attention to him. Before his rebirth, he kept stirring up trouble; after rebirth, he kept trying to be relevant. Now he comes running to play the “saved by my benefactor” act…
Interesting.
Ning Feng asked casually, “This Adjutant Ning you mentioned, is he still alive?”
“Of course. What do you want?”
“I’m just asking. Why are you getting so worked up?” His eyes darting, he probed, “Have you been to see him?”
“No.” Qiao Xi pouted, looking a little wronged. “I just know he’s at the base, but I don’t know where.”
Hearing this, Ning Feng’s brow furrowed tightly.
For some reason, he felt Qiao Xi’s attitude was a bit odd. On the surface, it seemed like a warning, but the real focus seemed to be on his body. Come to think of it, this guy had actually asked him about his body before…
Actually, Ning Feng knew very little about his body. Qu Yan only mentioned the antidote, and Yin Beichen just told him the person was in a sanatorium.
Suddenly, he remembered what the bug said during the interrogation—
[Because the Broodmother and the Dominator are connected in mind and heart.]
Broodmother…
Qiao Xi is the Broodmother?
But if Qiao Xi were the Broodmother, how did he pass the genetic test? And he’d never heard the other person speak the bug language. Or had he just missed it?
A thousand thoughts raced through his mind in just a few seconds.
Ning Feng let out a cold laugh, looking at the other with a cocky expression. “Let me be straight with you. I have no interest in your Beichen, and I don’t know any adjutant. If you want to find someone, go ask someone else. Stop bothering me all day. I don’t usually lose my temper, but if you piss me off…”
His gaze darkened, and an intense aura radiated from his entire being.
Qiao Xi flinched, shrinking back. “Wh-what are you going to do?”
Snorting dismissively, Ning Feng waved his hand. “I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”
With that, he walked away lazily.
Left standing alone, after the other person had completely disappeared, the fear in Qiao Xi’s eyes vanished entirely, replaced by a dark, gloomy coldness.
After leaving, Ning Feng didn’t return to his dormitory. He walked aimlessly under the starlight.
Except for the personnel on duty, most of the base was attending the New Year’s dinner. The place was empty everywhere, and he easily slipped to the outermost railing of the platform.
The thick darkness of the night drowned out all imperfections, leaving only twinkling stars. The entire base was shrouded in a nebula, hazy and ethereal. The wind on the platform was strong, gusts roaring like beasts, making people sway, but it felt comfortable.
Letting out a long sigh, Ning Feng replayed everything that had just happened. Besides being ridiculous, there was also a faint sense of mockery.
Like?
Yin Beichen actually liked him?
If it were his past self, he would have been spinning around in joy like an idiot.
But now he understood that Yin Beichen’s response wasn’t really “like” at all. It was just guilt, just regret, bought with his own life.
That “like” came at too great a cost.
He didn’t want it anymore.
Looking down at the suspended terrace, the violet aurora swirled beneath his feet like a vortex, seeming capable of lifting a person up, brilliant and magnificent yet mysterious and unfathomable.
Ning Feng’s mind was quiet, thinking of nothing.
He suddenly wanted to go back to the orphanage to see the director. Even if the director didn’t recognize him, just chatting would be nice. But thinking that the massage chair was paid for by Yin Beichen made him start to feel annoyed again.
Actually, he really liked military life. He also really liked the base environment. Everything was great, except for having to deal with Yin Beichen. He seriously considered joining the patrol team. Wen Qianyong and Crazy Rat were there anyway, but the patrol team was under Qu Jingshan, and that guy would definitely refuse.
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Ning Feng simply pulled out his cigarette case and tapped out a cigarette.
A red light glowed, and the bitter smell of tobacco swirled around him. He couldn’t smoke, but he could smell the scent. Watching the cigarette burn quietly, his emotions gradually calmed down. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the entrance of the training room.
The training room… It had been a while.
Standing still for a moment, Ning Feng pressed the open button.
Di di—
The heavy doors slid open on both sides, revealing the vast training room, brightly lit. Equipment and machines were neatly arranged around the perimeter. Under the fluorescent lights, they gave off a glaring shine. The digital clock emitted a faint ticking sound. There was no one inside.
Ning Feng slowly walked around inside, running his fingers over the equipment one by one.
Anti-gravity devices, gun training simulators, push-pull weight machines… He was very familiar with every piece of equipment here.
Before, Ning Feng would carve out time every day to come train.
Nothing felt better than working up a good sweat or pulling off a sick drift.
Now, he was a robot and didn’t need to train, but he could enter the virtual scene to pilot a mech. There had been so much going on at the base lately that the last time he’d touched a mech was back in Wreck City.
Rubbing the scratches on the equipment, Ning Feng suddenly felt an itch.
Maybe he should play a round?
Just one.
Thinking this, he walked to the console and pressed the switch.
After a short prompt tone, the screen above lit up, displaying numerous scores and names. When he saw [Yin Beichen] at the very top, Ning Feng curled his lip.
He hadn’t even trained for a few days, and someone had already broken his record?
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Ning Feng had long forgotten that his original intention was just to “play a round.” He immediately selected a venue and a mech, put on the equipment, and charged into the virtual scene, ready to fight.
Yin Beichen’s record wasn’t easy to break, so he practiced over and over again until his score surpassed it. Then he backed out and started working on another record.
The night passed, and the sky began to lighten slightly.
The ground crew mechanic in charge of maintenance entered the training room and saw Ning Feng just exiting the scene.
“Radish? What are you doing here?” He widened his eyes in surprise.
“Just messing around.”
Ning Feng shook his shoulders, feeling the joints moving a bit stiffly. After training all night, he needed to get some oil. Looking up at the big clock, he figured it was almost time to report in. He pointed to a few pieces of equipment nearby. “Oh, by the way, there’s something wrong with the parts on these machines, and the program on that one is glitching. Take a look when you have a chance.”
“Oh… oh…” The mechanic was totally confused. He watched the other person wave, walk slowly into the bathroom, then after a few seconds, scratch his cheek and come back out.
He froze. A strange feeling of déjà vu suddenly washed over him.
That posture… why does it look kind of familiar?
It wasn’t until the robot’s figure had left the training room that the mechanic rubbed the back of his neck, walked over to the console, and started tapping.
In no time, a huge pile of training data popped up on the screen. He recorded it on his tablet and carefully checked it, shocked to find that a large amount of data had been refreshed. In several training records, [Yin Beichen] had been replaced by [Blade].
Staring at the vastly different data, the mechanic could hardly believe his eyes.
This robot had actually broken General Yin’s record?!
**
The news that Yin Beichen’s training records had been refreshed spread like wildfire through the base.
For a while, everyone was buzzing with discussion about this robot.
After all, before this, the only person capable of doing that was Ning Feng.
This robot had been assigned to the logistics department when it first arrived at the base. Later, after the Bugman incident, it was smashed and then transferred to General Yin’s side. No one had ever seen its combat capability, no one had seen it pilot a mech, and it looked this beat-up on the outside. It was probably some kind of cleaning robot. How could it possibly break General Yin’s records?
It must have used some kind of cheating program.
So, everyone pulled up its training videos, and they were all stunned.
That agile movement, that one-hit-kill efficiency, that ferocious fighting style… It was a cleaning robot?!
Was this a glitch?!
As the person involved, Ning Feng was completely unaware of all this. He came to the training room every day with the single goal of crushing all of Yin Beichen’s records.
But he wasn’t the only one training every day.
No matter how late it was, after finishing his military duties, Yin Beichen would always find time to go to the training room. This led to Ning Feng showing up early in the morning only to find that the records he’d worked so hard to break the day before had been surpassed again, and the scores were provocatively just a tiny bit higher.
Ning Feng couldn’t stand it. He immediately put on the equipment and charged in furiously for a beatdown.
And so it went, back and forth, one suppressing the other. The scores on the leaderboard never had a single day of peace. There were even people in the base quietly running betting pools, wagering on how many records would be refreshed that day.
The two were locked in a battle of wills in the training room, but neither mentioned it when they met in person.
Including what happened at the New Year’s dinner.
After that day, their daily interactions didn’t change much—delivering lubricant every day, mandatory meals three times a day, inexplicably awkward small talk, inviting him to go shopping on the StarNet…
Oh, and recently, more or less blatantly asking him to go to the training room.
Ning Feng thought Yin Beichen was a man of immense pride. Being openly mocked and not getting thrown out of the base was already a blessing. Why would he still want to train together every day?
…Couldn’t he be over it yet?
Ning Feng didn’t want the drama, so he just ignored it. He had more important things to do anyway.
He wanted to ask Qu Yan about his body, but he heard there had been a breakthrough in the antidote research recently. Qu Yan was busy working on it, spending all his time in the lab.
But soon, Ning Feng didn’t have time to bother him, either.
Recently, in the border star region, the Marine Corps had spotted traces of Eyebugs.
As delivery units, Eyebugs themselves weren’t combat-capable, but they could hatch an entire army, often ambushing the rear in actual battles. These Eyebugs seemed scattered, but if you connected the dots, you’d clearly find that the area surrounded in the middle was none other than Nora Base. If they weren’t dealt with quickly, there would definitely be endless trouble.
After intense discussion, it was finally decided to increase patrol intensity and dispatch Qu Jingshan to lead a team to clean up the Eyebugs.
As soon as he heard the patrol team needed more hands, Ning Feng saw his chance for a transfer. Just as he was figuring out how to jump into the conversation, Yan Zhengsheng received a report. A box marked with the 【G】 symbol had arrived at the warehouse today.
When he heard this, Yin Beichen’s brow furrowed slightly, while Ning Feng was completely stunned.
“It’s here again?”
Ever since the cruise ship was blown up, these boxes had stopped appearing. Why were they starting up again?
“Damn space pirate bastard! Picking a fight right when the base is busy!” Things were already chaotic enough, and now they had to divert manpower to crack down on smuggling. Qu Jingshan was so angry he nearly pounded the table. “Is this guy doing this on purpose?”
But Yan Zhengsheng shook his head. “This shipment isn’t smuggled goods.”
“It’s not?” Everyone was even more surprised.
Yan Zhengsheng’s voice was stiff and formal: “This shipment has official customs clearance, a complete application process. It’s legitimate cargo, and it has a designated recipient.”
“Who?”
“Blade.”
“Me?” Ning Feng was stunned.
“What kind of cargo?” Yin Beichen asked.
Rarely, Yan Zhengsheng hesitated. He glanced at Ning Feng before speaking slowly.
“999 fresh red roses.”
Ning Feng: …
In an instant, all eyes were on Ning Feng.
As if the situation weren’t big enough, Yan Zhengsheng handed over a pink card. “Oh, and here’s the card that came with it.”
Staring at the flamboyant declaration of love scrawled on the card, Yin Beichen’s expression instantly turned three degrees colder. Without a second thought, he crumpled the card in his fist and ground out two words from between his teeth.
“Throw it away.”
“Oh, don’t throw it!”
Ning Feng strolled over with his hands in his pockets, grinning.
“These are fresh roses, air-shipped. It’d be a waste to throw them out.” He tilted his head, thinking for a moment. “How about this: send them to the ladies in each department and say they’re a gift from General Yin.”
Yin Beichen was about to speak, his expression dark, but Ning Feng cut him off directly.
“General, these are flowers sent to me. It’s my right to decide what to do with them, right?” He reached out and pulled out the crumpled paper, carefully smoothing it out and reading the message on the card. He smirked, glanced at Yin Beichen, and said, “If you don’t like it, I’ll just send them in my own name.”
Looking into the mockingly dark eyes, Yin Beichen pressed his lips together tightly.
“As you wish.”
He said these two words quietly, his face expressionless. The fluorescent glow from the star map reflected on his face, carrying an indescribable stillness.
“Thank you, General Yin.” Ning Feng’s eyes darted around, then suddenly he flashed a very handsome but slightly insolent smile. “Let’s get back to the bug situation. Now we have to deal with smuggling and go on missions. The patrol team is pretty short-handed. I don’t have anything urgent to do, so how about I transfer over and lend a hand?”
When he heard this, Yin Beichen’s eyes instantly turned cold as ice. But before he could speak, Qu Jingshan interrupted with a cold laugh.
“You? Hah!” The bald-headed man glanced sideways at him. “My team doesn’t take garbage.”
Ning Feng sidled up to him, a playful grin on his face. “Captain Qu, you definitely wouldn’t regret taking me on.”
“Bullshit!” Qu Jingshan was about to let loose a few more curses when he suddenly noticed Yin Beichen’s expression turning ugly. He rolled his eyes and immediately changed his tune. “You want in? Fine, as long as you can beat me.”
Ning Feng raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”
“Don’t say I’m picking on you. We won’t bother with real mechs. We’ll do it in a virtual battlefield.” Qu Jingshan snorted dismissively. “If you win one round against me, I’ll let you in. Pick any position you want.”
Ning Feng blinked. “And what about General Yin…”
“Hmph, win first, then we’ll talk.” Qu Jingshan jutted out his chin and stabbed a thick finger at the other’s chest, his expression fierce and intimidating. “Let me tell you, don’t think breaking a few records makes you a big deal. I don’t care what rank you are, I’ll still tear you apart!”
Ning Feng suddenly flashed a wide grin, showing a row of white teeth. “It’s a deal.”
After that, he and Qu Jingshan bickered until the meeting was over. Only then did he glance at Yin Beichen from the corner of his eye.
“See you, General Yin.”
Then, Ning Feng walked past him and left leisurely.
As he brushed by, Yin Beichen closed his eyes. Only when everyone had left the office did he slowly let out a breath, masking the pain in his eyes.
Ning Feng’s thoughts were crystal clear to Yin Beichen.
But he was utterly helpless.
He had followed the methods in the love tutorial step by step—spending time with him, going on dates, giving him gifts, showing concern. But he had tried everything, and he still couldn’t shake the other’s intention to leave.
“Which step went wrong?”
Sinking into his chair, Yin Beichen rubbed his temples, a deep sense of frustration welling up inside him.
His life up to this point could be described as smooth sailing. There had been setbacks, but he could always overcome them with a little extra effort. But ever since he met Ning Feng, he had discovered for the first time that some things couldn’t be solved by effort alone.
For example, feelings.
Was it the wrong method? Or was he still not trying hard enough?
Suddenly, his gaze fell on the crumpled card.
Staring at those disgustingly romantic words, Yin Beichen slowly furrowed his brow, a faint trace of contemplation flickering in his eyes.