Chapter 70: No Taste, Blocked
Xie Qiang had finally cracked the case.
This guy didn’t like pain at all; he simply liked beautiful and pretty things!
Back in the room, Xie Qiang took out a fountain pen and drew a cute little cat face on Mo Yin’s arm. She then asked, “Do you like it?”
Mo Yin’s eyes went still as he stared at it. “Mm.”
He picked up his optical computer, took a cool-looking photo, and sent it to Hong Que.
[Mo Yin: Cat. Won’t disappear anymore.]
[Hong Que: ? Who drew that? Xie Qiang?]
[Mo Yin: Mm.]
[Hong Que: It’s so ugly.]
[Mo Yin: No taste. Blocked.]
[Hong Que: ??? (Your friend has blocked you)]
On the base’s drill grounds, Hong Que, who had finished assembling the crusade army, closed his optical computer in a fit of rage. “Dammit! What kind of love potion did Xie Qiang feed my brother? He actually blocked me because of that woman!”
Beside him, Sen Ji caught a glimpse of the screen and shifted his gaze away nonchalantly. “Perhaps Xie Qiang didn’t do anything. Maybe Mo Yin just likes it himself.”
“Impossible!” Hong Que denied it immediately. “It’s because she slept with my innocent and naive brother! That’s why he’s fallen for her!”
“Pfft.” The silver-haired youth leaning against his hand chuckled. “Hey, Commander Sen Ji, are you really going to bring him along? He’s so stupid, I really doubt he’ll make it back alive from this crusade.”
“What did you say?” Hong Que glared at Cang Jiu with dissatisfaction. “Even if I get hurt, I have my brother to find Xie Qiang to purify and save me! On the other hand, you’d better watch out so you don’t need me to save you!”
“Oh, is that so? The great eldest young master of the Zhuque family actually needs the Imperial Princess to sleep with his brother just to save his life.” Cang Jiu grinned with a mocking sneer. “If this news reaches the Capital, it’ll surely be the headline of the year, right?”
“Cang Jiu! You’re looking for a beating, aren’t you!” Hong Que raised a fist, his face darkening.
“Sure.” The silver-haired youth remained unmoved, looking arrogant and unbothered.
“Stop messing around, both of you.” Sen Ji raised a hand to block Hong Que’s fist and said calmly, “It won’t be too late to fight after we finish this crusade.”
He looked toward the Sentinel army, ready for departure, and commanded in a cold voice, “Move out.”
Once the wormhole was destroyed, His Majesty would likely summon him and Xie Qiang back to the Capital to fulfill their engagement.
Sen Ji looked back at the base and murmured softly, “Perhaps… it will turn out to be a good thing.”
…
Time flew by, and thirty standard galactic days passed in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t until the first snow of the year fell upon the battlefield base that the Signal Communications Department received a message from the wormhole.
At that moment, Xie Qiang and all the A-class Guides were in the lounge, staring nervously at Cen Yu’s arm—the one that had been gouged.
Three days ago, Xie Qiang had performed nerve suturing surgery on Cen Yu’s severed arm and applied the Royal Secret Medicine as an aid to accelerate healing.
According to the time it took for the medicine to wear off, Cen Yu’s tendons and nerves should be on the verge of rupturing again right about now.
Cen Yu breathed softly, not daring to move an inch. Her eyes were fixed on her arm. “Thirty seconds left.”
If her arm could still rotate freely after thirty seconds, then it meant—
“28, 27… 16, 15… 7, 6, 5…”
“3, 2, 1—!”
The Guides held their breath as they watched Cen Yu slowly raise her arm. After holding it in the air for a full fifteen seconds, she began to rotate it slowly.
“Ahhhh! It worked! it actually worked!”
“Ancient medical techniques are indeed formidable! If we get this kind of injury in the future, we won’t have to choose amputation!”
“Your Highness, you are simply too brilliant! You are the lucky star sent by the heavens to save us!”
Seeing Cen Yu rotating her arm with joy, Gu Yuan couldn’t help but shed tears of excitement. “It’s preserved… thank God it’s preserved…”
“Sister…” Cen Yu’s nose felt a bit sour. She hugged Gu Yuan. “Thank you for insisting that I endure it back then.”
“And Your Highness,” she saluted Xie Qiang. “Thank you for going out of your way to scare me every time I was about to give up, making me too afraid to amputate…”
Xie Qiang rubbed her nose. “So you knew?”
She had thought her scaring tactics were quite effective and wouldn’t be seen through.
“No matter how stupid I am, I wouldn’t fall for it every single time, right?” Cen Yu chuckled. “It’s just that, for some reason, every time I couldn’t hold on, seeing Your Highness made the pain feel a lot lighter.”
Maybe it was because the Princess’s expressions when she tried to scare people were too amusing, or maybe it was because her small, soft body felt like a kitten snuggling in one’s arms to comfort a sick owner when she leaned in to apply medicine. It was inexplicably healing.
Their Imperial Princess gave off a sense of security and a desire to live just by standing there.
Xie Qiang scratched her cheek, feeling quite embarrassed. Just as she was about to say something, the lounge door was flung open. Shu Fenghua rushed in with a grave expression, her eyes landing on Xie Qiang. “Your Highness, please come with me to the Signal Communications Department immediately!”
…
On the way to the department, Xie Qiang watched Shu Fenghua’s hurried pace and couldn’t help but ask, “Has something happened?”
“News came from the wormhole. Commander Sen Ji found the Zerg Queen. After a massive battle, the Queen was heavily injured and her whereabouts are unknown. However, for some reason, Commander Sen Ji has remained unconscious until now.”
Shu Fenghua sighed. “Tactical Officer Cang Jiu stayed in the wormhole to lead the Sentinels in clearing out the Zerg remnants. Inspector Hong Que is bringing Commander Sen Ji back alone. The signal was sent three days ago. Based on the timing, they should be arriving soon.”
Xie Qiang instinctively looked out the hallway window. Snowflakes, like goose down, drifted down from the grayish-white clouds. At some point, they turned into raindrops mid-air, pitter-pattering on the ground.
She murmured softly, “They… are already back.”
The grayish-white clouds were dyed a brilliant, bloody red. A tragic, screeching bird cry rang through the sky. A Vermilion Bird, its entire body wreathed in flames, came stumbling toward the glass pane in front of Xie Qiang. Its momentum showed no signs of slowing down!
“Your Highness, look out—!” Shu Fenghua screamed in panic.
Xie Qiang’s eyes widened. In the next second, she was pulled into a tight embrace by Mo Yin. They rolled several times across the floor, narrowly dodging the Vermilion Bird’s impact.
Behind them, the glass shattered. A heatwave rolled through the long hallway, kicking up a storm of distorted dust. The Vermilion Bird’s screeching vanished, replaced by the dangerous, low growl of a forest beast lurking deep within the ruins of the hallway.
And… Hong Que’s heart-wrenching voice.
“Xie Qiang—help me!”
Xie Qiang: …?
What happened?
Waving away the dust, Xie Qiang saw Sen Ji, his eyes crimson, brawling with a flame-covered Hong Que. Sen Ji appeared to be in a state of frenzy; his consciousness seemed blurred as he relentlessly attacked Hong Que, who was resisting on the ground.
Sensing other breaths, he snapped his head up, his ferocious gaze shooting straight toward Xie Qiang.
Xie Qiang: …
Xie Qiang decisively took a step back and used Mo Yin as a human shield.
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