Chapter 12 Temporary Marking; Xu Lingzhao and Chu Jingze enter the West District...

normal!

No unusual activity!

No Zerg appeared!

Only when the starship appeared directly overhead did everyone's hearts finally settle down. The starship arrived even faster than expected, five minutes earlier. Everyone quickly boarded the starship, their movements swift and without the slightest hesitation. Xu Lingzhao, as the last person to board, felt a sense of relief. Perhaps she had been overthinking things?

There are no monsters like wormholes in the desert.

But just as she stood firm on the starship and the hatch closed and rose, a hurricane struck, the temperature plummeted, and yellow sand rubbed against the glass of the starship's windows. Xu Lingzhao's pupils constricted as countless insectoids emerged from the ground. They were shaped like sea urchins, but their tentacles were exceptionally flexible. Each one had a radius of about 2 meters, and they almost instantly covered the originally yellow desert.

Everywhere Xu Lingzhao could see with the naked eye, these urchin-like insectoids appeared. Everyone gasped in shock. If the communications hadn't been repaired, and if the starship had arrived five minutes later, everyone would have died in the mouths of these insectoids that had emerged from the ground, almost powerless to fight back. Their numbers were astonishing.

Standing beside her, Ling Qianzhu grasped her wrist, still somewhat shaken: "This time, we were truly lucky." Xu Lingzhao nodded blankly, unable to say anything more than "lucky." Why did this happen repeatedly? The rebels had infiltrated so deeply. This time, fortune smiled upon them. But what about next time, and the time after that?

When the starship docked inside Sandhurst, almost all the schools were waiting for their safe return. When the first student stepped out of the starship, a huge cheer erupted from the crowd. She held Chu Jingze's hand tightly, and Lu Qianxue and the others came forward to hug her and Ling Qianzhu excitedly.

"Oh my, you have no idea how scary it was. I thought you would never come back." Pei Zhengwei put his arm around Xu Lingzhao's neck and covered his chest with his hand: "The rebels are really too vicious."

"During the emergency evacuation, none of us knew what was happening," He Zaining described the scene. Only Lu Qianxue looked at Xu Lingzhao without saying a word. They both understood the meaning of the crisis from each other's eyes.

Xu Lingzhao escorted Chu Jingze to his dormitory. She hugged him tightly, hesitated for a moment but ultimately said nothing, only patting his back: "Go back and get some rest."

Five people sat huddled together in the dormitory, their faces solemn.

Xu Lingzhao lowered her eyes and sighed, "The Federation has been infiltrated too deeply by the rebels." She looked at them and said, "I don't think there's much point in staying in the military academy. My strength is too weak."

"The Federation... is about to change, so the suppression of the rebels is not thorough." Lu Qianxue's voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone present could hear it clearly: "Multiple parties are preparing to seize power, and the Chu family is already teetering on the brink of collapse."

"The military regions have been almost independent for a long time. The Chu and Huo families are tied together. This is the East District, but I heard that Chu Jingze's brother, Chu Jingyi, is about to become the next Federal Commander-in-Chief, so Chu Jingze's situation is not optimistic."

The carefree days of the past are gone in an instant. Xu Lingzhao looked at Lu Qianxue, He Zaining and Pei Zhenwei. Their families had also participated in the power struggle, but this was normal. The current commander-in-chief was old and frail. With the change of regimes, it was only natural for the victor to be king and the loser to be villain.

However, Xu Lingzhao did not want to face them on the battlefield in the future. Lu Qianxue saw her hesitation: "Our Lu family fully supports the Western District."

"He Zhongjia is neutral."

"The Pei family is also neutral."

"No matter what happens in the future, if I fail, I will have nothing to do with you. But after I leave, I will no longer be able to protect him. Please, help me... protect him."

"Okay." The three of them said in unison.

Xu Lingzhao looked at Ling Qianzhu beside her. Ling Qianzhu had already said that she would follow her wherever she went.

In the days that followed, they lived and studied normally at the military academy. When the annual leave came, Sandhurst would give them a month-long leave to escape the cold because of the weather.

After seeing his roommate off at the school gate, Xu Lingzhao waited for Chu Jingze downstairs at her dormitory. She was standing in the snow wearing a thick combat uniform, her figure slender, with a few snowflakes occasionally falling on her golden hair. Chu Jingze almost ran over and hugged her waist, looking up at her with bright eyes and asking, "Are you really going to be with me during the annual leave?"

"Really." Xu Lingzhao smiled and patted his fluffy head. Xu Lingzhao opened the passenger door for Chu Jingze and drove to Chu Jingze's villa. This time, she did not leave but entered with Chu Jingze.

night.

Xu Lingzhao had just finished showering and was drying her hair when she heard the door to her room open quietly. A person wearing a bathrobe slipped in and hugged her from behind. Xu Lingzhao turned around and looked at his slightly flushed cheeks. She pinched his soft cheeks and tilted her head: "Just finished showering?"

"Mmm." He buried his face in her arms, his ears turning red, his voice muffled.

Xu Lingzhao smelled a sweet scent of pheromones. Her eyes narrowed, her gaze deep, and her long, slender fingers pinched his gland, causing it to swell. "During the heat of passion, no suppressants, no suppressant patches." She lifted his chin with her fingers and leaned closer to him. "Come directly to me?"

Chu Jingze bit his lip, his eyes were wet, and he didn't speak but stared straight at her. She never claimed to be a gentleman. She easily picked up Chu Jingze and put him on the bed, rubbing her nose against his cheek: "You seduced me."

I felt the body temperature of the person in my arms rise.

He blinked and traced circles on her collarbone with his finger: "Mark me, okay... I feel so insecure..." His voice was aggrieved: "I can tell Huo Qi likes you... so many people like you... I only want you to be mine." He became more and more aggrieved as he spoke, and crystal clear tears slid down from the corners of his eyes. Xu Lingzhao wiped them away with her fingertips, took his hand, and gently kissed the back of his hand.

She got up, took a small box from her bag on the bedside table, pulled Chu Jingze up and half-sat on the bed. In his somewhat confused eyes, she knelt on one knee and slowly opened the box. Inside was a pair of rings, with the other person's initials engraved on them. She took Chu Jingze's right hand and solemnly and sacredly put the ring on his ring finger: "I, Xu Lingzhao, swear that I will always love only Chu Jingze."

The person in front of her had trembling lips, and warm tears slid down his cheeks onto the back of her hand. Xu Lingzhao smiled and wiped away his tears: "Crying again? Are you made of water? Aren't you going to help me put it on?"

Chu Jing then picked up another ring from the box and solemnly placed it on Xu Lingzhao's left ring finger. He hugged her neck tightly and said softly, "At this moment, I feel like the happiest person in the world."

"Silly boy." Xu Lingzhao gently massaged his glands, their pheromones swirling in the closed room. She looked at Chu Jingze earnestly: "You were injured during the mission, and my mental strength is too high. If I were to mark you permanently, you would suffer. How about a temporary mark first?"

His eyes were filled with affection, his cheeks were flushed, and he nodded in Xu Lingzhao's arms.

She gently placed him on the bed, turned him over, and his swollen glands, emitting pheromones, were fully displayed before her eyes. Xu Lingzhao carefully pierced the skin of the glands, revealing her sharp teeth, and injected pheromones. The person in her arms let out a very soft whimper. In the instant the pheromones mingled, Xu Lingzhao felt that her heart was filled with an impulse called lust.

After the temporary marking was completed, Xu Lingzhao left a fresh tooth mark on his gland, pulled him closer to her, and felt his trembling body. She kissed his rounded earlobe and mumbled, "Relax."

They spent a whole month together, and Xu Lingzhao felt that Chu Jingze had become particularly clingy. Looking at Chu Jingze in her arms, she felt reluctant to part with him, but if she didn't do that, Chu Jingze would always be in danger, and she simply didn't have the ability to protect him. She rested her chin on the top of his fluffy head: "Baby, if one day I'm not here anymore, you have to take good care of yourself. If you encounter any danger... contact Lu Qianxue and the others, they will help you."

The person in his arms suddenly looked up, their eyes filled with confusion: "What...do you mean by that?"

She gently squeezed the back of his neck reassuringly: "It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of it." She looked at him with an unprecedented seriousness: "No matter what, trust me. I love you. Take care of yourself."

"I know what you need to do. Take care of yourself. I love you too."

Xu Lingzhao wiped away the tears that had fallen from the corners of his eyes and left a reluctant kiss on his forehead.

After dropping Chu Jingze off at Sandhurst, Xu Lingzhao arrived at the meeting place with Lu Qianxue and the others. He opened the passenger door and found that in addition to Lu Qianxue and Ling Qianzhu, there were two other people in the car.

Pei Zhenwei noticed her questioning look and said casually, "It's not that I'm reluctant to part with you or worried about you, I'm just here to see you off."

He Zaining: "It's such an important occasion, so I definitely had to come and see you off. I don't know when we'll see each other again."

The car fell silent; no one spoke again.

Xu Lingzhao felt a lump in her throat. She saw their reddened eyes in the rearview mirror. She looked out the window. Yes, this parting was inevitable. When would they meet again? Would they be enemies or separated by death? She didn't want to be a victim of power struggles. She wanted to be the one in power.

Protect those you want to protect, safeguard the kind and innocent, end meaningless wars—behind every living person is a family.

The small starship passed through the space teleportation array and quickly arrived at the Western Military District, located on the edge of the Federation and extremely cold. This time, only Xu Lingzhao and Ling Qianzhu got off the vehicle, and they watched the starship disappear into the horizon.

Without hesitation, he stepped into this unfamiliar and cold place.

A note from the author:

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I typed much faster today, only two and a half hours! [rainbow emoji][rainbow emoji]