After a bit of casual chat, the two unconsciously started talking about business again.

“With it gone, the remaining beast herds are nothing to fear. Next is rescue and battlefield cleanup.”

Chi Yao: “Wasn’t rescue handed over to Cygnus?”

Jing Xi: “Do you think he’ll do it?”

Chi Yao sneered: “It’s a miracle the empire hasn’t collapsed with people like that in power.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Thinking of that cave, Jing Xi lowered his eyes to look at him and said calmly, “You saw it?”

Chi Yao paused in his motion of gnawing on a rib.

“Yeah.” He shoveled two mouthfuls of rice, swallowed, and then roughly described the situation.

“It didn’t attack you?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao: “It treated me as one of its kind, probably thinking I would agree to its request.”

“How could you be its kind?” Jing Xi put his arm around his shoulder. “You are Yao Yao, the substitute—”

The low voice made his ears tingle. Chi Yao’s eyes flashed, then he heard him continue: “—of my childhood friend.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Haven’t played enough with the substitute trope yet?

Jing Xi: “You have a past, a future, no different from ordinary people.”

—No different from ordinary people.

The image of that monster in the cave flashed before Chi Yao’s eyes, his mood complex.

Jing Xi: “You said that thing announced its name before self-destructing?”

Chi Yao put down his bowl and chopsticks: “Yeah, it believed it was human until the very end.”

“Then it must have been in great pain, right?”

Hearing Jing Xi say this, Chi Yao turned to look at him.

“Being human but without human form, living underground, eating raw food, surrounded by wild beasts.” Jing Xi said calmly, “That lethal sonic wave might have been its ceaseless wailing day and night.”

A plain sentence, yet it gave Chi Yao a strong sense of identification.

Perhaps this would be his life in a few years.

Neither human nor beast, hiding in a sunless hell, waiting for death to descend.

Chi Yao wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his head in his waist: “Many times, I can’t tell if I’m a beast with human thinking, or a human with a beast form.”

When life consisted only of slaughter, the boundary between human and beast seemed to vanish.

The fingertips brushing through his hair were gentle. Chi Yao couldn’t help tightening his arms: “But when I’m with you, I’m sure I am human.”

Jing Xi stroked his slightly damp hair, his voice low: “Sooner or later, I will put everything back on the right track.”

Rapid knocking broke the rare warm scene.

“Boss!” Tie Xiong rushed in like a small cannonball. Seeing Chi Yao, he threw himself at him. “Boss waahhh—!”

Chi Yao pulled Jing Xi back to dodge.

Tie Xiong missed and jumped straight over the dining table.

He turned around aggrievedly, ran back, hugged Chi Yao’s leg, and wailed.

“I thought you died boo hoo hoo—”

Seeing him wiping tears and snot all over his pant leg, Chi Yao shook his leg trying to throw this burden off.

But the burden held on deathly tight, impossible to shake off, and cried even louder the more he shook.

Chi Yao was helpless, picking him up by his suspenders.

“What are you crying for? I’m not dead yet.”

“Boss hug—I want a hug boo hoo wah—”

Tie Xiong reached out trying to reach him, but being held far away by Chi Yao, he couldn’t reach even using both hands and feet.

Aggrieved to the extreme, Tie Xiong’s hands turned into claws, and soft fuzz grew on his face. Looking from afar, he looked like a whimpering little puppy.

Jing Xi’s heart tightened: “Stop playing.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Since Jing Xi had spoken, he reluctantly tucked the little brat into the crook of his arm.

“You aren’t jealous?”

Jing Xi: “…”

Seeing his face turn cold, Chi Yao knew it was bad, then heard him say: “I don’t care about your pile of lovers and wives, let alone a child?”

Chi Yao: “…”

Don’t care? Better be true.

When Fang Liang and Yan Kai came in, Tie Xiong had calmed down, hands returned to normal, sitting on Chi Yao’s lap sobbing while gnawing on a rib.

“Cleanup work is proceeding smoothly so far.”

Yan Kai reported the ongoing work of each department. “Expected to return tomorrow.”

Fang Liang opened a holographic scan.

“This is a vertical scan one thousand meters down from the cave’s core area.”

Chi Yao glanced at it.

The crisscrossing tunnels looked like a huge underground city.

The sudden emergence of large numbers of mutant beast herds could also be explained.

Covered by its sonic waves, this area couldn’t be scanned by ordinary detection instruments at all.

But with such high mutation levels, could it be—

Just as he thought this, he heard Jing Xi speak.

“Does it possess the ability to catalyze mutant beasts?”

Chi Yao shook his head: “Currently we can only confirm its sonic waves can control other beasts, or rather its sonic waves allow all beasts to understand and obey its commands.”

Fang Liang: “We scanned a large number of corpses, basically all cubs under five months old. Should have been killed by the shockwave during the explosion.”

Chi Yao looked at that death data.

If this batch of cubs had grown up, it would have been another great war.

“How are Xi Xi’s injuries?” Jing Xi asked.

The name Yin Wei was as famous as Chi Yao’s name, almost becoming a term used to stop children from crying at night.

But the vast majority of people had only heard the name.

To avoid trouble, Jing Xi used a nickname.

Chi Yao momentarily thought Jing Xi was injured.

“The dog got hurt?”

Jing Xi looked at him: “It lured almost all the level-five mutants, and later looked for you while injured. It entered the treatment pod almost the same time as you.”

Chi Yao’s expression changed, getting up to walk out.

“Where is it?”

Jing Xi got up to follow: “Over there.”

He spoke implicitly, but Chi Yao knew he meant Extreme Shadow’s warship.

Evening fell, leaving only the last touch of afterglow on the mountaintop.

Chi Yao and Jing Xi walked off the warship. Outside was a wide valley, with fighters flying everywhere like paper cranes.

Soldiers on break sat around bonfires, clinking glasses, eating meat, laughing and bragging.

This was one of their few entertainments on ordinary days.

Walking past, Chi Yao sharply spotted some Extreme Shadow brothers mixed in, arms around the shoulders of Flying Dragon’s greenhorns, looking like brothers in life and death.

“Plastic brotherhood?” Chi Yao leaned into Jing Xi’s ear and whispered, “If your people knew who they were, would they cry?”

Jing Xi: “…”

“Probably won’t cry.” He thought about it seriously. “Next time they fight, they might stab an extra time.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Approaching Extreme Shadow’s warship, Yan Kai felt something was wrong the more he looked.

Why did this warship look so familiar?

Afraid he was mistaken, he leaned into Fang Liang’s ear and whispered: “Ah Jing, don’t you think this warship looks a bit familiar?”

Ah Jing?

Fang Liang kept a wooden face: “Warships all look about the same.”

Yan Kai was confused: “Really?”

Outside the infirmary, Chi Yao paused, waved his hand over the sensor area, and the door opened.

Ordinary treatment pods were too small to hold Yin Wei, so he had custom-made a large size on the black market. Unexpectedly, it was actually used today.

Stepping inside, Chi Yao’s face froze.

He thought the dog would be covered in cuts and bruises, lying there weakly. The result—

“Master, is it tasty? Want more?”

“Is this comfortable? Want to switch to a bigger comb?”

“Oh my, don’t move, let me feed you.”

A group of officers, including Lu Meng, surrounded the treatment pod. Someone handed over big marrow bones, someone combed its fur, someone gave a massage. Yin Wei leaned halfway eating meat, eyes narrowed in comfort.

Fuck!

Chi Yao pointed at it, complaining to Jing Xi: “Why the hell don’t I get such good treatment?”

Woke up and got his face pinched by Jing Xi, still hurts now.

Jing Xi looked at him, eyes cool: “Who else do you want to wait on you?”

Chi Yao choked, instantly calming down: “…You are enough.”

Hearing movement at the door, Lu Meng turned his head to greet: “Boss.”

He looked at the tall, ordinary-looking soldier beside Jing Xi, cleared his throat, and said stiffly: “You okay now?”

“Doing great.” Chi Yao walked over unhurriedly.

The dog’s front and back legs were wrapped in bandages, both front paws wrapped several layers thick, and the armor on its body was retracted.

“After coming back, I used the ring to help it take it off.” Jing Xi explained.

Chi Yao: “Mm.”

The ring could remotely control the armor within a certain range, but Chi Yao almost never used this function.

Ordinary people would use a leash even for ordinary dogs, let alone him raising a level-five mutant dog.

In general mode, if the ring was too far from his terminal, it would automatically deactivate armor mode. If in remote mode, it would be troublesome if the dog ran far away.

Yin Wei smelled Chi Yao’s scent, shuddered, looked left and right with misty eyes, and locked onto Chi Yao.

Master and servant stared at each other silently for a moment. Yin Wei reluctantly pushed away the marrow bone handed to its mouth, pitifully lifting its left leg to indicate it was really badly injured.

Chi Yao snorted coldly, not buying it.

Seeing it didn’t work, it switched to the right leg, a pool of tears instantly accumulating under its big eyes.

“Awooo~”

Chi Yao: “Eating very happily, huh?”

Yin Wei lay down, covering its eyes with its paws.

As long as it couldn’t see, it could pretend he didn’t exist.

“Stop bullying it.” Jing Xi said helplessly, “Without its help, I wouldn’t have found you so easily.”

Chi Yao walked over and sat down beside the dog, messing up the smoothed dog fur in two strokes.

The dog felt guilty and actively moved its head over to be rubbed.

Seeing the Boss had also arrived, the other officers felt the atmosphere wasn’t right to stay any longer.

One by one, they walked reluctantly toward the door.

Passing Jing Xi, one officer couldn’t help whispering: “Boss, let’s keep it in our Flying Dragon, yeah?”

Jing Xi: “…”

One leads to two.

“Yeah, our legion lacks military dogs!”

“Such a majestic and loyal mutant dog, miss this village and there’s no this shop!”

“Such a good dog, if it were in our Flying Dragon, guaranteed to be raised white and chubby.”

“…” Jing Xi said calmly, “It has an owner.”

Unexpectedly they said: “We can crowdfund to buy it!”

Jing Xi: “…”

Seeing Jing Xi unmoved, they all turned their eyes to Lu Meng.

Only this hope of the whole village remained!

Lu Meng: “…”

Knowing the truth, Lu Meng’s mood was very subtle.

But many things were just this wonderful. When enemies, they looked unpleasant no matter what; after becoming allies, they liked them tight, wishing to scoop them into their own bowl.

Jing Xi was about to go in when he heard Lu Meng clear his throat awkwardly: “Boss, I think it works.”

Jing Xi: “…”

What fun are you joining in?

Jing Xi walked in, dropping a sentence calmly: “No need to buy. Might be one family in the future.”

All officers: “?”

Lu Meng: “…!”

Fuck.

The cabin door closed. Jing Xi first checked the data displayed on the treatment pod.

The treatment process was only at 20%.

Level-five mutants had strong self-repair abilities; relatively, the effect of external intervention treatment was low.

Basically still had to rely on itself to repair.

“Luckily the armor was strong enough.” Jing Xi walked to Chi Yao’s side. “Places covered by armor are fine.”

Chi Yao touched its belly: “I bought all materials on the black market to test. This is the strongest and most tough one.”

Seeing something from the corner of his eye, Jing Xi looked over.

“Why is there a scar on its belly?”

“This?”

Chi Yao brushed the fur aside. Under the thick fur was a scar over twenty centimeters long.

“Looks like it’s been a long time.”

Jing Xi wanted to touch it, thought about it, and withdrew his hand.

“It got stabbed saving me when it was little, almost died.”

Thinking of that time, Chi Yao’s eyes turned cold. “Chun Qin gave it first aid. Luckily a spaceship passed by, so it was saved.”

“When it was little?” Jing Xi asked in a low voice. “How long ago?”

Chi Yao: “Almost ten years. Back then I had just escaped with Chun Qin.”

Yin Wei might have sensed its master’s mood and rubbed against the back of his hand.

Chi Yao rubbed its head and sneered: “To save it, I had to sell my body. Big sacrifice.”

Rare to hear Chi Yao talk about the past. Jing Xi was listening seriously, but hearing the words “sell body” (prostitution/slavery implication), his face darkened.

“Sell kidney or sell body?” (Homophones in Chinese)

Chi Yao didn’t notice the change in his voice: “Sell body. I only have two kidneys; wouldn’t they be gone if I sold them?”

Jing Xi: “Sold to whom?”

Chi Yao: “An old man.”

Jing Xi’s voice was cold enough to drop ice shards: “Old man? Can identity information still be found? Forcing a minor is a felony!”

Ten years ago, Chi Yao wasn’t an adult yet.

That dead old man could be sentenced to at least twenty years.

Finally sensing something wrong with Jing Xi, Chi Yao turned and saw a face like an approaching storm.

He recalled the conversation just now and realized belatedly.

“No, not the kind of selling body you think.”

Jing Xi’s expression didn’t improve at all, looking ready to rush out and arrest someone immediately.

“Then which kind?”

Before Chi Yao could say the explanation, he laughed first.

Once he laughed, he couldn’t stop.

“You can still laugh?” Jing Xi’s mood hit rock bottom.

Chi Yao laughed while holding his hand: “What you said makes sense haha—I’ve wanted to beat up that dead old man for a long time hahahaha—let’s do it together when there’s a chance.”

Human joys and sorrows are not interlinked.

Chi Yao laughed uncontrollably, while Jing Xi felt sad to death.

He didn’t know Chi Yao had suffered such torture.

Chi Yao laughed until his stomach hurt faintly, only then realizing Jing Xi’s eyes were red.

“…”

Seemed the joke went too far.

Chi Yao pulled him over and hugged him in front, kissing his face to comfort him.

“That old man’s condition for treating the dog was for me to be his assistant, handle some internal affairs. But I never went to school since I was small, and the characters I knew were limited to common ones. So I had to learn primary school to university curriculums first—”

Jing Xi’s irritable mood calmed down.

He turned to look into Chi Yao’s eyes, confirming the other wasn’t lying.

“Self-taught?”

Chi Yao recalled: “The old man had many people under him, but they were all busy. Usually whoever was free taught me. They all had strong personalities and loved to mix in private goods, so I inexplicably learned some strange things.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao: “Later when there were more people on the ship, the old man’s business got busier and busier, so he threw that ship to me and ran away himself.”

Jing Xi’s eyes flashed: “The ship you’re talking about is Ji—”

Chi Yao chuckled: “Can’t tell others, okay.”

Jing Xi frowned: “Who exactly is the old man?”

Chi Yao: “Guess?”

At the same time on a certain warship, an old man in uniform sneezed three times loud enough to shake the heavens.

“Fuck! Must be that brat Chi Yao cursing me.”

The officer beside him: “…”

Clearly your own rhinitis acting up.

The old man wiped his nose, his voice stuffy: “Any anomalies on the Capital Star?”

The officer shook his head, respectfully saying: “With our support, Admiral Pei has the highest chance of winning.”

“Before the 15th, even if the higher-ups signed, it could change.” The old man’s eyes were sharp. “If those other two old fellows get up there, the military will change.”

“Admiral Zhao has coveted that position for a long time, holds real power, and has the support of great nobles including the Li family. He also has considerable say in the military.” The officer analyzed. “If there are variables, he is most likely to ascend.”

The old man snorted: “Those openly bad aren’t the most terrible; those secretly bad are impossible to guard against.”

The officer paused: “You mean—”

“Except for Old Pei, whoever ascends is very unfavorable to us.” The old man leaned back, sighed lightly, and spoke after a long while. “Prepare. If it really comes to that—destroy all files.”

The officer’s expression changed, responding in a low voice: “Yes.”

Here the war just ended, and Chen Bingfeng’s video call came.

“Heard you called for other reinforcements?”

Just came up with this sentence, sounding less like asking and more like demanding an explanation.

Jing Xi: “It’s the garrison from a nearby planet.”

Chen Bingfeng smiled contemptuously: “Mobilizing garrison help for a beast tide of this scale? Flying Dragon can’t even display fifty percent of its strength in your hands, right?”

Jing Xi said calmly: “Lieutenant General Chen is right to lecture. Cygnus performed extraordinarily in your hands, actually rescuing over ten thousand refugees. Truly amazing.”

Chi Yao stood behind him, suppressing the corners of his lips to not laugh out loud.

Jing Xi’s skill in sarcasm was probably maxed out by him.

Cygnus Legion had no less than ten thousand soldiers. Being here for so many days, averaging not even one refugee saved per person.

These words were just short of pasting the word “incompetent” on Chen Bingfeng’s forehead.

The smile on Chen Bingfeng’s lips stiffened, his face iron-green.

“Then the people you sent to the rescue team were also garrison?”

A window popped up on the virtual screen showing Li Yuan strafing with a machine gun on a fighter.

“If I’m not mistaken, this is someone from Extreme Shadow, right?” Chen Bingfeng tapped his finger heavily on the desktop three times. “Shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”

Almost simultaneously, Chi Yao’s terminal vibrated.

He swiped it open; Extreme Shadow’s group was already in an uproar.

“The military really is a bunch of hypocrites. Just helped them and they curse us online. My wounds haven’t even healed yet!”

“Have we ever suffered this kind of grievance?”

“Calm down. The ones cursing us are Cygnus, not Flying Dragon.”

“Who knows if they are in cahoots? Flying Dragon’s boss said last time he’d reduce our sentences. Reduce my ass!”

At the bottom was a message from Fang Liang tagging him, which was a link.

Chi Yao clicked in; it was a social media platform.

Cygnus Legion’s ID had posted over ten messages today.

The first few were good news about Cygnus leading the army to win the war. Comments were already over a million, all blowing rainbow farts (flattery).

The latest two mentioned Extreme Shadow.

[[Breaking] Extreme Shadow space pirates intruded into the battlefield, strafing local residents at will, snatching military resources. Circumstances serious, nature vile. Cygnus has dispatched special forces to subdue them, strictly searching every corner to ensure no omissions, guaranteeing residents’ personal and property safety. [Image][Image][Image]]

Four out of nine attached images were of Li Yuan because his recognizability was higher than others.

All were photos of him shooting fiercely or waving an axe, but the targets being hit didn’t appear in the frame.

Chi Yao opened the comments. As he expected, half were blowing rainbow farts, half were crusading against Extreme Shadow. There was even one “Is Flying Dragon in collusion with Extreme Shadow?” pushed into the top ten hot comments.

When Jing Xi said before he would reduce their sentences based on military merits, Chi Yao only took it as a joke.

For people like them who couldn’t live in the sunlight, reputation might be the most worthless thing.

But this didn’t mean he would swallow his anger when someone poured dirty water on his head.

Jing Xi was dealing with Chen Bingfeng when he suddenly heard a sneer in his ear.

His eyes flashed, looking at the arrogant Chen Bingfeng in the screen, silently lighting a candle for him in his heart.