Chapter 143: The Place the Heart Desires, A Place Without a Burial
The day came for everyone to head to the front lines.
Du Feng would remain at the Imperial Capital’s General Command to deploy the resistance against the insect tide.
On the way, Shen Zhuo and Chu Baixian checked the operational status of Oracle and Impermanence inside the transport plane.
“This is the real Oracle.”
Every line of the platinum-colored mech was extremely beautiful, with perfect proportions; it truly looked like a descending deity.
Chu Baixian hooked his arm around Shen Zhuo’s shoulder with a grin, patting his chest proudly:
“I account for sixty percent of Oracle‘s construction and design.”
Shen Zhuo’s eyes widened. “That’s amazing.”
He recalled that the first time he met Chu Baixian, besides being the Deputy Commander of the Military, the man had another title in his introduction.
Head of the Maintenance Department.
“Go back to your room and rest. I’ll do a final check.”
Shen Zhuo nodded and turned to leave the mech hangar bay.
Chu Baixian’s smile lingered on his lips for two seconds.
He sat in Oracle‘s cockpit and pulled up a screen with rapidly scrolling data values.
Then, finding a specific spot, he typed the first character.
.
The journey to the Bug Mother was very smooth. The moment Shen Zhuo got off the transport plane and boarded the mech, he realized just how good a true Super S-class mech felt to use.
It was like being physically present on the battlefield; the mech’s arm was his arm, the mech’s movement was his movement.
During the journey before the signal cut out, Chu Baixian chatted with Shen Zhuo about information regarding the Bug Mother.
The Bug Mother had a massive body, unique skin texture, and strong attack power, but as long as it wasn’t touched, it wouldn’t attack proactively.
Previously, the Bug Mother had sunk into the deep sea with no natural predators. The eggs it produced daily were enough to trigger a small insect tide.
So annihilating the Bug Mother was the most direct way to make the Zerg disappear completely.
They had to succeed this time.
Shen Zhuo nodded. He had seen the plan.
As long as they launched the new nuclear bomb at the specific location, they would have enough time to evacuate.
But just when only one thousand meters remained before the signal vanished, Oracle‘s display screen suddenly dimmed, then the entire mech went completely dark as if it had run out of energy.
Shen Zhuo tried debugging for a while to no avail. He grabbed the communicator to notify Chu Baixian: “Brother Baixian, something’s wrong with Oracle.”
Chu Baixian responded immediately: “Okay, I’m coming over right away.”
Within five minutes, Shen Zhuo heard a knock outside the cockpit and immediately turned to press the button to open the door.
Chu Baixian poked his head in to look around, then pointed in a certain direction.
“Little Zhuo, look.”
Shen Zhuo bent down to get closer to the direction Chu Baixian was pointing.
Immediately, he felt a sudden pain in his neck.
“?!”
Shen Zhuo turned his head in disbelief. Before his vision plunged into darkness, he saw Chu Baixian’s hands reaching toward him.
“Wh…”
Before he could finish speaking, Chu Baixian caught the falling boy with both hands.
“Rest assured, it won’t hurt the baby. Have a good sleep.”
Chu Baixian looked at the boy sleeping in the crook of his arm and smiled casually. “I’m tired of being a commander who cowers in fear.”
“Let me play the final hero for once.”
A few days ago, the military delivered a document to Du Feng’s desk.
Nuclear Weapon Plan.
Participants: Shen Zhuo and Chu Baixian. Executor: Chu Baixian.
The report clearly stated:
New Nuclear Weapon Mech Assembly Issue—The new nuclear bomb cannot be detached from the mech.
Furthermore, this situation exists in both Oracle and Impermanence-class Super S mechs. It is a mech assembly issue; repairs will take about two months.
Of course, the military had weapons like cruise missiles, but due to magnetic field signals and other issues, navigation would spiral completely out of control before reaching the Bug Mother.
The explosion radius and intensity of the specially-made new nuclear weapon were prepared specifically for the Bug Mother.
This was to avoid excessive damage to the battlefield so they could resist the insect tide one month later.
If the explosion deviated, it would be equivalent to being useless.
But the Bug Mother annihilation plan was imminent and had to be resolved within half a month.
In other words, to implement the nuclear weapon plan, an entire mech had to be sacrificed.
And the operator had to press the mech’s self-destruct button inside the cockpit to trigger the new nuclear weapon’s explosion.
The bottom of the plan required the signatures of both the Military Commander-in-Chief and Du Feng to pass.
In the Commander-in-Chief column, Chu Baixian had already signed his name.
Du Feng rejected the decision on the spot, throwing the plan onto the floor in a frown of fury.
Only for it to be picked up by Chu Baixian, who strolled in humming a little tune.
“Such a big temper, aren’t you afraid Little Zhuo won’t like you anymore?”
Chu Baixian picked up the plan, patted it off, put it back on Du Feng’s desk, and grinned:
“My plan isn’t bad, right? This is the proposal I’m most satisfied with. Low cost, extremely high return.”
Du Feng stared at him, his voice heavy: “Rejected.”
Chu Baixian touched his chin. His hair could be tied up now.
Although it was short and could only form a small tuft, it looked quite playful.
“Why?”
Du Feng ignored him and rummaged through several drawers beside the desk.
Finally, he took out a form from the bottom drawer. Its texture was different from ordinary white paper, and it already had several lines of text.
“Your approved retirement form. Take this, and you can go on vacation right now. I will replan regarding the Bug Mother.”
Du Feng spoke very fast for once, signing and stamping the retirement form.
Chu Baixian stepped forward, picking up the thin slip of paper with bright eyes, looking curious and happy.
Du Feng watched him, implying he should hurry up and resign from his post, leave the military, and stay away from the mission:
“Salary will be paid as usual, you can rest well—”
But the Alpha’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
Chu Baixian stared at the paper for a moment, pinched the seam of the retirement form with two fingers, and slowly tore the paper apart.
The crisp, prolonged sound rang out again and again until the retirement form turned into countless small pieces.
“You…” Du Feng was stunned.
“Du Feng,” Chu Baixian smiled at him, revealing two rows of white teeth. “I’ve decided not to retire.”
Du Feng stared at him fixedly, as if he couldn’t understand his best friend in front of him: “Why?”
“Before, I wanted to retire to take care of Xihe. Now… there’s no need to retire anymore.”
Chu Baixian threw the scraps in his hand into the trash can.
Then he turned around, leaning both hands on the table, his expression solemn and cold, like a different person.
“This plan has the minimal loss and highest efficiency. Otherwise, no matter what other plans you have, the losses will definitely be greater than mine, and it might implicate countless soldiers.”
Du Feng found it hard to accept. “Such a sacrifice isn’t worth it.”
“There’s no sacrifice. If I go, the only one who dies will be me—oh, and a mech.”
Chu Baixian acted indifferent, as if life and death were no longer major issues in his eyes.
“But I can find other ways. There must be other ways!”
Up to now, as long as Du Feng stood there, there were no battles that guaranteed death.
In countless crises big and small, in countless dead-end situations.
Orders from Du Feng at the General Command allowed people to turn danger into safety time and again.
Du Feng was the stabilizer of the army’s morale.
As long as he was there, the soldiers could all go home.
For so many years, all soldiers believed this.
Including Du Feng himself.
“Give me a little time, I can…!”
But Chu Baixian interrupted him nonchalantly, changing the subject:
“Let me explain why I’m taking Little Zhuo.”
“In the military, his identity has always been your wife, or Ares’ S5 Omega. He hasn’t experienced a real mission. Some people in the military won’t accept him.”
Chu Baixian’s tone was calm, carrying a coolness like the autumn wind, yet one could feel a piercing chill.
With a faint smile, he looked at Du Feng:
“The situation on the Eastern Defense Line is too extreme. Only he can hold it. So for Little Zhuo to lead the troops during the Mega Insect Tide, he must establish prestige within the army.”
“Not as the Queen, not as an S5 Omega student from Ares, and certainly not as your wife—”
“But as Major Shen Zhuo.”
Chu Baixian’s gaze was earnest.
He was used to being flippant; it was rare to see such calm indifference to life and death.
It wasn’t relief.
Between his usually gentle brows hung an ice-like chill—it was a firm, resolute determination to die.
“Annihilating the Bug Mother this time can pave the way for Little Zhuo’s future.” Chu Baixian spoke with relaxed composure. “The Empire can survive without me, but it cannot survive without you two.”
Du Feng’s throat was sticky and hoarse, every word hurting as if stained with blood:
“But there are many other choices. I can still make more plans.”
Chu Baixian saw the fluctuation on Du Feng’s usually calm face but simply smiled.
Du Feng’s pale fingertips were clenched into his palms, trembling uncontrollably. Every word was suppressed from his throat:
“That is a dead end. Ten deaths, no survival.”
Chu Baixian maintained that light and cloudy expression. “I know.”
“You know, yet you still—”
“I know, that’s why I’m going.”
As his voice fell, Du Feng froze.
Sunlight fell through the glass window into Chu Baixian’s pupils, reflecting nothing.
Chu Baixian was indeed always smiling.
But he had never let go.
Du Feng looked at Chu Baixian for a long time, and finally understood something in his smiling eyes.
He sat back down.
Closed his eyes.
Apart from the ticking of the clock, only heavy breathing filled the room; every second felt like torment.
After a long time, like waking from a dream.
Du Feng opened his eyes.
“I understand.”
Chu Baixian straightened his collar. The sunlight fell on him, making the lotus brooch on his chest shine vividly with flowing light:
“Then, I am still the Commander-in-Chief. A Commander-in-Chief should do what a Commander-in-Chief ought to do.”
Du Feng looked at his back, the expression in his eyes obscure and painful.
Seeming to sense Du Feng’s emotions, Chu Baixian blinked and looked at the fine sunny day outside the door.
He didn’t look back. With one hand in his pocket, he raised the other and waved dashingly:
“Leaving now. Don’t miss me.”
Chu Baixian left the office leisurely. A few seconds later, Ji Weishen came in holding a stack of documents.
“Where is my brother going?” Ji Weishen turned his head curiously to look at Chu Baixian’s retreating figure.
Just as usual, relaxed and at ease, as if without any restraints or worries.
Chu Baixian was indeed about to achieve his wish.
“To the place his heart desires,”
Du Feng slowly closed the Top Secret file. Next to Chu Baixian’s name at the bottom, there was now Du Feng’s signature.
Du Feng’s fingers touched the edge of the Top Secret file as he gazed at the clear, glass-like blue sky outside the door:
“Or perhaps, a death without a burial.”
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