hello! i’m alive after some stressful exams and still not done yet but hooray for another chapter! if you wish to support my boba addiction, make sure to check out my ko-fi (might post updates even faster if i’m all fired up from my cinnamon bobas!!) ヾ(｡･ω･)ｼ
After getting away from the scene of the unfortunate incident, Ouyang Ye slumped against a chair, drowsiness overwhelming his senses. During the trial, he had nearly disclosed his secrets; luckily, they didn’t manage to obtain any advantageous information from the black box. The scanner, too, failed to detect Shao Qi’s iced coffin inside his Interspatial Button. With no evidence to carry on with the interrogation, the military could not arrest anyone at will. Therefore, the final decision was for them to be released straight away, for they were still minors and under constitutional protection, as mentioned in the Star Law.
Ouyang Ye’s bodyguards, who had been drilled harshly, had a strong mentality and conveyed their steadfast loyalty time and time again. They never wavered, nor showed anything that would raise anyone’s suspicion.
Some of the people who had escaped without a hitch felt even more complicated once they casted a glance at Qi Ze’s figure, who was lounging around and eating from fruit platters, leaning casually on a sofa.
“How can you eat in a situation like this? The news of Master Yan’s death is enough to send shock waves through the community of the Imperial Star. Soon, people will start paying attention to Neptune. Shao Qi, it’s too early to relax. Indubitably, something is going to happen.” Ouyang Ye’s fruitless attempt to admonish him fell on deaf ears, the boy’s unmoving stare containing little to no warmth, as if something had been extinguished deep within.
“Because I already took the risk, I must get to the bottom of this,” Qi Ze lifted a piece of fruit and munched on it. His cheeks bulged, giving everyone the impression of an adorable squirrel.
Yet no one in the vicinity, including a wisp of a soul, was deceived by his facade. He striked someone as a gentle, innocuous person, but somehow managed to fool the mecha’s black box and the scanner. Unbeknownst to the gentry, such groundbreaking technology did, actually, exist.
During the two years that they spent together, Qi Ze displayed awe-inspiring prowess, yet still presented to others understated abilities. In this way, Ouyang Ye had never felt daunted. Now, the notion of having to endure the consequences of his actions caused him to contemplate: if everything that took place was to be exposed, not only would Qi Ze suffer the infliction of a penalty in accordance to the Imperial Law1, but also the Ouyang family would by brought to its downfall…
“Be honest for once, Qi Ze. Were you a mole sent by the Federation or by the Star Thieves? You wantonly reached out to me and even approached Yan Junyu to steal confidential matters of the military from the Empire.” As Ouyang Ye queried, the bodyguards pulled their particle guns2 and pointed them at the puerile youth.
“If I were a mole, what would you do?” Qi Ze lowered his silver fork slowly and rested his chin on his hands. He innocently batted his eyelashes, making his pair of expressive, dark, yet glimmering eyes seem to give away emotions that were only figmental.
Ouyang Ye dumbly hung his head slightly, as if he was struggling. Yan Junyu proceeded towards him and uttered quietly, “I wish you’d choose, between the safety of our nation and your personal feelings, your country. Right after you joined the Neptune Military Academy, you swore to defend your country and its people with your life. Remember your words and live up to them.”
He was well-aware of the fact that his stricture couldn’t be sensed by others, yet he still had the hankering of fulfilling his duty as an instructor and fellow soldier. He mulled over this matter some more, and could not help but regard Qi Ze as overly mistrustful. He, just like Xu Qi, refused to acknowledge those too weak; this blatant disregard led to the coalescence of events that ultimately, kept on taking turns for the worse continuously.
The so-called infatuation and confession of his non-existent romantic feelings were but means of approaching the other person.
Yan Junyu kneaded his eyebrows exasperatedly, feeling exceptionally unpleasant for being unable to take this matter into his own hands. Few were privy to the nation’s top secret, and that of his genetic sequence. He’s the specialist with the greatest potential in the history of the Empire. The Federation’s military strength was slightly weaker than the Empire’s, but in terms of biotechnology they were more advanced, especially in genetic evolution. If the Federation became aware of their unique genetic code, identified the fatal flaws and produced gene-destructive agents specifically aimed at the Yan family, they could be wiped out for good and the Empire’s secret weapon, the most powerful mecha advance unit, would be eradicated.
Whether they could avoid any future conflicts depended entirely on Ouyang Ye’s final decisions. However, Yan Junyu had little to no hope for this. Qi Ze’s entire identity was shrouded in mystery, his methods of executing whatever he had planned were odd to say the least; it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were to find out his DNA sequencing was a cheap reproduction. He seemed to be nestling lazily on the sofa, yet every single one of his body’s muscles were taut, resembling a wild animal brimming with bestial excitement and preparing to pounce on its prey.
Ouyang Ye lacked the combat experience necessary to notice such a subtlety. For Yan Junyu, who had fought in countless battles, the sudden appearance of an object in Qi Ze’s hand was quite easy to distinguish. In all likelihood it could be either something poisonous or a weapon. If Ouyang Ye’s reply was not satisfactory, he would risk having his blood end up splattered on the walls of the room. A great number of particle guns were trained at him, yet his vacant stare displayed his confidence. The firearms barely made him flinch.
Once again, Yan Junyu considered Qi Ze even more of a menace, piqued at his inability to intervene.
“Don’t act impulsively, calm down,” he advised. His hand reached to pat Ouyang Ye’s shoulder, but it went right through him.
“Shao Qi, if you hadn’t been there for me, I would’ve been six feet under right now. Because of you, I managed to cultivate to the fourth level of my physical training. I won’t forget your service. I was going to do my best to satisfy your demands, but I don’t know you well enough to trust you, I’m not sure what your goals are. If I continue blindly trusting you, I’ll be the one ending up suffering in the end. Maybe even the Ouyang family will be decimated. I’m not going to report you to the higher-ups. How about you return Yan Junyu’s corpse? I’ll make sure to support you financially until you kick the bucket and to help you leave the Empire.” Ouyang Ye spoke seriously after pondering for a while.
Qi Ze did not acknowledge him, but looked fixedly at him in silence for some time, before stretching his lips into a grisly smile.
Ouyang Ye’s scalp itched in trepidation at the sight, and as Qi Ze laughed heartily, a chill ran down his back. His heart hammered against his chest.
Yan Junyu felt like he could breathe normally again. He uttered, “well done. Try not to provoke him.” Ouyang Ye’s words obviously satisfied Qi Ze. His flexed muscles relaxed slowly and the object in his clenched hand was stored back inside his Interspatial Button.
“Whether you believe me or not, I’m actually not a spy,” he picked up the silver fork again and sank his teeth back in the juicy fruit. He spoke vaguely, “I can save Yan Junyu, that’s why I’m taking his body.”
The tense atmosphere was immediately dispelled; Ouyang Ye was put at his ease again. While wiping the cold sweat that traveled down his forehead, he asked the bodyguards to lower their weapons. Only after this did he take in what the youth had told him and insisted, “Shao Qi, don’t be like that. Yan Junyu was crushed to death and he can’t be saved even if he is sent to the best hospital in the Empire.”
“If I was able to save you, I’ll save him, too. If you don’t believe me, I’ll transfer the body to your Interspatial Button. I’m not going to steal him3.” He did not fret at the thought of giving the cadaver to Ouyang Ye. He denied finding Yan Junyu’s body, but if he rejected Qi Ze’s proposal, what would await him, or the entirety of the Ouyang family, was the Yan family’s wrath and drawing the attention of the military. Once they were accused of collaborating with enemies of foreign countries and betraying the Empire, the Ouyang family would be wiped out.
Ouyang Ye understood that his body was a hassle to deal with, but he had no choice but to carry it with him. It was better for him to bear this responsibility, rather than to entrust it to Qi Ze. Only the Lord above knew when he’d sneak away along with the corpse.
Perhaps Qi Ze, unable to come to terms with Yan Junyu’s death, became delusional and wished to revive him, but how could such a miracle take place? Love really turned people into injudicious, wooden-headed fools. Even cold-blooded beings like Qi Ze couldn’t avoid getting tainted by its vulgarity. It was pathetic to think about it. Ouyang Ye, who successfully got his hands on the body, sighed heavily.
As if he saw right through him, Qi Ze glanced at him with narrowed eyes and went on to say, “I saved you, helped you train your body, and you paid for my tuition and living expenses…” He accessed the bill using his brain4 and concluded, “you5 spent 160 million stars for me, enough to repay me. We’re even. Now, if you help me, how about getting great powers in return?”
His fingertips hit the holographic keyboard, typing out a long list.
Confident that his body was safely passed over to Ouyang Ye and assured that the Ouyang family would not dare to betray the Empire, Yan Junyu ultimately followed the youth and attentively watched his every move. Qi Ze was a conundrum, and from their previous conversation he had finally understood the reason Ouyang Ye had diligently stuck to him.
Saving people and encouraging genetic evolution was not easily achievable, because, with money, highly pure genetic evolutionary fluids could still be bought. Moreover, Ouyang Ye was not your run-of-the-mill civilian — he couldn’t be fooled. There should be more to it than that.
No matter how many cards Qi Ze had up his sleeve, it was absolutely unattainable for an individual to suddenly have extraordinary powers. Yan Junyu had never seen or heard of such technology. One’s body could be strengthened through the use of purpose-built drugs, but possessing prodigious powers was predetermined at birth, some having the luck of coming to endow them. For thousands of years, countless scientists had attempted to tackle this problem with no success.
It’s absurd to even consider reviving the dead or to invoke powers! Yan Junyu shook his head and sneered nastly at Qi Ze’s remarks. If he were a spy, this method of suborning would be unbelievably cheap of him to do. His body was already stored inside Ouyang Ye’s Interspatial Button, still open to doubt wherever he’d be returned to his family. The mere thought brought him a splitting headache, despite his obvious lack of a physical self.
On the other hand, Ouyang Ye was skimming the list when he exclaimed, “a ton of energy liquid, nine thunderstorm crystals, a military smelter… Shao Qi, do you think I own a bank? What do you intend to use these things for? Will these help me get powers?”
“I can turn you into a Taijutsu user6, and naturally, you’ll get your powers. If you can’t trust me, pretend I never said this to you before.” Qi Ze’s attitude and manner of speech showed his utter insouciance.
Ouyang Ye was eager to try, yet he deemed it forlorn. He wanted to refuse quickly, fearing that he’d regret it in the future. His thoughts were intertwined with his facial expression7. After some time, he blurted, “these things are strategic goods and materials, which can’t be bought with money. I’ll ask someone first.” He didn’t accept nor reject his offer, having already mastered one-handed Tai Chi8.
Qi Ze nodded indecisively.
Yan Junyu gazed coldly at the youth, gravely regarding his body as nothing but a cover for his desire to acquire strategic goods. He was an enigma difficult to decipher, and his thirst of knowledge could only be quenched from fathoming him out.
1Different from the Star Law, had to double check the raws
2When I searched on google, it did not give me any satisfactory results from the first search, so I turned to Chinese google, and I think this might be a pretty accurate image of the gun (keyword, I think)
3Raw was pretty weird? At least it didn’t make sense to me when I translated it so I changed it up a bit
4Raws talk about some sort of developed, futuristic brain or brain power?? But they weren’t that specific so I didn’t want to freely translate
5funny because Qi Ze says “Your egotistical/selfish self” as to address Ouyang Ye lmao
6Basically this 体术 but I’m not sure… the translation was a bit weird so I reached out to my buddy Chinese google, where I found out that this refers to taijutsu (which is literally ‘physical/body art/skills/techniques’)
7He got a lot on his mind and on his face, literally; his face betrays his thoughts
8Not sure about the translation of this one in this context: 打了一手太极
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2 responses to “MG – Chapter 4”
Thank you for your hard work
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ty for reading ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)
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