In the morning, Lu Fenghan was doing weight training. When he saw Vincent calling him, he allowed the connection directly: "What's the matter?"
Unexpectedly, Vincent hesitated and asked, "Commander, am I disturbing you?"
"No."
"Eh? Aren't you communicating with your closest five-fingered friend? Then why are you a little breathless when you speak?"
Lu Fenghan knew that there was definitely nothing good to say, and that the garbage in his head was indeed forced into his head by the people under him.
He asked casually: "Why isn't there another possibility?"
"Not your Five Fingers partner?" Vincent asked in surprise. "Commander, what misunderstanding do you have about yourself? The expeditionary force voted for you to be the 'hardest single player on the front line' for five consecutive years. We all bet that you will never fire your first shot before you are thirty!"
Can't fire the first shot
Lu Fenghan said indifferently: "It seems that we should rectify the military discipline. It turns out that you guys have this kind of idle voting in private."
"Stop it, Commander. Isn't it because floating around in the universe is too boring that we develop some entertainment projects? Can you bear to deprive everyone of the only entertainment they have left?" Vincent regretted speaking too quickly. Perhaps, he could hope that Lu Fenghan would completely forget about this when he returned to the front line
“Of course—” After taking Vincent’s breath, Lu Fenghan said the second half of the sentence slowly, “Can’t bear it.”
Not ready to listen to Vincent's nonsense about the mental health maintenance of frontline combatants, he got straight to the point: "What happened?"
Vincent's tone became serious: "We have waited patiently for fifty or sixty days, and finally there is movement."
He was a little excited. "I found out that the front line has finally started to make formal personnel transfers. Acting Commander-in-Chief Weiss requested permission from the Central Corps to promote a number of positions to facilitate the command and deployment of troops, citing the heavy casualties in the expeditionary army's defeat on the front line. I got the list, and fifty people were promoted at once."
"Are you finally sure that I'm dead?" Lu Fenghan leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "Have you checked everything?"
"I checked them all, but it seems that there are no major problems with the information of these fifty people. They come from different backgrounds, but their resumes are all acceptable, their family relationships are not complicated, and their abilities are also-"
Lu Fenghan interrupted him: "Speak human language."
Vincent had to skip the process: "There were seven people I felt were not right. Two of them were put into reconnaissance by Weiss, two went to logistics, and three went to technology."
Lu Fenghan's eyes narrowed slightly: "Three technicians are gone?"
"Yes, if Weiss is the one who has an affair with the rebels, then it can be seen that his first move will be to target the central control system."
The Alliance starship central control system has only been developed and put into use for three years, but its effectiveness is extremely amazing. As the commander-in-chief, Lu Fenghan has the deepest understanding: compared with this current system, what was the central control system used before
It’s about the distance between the First Military Academy and Turan.
This is also the reason why the main designer of the central control system, Y, ranked first on the blacklist three years ago.
Lu Fenghan led a fleet of starships equipped with a new central control system and chased the expeditionary force across the border of the Southern Cross Region. All the hatred accumulated when they fled in panic was probably clearly reflected in this ranking.
"Even if I go to the technical department, I won't be able to see anything. The things that Y makes are as complicated as incomprehensible. Whenever the technical staff encounters any small problem, they immediately turn to the manual given by Y and copy it exactly."
Lu Fenghan was not nervous at all. He twirled his fingers slowly and said, "It also means that the command ship is still Erich's territory and he holds it firmly in his hands. Weiss, the acting commander-in-chief, cannot get anyone else to join, so he has to settle for the next best thing and deploy people in a scattered manner."
Erich was his deputy. Lu Fenghan once speculated that after his "death", Erich failed to compete with Weiss and got the acting command, most likely to temporarily avoid the limelight.
It now seems that no matter how high Weiss jumps, Erich has guarded the command ship well and has got everything he needs.
"Keep watching and see what Weiss does next." Lu Fenghan thought again, "Oh, by the way, according to the regulations, as long as I am not confirmed dead, the salary will be paid by the alliance. But now, my previous account cannot be moved. How about that?"
Vincent understood what Lu Fenghan was asking. "When something happened to you, we didn't dare to bet on whether you could survive, so I discussed with the others and pooled some money together every month to help those families get through the difficult times. When they were alive, they were brothers who went to the battlefield together. After they died, who would have the heart to leave their families alone?"
Although the alliance will pay a lump sum of pensions to the families of military survivors, which is not small, the reality is that different families have their own difficulties, and those who can help will always want to help.
In the past at the front line, everyone laughed at Lu Fenghan, the commander-in-chief, for being the poorest person in the expeditionary force, but everyone knew where Lu Fenghan's money went.
Vincent remembered Lu Fenghan once said, "I don't have any family, but they do. I'm single anyway, why should I save money? One day, I might be blown to ashes and scattered in the universe."
At that time, he was still Lu Fenghan's adjutant. He smiled and joked, "Commander, why are you cursing yourself like that?"
Lu Fenghan was wearing a military jacket, sitting in front of the control desk of the command ship with his legs crossed. He replied nonchalantly, "I'm a soldier. Soldiers die. What's so strange about that?"
When Qi Yan went downstairs, Lu Fenghan was watching the news. He stopped where he was and looked at the time displayed on the news.
I remember correctly.
Passing the bread slice to Qi Yan, Lu Fenghan noticed: "Did you stay up late again last night?"
"Yeah." Qi Yan had indeed stayed up all night to build the model. There was a problem with a detail, so he threw away all the work he had done that night and prepared to start over.
He had no appetite. "How did you know?"
"You look pale and listless, your chin is propped up and your eyes are about to close in the next second. This is staying up all night." Seeing that he didn't eat a bite of the bread, Lu Fenghan turned around and took out a tube of nutritional supplement, "If you really don't want to eat, drink this."
Qi Yan took it, drank it in one gulp, and felt full.
"Does your hand still hurt?"
Qi Yan moved his fingers: "It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Well, let's go to school."
As soon as Qi Yan entered Turan, he felt the gazes from all around him. He felt a little strange and asked Lu Fenghan: "Why are they looking at me?"
Lu Fenghan listened carefully to the discussion around him and answered Qi Yan's question: "You performed the Any Major, Any Model, and On-site Architecture Accelerator in the Academic Administration Office yesterday. It became popular in the communication area of your Tulan intranet. They all think you are amazing, so they watch you."
Qi Yan nodded: "Is that so."
Lu Fenghan raised his eyebrows: "Are you unhappy? Everyone has acknowledged your ability. I guess the bad things like yesterday won't happen again in the future."
Qi Yan: "Why should I be happy? Many people think I'm great."
The implication is, isn't this natural? I've gotten used to it.
Seeing Qi Yan looking at him with a tense pale face, Lu Fenghan couldn't help but feel itchy - he wanted to poke his face again.
What Lu Fenghan said was right. In the next few days, almost no one mentioned academic fraud or hiring a "tutor" at home. Even when Laurent met him, he just had a cold face and rarely spoke.
But on the way to the lab, I often see people standing on the side of the road and exclaiming loudly: "Ah, why is the data mining speed of my GT913 Xunlong model so slow?"
"Alas, I have been guarding the optical computer for three days and three nights just to run the data! If only it could be faster!"
Later, everyone found that Qi Yan had no interest in giving gt913 Xunlong and other models, and he didn't even give a single glance, so he gradually disappeared.
Pushing the door open and entering the laboratory, Qi Yan saw Professor Fu standing in the middle of the laboratory. He blinked and paused for a moment: "Hello, Professor Fu."
"Another one!" Professor Fu was quite satisfied. "Qi Yan, you are the second person who can tell within three seconds that I am a real person and not a holographic projection. It's really sad. More than half of the research team came in, but only you and Mondrian could tell. Ye Pei is even more amazing. He even poked me to see if his finger could pass through."
Ye Pei hugged the back of his chair and complained: "Professor, I can only say that our alliance's holographic projection technology is too realistic! And weren't you in the Messier region the other day? Who knew you would suddenly come to Leto?"
"Of course we came to Leto for something." Professor Fu saw the last two people in the research group come in, and he clapped his hands, "Students, let me tell you something. Tomorrow I will go to a floating space fortress outside the capital star, and they allow me to bring a few students with me. So if you don't have classes scheduled during that time period tomorrow, you can go with me." He called out the names, "Mondrian, Ye Pei, Xu Min, Qi Yan, we will stay there for another night tomorrow, so you should get ready."
Laurent's metal pen accidentally fell to the ground.
Everyone else was envious of Qi Yan and the others for being able to go to the space fortress with Professor Fu, and no one noticed his momentary loss of composure.
It was obvious that he and Qi Yan were in the same class and had no different course arrangements, but Professor Fu chose Qi Yan and not him.
A boy next to him saw Laurent lowering his head and said, "Hey, don't be discouraged. I'm the same as you. Mondrian and I are in the same class, but the number of places is limited, so they definitely can't take both of us. Next time, we will definitely go together." He sighed, "But I'm quite convinced that I wasn't chosen. I don't know what's wrong with Mondrian's brain."
After he finished speaking, seeing that Laurent didn't even raise his head, he stopped embarrassing himself.
The space fortress floats on the outskirts of the capital star Leto. Compared with the capital star, it looks like just dust and flying silk floating in the universe. Its exterior is made of high-density mixed materials and is generally gray-black in color. However, it has a very beautiful name - Fontaine One.
To get from Leto to Fontaine 1, one needs to board a special small starship at the starport. As the starship takes off, the ground keeps shrinking, and the moment it enters space, everyone's ears are faintly silent.
Ye Pei looked out the porthole and asked excitedly, "Are we about to enter Fontaine One?"
Professor Fu understood the students' first time entering the space fortress and patiently explained: "Yes, once the starship enters the fishing range of Fontaine No. 1, we will be swallowed by it, just like a whale shark swallowing a small fish in one gulp in the ocean."
Xu Min was a taciturn boy, silently looking at the scenery outside the porthole, while Mondrian was discussing the fishing methods of Fontaine No. 1 with Professor Fu.
Lu Fenghan stared out the window, he really couldn't muster any interest - no matter who floats in space for nine or ten years, there will be no emotional fluctuations.
Just at the moment when the starship broke away from the gravity of the capital star, the familiar feeling made him think that he had returned to the front line of the Southern Cross Region.
Under his feet was the bridge of the command ship, and behind him was a group of ships charging in formation.
Qi Yan's performance was even more dull than Lu Fenghan's—he leaned on Lu Fenghan's shoulder and fell asleep.
Ye Pei also laughed and said that Qi Yan might have been too excited last night and couldn't sleep, so he dozed off.
Half an hour later, the starship entered the fishing range of Fontaine No. 1. As the portholes were gradually filled with huge gray-black metal bodies, the cabin shook slightly, and then a mechanical prompt sounded: "Docking successful, please prepare for the crew."
Qi Yan also woke up at this time.
He rubbed his eyes and asked Lu Fenghan: "Are we there yet?"
"We're here," Ye Pei said excitedly, "It's a pity that you just fell asleep. Looking at Fontaine No. 1 from a close distance, it's really spectacular. No wonder the Leto Daily News once said that Fontaine No. 1 is a black crystal floating in space. The metal material of the outer shell has a kind of beauty endowed by technology!"
Professor Fu heard this and laughed, "It seems that Ye Pei is very interested in aerospace materials?"
Ye Pei quickly expressed his loyalty: "No, my passion will always be artificial intelligence!"
Everyone in the group laughed.
The hatch opened, and a staff member in a blue uniform came in. "Hello, Professor Fu, hello everyone from Turan College, welcome to Fontaine One! My name is Lin Jia, and I'm your guide for this tour." She tied her long light blond hair into a high ponytail, lowered her voice, and smiled, "Ten years ago, I also went to school in Turan."
Ye Pei said happily: "It turns out to be you, Senior! Thank you for taking us on a tour!"
Lin Jia: "This time we are just visiting, and next time we meet we may even be colleagues. Many people in the fortress are from Turan."
After Professor Fu came out of the starship, he was taken away to a meeting. Qi Yan and his party followed Lin Jia and entered the open area of the fortress.
On the right side of the corridor is a transparent glass wall, through which you can see the twinkling light of distant stars and various instruments floating near the fortress.
Lin Jia held a cup of coffee in his hand and introduced: "In peacetime, the fortress is mainly used for scientific research, space experiments and various monitoring. In wartime, it will become a mobile artillery platform. However, the front line and the rebels have been in a standoff until now, and the war has never affected the capital planet, so Fontaine No. 1 naturally has no chance to go to the battlefield."
She looked at the dark universe outside the fortress. "Of course it would be best if we were not involved in the war. Fortunately, the Alliance has an expeditionary force."
When Lu Fenghan heard this, he didn't feel anything.
This is just the bottom line that successive expeditionary commanders have adhered to - to keep the smoke and fire of war outside the alliance stars.
Qi Yan stared at the dim light outside the glass wall, and Lin Jia's description of "movable turret" brought back some memories: "Near Fontaine No. 1—"
He stopped.
There is a deactivated military long-distance jump point near Fontaine One. The Alliance originally decided to locate Fontaine One here, partly for safety reasons.
Prevent anyone from using this jump point to threaten Leto's safety.
However, this is not something he should know now.
The rest of the people were listening to Lin Jia, only Lu Fenghan focused on Qi Yan, "What happened nearby?"
Qi Yan shook his head, "Nothing."
"Okay, the next step is free activities. Your personal terminal will receive a map of Fontaine No. 1. The white areas on it are open to the public, and the red areas are not allowed. If you go there," Lin Jia continued with a smile, "it will be regarded as stealing alliance secrets. Understand?"
Several students were startled and quickly promised not to step into the red zone.
Lin Jia was very satisfied with the intimidation effect: "The other issue is accommodation. Professor Fu will stay in the fortress for one night, so you can't go back to Leto. But I forgot to ask the specific personnel, so the current situation is that there are five of you. I only reported in advance and vacated four single rooms."
The extra person is, of course, the accompanying staff member Lu Fenghan.
Qi Yan replied: "He sleeps in the same room with me."
Lu Fenghan couldn't help but look at Qi Yan.
Whether it is a starship or a fortress, every inch of space is valuable, and people would like to fold the space so that one square meter can be used as ten square meters. In this case, the living room is often planned to be very small, not to mention the bed, which is so narrow that it can barely accommodate one person.
If he and Qi Yan sleep in the same room...
Lin Jia nodded: "Okay, that's no problem. The location of the room is also marked on the map. You can arrange your time freely."
After Lin Jia left, Ye Pei was the team leader and asked for everyone's opinions. Mondrian and the others wanted to look around again. Qi Yan stayed up all night last night and felt sleepy, so he simply went to his room to sleep first.
Following the instructions on the map, Qi Yan used his personal terminal to open a door, and Lu Fenghan stepped in with him.
The room is fully equipped with a small table, a single bed and a particle cleaner.
Water is not easy to store in space, and the same is true for fortresses. They are not luxurious enough to have water showers, and they use this kind of microparticle cleaner for bathing, which is referred to as "dry cleaning".
The "wash" was very clean, but it lacked the sense of ritual and comfort.
The room was small, and the moment the door was closed, Qi Yan had the illusion that the entire room was filled with Lu Fenghan's extremely aggressive aura, which was unavoidable.
Qi Yan found the bed and lay down on it. After a few seconds, he sat up again.
Lu Fenghan was surprised: "What's wrong?"
Qi Yan replied: "The bed is too hard and it's noisy."
Various machines in the fortress are running continuously. People who have stayed inside for a long time may be so used to it that they subconsciously ignore it, but to newcomers like Qi Yan, it is no less than noise.
He just knew it.
Like a magician, Lu Fenghan took out a pair of noise-canceling earplugs and stuffed them into Qi Yan's ears.
The next second, Qi Yan's eyes lit up slightly and he said, "I really can't hear anything."
Lu Fenghan sat down on the narrow single bed, patted his thigh, and motioned Qiyan to lie down.
Qi Yan looked at his legs, hesitant, but after a few seconds, he succumbed to sleepiness.
He slowly lay down on the bed with his hands, resting his head on Lu Fenghan's thigh. In an instant, he could feel his burning body temperature through the barrier of cloth.
Qi Yan took a deep breath very lightly.
Being enveloped by Lu Fenghan's powerful aura, he felt as comfortable as if he were soaking in warm water.
The bed still didn't become soft, but perhaps the man's breath made him too at ease, and soon, Qi Yan closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Lu Fenghan closed his eyes and rested in the familiar white noise until the prompt on his personal terminal woke him up.
At that moment, he mistakenly thought that he was in a starship at the front line. But the next second, the heavy feeling on his thigh brought him back to his senses.
Vincent sent a voice message, "I finally remembered to command you. Do you have money to spend now? The prices in Leto are so high. Do you want me to support you a little?"
money
Lu Fenghan lowered his head subconsciously.
Qi Yan had fallen asleep with his head resting on his legs, his right hand still loosely grasping a corner of his clothes, as if this could offset the uneasiness brought about by the unfamiliar environment.
After a careful recollection, Lu Fenghan found that during this period of time, he really had not had the opportunity to spend a star coin—the house he lived in was Qi Yan's, the car he drove was Qi Yan's, and the clothes and food he wore were all bought by Qi Yan.
So he replied truthfully with three words: "Someone is taking care of me."