Yun Xunguang did not explain in detail how Yun Xunlan loses control.
Yu Chen, however, immediately associated the keywords “aggressive” and “chaotic thinking” with Yun Xunlan’s performance in the virtual battlefield.
Aggressive—believing himself invincible, only to be slapped in the face the next second and quickly die.
Chaotic thinking—sometimes feeling he would die as soon as he stepped out the door, sometimes feeling he could dance in front of the insectoids and not die, oscillating between two extremes.
Among these, the young man’s extreme fear of death is relatively easy to understand.
Since birth, he has been tormented by insect venom. The shadow of death has been looming over him since the moment Yun Xunlan came into this world, like a heavy shadow constantly covering his head. Perhaps even Yun Xunlan himself is unaware, but his fear of death has already become a pathological reaction, leading to this result.
Then how should we understand the situation where he feels he won’t die?
Yu Chen couldn’t understand.
Even if Yun Xunlan showed him such a powerful mecha group battle today, Yu Chen still couldn’t understand. He had never deeply thought about this question before because any normal adult human would never believe they wouldn’t die.
Life always has an end.
Even stars have a day when their fuel runs out and they come to an end.
“Could it be that in reality…” Yu Chen asked, “he also feels he won’t die?”
Yun Xunguang did not answer directly but said: “You also took the exam. You should understand that all the choices you make inside are concrete projections of your innermost thoughts and true will.”
Yu Chen certainly understood, but precisely because he understood, the fact was so incredible.
When he returned to the space station, Yun Xunlan was no longer at the tower.
Yu Chen entered the ward and saw the young man sitting by the porthole smoking.
He had his back to Yu Chen, his silver long hair flowing behind him like a light and thin silk, covering his thin figure, leaving only a lonely back visible. Even the cigarette burning between his fingers seemed more alive than him.
The air circulation system in the ward was continuously on. Yu Chen did not smell any smoke, but the ashtray on the table was piled high with cigarette butts. It was unclear how many he had smoked.
Sensing the man’s gaze, Yun Xunlan turned and met a pair of deep blue eyes like the sea. He stubbed out the cigarette and prepared to get up and walk toward the bathroom.
“Baby, you’re back? I’m going to wash up.”
His lover didn’t smoke. Yun Xunlan was worried that the smoke smell on himself might make Yu Chen uncomfortable.
“No need.”
But Yu Chen walked straight up, holding the young man’s thin shoulders with both hands, gently pressing the silver-haired alpha back into the chair, and asked, “Are you in a bad mood? Did Kos Telo’s random barking annoy you?”
“I’m not in a bad mood.” Yun Xunlan smiled upon hearing this, answered Yu Chen’s previous question, then said helplessly, “Kos Telo is dead. I killed him. Why should I be annoyed?”
Yu Chen slightly raised his chin, pointing at the ashtray: “In a good mood but still smoking so much?”
He was smoking a special cigarette with a very high sedative content, specially made for alphas to calm their emotions.
Yun Xunlan said, “I have a strong smoking habit.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Yun Xunlan saw Yu Chen’s silence and felt his excuse was not very good. However, his mood was indeed fine. Kos Telo’s death did not affect his emotions at all. He was neither happy nor sad about it, just lost in thought. When he realized it, he found he had smoked so many cigarettes. The things he was thinking about couldn’t be told to Yu Chen because they were related to the system.
“Very good. We’re still so strong.” After Kos Telo’s death, the system proudly said, “Just like the day you died, alone you can hold off ten thousand troops.”
Yun Xunlan instinctively said, “I was struck by heavenly thunder. Where are the ten thousand troops?”
“Yes, you were indeed struck by heavenly thunder.” The system did not deny it. “I think, now that you have Yu Chen by your side, with plenty of negative reviews, you can’t be more invincible. Actually, you don’t have to wait until 3S mechas are mass-produced in half a year to attack the Severir insectoids. You alone can break through the insectoid home planet, right?”
Yun Xunlan was noncommittal. He lowered his eyes, took out a cigarette pack from under his pillow, and when lighting a cigarette, the firelight flickered in his eyes, making him look like he was pondering the system’s suggestion.
A few seconds later, Yun Xunlan said to the system, “I failed the psychological evaluation. Imperial Sister originally didn’t agree to let me participate in that plan. If there aren’t enough 3S mechas, she definitely won’t agree.”
The system asked back, “If there are enough 3S mechas, will she agree?”
Its mechanical voice gradually faded, becoming more human-like and considerate: “Your father also failed the psychological evaluation. He was even worse than you, but he could stay on the frontline battlefield. Why?”
—Yun Xunlan had at least two performances in the virtual battlefield: extreme fear of death and feeling he wouldn’t die. Yun Qihe had only one: suicide.
Mission failure, suicide; mission too difficult, suicide; waking up in the dorm, bad mood, suicide; fighting insectoids halfway, feeling tired, suicide… As long as Yun Qihe was unaware that his lover’s wish was unfulfilled, he would die.
His psychological condition was so bad that Yun Xunguang was willing to help him fake his scores so he could keep staying on the frontline battlefield.
But if it were Yun Xunlan, even if he passed the psychological evaluation and got a passing grade in “War Psychology,” Yun Xunguang would directly reject the proposal for him to go to the border battlefield, even forbidding him from joining the military.
“If she could agree, you wouldn’t have done what you did with Wenxi on the experimental insect planet.” The system also pointed out directly, “And your father was so smooth because we all knew he wouldn’t die. At least before fulfilling He Chubai’s last wish, he wouldn’t let himself die.”
It seemed to be defending Yun Xunlan, complaining about Yun Xunguang’s unfair treatment of him: “But how can he guarantee he won’t die? He’s not you.”
Yun Xunlan softly repeated the system’s words: “…He’s not me.”
“Yes, only you.” The system said. “Only us—”
“We won’t die, proof—”
—Yu Chen returned at this moment.
Yun Xunlan cared more about him than the system. As soon as Yu Chen entered the ward, he stopped seriously listening to the system’s following words.
He asked Yu Chen, “Baby, how was your talk with Manyuin Hurst? Did he admit his crimes?”
Yu Chen told Yun Xunlan the whole story.
“He admitted everything he did,” he squatted in front of Yun Xunlan, leaning on the young man’s legs, speaking in a tone that seemed full of hatred yet devoid of any emotion, “but he doesn’t admit he’s guilty.”
Yun Xunlan listened to Yu Chen and sat in his chair, stunned. He didn’t expect Manyuin Hurst’s actions to have such far-reaching consequences, affecting not only Yu Chen’s family but also himself.
He softly said, “…When do you plan to send him to military court?”
Yu Chen raised his face to look into Yun Xunlan’s eyes: “Already sent.”
But the plaintiff is not Yu Chen, but Yun Xunguang, and the defendants are not only Manyuin Hurst, but also the Corona Empire and the Nebula Federation governments.
This is the result of their joint discussion.
Yu Chen’s identity is currently not suitable for exposure. He has lived in the Galactic Empire for many years and has his own social circle, including teachers, classmates, and friends. Once his identity is exposed, these people will be affected to some extent.
Moreover, the subsequent political struggles and pressures are most appropriately handled by Yun Xunguang.
Therefore, she rushed back from the frontline battlefield and replaced Yun Qihe, fearing that if he continued to stay on the Imperial Star, he might go mad one day and kill Manyuin Hurst before the trial results come out, even though Manyuin Hurst’s final verdict would certainly be the death penalty.
This lawsuit shocked the entire galaxy.
The Corona Empire and Nebula Federation governments naturally denied it vigorously and even tried to unite to suppress Yun Xunguang. However, the Corona Empire was exhausted from suppressing the rebellion led by Manyuin Hurst’s wife Wei Dongyou, and the current ruling government of the Nebula Federation was politically unstable due to this lawsuit. Both sides had limited resources to deal with Yun Xunguang, and besides the evidence, Yun Xunguang also had a very important coordinate list.
—A list recording the coordinates of all planets in the galaxy where Severir insectoids are lurking.
Manyuin Hurst didn’t even give this list to Wei Dongyou, but he directly gave it to Yu Chen, along with a deposit account, seemingly sincerely fulfilling his last promise to Ran Xuechen and paving the way for Yu Chen’s bright future.
Although Yu Chen didn’t need Manyuin Hurst to do these things for him, he accepted both.
He decided to donate all the money in the account to charity; the coordinate list was handed over to Yun Xunguang.
It is a very useful bargaining chip, and Yun Xunguang can use it to do many things. Although even without the coordinates, other methods—such as using “honey cocoons” to lure out king insects—can gradually be used to investigate, this method is too inefficient. The Corona Empire and Nebula Federation also don’t have many soldiers poisoned by insect venom but still alive, unless they “manufacture” a batch on the spot.
These people are capable of such things.
Fortunately, the cost is not worth the “benefit,” so no one has done it yet. But solving the insectoid problem is urgent.
Because if it’s any later, those Leviathans will successfully evolve into super-variants, capable of opening jump gates to let insectoid armies directly cross the second and third border lines deep into the galaxy.
If none of the three parties care or negotiate, each solving the insectoid problem in their own star regions, after the number of king insects drastically decreases, the brood mother will definitely notice something is wrong and may start a strong attack plan early.
If this really happens, probably only the Galactic Empire can resist the insectoid offensive. As for the Nebula Federation and Corona Empire—the former’s new ruling government hasn’t cleaned up the mess left by the previous one, and its military strength is the weakest among the three; the latter is in internal turmoil, fighting on the front lines for years, and Manyuin Hurst, once an important general, is imprisoned in the Galactic Empire… In short, this war cannot be fought.
They don’t want war, neither with humans nor insectoids.
Before Manyuin Hurst’s collusion with Severir insectoids, secretly placing king insect eggs inside the galaxy’s star systems was exposed, they all thought maintaining the status quo was best—the Severir insectoids couldn’t get in, humans couldn’t get out, the war scale was controlled within a suitable range, and the appropriate external pressure could promote internal unity and raise approval ratings… Little did they know this “appropriate” was the brood mother’s deliberate plan, patiently waiting for an opportunity to be well fed.
It’s hard to imagine what would happen if the person cooperating with the Severir insectoids wasn’t Manyuin Hurst, if the Severir insectoids suddenly launched an attack when they were unprepared, how humanity would be trapped.
Yun Xunguang didn’t want to think about it. She only wanted to completely end the war with the Severir insectoids.
And the only way to end the war is to attack the insectoid home planet and kill the brood mother.
The stalemate between humans and insectoids lasted so many years because they couldn’t locate the insectoid home planet. It seemed to be a movable planet that could constantly change position. Even if human warships finally got there, they would find nothing, let alone the brood mother.
Until Yun Qisun—Yun Qihe’s older brother—proposed a plan called “Dandelion.”
Its name is beautiful, but its implementation is crazy and cruel.
Super-variant Leviathan insectoids, as biological ships, when opening jump travel, become interstellar gates connected to the insectoid home planet. The “Dandelion” plan is for humans to pilot warships and mechas to enter the jump channel simultaneously with the super-variant Leviathans—the entire army’s mecha group will land on the insectoid home planet like dandelions, as a journey with no return. The warships will stay in the jump channel to build interstellar gates on site, striving to maintain the jump channel and build a bridge to the insectoid home planet.
As long as the mechas landing on the insectoid home planet can withstand the king insects’ counterattack and the warships in the jump channel can successfully build stable interstellar gates, other warships can continuously pass through the gates to attack the insectoid home planet and kill the brood mother.
The Galactic Empire has carried out this plan twice.
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
