Outside the Planetary Archives, beyond the extended aerial corridors, floated a scattering of small snack stalls. Among these stalls, which were quintessential to M88, some owners sold local specialties, others offered small bento boxes, and, of course, some sold desserts.
Most of the dessert vendors were soft, cute women, but one shop stood out as an anomaly.
It was a dessert house shaped like a hot air balloon, and its owner was a burly Alpha male. Standing there, his aura of cold decisiveness clashed spectacularly with the pink, whimsical design of the shop behind him, making him an impossible sight to miss.
Feng Zhixi, who had just stepped onto the aerial corridor, was forced to stop in his tracks. He looked helplessly at the hulking man and the pretty balloon-shaped shop.
Others might not have realized it, but he saw it at a glance: the top of the balloon clearly bore the insignia of the Ministry of the Military. This man, whom he had seen earlier at the restaurant, was actually the military’s Reception Officer.
*Just how short-staffed is the Federation Military?* Feng Zhixi thought, feeling a profound urge to complain as he stared at the flamboyantly disguised officer.
What kind of twisted fate was this?
Finally realizing that the strange Alpha who had been staring at them in the restaurant was the exercise’s Reception Officer, Feng Zhixi decisively chose to ignore him.
However, Xu Yi, the Reception Officer who was currently guarding his dessert stall out of sheer boredom, was also keen enough to sense someone watching him. Following his instincts, his gaze sharpened as he scanned the area, immediately spotting the Omega who had just looked away.
*Hmm? Is that the little Omega from before?*
Recognizing Feng Zhixi, Xu Yi paused. He suddenly remembered something: earlier, this little couple had been having a minor spat over desserts, and the Omega had lost.
In an instant, he had an epiphany. This Omega wasn't looking at him—he was looking at the sweets in his shop!
“Exclusive secret-recipe desserts! Care for a taste?” Xu Yi, ten years their senior, said with a beaming smile. Though he looked like a rough brute on the outside, he actually had a very soft heart.
*Exclusive secret recipe?*
Those three words made Feng Zhixi stop his retreat. He glanced back at Xu Yi, then turned around without hesitation and walked toward the hot air balloon dessert house.
Seeing a customer approach, the Reception Officer completely forgot his actual duties and skillfully slipped into the role of a shopkeeper. He asked with a grin, “Which one would you like, guest? They’re all exclusive secret recipes~”
Xu Yi was quite confident in this regard. His family’s ancestral craft was dessert-making; in fact, he had used this very skill to woo his partner back home.
Scanning the wide variety of sweets on the holographic menu, Feng Zhixi hesitated. He wanted to eat everything. Should he get one of each? Or maybe two?
*Forget it, let’s go with three of each~*
Just as Feng Zhixi was making this happy decision, a calm, gentle voice came from behind him, shattering his beautiful fantasy.
“One signature dish.”
Ji Yeran walked over and nodded to the Reception Officer. He said politely, “Please give me one signature dish.”
Feng Zhixi: “...” *Shouldn’t this guy be busy looking for information? He’s neglecting his duties!*
Xu Yi looked at the Omega, then at the Alpha who had followed. Ultimately, he packed a single signature dessert—a specially prepared, "extra-large jumbo" portion—and watched as the poor kid was led away by his Alpha.
*What a tragic story,* Xu Yi lamented.
As he sighed, he went back to waiting listlessly for any potential military students to appear. Where were those little brats, anyway?
He had made his hint so obvious; were they all blind?
Meanwhile, the "blind" duo being criticized had already returned to the data retrieval room of the archives. On the way back, Ji Yeran had casually given the jumbo signature dessert to a nearby child—a real five-year-old child.
With his mother’s permission, the child took a huge bite of the dessert and gave the handsome, kind older brothers a sweet smile.
“...” Having lost his dessert in the blink of an eye, Feng Zhixi glared at Ji Yeran for taking such liberties.
Having disposed of the sweets, Ji Yeran felt compelled to remind the glaring Feng Zhixi: *Don't forget, someone is still a patient. A semi-crippled one. Today's sugar intake has already exceeded the limit.*
*It’s all that quack doctor’s fault!* Feng Zhixi fumed.
The sweets were gone, and seeing Ji Yeran’s firm stance, Feng Zhixi knew that arguing further would be futile. Giving Ji Yeran one last resentful look, he was reluctantly pulled away.
Putting the brief interlude aside, the two returned to their original goal: finding the key to the star map’s secret.
They found a wealth of information in the Planetary Archives. However, whether it was the star charts of the local system, planetary maps, or even energy distribution charts, none of them had any correlation with the star map in their possession.
*What’s going on?* The person who left the star map wouldn't have provided a clue without a clear purpose.
Or rather, the person who left the code must have been certain that as long as someone followed the star map to this planet, they would know the answer the moment they looked at it.
What kind of answer would make the map-maker believe that anyone arriving on this planet would guess it immediately? It had to be something visible at a single glance.
Something extremely obvious. What was it?
Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran exchanged a look. Suddenly, with a shared realization, they both turned to look out the window.
Their eyes met a dazzling, magnificent expanse of pink. Various shades of it—pink streets, pink beaches, a pink ocean...
Even if the person who obtained the star map didn't land on M88 and only looked down from the vacuum of space, their first impression of this planet would be an eyeful of pink.
*This* was what the map-maker believed everyone would see clearly upon arrival.
The code to unlock the star map was the unique marine life of Planet M88. According to the records in the Planetary Archives, the history of this species was almost as long as the planet itself.
It could be said that they *were* a part of M88.
The two exchanged another look and input the genetic code of this special marine creature into the star map. In an instant, a line of small text appeared above the holographic map, pointing toward... a Biological Tide?
*A Biological Tide?*
Having skimmed the archive records, the two remembered that this was a natural habit of this unique marine life. It was an eternal phenomenon; no one knew the cause of its formation, only that this biological tidal reaction occurred once a year, at a fixed time and place, never changing.
And the star map was pointing exactly to this planet’s biological tidal reaction.
Seeing the next step indicated by the map, a suspicion rose simultaneously in both their hearts.
Did the person who drew this map merely utilize M88’s biological tide, or were they the *creator* of the tide itself?
Planet Kanta had its unique Golden Tree species, and Planet M88 had its unique biological tide. Was this all just a coincidence, or was someone playing a massive game of chess?
And who could use the vast, boundless interstellar space and unknown, unvisited systems as a chessboard to set up such a gargantuan game?
Feng Zhixi and the other became increasingly curious about the story behind the star map. Was the person who drew it really just trying to mark the existence of Xi Ore? Was it that simple?
It seemed they would only uncover the mystery once they reached the end.
Feng Zhixi instinctively looked at Ji Yeran and saw the same spark of interest in his eyes.
*Then let’s find the answer together~ Of course, the Xi Ore is the main point!* Feng Zhixi added silently in his heart.
Having finally found the key to the current stage of the star map, they checked the recorded intervals for M88’s biological tides. Based on the timing of the last one, they calculated that the next tide would occur in three months.
In other words, they had to stay on this "Honeymoon Planet" for at least three months?!
*Three months!*
Thinking of that utterly terrifying hotel suite, the two looked at each other and made a decision.
Thus, Xu Yi—the Reception Officer and owner of the floating dessert shop outside the archives—saw the little couple return just as he was starting to feel bored again.
“?” Seeing the couple walking straight toward him, the officer asked with a smile, “What other desserts would you like, guests?”
Then, he saw these two youngsters pull out two thin cards. That familiar design was unmistakably the invitation cards for the joint military exercise.
Almost in unison, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran said, “Officer, military students reporting for duty.”
“???!” The Reception Officer was stunned.
*Did these little brats recognize me ages ago? Were they just messing with me?!*
Setting aside the officer’s current shock and indignation, at the first reception point—M88’s most famous romantic beach—three students who had just arrived were looking at each other in dismay.
“I-I’m sorry, I guessed wrong.” Hill, the petite, blue-eyed Omega, lowered his head in shame, his eyes turning slightly red.
He had analyzed this location, but when the three of them arrived, they found nothing.
“It’s okay. You did well to analyze that the officer would use landmark buildings and famous attractions,” Benjamin comforted him.
Meanwhile, Ji Wei, the handsome and tall young student, scanned the surroundings. When he saw the aerial shops dancing in the sky and the unique Planetary Archives in the distance, a flash of inspiration struck him.
“I know where to find the Reception Officer!” Ji Wei declared confidently. “He’s at the Planetary Archives!”
Hearing Ji Wei’s words, Hill and Benjamin’s eyes lit up, finding his logic sound.
However, what they didn't know was that after handing the two official entry codes to Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran, the Reception Officer had already packed his bags and was preparing to move.
Where should he go next?
Standing on his aerial vehicle, which was disguised as a hot air balloon, Xu Yi looked down from his high vantage point. His gaze swept over the streets, the buildings, and the beaches, finally landing on the pink sea.
Beyond M88’s long coastline, on the romantic pink waters, countless sailboats and speedboats bobbed with the waves. It looked incredibly fun.
*Yep, that’s the one!*
Having made up his mind, the officer nodded, but then he began to fret over his shop full of desserts.
He hadn't expected the second reception point to be compromised so quickly. He hadn't finished selling these sweets yet—how should he handle them?
Just as he was worrying, the officer looked up and saw the two students who hadn't walked far yet. A sudden spark of inspiration hit him, and he called out to them.
“?” Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran turned around, only to see the burly but smiling officer ask if they wanted all the desserts in the shop for free.
“Yes!” The Omega’s eyes lit up as he nodded frantically.
“...” This was the headache-stricken Interstellar Warden. As expected, nothing good ever happened when he encountered that man.
Unaware that he was being disdained once again, the officer packed all the desserts into a large, temperature-controlled, floating gift box and happily handed it to Feng Zhixi.
*What a great guy~* This was Feng Zhixi’s final impression of the Reception Officer as he took the gift box.
Ji Yeran: “...” *Constant vigilance by day and night, yet the greatest threat came from within...*
***
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Starry Rebirth: The Warden and the Outlaw’s Interstellar Revenge | Chapter 37 | Tides and Treats | Novela.app | Novela.app
