Chapter 28: Heartbeat
The space city was as bright as daylight.
Various lights flickered through the sky, beautiful and dazzling, like the grandest fireworks. Yet, they were the flashes of light produced by humanity and the insectoid creatures battling for their lives.
Rong Mi had a can of spirit energy restoration fluid in his mouth, and he was holding two more cans in each hand. On his wrist was a medical device monitoring the recovery of his spirit energy. He stood in the passage outside the medical room.
The doctor who had just examined him had instructed him to keep the monitoring device on until it showed that his spirit energy had recovered to the minimum required level, before he could return to the battlefield.
Voices came from the other end of the passage. A damaged mech was being retracted into the starship. A medical robot hurriedly passed by Rong Mi from behind, heading towards the docking bay to transport the injured into the medical room.
Rong Mi quickly stepped aside to make way for the medical robot, then walked into the rest area on the other side.
“Roar.”
The cabin door opened, and the golden-haired lion, Sandell, turned around first. Upon seeing that it was Rong Mi, he let out a polite roar.
Allen sat in a seat near the hull and turned to look at Rong Mi, nodding to him with a worried expression, mixed with frustration.
Because of the sub-butterfly spiritual imprint in Sandell’s mind domain, he had been suspended from all privileges and could no longer participate in the battle.
“Is it this sub-butterfly?” Allen asked. “Did this sub-butterfly leave a spiritual imprint in Sandell’s mind domain?”
Rong Mi sat next to Allen and turned to look out the cabin window with him.
A dark red streak of blood was flowing down from above the transparent metallic glass, cutting across the view outside the hull.
It was the color of human blood.
The starship’s hull emitted a muffled sound, as if a mech pilot’s suit had fallen on top of the starship, exposing the cockpit and injuring the pilot.
Rong Mi did not look away, continuing to observe the battle outside the window.
The moon summoned by Ah Yin hung high, repeatedly attempting to freeze the sub-butterfly’s attacks.
With the wolf’s will, ice and snow left trails in the sky, providing the mecha pilots, who could not track the sub-butterfly’s position due to its speed, vision, and spirit power, with its activity pattern.
The mecha pilots were both attacking the sub-butterfly and blocking its movements, ensuring it did not breach the starship’s defense perimeter or close the distance to the starship.
Although the main cannon of the starship had a high energy amplification and incredible attack power, its aiming range was limited, creating an attack blind spot near the starship.
In the combat channel of the communicator, every order from Lu Yi was concise and effective. His word choice became shorter, and Rong Mi couldn’t help but suspect that the other man was struggling to form long sentences, or that his weakness could no longer be hidden when his words were stretched.
Although everyone in the first squad should know about Lu Yi’s physical condition.
Everyone in the first squad was pushing their limits to the extreme.
A sub-butterfly, of course, couldn’t be killed by just one mecha pilot.
It was a fool’s dream to think that a medium-sized starship could kill it…
But they could not just let the sub-butterfly act freely.
Otherwise, the entire space city, along with themselves, the half of the mecha squad battling another high-level ice butterfly in the Storm Star Sea, the barren star a day’s travel away, and even the farther space city… could be affected.
Rong Mi looked at Allen and calmly said, “No.”
Allen: “……”
Allen: “……??”
“…No?!” He almost stood up from his seat in disbelief. “How is that possible?!”
The conditions for the formation of a sub-butterfly were harsh, and of course, there was more than one in the ice butterfly insectoid species.
But… how could such a dangerous enemy not be the only one hiding in the human star domain?!
“Roar!” Sandell, sensing his master’s abnormal emotional fluctuation, suddenly stood up, raised his head, and let out an uneasy roar.
Rong Mi gently patted the large lion beside him. “If there’s one, there could be two,” he comforted Allen. “We’ll figure it out.”
Allen looked at Rong Mi’s calm expression and, after a while, gave a bitter smile mixed with some envy.
“You’re amazing.”
“Your mental strength, mecha operation skills, and your mentality when facing the insectoids…”
“You’re not afraid of them at all,” Allen said. “Just now, even when facing the sub-butterfly alone, in such a dangerous situation… every move you made was clean and decisive, and you grasped every opportunity perfectly. I can tell, you didn’t just want to delay the sub-butterfly to get the space city’s residents into shelters, nor was it about stalling for time to survive. You were really trying to kill it.”
“Although it’s unlikely to kill it, we have to try,” Rong Mi stretched his legs and relaxed in his seat. “And I know the starship is right behind me.”
Rong Mi was confident in his abilities, but he knew that with someone as responsible as Lu Yi behind him, he could be more daring in battle.
Allen’s expression was complicated, and he self-deprecatingly said, “Maybe I’m still afraid of death.”
“My personality isn’t decisive enough, and my abilities aren’t strong enough… I’m not fit to be the captain of the first squad.”
Rong Mi raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking that Lu Yi must have planned for Allen to take over when he went to the capital star for treatment and rest.
Since he wasn’t a member of the first legion, he didn’t inquire further and simply said, “There must be a reason Lu Yi chose you as squad leader.”
“Not everyone is born decisive. Everyone needs space to grow. But the first squad’s leader isn’t the legion commander, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself.” The young man smiled casually. “Besides, everyone is afraid of death. I am too.”
“Being afraid of death means constantly improving your abilities… and then believing in yourself. Even though death will come one day, it’s not today.”
“Not in this battle.”
Allen stared blankly at Rong Mi for a moment.
The young man had just gone through a battle, his hair messy, and since he had decided to return to the battlefield after his mental energy recovery, he hadn’t taken off his combat suit. But perhaps feeling hot, his collar was open, and his sleeves were rolled up. He sat casually in the rest cabin, exuding an effortless and graceful aura.
Rong Mi carried an indescribable charm. Every word he spoke was incredibly convincing.
Allen looked at him for a while, then asked out of nowhere, “Are you going to join the first legion?”
Rong Mi: “That depends on whether Lu Yi’s words carry enough weight!”
As long as the legion commander, whom he had previously ghosted, didn’t hold a grudge, he would be happy to join.
Allen looked confused.
…What does this have to do with General Lu Yi?
“…With your abilities, you don’t need to worry about the unified military test,” he said blankly. “If you take the military selection test, many legions will be eager to recruit you. The general will even be worried about you being poached by other legions.”
Rong Mi smiled. “Thanks for the compliment.”
He wasn’t worried about the unified test, but didn’t want to explain the complications to Allen.
Rong Mi glanced at the mental energy detection device on his wrist and changed the subject.
Rong Mi: “The siege of the high-level ice butterfly on the barren star, is it happening today?”
The details of the siege plan were usually not disclosed, so Rong Mi hadn’t asked.
Allen looked at the time, hesitated for a moment, and then replied, “It’s already started.”
Lu Yi trusted Rong Mi, and Allen didn’t think Rong Mi had any connection with the insectoids.
Moreover, since the barren star’s operation had already begun, telling Rong Mi wouldn’t affect anything.
Rong Mi nodded, muttering, “No wonder.”
“Lu Yi wants to hold off the sub-butterfly until the fleet surrounding the barren star completes its mission and reinforcements arrive.”
Lu Yi didn’t want to disperse the military forces already deployed to the barren star in case of unexpected events during the siege of the ice butterfly.
Because the arrangements were already in place, the fleet at the barren star was sufficiently powerful. They had prepared for the sub-butterfly’s defeat to prevent the high-level ice butterfly from suddenly evolving.
In this situation, if nothing unexpected happened, killing the high-level ice butterfly shouldn’t take too long.
The journey from the barren star to the space station was about a day. As long as they could hold out, reinforcements would arrive.
In this kind of battle, one day seemed long, but holding on wouldn’t be that hard.
The sub-butterfly consumed a lot of energy daily and needed constant feeding.
The insectoid star domain had sufficient energy for the insectoids to consume.
However, while human mental energy could help improve the insectoids’ abilities, it couldn’t replenish their daily energy consumption.
It was like how protein and cellulose cannot complement each other for the human body.
The sub-butterfly, which had been hiding in the human star domain, was probably not well-fed today, and wasn’t in optimal condition.
It had been exhausted by Rong Mi’s mental energy and blasted by Lu Yi’s main cannon, in addition to being fiercely scratched by the wolf and attacked by the first squad’s mecha pilots… After all this fighting, it had sustained numerous injuries, and its attack power had dropped significantly compared to the beginning.
The glow from its poison glands had dimmed.
The first squad’s mecha pilots were divided into two groups to rotate in attacking, so everyone had a chance to rest.
The mecha squad from the Storm Star Sea had just completed the kill of another high-level ice butterfly and would soon return to provide reinforcement, further relieving the main ship’s burden.
Rong Mi absent-mindedly stroked the lion’s fur collar and pondered quietly.
…Why was the sub-butterfly hiding here?
…It couldn’t just want to experience human life, could it?
Rong Mi: It’s not entirely impossible.
He knew that the high-level insectoids’ tactics were a little unpredictable. If they were determined to attack, they would use a large number of sub-butterflies, with some hiding in human territory while others waited for the attack from a distance…
This was all speculative, though. They still had to wait and see.
He made him realize the weakness deep within himself that he had never been aware of before.
Lu Yi had never imagined that he would lose control of his emotions because of a single sentence…
Lu Yi: What a pity.
This unusual fondness, which would linger in his heart for a long time, was growing more serious as the fracture at the root of his spiritual tree worsened, heading toward an inevitable death.
This made it difficult for him to plan for the future, and hard for him to speak.
Rong Mi was confused, not understanding why Lu Yi suddenly smiled.
Nor did he know…
Why did this person’s smile sound so pleasant?
As that thought flashed through Rong Mi’s mind, Lu Yi was already pressing the button to open the cabin door.
The general indeed saw Rong Mi standing at the door.
The young man stood straight, but there was an uncontainable, carefree grace to his demeanor.
Rong Mi looked up at Lu Yi, noticing the other’s excessively pale face, and subconsciously pressed his lips together.
Then, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and he nodded to Lu Yi with certainty, saying, “I’m here.”