Chapter 60

This was his answer to Elena at the time, and also a mockery of himself. He didn't want to become a pet-like existence. The few decades of companionship with those people seemed like a long time, but in reality, it was just a small part of the long life of Xianzhou native.

If they can forget me after my death, that's fine. But if they can't, and this causes them grief and regret for hundreds of years until the Finality of their lives, isn't that a cruel thing for them?

Ultimately, the union of Long-lived species and Short-lived species is an incredibly cruel thing. It's a meaningless fate to begin with, and forcing it only adds to the loneliness.

Therefore, he took the initiative to leave Zhuming, the old man who had been so kind to him, Flamecourt Lord was both his teacher and friend, and the group of senior brothers and sisters who were equally important to him, and went to Yaoqing as if he were escaping.

No matter how he tries to avoid it, as long as he lives in this world, he will inevitably form connections with those around him. Even if he makes his eyes fierce and resists contact with others, he will still unknowingly form connections with others: a confused member of his own kind, a gentle yet cunning pink fox, a white fox that frankly expresses its feelings...

He suddenly understood why Old Master Huai Yan so insistently urged him to come to the Herta Space Station in his letter—a sentiment he had never expressed before. Perhaps, the answer truly lay here...

Asta used her access card to open the Ms. Herta's office and led Bai Jun into the incredibly spacious office.

The lights were off, relying solely on the illumination from a screen at the far end of the office, almost the size of an entire wall. On either side of the excessively large, pristine white floor stood blue, ghostly figures, solemn and dignified.

"Ms. Herta, you've made a complete mess of the office again..."

Seeing the chaotic scene before her, Asta felt utterly exhausted. She hadn't even finished organizing the previous manuscripts, and now so many more had appeared. She didn't know when she would ever finish.

"Throw it away if you want, burn it if you want, I don't care."

Herta stood at the far end of the office, beneath a giant screen. In front of her was a desk cluttered with various design drafts, academic books, and other miscellaneous items. Herta tossed the manuscripts and test results from the Simulated Universe onto the desk, gradually transforming the mountain of documents into a crooked mountain range.

Her face was the same as before. No, it should be said that there were her dolls all over the space station. She was just switching her consciousness back and forth between these dolls for convenience.

"Hand over your blood and hair."

Herta took clean petri dishes and test tubes from the drawer of the table. Bai Jun subconsciously caught the equipment she tossed to him and asked, "Is this all you need?"

"That's enough. However, if I could cut off a piece of your flesh and tissue to collect some of your DNA samples, it would indeed speed up my research. For example, skin, muscle, internal organs, saliva, semen—"

"No, no, no! Let it be like this, let it be like this!"

As he spoke, Herta was about to take out the relevant tools from the drawer, but Bai Jun quickly stopped him.

"Okay, that's enough. I've lost interest in you for today. Let's go, we'll talk again tomorrow."

With a clean and efficient motion, Bai Jun extracted a small amount of blood from his fingertip and plucked a few strands of hair. He collected them all in a test tube and petri dish and handed them to Herta. Herta shook the test tube with interest, then dismissed Bai Jun with a disinterest.

"Please don't mind her, that's just Ms. Herta's personality, she meant no harm." Asta shrugged cutely, giving Bai Jun a helpless smile.

"I don't mind; rather, I'm troubling Ms. Herta."

Just as Bai Jun followed Asta to the office door, a hurried figure rushed to the door from outside, leaning on the door frame, panting heavily, and looking into the office with a face full of sweat.

"Herta Woman... no, Miss, you're here too?"

"I'm here, Arlan. What happened? Didn't I just ask you to collect samples from the Seclusion Zone?"

Upon noticing Asta and Bai Jun approaching the door, Arlan's impending shout turned into a soft question. Asta, noticing Arlan's flustered state, patiently calmed him down.

Arlan struggled to swallow the gasps and rises of his chest, and said in as calm a tone as possible, "Miss, the Fragmentum in the Seclusion Zone... has disappeared!"

"What? What did you just say?!"

The first to respond was not Asta, but the Herta at the far end of the office. Upon hearing Arlan's report, she flashed to Arlan side with imperceptible speed and stared at him with a terrifyingly serious expression.

"I... I mean... the Fragmentum that was originally in the Seclusion Zone has disappeared."

Despite feeling immense pressure from the Herta, Arlan calmly replied.

"How could that be...? Did you do something?"

Herta murmured, trying to deny the information. Firstly, she believed her judgment on the duration of the Fragmentum's existence was accurate. Secondly, the Fragmentum itself was as mysterious as a Stellaron; once it appeared, it couldn't be easily dealt with. How could it possibly disappear without a trace now?

Arlan swallowed hard, looking at the person who had accomplished this miracle with awe.

Herta blinked, then quickly took Bai Jun's hand, her attitude changing from indifference to unprecedented enthusiasm, a bright smile blooming on her lovely face.

"Come to my place tonight and don't leave. Let's do some research together. The topic is simple—I'll study you!"

P. S.: This chapter begins to reveal Bai Jun's past and confusion, and uses this volume as a springboard to complete the transition from confusion to determination. Therefore, I added the "slow burn" tag to the book when I published it.

The pacing might be a bit slow, but thank you to everyone who's read this far. Speaking of which, this chapter actually has quite a few foreshadowing elements from earlier chapters!

Chapter 85 Let me test you! (5k5)

The torrential rain poured down, splashing onto the puddles-filled battlefield and creating a hazy mist, spreading the scent of rain and blood everywhere.

It was a horrific battlefield, littered with severed limbs, scattered armor, and broken swords and halberds casually stuck in the ground, outlining gray and blood-red shadows. And right in the center of the pile of fanged alien corpses was a young boy.

The boy, who appeared to be no more than a child, lay sprawled in a puddle on the battlefield, his body already soaked through by the rain. Worse still, his limbs were mangled; his arms were torn apart, and his left leg was shattered by some unknown attack. The gruesome injuries were clearly the work of the group of Buli person who had recently died.

The incessant rain day and night caused the temperature around the battlefield to drop rapidly. A chilling aura enveloped the boy, and only the occasional breath he exhaled condensed into mist in the air, revealing a sliver of life. Even so, any military medic would shake their head and sigh at the severity of his injuries.

He's beyond saving.

The boy remained lying on his side, gazing up at the gray sky. The only sounds he could hear were the increasingly heavy rain and his gradually weakening heartbeat. The silent space was enough to make him believe that he was the only person left in the world.

"Ah, am I dreaming...?"

He was exploited by an unscrupulous boss at work, and finally made it to his vacation to rest. He should have woken up in his rented apartment, but instead, he found himself in this kind of place.

He opened his eyes to find himself being torn apart by a wolf-headed monster with fangs. Immediately afterward, half of his body was blasted apart by artillery fire from an unknown source. His physical abilities were no match for those of a top-tier, well-trained athlete. Even if he didn't want to admit it, there was no chance of survival under such injuries.

The cold and cruel other world offers none of the wonderful treatment that novel protagonists enjoy; instead, they're destined to die alone right from the start... Doesn't that sound absurd?

No, in other words, death might not be such a bad outcome. Whether for the confused and muddled self of the past life or the pitiful self of the present, it seems to be the best choice, doesn't it?

... But why do I still feel so unwilling to accept this?

"Damn it, I don't want to die!"

He closed his eyes, tears mingling with the rain sliding down his cheeks, but his body, already devoid of warmth, didn't even have the strength to open his eyes.

In the darkness, the gradually blurring and sinking consciousness seemed to suddenly sense something; mountain-like footsteps were slowly approaching.

Why are there children on the battlefield!?

"Medic! Medic!"

"He... he's not from the Xianzhou native, there's no way to save him!"

"General! The Abundance power of these medicines is no joke. The Short-lived species' bodies simply cannot withstand it. Even if they could, they would only become monstrous creatures!"

What was blocking the rain? A flicker of life, seemingly from nowhere, ignited within the boy, urging him to forcefully open his eyes.

In a world narrowed to a slit, the flame burst into his field of vision.

The surrounding rain evaporated, the putrid smell of blood dissipated, and the boy felt warmth for the first time in a long time. In an instant, the gray world became as bright as the sun.

In that instant, he didn't know how to describe it.

--Just like flames, yes, just like flames.

Discarding all flowery language and gentle praise, this is precisely the cry etched in the deepest recesses of the soul.

In a world stained gray by rain, perhaps only flames could shine so brightly.

Do you want to live?

Jiao's voice, both fierce and gentle, rang out and remains etched in the boy's Remembrance to this day.

Even though the boy no longer had the strength to answer, a faint scratch still appeared on the muddy ground mixed with rainwater.

"Permission is granted; I will bear all consequences."

Ding ding ding--!!!!

An unfamiliar and noisy commotion arose, startling the light sleeper in bed.

The pillow flew precisely through the air, tracing an arc, and slammed the alarm clock against the wall. By the time it landed, it was obediently silent. Bai Jun threw off the thin sheet covering him and sat up in the unfamiliar bed.

I felt the cold air outside with the tip of my nose and smelled the scent of air freshener and shampoo.

The curtains were half-drawn, and the dark starry sky outside the window could be vaguely seen. Bai Jun gradually awoke from the lingering echoes of his dream.

"It was a dream..."

A long dream, the emotions from which still linger in my heart.

Feeling the moisture in the corner of his eye, he immediately pressed his finger to the corner of his eye, and when he released it, his fingertip was wet.

Perhaps it was because of what happened yesterday that his initial desire for life was rekindled, which is why he recalled fragments of the past.

The only difference was that back then I was lying on a cold battlefield, without a blanket to keep warm or a clean water source.

If there's anything in common, it's probably the same quiet loneliness—being alone on the edge of a battlefield, facing death, or like now, being alone in some corner of the galaxy.

"No wonder I've been so restless lately. Maybe I should go back and ask Bailu for some medicine?"

Wiping away his tears with his sleeve, Bai Jun rubbed his slightly numb cheeks, gathered his half-long silver hair, sighed softly, and tried to return to his usual self.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and upon hearing a soft knock at the door, Bai Jun immediately got out of bed and stepped onto the wooden floor.

When he pushed open the door, Arlan stood in front of him, holding Peppy, smiling and greeting him.

"Good morning, Mr. Bai Jun. How did you sleep on the space station last night? Was the pillow comfortable? Were the sheets soft? Was the blanket warm enough? Are you hungry? Let me take you to the space station's staff canteen for breakfast!"

Woof woof!

Although Arlan was completely oblivious to people's expressions and was always scolded by Miss for not understanding human nature, subtle changes could still be seen on his usually serious and meticulous face as he tried his best, albeit awkwardly, to express his gratitude for yesterday's events to Bai Jun.

"Okay, thank you for your help Section Chief Arlan."

Bai Jun, who was lost in inexplicable sadness, did not refuse. He knew that having a meal might quickly lift his spirits, and he could also learn the way to the cafeteria. So he nodded in agreement.

"Great! I can take you to see Ms. Herta right after we finish eating. Actually Station Director Asta instructed me this morning, but I just didn't have time to tell you."

Hearing that the other party had agreed, Arlan's heart finally settled down. To be honest, the moment he saw Bai Jun open the door, he had mentally prepared himself to be turned away countless times.

"By the way, Mr. Bai Jun, just call me Arlan. Adding 'section chief' feels a bit too formal."

"Wouldn't that be a bit too unfair?"

"Huh--!?"

Arlan, who was leading the way, turned around upon hearing this and saw Bai Jun's cornflower-blue eyes staring at him. He immediately panicked and tried to explain, "No, no, no... I... I didn't mean it that way, it was just... it was just..."

"Arlan must also call me Bai Jun, and is not allowed to use the word 'Mr.' anymore. That would be fair."

A gentle smile appeared on Bai Jun's somewhat pale face.

Arlan, who had been staring blankly for a while, finally turned around, making strange "ah-ba aba" sounds in a panic. He quickly pulled up his uniform collar to cover his reddened half-face, and then took a step forward.

Compared to the Railway Platform when they first arrived at the space station yesterday, the Base Zone today felt much more welcoming. Crew members emerged from their dormitories one after another, chatting and laughing as they headed towards the same destination: the dining hall.

"Who's that guy next to Section Chief Arlan?! He's super handsome! Hey! I'll help you finish your assignment this week, could you get his contact information for me?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Can't you sense his cold demeanor? Maybe he's the legendary 'ice prince'... Besides, even if I had the guts to go up to him, why would I give you his contact information?"

"That's right..."

On the way, one could hear many female staff members whispering to each other, while the male staff members were also whispering among themselves. The topics were slightly different, but the people they were discussing were the same.

"He dealt with so many Fragmentum creatures all by himself? Wow... that's terrifying. He seems even stronger Brother Arlan."

"You really can't criticize him, and besides, he's... well, okay, I admit he's a tiny bit more handsome than me."

"Xi, you're so close to them, it would be so embarrassing if they overheard you!"

--Sorry, I heard everything.

For the first time, Bai Jun loathed his hearing, but since he had already heard it, it was impossible for him to ignore these comments. He then glanced at the men gossiping over there, and they were instantly terrified, their faces turning pale as they fled the scene.

After having a simple breakfast with Arlan, Bai Jun was led to the Storage Zone of the Herta Space Station.

Passing through a long, dark, cold-colored corridor, cabinets extending in both directions are filled with strangely shaped and colorful objects. Arlan explained that these are all Curio collected by the Herta from all over the universe.

Because of Ms. Herta's overwhelming collecting efficiency, the vast space station was unable to gather enough display cases to match Curio. In the end, they had no choice but to store the Curio that Ms. Herta specifically requested, and distribute the rest that were not of interest to the staff on the space station for their own research, making the best use of everything.

At the end of the corridor was an inconspicuous room. The closer Arlan got, the more stiff his face became. By the time he reached the door, Arlan was drenched in cold sweat, and with a stiff smile, he explained to Bai Jun: