Chapter 118: Extra Story #11
Rawr Rawr Rabbit sat dejectedly on the deck of the small boat, its ears almost covering its eyes.
It now deeply regretted it: it turned out that those things about Lu Qingyan going on vacation with Chu Jiu and preparing a small ring for his finger were not to be casually revealed to Chu Jiu.
Kakaba also sat listlessly beside Rawr Rawr Rabbit, its fluffy little face showing an unusual melancholy.
It was now very uneasy: some time ago, when it jumped out of Kang Ruoding’s mental landscape to look for Rawr Rawr Rabbit, it happened to overhear Lu Qingyan’s conversation with Kang Ruoding. It wholeheartedly thought, “Wow, great! Our agreement is finally going to be realized!” and told the other spirit beast babies the news.
However, it forgot to remind Rawr Rawr Rabbit, “You can’t tell Chu Jiu about this.”
As a result, Chu Jiu now knew everything.
Not only that, but under Chu Jiu’s “interrogation,” their agreement that the four of them “must make Lu Qingyan Chu Jiu’s wife” was also brought to light.
This, this, this… wouldn’t this affect Lu Qingyan’s big plan?
After all, he had been so wholeheartedly trying to become Chu Jiu’s wife and had secretly prepared for so long!
Just as the two little ones couldn’t stop sighing, Chu Jiu patted their heads:
“Don’t worry.”
“Everything will be alright.”
“Think about the happy things—we’re going home soon!”
Even Little Can “meowed” once: “Chu Jiu and I have figured out a way, there won’t be any problems.”
The two little ones nodded, but at the same time couldn’t help but wonder: what exactly had Chu Jiu and Little Can discussed?
*
Arsa Star.
Interstellar teleportation station.
Lu Qingyan and the other three officers stared intently at the door of the teleportation pod in front of them.
The door finally opened.
Chu Jiu stepped out with Little Can.
His gaze passed over the crowd and met Lu Qingyan’s.
The corners of Lu Qingyan’s mouth lifted unreservedly, mouthing, “You’re back.”
At this moment, Rawr Rawr Rabbit, Glup-Glup, and Kakaba all jumped off Chu Jiu’s backpack and ran or flew towards their main bodies.
As mental entities, after being separated from their main bodies for a long time, they would subconsciously return and merge into the main body’s mental landscape.
Correspondingly, all the memories of the mental entities during the separation period would also merge with the main body’s memories.
The figures of the three little ones disappeared.
The three officers instantly received all the memories of the three little ones.
Their expressions suddenly changed, and they exchanged awkward glances, their eyes full of: We’re done for! The babies messed up!
*
Lu Qingyan strode over to Chu Jiu.
As he had done when seeing Chu Jiu off, he reached out and hugged the other man tightly, then gently nuzzled the top of Chu Jiu’s head, saying softly, “Welcome back.”
Chu Jiu’s face flushed slightly, and he responded softly, “Mmm.”
Logically, Little Can should have jumped into Lu Qingyan’s arms at this moment and merged into his mental landscape.
However, Little Can clung tightly to Chu Jiu’s shoulder, its eyes wide and round, its expression conveying: I’m not going back!
Lu Qingyan’s brow furrowed slightly: What’s wrong with Little Can?
Although it was always very attached to Chu Jiu, it had never refused to return to his mental landscape before.
Chu Jiu explained, “Ah, Little Can says it wants to stay by my side for a little longer—that should be okay, right?”
Lu Qingyan looked at Chu Jiu’s deliberately “calm” expression and said, “No problem.”
His peripheral vision quickly swept towards Kang Ruoding and the others behind him.
He saw that all three of them had their gazes darting around, not daring to look this way at all.
Lu Qingyan: …?
Marshal Lu temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart and put an arm around Chu Jiu’s shoulders, saying, “I’ll take you home.”
On the way back, Lu Qingyan told Chu Jiu that after this period of investigation, they had discovered that situations similar to “Tara,” where a planet was polluted by fleeing Zerg after encountering a temporal vortex, were not isolated cases.
Over the next period, the military would re-scan the surrounding star systems to clean up and repair them one by one.
And this repair process could not be separated from the “top healer” Chu Jiu.
Chu Jiu, who had been somewhat absent-minded earlier, finally looked at Lu Qingyan with full attention when he heard this, and finally asked with bright eyes, “That is to say, there will still be similar ‘pioneering repairs’ like this in the future?”
Lu Qingyan: “Yes.”
“And, the subsequent repair plans will all be led by the military.”
“So, your ‘pioneering team,’ which is Little Can and the others, will act with you in the form of ‘executing missions’.”
A look of surprise and joy filled Chu Jiu’s eyes: “Really! That’s great! That’s great!”
“I can still continue pioneering with everyone! That’s great!”
Looking at his beloved’s delighted face, Lu Qingyan’s gaze softened, and he raised his hand to rub the other’s head.
At the same time, Lu Qingyan noticed again:
That Little Can, after hearing such good news, didn’t even roll around on the ground in joy, but remained curled up in a ball, as if contemplating some great life matter.
…Great life matter?
*
Lu Qingyan took Chu Jiu to his doorstep.
Without needing to observe deliberately, Lu Qingyan had already noticed:
Chu Jiu was exceptionally nervous today.
Just those few steps from the flyer to the door, he almost walked with the same foot and hand forward at the same time and almost tripped over his own right foot with his left.
And Little Can on Chu Jiu’s shoulder seemed even more nervous than Chu Jiu, its tail even puffing up non-stop.
Lu Qingyan: …?
Chu Jiu opened the door.
He coughed lightly: “Lu Qingyan, I have something to tell you.”
Lu Qingyan: “…Okay.”
Chu Jiu tugged on Lu Qingyan’s sleeve and led him to sit on the sofa.
This was a sofa made in the style of Earth’s ancient civilization, clean and simple blue-gray, without any real-time sensing devices, and it wouldn’t automatically change shape according to the user’s height and build.
But Little Can liked this sofa very much.
Lu Qingyan also liked it—
However, compared to Little Can, who liked to lie on the sofa all the time and play with yarn balls with the little hamster, he preferred watching Chu Jiu sit on the sofa with his legs hugged.
It was now near dusk.
Pale golden sunlight, passing through the window that wasn’t displaying any virtual imagery, gently fell into the room, scattering onto the green plants Chu Jiu had placed by the window.
Chu Jiu looked at the shadow of the mint plant on the floor, took a deep breath, and said seriously, following the lines he had memorized:
“Lu Qingyan.”
Lu Qingyan: “…Hmm?”
Chu Jiu: “When I was looking up information before, I noticed a very rare detail.”
Lu Qingyan: “…?”
Chu Jiu: “It turns out that only a very few, very few top-level mental power users can condense their mental power into weapons.”
“And such weapons… usually won’t let anyone else touch them.”
Specifically, if an outsider forcibly touched this weapon, they would definitely be shattered by the mental power, their body turning to dust.
Lu Qingyan: “……Mm.”
Chu Jiu: “But, when we were at sea—I mean that time we were together in the Azure Realm fighting the barrel worms, didn’t I help you modify your weapon?”
Lu Qingyan: “I remember.”
“If you hadn’t put the branches of the Initial Tree on it beforehand, it would have been very difficult for us to successfully obtain the ‘Heart of the Undead’ afterwards.”
Chu Jiu: “Ah, right. But, but what I want to say now isn’t that…”
“I checked the information and asked other doctors before I knew…”
“Uh, the reason you can let me touch ‘Falling Moon Spear’ and let me be safe and sound is because… uh, mm…”
“You must have determined in advance that I, uh, I am not, not an ordinary outsider.” Only a “partner” recognized by the owner can be unharmed.
However, if this “partner” never has a “mental power fusion” with the owner, then this weapon will gradually ring, become uneasy, and cause chaos in the owner’s mental landscape.
Chu Jiu clenched his fists: “Since that’s the case, then I—”
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Qingyan had already interrupted him: “Chu Jiu.”
Chu Jiu: “Huh?”
Lu Qingyan: “You knew?”
Chu Jiu: “No, no, no, I didn’t know.”
Little Can on the side also shook its head desperately: No, no, he didn’t know anything!
Lu Qingyan: “……”
Lu Qingyan sighed, leaning forward slightly, his right hand going around Chu Jiu’s shoulder, gently stroking the back of his head.
Lu Qingyan could feel that Chu Jiu was trembling all over with nervousness at this moment.
He lowered his head, his forehead touching Chu Jiu’s forehead, and whispered, “You know my plan.”
“You… were worried I would be embarrassed, so you decided to make the first move?”
“And you even discussed it with Little Can, determined not to let me find out you already knew?”
Chu Jiu’s face flushed instantly.
H-how did he see through it?
Wasn’t my acting very good?
He bit his lip and said, “It’s not exactly that I was afraid you’d be embarrassed.”
“More… I was worried you would feel… regret.”
Lu Qingyan: “Regret?”
Chu Jiu lowered his eyelids, his eyelashes fluttering twice:
“If it were me, having carefully prepared for so long, wanting to give you a ‘surprise,’ but it was all discovered in advance…”
“I… would probably regret it for a long time…”
“So I thought, it would be better if I made the first move…”
Lu Qingyan’s forehead was still pressed against Chu Jiu’s.
He first directly and forcefully recalled Little Can, then placed his left hand on the back of Chu Jiu’s hand.
He sighed softly again: “Speaking of regret…”
“I have many regrets.”
Chu Jiu: “Huh?”
Lu Qingyan: “For example, when I first saw you on the ‘livestream,’ I didn’t immediately realize the truth.”
“For example, when I couldn’t help but pay attention to you, when I watched you over and over again, I didn’t immediately come to your side.”
“For example, when I realized how much I liked you, I chose to remain silent…”
Lu Qingyan’s right-hand fingers tightened slightly, his voice deeper and more mellow than usual: “But, no matter what…”
“I will not regret that you realized my feelings for you.”
“On the contrary, I will feel—”
“I will feel incomparably relieved, incomparably joyful, incomparably… happy because you are willing to respond to my feelings.”
Lu Qingyan turned his head and slowly said into Chu Jiu’s ear, “Chu Jiu, will you be with me?”
Chu Jiu’s heart was beating so fast he could barely breathe.
His thoughts seemed to be affected as well, and he didn’t even know what to say at this moment.
His cheeks were burning hot, his ears were red, and finally, he blurted out, “N-no problem.”
After saying that, even his ears felt like they were on fire.
What did I just say…
It’s not like I’m accepting a commission…
How unromantic!
However, Lu Qingyan didn’t care at all.
Soon, he made it so that Chu Jiu couldn’t care about this detail either—
Lu Qingyan’s lips, both gently and firmly, sealed Chu Jiu’s lips.
In that instant, Chu Jiu felt as if he were in the wilderness.
No, he felt as if he himself had become the wilderness.
Above the wilderness, the sun shone brightly, and a strong wind blew.
It was the wind that the wilderness loved most.
The myriad things in the wilderness, from their initial retreat and swaying, turned into a response, turned into dancing with the wind.
By the time their lips parted, Chu Jiu was panting, his gaze completely unfocused.
His hands had unknowingly clung tightly to Lu Qingyan’s shoulders, and his head was resting in Lu Qingyan’s neck.
“This… this is…” he asked with difficulty, while the answer was already in his heart.
Lu Qingyan gently pressed his back and replied, “It is said that if the compatibility between two mental power users is too high…” “Then it will be very easy to trigger ‘mental power fusion’.”
Chu Jiu had actually read about this in the data bank.
But he had never thought that “mental power fusion” could be so overwhelming.
He had never thought…
That just a kiss could trigger such a reaction.
No wonder the information also said, “Some mental power users with poor self-control, after encountering a suitable partner, become too addicted to the unique sensations when ‘mental power fusion’ occurs simultaneously with a certain behavior, leading to some physical problems.”
“Such as excessive muscle strain, excessive skin friction, etc.”
“These types of problems usually don’t occur in high-level mental power users.”
“However, once they occur, as long as the related behavior is stopped, they can quickly heal themselves without the intervention of a therapist.”
…Considering Lu Qingyan’s self-control, we should… probably not have this kind of situation happen, right?
Chu Jiu thought to himself.
The two, who had officially become lovers, began Lu Qingyan’s long-planned “vacation.”
Due to the limited remaining vacation time, the two couldn’t travel to the outer star systems that required long journeys. They only chose a beach that Chu Jiu liked the most, bringing the little kitten and the little hamster to build sandcastles, collect seashells, feed fish, look at the stars, feel the sea breeze, and spend their days leisurely.
One day before the vacation was about to end.
Lu Qingyan and Chu Jiu both received the [Cape Horn Star Restoration Project] from the military.
Chu Jiu looked at the clearly listed team members in the plan—Marshal Lu Qingyan’s mental entity (childhood form), Major General Kang Ruoding’s mental entity (childhood form)… and couldn’t help but laugh.
But then he thought of something else.
Something else he had been too embarrassed to ask directly.
He and Lu Qingyan had been traveling together for more than a month, kissing and hugging countless times—but they had only stayed at the stage of kissing and hugging.
Could it be…?
Chu Jiu closed his optical computer and looked fixedly at Lu Qingyan.
Lu Qingyan pressed his forehead: “What are you looking at?”
Chu Jiu sat up straight, his expression serious.
Lu Qingyan: “?”
Chu Jiu: “Lu Qingyan…”
“Are you, perhaps… more willing to be the one underneath?”
Lu Qingyan: ???
Chu Jiu continued, his face and neck flushed red: “I, I heard that the one underneath is a bit easier.” “Since you, you were planning to be the wife…”
“I, I actually, could probably…”
“Ouch!”
Before he could finish speaking, Chu Jiu’s wrists were already held in Lu Qingyan’s hands, and his whole body was pressed down onto the soft couch he usually used for reading and stargazing.
Lu Qingyan looked down at Chu Jiu from above: “You could what?”
Chu Jiu: “I could… mmm!”
Chu Jiu’s words were completely blocked.
A moment later, he quickly realized that he couldn’t.
He turned into the wilderness again.
Only this time, the wilderness was enduring an unprecedented storm.
The storm raged continuously, striking every inch of the wilderness’s fragile ground.
Where the gale passed, nothing remained intact.
Even the shape of the ravines was changed by it.
The fruit plate beside the soft couch was knocked over.
The fruit fell to the ground, and juice oozed out, flowing all over the floor.
*
When Chu Jiu woke up, he was still a little dizzy.
His only thought was to be thankful that he was at least a top-level mental power user, and his body was better than ordinary people’s.
Otherwise…
He propped himself up with some effort and found that Lu Qingyan wasn’t beside him, and he was lying on the bed in the bedroom.
…Oh, right.
Soft couch, floor, table…
Finally, the bathroom and bedroom.
Chu Jiu shook his head, looked at the various marks on his skin, and blushed as he planned to find his pajamas.
Then he immediately realized: oh, no, the pajamas were dirty.
As for how they got dirty, he really didn’t dare to recall too much.
He glanced around and found Lu Qingyan’s shirt lying aside.
Without thinking, he picked up the white shirt and put it on.
Just then, the bedroom door was pushed open.
Lu Qingyan walked in and said softly, “Are you hungry? I prepared breakf…”
Lu Qingyan froze in place.
Chu Jiu, barefoot on the floor, wearing only a large white shirt, stared blankly at Lu Qingyan.
Chu Jiu, his mind not yet fully awake, still confusedly tried to explain, “The pajamas can’t be worn, so I put on your shirt…”
Lu Qingyan’s eyes darkened slightly, and he closed the bedroom door with his backhand, saying, “You can.”
Chu Jiu: …Huh?
Wait, no, no more!
What about it, Lu Qingyan, where’s your self-control?
Mmm!
*
Two years later.
Xiao Meng, a newcomer to the interstellar teleportation station, waited with excitement and unease.
He had received a mission a few days ago: to assist Pioneer Chu Jiu and his small team to “Ruolin Star” for a restoration mission.
Pioneer Chu Jiu!
On Arsa Star, this person was as famous as Marshal Lu Qingyan!
How he and his small team had joined forces with Marshal Lu back then to completely defeat the Zerg, and how they had repeatedly brought those riddled worlds back to life, had become a well-known legend.
Today, he actually had the honor to see him in person!
Xiao Meng’s excitement was palpable, so much so that a senior had to remind him, “Newbie, be steady, don’t embarrass yourself later.”
Xiao Meng nodded vigorously and stood up straight, waiting for Chu Jiu and the others to arrive.
Before long, the flyers of several officers landed on the tarmac.
A young man with delicate features, holding hands with Marshal Lu, stepped out of a flyer.
Xiao Meng widened his eyes, shouting frantically in his heart:
Ahhh! That’s the fairy CP of Arsa Star! Chu Jiu and Marshal Lu Qingyan!
Look at their hands clasped together!
Look at the way they look at each other!
Ahhh, the fairy CP lives up to its name!
Just one glance feels like an overdose of sweetness ahhh!
Ahhh, they’re here, they’re here! The other members of the Pioneer Team!
Kitten! Bunny! Sapling! Capybara! The legendary fluffy little team! Wuwuwu, even cuter than the legends!
Wuwuwu, it’s clearly such a heartwarming scene, why do I feel like crying after seeing it wuwuwu…
Xiao Meng tried hard to hold back his tears until the senior beside him whispered, “Hey, if you want to cry, just cry.”
“The first time I saw Marshal Lu and Teacher Chu Jiu, thinking about what they had done for everyone, I also cried like an idiot.”
Xiao Meng: “Wu!”
*
Chu Jiu took Little Can from Lu Qingyan’s hand.
Rawr Rawr Rabbit, Glup-Glup, and Kakaba all consciously jumped onto Chu Jiu’s backpack.
He looked up at Lu Qingyan: “I’m leaving now.”
Lu Qingyan: “Mm.”
As he had done countless times before, he hugged Chu Jiu tightly and kissed him lightly on the cheek, saying, “Go.”
Chu Jiu walked forward with big strides, leading the spirit beast babies.
Rawr Rawr Rabbit made its long ears into a heart shape: “Roar roar roar, we’re going to plant again!”
Glup-Glup swayed its small leaves: “Gulu-gulu! Pioneering! Going to build houses!”
Kakaba shook its webbed little paws: “Dang-dang-dang! I wonder what kind of little friends we’ll meet this time!”
Little Can: “Meow.”
Chu Jiu smiled and patted Little Can’s head, glanced back at Lu Qingyan, who was still standing on the tarmac, and waved at him again.
Lu Qingyan nodded: Go.
Go.
Pioneer Chu Jiu.
From your small backpack, create infinite possibilities.
Awaken hidden hope, break free from undue confinement, reshape forgotten desolation.
That is the miracle that belongs to you, and also to those worlds.
[End of Extra Story]
