Chapter 22: Ideal Type
“No need,” Lu Yi rejected decisively.
The silver wolf’s preferences were mostly an external reflection of his deepest subconscious. He didn’t think he enjoyed relaxing by playing with a ball.
At least, not until he died and severed his mental link with the silver wolf.
Moreover…
“Frisbee? Towels? Plush dolls?” Rong Mi continued to suggest more possibilities.
Lu Yi: “…”
Lu Yi: “Ah Yin is not a dog.”
“Then surely there must be a chew toy, or toys in general?” Rong Mi looked at him suspiciously. “General, how do you usually take care of wolves? Ah Yin may be a battle pet, but it still has health and entertainment needs in daily life! A starry silver wolf needs a lot of activity every day!”
Right now, because of the mental domain issue, Ah Yin had regressed into a juvenile form, which was fine. But if it were the adult, handsome, big silver wolf that Rong Mi had seen before, it wouldn’t be locked indoors every day.
Lu Yi: “There’s a forest training ground at home. Both the capital star and the war zone have one. If it wants to move, it will go on its own.”
Rong Mi clicked his tongue, frustrated, “A fluffy wolf that eats and sleeps with you, and you don’t play with it?”
Such a waste!
Rong Mi: It’s fine, I’ll take over!
Lu Yi didn’t respond, entering the lounge.
During the second treatment, Rong Mi was already familiar with Lu Yi’s mental domain.
After the last treatment, Lu Yi’s mental sea had calmed down a lot, but now it had surged again.
This time, however, the waves weren’t as chaotic as when the mental domain had completely fallen out of control. Though still fierce and violent, the waves were regular and under Lu Yi’s control.
Rong Mi had never seen such a mental sea that was clearly tumultuous yet still orderly.
Lu Yi’s control over his mental power was truly astonishing.
It took Rong Mi quite a bit of effort to reduce the waves in Lu Yi’s mental sea. When he withdrew from it, he saw the general leaning against his chair, eyes half-closed, his brows slightly furrowed, unconsciously falling asleep during the treatment.
His mental domain and body had clearly been overstrained.
He had managed to stay awake earlier, not only because he had to handle some matters, but also because the pain within his mental domain had driven away the exhaustion.
Once the mental sea calmed, fatigue overtook him.
Rong Mi had originally planned to ask Lu Yi something, but seeing this, he didn’t wake him up. Instead, he gently lowered the chair to make Lu Yi more comfortable and pulled a thin blanket from the nearby sofa to cover him.
The man’s eyelashes fluttered lightly when Rong Mi moved.
Rong Mi didn’t know why, but he stared at his eyelashes for a moment.
Lu Yi appeared cold and detached, but after closing his eyes, the “handsome” part of his appearance became even more prominent.
His eyelashes were thick and long, with the tips slightly curling up. Rong Mi couldn’t help but think of the phrase “eyelash fairy.”
He almost wanted to reach out and touch them.
But before he could, Lu Yi’s hand grabbed his wrist.
Lu Yi’s fingers loosely rested on Rong Mi’s wrist. He opened his eyes, looked up at Rong Mi, his voice a little hoarse: “What are you doing?”
Rong Mi wasn’t embarrassed about being caught moving his hands and feet, raising an eyebrow and replying, “What do you mean? The great general is pretending to sleep?”
“It’s not that,” Lu Yi released his grip.
He had indeed fallen asleep, but not deeply. He had vaguely sensed that Rong Mi had finished the treatment, so he forced himself to open his eyes.
Lu Yi: “I still have something to discuss with you.”
He sat up slightly, closed his eyes to focus for a moment, and when he opened them again, his expression was completely clear.
Lu Yi reached out and activated a holographic screen. A photo of a handsome young man appeared.
“Yu Tiantian,” Lu Yi said. “Is he your friend?”
“The Ice Fire Arena rescue team mentioned during a routine inquiry that Yu Tiantian and another mech pilot had called for rescue near the cocoon area. He said he had almost fallen into the cocoon area but didn’t inform the rescue team that you were trapped inside the cocoon.”
The general looked at Rong Mi, his gaze sharp: “Yu Tiantian’s own account suggests that you are his friend. He repeatedly told him to escape the cocoon area quickly and not waste time rescuing you. So, in the panic, he didn’t explain to the rescue team your situation in the cocoon.”
“Later, the rescue team concluded that the ice butterfly was a holographic interactive projection. He believed you were completely safe, and thus, didn’t provide further details about your condition in the cocoon.”
Lu Yi: “I need to confirm if Yu Tiantian’s account is true.”
The general had doubts about Yu Tiantian’s story.
Even though Yu Tiantian later believed it was a holographic interactive projection,
…Rong Mi had already been trapped in the cocoon liquid, beginning to feel suffocated and weak. Even if it were a holographic projection, it was still a very dangerous situation.
It could have been deadly.
Rong Mi’s abilities proved he had the strength to break out of the cocoon, but the investigation team had overlooked this seemingly unimportant detail.
Lu Yi needed to know the truth, and he also needed to make Rong Mi aware of it.
If Yu Tiantian was lying, Rong Mi, even if he didn’t intend to hold a grudge, should know that he couldn’t trust this friend any longer.
Rong Mi looked at Lu Yi and couldn’t help but smile.
This seemingly indifferent yet actually very attentive and responsible personality… It really appealed to Rong Mi.
“Telepathy, General,” he said with a smile. “I was just about to tell you this.”
“I extracted the live camera’s real-time footage. But when approaching the ice butterfly’s cocoon area, the footage was too noisy due to energy fluctuations. I wanted to ask if the starship has equipment to fix this.”
“I never told Yu Tiantian I didn’t need rescue,” he said seriously.
The original body had only played mech battle games, had never dealt with actual mech combat, had never seen the insectoid species, and had been focused solely on a career as a star network singer. Once trapped in the ice butterfly’s cocoon, there was no means of escape.
“He… I knew it was an ice butterfly at the time.”
“And, originally, it was Yu Tiantian who suggested getting closer to that cocoon area. He fell into the ice butterfly’s trap. I reached out to pull him, but ended up being used as a stepping stone for his escape.”
The original body was extremely panicked and desperate just before death.
Lu Yi’s expression slightly changed.
He furrowed his brows deeply, his gaze cold with deep disgust.
“My mental power suddenly increased when I was trapped in the Ice Butterfly Cocoon Land, on the brink of suffocating to death. Before that, I couldn’t actually break free from the cocoon’s restraints.”
“I almost died,” Rong Mi paused, speaking for the original body, “And initially, it was Yu Tiantian who fell into the Ice Butterfly Cocoon Land, not me. I tried to pull him out, but he accidentally dragged me down… and I became the stepping stone for his escape.”
Rong Mi: “I want to sue Yu Tiantian, at least ruin his reputation and have him serve some time in prison.”
Give the original body an explanation.
“There’s equipment,” Lu Yi said, standing up and supporting himself with the sofa. “Follow me.”
It seemed that several of the General’s subordinates had already left, and the starship was very quiet.
Rong Mi followed Lu Yi to the starship’s information room for video recovery.
The silver wolf walked seriously through the corridors, inspecting each room, patrolling its territory.
Its tail hung quietly, looking much more relaxed than before. Upon seeing Rong Mi, it paused briefly.
Rong Mi bent down naturally, patted the wolf’s back, and then didn’t disturb it further, letting the wolf continue its patrol on the starship.
Outside the starship, the landscape of the barren planet had changed dramatically due to the battle between Rong Mi, Lu Yi, and the advanced Ice Butterfly.
The cracks on the icy plains were everywhere, with scorch marks from mental energy burns, and the most eye-catching sight was the deep pit where the level-five advanced Ice Butterfly slept.
This dangerous pit had already been surrounded by a laser isolation belt by several support teams from the military.
Lu Yi’s starship was parked far from the isolation belt, with several survey team starships and the First Legion’s first squadron flagship nearby… farther away was the competition starship for the Ice Fire Mecha Tournament.
After the advanced Ice Butterfly fell asleep underground, the survey team began to rescue the contestants and took the staff of the competition program away for interrogation.
The investigation results were still uncertain, and all the mecha operators and program staff who participated in the competition were not allowed to leave the barren planet.
The suspicious individuals from the competition starship had been taken away and detained in the survey team’s starship’s isolation room, but the remaining contestants stayed on the competition starship.
The other people on the competition starship were not strictly monitored, but the atmosphere on board was very uneasy.
“Did you hear? This whole Ice Butterfly incident was orchestrated by the head director… My God. When I called for rescue, the program’s rescue team even comforted me, saying it was a new, realistic holographic interactive projection… Luckily, I ran fast!”
“Yes, I heard that one of the contestants is seriously injured and being treated in the medical room… still hanging by a thread.”
“So when can we leave?! I’m really scared. I just want to go back to the safe zone! I heard there are still Ice Butterflies alive on this planet!”
“I want to leave too, but the military reinforcements have arrived… it should be safe now, right?”
“Who knows? I’m scared even with the military here, I’m not Rong Mi…”
The conversation on the starship paused slightly.
“Rong Mi really made a huge impact this time… I don’t know how he was so useless at the start of the competition,” someone muttered softly. “Is he popular on StarNet now?”
“Is that what you call showing off?! He has the ability! Rong Mi is the hero who fought the Ice Butterflies!” another mecha operator said loudly, “Did you watch the livestream replay?! Those moves, could any of us do that?! So many Ice Butterflies came out, if Rong Mi hadn’t drawn some aggro… we’d probably be dead by now!”
“Yeah, those are definitely not moves just anyone can pull off,” the first person said, nodding toward the side, “Look, his friend is showing off again.”
“… It’s more like borrowing traffic, if you ask me! I can’t stand some StarNet singers.”
“Weren’t you always against all StarNet singers? Why is it ‘some’ now?”
“That’s not the point, Rong Mi is also a StarNet singer… and now he’s my idol! Anyway, he’s nothing like that Yu Tiantian… always running away faster than oil can be spread, calling for rescue but not even finding someone to help Rong Mi!”
“There are so many people cursing him online! Don’t know where he gets the nerve to livestream.”
Not far away, Yu Tiantian wasn’t paying attention to what the mecha operators were talking about.
He was sitting alone in a corner by the hatch. Two light screens were on in front of him.
One was a livestream screen, and the other was a communication interface. Characters flashed on the interface, messages from his signed entertainment company, Tianchen Entertainment.
“Regain your StarNet popularity. Don’t worry about anything else.”
“Rest assured, the investigation won’t affect the company, and it won’t affect you.”
Yu Tiantian pursed his lips.
He closed the communication interface and refocused his attention on the livestream screen in front of him.
“Right… the survey team still won’t let us leave the competition starship.”
Yu Tiantian was handsome, though his face was pale, eyes red and teary, giving him a pitiful look. “I’ve asked several times to leave the ship. Yes, I know the investigation isn’t over, and I don’t want to leave the barren planet. I just want to see Rong Mi, to see how he’s doing… I’m really worried about him.”
“Back when we fell into the Ice Butterfly Cocoon Land, Rong Mi kept urging me to leave first, telling me to board the rescue starship and leave quickly, in case a large number of adult Ice Butterflies came back to attack the cocoon area, and the rescue ship wouldn’t be able to handle it… Yes, he thought they were real Ice Butterflies… I thought so too, so I panicked.”
“But later, the rescue team told me it was a holographic projection, and I didn’t think much about it.”
“If I had been more alert back then and called for rescue, Rong Mi wouldn’t have had to go through so many dangers… I feel so sad every time I think about it.”
In the comments section of Yu Tiantian’s livestream, many of his fans were comforting him.
But there were also some who had heard they could get information about Rong Mi from Yu Tiantian, so they joined the livestream to gossip.
After the survey team entered the barren planet, aside from the announcement that no one had died, no other investigation results had been released, and there was no news about Rong Mi.
The vast crowd of fans who had flocked to watch the video of Rong Mi fighting the Ice Butterflies were very concerned about whether he was injured or how he was doing, so they searched for any relevant information.
“If we had called for rescue for Rong Mi, we wouldn’t have seen such an exciting match…” a viewer who had come to the livestream to gather information about Rong Mi commented, “No, I’m not saying your actions were right. Honestly, as Rong Mi’s friend, you never told the rescue team about his situation. That’s some pretty plastic friendship!”
“Stop talking nonsense.” Yu Tiantian’s fan immediately replied, “Rong Mi and our Tiantian are really close! He really likes Tiantian, he says Tiantian is his ideal type!”
“Really?!” the viewers immediately started gossiping, “Rong Mi likes that type?”
Yu Tiantian lowered his eyes and softly replied.
“But don’t get the wrong idea!” he quickly added in a whisper, “We’re just good friends. He just said that once…”
“Although I really want to see him now.”
The comments section of the livestream: “…Wow!! €€€€?”
What was that about?
Wasn’t what Rong Mi said a clear ‘hint’?
Yu Tiantian focused on the livestream, interacting with the comments section, not noticing the sudden silence in the starship’s cabin.
The mecha operators, who had been talking quietly, were now staring intently at the door of the cabin.
In the quiet environment, Yu Tiantian’s soft words became incredibly clear.
Rong Mi, who had just reached the door: “…”
As soon as Yu Tiantian finished speaking, Rong Mi felt the eyes of everyone in the room shining brighter. The two investigators who had originally planned to take Yu Tiantian away for re-interrogation and detention also looked at him with curiosity. Even Lu Yi’s gaze swept over.
Rong Mi: …Why is Lu Yi so gossipy too?
As he thought, he quickly searched the original body’s memories, only to find that the original body really had said something like this to Yu Tiantian!
In fact, Yu Tiantian had been one of the reasons the original body agreed to participate in the mecha competition.
Rong Mi: “…”
Rong Mi sighed inwardly.
He didn’t want to think about what the original body’s feelings had been just before death.
Rong Mi cleared his throat, ignoring the curious gazes in the room, and walked forward to take the camera that was hanging next to Yu Tiantian.
Yu Tiantian looked up in confusion, his eyes brightening when he saw Rong Mi. He opened his mouth to speak: “Rong…”
“That’s all in the past,” Rong Mi interrupted, speaking to the camera. “What Yu Tiantian said was because I wasn’t in my right mind and lacked aesthetic judgment, I won’t be like that in the future.”
“The video of him deliberately trapping me in the cocoon land, using me as a stepping stone to escape, and ignoring my cries for help is already restored and handed over to the investigation team… You want to say that I didn’t let you rescue me? Did you think I wouldn’t argue back just because my head was full of cotton, or that I’d swallow it all just because you showed some ambiguous attitude?”
Even if the original body had some feelings for Yu Tiantian… he shouldn’t have been so stupid!
Rong Mi spoke lightly, not looking at Yu Tiantian’s drastically changed face, and nodded toward Lu Yi: “By the way, just to clarify again.”
The young man said seriously, “My ideal type… looks like this now.”