Chapter 20: Wake-up Service
Humans left their own star system in a hasty “escape” under the surprise attack of the Ice Butterfly Clan.
It was a surprise attack no one had anticipated.
A spatial wormhole suddenly appeared within the capital star’s defense zone.
A large number of Ice Butterflies invaded and attacked the capital star.
Humans and the Ice Butterfly Clan had been at a standoff for over a hundred years.
The front-line battle zones were in constant flames, and the Ice Butterfly Clan surrounded the human star system on all sides, intending to invade the star system. Humans had gradually shifted from passive defense to slowly studying the habits and weaknesses of the Ice Butterfly Clan. They also began entering the Ice Butterfly Clan’s territory, periodically killing those high-level Ice Butterflies that could command lower-level ones and posed a greater threat to humanity.
The centuries-long game finally came to an end. The Ice Butterfly Clan’s strength was gradually weakened, but humanity paid a heavy price.
The large-scale battles led to an increased demand for healers, and the overwork resulted in a rising death rate among them.
Healers became increasingly rare in the star system, and the energy reserves for various supply ships and mecha were expected to face shortages within the next hundred years.
It was a prolonged game, one that had yet to reach its decisive phase.
However, the Ice Butterfly Clan’s sudden attack on the capital star shattered the balance.
This unexpected assault caused heavy casualties among the residents of the capital star.
All space breakthrough alert systems that should have been activated failed on that day.
The federal government’s functional zones were completely destroyed, and many high-ranking officials were killed in the attack, including those at the federal military headquarters, which caused the unified command and coordination to fall into chaos.
While the federal military and various planetary guard forces were still focusing on and supporting the capital star, several important resource planets were attacked one by one over the following days.
Soon after, nine inhabited planets were also attacked one by one.
No one knew why so many wormholes had appeared in such a short time.
From what humanity knew about the Ice Butterflies, only the Alpha Butterflies could open wormholes. However, opening a wormhole consumed an enormous amount of energy, and the interval between two consecutive wormholes opened by the same Alpha Butterfly would span months or even years, making it impossible for multiple wormholes to open within just a few days.
Tracking and eliminating the Alpha Butterflies was one of the major tasks for each legion. Although there were threats from Alpha Butterflies around the human star system, according to military records, under heavy suppression, there were only about five left, all of which had been heavily damaged and were fleeing.
These continuous wormholes and the large number of Ice Butterflies attacking through them should not have existed.
But they did.
What followed was massive energy depletion, the destruction of mecha and starship manufacturing plants, the severing of star network communication bases, and countless soldiers and civilians perishing.
At the same time, the battle zones were heavily engaged, making it difficult for reinforcements to return.
Before the wormhole surprise attack began, the battle zones had already been attacked multiple times.
The human fleet’s strongest warship, the Selwen, which was most feared by the Ice Butterflies, had crashed in a fierce battle a month before the attack, resulting in heavy losses to the legion’s strength.
To make matters worse, amid the chaos, the lack of control allowed members of the Ice Butterfly Symbiosis Society, who had previously only operated secretly underground, to widely promote the idea of coexisting with the Ice Butterflies. They claimed their leader had reached an agreement with the Alpha Butterflies, who would allow humans to share part of the star system’s living space as long as their demands were met.
Many planetary governors who opposed the Ice Butterfly Symbiosis Society were attacked and killed, and some citizens were gradually brainwashed by the society and signed its documents.
Some planets, still with the strength to do so, launched their starships, evacuating as many of the citizens who hated, feared, or were enraged by the Ice Butterflies, along with all the resources they could carry.
It was a chaotic time. Humanity lost resource planets, and along with them, countless important historical, cultural, and technological materials, as well as related skills. The special group of healers also vanished during the escape.
When the human fleet finally broke free from the Ice Butterfly siege and found a temporary place to rest, the healers aboard were few, and most were over a hundred years old. Fearing the future lack of new healers, they initiated the “Artificial Healer” research project.
Two hundred years after the project’s success, Rong Mi became one of the artificial healers.
Although Rong Mi strongly disliked the “Artificial Healer” project, he had to admit its importance.
Without the appearance of artificial healers, the cosmic radiation and mental domain contamination caused by battles with the Ice Butterflies could not have been eliminated, and humanity would have lost the ability to fight the Ice Butterflies.
Rong Mi also felt fortunate.
Although the era in which he was born was fraught with danger, humanity had already adapted to interstellar nomadic life and was no longer in chaos or confusion.
Some fleets had traveled farther and farther, attempting to find new star systems suitable for long-term settlement.
The fleet Rong Mi was with, along with several other fleets, remained near the original star system. They established communities on large starships, conducting new research, hoping that one day, new weapons or advancements in human physiology would allow them to return to their old homeland.
On one occasion, their fleet tried to approach the outskirts of the former human star system, hoping to make contact with those humans who “shared” the star system with the Ice Butterflies, seeking any rebels willing to join them in fighting the Ice Butterflies.
But they discovered that the humans on those planets had become slaves, kept by the Ice Butterflies, with no freedom and no ability to resist.
During that brief return to the edge of the star system, aside from the humans chained with iron and mental bonds, Rong Mi also saw the planet.
It was a vast and expansive planet.
Unlike the starships Rong Mi was on… and different from the barren planets, the human inhabited planet was much larger.
Even for the large Alpha Butterflies, the planet was spacious enough for them to live on.
Rong Mi shook his head, pushing the shadow of the interstellar nomadic era out of his mind, and searched for information on the star network.
He first searched for ways to join the military, realizing that the annual federal military examination was coming soon. He bookmarked the page and planned to apply after gathering more information about the various legions.
Then, he casually searched for the Ice Butterfly Symbiosis Society.
This organization had always been extremely secretive. They never operated under this clearly suggestive name, hiding within the various industrial chains of the Federation, with many branches. Even by the time of the interstellar nomadic era, not all their information had been uncovered.
However, Rong Mi knew the insignia of the two largest branches of the Ice Butterfly Symbiosis Society.
A series of dots arranged in a scattered pattern, with an equilateral triangle formed by the top corners connecting horizontally, symbolizing butterfly wings under the starry sky.
And a U-shaped curve inverted over two crossed longswords, symbolizing sealed war.
He quickly sketched the insignia and searched for them on the star network, unsurprisingly finding little useful information, before unknowingly falling asleep.
He slept deeply, as the mental energy consumption had been too great, and with the subconscious trust in Lu Yi, he didn’t wake up when he vaguely heard knocking on the door.
Rong Mi turned over and covered his face with the blanket, continuing to sleep.
He didn’t know how long he slept, but soon felt someone pulling at his blanket.
Rong Mi was dreaming.
His roommate, who lived in the same room, seemed to have gone mad, making a racket as he worked on modifying mecha models, and kept nudging Rong Mi, trying to wake him up to help.
“…Don’t move. I’ve finally got some time off…”
Rong Mi stretched one arm out of the blanket, waving his hand lazily, trying to send his annoying friend away. But then something warm and elastic suddenly pressed against his face, followed by what seemed like a fluffy object rubbing against his neck.
Rong Mi: “…?”
Rong Mi: What is this… feels so good?!
Under the onslaught of the fluffy creature, he finally opened his eyes.
And saw a magnified wolf face.
The wolf’s face—no matter how big it was—was still so cute!
The adorable silver wolf had already jumped onto his bed, its forelegs bent and resting against the side of Rong Mi’s face. It had been pushing at Rong Mi for a while, but when it didn’t get a response, it simply climbed into the bed and nudged him with its head.
Rong Mi: “!!”
Such a cute silver wolf!
Half asleep, he didn’t think much, instinctively grabbing the wolf’s paw beside his face, stroking the fur, and even kissing the paw pad.
Rong Mi’s lips were soft.
The silver wolf let out an “awoo” and immediately puffed up its fur.
It made a reproachful sound, swiftly withdrawing its paw and hopping off the bed, angrily sweeping its fluffy tail across Rong Mi’s neck on its way down.
The action was forceful, but it seemed like it wasn’t using any real strength.
It didn’t hurt.
In fact, it was a bit itchy.
Rong Mi was fully awake now.
He sat up and saw that the cabin door had been left slightly ajar, with the small silver wolf squeezing out through the gap, leaving the room without looking back.
Silver wolves, as predator star beasts, were creatures with a strong sense of dignity and boundaries. It was only natural that it would be upset after having its paw grabbed and kissed.
Rong Mi rubbed his head, mentally apologizing to the wolf, but couldn’t help touching his lips.
He would try again next time!
“Ah… you just… hmm… so, what do you mean?” While he was deep in thought, a strange voice came from the hallway, carrying a hint of confusion.
It seemed like someone he had been talking to had suddenly stopped speaking midway through.
Was the voice just now calling out to him?
Rong Mi tilted his head.
The wait lasted for several hours.
They had already eaten a meal, and all the other conversation materials had been sorted out.
The defense field near the deep pit had been set up preliminarily, awaiting a more professional military squad to handle it. With no other tasks to do, they turned to look for Rong Mi.
…If it weren’t for General Lu Yi’s wolf waking him up, who knew if this conversation would happen today!
“You didn’t use mental energy, did you?” Rong Mi asked as he walked outside the starship with the investigators, turning to look back at Lu Yi. “How’s your body? Did a medical team come to treat you?”
Lu Yi’s face was much paler than before. He was leaning against the starship door as he spoke, appearing somewhat weak. Although his actions weren’t obvious, Rong Mi could tell.
Under normal circumstances, since the investigation team had arrived, the medical team should have been here too.
Lu Yi’s pallor was due to the disruption in his mental domain and the resulting injury from the energy impact when his mental domain fell out of order.
Rong Mi had already calmed the surface turbulence in Lu Yi’s mental ocean, so his body should not have looked so bad if it had been properly treated.
Lu Yi nodded slightly but then spoke. “It’s the second day.”
Rong Mi: “……”
This meant he had been treated… but had used his mental energy again.
The young man glanced down at the time on his communication bracelet and then looked at Lu Yi again, speechless.
He had said that using mental energy on the first day was absolutely forbidden.
But he also mentioned that it would be best not to use it at all for this entire week!
“Help with the defense field setup.” The general, still leaning against the door, simply turned his head to gesture toward the deep pit outside.
Rong Mi: “……”
This was Lu Yi’s responsibility, and Rong Mi had nothing more to say.
“Wait for me to return,” he could only say. “Endure it, no matter how uncomfortable.”
Lu Yi unconsciously curled his lips slightly.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m fine.”
Rong Mi: “……”
Rong Mi had no idea what standard Lu Yi was referring to when he said “fine,” and couldn’t agree with him. At the same time, he silently cursed the military investigation team.
They were so inconsiderate! Making Lu Yi help with the defense field setup at a time like this!
The investigation team leader couldn’t help but sneeze.
He rubbed his nose, feeling guilty. “Could General Lu Yi be secretly cursing me…? The general is not like this.”
He knew Lu Yi had been injured, but seeing the large high-level ice butterfly in the pit below, he felt that the butterfly might wake up at any moment.
So, he just wanted to finish setting up the defense field as quickly as possible.
The instruments had been set up, but high-level defense fields required high-level mental energy to activate. The higher the mental energy level, the better the defense field’s effect.
To activate a defense field strong enough to withstand a high-level ice butterfly… on this desolate planet, Lu Yi was currently the only choice.
While Rong Mi was fast asleep, Lu Yi had already lifted the starship out of the deep pit, and it was now hovering not far from the ice plain at the edge of the pit.
Rong Mi followed the investigators out of Lu Yi’s starship and climbed up the gangway of the investigation starship parked nearby.
The investigator, having held it in for a long time, finally couldn’t help but speak with a tone of either admiration or envy, turning to Rong Mi and saying, “You and General Lu Yi have a good relationship. It’s rare to hear someone speak to the general like that.”
The investigator usually worked in a star domain far from the battle zones, with no direct interaction with the First Legion. But three years ago, he had been selected as an outstanding rookie investigator and had gone to Capital Star to attend a military report and awards ceremony.
At the ceremony, high-ranking military officers and legion commanders attended, and Lu Yi was the most outstanding one: both in terms of his appearance and the number of military medals on his standard uniform.
At first, the investigator hadn’t recognized Lu Yi’s identity, so he paid extra attention to him. He noticed that most people seemed tense when speaking to Lu Yi, including some high-ranking officers and legion commanders he recognized.
None of them were as relaxed and familiar as Rong Mi had just been with him.
Rong Mi replied with an “Ah,” and truthfully said, “It’s alright.”
They had fought together and faced the ice butterfly crisis together, so they were not strangers anymore.
Besides, Lu Yi’s personality and appearance… especially that silver wolf of his! It was completely Rong Mi’s type!
Rong Mi’s attention wasn’t on his relationship with Lu Yi.
…But on Lu Yi’s military rank.
“General?” he asked in surprise. “He’s that amazing?”
…Based on that rank, Lu Yi must be an important figure in the First Legion!