Chapter 9
A dying man spoke kindly. Su Lin had been dizzy at the time, and he had held He Zisen's hand and rambled on about all sorts of things.
He told He Zisen not to go without sleep or food every time he practiced with his mecha, because it was bad for his stomach.
He told him to smile more often, too. He knew He Zisen was formidable and didn't worry about offending people, but his icy manner scared everyone away. How was he supposed to find a girlfriend like that?
He apologized for using He Zisen as a shield behind his back, telling people the two of them were already together. He had only wanted to turn down some persistent admirers, but he hadn't expected He Zisen's reputation to suffer as a result...
By the end, Su Lin didn't even know what he had said.
In any case, the young man closed his eyes, then opened them.
When he woke up again, he discovered that he hadn't died after all. Instead, he was in a top-of-the-line private hospital room.
The bullet that should have killed him had been removed. Su Lin didn't know what kind of advanced equipment He Zisen had used, but the glaring hole in his chest had been reduced to a faint red mark.
It was impossible to see without looking closely. Only when hot water ran over it in the shower did a faint pink patch appear.
Perhaps because Su Lin had risked his life this time, He Zisen had finally realized just how loyal his follower was. From then on, he treated Su Lin with particular warmth.
Yet it was also because of this incident that Su Lin immediately came to his senses.
Some powerful people were worth clinging to.
But cling to others, and if you got caught in the tail end of the storm, you might lose your life.
He Zisen undoubtedly belonged to the latter category of powerful people.
Su Lin made a snap decision to let go and run.
The heavens seemed to have noticed Su Lin's decision, too. For that year's university entrance exam, Su Lin and He Zisen were assigned to testing areas in different star regions.
Before they parted, He Zisen told Su Lin that he planned to settle down on the Border Planet after the exam.
"You seem to like it here."
The icy young man lowered his eyes to the light computer in his hand and spoke indifferently.
"...You can stay at my place while you're at university."
Su Lin glanced at He Zisen's light computer and saw that he was browsing real estate near Border University.
He fell silent for a while before giving a stiff laugh. "That's great! Then we can stay together!"
Once the exam results came out, Su Lin quietly and quickly changed his university choice and ran off to Xingchuan University in the First Star Sector.
He had never intended to stay on the Border Planet.
It was a thoroughly underhanded thing to do, of course, and in the end, it caused a very unpleasant falling-out between him and He Zisen.
To be precise, it was disastrous.
As Su Lin was preparing to board a ship to the First Star Sector with his luggage on his back, He Zisen cornered him in the boarding area.
The moment He Zisen dragged him into a compartment, Su Lin thought he was going to kill him on the spot. After all, the look shooting from that man's reddened eyes was terrifying. He even thought he smelled blood. At the time, Su Lin almost believed that he might already have been stabbed with some poisoned dagger and simply hadn't felt it...
Luckily, luckily.
In the end, He Zisen let him go.
"Don't let me see you again, Su Lin."
The young man suddenly wiped every expression from his face. He looked at Su Lin as though he were looking at a corpse.
He spoke in a completely flat voice to Su Lin, who was trembling with fear.
After that, the person named He Zisen never appeared in Su Lin's world again.
Until today, when Su Lin saw a face identical to He Zisen's aboard a Zerg warship.
Su Lin didn't know whether it was because the other man was a member of the Security Committee, or because of that face, or perhaps both, but he had an inexplicably terrible, terrible premonition.
"Lord Medises-"
At that moment, several Security Committee members in pitch-black uniforms appeared in the examination room, their expressions indifferent. They paid Su Lin no attention, but saluted "He Zisen" with the utmost respect.
"Your private room is ready."
At that, one of the members glanced at Su Lin.
"We will soon finish the routine matters here. We hope we haven't disturbed your rest."
The Zerg's expression was blank, but he was filled with fear.
As a senior inspector of the Security Committee, Medises shouldn't have been here at all! Had some mistake in their work drawn this lord's attention? Or...
"...A bloodline examination? It's been a long time since I handled such basic work."
Then the Zerg heard Medises's indifferent voice.
"In that case, I'll conduct this examination."
The man spoke.
His tone was so calm that even the other Zerg from the Security Committee couldn't tell whether this important figure, renowned for his composure and cruelty, was truly just bored and looking for something to pass the time, or whether he had discovered a problem and wanted to put the branch office in order.
But whatever the reason, once Mediseska had spoken, they could not possibly raise any objections.
Chapter 9
A few minutes later, a thoroughly bewildered Su Lin was suspended in the air.
The bloodline examination Su Lin had imagined-lying in an examination chair as he would for a regular hospital checkup, with some machines humming beside him and probes scanning his body.
The actual bloodline examination-cold metal rings fastened around his wrists, ankles, and neck, his whole body suspended helplessly in midair by a levitation device, with a senior Zerg inspector standing before him, his expression indifferent and his presence unnerving. Whenever the latter's pale cyan eyes settled on Su Lin, a certain unlucky human had the terrifying illusion that the Zerg in front of him might dissect him alive at any moment.