Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 125 | A Sanctuary of Greed | Novela.app

In that moment, Evenheiler’s mind raced. He thought of the past and the future, of the people he had seen back at the Resistance base—those who labored for a future they anticipated with contented joy, those who, despite being unable to connect to the Star Net, still received a proper education and found more opportunities for upward mobility... people who knew that if they put in the effort, they would surely see a return. Because of their existence, he did not believe his current path was a mistake. But it was also because of them that he knew all the tolerance and favor the "Sun" now bestowed upon him would one day be withdrawn due to his own ingratitude and stubbornness. Evenheiler realized that he truly did have a knack for ruining everything, usually while appearing perfectly composed. And this time, the mistake had been set in stone nine years ago. But even so... "Perhaps you will be a symbol, or a new beginning, 'Sun Star,'" he said, continuing the conversation. "But I am not." "Why 'not'?" Lei Ting asked. "You’re still so young, Even." *Because I don’t have many years left to live,* Evenheiler thought. *I don’t have the luxury of time to keep trial-and-erroring.* Aloud, however, he simply said, "Because I am different from you." He still didn't want to reveal the state of his body. Lei Ting could understand Evenheiler’s thoughts, but it still made him sigh. "How are we different?" "Our paths are different, Lei Ting," Evenheiler said coldly. "I realized long ago that we live atop permanent inequality. The more glamorous my past life was, the more desperate those who naturally suffered for that glamour became. I don't demand absolute equality, but I want every one of them to get the resources they deserve... and soon. Faster." "Tell me, are our current resources and technology not enough to let everyone live a life of plenty? Or even if not plenty, surely basic stability, food, and higher security should be achievable!" "But when turmoil breaks out, the ones hurt first are never people like you or me," Lei Ting said softly. "I know what you want to say." Evenheiler closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "People have been implicated enough, Lei Ting. From the moment they were born. From the moment the Federation was born. From the moment humanity was born." Lei Ting still didn't directly refute him. He was used to not dismissing anyone's views outright, choosing instead to reflect on them. Thanks to his high capacity for information processing, he could always understand others, even if that understanding was rarely mutual. After a moment of thought, he replied, "That is why we should let them obtain all of that more steadily, Even." "But absolute stability is impossible." Evenheiler’s response carried a hard edge. "Moreover, people need a deep awareness of danger to effectively avoid it. Pure safety and stability have never existed in this world." "I have spent my life wandering at one crossroads after another, Lei Ting. You don't know me; no one can. You can think of me as a madman or whatever else... the world doesn't have much time left for humanity." And he didn't have much time left, either. "If you truly can't understand, then we should just..." *Go our separate ways, since we’ll end up apart anyway—* "Then we should communicate more." Lei Ting smiled. He reached out and pulled Evenheiler into a face-to-face embrace, announcing, "I want to hold you, Even." "..." Enveloped in that solid embrace, Evenheiler was stunned. "You..." "Please, let me hug you, 'Uncle Starflow,'" he heard the Sun Star say. "Don't worry. Having different opinions is a normal part of life. I won't do anything." ".................." After a long silence, Evenheiler sighed. He raised his arms and hugged the younger man back, feeling the sense of immense power from that vibrant, strong body encased in heavy armor, and the firm grip of the hands pressing against his lower back and shoulders. As the embrace tightened and the power within the golden light pulled him toward the center of that sun, Evenheiler lightly patted the other man’s back. His gauntlets struck the armor beneath the cloak with a dull thud. Amidst the embrace and comfort, they passed through a pitch-black, impossibly dense wall of inert alloy and landed in a new space. "I recall you weren't the type to mix business with pleasure." Evenheiler offered a helpless critique as he used his mental strength to observe the area. He found the place "bright and sunny," permeated everywhere by Lei Ting’s aura and power. Floating in the center was an unmanned city, surrounded by a fleet of unmanned ships roughly the size of a division. Countless heavy weapons drifted among them; the scale and predicted firepower of those weapons made Evenheiler’s skin crawl at a single glance. Some of them were even in the middle of being constructed. The process looked something like: *Good, you are now a mature piece of raw metal...* Familiar energy, a thick barrier, Lei Ting’s absolute control over the area, and the city below that looked somewhat... retro. When Evenheiler realized the city was actually a phantom, he understood: this was likely a projection of Lei Ting’s mental world within the Ethereal Plane. It was hidden inside his psionic sun, and hidden along with it were enough heavy weapons to arm an entire army from scratch, as well as vehicles superior to anything currently deployed by the Human Union. A massive secret. Evenheiler "stared" at an electromagnetic cannon with a barrel over a kilometer long. And yet, the master of this place had revealed it all to him so easily. This left him dazed for a good while. Then, he felt the side of his helmet being nudged by the edge of the other man's visor. "You yourself count as 'business,' Mr. Starflow," Lei Ting’s voice seemed to carry a hint of a smile. "As for the 'I like you' part... I must admit I’m using my position for personal gain, Even. Are you going to punish me on behalf of the Federation?" "..." In that low, magnetic whisper, Evenheiler took a deep breath. "You’re seducing me," he sneered. "A clumsy performance. Does the Federation Council know their 'Sun Star' behaves like this?" "Even if they knew, they would pretend they didn't." Lei Ting held Evenheiler as they landed on the hull of a hovering starship. "Open your helmet. There’s enough oxygen here." Evenheiler’s lips twitched, but he actually did let the helmet dissipate into the air. His bound golden hair immediately spilled out slightly, shimmering with a gorgeous brilliance under the golden sunlight. Lei Ting couldn't help but stroke his hair, watching with fascination as the fine, resilient golden strands flowed through the fingers of his black gauntlets. For a moment, he wanted to strip off his own armor—which was essentially a permanently manifested, fully integrated psionic combat suit—just to feel the texture of that golden hair with his bare fingers. Then, he cupped the back of Evenheiler’s neck. His thumb, covered by the rough texture of the glove, gently stroked the stiff muscles. As the other man’s body temperature rapidly rose and he began to tremble slightly, Lei Ting leaned in and gave a light, pecking kiss to the corner of a mouth that was habitually pressed thin or downturned. "I want to understand your ideals, and every reason behind them up to this point, Even." Lei Ting’s expression was gentle, a look he rarely showed to the outside world these days. "I know a person isn't as easy to understand as a book or a movie. It’s rare for a person’s life choices not to be driven by a core logic, yet the human heart changes in an instant. Sometimes even I don't know what I’ll be thinking in the next second... "So, I’ve decided to ask 'Evenheiler Kahn' himself. Ask him why he does what he does, ask him about the specific things he experienced before all this happened, and ask him what kind of future he is fighting for." "...Why?" Evenheiler was shaking. He asked with difficulty, breathing heavily as he gripped Lei Ting’s arm to keep himself steady. "You clearly don't have to go through all this trouble. You could make all these complications vanish and shape the paradise in your heart—a beautiful nation of your choosing. You could make it last for centuries, outlasting any dynasty in human history, and keep the person you want by your side forever... Don't you want to do that?" "I don't. I can't." Lei Ting shook his head. "At least for now, I don't think that would truly solve any problems. And stop saying things like that. Restricting someone else's future isn't my style. Besides, I’m greedy and picky; I only want the very best one in my eyes." "...Even if he won't stay by your side forever?" "Physical distance can never block the heart. He only needs to exist, and the beautiful parts of the world become even better than they were." Lei Ting seemed practically glued to Evenheiler. "Though I still prefer the way he looks in my arms..." "...Where did you learn all this?" Evenheiler felt Lei Ting’s hand slowly sliding down his back. Amidst the surging waves of heat, he felt caught between laughter and tears. "Is this the result of you going back to learn how to talk to a boyfriend?" "This part is self-taught," Lei Ting said. "If I’ve gone astray, I’ll have to ask Mr. Starflow to be generous with his corrections." The way he said it... such eloquent shamelessness. A strange sensation made Evenheiler’s current mood indescribable. He believed that few people could truly tolerate someone like him—a man of riddles, eccentric temperament, who had spent his life making wrong choices, and who had nothing much to like other than a face that wasn't even that "glamorous" anymore... Though he always appeared calm and unhurried, what did he have to be calm about? In front of certain people and certain things, he was actually panicked; he was just used to burying that panic, relying on his ability to maintain distance from others—voluntarily or otherwise—so that no one could see the lack of self-confidence built upon one failure after another. But this guy stuck to him... What "distance"? He was practically fused to him!! "Even, have you ever thought... that assuming everything appearing before you is part of your responsibility is also a form of arrogance?" The man clinging to Evenheiler buried his head comfortably by his neck, enjoying the feel of the waist that was growing softer in his arms. "..." Evenheiler’s teeth itched. He reached up to pull a wisp of starlight from his forehead while retorting, "Then you should be called the most arrogant one of all." "No." He heard Lei Ting flatly deny his statement for the first time. Then, the man radiating intense heat whispered in his ear, "That is the only thing you’ve gotten wrong, Even. I don't think I’m arrogant... I’m just greedy." ***