MG – Chapter 3

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His spiritual body that had escaped the shell of his physical self became fainter and could not alter and control any worldly matter or take hold of corporeal beings. Therefore, regardless of whether Yan Junyu manifested a powerful desire for his body to be returned to his family, the other person could not become cognizant of his wants.

His feelings of remorse and dolour were waning, and instead he was filled with despair. He trod on the heels of Qi Ze and did his best to persuade him, “you’re still young and cannot distinguish between worshiping someone and loving someone. If you look at yourself in ten years, you’ll realize how foolish you’re now. It’s not a wise choice to contravene the Star Law in order to die for a cadaver. If you give the body back before the rescue team arrives, I promise the Yan family will repay you with the utmost sincerity.”

Unfortunately, his sedulous efforts were completely ignored. After confirming that there were no dubious marks, he waved to Ouyang Ye. “If we leave now, the rescue team will find the wreckage and track it down later, since our airships have been here and that can be quickly validated by checking the flight records. You should contact Teaching Assistant Yan Bo at once and ask him to take care of it. It would be better if we tried to cover it up like this.”

“Shao Qi, are we really going to take the body away? Shouldn’t we think this through again?” Ouyang Ye half-heartedly queried.

Qi Ze was already aggravated by his incessant string of questions ━ he marched straight at him and pressed the call function. There was an immediate answer from the other end and a holographic version of the Teaching Assistant Yan Bo and another hefty soldier popped up on the screen. Ouyang Ye visibly blanched at this; the soldier was Lieutenant General Xu Qi, the first aide to Yan Junyu’s grandfather.

Xu Qi, an old man who had peerless abilities and skills and was a ruthless strategist, was a direct descendent of the Yan family and played a significant role in the military. Yan Junyu had only been gone for a few hours after he arrived on Neptune from the Imperial Star. This substantiated how much Marshal Yan valued him and was concerned for him.

Although the Ouyang family were well connected and influential on Neptune, it did not mean much in the expansive Black Eye Galaxy. Notable names such as Xu Qi had only been seen by Ouyang Ye on the Starnet¹, and never had he interacted in real life with this individual. He stumbled over his words before, finally, stuttering out the coordinates of the wreckage, then ended the call sweating buckets.

“It’s over for us! The Yan family sent Lieutenant General Xu to come here as well! It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!” he howled, circling anxiously around Qi Ze and pulling at the roots of his hair. “Xu Qi is the first adjutant of the old Marshal Yan. He’s one of the most powerful men in the Empire, commanding the T3 and T4 mecha forces! If we even dare displease him, he can easily blast Neptune to dust with just ten T-type mecha! Shao Qi, let’s not poke the hornet’s nest. Let’s bring the body back!”

This was, unquestionably, a frightful situation for Ouyang Ye. He grabbed Qi Ze’s wrist and fumbled to open his Interspatial Button.

Qi Ze was a carbon-based human, lacking the necessary mental strength. His Interspatial Button was the most run-of-the-mill model, giving him the ability to deposit and take out things at the convenience of its owner only by pressing the start key. “Shao Qi, I’m telling you, Yan Junyu was trampled flat and his corpse is now rotting away. Why would you keep his body? What are you planning?”

Qi Ze skillfully slipped out of his grip and sat down on a large, clean rock. “Just keep your mouth shut instead of asking so many questions. If anything happens, I’ll take full responsibility and take care of the matter myself.”

“What do you mean? Stealing his…” Before Ouyang Ye could finish the sentence, there was a sudden rumble overhead ━ a rescue team had arrived.

Some of the bodyguards appeared to be overwrought, glancing at the young master from time to time. Qi Ze continued casually, “if you don’t expose me, of course I’ll carry this burden by myself. If you dare betray me, don’t hold me accountable for the deaths of lots of people. I’m a civilian with absolutely no powers; a mere carbon-based human. Why would I be interested in the body of a special agent? For the Ouyang family, however, I can’t guarantee anything…”

Ouyang Ye quickly begged for forgiveness, “Shut up, Shao Qi! Can’t we help you hide it?” After knowing each other for two years, he became accustomed to his unpredictable and strange nature, but his words revealed his unerring discernment. He promised to be answerable for his deeds, and he would be answerable for his deeds until the very end. He would never use someone to be his scapegoat, nor be irresolute when firmness was needed.

“What should we say? You surely must’ve thought of something, right?” He rubbed his face anxiously, speaking in a depressed tone.

“I’ll gnaw you to death if there’ll still be someone inside that cockpit.”² Qi Ze remained calm and unflustered.

Yan Junyu was irate and powerless as he glared daggers at the people discussing how to dispose of his body. He wondered how there could be such ignorant, daring and useless men in this world. After all those years of military training, how could they let themselves be fooled by two young men? Furthermore, a lot of the evidence could be easily spotted at the scene; investigating even a tad could reveal the actual truth and the perpetrators.

He was certain that the two men would be exposed if they did not manage to fabricate a convincing story and confidently spew lies from beginning until end. He, unfortunately, couldn’t say he wouldn’t file a lawsuit against them because of their young age and inexperience. At the age of 18, when everything was really setting in motion and the requisite education was halfway done, they’d enroll in institutions for further studying, and if their resumes were to get stained, it would have a deleterious effect for their future, especially for Qi Ze.

Carbon-based people were discriminated against by society, and if one would commit a crime, they’d meet their end in strange circumstances in an accident the day after their imprisonment. Was it true that an unaccountable kind of love could cause a person to go mad and act in foolish ways? Yan Junyu stared at Qi Zu and sighed heavily.

Just then, several airships descended, air currents sweeping away the trees nearby. Yan Bo and Xu Qi rushed out of the aircrafts, but were confounded by the sight of the bloody yet empty cockpit.

“Why is there no one here? Where’s Junyu?” Xu Qi’s keen eyes seemed to gaze right through Ouyang Ye.

Qi Ze, who had been the epitome of equanimity moments ago, was now hidden behind Ouyang Ye, bloodshot eyes looking at the ground, and his hand clasping the hem of his coat, as if seeking refuge. Ouyang Ye, who stood in front of him, almost lost his footing and stammered, “reporting to the General, when we opened the cockpit, it was empty.”

Retracting his gaze, Xu Qi motioned at his retinue. “Find the black box and search for any hints of radiation in eight different directions in groups of ten. Report to me immediately once you find out anything.”

He was distrustful of Ouyang Ye, but didn’t even spare a glance at Qi Ze. He had already done a background check on them both on his way here. That was but a weak carbon-based human, not deserving his attention in the slightest.

Yan Junyu marveled at Qi Ze’s performance; it took only a second for him to change from a bold, arrogant boy to a cowardly stranger. Xu Qi, who once worked as an intelligence agent, should not have been this slow-witted, but he could also be deceived quite easily.

Fortunately, even though the human eye could be dazzled by someone’s sham, the apparatus and machines were not as subjective. If Xu Qi checked the black box and forcibly went through Qi Ze’s belongings kept in his Interspatial Button, the cadaver would be discovered. Having thought of this, he trailed after Qi Ze into the airship and stopped inside an enclosed room.

There was a scanner put up in front of the door that detected the possessions inside one’s Interspatial Button. Yan Junyu expected Qi Ze to be exposed with no further questioning, but to his astonishment, he walked past it without being faced by any issues. He grabbed his own shoulders tightly, embracing his chest, eyes opened widely and darting frantically around him. Suddenly, the overhead light turned on, causing him to almost jump off the chair. His face paled, his eyes filled with fear reddened and his body trembled.

If he hadn’t seen his poise previously, Yan Junyu would never have suspected that such an apprehensive and timorous young man was the culprit behind the disappearance of his own corpse. He peeked at his endearing, proportionally perfect face, then shook his head in a complicated mood.

Just then, a female soldier stepped inside and poured a cup of water for the young man, a gesture conveying faux concern for his well being when, in fact, she was only testing him. The boy, however, dodged all of her attempts expertly, insisting that the cockpit was empty when they’d gotten there and found nothing at the scene.

About half an hour later, the female soldier finally left, leaving behind the cup of cold water.

Yan Junyu felt more and more that Qi Ze was a puzzle ━ pretending to be fragile, when he could cope with difficulties stronger than him by himself. He grasped the cup in his hands and lifted it unsteadily, taking a sip hesitantly. Even if no one was still there to witness his act, he played the role of an appalled carbon-based human diligently.

Yan Junyu looked fixedly at him, his resentment gradually melting into self-deprecation. His grandfather used to instruct him not to judge a book by its cover. He thought he understood the meaning behind those words quite well, yet he’s not too sure about that now. Anyone, strong or puny, had an unseen side, and the consequences of neglecting this knowledge were unforeseeable.

He recalled Qi Ze’s earlier statement; the young man was unshaken in his belief that the records in the black box were nonexistent and the body inside the Interspatial Button would not be tracked down. He regarded those words as petty utterances, but now, they seemed pretty credible.

What on earth did he rely on?

He was ruminating on it, when the door opened with a creak. Yan Bo gestured to the boy stiffly, “you may leave now. Don’t spread any of the information about this accident when you get back to school. Understand?”

Qi Ze nearly overturned the cup of water. After he hastily straightened up, he rose from the chair and bowed at ninety degrees. “I understand. I won’t say anything,” he replied fearfully.

Yan Bo nodded and ordered his entourage to drop him off the airship. Yan Junyu’s endeavors to get inside the command room and locate Xu Qi were fruitless, for his spiritual body was not allowed to stay farther than 100 meters away from the boy, forcing him to follow after Qi Ze.

It was, perhaps, because of the peculiar connection between the physical body and its soul, causing them to amalgamate. That is to say, if his corpse was kept away by the boy, he’d have no possibility to come in contact with his family, unless Qi Ze voluntarily decided to interact with them. Yan Junyu’s ire, which had just dwindled, flared again.

“Why do you want my body? Is it because you’re a federal spy? Attempting to steal state secrets?” He inquired wrathfully, his expression ice cold.

The genetic sequence of people with special capabilities was one of the country’s most significant confidential matters. Each deceased person’s cadaver had to be recovered by their family for further genetic research. It was because of this seemingly brutal approach that mankind managed to survive the apocalypse thousands of years ago, thereby becoming stronger, living longer, and ultimately come to be a major force in the Black Eye Galaxy.

It was no wonder that Yan Junyu was suspected to possess a superior gene. Having such remarkable genes was the basis of mankind’s beginnings in the universe, and people that were even more exceptional were the precious property of the government. He was previously indifferent to Qi Ze, however, now he was eager to find out everything about him.

Living or on death’s bed, he would not spare any enemies who dare to sabotage national security!

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¹Star Internet, but sounded kinda fancy as Starnet so I left it as that

²Really strange… The Chinese raws were directly translated as ‘I’ll gnaw you to death if there’s no one in the cockpit’ or other variations and I was VERY confused and decided to change it up a bit because it didn’t make any sense

*Note: I feel like there are less terms to explain here than when I’m translating LOSD, and I feel like I’m doing something wrong for some reason (: please do tell me if the quality of the translation is poor/could be improved or is good enough! Thank you!

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