ISMW Chapter 87

In the interstellar age, due to improved living quality and medical standards, human average lifespan had risen to around 200 years.

If you were wealthy enough, this number could increase even more.

But no matter how much lifespan was extended, it couldn’t break out of the “hundred years” framework.

However, when Yun Xunlan died in his previous life, he had already lived for over 2,400 years.

If the highest peak a human with a lifespan of around 200 years could reach was 3S level, then what level should Yun Xunlan, a soul from another world who had lived 2,400 years, be?

—No one knew the answer.

Because the highest display value on level testing machines was SSS.

Physical strength levels could be explained, since Yun Xunlan’s secondary sexual characteristic was alpha. But strangely, Yun Xunlan’s mental power level had also reached the numerical display limit.

The medical team couldn’t explain the cause.

In the entire galaxy, He Chubai was the only case of being poisoned by insect venom during pregnancy yet still successfully giving birth; Yun Xunlan was the only case of beginning secondary sexual characteristic differentiation at three months as a fetus and becoming an SSS-level alpha.

After his birth, when the medical team conducted a full body examination on him, they discovered that Yun Xunlan’s reproductive cavity hadn’t completely degenerated. Logically, an alpha who had completed differentiation to such a high level shouldn’t still retain a semi-degenerated reproductive cavity. Combined with his mental power that was abnormal for an alpha, it seemed as if Yun Xunlan’s original differentiation direction had been toward omega, but due to some reason he had to change course midway, ultimately becoming an alpha.

The medical team attributed this to developmental mutation caused by insect venom, or an accident produced by the human body’s survival instinct.

What other reason could there be?

It couldn’t possibly be that a three-month-old fetus had its own consciousness and could control its own differentiation direction, right?

Only Yun Xunlan himself knew that his extremely powerful mental power actually came from the vast divine consciousness of a cultivator at the Great Perfection stage of Tribulation Transcendence.

Qi Refinement, Fasting, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Unity, Great Vehicle, Tribulation Transcendence… After Tribulation Transcendence came ascension to immortality.

When Yun Xunlan died, he was at the Great Perfection of Tribulation Transcendence, just half a step away from becoming an immortal. If he hadn’t failed to withstand the lightning tribulation, he should have long since joined the ranks of immortals and wouldn’t have come to this interstellar age without even a trace of spiritual energy.

Without spiritual energy, without cultivation, and unable to find any of the spiritual herbs and medicines he knew from studying medicine in his previous life, Yun Xunlan was like a clever housewife trying to cook without rice—he had no way to cure this Severir insectoid poison.

He had once sighed to the system: “If my cultivation were still intact, what would this insect venom matter?”

“You should thank heaven and earth that I came with you,” the system in his consciousness sea huffed after hearing this. “Without this scholar, you wouldn’t even have had the chance to come here.”

So Yun Xunlan immediately thanked heaven and earth properly, and also thanked the Invincible Scholar thoroughly.

Now, seeing that Yu Chen didn’t believe Yun Xunlan could forcibly override SSS mecha piloting authority, the Invincible Scholar was immediately displeased: “Yu Chen, this young whippersnapper, actually doubts our abilities. Quick, show him a demonstration!”

Yu Chen was twenty-seven this year, which compared to Yun Xunlan’s 2,400-plus years, could indeed be called a young whippersnapper.

However, Yun Xunlan still favored his lover: “…He’s not yellow-haired.”

The system wouldn’t listen: “Whatever hair he has, just demonstrate!”

…Why did this sound so strange?

Yun Xunlan turned to face Yu Chen, looking into the man’s deep, pure blue eyes, and asked: “Want to try?”

“Try?” This wasn’t hard to understand. Yu Chen understood immediately upon meeting Yun Xunlan’s gaze: “Using Jian Xing Chen?”

Yun Xunlan took Yu Chen’s hand and walked toward the mecha cockpit: “Yes.”

He pressed Yu Chen’s shoulder, making the man sit in the pilot’s chair: “But you can’t achieve perfect resonance with Jian Xing Chen, or I won’t be able to invade you.”

Hearing this, Yu Chen raised an eyebrow, then picked up the sensors to connect himself with the mecha.

The resonance level on the display screen kept rising, stopping at 99%. At this point, Jian Xing Chen had become Yu Chen’s external body. He had to control himself to remain still, because any movement he made would be almost synchronously executed by Jian Xing Chen.

Yun Xunlan bent down and rested his face against Yu Chen’s neck, giving the man a very simple command: “Baby, touch my face.”

Making this movement would only make Jian Xing Chen appear to lift its hand and touch its own shoulder, which wouldn’t damage the surrounding facilities in the mecha storage bay, so Yu Chen complied.

Although he raised his hand to caress Yun Xunlan’s face, Jian Xing Chen’s arms remained naturally hanging at the mecha’s sides without any reaction. Not even a forced override piloting authority alarm sounded, meaning Yun Xunlan had completed the forced override in an instant. If the young man’s forced override speed were slow, the mecha’s control system would issue an alarm to remind the mecha pilot that mental power was invading and competing for piloting authority.

But Yu Chen heard no alarm.

The resonance level on the display screen still remained at 99%, as if nothing had happened.

Yun Xunlan raised his hand to touch Yu Chen’s face, but Jian Xing Chen’s action was to raise both arms and make a heart gesture with its hands toward the people inside through the mecha’s observation window—controlling a mecha with mental power was like this: it wouldn’t be controlled by your body, only submitting to your thoughts and intentions.

Yu Chen sequentially removed the sensors from his body—one, two, three… He pulled out all the sensors, completely disconnecting from Jian Xing Chen, yet the resonance level on the mecha control display still showed 99%.

When SSS mechas first appeared, everyone called them the greatest miracle in human weapons history.

However, looking at that 99% resonance value now, Yu Chen couldn’t help but marvel: “A miracle.”

“What kind of miracle is this?” Yun Xunlan was dismissive. “Many people can do this.”

Fifty years of Qi Refinement, one hundred years of Fasting, two hundred years of Foundation Building.

In his original world, probably any cultivator who had entered the Foundation Building stage could do this.

It’s just that Yu Chen, a twenty-seven-year-old young whippersnapper who couldn’t even enter the Qi Refinement stage, definitely didn’t know these things. Hearing Yun Xunlan say this, he was about to turn around and ask if the young man had some misunderstanding about his own abilities, when Yun Xunlan rotated the pilot’s chair, turning Yu Chen to face backward, while he also shifted position to continue standing behind Yu Chen.

“Baby, I want to show you something interesting.” Yun Xunlan’s voice carried obvious excitement.

Yu Chen asked him: “Show me what?”

Yun Xunlan pointed to the wall behind the mecha pilot’s chair: “Shadows.”

After saying this, he pulled Jian Xing Chen’s resonance level up to 100%, then controlled Jian Xing Chen to maintain the heart gesture while raising and moving both arms to aim at the lighting source in the mecha storage bay.

The moment perfect resonance was achieved, a water-ripple-like light and shadow suddenly appeared on the wall. The mecha’s arms making the heart gesture blocked part of the light source, so the water-ripple-like light and shadow took on a heart shape. When the observation window passed through the illumination lamp, a small fish-shaped shadow would appear from the top of the wall, quickly passing through the water-ripple light and shadow head-first, finally disappearing after passing the light source, as if sinking to the bottom of the sea.

“Baby, did you see it?”

Yun Xunlan bent down to embrace Yu Chen, laughing as he said: “I discovered this when checking the cocoon chamber.”

He continued controlling Jian Xing Chen to repeatedly pass by the illumination lamp, showing Yu Chen that little fish appearing again and again, never turning back as it sank into the sea.

Yu Chen stared blankly at that patch of light and shadow, at that little fish he was finally seeing again after eighteen whole years. His voice was hoarse, yet he smiled as he said: “I saw it…”

“Amazing, right?” Yun Xunlan pressed his face against Yu Chen’s from behind. “Wenxi and I don’t know what the principle behind this is, but when a mecha pilot and mecha are in perfect resonance, the bright light from the control panel reflects onto the wall forming water-ripple-like floating light and shadow. And at this moment, if you pass by a strong light source, a little fish will mysteriously appear on the wall… Baby?”

Noticing his cheek was dampened by warm liquid, Yun Xunlan stopped talking and leaned over to look at Yu Chen.

He saw those blue eyes that were like a calm sea reflecting the sky, but now there was moisture floating in their depths, finally surging out of his eye sockets like seawater rushing onto the beach at high tide.

The scent of seawater was fishy, cold, and briny. When Yun Xunlan had smelled Yu Chen’s pheromones before, he had always only noticed the fishy coldness. It wasn’t until this moment, seeing Yu Chen’s tears, that he belatedly realized the saltiness.

He didn’t think Yu Chen was crying from joy—he could also see sadness in Yu Chen’s eyes.

Yun Xunlan softened his voice and raised his hand to wipe away some tears for his lover: “Why are you crying?”

“Because I always thought my mom was the most romantic person in the world.” Yu Chen gripped Yun Xunlan’s wrist, and the moisture on his face increased: “Now I realize that what’s truly romantic is ‘love’ itself.”

“Lanlan, I’m sorry.”

Yu Chen no longer looked at the light and shadow on the wall. He turned to look into Yun Xunlan’s eyes: “There’s something I’ve been hiding from you. I…”

Yun Xunlan interrupted him: “I’ll forgive you.”

“No, don’t forgive me so quickly.” Yu Chen clenched his fingers, gripping the young man’s wrist tightly as he shook his head at Yun Xunlan: “I haven’t said anything yet.”

“You already said ‘I’m sorry.'”

Yun Xunlan used his other hand to cup the back of Yu Chen’s head, pulling him into his embrace and letting Yu Chen rest against his abdomen: “And I love you, am willing to favor you, and forgive all your mistakes.”

“But this only applies to me.” Yun Xunlan thought for a moment and added: “If you’ve also wronged other people or broken the law, then whether other people and the law will forgive you isn’t something I can control.”

“Alright, I’m done talking.” He stroked his lover’s nape: “Baby, what did you do that requires you to apologize to me?”

Yu Chen buried his head in Yun Xunlan’s abdomen and said in a muffled voice: “I deliberately approached you.”

Yun Xunlan thought this was normal: “Ah… you’re not the only one doing this kind of thing.”

Since childhood, countless people had been finding various opportunities and thinking of various ways to approach and contact him. The most successful example was Jian Wenxi, “manufactured” by the Jian family to have over 90% pheromone compatibility with Yun Xunlan.

“They approached you because they liked you. I didn’t.” Yu Chen’s voice became even more dejected: “I approached you only to use my guard identity to gain your trust, then ‘advance’ to 3S level at the right time and request an opportunity to test-start a 3S mecha.”

Yun Xunlan was somewhat confused: “If you wanted to test-start a 3S mecha, you didn’t need to approach me. You just needed to be a 3S-level alpha.”

“Right.” Yu Chen raised his head: “But I had to achieve 100% resonance with the mecha.”

Test-starting a 3S mecha wasn’t difficult, but perfect resonance was very hard.

Yu Chen could go through official channels and apply to the military as an SSS-level alpha to test-start a 3S mecha, but 3S mechas were extremely important national military equipment. The military couldn’t possibly let Yu Chen test-start alone. Once Yu Chen achieved 100% resonance in front of others during the test-start, he would definitely not remain unknown.

His name would be known to the world, he would be cultivated by the military as a key talent, and the military would even purchase 3S mechas specifically for him to pilot. Attention and honor would converge on him like spotlights, but these weren’t what he wanted.

—At least not at this stage.

He needed to stay low-key to investigate certain matters.

Yu Chen turned his face to look again at that floating light and shadow: “Only with perfect resonance could I see what you just showed me… that little fish.”

Yun Xunlan looked where he was looking and suddenly understood: “You know the principle behind its formation?”

“It’s my mom’s…” Yu Chen paused for two seconds: “love letter written to my mother.”

In this era, a pair of lovers bearing children wasn’t limited by gender. Even if their primary and secondary sexual characteristics were completely identical, there was still a certain probability they could conceive new life.

“You once asked me what kind of people my parents were.” Yu Chen told Yun Xunlan: “Actually, to be precise, I don’t have a ‘father.’ I only have two mothers. Their names might not be as universally known as your parents’, but you’ve definitely heard their names.”

“One is called Ran Xuechen, and the other is called Huo Su.”

Yun Xunlan had been hearing Ran Xuechen’s name frequently since he met Jian Wenxi at age five, because Professor Ran was Jian Wenxi’s goddess.

And the name “Huo Su,” even though he’d heard it less often than Ran Xuechen, was very familiar to Yun Xunlan. Strictly speaking, Huo Su’s name was hundreds of times more famous than Ran Xuechen’s.

Because eighteen years ago, the military officer who acted without authorization and abandoned her post during battle, causing the loss of the galaxy’s first border line, was none other than the Nebula Federation’s frontline general—Huo Su.

Those who didn’t understand military weapons or care about military equipment updates might not pay attention to who the most famous professor in the mecha design industry was, but they would never forget the culprit responsible for the life and death of all humanity, causing tens of millions of humans to suffer bloody slaughter by the Severir insectoids.

They would hate, despise, and curse this sinner day and night, forever nailing her name to the pillar of shame.

But Yu Chen, with reddened eyes, said hoarsely and firmly: “My mother is not a sinner. She didn’t flee from battle. The person who abandoned her post that year wasn’t her at all.”

“So the person who abandoned their post that year… was Manyuin Hurst?” Following Yu Chen’s words backward, it was easy to guess who the real “sinner” was. Yun Xunlan asked: “The 3S mecha also wasn’t designed by him, but by your mom—Professor Ran Xuechen, right?”

“Not entirely correct.” Yu Chen shook his head again: “The 3S mecha was a collective work designed by the team led by my mom, who devoted their heart and soul to it.”

“The movement of those shadows all follows patterns. Each shadow represents a name. Using the simplest Morse code to translate, you can know their names. Shu Hengyi, Zou Limi, Wen Yao, Zhou Fei…”

Yu Chen looked at the light and shadow, naming those predecessors who had died many years ago one by one.

They silently remained behind the mecha pilot. Some were engineers who built the mecha’s core energy source, some were technicians responsible for mecha mechanical assembly and testing, some were programmers responsible for the mecha’s general fire control program… The 3S mecha blueprints were indeed drawn by Ran Xuechen, but she wasn’t the only one who turned the design into a real miracle.

These predecessors who had once worked hard with her should have also been crowned with glory, becoming small but equally bright lights that shone together with the mecha and mecha pilot among the galaxy’s stars during perfect resonance.

But so many people, so many names, were ultimately summarized by the six words “Manyuin Hurst.”

No one knew who they were. As time passed day by day, the glory that should have belonged to them would dim and disappear. The only thing that wouldn’t happen was being forgotten.

…Was this fair?

“This isn’t fair.” Yu Chen said to Yun Xunlan: “As long as I’m alive, I can’t let their names remain forever unknown, forever unrecognized.”

However, when the news first came of his parents’ death and the complete loss of the first border line, Yu Chen couldn’t be 100% certain that the instigator was Manyuin Hurst, because he had once been Huo Su and Ran Xuechen’s best friend.

Everyone in the galaxy called Manyuin Hurst a “legend” born from the slums, but this honor had originally been used to praise Huo Su.

She and Manyuin Hurst came from the same slum and were close friends who grew up together. After coming of age, they were admitted to the Nebula Federation’s finest military academy together, except Huo Su went to the Mechanized Infantry Combat Division while Manyuin Hurst joined the Federal Mecha Research Academy.

There, he met Ran Xuechen, who was also a student at the Mecha Research Academy.

The three of them were classmates and close friends. After graduation, Huo Su naturally married Ran Xuechen and officially entered the Federal Military Department. Ran Xuechen and Manyuin Hurst also logically remained at the Federal Mecha Research Institute to jointly tackle the development of 3S mechas.

However, the Federal Mecha Research Institute had serious problems with its work atmosphere—they were very exclusionary toward staff whose secondary sexual characteristic was alpha.

In their view, alphas with mental power inferior to omegas and emotions less stable than betas due to susceptible period influences were naturally unsuited for research. They were better suited for the border battlefields as mecha pilots.

Moreover, Manyuin Hurst wasn’t some B-level or C-level alpha—he was an S-level alpha.

This level, which wouldn’t stand out much in the military but was particularly conspicuous at the mecha research institute, caused Manyuin Hurst to suffer serious exclusion and workplace bullying. The research team he and Ran Xuechen belonged to also frequently had their research funding cut because of his alpha presence, and their salaries and subsidies were nearly half less than other teams.

Gradually, other staff members in their team couldn’t tolerate such atmosphere and treatment, choosing to quit one after another, making their research unsustainable.

So Manyuin Hurst finally chose to resign. He left the Federal Mecha Research Institute and joined Huo Su’s legion as an ordinary private to go to the border battlefield. Before leaving, he gave all his research manuscripts to Ran Xuechen. Ran Xuechen also mentioned in her personal work notes that the manuscripts Manyuin Hurst left behind gave her great inspiration and helped her construct the initial model of the 3S mecha.

She wrote at the end of this work note:

“The Galactic Empire’s national flower is the evening primrose. I’ve heard this flower is incredibly resilient—as long as it can take root, it will have its day to sprout and bloom. My good friend Manyuin is an excellent person. I believe that no matter where he ultimately chooses to go, he will bloom with his own brilliance.

At the same time, I also hope that one day, humanity can abandon all prejudices and embrace each other, because in the galaxy, in this vast and magnificent universe, we are all compatriots.

I wish Manyuin all the best on the border battlefield. I think Huo Su will be very happy to see him.”