Waiting was always especially boring.
She involuntarily thought of Qin Feng. The more she thought, the angrier she grew, until she couldn't help cursing to herself. "Damn you, Qin Feng, you don't have a romantic bone in your body! I'm gorgeous! Even if my makeup isn't perfect, I'm still a total beauty!"
"But you'd rather stay there watching stray dogs fight than come stargazing with me. You deserve to be single!"
As she spoke, she took out a palm-sized mirror and held it before her face, ready to admire her peerless beauty.
The mirror reflected her face with its smoky makeup. She tilted her head and blinked in self-admiration. "Tsk, tsk. This face, this presence..."
Her gaze suddenly froze.
In one corner of the mirror, a cluster of silvery-gray lights was moving.
The lights were arranged in neat, orderly rows. It was clearly an interstellar fleet sailing in formation.
Morgana instantly put her mirror away and slipped into a spatial interlayer in a flash.
She suppressed every trace of her energy fluctuations, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, and floated silently in a crevice of Void Space, watching the outside through that folded barrier.
The fleet slowly passed not far from her hiding place.
The flagship leading it was enormous. Its hull bore Lieyang Star's distinctive crimson-gold markings, gleaming heavily beneath the starlight.
Seven or eight escort and supply ships followed behind, their formation orderly and their course precise.
Lieyang's fleet?
Morgana stepped slowly out of the spatial interlayer and narrowed her eyes at the receding fleet, thoughts churning in her dark purple eyes.
What was Lieyang's fleet doing leaving its home planet for a remote place like this?
And wasn't that course heading toward Blue Star?
"Interesting."
Morgana murmured softly, the corners of her mouth slowly curving into a meaningful smile.
She raised a hand to rub her chin, her gaze lingering on the departing fleet for a long time, as though playing out a new chess game in her mind.
In the distance, aboard the Lieyang fleet's main flagship, Pan Zhen stood on the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back. Through the viewport, he watched the blue planet drawing closer, his eyes calm and unfathomable.
Without turning around, he asked mildly, "How long until we reach Blue Star?"
"Prince Regent, we expect to enter Blue Star's atmosphere in eighteen hours."
Pan Zhen nodded slightly and said nothing more.
The bridge lights fell across his profile, alternating light and darkness splitting his composed face in two, one half bathed in starlight and the other hidden in shadow.
Juxia City, shopping district.
Rena stood before a boutique's display window, holding a light blue dress against herself. Her eyes shone as she turned to Qiangwei beside her.
"Qiangwei, do you think this dress looks good?"
Leaning against a pillar with her arms folded, Qiangwei gave the price tag hanging inside the collar a cursory glance.
The string of numbers silenced her for two seconds. Then she turned her head, her tone as calm as if stating a scientific fact. "Rena, what's left of your monthly allowance won't cover that dress."
"Huh? I've spent it all already?"
Rena froze, looking down at the dress in her hands and then at the string of numbers on the tag. Her face visibly fell.
"What day of the month is it even? This goddess's budget is way too small!"
Reluctantly, she hung the dress back up, stroking the soft fabric a couple more times before leaving the display window, glancing back with every step.
But after two steps, she abruptly stopped and turned around. Pressing her palms together, she tilted her head and gave Qiangwei a pitiful look.
"Qiangwei~ You're the best..."
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Qiangwei raised a hand to cut her off, her eyebrows lifting. "That trick doesn't work on me anymore! I've already lent you two months of my salary. If I keep lending you money, what am I supposed to live on?"
Rena's shoulders slumped completely, like a punctured balloon, and she muttered dejectedly, "Fine, fine. This goddess will save up a little longer..."
She had barely finished speaking when a vibration came from Qiangwei's pocket.
Qiangwei took out her phone and glanced at the screen. The caller ID made her eyebrows twitch slightly.
She answered, a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Hello?"
Du Kao's voice came through the earpiece. Despite the communication device between them, the urgency in his tone was clear.
"Qiangwei, is Rena with you?"
"Yes. What's wrong?"
Qiangwei glanced at Rena, who was still sighing at the display window beside her.
"Good."
Du Kao lowered his voice, an indescribable tension in it. "Bring her back to base immediately. Lieyang's fleet will be here soon. We need her involved in the negotiations."
Qiangwei's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Understood."
After ending the call, she reached over and patted Rena's shoulder. "Let's go. People from your home are coming. They need you to handle the handover."
"My home?"
Rena paused, then her eyes brightened slightly, as though something had occurred to her. "Let's go, let's go! I'll ask Old Du for some more funds while we're at it!"
Super Soldier Company base, landing pad.
Du Kao sat in his wheelchair as A Jie pushed him to the front of the formation. Behind him, Ge Xiaolun and the other members of the Super Soldier Company stood in orderly ranks.
Everyone was fully armed and solemn-faced. Even Zhao Xin, who was usually all grins and jokes, had put away his flippant expression.
That was the scene Rena and Qiangwei arrived to find.
Rena glanced at the row of fully armed Super Soldier Company members and paused. Then she walked over to Du Kao, her tone somewhat puzzled.
"Old Du, aren't we just receiving some supplies? Do we all need to be here? You've made it look like we're going to war."
Du Kao turned toward her with his usual warm, steady smile, his voice perfectly even. "Isn't this a good chance to let Pan Zhen see the results of your hard work? You've led the team so well. The people from Lieyang ought to see it for themselves."
"Pan Zhen?"
Rena raised her eyebrows. "He's personally escorting the supplies this time? How come I didn't know?"
"Perhaps he forgot."
Du Kao's smile didn't change, but his right hand silently tightened around the wheelchair's armrest.
Ever since waking up that morning, his right eyelid had been twitching, leaving him agitated.
He had initially thought it was simply from poor rest. But when he received Pan Zhen's message saying he would soon arrive at Blue Star and asking them to prepare for his landing, that unease had abruptly reached its peak.
Coupled with Rena's clearly uninformed reaction, it made him increasingly certain there was something unusual about this visit.
Fortunately, he had made ample preparations.
Not only had he brought every member of the Super Soldier Company to the scene, but he had also stationed Sun Wukong in hiding.
Even if something unexpected happened, they wouldn't be caught helpless.
Before long, a low rumble of engines came from the distant horizon, like muffled thunder rolling across the sky.
Then an enormous Lieyang flagship broke through the clouds and came into view.
Rena looked up at the approaching flagship, and her expression suddenly shifted slightly.
"When did Old Pan change flagships?"
She spoke quietly, but her voice was too soft for anyone to hear.
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