Starry Rebirth: The Warden and the Outlaw’s Interstellar Revenge | Chapter 34 | Shared Warmth | Novela.app

Four years ago, on a remote, nameless planet. As night fell, the strange and primeval world became fraught with peril. A teenage Ji Yeran sat at the mouth of a stone cave, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of movement while he tended to his wounds. A mutant pterosaur had mauled him during the day, and he hadn't yet found a moment to treat the gashes. The biological bandages and self-healing serums he had brought for the trial were long gone. If they hadn't been lucky enough to stumble upon some hemostatic herbs in this godforsaken place, Ji Yeran would have had to rely solely on an Alpha’s natural regenerative abilities. Ji Yeran kept his head low, struggling to wrap strips of cloth around a jagged tear in his waist. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind—a sound so light it was like the wind brushing over sand. Ignoring the loose bandage, Ji Yeran snatched up his weapon and turned, his body coiled in a defensive stance. His eyes met a young boy with black hair and dark eyes. In the soft moonlight filtering through the cave entrance, the boy’s face looked tender, and his eyes shone with the brilliance of obsidian. This boy, who seemed to have stepped out of the starlight itself, was his roommate—and his greatest rival. Recognizing the newcomer, Ji Yeran lowered his weapon. "It’s not the second half of the night yet," he said, his voice raspy. This was the arrangement he and Feng Zhixi had agreed upon. On this dangerous planet, they had to set aside their past grievances and lean on each other for survival. The nights on this savage world were the most treacherous, so the two boys had agreed to split the watch, giving each other a chance to breathe and rest. "I know." Wrapped in a blanket, Feng Zhixi walked over and sat beside Ji Yeran. He glanced at the Alpha’s back and reminded him, "You have wounds on your back, too." On Ji Yeran’s back, dried blood had fused his combat suit to his skin. It was an area he couldn't reach on his own. "Let me." Seeing the mangled mess, Feng Zhixi uncharacteristically reached out to help the "patient." However, before his hand could touch Ji Yeran’s back, the other boy jerked away. The speed and sharpness of Ji Yeran’s reaction betrayed a state of extreme wariness. Having instinctively dodged Feng Zhixi’s hand, Ji Yeran retreated a step, his gaze fixed on the boy opposite him with a suppressed, simmering vigilance. Finding his hand hanging in mid-air, Feng Zhixi’s brow twitched. He leveled a cold, scrutinizing look at Ji Yeran. In this life-or-death environment, the "delusional edgelord" across from him had lost his usual arrogance. His hair, dyed a gradient green, looked almost pure black in the shadows of the night. At this moment, the boy who usually acted like the world revolved around him seemed different from the troublemaker Feng Zhixi had first met. The night acted as a natural filter, stripping away his outward sharp edges and revealing a hidden layer of restrained resilience. *Two-faced edgelord,* Feng Zhixi grumbled inwardly. Then, he spoke aloud: "What, afraid I’ll hurt you?" His voice was soft, carrying a faint, underlying threat—as if he would gladly fulfill Ji Yeran’s paranoia if the Alpha dared to admit it. "No," Ji Yeran replied, finally letting his guard down. He sat back down and deflected, "Don't worry about the back. Just help me wrap the bandages." With that, Ji Yeran tossed over the clean strips of cloth. They were the only things they had left that could serve as bandages. Feng Zhixi caught the cloth and moved closer. By the starlight spilling into the cave, he saw the extent of the injuries. A massive laceration tore diagonally across the Alpha’s midriff. Ji Yeran clearly didn't want to take off his only combat suit, so he had simply ripped a large hole over the wound to apply emergency treatment. The muscles of the boy’s abdomen were pulled taut with pain, and the herb-slathered wound looked raw and bloody. After assessing the size of the injury, Feng Zhixi unrolled the cloth and set to work without a word. To prevent further damage, the bandage couldn't be too loose, so he didn't hold back his strength. Without anesthesia or numbing sprays, they had to rely on primitive herbs and manual binding. Feng Zhixi could imagine the agonizing pain of having cloth cinched tightly around a fresh tear, layer after layer. Yet, throughout the entire process, Ji Yeran didn't make a sound. Even his breathing remained steady. As he tightened the final loop, Feng Zhixi tied the bandage into an intricate, elegant butterfly knot. He looked up to find the patient staring down at him. Their eyes met. The boy’s gaze was as deep as a whirlpool. "Thanks," Ji Yeran managed. His tone was calm, though the end of the word carried a slight rasp. Feng Zhixi shrugged. Even if they were usually at each other's throats, he wasn't petty enough to hold a grudge now. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, Feng Zhixi’s eyes flickered toward Ji Yeran’s back—the area the Alpha wouldn't let him touch. It was covered in so much blood that the original color of the combat suit was unrecognizable. Feng Zhixi said nothing more. He simply lifted a corner of his blanket and draped it over Ji Yeran. "?" Suddenly enveloped in warmth, Ji Yeran froze and looked at the boy beside him. The black-haired boy had already closed his eyes, resting his head on Ji Yeran’s shoulder. "Remember to wake me for the second half of the night," Feng Zhixi mumbled sleepily before drifting off. "..." Looking at the boy asleep on his shoulder, Ji Yeran fell silent. Noting the dark circles under Feng Zhixi’s eyes, he ultimately decided not to wake him. *Whatever,* the teenage Ji Yeran thought. *He’s just a Beta anyway. It shouldn't matter.* The nights on that planet were freezing. The two boys huddled together for warmth, heads leaning against each other, waiting for the dawn of the next day. *** The starlight four years ago seemed very similar to the starlight tonight. Back in the Honeymoon Planet hotel, Ji Yeran raised his hand. The hotel’s optical computer sensed the command and immediately switched the blackened glass to transparent. As the large floor-to-ceiling window cleared, the starlight flooded in, casting a silver glow across the floor—just like the starlight from that night four years ago, quiet as still water. Disturbed by the light, the sleeping Feng Zhixi shifted slightly on the sofa, looking restless. Sensing the movement, Ji Yeran quickly shielded the Omega’s eyes with his palm and shut down the system. As the room plunged back into darkness, the sleeping Omega instinctively rolled onto his side. He abandoned his own pillow and used the Alpha as a new, warm one instead. Ji Yeran: "..." They were so close now that the pheromones Ji Yeran had been carefully suppressing began to leak out silently once more. Just a trace of it—cool, crisp, and carrying a hint of tartness—seeped into the air. In his sleep, the Omega frowned. In his dream, he had been looking at a table laden with sweet cakes and pastries. Just as he was about to dig in, he took a bite and found the cake tasted entirely of green plums. It was so sour it set his teeth on edge, jolting him toward wakefulness. In the dream, the lovely desserts had inexplicably turned into a mountain of green plums, sparking a flare of annoyance. *So sour!* The dreaming Feng Zhixi felt nothing but disdain. Unaware that he was being judged again, Ji Yeran kept his eyes open. The Omega was so close he should have pushed him away, but for some reason, his hand stopped mid-air. The Omega nestled in his arms had his eyes closed, soft black hair brushing against his ear. The young man, stripped of his daytime arrogance, looked unexpectedly docile. While Ji Yeran was lost in thought, a wisp of the scent of strong spirits drifted from the Omega. It seemed to have a mind of its own, winding around his hand and making him relax unconsciously. *Forget it.* Unwilling to wake the sleeping man, Ji Yeran relaxed his body to let the "fussy brat" sleep more comfortably. The lingering scent of spirits was mellow and sharp. Even the Warden, who never touched a drop of alcohol, felt a bit lightheaded as his thoughts drifted... A night like this, accompanied by another person’s breath, made Ji Yeran think of his parents. He was the quintessential product of a political-military marriage between two great families. The Ji family led the Federation’s eight major legions, second only to the Federation Marshal in military power. His father was a Federation General, while his mother came from the powerful political House of Ye. The union of a powerful Omega and an even more powerful Alpha meant he had no real childhood. His parents had even engaged in a protracted battle over whether his surname should be Ye or Ji. In the end, his father had won. Years ago, when his mother had forcibly sent him to Ben’en Military Academy, only to bring him back to the Ji family when he was on the brink of death, she had finally compromised in the face of his father’s fury. Only then did he receive a name with the Ji surname: Ji Yeran. According to the Ji family tradition, the names of the next generation’s heads had to follow a sequence containing the "fire" radical. Perhaps that was the real reason Ji Wai had always hated him and eventually moved against him. From the moment Ji Wai first heard that his cousin—the Alpha boy who loved flaunting his gradient green hair—had been officially named "Ji Yeran," the hatred in his heart could no longer be suppressed. *A genius youth? Exceptional talent? A top-tier Alpha?* Ji Wai had sneered, thinking those were just empty titles the family gave out of respect for Ji Yeran’s mother, the Chairperson of the Federation House of Representatives. Lost in a vortex of jealousy, Ji Wai had no idea how the permanent scars on Ji Yeran’s back had been made. Whether it was Ji Yeran’s Omega father or his Alpha mother, those two incredibly powerful, unyielding people who had spent their lives at odds, they agreed on only one thing: A lion cub must be thrown into a pack of beasts. Only by killing his way out could he become a king. *** The next morning, when Feng Zhixi woke from his deep sleep, he blearily opened his eyes to see Ji Yeran’s face inches from his own. "?" Feng Zhixi blinked, his groggy brain unable to process the situation. Before he could figure out what had happened last night, the scent of green plums from Ji Yeran’s body drifted out again. It was sour enough to make his teeth ache. The tart scent jolted him fully awake. Feng Zhixi was confused; he sniffed tentatively, wondering why this pheromone smelled sour sometimes but tasted sweet at others. Did this mutated green plum pheromone change over time? His curiosity piqued, Feng Zhixi leaned in closer to the sleeping Alpha to investigate further. Just then, sensing something unusual, Ji Yeran snapped his eyes open. The Alpha was awake. ***