Chapter 112: A Sudden Turn of Events
Fifteen minutes later, right on time, the chief purser walked in pushing a small cart bearing two dinner sets.
She arranged the meals on the small table, offered Yan Gui Xing and Mu Mu a standard, professional smile, and said gently, “I wish you both a pleasant meal. Please feel free to call me if you need anything.”
Mu Mu looked at the food on the table, let out an obliging “Wow,” and beamed at the purser. “Thank you~”
Mu Mu already looked young for his age. Today, he was wearing a sky-blue long-sleeved shirt with a cartoon print on the chest, and his soft black hair fell across his forehead. Coupled with his adorable smile, he struck the purser right in her maternal heart.
She instinctively glanced at Yan Gui Xing beside him, trying to guess their relationship.
To hide his bandages and scars, Yan Gui Xing was wearing a black high-necked long-sleeved shirt. His long black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, revealing a pale face with sharp cheekbones and sunken cheeks. His deep-set eyes and emerald pupils gave him a sharp, almost sinister air.
For a moment, the purser didn’t recognize him as the Imperial Hero, Admiral Yan, from the news; she just found him somewhat familiar.
Judging by their appearances, she guessed they might be father and son. But the way the man looked at Mu Mu was too tenderâit wasn’t the look of a father, but rather that of a lover with a significant age gap.
In an era where the average lifespan was extremely long, such couples weren’t uncommon. Having worked in the industry for years and seeing so many passengers daily, the purser was used to it.
She had only taken a second look today because Mu Mu looked exactly like the sweet child she had always imagined having.
When the purser left, she closed the door behind her, leaving Mu Mu and Yan Gui Xing alone in the enclosed cabin. Mu Mu looked down at tonightâs dinner.
First Class meals on the spaceship were served hot: two dishes and a soupâone meat, one vegetableâalong with a bowl of plump, glistening white rice, a beverage of choice, and a slice of strawberry cake.
The presentation was exquisite, which naturally meant the portions were small. As for the taste, it couldn’t compare to Xiao Ting’s cooking, but it was better than the mid-to-high-end restaurants on most small planets.
Yan Gui Xing had just consumed a tube of nutrient fluid and was mostly full. Furthermore, due to his suspicious nature, he generally refused to eat food from unknown sources.
His recent brush with death had only intensified his paranoia.
Although he knew the food on the spaceship underwent strict quality control before boarding and was stored in a locked room accessible only by service robots with a passcode to ensure safety, Yan Gui Xing still didn’t want to touch it. He simply picked up a disposable cup and took two sips of hot water.
Mu Mu had already finished his main meal and was slowly demolishing the strawberry cake, which was smaller than the palm of his hand. He tilted his head, noticing the untouched food on Yan Gui Xing’s table. Biting his plastic fork, he asked curiously, “Gui Gui, aren’t you hungry?”
Yan Gui Xing didn’t want to worry Mu Mu, so he tapped the empty nutrient fluid tube by his hand and smiled. “I drank the nutrient fluid too early; I’m already full.”
“Oh~” Mu Mu looked at the untouched food with heartache. He rubbed his belly, which was about eighty percent full, and felt he couldn’t possibly fit it all in. After struggling with the dilemma for a moment, he pointed his little fork at the strawberry cake and the plate of boiled choy sum.
“Mu Mu still has room in his tummy. I can help you finish these two~”
Yan Gui Xing knew exactly how much Mu Mu could eat. He didn’t touch the vegetables but slid the pink cake topped with a fresh, dewy strawberry over to Mu Mu.
“Just eat the cake. They’ll be serving fruit later. If you stuff yourself now, you won’t have room for anything else.”
Mu Mu recalled the journey there; they really had been eating the entire way. Even if they refused a meal, the purser would come by an hour or two later to ask if they wanted snacks, acting as if she were terrified they might starve.
Although the portions were small, the food on the spaceship was actually quite tasty. Mu Mu was particularly fond of the pretty little cakes.
For the sake of future cakes, he decided to give up on the rice and vegetables.
Just as Mu Mu finished his own cake and raised his fork toward Yan Gui Xing’s, a series of notification chimes rang out behind them.
Mu Mu and Yan Gui Xing exchanged a glance. Yan Gui Xing frowned slightly, his expression darkening. Mu Mu, however, let out an “Ah!” and said, “That’s Mu Mu’s terminal notification sound! Is the network working again?”
Yan Gui Xing’s furrowed brows relaxed. He stood up, walked to his coat hanging on the wall, and took both his and Mu Mu’s terminals from the pocket.
As Yan Gui Xing had guessed, once the spaceship left the star sector where the Frontier Star was located, the network signal was restored.
However, the mountain of messages flooding the terminal did not bring good news. Instead, they made Yan Gui Xing’s expression increasingly grave.
Yan Gui Xing turned his head to look at Mu Mu, who was giggling at photos of Wangwang on his terminal. Beside him, the porthole reflected Mu Mu’s blurry silhouette against the brilliant galaxy. It was a warm, beautiful scene, yet it made Yan Gui Xingâs heart sink lower and lower.
Perhaps the sheer volume of information confirmed his worst fears, causing Yan Gui Xing to fail in perfectly masking his emotions. Mu Mu noticed.
He put down his terminal and tilted his head, seeing Yan Gui Xing’s serious expression. “Gui Gui, you look really pale. Does it hurt somewhere? Do you need medicine?”
Looking into those black eyes filled with worry, Yan Gui Xing suddenly lost the desire to tell Mu Mu the bad news he had just received.
What if? Yan Gui Xing thought. The reports only say a small number of Zerg are fleeing across various star sectors. It doesn’t say they are definitely in the three sectors between the Frontier Star and Glass Star.
Maybe we’ll be lucky and won’t run into them? He had already died once; surely his luck couldn’t be so bad that he would encounter fully armed Zerg soldiers while completely unarmed and defenseless. That would be truly abysmal luck.
But Yan Gui Xing couldn’t deceive himself. He knew very well that the Zerg’s target was him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have spread false information about finding him to lure the Fourth Legion away from the Frontier Star.
Yan Gui Xing didn’t know how those damn bugs knew he wasn’t dead. Or perhaps, they didn’t care if he was dead or aliveâthey just wanted his body.
But what for? To use his corpse to threaten the military?
Impossible! Yan Gui Xing found the idea laughable. Since when could a dead man threaten the military?
“Gui Gui!” Seeing Yan Gui Xing zone out, Mu Mu leaned forward and gently slapped Yan Gui Xing’s face with both hands with a soft pat.
Yan Gui Xing snapped back to reality. Looking at Mu Mu’s magnified face in front of him, he blinked, realizing he had spaced out, and smiled apologetically.
Mu Mu pouted in dissatisfaction. “Gui Gui, what is wrong with you? Ever since we got on the ship, you’ve seemed so preoccupied. We’re almost home, aren’t we? Is something else going on?”
Yan Gui Xing’s pupils contracted. He hadn’t realized that Mu Mu had noticed his strange behavior all along; the little fool had seemingly gone straight to sleep after boarding.
But in the next instant, his mood, which had hit rock bottom, soared like a roller coaster. The fact that Mu Mu noticed his unease proved that Mu Mu had been focusing all his attention on him.
His Mu Mu really liked him just as much as before, unlike the indifference he had shown back on D5 Star.
For so long, he had been anxious about gains and losses. Even Mu Mu accepting his proposal hadn’t fully cured that insecurity.
But in this moment, an inadvertent remark reassured Yan Gui Xing that Mu Mu loved him.
If the timing weren’t so wrong, Yan Gui Xing would have grabbed Mu Mu and kissed him senseless.
Right! The timing is wrong! Yan Gui Xing’s face fell again. He pulled Mu Mu’s hands from his face, held them tightly, lowered his voice, and said seriously, “Mu Mu, I have something to tell you. Don’t be scared after you hear it.”
Seeing Yan Gui Xing’s serious expression, Mu Mu’s heart hung in suspense. He kept a straight face and nodded heavily.
But before Yan Gui Xing could speak, the smoothly flying spaceship suddenly violently shuddered. The shaking was so severe that it knocked the cup off the small table.
Mu Mu’s cup was fine as he had finished his milk. But Yan Gui Xing’s cup was still half-full of hot water, which spilled all over his shoes and the floor.
Yan Gui Xing’s heart skipped a beat. His first thought was that his luck really was the absolute worst.
Ignoring whatever he was about to say to Mu Mu, he quickly grabbed his terminal, sent their current coordinates to Achi, and ordered him to come immediately.
After sending the message, he muted the terminal, shoved it into Mu Mu’s hands, and took Mu Mu’s terminal away.
Yan Gui Xing whispered, “From now on, your terminal is mine. And you, Mu Mu, due to intellectual disabilities, do not own a terminal.”
Mu Mu was already dazed by the violent shaking. Didn’t everyone say spaceship travel was comfortable, like walking on flat ground, and absolutely never bumpy?
He had flown four times himself and never experienced turbulence. What was happening?
Then Yan Gui Xing snatched his terminal and claimed he had intellectual problems. Mu Mu instantly got upset, pulling a sulky face and glaring at Yan Gui Xing.
“You’re the one with intellectual problems! Mu Mu’s intelligence is fine! Mu Mu is not a little fool!”
Just as Mu Mu finished speaking, a second violent shake hit the ship. This time, it was accompanied by a massive BANG! from the outside of the hull, sounding like a collision.
Mu Mu’s face went pale. He looked at Yan Gui Xing nervously and asked, “That was so loud… did we hit a star? Is the spaceship going to break?”
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