Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 241 | A Strained Reunion | Novela.app

After sitting down, Lei Ting reached out toward Kang Li for the second time. This time he said nothing, merely watching Kang Li with a silent, rigorous intensity. After a moment of stiffness, and under Morgan’s "given-up-on-life" gaze, Kang Li reached out and touched the fingertips of this powerful, mysterious transcendent. His movements were hesitant. In the next instant, Lei Ting flipped his hand, clamped down on Kang Li’s wrist, and with his index finger, precisely triggered an alarm embedded on the inside of the youth's arm. Instantly, a distress signal containing their coordinates broadcasted through the internal channel of the "Gaia" members. Kang Li’s gaze sharpened. He snapped out of his dazed state instantly, lunging into Lei Ting’s personal space and throwing a punch—radiant with golden light—directly at Lei Ting’s solar plexus! The lightning-fast strike left only a fleeting streak of pale gold in the air. Despite the distance being less than a meter, a thunderous crack of displaced air accompanied the blow! But Lei Ting’s eyes followed it perfectly. Then, the metallic soft-armor beneath his clothes receded, and the "Immovable" state he maintained on his skin’s surface dissipated simultaneously. He took the hit—a blow powerful enough to level a small hill—with nothing but raw physical strength. A faint golden spark flickered; under the brilliance of Kang Li’s own light, it looked like a brief rendering error on a cosmic server. *It actually hurts,* Lei Ting thought. *But it’s not enough.* If he didn't release his power to neutralize the aftershocks, the punch would have leveled half a city block at most... but landing on him, the internal damage it caused couldn't even outpace the basic regenerative factor his body maintained every second. Lei Ting casually flicked away a sharp red light thrown by Morgan from the side. That light shattered like a physical object, turning into sharp needles that swirled in the air, only to stop abruptly beside Lei Ting. In a single breath, Lei Ting had maneuvered around Kang Li so swiftly the youth couldn't tell if he was feinting or striking. He pinned Kang Li’s hands behind his back and easily slammed him onto the table, yet his other hand reached out to gently catch the young man’s fragile cheek. He looked up calmly at Morgan. Morgan pursed his lips, avoided those deep black eyes, and withdrew his energy. As for Kang Li, pinned to the table... The poor lad was utterly stunned. Even in defeat, he barely realized what had happened. He was over six feet tall, well-built, and one of Gaia’s most capable combatants! Yet in the hands of this man who called himself "Lei," the movements used to subdue him were as effortless as folding a piece of paper... He had been pinned to the table in less than three seconds, as if he were about to be handcuffed... ...This was an absolute humiliation!! Fury roared in Kang Li’s heart, briefly piercing through the fear Lei Ting inspired—a fear like standing face-to-face with a star in the infinite darkness. Without a word, he gritted his teeth, golden light erupting from his eyes as the pale hue finally deepened. He snapped a kick toward Lei Ting’s shin while his other leg hooked toward the back of the man's knee. His movements were finally fast enough to cause a momentary "frame drop" in Lei Ting’s vision as he tried to break the man's center of gravity. But no matter how fast he was, it was useless. The father who sired him was far faster; that man could slice planets like a surgeon, yet even he had never gained much ground against Lei Ting... Sitting in his seat, Morgan slowly looked away, covering his face with one hand. Before he could do anything else, a faint clicking sound came from his sleeve. He fell silent, extended his arm, and a pile of intact mechanical components poured out of his cuff. The alarm on his arm had been disassembled right under his nose. The technique was swift and clean—it could only have been the work of a master. Even though the metal content of the alarm’s components was less than five percent, Morgan could immediately identify the "master" responsible. He clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking that his eye for talent hadn't been bad back then when he’d wanted to recruit this guy as a technician... ...It was just that this particular "technician" was far too big of a player to be recruited. You can try to undermine a wall, but who can haul away the entire bearing wall of a building? Right now, the man serving as that bearing wall stood firm as a mountain, his powerful legs rooted like steel pillars... only a tiny speck of dust marred his trouser leg. Truly, only a speck. The starport was in space, and the detection of external pollutants was extremely strict; the place was generally spotless. Furthermore, anyone on a modern ship or station had to maintain near-absolute cleanliness, with AI-controlled systems cleaning everything, including clothing. Lei Ting paused, silently let go, and allowed Kang Li to stand up. The moment the youth regained his footing, he spun around and swung a blade at Lei Ting’s head. The golden blade of light completely abandoned defense, aiming straight for Lei Ting’s face! In the next second, Lei Ting lightly swatted Kang Li’s hand away. He said "lightly," but the impact nearly sent the youth flying. Fortunately, Lei Ting caught him and tossed him back into his seat. Dizzy and disoriented, Kang Li looked up blankly. A service drone descended from above, placing three drinks in front of Lei Ting. ...Three glasses of pale gold, iced fruit juice. Lei Ting distributed the juice, one for each person present. He even went as far as to slide a metal cup sleeve with a handle onto Kang Li’s glass. The sleeve was engraved with regular, elegant, and exquisite patterns, looking entirely out of place in this far-from-elegant shop. No one knew when it had appeared in his hand. Kang Li was stunned once again. By now, he realized that this man named Lei seemed to harbor no ill will toward him at all. Though what had just happened had infuriated him, he hadn't actually been harmed—and in this man’s eyes, that probably didn't even qualify as a scuffle. What was going on? Kang Li looked at Morgan in confusion, but the older man was leaning back in his seat with an expression that said, "I’m not here, don't look for me, just pretend I’m dead." So Kang Li looked back at the juice. He saw a glass of cold autumn sunlight, with a thin layer of white frost creeping up the transparent walls. He leaned back into his seat and took a sip. *Hmm... Orion specialty apples,* he thought. *That’s what this bastard Lei was drinking earlier, though these three don't have the little holographic umbrellas...* *...Wait, how can a place like this even have apples??* Adhering to the principle of "if you don't ask, I won't tell," Kang Li began picking at the tiny projector clipped to the rim of the glass. The small, delicate device clicked on, projecting a very retro slice of lemon onto the side of the glass. Kang Li: "..." Kang Li: "?" He fiddled with it a few more times and found it could only project a lemon. So, he leaned over, snatched Morgan’s glass, and clicked that one too. Now there were two glasses of apple juice with holographic lemons on the table. "...What kind of cursed combination is this?" He couldn't suppress the urge to snark. "Don't mind it," Lei Ting said. "This shop belongs to an interstellar megacorp. None of its executives are Orion, but they serve fresh-pressed old-fashioned fruit juice just to please one person." "You’re not going to say that person is you, are you?" Kang Li’s voice was sharp and prickly. "It is indeed me," Lei Ting replied. As he spoke, he observed the sneering Kang Li, a question revolving in his mind. *Twenty-two years old... is this boy really only at this level?* Aside from his combat will, his strength, agility, alertness, reaction speed, mental stability, transcendent level, and combat techniques... none of them met the standard. As for his learning ability, their contact had been too brief to tell... *Sigh.* If the current Lei Ting could no longer be defined as any biological race, then this child should be considered only "half-Orion." Because of this, he seemed somewhat underdeveloped. His current state was far too fragile—as fragile as almost all sentient life. For Lei Ting, he didn't even need a mental scan; he could grasp all the truth about this child through his knowledge of psychological and physiological markers. No—it would be more accurate to say Lei Ting *couldn't* use a mental scan, because it might kill him. But no one could be blamed for this, for the child himself was a massive miracle. Without the energy supply from his two fathers, he shouldn't have been able to grow or even survive. That so-called "Resistance," the current "Gaia"... ...They had truly put him in their debt. Lei Ting fell silent. Long ago, from the very act of Evanheiler deleting his own memories, Lei Ting had realized there was likely something suspicious about the operation to remove the embryo. But because the probability of an embryo surviving was so low—comparable to an enemy betting that "Solaris" would slip and fall into a black hole before slaughtering them—he had never placed it high on his priority list. Until he felt it: an aura connected to both himself and Evanheiler, entering a certain range. That was right. Because Evanheiler’s "Spirit Thought" was within him, most transcendent power links directed at Evanheiler were diverted straight to him. And that dual link had allowed him to immediately lock onto... his son. In his early twenties, with a personality like the young Evanheiler, and the looks to match. But with black hair. And, looking closely, there were those familiar auras of the Resistance nearby... In the "previous time," they had all died by his hand. Ha. This was the dining area of a general store—but did he even need to eat anymore? The last time he’d had a meal was roughly eighteen years ago, and the last time he’d taken a nutrient solution was fifteen years ago. Since then, the concept of "eating" had ceased to exist for him. He was so far beyond physiology and humanity, much like his decades of ceaseless wakefulness. He knew better than anyone that his human sensibility, even if he deactivated "Immovable," was likely all but gone. Ninety-nine percent of what remained was reserved for guilt, pain, and atonement. The tiny bit left was used to remember his love for Evanheiler and for life. And now... ...At a time when he could no longer change back into that reliable person of the past, his child—a miracle, transcending all logic and expectation—had returned to his side. And... Lei Ting scanned the surroundings, glancing at the few strange yet familiar figures hiding across the long street outside the window. As a first-time father, he had no experience to draw upon. He could only communicate in his accustomed manner: judging everything, governing everything, manipulating everything, always ready to fix a flaw or crush any obstacle in the path of his will. Thus, only now did he realize that, by the standards of an informal, equal exchange... he seemed to have made the atmosphere very stiff. Extremely stiff. So stiff that his child felt insulted and was staring at him with a sharp, fierce gaze while clutching the juice he’d ordered. So stiff that the people who had raised the boy were either giving up the ghost beside him or hesitating across the street. ***