“But there’s one thing I need to tell you: we didn’t break up, we got back together,” Levy said. “So even when you go back to the real world, remember you have a boyfriend. Don’t flirt around, stay away from other junkies, and come find me soon.”
The suction from the passage behind them grew stronger and stronger, and Qin Chu could barely hold onto Levi's hand.
He closed his eyes and could only compromise: "Wait for me...wait for me to come find you."
Then he suddenly opened his eyes and glared fiercely at Levi: "What I want is a boyfriend, a complete boyfriend. Don't give me a younger brother or anyone else in the end, understand?"
Levi chuckled and nodded: "Okay, I promise, I'll keep my word this time."
The tightly clenched fingers slowly separated, and the passage closed.
This was the last time Qin Chu saw Levi in the virtual world.
Qin Chu was unable to return to his body. He remained in the space between the virtual and the real for a long time, trying to return to his body again and again while integrating all the virtual worlds that contained human consciousness.
He searched for Levy along those coordinates, but never found the world where the mainframe existed. Only the continuous release of human consciousness indicated that Levy was fulfilling his promise.
Time is short in reality, but it is very long in the virtual world, so long that Qin Chu vaguely thought that meeting Levi was just a dream.
In his dream, he had a free-spirited boyfriend who liked to annoy him, but after leaving the dream, he was still all alone.
Until one day, Qin Chu failed again in his attempt to return to his body and could only use someone else's body to move around. He heard some news.
His Highness the Crown Prince has awakened.
Dust billowed everywhere on the garbage planet, and Qin Chu's hood was blown off, revealing a pair of eyes that were silent and suppressing emotions.
"The general and the space pirate... parted ways and never saw each other again."
A loud bang suddenly came from the surroundings. Levi frowned, looked down and realized that his hands had been clenched into fists, and his palms were sweaty.
“They…” Levy paused before continuing, “I mean the general and the space pirates…”
He clicked his tongue and scratched his head in frustration: "The story you're telling this time doesn't even have a name. I don't even know your name."
Qin Chu remained silent for a moment, then stood up and walked towards the tower: "The story ends here. I... have other things to do."
He paused again, then whispered a reminder: "The beast tide is coming soon... Never mind, you don't care anyway."
He continued walking forward, then paused for a moment, and then warned, "This planet has intermittent electric grids covering its surface. Remember to stay hidden and avoid being swept by the grid."
Seeing his irresponsible attitude of flirting and leaving without a second thought, Levi raised an eyebrow and reached out to stop him.
Qin Chu could only look up at him helplessly.
With Levi's memory still intact, and many spies in the cabinet around him, coupled with the unclear situation, Qin Chu did not want to drag him into it again.
“You weren’t wearing a black robe this time, so this must be your… real appearance, right?” Levi looked at Qin Chu and said, “You’re from the military? Now that we’ve met, why can’t we exchange names, just to… make friends?”
Levi coughed lightly.
Qin Chu's expression was a little strange and displeased. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his eyes suddenly narrowed when he looked behind Levi.
"Watch out!" Qin Chu grabbed Levi and pulled him aside.
Dust billowed up where they had just stood when a small star beast pounced on them.
Qin Chu's expression turned sour when he saw the star beasts appear on the garbage planet; the beast tide had arrived even faster than he had imagined.
Levi clicked his tongue in displeasure: "Looks like they've been heavily affected by the beast tide, daring to pounce on me."
The star beast wanted to pounce again, but perhaps because it was closer this time, it smelled Levi's scent and immediately ran away as if it had encountered a natural enemy.
"It's not safe here, you and I..."
Before Levy could finish speaking, the entire planet suddenly trembled again, and a blue arc of electricity swept across.
To avoid each other, the two had to separate in two different directions.
Levi easily dodged the electric arc. He looked up at Qin Chu and happened to see the end of the arc brush against Qin Chu's hair.
The person who had just been frowning as he told him stories and warned him to be careful of the electric fence collapsed softly like that.
"What happened? What happened?"
Is this planet going to explode?
Camin and the old butler sensed the commotion and rushed over.
All they saw was Levi's extremely pale face and the person in his arms with their eyes closed.
This was the first time since Cumming had known Levy that he had seen Levy with such a terrifying expression, a mixture of anger and frustration, and a barely perceptible hint of panic.
Kamin paused for two seconds, then instinctively wanted to run away.
But Levi's anxious voice quickly came through: "Go and start the aircraft!"
Kamin did as instructed.
With a sullen face, Levy carried the person towards the aircraft.
He finally found the guy who ran away after telling his story, how could he accept this outcome? Even if the person was pulled into the virtual world by the AI, he would find him!
As he passed the tower, Levi paused and looked up at the building that was said to contain the body of General Qin Chu.
Saving lives was clearly more important, but Levy didn't know why he had stopped.
He frowned and continued walking towards the aircraft.
Another evening breeze carrying dust blew across the garbage planet.
A bright red plant fell to the ground in the wind, without flowers or leaves, only its thorny stem.
Levy walked quickly, stepping directly onto the hard-soled leather boots.
Dark red liquid splattered onto his shoes. Levi glanced down and, for some reason, instinctively reached out and touched his neck.
The spacecraft departed from the garbage planet.
At the very bottom of that enclosed tower, there is a sleep pod under close surveillance.
A handsome and strong man floated inside the sleep pod.
He had fair skin, black hair like raven feathers, and his eyes were closed, with thick eyelashes casting a shadow on his cheeks.
Although this body had been asleep with its eyes closed for a long time, it still exuded an overwhelming sharpness and power. This sharpness made people want to avoid it, yet they couldn't help but look at it and imagine what it would be like when this person opened its eyes.
Several heavily armed national defense soldiers guarded the perimeter.
No one noticed that the man, who had been asleep for months, suddenly twitched his fingers.
Author's Note:
What a long and thick chapter!
Chapter 136 Return
"I've already said, I'm not a member of your cabinet."
In an office at the Imperial Capital Star Medical Base, Dud sighed deeply and spread his hands in frustration toward the Minister of the Interior in front of him. "The medical base is quite busy right now. Can you please stop coming to see me?"
The red-haired Mullin remained unmoved. He glanced at Duds and said in a flat tone, "These are special times. Otherwise, our cabinet wouldn't accept someone like you."
Dudley was taken aback by the bluntness of the words, then his face fell. "I don't have the guts to follow you guys. No one knows better than me what kind of monster you've messed with. Right now, he's playing with you, and you really think he's the crown prince because you put him on the throne?"
"Given the current state of your cabinet and the National Defense Force, if he wanted to rebel, he could drag you all over to be fed to the Star Beasts in a heartbeat."
These words silenced Mulin for a moment.
Dudley's statement was not an exaggeration.
Now that the entire empire is undergoing such a great upheaval, most of the population is still asleep.
So when Levy first woke up from the sleep pod, everyone was on high alert, fearing that the scenario Dodd had described would occur. Over the decades, this experimental subject, born in the laboratory, had completely escaped their control.
Even at the height of the empire's power, the cabinet was unable to control Levy, let alone now.
The cabinet's original plan was that after Levi woke up, they would find a way to keep Qin Chu from the military on the capital planet as well, so that the two could check and balance each other. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, this plan had to be shelved.
Without Qin and Chu to act as a check and balance, before Levi wakes up, they can only make other preparations, such as manipulating his mind and body with drugs.
However, the test subject was clearly already completely accustomed to the common methods used in these laboratories, and these methods had no effect on him at all.
But to Mullin's and everyone else's surprise, after Levi woke up, he did not organize a rebellion, nor did he even intend to leave.
This person broke free from all constraints and actually stayed obediently in the Royal Palace?
The more unusual the situation, the more worrying it is.
The cabinet had been in a panic for so long, unable to control the situation or avoid it. In the end, they could only let it be.
“I know what you mean.” Mulin lowered his eyes and sighed slightly. “He is a product of the Cabinet, and the Cabinet is ultimately responsible for the safety of the entire human society.”
"If you really want to take responsibility, listen to me and don't mention that protective shield." Dud couldn't help but get agitated. "The way that protective shield is activated is extremely harmful to the body. Unless he's out of his mind, he would never agree to it. Asking him will only get you nowhere."
“Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t be so fixated on this protective shield.” Mulin rubbed his face wearily. “But now the beast tide is approaching, and the military anticipates it will be quite large.”
"The beast tides are not always managed by the military, so why are you so concerned?" Dud asked, puzzled.
“Because the people who led the army to resist the beast tide are gone.” Mullin looked up at Dud. “Moreover, current weapons and mechs are highly dependent on the StarNet, which is built on the mainframe, an artificial intelligence…”
At this point, Mullin's expression was visibly dejected: "This will be the biggest crisis the empire has ever faced since its founding, and we have no other choice."
"If none of you can do anything, what can I do?" Duds sat behind his desk, stroking the few remaining strands of hair on his head in distress.
"We need you to come up with a way to force Levy to activate the protective shield."
Upon hearing Mullin's words, Dud almost rolled his eyes.
He was about to say something when suddenly there was a loud bang, and the office door was kicked open.
Dodd was so startled he almost fell off his chair. He scrambled to his feet and saw a huge sleep pod being carried into the office.
The sleep pod was heavy and large, and it got stuck in the door frame when we tried to get in.
But the person carrying the hull clearly had no patience at all, and directly reached out and pried the alloy door frame twice.
With a "crack," the alloy door frame embedded in the wall was pried off, damaging the wall itself and exposing the building materials inside.
Dudley and Mullin stared blankly at the sight of someone breaking the door frame with their bare hands, too shocked to speak.
The sleep pod was finally successfully brought inside.
After the thing turned around, Dudley finally saw who was carrying the sleep pod.