The Only Officer

Yu Lian stood there, panting for quite a while before finally calming down. He could see that the pale-white nebula in his mindscape had grown even brighter, clearly a sign that his psionic abilities had advanced further. Sure enough, keeping his mind and psionic star ring under prolonged tension through battle could greatly accelerate his own progress—as long as he did not accidentally take things too far. That was why, during the magnificent age that followed, so many experts emerged from the battlefield.

This was certainly a good thing, but it also meant that Yu Lian had taken another solid step down the path of "balance," where he could do everything but excel at anything. Thinking of this, he let out another deep sigh.

"...Don't be sad, our Moon Boy. You've done your best!" Lieutenant Munderson, lying on the soft cushion, was somewhat moved as he comforted Yu Lian magnanimously.

You've probably misunderstood something... Yu Lian felt that, when facing a dying man, it was better not to expose the truth.

Yes, Lieutenant Munderson, commander of Outpost No. 12, had already been sentenced to death by the grief-stricken Doctor Banks. More than half the skin on his body had suffered severe burns, and he had multiple broken or crushed bones. But those injuries were nothing compared to the truly fatal wound in his lower abdomen—a piercing injury that had torn away half his spleen and liver, left by a gravel dragon's hooked claw.

If they had been in Tulong, he might still have been saved if he had immediately been sent to the cultivation tanks of a major hospital. But here, the only thing Doctor Banks could do was inject the lieutenant with a dose of painkillers, allowing him to suffer as little as possible before his life ended.

Yu Lian looked at the lieutenant, who possessed the dual traits of a swordmaster and a greasy old veteran, and felt somewhat weighed down. Even with his face burned out of shape, the man still bared his teeth and forced out a smile frightening enough to make a child cry. In a slow voice filled with the enlightenment of someone who had seen through the ways of the world, he said, "Without you, not a single person here might have survived. This is the fate of us odd-job soldiers! We crossed an entire universe and left the Milky Way behind just for this little bit of profit, didn't we? Cough, cough, cough... Since we took the benefits, we shouldn't complain about getting beaten."

Why have you suddenly started reflecting on your life? This doesn't fit your character at all! Besides, I'm not even related to you!

Although the security forces were cannon fodder at the very bottom of the military's hierarchy, there was indeed plenty of money to be made if one served in the Andromeda colonies.

This place was far from the Milky Way's home territories. The governor's office had considerable semi-autonomous authority, and there were not many military police or military courts. Management of the security forces—especially the outposts far from urban areas—was therefore much less strict. Embezzling military supplies, illegally mining rare minerals, poaching animals, collecting tribute from plantations and mines, and looting the desert-dwelling natives were all sources of their private fortunes.

You know those blockhouses on the North China Plain during the War of Resistance? Outposts were essentially the same sort of thing. How could you expect the soldiers guarding blockhouses to have good morals?

"But I originally thought I'd be killed by a desert-dweller's blowpipe, with my corpse dragged off to feed their giant lizards. How did I end up dying at the hands of a gravel dragon? It doesn't make sense! And these monsters—we've never seen them before. It's too strange..."

As a grassroots commander, the lieutenant was nothing special. But as an old veteran, he at least possessed the necessary sensitivity.

No matter how powerful, how much of a planetary overlord, how much of a phantom beast, or how high on the food chain a gravel dragon was, it was still a wild animal. Only an idiot would attack a fully defended military camp. And after being wounded, instead of fleeing, it had fought to the death.

Those alien insects likewise showed none of the instincts of wild animals. They had fought more fearlessly than any famous army in civilized history, battling to the very last one. Their morale had practically been locked in place.

Of course, the lieutenant could never have guessed that a puppet insect had actually been stuffed into the gravel dragon's belly, turning its body completely into a weapon. This was the swarm's usual method of operation. After capturing a creature and analyzing its genetic data, if they had not already played with it to death, they would either eat it or force a puppet insect into it and use it as a suicide soldier. After all, there were some phantom beasts' psionic abilities that the swarm could not replicate. Using them as suicide soldiers could also make the swarm's tactics more varied.

There was no denying that this gravel dragon had suffered terribly. When Yu Lian had just reached into its belly and crushed the puppet insect, he had still been able to sense a trace of relief and gratitude from it.

Yu Lian truly sympathized with the unlucky beast, so without another word, he dug out its dragon crystal and gave it complete release.

Mr. Munderson could never have guessed that the swarm's morale had not been locked in place. Rather, the very concept of morale did not exist for them. Aside from the queen and a small number of lord insects, the rest of the swarm were merely biological weapons. They felt no pain, knew no fear, and would never rout. They only fought to the bitter end.

Yu Lian, who had been reborn from a later era, knew that the queen's origins were pitiful, and that the swarm's fate was pitiful as well. But he truly had no desire to pity them.

"Even if we report this, the people above won't believe it, will they? Everyone will have died for nothing. I—I..." He stared intently at Yu Lian with a hopeful look. The pleading in his eyes seemed to solidify into tangible pressure, enough to make even Yu Lian—who was a transmigrator, a reincarnator, and a newly awakened psionic—feel pressured.

"I'll report the situation here truthfully and argue our case! You'll receive the evaluation you deserve. Your family will definitely receive a school-officer's pension and a medal. I'll find an excellent channel to sell all the spoils we've obtained during this time, and your family will receive their rightful share as well. Senior Elinor... Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte won't find out about Second Lieutenants Russo and Krus. I promise you!"

Of course, if she finds out herself, I can't do anything about that. But even then, I'll make sure to keep you out of it. This is a man's promise. Yu Lian thought.

Lieutenant Munderson smiled in relief. The other man was a Moon citizen, a top student, and the elite of the elite. Now that he had been confirmed as a psionic, his future prospects were obvious. The weight of his testimony was naturally worlds apart from that of a "security-force nobody" who had risen from the ranks.

"I'm not a good officer..."

"Officer." Yu Lian wanted to comfort him a little, treating it as a final consolation. But the other man cut him off at once and shouted, "I really am not a good officer! I ended up like this because I didn't listen to you. But I was only an unemployed sword-sports athlete who came to the colonies to scrape together a living! I was promoted to officer just because I had some brute strength... But I really don't know how to fight! How to train people, how to arrange firepower, how to make decisions—I truly don't understand any of it! My own life is a complete mess. How could I possibly be responsible for other people's lives?"

He came here just to scrape together a living... Yu Lian silently sighed. Whether they were security-force officers like Munderson or immigrants who had left their homes behind, they all shared similar backgrounds.

"But you're different. Moon... No, Ensign Yu Lian! You can lead them! You're the only officer here! Don't abandon them. Lead them and keep them alive!"

This fellow probably thought that now that Yu Lian had become a psionic, he could simply abandon everyone and run back to Tulong by himself. The lieutenant was being somewhat suspicious of a gentleman, but it had to be admitted that the prevailing culture was like this. He could not really be blamed.

"Don't worry. I'll lead everyone and keep them alive! I still promise you that!"

"Good, good. Yes, that's wonderful... Heh-heh, Moon Boy, you should know... If you'd had this kind of spirit when you first arrived, I would have handed command over to you long ago. Heh-heh-heh..."

Lieutenant Munderson left this world amid a dry laugh filled with conflicting emotions. His final laughter had been rather stiff, but at least he had died with a smile on his face.

And just like that, Yu Lian, who was technically still a student, became the only officer at Outpost No. 12.

Everyone stood in place and mourned around Lieutenant Munderson's corpse for quite some time. Yu Lian heard Miss Belinda's quiet sobs and could feel the sorrow lingering in the silent atmosphere.

Lieutenant Munderson truly had not been a good officer, but perhaps that was precisely why everyone had liked him so much.

After a long while, Ina said quietly, "...Officer, what do we do next?"

"Gather the remains of everyone who died in battle and burn them all..." Yu Lian turned around and spoke beneath everyone's expectant gazes. "Take me to the garage. Start those armored vehicles!"

"This place is no longer safe!" he added.