Yu Chen’s spine stiffened at his touch, like a string stretched to its limit yet unable to make a sound, only able to question silently in his mind.
Fortunately, not long after, accompanied by a very slight pain, Yu Chen felt Yun Xunlan remove the blue sapphire pin from his ear cartilage.
“I apologize, Major Yu Chen. Ni Chun mixed my communication device with yours,” the Prince apologized to him. “You took my communication device.”
After speaking, the youth used his left hand to offer another blue jeweled communication device: “This is yours.”
The blue jewel resting in the Prince’s palm was cut in the Cupid style, forming a perfectly symmetrical eight hearts and eight arrows. As long as there was a bit of light around, it would refract dazzling fire that mesmerized the eyes.
But Yu Chen first looked not at the eye-catching brilliant jewel, but at Yun Xunlan’s fingertips.
Because there was a touch of red there—his dried blood.
Blood may dry, but pheromones do not.
The scent of ocean tides still surged and floated around them, causing Yu Chen to suddenly and inappropriately realize something: Yun Xunlan’s entire body should now be saturated with his pheromone scent.
During his previous duties, he had been wounded countless times, leaving his blood on others more times than he could count, and his own body had been marked with the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies.
But what about Yun Xunlan?
He was the Galactic Empire’s most cherished and noble prince, a top-tier alpha born into the royal family. How many times had his body carried the overflowing, private pheromone scent that emanated from another alpha’s bodily fluids and sex glands, as it did today?
Realizing that his thoughts were increasingly veering in an inappropriate direction, Yu Chen imperceptibly lowered his eyelashes, promptly halting his scattered thinking, and reached out to take the jeweled communication device offered by the youth.
Just as he put it on again, he heard Yun Xunlan ask: “Major Yu Chen, you chose blue. Do you also like blue?”
Also?
Yu Chen noticed this particular word in the Prince’s speech.
“Yes,” Yu Chen answered truthfully. “Blue is my favorite color.”
Yun Xunlan said: “What a coincidence, blue is my favorite color too.”
After hearing this, the system criticized him: “No good, what use is this kind of talk? Will liking the same color make you good brothers? It won’t. Don’t forget our purpose in specifically keeping Yu Chen behind today. You need to find a way to let him know you greatly admire him. Only then can you become confidants, intimate friends!”
Yun Xunlan accepted the system’s criticism and quickly remedied the situation, saying to Yu Chen: “It’s like your eyes, like your pheromones—like a sea—that sea of stars we all long to conquer.”
But the system became even more anxious: “Listen to yourself—does that sound like you’re expressing admiration for him?”
How was this any different from blatantly saying “I want to conquer you”?
At least the system couldn’t detect any hint of admiration in it.
The system said: “If Yu Chen were gay, it might be fine. He might think you want to sleep with him, to hook up. The problem is, he’s not. So he’ll only think you’re provoking him, wanting to fight him!”
In reality, however, Yu Chen didn’t think Yun Xunlan wanted to fight him.
He also didn’t think Yun Xunlan was saying such things to hook up with him.
Of course, the former possibility was still greater than the latter—unless Yun Xunlan had fallen in love with him at first sight.
But that was absolutely impossible, even less likely than a fairy tale.
First, why would the noble Prince fall in love at first sight with an ordinary major like him?
Second, they were both alphas. The nature and instincts of alphas had long determined that there would only ever be mutual repulsion, suppression, and opposition between them, never attraction.
So Yu Chen still believed that Yun Xunlan just wanted to find him for tutoring in War Psychology. It was their first meeting today, and the Prince didn’t know how to bring up this matter—after all, a score of less than 30 points was indeed difficult to mention. Forcing conversation when there was nothing to say often led to poor word choice, creating ambiguity and misunderstanding.
However, while those in high positions could make mistakes, subordinates couldn’t afford to err along with them.
Yu Chen decided to remain unchanging in the face of change, simply staying silent and waiting for Yun Xunlan to continue. When the Prince brought up the actual matter of tutoring, he would then speak up and agree.
Meanwhile, Yun Xunlan was also reassuring the system: “Don’t be anxious, just listen as I slowly talk to him.”
He moved away from Yu Chen, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the deep blue sky where a few scattered stars had already appeared. He deliberately adjusted his tone, speaking with a desolate and melancholic voice: “Major Yu Chen, have you been to the border battlefield?”
The border battlefield was located at the outermost edge of the galactic disk where the Milky Way and the galactic halo met, about 50,000 light-years from the galactic center—this was once the first border of the Milky Way. It was the first of three defense lines set up by the Milky Way to resist invasions from other planetary life forms outside the galaxy.
It fell eighteen years ago, breached by the Severir Insectoids, becoming a war zone. To this day, humans have not been able to reclaim it.
The Severir Insectoids had extremely robust physical bodies. Unlike humans who needed to rely on building interstellar portals and piloting spaceships to protect their bodies during jumps, they could use Leviathan bioships to directly open wormholes for long-distance jumps.
Yu Chen’s former home, planet K-79, was invaded and conquered by Leviathan Insectoids through a secondary jump after the first border line fell. The entire planet suffered heavy casualties, with few survivors.
But K-79 wasn’t the only planet to suffer such bloody massacres by the Severir Insectoids.
And how many more people had died at the hands of the Severir Insectoids beyond just the residents of K-79?
Yu Chen’s eyes suddenly darkened as he replied in a deep voice: “No, Your Highness. I haven’t been to the border battlefield yet.”
“Then that means you will go in the future.”
The silver-haired alpha heard the implication in his words and turned to walk back toward him: “I want to go too.”
“I want to reclaim our lost first border line, and even more, I want to conquer that vast sea of stars beyond the Milky Way.”
The beautiful and brilliant remnants of sunset shone through the wide floor-to-ceiling window, like a layer of shattered gold pouring over the youth. He turned all his ideals into a sigh: “But I can’t go.”
Hearing this, Yu Chen finally couldn’t help but raise his eyes to look at the handsome alpha standing before him.
He knew why Yun Xunlan couldn’t go.
The Milky Way had three border lines. To reach the first border line, which was now the border battlefield, one needed to pass through the third and second border lines first. However, the fortress gates that allowed safe passage through these two border lines were strictly controlled by the military forces of various countries in the galaxy. So generally speaking, ordinary citizens had only one legal means to reach the border battlefield: enlisting in the military.
But even after enlisting and becoming a soldier, one might not necessarily be sent to the border battlefield.
After all, the border battlefield was a special situation. It was humanity’s most important defensive line. Warriors stationed there could not retreat no matter how powerful the insectoids they faced. If they were psychologically fragile and fled or lost control during battle, the severe consequences would be unimaginable and unbearable for people—no one would forget that eighteen years ago, the first border line fell because an officer acted on his own and abandoned his post during battle.
Therefore, any soldier wishing to go to the border battlefield first had to submit a passing War Psychology exam paper with a score of 60 or above.
Yet Yun Xunlan’s War Psychology score wasn’t even 30 points…
He thought that after the Prince had laid such groundwork, he would soon get to the point and discuss tutoring.
As expected, the youth soon called to him: “Major Yu Chen.”
The Prince tilted his face slightly upward, gazing into Yu Chen’s eyes: “I remember you scored perfectly in War Psychology. This is an extremely outstanding achievement. I would need to take the exam at least four times and add up all the scores to reach that many points.”
He spoke with a calm expression, seemingly not at all reluctant to mention his poor performance.
“Major Yu Chen is exceptionally talented, beyond compare, truly admirable.”
Yu Chen even saw the silver-haired alpha’s eyes curve slightly, those golden pupils filled with smiles, like diamonds shattered by God, constantly refracting dazzling light: “You may not know, but among all the guards…”
The Prince leaned his head closer, his bewitching, husky voice passing through the air ignited by the evening glow to reach his eardrums: “I admire you the most.”
Even before becoming Yun Xunlan’s guard, Yu Chen knew that although this Prince of the Galactic Empire was an alpha, his appearance was extremely beautiful.
It was as if the divine had used all the colors in creation to outline that face, painting a visage full of spring charm, naturally elegant, and passionate even without a smile.
Anyone who was fixed by those golden eyes would develop an illusion of being deeply loved by him.
Yu Chen had the same illusion when gazed upon by him.
He clearly understood in his heart: an illusion was just an illusion.
But in that moment of being watched by Yun Xunlan, his heartbeat still uncontrollably skipped a beat.
As if that momentary pause was because his heart had been briefly captured and seized by this alpha, imprisoned within those golden eyes.
Yu Chen lowered his eyelashes again, avoiding Yun Xunlan’s gaze. His face showed no expression, and his eyes didn’t change in the slightest, only his voice was even deeper and raspier than the youth’s: “Thank you for your appreciation, Your Highness.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the system excitedly shouted in Yun Xunlan’s mind: “Excuse me for speaking too loudly just now, but your approach is excellent! The emotional groundwork at the beginning was well-laid, and then you used yourself as a negative comparison, directly highlighting Yu Chen as exceptional and unparalleled. He must now feel your deep admiration.”
Yun Xunlan had lived two lifetimes, with over two thousand years of combined experience, yet this was his first time actively seeking to befriend someone and become intimate friends.
Given that his previous attempt to befriend Yu Chen online had been unsuccessful, he was now somewhat lacking in confidence: “Really? Little Hermit, we’re not misunderstanding his meaning again, are we?”
“How could we be? Did you hear how hoarse Yu Chen’s voice became? He must be desperately suppressing his excitement at being appreciated and valued.” After questioning Yun Xunlan, the system also searched for evidence for him. “Don’t doubt yourself, we’re right. Keep talking, add fuel to the brotherly bond you’re about to form, and raise the temperature!”
“Alright,” Yun Xunlan responded to the system in his mind.
Then he gently cleared his throat, striving to make his words more credible: “You may also not know that your oath impressed me tremendously.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Yu Chen’s silence was deafening.
Unable to hear it, Yun Xunlan continued his praise: “So I feel that for someone of your talent, being just my guard is a waste.”
Yu Chen: “……”
The second hand embarrassment is heavy in this one. But oh my God! 🤣🤣🤣🤣