"Why?"
"How was this even possible?"
"What was he supposed to do?"
As Noer asked himself those three despairing questions, he and the other children from the orphanage stood neatly at its entrance, ready to welcome Lenoya Sala.
Unlike the other children, whose faces were full of joy and curiosity, Noer looked utterly miserable.
Today was February 7, C.E. 70. There were fewer than ten days left until Valentine's Day.
Of course, that alone would not have bothered Noer too much. After all, he did not know which year Bloody Valentine had happened.
The key was Lenoya Sala's appearance.
The relationship between PLANT and the Earth Alliance was extremely delicate right now.
Not long ago, PLANT representatives who had gone to Earth to attend a council meeting had been targeted in a terrorist attack, resulting in the death of one of the delegates.
In response, PLANT had directly halted its supply exports to Earth.
The two sides began condemning each other, and their relationship grew tense to the extreme.
At this point, the Earth Alliance and PLANT were like two powder kegs filled with explosives. All it would take was a single spark to set them off!
And under these circumstances, Athrun's mother had come to the colony where he lived. Wasn't that practically telling him a nuclear bomb was on its way?
It was exactly like the saying went—he wanted to run, but there was nowhere he could escape to!
Clap, clap, clap!
Warm applause broke out, interrupting Noer's thoughts.
Noer looked up and followed the others' gazes. Three luxury sedans slowly drove into view.
Soon, amid the enthusiastic applause, the cars came to a steady stop before the orphanage gates.
The door of the middle sedan slowly opened, and with the help of a bodyguard, a purple-haired woman stepped out.
"Spark Orphanage welcomes Dr. Lenoya!"
Dressed in a neat nun's habit, Aya stepped forward with a smile and greeted Lenoya Sala.
"You are too kind, Sister Aya. Are these the children from this orphanage?"
Lenoya Sala clearly was not cut out to be a politician and did not know how to make small talk. Otherwise, she would not have become an agricultural scientist.
"Yes. All thirty-seven children of Spark Orphanage are here," Aya replied with a smile.
"Aunt Lenoya, it's been so long!"
At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.
"Asya, it has been so long. You've grown so tall."
"That's all thanks to Sister Aya taking such good care of me!"
"Hehe, are you planning to come back with me this time?"
"I..."
"Come to think of it, you and Athrun have not seen each other in a long time. It would not be good for you to grow too distant."
"But I don't really want to leave here."
"You would only be coming with me for a visit. You can return after staying for two days."
"????"
Standing amid the crowd, Noer watched Asya chatting happily with Lenoya Sala and felt completely baffled.
What was going on?
Asya knew Lenoya Sala? And they seemed quite close, too.
"You're Noer, aren't you?"
While Noer was still dazed, Lenoya Sala released Asya's hand and looked over at him.
"Huh? Noer is... Oh, oh, right, right! I'm Noer, I'm Noer. Hello, Dr. Lenoya!"
Noer nearly failed to react. He hurriedly stepped forward and spoke to Lenoya Sala.
"Hehe, what an interesting child." Lenoya Sala could not help laughing when she saw Noer imitating an adult by extending his hand.
Noer also realized that his behavior was a little too mature for his age and hurriedly explained, "Ah, sorry. It was just a habit!"
"Hehe, you're rather like Athrun in that regard." Lenoya Sala clearly loved her son dearly. She could not go three sentences without mentioning Athrun.
"Is that so?" Noer was stunned. I'm like Athrun? What a joke. I'm way more handsome than that guy!
"You both like pretending to be mature. You're exactly alike in that respect," Lenoya Sala explained.
"Uh..." Noer did not know how to respond for a moment. Pretending to be mature? I'm older than you... definitely older than your son!
"Let's head inside first. Dr. Lenoya must be tired after such a long journey." Seeing that the conversation was becoming difficult to continue, Sister Aya quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Mm, there is no need to rest. Let's go take a look at the fields first. In two days, I still need to go to the June Colony to participate in some research. Time is rather tight, so I'm afraid I cannot stay long."
Lenoya Sala declined Aya's kind offer. Her original plan had been to leave after inspecting the results of the experiment here.
"If that is the case, then please follow me, Dr. Lenoya."
Aya did not insist. She stepped forward and gestured toward the orphanage fields. "The experimental plot is over there."
"Thank you." Lenoya Sala nodded, gave Asya a slight smile, then turned and headed toward the experimental field with her bodyguards.
"Hey, Noer, aren't you coming too?"
As the other orphanage children followed along, Asya suddenly noticed that Noer was still standing there in a daze.
"Ah, I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Noer snapped back to his senses and jogged after them.
"Are you feeling unwell? Why do you seem so strange?" Asya looked Noer up and down. He could not shake the feeling that Noer had been acting oddly today.
"Strange? Oh, I did feel a little unwell earlier, but I'm much better now."
Noer chuckled and waved his hand, indicating that he was fine.
That scared the life out of me!
He had thought he was really so unlucky that he would end up being buried with the colony.
Now it seemed he had been overthinking it. As expected, the Child of Destiny had a tough fate!
Lenoya Sala actually was not planning to stay here long. She would leave after only two days. The instant Noer heard those words, the huge stone weighing on his heart finally dropped.
He felt the relief of having escaped death by a hair!
If his memories were not wrong, Lenoya Sala had died on Valentine's Day—February 14.
The colony she had been on had vanished along with her.
But as the saying went, when one path closed, another opened. Lenoya Sala was not staying here long and would leave in two days.
Heh, heh. So the colony that got nuked was not this July Colony, but another one.
It was not good to take pleasure in others' misfortune, but... that was the sorrow and helplessness of ordinary people.
Then again, what did other people's deaths have to do with him? As long as the people who cherished him and the people he cherished survived, that was enough.
"Are you really all right? Could your old injury be acting up again?" Asya looked at Noer, who had suddenly come back to life, and found it hard to believe.
Just now, Noer had looked like he was on the verge of death, his face pale as a sheet. How had he suddenly gotten better?
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm perfectly healthy!"
As Noer spoke, he forcefully patted his chest to show that there was nothing wrong with him!
If being too conspicuous had not been a bad idea, Noer would have wanted to jump around on the spot.
Seeing this, Asya could not say much else. He simply followed Lenoya Sala and the others toward the experimental field.
Before long, the group arrived at the experimental plot.
The plot was not large, only about half a mu. It was planted with newly developed seedlings.
About half an hour later.
Lenoya Sala checked each seedling's condition one by one and recorded detailed information.
Then, to Noer's delight, she returned to the front of the orphanage. By then, the car door was already open, waiting for her to get in and leave!
"Seedling No. 16 is doing well. You have taken good care of it." Standing beside the car door, Lenoya Sala smiled at Sister Aya.
"Actually, most of the credit goes to Asya." As Aya spoke, she pushed Asya, who was standing beside her, forward.
"It's nothing, really. I usually don't have much to do anyway." Asya scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Asya, come back with me."
As Lenoya Sala looked at Asya's face, she could not help thinking of his parents.
"This..." Asya hesitated at her words and turned to look at Noer and the others. Clearly, he did not want to leave his friends.
"You have to go back on February 17 anyway, so you might as well come with me now. You can also see Uncle Sara and Athrun while you're there," Lenoya Sala continued.
"February 17?" Noer frowned slightly after hearing that. What was special about February 17?
"Then... all right." Asya thought about it. He really had not seen Athrun or Uncle Sara in a long time. They had taken care of him all these years, so whether out of gratitude or courtesy, he should pay them a visit.
Noer looked at Asya in disbelief. Asya was going back with Lenoya Sala. Did that mean he would be with Lenoya Sala the entire time before returning home?
Then... the nuclear bomb?
"Wait..."
"Mm?"
Just as Noer was about to say something, a bodyguard suddenly hurried over from not far away.
Before you continue