The match with Yu Chen just now was judged as a draw by the mecha piloting simulation platform, but both Yun Xunlan and Yun Xunguang clearly understood it was definitely not a draw.
Yun Xunlan lost.
And he lost quite badly.
Yu Chen was only an SS-level alpha, yet he could engage in a tug-of-war with Yun Xunlan for over twenty minutes. Even without looking at the final result, just this point alone meant Yun Xunlan couldn’t be considered a winner, let alone being taken down in a mutual kill by Yu Chen at the end.
Yun Xunlan’s mecha control inherited Yun Qihe’s style, habitually ending battles through killing but never defending.
Yun Xunguang admitted his talent was high, but Yun Xunlan succeeded and failed by the same trait—he was too arrogant, which is why he lost to Yu Chen.
If Yun Xunlan fought Yu Chen again in the future, he might not lose to Yu Chen, but with today’s draw, even winning later would be losing.
When Yun Xunguang initially chose Yu Chen to battle Yun Xunlan, she was indeed playing the psychological warfare tactics that Jian Wenxi had speculated. Otherwise, simply finding alphas to fight Yun Xunlan—how many could beat him?
She never expected Yu Chen to achieve such brilliant results from start to finish.
But as long as they fought, whether making something out of nothing or nitpicking, she could always find some fault to persuade Yun Xunlan to give up. Now, Yu Chen had done her a huge favor—
【Floating Round: I know what you want to do.】
【Floating Round: But with your skills, you should honestly practice for a few more years.】
Yun Xunlan: “…”
Yun Xunlan was very annoyed.
He believed this was a common problem of alphas in the susceptible period.
Alphas in the susceptible period just find other alphas displeasing, so it was normal that he didn’t want to talk to Yun Xunguang.
As for Yu Chen…
Both the man and Jian Wenxi were sending him messages. He couldn’t look at two people’s messages simultaneously, so he’d reply to whoever messaged him first.
So Yun Xunlan logged off the platform and opened his light brain to check.
Good, Yu Chen had sent him a message one minute earlier than Jian Wenxi, probably messaging him immediately after the battle ended.
But Yun Xunlan temporarily didn’t want to talk to Yu Chen either—all because of the alpha susceptible period’s annoying problems.
Thinking this, Yun Xunlan opened the chat window with Jian Wenxi and first apologized to his friend: 【Wenxi, sorry, I didn’t win. How much did you bet? I’ll transfer it to you.】
【Jian Wenxi: No need, hehe, I didn’t bet… I knew you couldn’t bear to fight Yu Chen. You’re not the type of alpha who would domestically abuse their partner.】
Yun Xunlan: “…”
He wasn’t reluctant.
How is normal mecha combat sparring considered domestic abuse?
But the focus of their conversation wasn’t on Yu Chen. Jian Wenxi asked Yun Xunlan: 【What will you do next? Geniuses can only win. This draw is no different from losing.】
【Yun Xunlan: I’ll think of other methods. Let’s stop this matter for now. Everything else continues as usual.】
【Jian Wenxi: Okay.】
“Beep beep—”
The sound of the dormitory door unlocking and Jian Wenxi’s message notification rang out simultaneously.
Yun Xunlan, holding the StarNet access helmet, looked up at the sound and met the gaze of the blue-eyed alpha standing at the door.
The man’s chest was visibly heaving, his black hair disheveled, breathing slightly rapid, as if he had just been running quickly.
In fact, Yu Chen had indeed run back because Yun Xunlan wasn’t replying to his messages.
Yu Chen was nearly dying of anxiety and rushed back from the training ground. After opening the door and seeing his lover looking at him expressionlessly—neither smiling nor calling him “baby”—Yu Chen’s heart sank heavily. He barely maintained calm on his face, forcing the corners of his mouth into a slight arc: “…Lanlan, did you watch my match?”
“…I watched.”
Yun Xunlan spoke slowly but still couldn’t manage any expression—he couldn’t figure out what expression to use when facing Yu Chen.
Yu Chen probably felt the same way about him.
Yun Xunlan saw that after his words fell, the alpha wiped his face with his hand, brushing aside his forehead hair, then walked in front of him and half-knelt down. His blue eyes were full of chagrin and self-blame as he apologized hoarsely: “Sorry… I couldn’t win. Lanlan, you bet on me to win, right? How much did you bet? I’ll transfer it to you.”
“…”
This déjà vu conversation.
Yun Xunlan finally couldn’t hold it together either. He lightly furrowed his brows, his expression helpless: “Baby… I didn’t bet on you to win.”
The mecha piloting simulation platform’s win-loss betting pool had an upper limit of ten million. Even if Yun Xunlan bet the maximum amount, Yu Chen could afford to compensate. However, he didn’t expect Yun Xunlan hadn’t bet on him to win.
Yu Chen was stunned for a moment, not bothering to mind that his lover had promised to bet on him before the battle but didn’t follow through. He breathed a sigh of relief: “It’s good you didn’t bet.”
But then the young man said: “I bet on myself to win.”
Yu Chen: “…?”
What does betting on yourself to win mean?
Is it what he thinks it means?
—It really was.
“Baby, you’re amazing.” The silver-haired young man said the words Yu Chen wanted to hear in bed, but said them outside of bed.
He also held Yu Chen’s left hand, the hand that had recently gripped the subsidiary sword and pierced through his mecha’s core power source: “We’re not in a draw. I lost, you won.”
Yu Chen was silent for a long while: “You are… Mad Guest?”
The golden-eyed alpha nodded and raised his right wrist with the light brain: “Do you still want to add me as a friend?”
“…Add.”
Yu Chen stared at the new friend named 【Mad Guest】 in his mecha piloting simulation platform friend list, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
How could Yun Xunlan be “Mad Guest”?
If he had known earlier, when Yun Xunlan chatted with him before the match, he wouldn’t have just replied with a single “No”!
How cold that was.
No wonder when he came back today, his lover didn’t even smile at him.
“Lanlan, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” Yu Chen reflected on himself.
Yun Xunlan didn’t mind: “Mm, I know. You’re naturally introverted.”
Yu Chen: “…”
“Since Mad Guest is you, then when you told me a few days ago that you stayed in the office writing papers, were you lying to me?” Yu Chen couldn’t understand. “…Why?”
What was there to hide about the “Mad Guest” identity?
“Sorry, baby, because it’s hard to explain.” Yun Xunlan lowered his eyelashes. “I originally wanted to tell you everything together after Friday.”
Yu Chen could roughly guess what Yun Xunlan meant by “hard to explain.”
For example, the fact that the young man never did any training yet could fight to a draw with himself, who graduated from a proper military academy and had worked solidly in the military for five years.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. If you want to tell me after Friday, then let’s wait until after Friday.” Yu Chen gripped Yun Xunlan’s hand back, only curious about one thing. “But is Friday some important day?”
He had checked the calendar—this Friday was just an ordinary day.
Not a holiday, nor any anniversary between him and Yun Xunlan.
“It’s an important day for me, I suppose.” Yun Xunlan thought and said, “I might need your help that day.”
Yu Chen agreed without asking what kind of help: “Okay.”
Hearing this, the young man turned his gaze back to Yu Chen.
Night had deepened. He sat barefoot in thin clothes, knees bent on the clean floor, his golden eyes filled with the soft warm light from the chandelier, sparkling like scattered stars.
But Yu Chen had no leisure to appreciate this. Worried that Yun Xunlan would catch cold sitting on the floor for too long, he went to support the man’s arms, wanting to help him up.
Unexpectedly, as soon as his palms circled Yun Xunlan’s arms, the young man leaned into his embrace, first murmuring “This is good too,” then saying with anticipation: “Baby, learn my mecha fighting style. I’ll teach you.”
“Okay.” Yu Chen agreed to this request too. “Did you learn your mecha style from His Majesty?”
Yun Xunlan said: “Yes, I differentiated early and learned mecha early too, but I wasn’t an adult before, so I couldn’t fight public battles. That’s why I never had public records.”
He let Yu Chen pick him up and place him on the bed, then praised the man again: “Baby, you’re really amazing. It’s been a long time since I lost to anyone.”
“You didn’t lose.” Yu Chen corrected.
They ended in a draw.
And Yu Chen felt he should have been the one who lost.
Both he and Yun Xunlan were SSS-level alphas. He trained every day, yet was suppressed by Yun Xunlan, a mecha pilot who never practiced, and was at a disadvantage throughout. He had lost completely.
“No, I lost.” Yun Xunlan insisted. “The way I pilot mechas… is a bit different from yours.”
They’re both alphas—how could their mecha piloting methods be different?
But Yu Chen didn’t argue with Yun Xunlan about who won or lost.
Seeing Yun Xunlan’s particularly strong desire to teach him, he went along with the young man’s wishes. The two of them did nothing else late at night and logged into the mecha piloting simulation platform to pilot mechas, which also fit Yu Chen’s plan to abstain from sex.
As a result, this abstinence lasted nearly a week.
It made Yu Chen directly depressed.
Unlike most alphas who are easily controlled by sexual desire, before getting intimate with Yun Xunlan, Yu Chen had never even engaged in “self-comfort,” so his depression these days wasn’t because he couldn’t make love with Yun Xunlan.
He was depressed because every night these past few days, Yun Xunlan would teach him how to pilot mechas using Yun Qihe’s fighting style, then go to sleep after teaching, but before sleeping, he wanted to hear him say one sentence of dirty talk.
What did that mean?
Yun Xunlan loved his mouth more, right?
As long as that perverted little fetish was satisfied, it was fine?
Or was his dirty talk not exciting enough, so Yun Xunlan couldn’t get aroused after hearing it?
Yu Chen couldn’t figure it out. Combined with his irritable mood, his frequency of arguing online with netizens who insulted Yun Xunlan increased dramatically. He had opened ten alt accounts because his ban frequency was also skyrocketing.
At noon on Thursday, after all ten alt accounts plus his main account were banned, Yu Chen opened that faceless photo of the Fish-Keeping Expert, thinking that since he wasn’t in a susceptible period now and had abstained from sex for several days, he could definitely identify this perverted sex maniac with a clear head.
Who knew that after staring at the photo for three seconds, Yu Chen got hard.
—Damn! Abstaining too much, too much suppressed desire rebounding.
Especially these past few days, Yu Chen could see Yun Xunlan in tight mecha suits on the mecha piloting simulation platform daily. So when looking at this photo of the Fish-Keeping Expert in tight cycling clothes again, Yu Chen actually thought he looked even more like Yun Xunlan.
It seemed abstaining from sex for too long wasn’t a good thing either.
It was about to turn him into a perverted sex maniac too. How could he get hard looking at any idiot?
His disobedient dick made Yu Chen so angry he almost smashed his light brain bracelet.
In his fury, Ni Chun suddenly came to the cafeteria and summoned all the guards, telling them to prepare. In half an hour, the Third Prince would depart for the experimental insect planet to test drive a 3S mecha at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
“Is His Highness acting on a whim?” Fu Yanxi asked puzzledly. “Why such a rush?”
Not only was he surprised, but others found it strange too.
Yun Xunlan’s schedule was always fixed. If there were changes, he would notify them a day in advance. This kind of hurried departure in half an hour was a first, not to mention test driving a 3S mecha on the experimental insect planet wasn’t a small matter.
The experimental insect planet, as its name suggests, was created by humans simulating the Severir insectoids, providing a combat venue for mecha pilots to test drive mechas.
Located near the third border line, it had all known types of insectoid soldiers that humans had discovered so far, except these “insectoids” were all mechanical biomimetic entities, not real insectoids.
Mecha pilots from the border battlefield frontlines would first come to this planet to “actually” experience fighting insectoids and get mentally prepared before going to the border battlefield to fight real insectoids.
Regarding Fu Yanxi’s question, Ni Chun only said “It’s not a whim” and didn’t explain further.
Yu Chen also knew this was definitely not a whim.
Yun Xunlan had repeatedly mentioned to him that Friday was a very important day.
The experimental insect planet was very far from the Imperial Star. Even taking the interstellar gate jump would take five hours. For Yun Xunlan to test drive the 3S mecha at nine tomorrow morning, they indeed needed to depart early.
The guards didn’t delay further. They returned to their dormitories to pack briefly, then gathered at the training ground to wait for departure orders.
Yu Chen hadn’t lived in his own dormitory for a while. He went back mainly to bring Yun Xunlan his lychee rose nutrient solution, but those flowers had been cut from their branches for a long time. No matter how carefully Yu Chen tended them, they now showed signs of withering and falling.
—As if foreboding something.
Yu Chen felt inexplicably heavy-hearted and didn’t even have the mood to be jealous when Yun Xunlan brought Jian Wenxi along before departure.
Because he noticed this trip was on a grand scale. Not only the guard team accompanied them, but also an entire royal guard army of up to ten thousand people, plus all medical staff from the royal medical team. Yet everyone looked hurried, all seeming to have received notice at the last minute.
Most importantly, when they took the starship to the port, the interstellar gate supervisor refused to let them pass.
“Third Prince…” The supervisor’s nose tip was beaded with fine sweat as he nervously said to Yun Xunlan with lowered head and eyes, “I haven’t received authorization from the Crown Princess allowing you to leave the Imperial Star for the experimental insect planet.”
After he finished speaking, Yun Xunlan made a video call to Yun Xunguang right in front of him using his light brain.
Yun Xunguang instantly accepted the communication request. In the video, her expression was stern, but there wasn’t a trace of surprise in her eyes.
Yun Xunlan smiled at her and said in a gentle voice: “Imperial Sister, I want to go to the experimental insect planet to test drive a 3S mecha. Can you give me authorization to use the interstellar gate?”
Yun Xunguang didn’t answer but asked back: “News reports about you going to the experimental insect planet are flying everywhere. Do I still have a choice not to authorize it?”
“Of course you can.” Yun Xunlan was still smiling. “But why wouldn’t you authorize it? I strictly followed your travel requirements and brought all the people I should bring.”
Yun Xunguang and Yun Xunlan stared at each other, their golden eyes locked in a standoff for a long time. Veins bulged on Yun Xunguang’s neck. After a minute, she was the first to look away, her shoulders imperceptibly sagging slightly as she said quietly to the supervisor: “…Let him go.”
Only then did the supervisor allow the starship to pass.
Yu Chen watched this scene, and the unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger, finally reaching its peak when Yun Xunlan dismissed the crowd, leaving only Jian Wenxi, Ni Chun, Officer Dike, and nine guard alphas.
Because Yun Xunlan called out the names of Lu You, Song Tingyan, and Lottie, saying: “I need you to do something for me. This thing is very dangerous, but I only trust you, so only you can do this.”
The three stepped forward simultaneously: “Your Highness, please tell us. We will do our utmost to complete the mission.”
“This is the route map for my 3S mecha test drive tomorrow.” Yun Xunlan projected a map using his light brain bracelet, pointing to the location marked as point C: “When I pilot the mecha to this place tomorrow, you need to disguise yourselves as interstellar pirates and assassinate me.”
The three were dumbfounded, exclaiming in shock: “Your Highness?!”
“Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to actually kill me. You couldn’t kill me anyway.” Yun Xunlan sighed to reassure them. “Your main task is to find a way to hit my mecha, specifically, to hit the maintenance hatch of the mecha.”
The design blueprints of SSS mechas are not public. Their manufacturing technology and maintenance techniques are completely monopolized by the Corona Empire. So when SSS mechas are damaged in battle, personnel from other countries cannot perform repairs and must wait for mecha repair technicians from the Corona Empire to arrive. If the maintenance hatch is forcibly opened, the hatch’s encryption program will automatically send a notification to the Corona Empire, which could easily trigger diplomatic conflicts.
But if the mecha’s maintenance hatch is accidentally damaged in battle and forced open, the situation would be different.
Yun Xunlan said: “I’ve hired a specialized press corps to film my test drive. They will capture footage of you hitting the mecha’s maintenance hatch and broadcast it live.”
Lottie asked: “…Your Highness, do you want to use this opportunity to ‘discover’ the complete structure of the SSS mecha?”
Although the word “discover” was used euphemistically, everyone understood its true meaning.
Yun Xunlan also admitted: “Yes.”
Lu You reminded him: “But SSS mechas have more than one maintenance hatch encryption program.”
Many SSS mechas serve on border battlefields, and maintenance hatches being “accidentally” damaged and opened happens frequently. However, the design blueprints of SSS mechas have never been leaked, and such high-tech products probably aren’t something that can be manufactured simply by obtaining the blueprints.
“I know.” Yun Xunlan sent the route map to Lu You, Song Tingyan, and Lottie. “But I just want to try.”
Lu You and the others looked at Dike, since Dike was the commander-in-chief of the guard army, and his orders took priority over Yun Xunlan’s.
Dike crossed his arms and looked at Yun Xunlan for a moment, then finally said: “Listen to the Third Prince.”
At exactly eight o’clock that evening, the starship successfully landed on the experimental insect planet.
After the starship landed, Jian Wenxi, who came out of the decompression chamber, said he wasn’t feeling well. Yun Xunlan went to his room to check on him, but when the two met, there was no third person in the room.
##
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