Chapter 14 - The Beta Lieutenant Colonel Who Died For His Country (14)

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Translated by: Niladri

Edited by: celes

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After disappearing for a few days, Xiu Yi Te finally reappeared in front of Lu Heng. Without saying anything, he took Lu Heng on the shuttle and travelled to a nearby asteroid belt with him.

“What are you looking for?” Lu Heng sat in a resting chair with a glass of red wine that was refilled by Xiu Yi Te. “Do you need my help?”

“You just obediently sit there and rest; you can taste the red wine that I’ve treasured for twenty years,” Xiu Yi Te said without facing him. “Found it!”

The small shuttle quickly landed on an asteroid. Lu Heng jumped from the hatch and found himself stepping in knee-deep water. All that could be seen was a sparkling surface of water that spread to the horizon. Other than that, there was nothing else.

“What, is this scenery not unique?” Xiu Yi Te jumped behind Lu Heng, and he was quite proud of himself as was evident from his tone.

“Are there any resources available here? Is it useful for this mission?” Lu Heng looked at Xiu Yi Te with some doubts.

“Your eyes are always locked on the mission.” Xiu Yi Te winked at Lu Heng. “Just wait.”

Standing in the water with Xiu Yi Te, Lu Heng felt that he looked stupid right now. He tried to pry something from Xiu Yi Te’s mouth, but the latter only gave him mysterious looks, and he would not tell Lu Heng the purpose of this trip.

At the moment when Lu Heng’s patience was about to run out, the sun disappeared into the distant horizon. Night enveloped the asteroid, and as the curtain of darkness fell, the vast water landscape gradually glowed like a dazzling sea of flowers, instantly illuminating the entire place. Lu Heng’s eyes quickly discovered that these starry lights came from a glowing transparent creature similar to jellyfish. They rocked gently along the waves, giving off the appearance of a radiant nebula.

“Happy birthday, Reiner.” Xiu Yi Te’s voice rang behind him. “This is also the 53rd anniversary of our meeting. The first time I saw you was at the party for your third birthday.” 1

“On that day, there was a birthday cake that a certain little devil had messed up.” Lu Heng’s voice showed a smile.

Xiu Yi Te was embarrassed and scratched his head: “Didn’t I compensate you?”

“Oh? The cake I was gifted did not reach my stomach.”

Xiu Yi Te, somewhat embarrassed, brushed back his hair and shifted the topic: “Do you still remember the wish you made at that time?”

Recalling the exact words Reiner had used while wishing, Lu Heng suddenly stopped talking, and it was really a black history that one found unbearable to remember. At that time, there was a cartoon popular among children, called “The Son of Starry Sky”. The little Reiner was a loyal viewer and fanatic of this show.

“No.” Lu Heng was silent for a long time and spit out a word.

Xiu Yi Te glanced at Lu Heng’s embarrassed look and gave a wicked smile: “It doesn’t matter, I will help you remember. At three years old, the little-you said, “I want to be like the son of the stars, be in the ocean of stars, playing “Little Star”…””

Lu Heng was a little bit anxious and thought of interrupting him but saw that Xiu Yi Te took out a huge box from the space button.

“Birthday gift, open it.” He smiled and handed the remote control button for opening the box to Lu Heng.

The remote control button apparently had Xiu Yi Te’s body temperature, and in fact, without even needing to open, Lu Heng already knew what was in that box. Only, Lu Heng had never thought that this gift would be given to him. Because in the original plane, Lieutenant Colonel Reiner had not seen this asteroid according to his memory and did not receive any such birthday present.

The incessant urging of Xiu Yi Te won over Lu Heng. He pressed the button, and the exquisite outer box slowly opened like petals of a budding flower. Its inside housed the exquisite piece of art - ‘Tears of the Starry Sky’.

“I’ve always remembered your wishes at that time, and I’ve played this scene in my mind many times.” Xiu Yi Te took a step back, and it was a very gentlemanly gesture. “I haven’t heard you play the piano for a long time. Today, may I have this honor of listening to you play “Little Star”?”

Lu Heng looked at the man who was relaxed and easy normally, but now he was very serious, but his mouth cruelly spat out a word: “No.”

Xiu Yi Te, upon receiving this big blow, sat down in the water, his expression that of exaggerated mourning: “You can’t be so heartless. You know that I was desperately searching for this planet and stayed in this asteroid belt for a week. Its ownership also cost all my savings.”

Xiu Yi Te’s present look was like a dog who had offered his most beloved toy to his master to obtain his love but instead got ruthlessly kicked to the ground, really pitiful .

Lu Heng finally couldn’t help but smile softly, and then said to Xiu Yi Te, who was entranced by his smile. “I haven’t played the piano in a long time. I still need to practice. When I have time for that, I’ll play again.”

After saying this, Lu Heng regretted it. Perhaps because of this scenery, this atmosphere made him impulsive enough to say such irresponsible words. Lieutenant Colonel Reiner had died on the mission to assassinate the Queen, and Lu Heng would leave in about the same time.

“Really?” Xiu Yi Te’s eyes lit up.

Looking at that expectant face, Lu Heng swallowed his words. A piano piece, with Reiner’s memory plus Lu Heng’s intensive spiritual force, taking time to practice a few times shouldn’t be a problem, just to give a gift to his best friend.

“That’s good, wait for my birthday. When the time comes for my birthday present, you’ll come here with me and use the ‘Tears of the Starry Sky’ to play “Little Stars”.” Xiu Yi Te was happy and somewhat elated by his success.

This time, Lu Heng didn’t say anything else. He only looked at the distance in silence, and Xiu Yi Te, who was immersed in joy, did not find this strange.

The work of guarding Carlo was carried out by Andrew’s team. It wasn’t appropriate to object, because the other teams were busy training to prepare for the assassination of the Queen, and no one was willing to take this boring and meaningless job. Therefore, Andrew, who had consistently maintained the image of a good old man, came forward and took over this task.

However, his team members were somewhat dissatisfied, because the assassination of the Queen would certainly go into the history of the task, no one was willing to miss it. So when Andrew walked up to the door of the confinement room, he smiled and let his team members participate in the run-in drill. After guarding for a while, no one suspected him.

Opening the door to the confinement room, Andrew saw Carlo huddled in a corner, and the food on the table was completely untouched. The smile on his lips deepened.

“Carlo, are you okay?” His voice sounded like a spring breeze, and his mouth smiled like a gentle moonlight.

For Carlo in desperation, this was a ray of sunshine in the abyss, and he felt a touch of warmth.

“Andrew…” his sentence had not been finished yet when he started sobbing and was unable to speak out.

Andrew patted Carlo’s shoulders. “I know that you are not willing to leave Thunder Gale. You are very talented, and I don’t want to see your talents buried like this.”

Andrew’s affirmation calmed Carlo’s emotions slightly: “I just lacked the opportunity to prove myself. Adjutant Reiner was biased against me and wouldn’t give me an opportunity.”

“Currently, there is such an opportunity for you to prove yourself. I believe that you can grasp it. The commander will definitely look at you…”

Twenty minutes later, Carlo’s face glowed again, and his bright eyes rekindled the willingness to fight. Even if he was still being held in confinement, he wasn’t afraid. As long as you are willing to work hard, there’s no difficulty that can’t be overcome.

And Andrew, who left the inn, had a grin on his face.

According to the analysis of the images transmitted by the Institute, the Queen was about to enter the final stage of evolution. At this stage, the Queen was the most vulnerable, but the duration of this phase was extremely short. The single best shot to kill the Zerg was here.

The final stage of the Queen’s evolution, countdown- 5 hours.

All the members of Thunder Gale were gathered in the tactical hall to make the final preparations before the war. On the stage, Xiu Yi Te and Lu Heng reconfirmed the various tactical arrangements. After all, this task couldn’t go wrong. An hour later, Lu Heng and Xiu Yi Te would warp through the wormhole to the Queen’s Nest.

An automatic holographic camera floated in midair, and everything that would transpire during the entire mission was under the supervision of all citizens of the Human Alliance.

“All mech maintenance teams, please do the final inspection of the armor that you are responsible for.”

“All squads, please do a final check of the area you are responsible for.”

“All preparations have been completed, the logistics personnel, board the auxiliary ship and withdraw from the front lines.”

This was the usual practice of Thunder Gale for dangerous tasks. After all preparations were completed, the logistics personnel would evacuate via the auxiliary ship to avoid having an influx of logistics personnel with no fighting strength in the battlefronts.

Just after the evacuation of the logistics personnel, there was a commotion in the position of the Eighth Mech Team. A mech warrior suddenly rushed towards his teammates but was quickly kicked off by another. More and more people became embroiled in the chaos in the group. They had been rushing in to maintain order, but who knows why they lost their minds and started to beat each other up.

Lu Heng saw that the guards he had sent were involved in the scuffle. He wanted to go see it in person, but he was stopped by Xiu Yi Te: “Something’s not right, I’m going with you.”

The two talented people took a few steps towards the other side, and then Xiu Yi Te stopped. He smelt something doubtful and tried to decipher the smell. His face changed greatly: “It’s Carlo’s pheromone, how is he here?”

[Direct MTL] The author has something to say: Thank you, Chu Ci, Lin, Lei Hui, the angel of the thunder, the refill (づ ̄ 3 ̄)づ[/Direct MTL]