Many years later, most who witnessed that moment would still occasionally recall the sight of the "Solar Star" returning from his long journey and stepping once more onto the flagship of the First Legion.
His faceplate was cracked, his eyes half-closed. Beneath a golden crown, his ink-black hair drifted in the air; below that hair, a dark cloak fluttered. His deep-black armor, now marred by mottled scars of unknown origin, had been plated with the golden decorations reserved only for a Legion Commander.
As the current Legion Commander, he naturally had the right to do so.
The last non-commander to bear such markings on his combat suit had been codenamed "Starflow." Under the banner of his immense popularity and status as a rising star, that man had been all but guaranteed a future as a Legion Commander.
But now, the true "future" had arrived.
Clearly, it did not belong to "Starflow"—not to a traitor, a dead man.
It belonged to the "Solar Star."
The "Solar Star" who had personally executed the traitor.
At that moment, the Solar Star unfurled a flattened star map of the Human Union before his staff, then transformed it into a three-dimensional projection that filled the entire command deck.
In the tense, solemn silence, dense clusters of red targets bathed the command room in a crimson glow, so bright that even the stars were obscured.
Amidst this scarlet light, the Solar Star opened his eyes. Following instinct, the crowd bowed their heads one after another.
"Notify the Council. These," they heard him say. "Draft a procedural plan. We will settle these accounts slowly."
………………
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If a person's thoughts transcend existing notions of distinction...
Then to that person, life and death, status, and the differences between individuals—all of it becomes nothing more than a series of dreams.
Dreams born of the common man’s groundless anxieties.
...
In an elegantly decorated high-rise apartment, someone was playing a video game.
Golden sunlight spilled into the room through the gaps in the sliding doors and curtains. It was warm and gentle, evoking a strange sentiment in the heart—bringing to mind the phrase "gilded years," or creating the illusion of smelling the scent of spring. It left one feeling a tingly, aching numbness, as if something were about to sprout, or perhaps, as if something were withering away.
In the shadows where the sunlight could not reach, a retro-style radio played music in a style that had been popular many times over the millennia.
*【When I am far from you...】*
In the transition between light and shadow, a tall, slender blonde man wore a pair of auxiliary gloves. He gripped the controllers, thoroughly enjoying himself in a racing game.
*【I know that life has ended.】*
He won, easily so, but he showed no pride. He merely accepted a new invitation with composure and began the next round.
*【Charred black creeps upon your face, bringing me unbearable pain...】*
Just as he was nearing victory...
*Click.*
A hand reached out from the side and turned off the black radio.
"Hey!" The gamer let out a dissatisfied sound. He paused the game and leaned back into the cushions, which were being automatically reshaped by a micro-robot. His brilliant blonde hair swayed like sunlight and molten gold. "Why’d you turn off my music!"
"I wanted you to hear what I’m saying," the newcomer replied.
It was a tall, handsome young man dressed in clean, neat casual clothes. He carried the chill of a biting wind, as if he had just stepped in from outside.
He held a bag filled with many items, which made a dull thud when he set it on the table.
"Please, when are you going to stop listening to this song?" The young man sighed, pulling a small bag of fruit from the larger bag and heading into the open kitchen to wash them. "You’ve looped this song over five hundred times. Is it really that good?"
"It’s not that great... I’ve just gotten used to it," the gamer said.
He tossed the auxiliary controllers onto the carpet, scrambled up, and hurried to the young man’s side. "What did you buy? Let me see—" He quickly rummaged through the bag. "Things I like to eat, things I like to drink, things I like to play with, things I like to use. What’s this?"
"This is something Lei Li likes to eat." The young man put an arm around him, leaning down to rest his head on the other's shoulder.
"Lei Li?" The blonde man, who was secretly trying to turn the radio back on, froze. He instinctively turned to look at him. "Who is Lei Li?"
But in the next second, his eyes were covered. The embrace surrounding him seemed to turn rigid, even as the wind-like chill began to dissipate...
A soft warmth arose spontaneously, yet within that warmth lurked a terrifying, inhuman danger.
The star-net player, shaped like a radio, emitted a surreal, fuzzy static.
*【Cannot grasp the passing time,】*
*【When the mountains collapse, I cannot remain immovable.】*
The wind blew, the singer sang. The tall youth held him tightly with his head bowed, silent, his powerful arms as constricting as iron bands.
*【Before the haze consumes us,】*
*【Pull the trigger, and hope will be found.】*
The curtains fluttered slightly as hallucinatory shadows gathered and dispersed.
Golden sunlight spread quietly, filling the room until it felt almost physical.
*【The sky is falling, can I still embrace you?】*
*【The veins of stars weave my inescapable death sentence.】*
"..." Countless fragments of memory, both true and false, surged from the depths of his mind. The blonde man stood in a daze, and after a moment, he slowly lowered his eyes.
*【I see it, I know...】*
He no longer leaned back. Instead, he stood up straight as tears welled in his eyes and slid down his cheeks.
The man embracing him kept his head lowered... from the corner of his eye, he could see that while his own blonde hair had regained its original brilliance, the waterfall of black hair hanging beside him was faintly streaked with silver.
He knew it wasn't for him—or rather, not just for him.
*【Tonight...】*
"...You did it anyway." In that desperate helplessness, Evenheiler whispered, "How many times have we repeated this? And you... as the Guardian of the Federation, killing your own people, executing the extinction of irredeemable planets...
"...How many times have you done such things?"
*【Cannot deny it.】*
"..."
Lei Ting did not answer, maintaining his long silence.
Until night fell, he transformed into an illusory golden light and silently dissipated.
*【...Cannot deny it, I burned a person to death.】*
The radio was still running; the singer was still singing.
Evenheiler knew that even if he tore it apart, Lei Ting’s terrifyingly vast reservoir of knowledge would ensure he saw nothing unusual within it.
Because this was the world of the "Solar Star"—that empty city.
He was actually already dead; even his "Mentis" was on the verge of shattering.
It was just that this person... no, this *existence*, following that terrifying plan whose full scope no one could glimpse, had used power beyond human comprehension to forcibly keep him in this seemingly whole state.
Evenheiler gave a bitter laugh.
"Yes..." he murmured to himself. "How can a game with 'other players' involved be stopped just because one wants to?"
Now, he couldn't say he could face Lei Ting with complete composure; everyone knew that was a lie.
But he could never rid himself of this young man either, because his current existence relied entirely on that power.
Evenheiler’s gaze was vacant as he slightly closed his eyes.
"Lei Li," and "Lei Ling"—those were the names he had chosen for that embryo. If it could change from an "it" to a "he" or a "she," one of those two names might have come in handy.
Until reaching adulthood, that child would never have known what a powerful, terrifying, and awe-inspiring esper their father was.
That had been Evenheiler’s original vision.
But now, he had become like this, in a long-term state of mental trance, enchanted by the various warm illusions Lei Ting had built for him...
He didn't know how many more layers of delusion awaited him, but he knew that Lei Ting had obtained almost all of his memories.
How terrifying—an inhuman powerhouse, an "Immovable" sun... he knew everything about you, including the secrets you kept hidden.
The darkest, the deepest, or the most bizarre fantasies—about himself, about the future, about a dream life... and about Lei Ting.
All of this, and everything more superficial, was no longer unknown to Lei Ting.
The horror of it lay in the fact that Lei Ting was not just "Lei Ting"; he was also the "Solar Star," and he was Evenheiler’s boyfriend.
Oh, well—the even more terrifying part was that after knowing almost everything, his boyfriend showed no trace of negative emotion.
He simply... satisfied him.
With beautiful illusions, or with himself.
Recalling the layers of dreams from an unknown amount of time, Evenheiler covered his face with one hand, feeling a bit of a breakdown as he slowly curled into his auto-deforming beanbag chair.
He knew he couldn't indulge in such times. Even if he was currently helpless, he had to be constantly prepared to escape this control that permeated the entire world.
Of course, before that, as a true ghost—an external consciousness residing within the mind of a "Double S"—he could only do his best to accumulate any available strength and wait for an opportunity that might never come.
Evenheiler clasped his hands and stared quietly at the ceiling.
After a long while, he suddenly said, "I want to see the news."
...
In the Human Union Council, Lei Ting, seated at the head, remained silent for a moment before continuing his work.
...
"It’s no use..." Evenheiler sighed. "Are you going to keep me imprisoned like this? Lei Ting?"
No one answered.
In the outside world, Lei Ting glanced at the data regarding the Human Union military's recent resource and personnel losses. He said, "Report on the movements near the Ring World. Also, how have the major civilizations reacted to our recent actions?"
The date was currently October 15, 4007 AD. The Human Union had fully launched research into endogenous genetics and stable hyperspace technology, and had begun localized counterattacks against foreign enemies, looking for all the world as if they intended to reclaim their dignity before the end of the year.
Of course, the former was true, while the latter was merely a feint—this war was only the beginning, and even this beginning could not be finished in the short term.
However, due to previous technical accumulation and recruitment, the Human Union had quickly produced over a dozen feasible hyperspace communication schemes, which were currently being prepared for testing in rotation.
As for the deep analysis of genetics, Lei Ting knew this was a long-term project. He was not an expert in bioengineering, so he had delegated the matter entirely to the Federation's own Medical Research Institute.
The institute had been conducting such research and recording data for years; their accumulated case files were hundreds of times more numerous than those of the newly built Hyperspace Technology Research Institute next door. Now that it was officially being developed as a major project, they drew in group after group of researchers who had made significant achievements in the field of genetics—
There was no helping it; although the reputation of the "Solar Star" who initiated the research was somewhat frightening, the funding and authority he allocated were simply too enticing...
Lei Ting himself focused his energy on handling a large number of military issues. He had killed too many people, many of whom appeared to be "innocent" with no outward signs of abnormality.
This meant the blood on his hands could no longer be washed clean, and it made him increasingly silent. He had never repaired the scars on his armor—neither those left by "Starflow" nor those received from counterattacks during his acts of destruction...
At the same time, he was sorting through the external "Mentis" gathered within his energy, neutralizing the bone-deep pollution on their behalf. He worked, thought, monitored everything, maintained his secret military production lines, and stabilized Evenheiler’s spiritual body.
He grew more silent, and fine strands of silver began to appear in the hair at his temples.
Even though he was currently... not yet thirty years old.
Under the lights, the tall man was silent. The upgraded jaw armor cast a dull reflection on his cheeks, and his visor had been replaced once again with the original semi-transparent state that allowed direct eye contact.
Nowadays, he no longer avoided looking people in the eye; instead, it was the others who constantly had to dodge his gaze.
Everyone knew that if Lei Ting could gain the people's understanding, if the "Solar Star" and the general public were as one, then this era would surely belong to him and all of humanity.
But what after that? Whether in a hundred years or a thousand, whether through death or a journey to distant lands, the day of his departure would surely come.
At that time, all the contradictions hidden by harmony and power would resurface. When that time came, if the humans who had lost this combat "cheat code" could not find the ability to fight independently, how many days would they have left to live?
Of course, Lei Ting never underestimated humanity—or rather, he never underestimated any orderly race.
Life always possesses infinite potential, especially the kind that coexists with wisdom.
It was just that upheaval was a necessary experience.
He lowered his eyes. His powerful fingers paused in mid-air for a moment before he clicked "Confirm" and used both a text and mental signature to approve the application for *Selection of Test Sites for the Hyperspace Communication Project*.
The next application was for *Saturated Firepower Annihilation of Strategic Target 'Dragon-Guard IV' in Sector 9092*.
Sector 9092 had once been one of the Human Union's most prosperous outer sectors. Now, of course, it was a bona-fide enemy-occupied zone...
And the peculiar name "Dragon-Guard IV" belonged to its core hub star system.
If it were plowed over by the highest-level firepower currently held by the Human Union, that place would likely be uninhabitable for four hundred years.
Lei Ting clicked "Confirm" and signed. Then, filtering through his mind the list of planets where pollution was about to reach critical levels, he stood up silently and vanished from the Council chamber.
The day of cataclysm was approaching. The Orion Human Union did not have the manpower or the time to slowly grind it out with those things that could spawn an army just by consuming matter.
Destruction was a necessary means.
Things had reached a point where no one could afford to be soft-hearted.
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
:--- | :--- | :---
阳星 | Solar Star | Lei Ting's codename/title.
星流 | Starflow | The codename of the traitor (Evenheiler's former identity).
人联 | Human Union | Short for the Human Federation/Union (人类联合).
灵思 | Mentis | Spiritual/psychic essence or consciousness.
龙卫四 | Dragon-Guard IV | A strategic star system hub.
雷砺 | Lei Li | A name Evenheiler chose for the embryo.
雷凌 | Lei Ling | Another name Evenheiler chose for the embryo.
不动 | Immovable | Lei Ting's mental state/technique.
