Chapter 82 Final Judgment

After three trials, the final result was announced: Zhou Jiu's enrollment at the Central Military Academy was revoked, his sponsored student service quota was temporarily retained, his military status was revoked, and he was sentenced to serve two years on a desolate planet, working with local troops to clear out alien beasts from starship passages. During non-mission periods, he could live a normal life under military supervision.

The news of the people from the Spruce Galaxy being captured and subjected to human experiments, with their mental energy being extracted, broke out online, sparking a wave of social discussion and various rebellions by the Free Army. But all of this was far removed from Zhou Jiu's life.

"Captain, what are you looking at?" Wei An'an nudged Zhou Jiu with her elbow while holding a large machine gun in both hands.

“I feel like things have changed a lot here.” Zhou Jiu turned to look at Wei An’an. She really hadn’t expected that the desolate planet would be transformed into a habitable and safe settlement by them. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before it became more and more prosperous, just like a real city. Maybe her thoughts on the Volunteer Army were too extreme.

"Captain, you seem to have become quite downcast since you went back to school. You've changed a lot. I almost didn't recognize you when you first appeared." Wei An'an grinned, revealing her bright teeth.

Zhou Jiu shook his head slightly, propped his head up, and continued to stare blankly at the area outside the safe zone of the distant desolate star.

“Sun You has come to the desolate planet again, are you still not going to see him?” Wei An’an sat down next to Zhou Jiu, leaning against him, and also stared blankly like Zhou Jiu.

“She’s gone. I don’t want to see her for now.” Zhou Jiu shook his head.

"Captain, are all those past events really that important? I don't understand." Wei An'an's memory lock was unlocked, and she remembered the past. But compared to the eight years they spent together later, Wei An'an didn't think that time was that important. She said, "We were together for eight years, but only ten of those years were on Ancient Blue Star. In those ten years, the earliest we were old enough to understand and have memories was probably four or five years old. Compared to that, it's not as important as the time we spent together. They abandoned you; it's their loss. Why are you torturing yourself?"

Zhou Jiu raised his eyes and suddenly asked, "Who told you that?"

Wei An'an suddenly stood up and said with a laugh, "Ah, Captain, I suddenly remembered that we missed something in our follow-up clearing mission. I'll go and take care of it."

Zhou Jiu watched helplessly as Wei An'an left, leaving only her and her energy body, Qi Qi, on the entire mound.

No one expected that sometimes memories would bring her not boundless courage, but retreat.

She wasn't a talented child in the Zhou family. She was eventually sent to an outer star system because she was eliminated and became a spark in the Zhou family. All the actions and her life were calculated and pushed forward by her mother and father. Zhou Jiu didn't find it hard to accept being abandoned, but her only obsession and goal had always been to return to the ancient Blue Star. But these memories seemed to be telling her that everything in her past was a joke.

Zhou Jiu continued to stare blankly at the sunset. Besides the daily clearing missions with everyone, she now really enjoyed watching the sunrise and sunset, watching the stars and the sun from a small place.

The sunrises and sunsets she saw on the desolate planet were very different from those on the ancient blue planet. The stars she encountered were not the same sun, but the similar stars and the similar 24-hour time system always confused her. She wondered if those ten years on the ancient blue planet were just a long dream.

"Zhou Jiu."

Zhou Jiu removed his hand from Qi Qi's head and looked at the newcomer.

“Sun You.” Zhou Jiu’s expression was very calm. She thought that she would be very angry when she saw Sun You again after being deceived by her, but in fact she seemed to feel nothing at all.

"Are you still angry?" Sun You asked.

"No," Zhou Jiu answered truthfully, but she also realized that many people thought she didn't want to see him because they thought she was angry and resentful, but in reality, she genuinely felt it was unnecessary.

“I know you’re angry, but since you haven’t regained your memory, there are some things I can’t tell you directly. Let’s talk now.” Sun You squatted down in front of Zhou Jiu.

“I don’t want to participate in your plan. Everyone is working hard, and I’m not one of them,” Zhou Jiu refused. She didn’t want to explain the topic of whether she was angry or not anymore.

“But your talent in mecha and your past public support for Ancient Blue Star, including exposing what the First Military District’s high command did to the Spru people, have earned you a great deal of goodwill not only from us former inhabitants of Ancient Blue Star, but also from the Spru people and people from other star systems. We need you to participate in the vote and become part of the federal government’s decision-making body, so that Ancient Blue Star can successfully enter the entire central star system and become a member of its ruling body, thus safeguarding our legitimate rights and interests.” Sun You explained the pros and cons to Zhou Jiu.

"Oh, then just tell me what you want me to do each time, and I'll do as you say," Zhou Jiu said casually to Sun You as he continued watching the trajectory of the sun-like star.

“…You?” Zhou Jiu’s calm, lifeless face startled Sun You slightly. “Zhou Jiu, what’s wrong?”

"I'm fine."

“Going to jail is nothing, Zhou Jiu. Everyone knows what you’ve done. I never expected you to take such a risk for the people of the Spu Galaxy. But Zhou Jiu, this is really important to the people of Spu. We all admire you.”

"Oh." Zhou Jiu nodded, looking at Sun You who was trying to comfort him, and gave a very calm and quiet smile. "Sun You, you're not good at comforting others, and you're blocking my view of the sun."

"The sun? You mean this hydrogen meteor?" Sun You moved away and turned back to look in the direction Zhou Jiu was looking.

"Mmm," Zhou Jiu replied softly.

"We expect to open a starship passage to Ancient Blue Star within three years, and then we'll go back together," Sun You said.

Zhou Jiu glanced at Sun You and suddenly asked, "I thought you hated me when we were little."

“…” Sun You fell silent. “I really disliked you when I was very young.”

Sun You didn't hear Zhou Jiu's next words, so she sat down with him and continued, "Back then you were so sunny, and even though you were just like me and couldn't learn metaphysics, you still insisted on joining the metaphysics class and learning with them, without feeling inferior at all."

"I was not very likable back then, and I was also a child adopted by Teacher Zhou. Because of these things, I was much more mature than you were back then. Even before you could remember, I already had feelings of jealousy."

"But Zhou Jiu, you might not know this, but I'm also very envious of you, really..."

Sun You's words were incoherent, but he gradually fell silent as they looked at the hydrogen meteor that resembled the sun and reminisced about the ancient Blue Star.