After a while, he suddenly turned to look at Levy.
Levi was taken aback by his gaze, and his heart, which had already plummeted to rock bottom, began to race again.
He waited for Qin Chu to talk to him about his feelings, whether it was a soft complaint or, like before, nothing at all, just coming over to punch him and squeeze his fingers.
But to everyone's surprise, Qin Chu paused for a moment, and then said to him in a somewhat hesitant tone, "Could you please do me a favor?"
Levy felt a surge of inexplicable anger well up inside him.
That's too polite a tone.
Qin Chu was taking the initiative to talk to him, which should have made him happy, but they hadn't broken up yet; they had shared a bed and slept together countless times.
They are a legitimate couple, the kind who would get married immediately if it weren't for certain circumstances.
Levi thought they were already the closest of friends, but now Qin Chu was using such a polite attitude and tone to say to him, "Could you do me a favor?"
My jaw muscles tightened for a moment, and my heart also contracted sharply, making me feel extremely uncomfortable.
Qin Chu's mission, ah, a mission.
He absolutely couldn't touch this damn mission. Qin Chu had always excluded him from missions, to the point that now, when he needed Qin Chu's help with matters concerning his parents, he had to ask him so politely.
Levi suddenly wanted to ask Qin Chu, "What do you take me for?"
But in the end, he didn't ask.
He didn't say anything or even show any anger; he just nodded.
Qin Chu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
This reaction only fueled the fire in Levy's heart.
"My ability to analyze the situation is limited right now, so I need to organize the information. Could you help me write it down?" Qin Chu said.
“Okay.” Levi nodded, suppressing his frustration, and reached for paper and pen.
"Upon arriving at this scene, there was no clear task or role classification. Judging from this situation, this should be the last scene we can enter."
Qin Chu rubbed his temples and continued, "This scene is the first warship after the First Legion went on a full-scale mission. In the last world, the mainframe revealed information about my parents to attract my attention. Now, the last scene is related to this mission, which means that the mainframe's purpose is definitely related to the mission of destroying the First Legion."
"The question is, why is this AI so obsessed with this task? Even more so than with the families of all the fallen soldiers?"
Qin Chu frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly stood up and opened the roster again.
"The cause of the soldiers' deaths that the mastermind revealed to me is different from reality, and now he's provided this military order, which shows that he cares a lot about this cause, or rather, he wants me to care about the real cause of my parents' deaths. At the same time... he deliberately hid one person's name on the roster..."
At this point, Qin Chu seemed to lose his train of thought.
He stared at the roster and continued, "I need to find out who the missing names are."
"How do we find it?" Levy asked.
His tone was a little stiff, and Qin Chu noticed it, turning to look at him.
But Qin Chu didn't ask anything.
In their current state, it seems inappropriate to ask anything, as if asking even one more question would only make things worse.
How to find it is indeed a problem.
There were only a few dozen people involved in the mission. If Noah were here, he could easily find them by simply comparing the data from that year.
But Noah wasn't there.
These people were not military employees when Qin Chu was in office, so to verify these names, he could only rely on his memory of his parents' files that he had seen more than ten years ago.
These memories are too distant; even though Qin Chu has learned special methods for retrieving memories, it is still somewhat difficult for him to recall them now.
He had to recall each name one by one.
Qin Chu turned to look at Levi again. This time, before he could speak, or perhaps afraid that he would speak, Levi spoke first and said, "I'll take notes."
Qin Chu nodded, then frowned and began to recall.
Recalling the names of dozens of people one by one, while also eliminating any interference from the roster, was a huge undertaking for Qin Chu.
As Levy took notes, he would glance out of the starship's window in between Qin Chu's recollections.
From his vantage point, he could just see the small planet being used for illegal experiments; it was too small for warships to dock.
At first, he wanted to go directly to the planet with Qin Chu to take a look, but after they circled around the warship, they found that the entire starship was sealed off. Although they could observe the condition of the planet, they could not get off the starship.
Qin Chu named a few more names, which Levi quickly wrote down and searched through the roster, eliminating them one by one.
After a while, he turned to look at the window again, but frowned.
"What's wrong?" Qin Chu turned to look at him. "Is there a problem with the name?"
“No.” Levi stood up and walked to the control panel, bringing up the planet’s scan image again.
He pointed to the slowly rotating planet on the screen and said, "Look, isn't the rotation speed getting faster?"
Qin Chu leaned closer for a look and pondered, "If this is the final scene, the mainframe is very likely on this planet."
He recalled a string of names, thought for a moment, and said, "I'll try to open the warship and go down to take a look later."
Upon hearing this, Levi turned to look at him.
Qin Chu's words weren't a discussion; they were merely a notification. The meaning was clear: he would go down by himself, without needing anyone's accompaniment.
That stifling anger welled up again, and Levi curled his lips into a smile: "I'm afraid not. Have you forgotten what the ultimate fate of this planet is? The planet is about to explode. You want to go down?"
Qin Chu looked up and met his gaze, but said nothing.
The atmosphere shifted from somber to tense, as if a fight could break out at any moment.
This is not the situation Levy wanted to see.
He didn't know what he could do; all he could pray for was for this mission to end quickly, whether it meant returning to Noah's space, going to a new virtual world, or even returning to real reality.
Levy could only hope that the change in space would slightly alter the stalemate.
“Let’s… continue recalling the roster. This missing name is probably very important.” Levy sighed, softening his tone.
Even though his tone softened, his stiffness was still undeniable.
Qin Chu looked up at him, her lips twitching slightly, but she ultimately said nothing. He remained silent for a moment before continuing to recall the names on the roster.
This reaction surprised Levy.
Although he said that, Levi knew that Qin Chu would not listen.
This guy was incredibly stubborn about mission-related matters, and Levi just hoped he wouldn't insist on going alone anymore. If Qin Chu said anything similar again, he might really lose his temper.
But to his surprise, Qin Chu... didn't insist?
He definitely didn't not want to go and check, nor was he afraid of danger. So, his reaction, which could be considered a compromise... did it mean that even in the current situation, even when it was related to the mission, Qin Chu was still somewhat... concerned about his attitude?
That faint glimmer of hope rose again, causing Levy to pause for two seconds before quickly ticking his name off the roster.
As Qin Chu reminisced, Levy crossed out all the densely packed names on the roster.
Meanwhile, the rotation speed of the small planet outside is gradually increasing, and its originally slow rotation has become clearly visible to the naked eye.
The rapid retrieval of memories caused significant fluctuations in Qin Chu's consciousness, making his face increasingly pale.
He frowned and uttered a name: "Tan Wei?"
Levy's gaze swept quickly across the list, then his pen suddenly stopped: "There is no such name."
The two of them perked up.
It's better to find the name so quickly than for Qin Chu to have to recall them one by one until the very end.
“It’s also possible that I’m remembering it wrong,” Qin Chu said.
“That shouldn’t be possible.” Levy glanced at him. “Otherwise, that thing outside wouldn’t be spinning so fast, like it’s going to kill itself.”
Qin Chu couldn't recall any special meaning behind the name "Tan Wei" for a moment, but judging from the mastermind's reaction, it was definitely not someone unrelated.
Having come this far, they have finally grasped a crucial clue.
Qin Chu immediately transmitted the name to Noah so that Noah could search for it.
The previously clueless situation finally became clearer, and the sudden relaxation seemed to make the atmosphere between the two of them a little more relaxed.
Levi tapped his fingers on the roster, and Qin Chu reached out to pull it out; their fingers just happened to touch.
They looked up, their eyes met, and then they both looked away at the same time.
Levi curled his fingers, pulling his cool fingertips into his palm. He turned to look out the window, casually changing the subject: "This thing is spinning so fast, isn't it going to explode soon?"
He regretted it as soon as he said it.
Why bring up something you shouldn't say? What if Qin Chu wants to go there again?
It would be better to change the subject, such as what to do next? Should we send Noah over or directly communicate with the mastermind?
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Qin Chu looked up at him and said, "Whether it's going to explode or not, when have you ever cared about these things?"
Levi thought to himself, "That's right. He didn't care before. He was just playing around and wasn't afraid of dying."
But right now I'm obsessed with it.
He turned his head and glanced at Qin Chu out of the corner of his eye.
Qin Chu sat on a chair to the side, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. His face was still a little pale, and his brows were furrowed, clearly still thinking about the next steps.
But at least it lost that sharp, piercing quality.
After hesitating for a moment, Levi tentatively asked in a low voice, "Then... can I ask you something that's on my mind?"
"Ask," Qin Chu said.
His anxiety intensified. Levi didn't know if asking the question would bring him greater hope or plunge him into despair. After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "You...don't want to separate either?"
The single word "also" has already given its own answer.
Levi could feel Qin Chu sit up slightly and look at him.
Perhaps it was because he was too nervous, but he thought he saw Qin Chu's brows furrow again. His heart skipped a beat. He knew that the problems between him and Qin Chu still existed and wouldn't be completely resolved just because of their differing attitudes towards separating.
He knew that even if they continued together, even if they returned to the real world, they might still face similar problems and similar arguments.
However, as long as he was certain that Qin Chu felt the same way as him, he had the courage to keep going, no matter what the future held or how many attempts he had to make.
From the very beginning, his biggest fear was that Qin Chu would want to leave.