In the conference room of the command ship, the main lights were off. A three-dimensional star map was lit in the center of the long oval table. The fluorescent blue light reflected on Lu Fenghan's face, outlining the sharp features of his features clearly.
An ashtray was spinning on the conference table. There were four or five cigarette butts crushed in it, and a few sparks were quietly burning.
Lu Fenghan also bit a cigarette, but did not light it. He was leaning back in his chair, with his military jacket casually draped over the armrest, listening to Erich talk about the next preliminary battle plan.
Although Erich had been on the front line for seven or eight years, and had been Lu Fenghan's deputy for half of that time, he was not affected by the surrounding environment at all. He always buttoned his dress code tightly, with his cuffs and collar neatly tied, and he was the face of the expeditionary army.
This is why whenever someone from the capital planet came to inspect, it was Erich who came out to receive them.
"… There is a rare mineral planet here. Donald has sent a lot of people to guard it. Let's take it back first." Erich pointed at the star map. "There is a spare supply station next to it. We can bomb it. Small micro-ships have no energy to replenish, so we can bomb them with one shot."
Lu Fenghan continued Erich's words: "The goal of this operation is to move the current base directly to Turin. How long has it been since the second defeat? More than half a year, I think. It's time to take back our territory."
Half an hour ago, he had a short conversation with General Nie Huaiting, no more than a minute at most. The core idea was that the rebels could be attacked without restraint on the front line, and there was no need to be polite.
After its establishment, the Alliance was in chaos for a while. The rebels occupied Leto, and Nie Huaiting led his troops to move to Odin. At first glance, the Alliance seemed to be completely defeated, but in fact, among the four major administrative regions, only the central administrative region was occupied - only because Leto was of great significance to the Alliance, this increased the weight and made the bards recruited by the rebels a place to be written about.
This is consistent with what Lu Fenghan had speculated before. If the rebels want to replace the alliance, they will definitely not follow the star map and spend a lot of time and effort to fight all the way from the front line of the Southern Cross Region to the Central Region. Instead, they will first occupy Leto and then the Central Region. The garrisons in the other three regions are sparse, so it won't take much effort to resolve them.
In the six months before Lu Fenghan returned, the two sides were in confrontation and could barely be considered at peace - the alliance needed a top-down cleanup and reorganization, part of the rebel force was spent in Leto, and those who remained on the front line did not dare to engage in large-scale fire with the expeditionary force easily.
And now, Nie Huaiting has held everything he should hold back in his hands one by one, and the rebels have temporarily stabilized the situation in Leto.
For a time, the battle situation once again gathered on the front line of the Southern Cross Region.
Lu Fenghan never had the idea of "letting it go if his territory was taken away". On the contrary, he believed in taking it back in the same way it was taken away.
Therefore, he directly inserted the small flag with the shield and sword logo on the Turin star.
The meeting was over and everyone had left, but Lu Fenghan was still sitting in his original position, staring at the location of Turin Star.
As Lu Fenghan's adjutant, Vincent sorted out his personal records and saw that Lu Fenghan had not left yet: "Command?"
"Nothing." Lu Fenghan came back to his senses and stood up, picking up the military jacket on the side, with a hint of murderous intent on his brows.
Vincent guessed that Lu Fenghan was thinking about the first great defeat, and his heart was a little heavy. Although he had been on the front line for a long time and was used to sacrifice, he always felt uncomfortable when he saw the rows of empty rooms on the starship and the names in the roster turned into black and white.
Following Lu Fenghan out of the conference room, Vincent deliberately changed the subject: "Commander, where are you going next?"
"It's almost eleven o'clock, pick up Qi Yan from get off work."
Lu Fenghan made an appointment with Qi Yan that he would pick him up every day from now on.
"So during the meeting just now, Commander, you were always looking at the time?" After hearing Lu Fenghan mention Qi Yan, Vincent had already turned the question over and over in his mind. Seeing that there was no one around, he asked in a low voice, "Commander, Qi Yan... why did he suddenly become y?"
When they were in Leto, they speculated on Qi Yan's identity based on the known clues, and finally concluded that Qi Yan should be a direct relative of the core members of the White Tower and was listed on the White Tower's protection list, so his identity information was confidential.
Unexpectedly, Qi Yan is not only a member of the White Tower, but also the chief of the White Tower and the legendary Y.
When Vincent talked to Erich about Leto's past, he couldn't help but sigh back and forth: "He is actually Y! The Y God is only nineteen years old, can you believe it? Turan's second-year student is actually the Y God!"
But what he wanted to ask the most was actually why Qi Yan looked a little different from before. But his instinct was to seek good fortune and avoid danger, and he felt that he couldn't ask this question. If he asked it, something bad would happen, so he had to hold it in.
"He is an ordinary second-year student in Turan. What's the difference between being Y and being the chief of the White Tower?" Lu Fenghan's question was exactly what he was thinking in his heart.
To Lu Fenghan, no matter what Qi Yan’s identity is, he is just Qi Yan.
There is no difference.
No matter what identity label is attached to her, she is always that spoiled, confused and clingy little girl.
Vincent followed Lu Fenghan and opened his mouth to refute, but he felt that what Lu Fenghan said seemed to make sense. However, speaking of this, he remembered: "Besides you, Erich, me, and Pojun, no one knew about the new detection system brought by the White Tower. The same goes for Qi Yan's identity."
Lu Fenghan understood what Vincent meant.
During the past six months, not only Nie Huaiting was reorganizing the internal military, but Erich and Vincent were also busy, and they screened the expeditionary force thoroughly inside and out.
—The exact coordinates of the jump point were exposed, and the entire army was ambushed and annihilated by the enemy as soon as they left the jump channel. This kind of thing must not be allowed to happen a second time.
But even if it is screened, there is no guarantee that it is completely clean. This is one of the reasons why Weiss must be brought back for questioning.
"The new detection system will be announced in two days, so we can test it out in the next battle. Qi Yan's safety is the top priority. He—" Lu Fenghan recalled the contract they signed when they first met, and his expression eased slightly, "I am your employer."
Vincent had a plan in mind and knew how to express it to the outside world. Seeing that they were getting closer to the equipment room, he did not follow. Instead, he saluted Lu Fenghan and turned to find Erich.
Lu Fenghan stood in front of the metal door of the equipment room. Before he could identify his personal terminal, the door slid open - Pojun always liked to show his presence when it came to opening and closing doors.
The silver metal door closed again behind him. Lu Fenghan stood at the door with his back against the wall. He did not move closer rashly, nor did he make a sound.
Just from a distance of about 10 to 20 steps away, he quietly watched Qi Yan.
At this moment, all the ups and downs in my emotions caused by all the messy chores calmed down.
This scene reminded him of the library at Turan College. When Qi Yan went into the principal's library to read paper books, he was waiting for him outside behind a layer of glass.
I don't know how long it took, but Po Jun's voice rang out in the equipment room: "It's eleven o'clock."
Qi Yan came back to his senses from the data stream, his eyes were a little dry, and he subconsciously turned his head to look towards the door.
Lu Fenghan stood there.
While being slightly stunned, Qi Yan felt as if a feather floating in the air slowly fell to the ground in his heart.
He stood up and wanted to ask, "Are you here to pick me up?", but he felt that the answer to this question was obvious and there was no need to ask. He simply chose not to speak and lowered his head to tidy up the writing board that he used as draft paper.
Lu Fenghan didn't mind Qi Yan's silence. He walked closer and held Qi Yan's wrist: "Does it hurt?"
Qi Yan was a few seconds late before answering: "... a little sore, and a little painful."
He was busy in the equipment room for the whole day. After connecting the "Wind Catcher" to the central control system, he also entered the database of the central control system and optimized some details according to the data records therein.
The workload was heavy, but whether in the White Tower or now, he had never paid attention to whether his hands would hurt after finishing his work.
Until Lu Fenghan controlled the strength and gently pinched his knuckles and wrists.
When he rubbed the base of his fingers, Qi Yan whispered, "Be gentle, it hurts."
After saying this, Qi Yan fell silent again.
Because of his sensitivity to pain, he has become accustomed to various levels of pain and rarely shows it, and even less speaks about it.
"Did it hurt?" Lu Fenghan softened his grip as he was told. He raised his eyes with a smile on his lips, "Blame me."
Qi Yan wanted to explain that he couldn't tolerate pain, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know why.
Lu Fenghan seemed to have figured out something: "Tell me if your hand hurts. If you have a nightmare, feel lazy, or feel uncomfortable anywhere, you can come to me."
After a moment of silence, Qi Yan slowly responded with “Okay”.
After helping Qi Yan relax his hands, Lu Fenghan sent Qi Yan back to his room to rest, just like yesterday. They chatted for a while about the central control system while walking.
When Lu Fenghan arrived at the door, he saw Qi Yan open his personal terminal and was about to swipe open the door, and suggested: "Your nails are too long, come to my place and I'll cut them for you?"
After saying this, Lu Fenghan was actually unsure whether Qi Yan would agree.
Cutting nails was too trivial to be a reason for an invitation. But the wound on Lu Fenghan's hand had already healed after being coated with healing gel, so there was no chance for Qi Yan to help bandage it again.
He knew clearly that what he was relying on now was just the subtle "difference" in Qi Yan's attitude towards him.
Qi Yan agreed.
The reason he gave for his decision was that when he was in Leto, his nails were also cut by Lu Fenghan.
The two went to Lu Fenghan's lounge.
Before entering the room, Lu Fenghan specially added Qi Yan's permissions to the system: "In the future, when I'm not here, you can also go directly into my room."
The lights in the lounge came on, Lu Fenghan went to pour some water for Qi Yan, and asked him to sit wherever he wanted.
Qi Yan didn't sit down, but looked at the furnishings in the room with some curiosity.
Lu Fenghan’s lounge was not just a bedroom, it also had a desk with a floating virtual screen on it that was lit up, and there were several documents displayed on the screen, which were obviously not finished reading before.
There wasn't much in the room. Apart from the bed and necessary furniture, there were only two metal pens and a few bags of nutritional supplements placed randomly.
Qi Yan didn't know why, but he wanted to remember every detail.
Handing the cup of water to Qi Yan, Lu Fenghan sat down on the only chair in the room, and Qi Yan had no choice but to sit beside the bed.
The sheets were grey with no pattern at all and the bed was very hard.
Qi Yan drank the water. Although the environment was unfamiliar, he subconsciously felt comfortable and relaxed because he was surrounded by Lu Fenghan's aura.
Lu Fenghan waited for him to put down the empty cup, then lifted up Qi Yan's fingers and carefully cut his nails, with a level of concentration no less than manually aiming at the target before firing a particle cannon.
"Will you feel uncomfortable without emotions?"
This was the first time Lu Fenghan brought up this topic, just as a casual chat.
This tone made Qi Yan feel that losing emotions was not such a terrible thing.
Qi Yan shook his head: "No, I felt a little... empty at first, but slowly I felt nothing." He thought about it carefully, "It's just that it feels strange when I recall it."
"Just like when I recall the first time I went to the Sky Diamond Plaza with you to watch the fountain show, I know I was happy, but I don't know what happiness is exactly. It's clearly my own memory, but it's like someone told me that I was happy, but I can't understand it."
"There are many more, and... When I received the message that you said you were back," he confirmed with Lu Fenghan with confusion in his eyes, "Lu Fenghan, should I be very happy?"
After asking this question, Qi Yan placed his fingers lightly on the side of Lu Fenghan's neck, and then felt the blood vessels pulsating under his fingers.
Warm and clear.
The person in front of me is real.
He is still alive.
It was not until Lu Fenghan wiped away her tears one by one and she felt a slight coolness that Qi Yan realized that she had been crying.
But he still felt confused and didn't understand why he was crying.
Lu Fenghan felt that his fingertips dipped in Qi Yan's tears were splashed with sparks, and the burning pain spread all the way to his heart.
He held Qi Yan's cold fingertips in his hand and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Don't cry, dear, I'll go with you to find it back."