“……”
Morgan lowered his head and took a deep breath. His arms, braced against the table and chair, exerted such sudden force that the veins on the backs of his hands bulged.
After a long moment, he spoke, his voice raspy. “Those willing to accompany Technical Director Tan He for the repairs, raise your hands.”
He didn’t have much time to waste. Four hundred and twenty hours might seem like a lot, but the induction field launch system wasn't simply mounted on a single vessel; it was spread across an entire fleet array. Furthermore, the core starship they were currently aboard measured forty-two kilometers from bow to stern, to say nothing of the labyrinthine corridors within.
On this ship alone, it would take the maintenance crew two to three hours just to travel from their starting point to the launch system at the fore.
As soon as he finished speaking, nearly thirty people in the small briefing room stood up in unison.
From Tita, a fellow cyborg like Tan He, to Ani, the head of logistics—excluding the children who were too young and Morgan himself, who forced himself to remain seated—twenty-three of the twenty-five core members of the Resistance were staring at him in silence.
“Not that many, not that many...” Tan He was visibly startled. “Boss, just pick two to come with me. A triangle is the most stable structure, after all!”
“...” Morgan raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
He stood up as well, his gaze sweeping over everyone before locking onto one of the people closest to him.
It was Ani, his logistics director and his lover. At this moment, she was looking at him with unwavering resolve.
“Yun, and... Ani. You two will assist Tan He. Each of you will lead a ten-person squad to spearhead the repairs,” he said. The former was a veteran A-rank esper of the Resistance; the latter, while not a combatant, possessed highly practical all-around logistics and healing abilities. “Good luck.”
Upon hearing this, it was Tan He’s turn to be stunned. “Wait... Boss, you’re really willing to let Ani go too?”
“If the jump fails, no amount of healing will matter.” Morgan shook his head. He didn't meet Ani’s eyes again, instead stroking toward the exit of the briefing room. “Once you’ve formed your squads, coordinate with your captains. Watch out for external meteorite threats. Tita, come with me to the plantation. I’ll observe the health of the flora and fauna; you check the automated maintenance systems.”
“Understood,” Tita said, standing up and quickly following him.
***
To be fair, Lei Ting hadn't lied or hidden anything in the last thing he said to Evenheiler.
He truly hadn't slept in three months.
Thanks to his extraordinary mental strength—an ability to pull all-nighters that would make 21st-century youths go bald with envy—he had stayed awake for a literal "long night" that spanned months. During this time, even when he was "resting," he was using specific mediums to remotely manipulate various things, such as the ships and even fleets lurking within the Federation’s space.
He had even retrofitted them with complete anti-military surveillance systems, adjusting the refractive index of their outer hulls so that they would blend into the depths of the cosmic environment under both starlight and scanning systems.
At this moment, Lei Ting leaned against the bedroom window, watching Evenheiler stand by the bed with a stiff expression.
Simultaneously, eight hundred and sixty-six highly mobile small and medium-sized unmanned fleets were hidden in the darkness across the entire Federation territory. They had already locked onto five hundred and ten major administrative capital planets in various inner sectors, as well as one hundred and forty-two hub space stations that served as critical nodes in the transportation network.
Under Lei Ting’s control, they were using internal systems—completely devoid of network interfaces—to perform target screening.
In this process, Lei Ting’s brain, belonging to a high-tier esper, was operating at full capacity, filtering an incalculable volume of detection data every second. If this data were to be processed by ordinary human labor, even a preliminary screening would take a ten-thousand-person inspection team, aided by optical computers, over two years of work.
But for Lei Ting, he was performing terrifyingly complex screenings and calculations at all times, keeping the data perfectly organized... and, in passing, he had locked onto a fleet flying in from a theoretically desolate sector.
Although during the process of "fleet detection – Lei Ting receiving remote info – Lei Ting personally verifying with the AI Tianhe," that fleet even possessed a Federation commercial transit registration code, Lei Ting only needed a few extra glances to see its true face.
The Resistance.
*It seems they’re preparing to intervene in the conflict,* Lei Ting thought, casually delaying the speed of their march.
He wondered where Solo Morgan got the confidence to fight the Federation—and to fight him—with only a hundred thousand personnel and a few A-rank espers.
However... these people were talents, and they were also humans, his compatriots.
He would keep them contained for a few days first; the specific way to handle them could be decided later.
“...Lei Ting.” While Lei Ting was thinking, Evenheiler stood by the bed with his head lowered, asking in a raspy voice, “What exactly do you take me for?”
“...What?”
For a brief moment, Lei Ting’s mental processing power was spread too thin. Hearing the question, he looked up subconsciously, his face showing a hint of blankness. For a split second, he looked like the bright-smiling youth from years ago.
But it lasted only a moment. In a heartbeat that Evenheiler could never have detected, he resumed that smile that made the other man’s heart tremble.
“—You are my lover, Even,” he said.
His tone was gentle and calm, carrying a bone-deep solemnity. If the Evenheiler of three days ago had heard this, he would have believed it without question. But now, having heard Lei Ting use that same tone to say those previous words, he no longer dared to be so certain.
“In the dictionary of His Excellency ‘Solaris,’ does ‘lover’ mean a captive in a collar and... a bedmate to be taken at will?” Evenheiler let out a cold laugh. He didn't even want to look at Lei Ting anymore. “Then I can only say, I blame myself for being blind in the past.”
“……”
Hearing this, Lei Ting’s expression remained calm and gentle, but his eyes suddenly cast downward.
However, he quickly looked up again, wearing that impeccable yet terrifying smile. “You see, Even, you are still being controlled by your emotions.”
“Controlled?” Evenheiler seemed thoroughly incensed. He whirled around, glaring death at that blindfold. “Get this straight—the one trying to control me is you! My Lord Solaris!”
“Mm-hmm, and so?” Lei Ting spread his hands nonchalantly. “How do you plan to resist me? Resist a ‘Double S-rank’ madman? Evenheiler Kang, why don't you share some of your life experience with a young man like me?”
As he spoke, he gave a casual wave of his hand, closing the doors and windows, drawing the curtains, and disconnecting all the indoor monitors from the network.
Evenheiler seemed even more enraged by this. This time, he did not back down.
“I once argued with others for your sake, about whether you were a madman, and whether you would become ‘that kind’ of madman...” The handsome blonde man strode up to Lei Ting, his voice a low growl. “Back then, I insisted you weren't, that you wouldn't... But now? What are you doing? What have you turned yourself into?!”
“Exactly what I am now,” Lei Ting said.
“Is that so? ‘What you are now’?” Evenheiler’s eyes erupted with a brilliant light. He suddenly lunged into Lei Ting’s personal space. “Then let me see what you are now!!”
In that instant, the hand that could scatter stardust moved like lightning, grabbing the blindfold that covered that handsome face!
...
For an S-rank esper to act this way toward a Double S-rank was undoubtedly an attack. Faced with an attack, Lei Ting had many choices.
But unfortunately, no matter how many choices there were, he had no time to think. Without even pausing to eliminate options, he reacted on pure instinct.
As the blindfold’s structural fasteners were severed by stardust-like micro-blades and the main body was stripped away by that hand, he squeezed his eyes shut and jerked back, turning his head away.
His dark, straight brows furrowed; his equally dark lashes quivered slightly.
The tall young man held a posture that severely tested his core strength, his smooth black hair sliding off his shoulders and arms. Half his body was nearly tilted over the windowsill.
“………………”
Silence filled the room.
After a long while, Evenheiler—who also hadn't expected such a violent reaction—held the blindfold. The metallic structure, having lost its stability, crumbled and shattered, slipping from his hand.
He stared blankly at Lei Ting’s face, and at those tightly shut eyes.
He suddenly let out a laugh, one filled with bitterness and a desolate realization.
“There are many things that cannot be said, aren't there?” he asked softly.
“...”
Cold sweat slid down the back of Lei Ting’s neck, but his face remained calm and composed as he sat up straight and turned back.
Golden light shone as metal manifested out of thin air, being shaped with precision and efficiency into a new blindfold structure. This time, he didn't even use a light-permeable design; he intended to mold a solid metal blindfold directly over his eyes.
But he failed.
Or rather, he aborted the action.
Because Evenheiler’s hand reached out to touch his face, covering his eyes.
*Ah,* he thought.
*Slightly calloused, a bit cool—such a familiar touch.*
So familiar that he knew better than anyone that if he opened his eyes, he would see a blue-gold sea beneath the sunlight...
“Let’s... talk.” Evenheiler’s anger had completely vanished. As a high-tier esper with a damaged ‘Heavenly Eye,’ though he was overly emotional, he was actually better at controlling his feelings than anyone.
“No.” Lei Ting pulled away from Evenheiler’s hand and stood up. “There is nothing to talk about,” he refused in a cold, hard tone.
But Evenheiler remained blocked in front of him, leaving him nowhere to go unless he chose to forcibly push the man aside. “I know I hurt you once... but Lei Ting, if you have a problem, perhaps I can help you.”
“There is no problem.”
Lei Ting’s voice carried a low, raspy indifference that didn't sound natural on him. He casually brushed Evenheiler aside. The force wasn't great, but it was enough to make the other man’s heart plummet.
Then, a golden light flashed on his body as he prepared to leave—
“If there is no problem, if you truly are what you say you are...” He heard Evenheiler pose that terrifying question behind his back: “Then why won't you open your eyes and look at me? Why won't you let my mind and spirit be destroyed in your glorious gaze... ‘my lover’?”
***
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