When Xie Ji withdrew his hand, his face was a little hot. After carefully observing that no one had noticed this ambiguous corner, he breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his fingertips together, and put his hand back in his pocket.
Looking again, the melancholy in Lu Xunji's eyes had completely dissipated.
Princess Bro is prone to jealousy, but surprisingly easy to appease.
-
In the vast universe, human perception is extremely limited. Xie Ji glanced at the computer to confirm the time and realized that the starship had been traveling in space for more than five hours, during which time it had experienced several small jumps.
Lu Xunji's individual combat ability is not low. He belongs to the individual combat department and should have been assigned to an individual combat squad. However, due to the scarcity of command personnel on the battlefield, Lu Xunji had no choice but to obey the transfer order and be sent to the Second War Zone as the commander-in-chief.
"Should I be assigned to an individual squad?" Xie Ji leaned over to look at the assignment list on Lu Xunji's personal terminal. "Which squad?"
Lu Xunji glanced at it and then put away his personal terminal. " Second War Zone Commander's starship, follow me."
Xie Ji pointed to himself. "But I don't know how to command."
Lu Xunji looked at him. "So, all you know how to do is pilot a mecha?"
Xie Ji: "..."
He, Xie Ji, is currently a first-year student in the Individual Combat Department of the Imperial Military Academy. Let alone real mechs, he has barely even touched a simulated mech cabin a few times.
"Come with me; your role isn't in solo combat." Lu Xunji gently touched his cheek with the back of his hand. "Good boy."
Xie Ji nodded, then asked doubtfully, "Do I really have an official transfer order?"
Lu Xunji paused for a moment. "Yes, but it wasn't a military transfer order."
Xie Ji didn't quite understand. "What is that?"
"Yes, it's a family member transfer order. I told the principal I can't do without you."
Xie Ji: "..."
The most humiliating transfer order in the world has arrived! He was just bragging to Ji Shi that he had a formal transfer order!!
Xie Ji took a deep breath, her ears and cheeks turning red. "Who's your family member? Don't talk nonsense, okay? What if others find out?"
Lu Xunji led him towards Zone Two, during which he had been holding Xie Ji's hand, but it was abruptly pulled away. "I hate Nantong."
Lu Xunji said, "Didn't they already know about your relationship with me? Or did you say it yourself?"
Xie Ji covered his forehead. "I only told Jin Li and Ji Shi, and they know it's okay... but it feels weird if other people know."
Lu Xunji paused, then his tone became slightly lighter. "Tell Ji Shi, what is our relationship?"
"Well," Xie Ji stammered, "The kind of relationship where we kiss all the time."
Lu Xunji raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I know the answer to this question. In an intimate relationship, kissing is a secret, so it doesn't matter."
Xie Ji: "..."
Xie Ji: "You really hold grudges."
"So what exactly is their relationship?"
"I said," Xie Ji said in a low voice, head down, " Lu Xunji is my boyfriend."
Lu Xunji gasped for breath, his fingertips, gripping Xie Ji's wrist, caressing the skin with obvious affection.
"That's enough," Lu Xunji said. "This is sufficient."
Xie Ji raised his head. "That's not enough, everyone knows now."
Lu Xunji tapped Xie Ji's hand with his fingertip. "What do you know? I told the principal you're my younger brother. What do you think I meant?"
Xie Ji: "...?"
"Didn't you say it yourself?" Lu Xunji leaned down and nuzzled Xie Ji's ear. "Dear... brother?"
Xie Ji didn't react at first, and Lu Xunji walked ahead for quite a while before catching up. "Are you really talking about this? Why?"
"Hmm." Lu Xunji responded, using the transfer order in his hand to open the door to the Second War Zone Commander's office, "How far our relationship progresses is up to you. I am your property, and you have the right to dispose of me in any way."
Xie Ji: "..."
They're resorting to objectifying themselves again.
Xie Ji followed, cupped Lu Xunji's face, and kissed him. "I know."
Lu Xunji looked down at him. "What do you know?"
"Our relationship is the most intimate in the world, the kind where we can kiss without restraint in the sunlight, I know that." Xie Ji nuzzled his lips. "I'm not denying it, and I'm not trying to hide it from you. Don't feel insecure."
Lu Xunji bent down slightly, turned his head, and kissed the side of Xie Ji's hand that was resting on his face. "Okay."
Xie Ji closed his eyes, and said with a hint of self-abandonment, "Sorry, I'm not straight, I'm the most pretentious guy in the world, from Nantong."
"..." Lu Xunji couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Xie Ji grinned and leaned over to rub his nose against Xie Ji's. "Happy now? Big brother?"
Lu Xunji straightened up. "Hmm."
Having successfully appeased Princess Bro, Xie Ji followed Lu Xunji with a great sense of accomplishment, watching him quickly take over as commander of the Second War Zone.
The commander's office has a large electronic screen, and Lu Xunji's commander privileges allow him to access any information about the front-line battlefield.
He sat in his seat all day looking at the documents, and the more he looked, the more gloomy his face became.
While on the starship, Xie Ji had vaguely guessed some things, but he wasn't quite sure. Now, after reading the documents with Lu Xunji, he was 80-90% certain.
A black hole has appeared around the empire.
In the Star Era, black holes were no longer considered a major threat.
However, this black hole is not ordinary. Not only is it collapsing at an extremely rapid speed, but it also contains a large number of unidentified organisms.
These creatures have bizarre appearances, with huge bone wings on their backs, allowing them to move freely in space at considerable speeds. They bite anything they see, even tearing hard armor shells to shreds under their jaws.
At first, the commanders on the Imperial border did not notice anything unusual, treating it as an ordinary black hole. They increased the number of personnel patrolling around the black hole, and once the black hole collapsed to the point of threatening the surrounding planets, they applied to the Imperial headquarters to relocate the residents on it.
Later, the mechs and starships patrolling around the black hole would mysteriously disappear, and some mech wreckage would be found after salvage operations.
At first, everyone thought they were ambushed by space pirates in the vicinity.
However, no detector could find any trace of these "space pirates." They were like ghosts hidden in the dark night, appearing and disappearing without a trace. The only thing that could prove their existence was the endless disappearances of starships and mechs.
Later, as the number of those creatures increased, by the time they fully realized what was happening, hundreds and thousands of "unidentified creatures" had appeared on the borders of the empire.
They can briefly "invisibly" in the darkness of the universe, their bodies are as soft as liquid, and bullets can penetrate them without causing any damage. Their huge cushioning and special physical properties allow them to crack bullets like sunflower seeds.
Only mechs equipped with thermal ion guns can kill it.
"The thermal ion gun will vaporize this monster instantly." Lu Xunji leaned back in his chair, frowning. "Other attacks are ineffective against it. Coupled with its brief invisibility and its ability to crush mechs, capturing it alive is extremely difficult. To this day, even the Empire's researchers haven't figured out what this thing is."
Xie Ji looked at the images transmitted back from the data, and suddenly seemed to think of something. He quickly entered the system and pulled out the sleeping Little Black.
"I don't recall this being mentioned before?" Xie Ji rummaged through the system repository. "With system privileges, can you trace its origin?"
Little Black flicked its tail, glanced at Xie Ji, remained silent for two minutes, and then weakly said, "It's no use. This world is about to collapse."