☆ Chapter 61: The Fifty-first Evaluation of General Qin
Until the mecha's activity completely stopped, Chaoge's mind was a complete mess, and he naturally didn't notice where he had been taken.
The door to the control room opened, and a person walked in. Chao Ge didn't even flinch, and she could even tell who the person was just from the rhythm of their gait. She was always like that, languid and arrogant, as if everyone in the world should be waiting for her to appear.
Chaoge thought that she would be the one to break the silence in the room, but when the lights came on in the control room and when all the restraints on her body disappeared, the person did not utter a single word.
The moment Chaoge was liberated, he jumped up from the ground and lay down in front of the screen, where he saw the coordinates of the galaxy on the screen—planet e239.
She certainly remembered this place. Did this mean the Empire's counterattack had begun? Had it already penetrated into this part of P4? Then what was Qin Muge's purpose in bringing her out?
Wearing her Juecheng Federation military uniform, still in it, Chaoge stood stiffly in front of the screen, afraid that if she turned around... but she didn't even know what she was afraid of.
The sound of deep breaths filled the quiet room, as if the other person didn't exist at all. The light from above fell on her, and when she looked down, she could immediately see the person's shadow; she knew that person was there.
"Why did you bring me here?" Chaoge asked calmly, her head bowed. Her gaze fell on the thing hanging around her neck, which had been freed from its external shackles, leaving only a thin chain threading through a pale blue orb of light. She wondered what that glowing thing was.
She could also see that after she asked the question, the shadow behind her suddenly moved. Chaoge had to turn around, and the moment their eyes met, she momentarily forgot what she had just asked.
In her memory, he had always been either indifferent, arrogant, or fickle... but this person had never shown such an expression before, a deep sense of relief. His bright red eyes revealed a deep sense of relief, as if he were thankful that Yan Chaoge was standing safely in front of him.
Qin Muge had never smiled so gently before. Chaoge heard her say to her with a smile, "I'm so glad I made the right decision to see you standing here safe and sound, Chaoge."
Chaoge's expression momentarily blank. In front of Qin Muge, her thoughts were always easily led by her. No matter how angry she was or how much she wanted to pretend to refuse to communicate with her, Qin Muge could always so easily draw her attention to places she couldn't react to.
Qin Muge took a step towards her, and that one step made Chaoge's expression completely change. She hurriedly took several steps back, reaching out to push him away, shaking her head and repeatedly saying, "Don't come any closer, don't come any closer, don't come near me..."
Qin Muge's smile faded slightly. She had actually listened to Chaoge's words and stopped in her tracks. A fleeting look of melancholy crossed her eyes. Then, as if thinking of something, Qin Muge smiled again: "You seem to have many questions for me. I will answer any questions you ask today."
Chaoge was genuinely taken aback by Qin Muge's unprecedented cooperation, and for a moment even doubted whether the Qin Muge she was seeing was truly the real person. But those words finally brought all her senses back, giving an outlet to the questions that had lingered in her mind for countless days and nights.
"I've always known that I once fell in love with such an amazing person, but it only dawned on me today that the person I loved was both great and terrifying. I had so many questions I wanted to ask you before: why did you let Qinghe take me away; why did you still keep the Yan family's affairs from me; and whether you ever truly loved me..." Chaoge's eyes met Qin Muge's gaze directly, and as she finished speaking, her strength gradually dwindled.
After a long pause, she frowned, her tone full of incomprehension towards Qin Muge: "But all I want to ask now is, why can you say such a thing?" How can you say something like, "It's so good to see I'm alright," after scheming against me so many times?
Chaoge clearly heard the sound of something sharp cutting open her heart, but she wanted to feel the pain thoroughly so that she could completely discard the rotten parts.
"I let her take you away because I wanted you to know that you can't live without me; the plan was just a side effect. I didn't tell you about the Yan family because I hate anything that could compete with me for you. I've always truly loved you, and the reason I can say these things after doing so much is because I changed the plan in the end. You shouldn't have been here; you should have been on Tianzi Star, the planet closest to the P4 Nebula. I arranged everything there." Qin Muge was still smiling faintly, but she had been meeting Chaoge's gaze, and now she automatically shifted her eyes, as if afraid that the ruthlessness in the other's eyes would hurt her.
Qin Muge paused, her crimson lips curving into a longer smile. She turned back to meet Chaoge's gaze. Perhaps this was the most genuine smile she had given in a long time. She slowly continued, "I've arranged everything, but I'm afraid you'll hate me." As she spoke, the tenderness in Qin Muge's red eyes seemed to drown anyone who saw them.
Yan Chaoge once stubbornly told Luo Qinghe that nothing could frighten Qin Muge, but today that person said to her personally, "I'm afraid you'll hate me."
The once arrogant General Qin finally had something to fear, yet Chaoge still couldn't laugh.
[Congratulations! Qin Muge's favorability towards you has increased to 100! Ultimate strategy mission completed! System activated! Mission panel...] Before Chaoge could recover, her mind was in an uproar. Little Red Riding Hood's voice suddenly rang in her mind, but apart from the sentence 'favorability has increased to 100', she couldn't react to anything else.
Seeing Chaoge suddenly standing there dumbfounded, Qin Muge had some doubts in his eyes. Thinking about the damage that the viruses on Chaoge's P4 had done to the system, he suddenly had some bad guesses. Regardless of what Chaoge had said before, he took a step and walked in her direction.
After Chaoge's mind finally snapped out of its daze, she found herself being held tightly in Qin Muge's arms. She still couldn't understand why Qin Muge, who had schemed against her, seemed even more distressed than she was.
It was as if he was saying to Yan Chaoge, "All my pretense collapsed and shattered the moment I saw you."
Always unable to grasp the key points of Qin Muge's words, and having been rejected by Little Red Riding Hood time and time again, Chaoge vaguely felt this time that she had to say something, otherwise... A strange sense of anxiety welled up in her heart, but Chaoge couldn't figure out where it came from.
She heard herself say, "I don't hate you, I forgive you, please let me go." Her voice was as soft as if she were saying, "I've already eaten."
Qin Muge's breath fell on her neck, and the strength in his arms was so tight that it seemed as if if he let go, Chaoge would immediately disappear from her sight and never come back.
It was the same strength that Chaoge knew so well, the same embrace that Chaoge had once cherished. Chaoge even reached out her hand to her waist and raised it in mid-air—and didn't bring it down for a long time.
“You haven’t lied to me, but when you’re willing to tell me things, it means that this matter is no longer important to you. What you haven’t told me is what you want to hide from me. The Federal Assembly has been interrupted, right? How is the battle going?” Chaoge turned her head to look at the side, as if she wasn’t the one who had been held too tightly and rendered unable to move. Her tone remained calm, more like a lake about to be rippled.
The calm before the storm.
Qin Muge remained silent, simply holding Chaoge in her arms. Her behavior was somewhat willful and shameless, which only proved that Chaoge's words were correct.
"Are you afraid I'll hate you because of Qinghe? It may sound willful to say this, but I know you'll be the one who wins in the end, so can I beg you to let her go?" This was the most unacceptable thing Chaoge could think of.
The victor is king, the loser is villain—this has been the truth since ancient times. Yet now she is making such a capricious demand of Qin Muge.
Feeling the person holding her stiffen instantly, Chaoge's hands, which had been frozen in mid-air for a long time, finally found a place to land. She reached out to pry open the hands that were wrapped around her waist.
Qin Muge's feelings at this moment were the most complex she had ever experienced since birth. She inevitably froze the instant she heard Chaoge's question.
The moment she learned the truth, she changed her mind and brought Chaoge to this place, thinking she could keep her there.
For the first time, Chaoge, who was usually so clueless that she could only guess what she was thinking, was incredibly aggressive, as if she had been given a cheat code.
Qin Muge forgot why she stood at the top of this world. She would always remember this day. When she thought that she was at the top because everything she wanted should belong to her, the guy she liked thought she was the most unforgivable person in the world.
Her power protected the people of the Crystalless Empire, but it also hurt the only person she truly cared about.
"Then let me go." Chaoge couldn't think of anything to end their conversation, and this was the truth, something she really wanted to do.
Since I'm still wearing this outfit, I'm going to see this through to the end.
【Chaoge, wake up! You're already a winner in life! You and Qin Muge have had the same amount of power since that moment, you know that?! Holy crap, wasn't it you who loved her before?】 Little Red Riding Hood had no idea what Chaoge's conversation with Qin Muge had been like from the beginning until now. After holding it in for so long, she finally came out to make her presence known.
Qin Muge remained silent. The white military uniform still looked as dashing on her, her long black hair still flowed down her back, and her hands were still as beautiful as ever. It was unclear when she had taken off her gloves.
Just as Chaoge stepped out of the mecha, she heard a voice behind her, which seemed to carry a warm smile: "Be careful of Si Zhongqi... I love you."
I love you. Don't come back. Don't come back to me. And don't get hurt.
All the tenderness in Qin Muge's life came to an end here.
In front of everyone, she was still the invincible legend, but she lost the person who could change her mind.
☆ Chapter 62 The last words spoken to the big bosses
Chaoge has completed the ultimate mission, which means that Little Red Riding Hood is now able to autonomously convert all her previous points into internal energy, allowing Chaoge to return to her original world.
No one expected that when that day actually came, Chaoge would choose to put the matter aside without hesitation and instead devote himself to the war between the Red Cloud Galaxy and the P4 Nebula.
"You can enter the core command system of P4, right, Little Red Riding Hood?" Chaoge's military rank itself means that she can freely enter and exit the E239 military base, which has entered a state of first-level combat readiness. The place where Qin Muge and that J56 mech stayed before was a no-man's land.
Sitting in the E239 military base, Chaoge's light gray military uniform gave her profile a strangely cold and hard look, especially when she rarely showed a serious expression.
Although her rank was not high, she was still eligible to apply for combat. In such a short period of time, she had already obtained the right to operate a modified P4 mech and entered the front line of E239 operations.
Little Red Riding Hood silently hacked into the P4 military operating system. With its current capabilities, no virus in the P4 Nebula could crash it again, at least that's what it assured Chaoge.
This was Chaoge's first time operating a mecha. Thanks to Little Red Riding Hood's super-intelligent computing, Chaoge didn't have to make any decisions. What she needed to think about was how to see Luo Qinghe in the shortest amount of time.
The scene unfolding before her eyes was far more shocking than she could have imagined. Almost the instant the column of mechs left the base and entered space, the instruments displayed a dense array of red dots, each representing a mech from the Crystalless Empire. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that these dots were arranged in a special formation.
Little Red Riding Hood's voice finally stopped coming from Chaoge's mind and instead became the mechanical voice inside the mech: "Whoa! Oh no! This P4 mech formation is so small, it'll be blown to smithereens in a second! Did you see the Empire's equipment? Holy crap, that color, that equipment, that's the Third Fleet under Ling Tianji of the Crystalless Empire!"
Chaoge frowned. None of the people here would be able to leave alive today.
"Have you found Qinghe's location?" Chaoge was on high alert, staring at the red or green dots on the electronic screen, silently estimating the combat strength of the two sides. However, since he was not a command specialist and did not have the skills to take on the job of changing the course of the battle, he felt that his side was doomed no matter how he looked at it.
"The main force of the Federation is heading in this direction. This should become the clash point between the two star systems. Oh, and I just intercepted some information from above. It seems that the unit you're in now is the advance team." Little Red Riding Hood's reliability level skyrocketed at this moment, perhaps proportional to Chaoge's seriousness.
Without much thought, Chaoge made a decisive decision: "When we engage in direct combat, we'll retreat to the edge of the contact zone, infiltrate the Crystalless Empire's mecha identification system, and impersonate them. Do you understand what to do in the subsequent battle?"
Little Red Riding Hood remained silent for several seconds before cautiously asking Chaoge, "Are you usually so silly because you're saving your intelligence for a crucial moment like today?"
Chaoge: "...You're usually the stupid one. If you don't want to become the first system in history to go to the Yellow Springs with its master right after regaining all its abilities, you'd better use your pig brain to think it over before you speak."
Little Red Riding Hood: You are the first person in history to mistake a smart brain for a pig's brain.
However, it's best to just think about this and never say it aloud.
"Hey, plan successful. Wait, permissions input." Amidst the chaos of war and flying shells, the mech inside Chaoge's room was peaceful and serene, with the external scene projected on the screen like a movie.
Chaoge reached out and flicked the thing hanging around her neck. Little Red Riding Hood's permissions were successfully entered, and the large red dots on the electronic screen instantly turned into large green dots.
"Crisis averted! I'm a genius!" Little Red Riding Hood happily transformed into her human form and gave Chaoge a hug, which startled Chaoge quite a bit.
What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me at all? Chaoge reached out and ruthlessly pushed the little boy away: "Can't you do something serious? Report Qinghe's coordinates!"
The little boy with short black hair pouted and complained to Chaoge with a dissatisfied look: "You don't love me."
“废话，根本没爱过。报坐标，不然我就揍你一顿。”朝歌面无表情地用一根手指抵在他额头上阻止了他的靠近，硬生生将自己的语气保持在冷漠的程度上，要多冷漠有多冷漠那种。
Little Red Riding Hood snorted in protest, but her objections were ineffective. She obediently provided her coordinates and even cleverly requested a communication connection.
Without any warning, Qinghe's face appeared on the screen in the lower left corner of Chaoge's eyes. Half of it was Qinghe's image, and the other half was a map showing the distribution of red and green dots for both sides.
Chaoge: "..."
When Luo Qinghe received her connection request, she was initially surprised, but then she slowly smiled. What Chaoge saw at that moment was her warm smile.
"Have you changed your mind, Chaoge? I thought you weren't coming back." Luo Qinghe's words were loaded with meaning, but Chaoge was already close to uncovering the truth, and she wasn't in a hurry to get to the remaining ambiguity.
He simply laughed and said, "I've already been labeled a deserter in the Red Cloud Galaxy, and I don't want to have the same dark history in the P4 Nebula."
He answered Luo Qinghe's question in a lighthearted, teasing tone, and his answer was quite convincing if you ignored her expression.
"It seems that General Qin's charm doesn't work on everyone." At this moment, Qinghe seemed to have a lot of leisure time and continued the topic in the same tone as Chaoge.
Chaoge had no intention of letting the main point get so far, and promptly steered the conversation back on track, her deep brown eyes revealing a serious expression: "Back then, she asked you to take me away, and you played along; today, she's retaliating against P4, yet you know she'll take me away, and you even believe I'll never come back. Qinghe, I don't know what you're thinking, but whatever you are, I hope you can explain it to me personally."
Who was it that swore to me that they would never betray my trust?
Why do I feel like I've missed something very, very important in the things I don't know?
Luo Qinghe shifted her gaze to the side and saw the fleet formation of a large number of red dots that suddenly appeared on the cloud map. Her smile carried a hint of something she had already expected.
Based on the mecha's internal structure, Chaoge knew what she had seen. Before she could speak, Qinghe raised her hand and gestured to interrupt her: "Time is running out, Chaoge."
For some unknown reason, Qinghe's expression held a hint of self-mockery and sorrow, but in the end, she still smiled and looked at Chaoge, saying in a gentle tone, "I like you, Yan Chaoge." This is something I will never regret in my life.
Chaoge frowned and replied in a firm tone, "I know! Do you think saying such things at a time like this will distract me? The Wujing Empire is well-prepared. If you can't win..." Her voice trembled at the end, and Chaoge couldn't finish her sentence.
If you can't win, then retreat. Can't you just run away?
How could she so easily say such things to someone who bears the fate of the entire nation?
"Do you want me to beat Qin Muge? If I can't beat him, I won't come back to see you?" Luo Qinghe rarely saw Chaoge so anxious, especially when the person she was worried about was her. It was just a pity that it happened at this time, otherwise she would never want to return Chaoge to that guy.
"Shut up! Will you die if you don't set a goal for yourself?!" Chaoge had never spoken to Qinghe in such a harsh tone before, which truly showed that she was anxious.
The fleet of the Crystalless Empire, where Chaoge is located, is heading towards Luo Qinghe's direction. Currently disguised as part of the Crystalless Empire's mecha fleet, Chaoge cannot do anything out of line, even if he is extremely anxious, if he doesn't want to be bombarded to smithereens.
With little time left before the two armies clashed head-on, Luo Qinghe knew it was time to end the video call. She gave Chaoge a deep look, as if trying to etch her anxious expression into her mind.
"If time could turn back, would you still help me then?" Qinghe asked Chaoge with a smile. The emotion in her equally dark eyes seemed to be recalling the scene when they first met. At that time, one of them smiled shyly, and the other smiled gently.