In the conference room of the command ship, the main lights were off. A three-dimensional star map was lit in the center of the long elliptical table. The blue light reflected on Lu Fenghan's face, and his sharp features were clearly outlined.

An ashtray was spinning on the conference table. Four or five cigarette butts were crushed in it, and a few sparks were burning quietly.

Lu Fenghan also took a bite of a cigarette, but did not light it. He was leaning back in his chair, with his military jacket casually draped over the armrest, listening to Erich talk about the next preliminary combat plan.

Although Erich had been on the frontline for seven or eight years, and had been Lu Fenghan's deputy for half of the time, he was not affected by the surrounding environment at all. He always buttoned his clothes tightly, with his cuffs and collar neatly laid out, making him the face of the expeditionary force -

this was also the reason why Erich was the one who came out to receive people from the capital planet whenever they came to inspect.

"...There is a rare mineral star here. Donald has sent many people to guard it. Let's take it back first." Eric pointed at the star map. "There is a spare supply station next to it. We can bomb it. The small micro-ships have no energy supply. We can hit them with one bomb."

Lu Fenghan took over Eric's words: "The goal of this operation is to move the current base to Turin. How long has it been since the second defeat? It has been more than half a year. It's time to take back our territory."

Half an hour ago, he had a short call with General Nie Huaiting. The call did not take long, no more than a minute. The core idea was that we could go all out and fight the rebels on the front line without being polite.

Since its establishment, the Alliance has been in chaos for a while. The rebels occupied Leto, and Nie Huating led his troops to move to Odin. At first glance, the Alliance seemed to be completely defeated, but in fact, of the four major administrative regions, only the Central Administrative Region was occupied - only because Leto was of great significance to the Alliance, this increased the weight and made the rebels' recruited bards have a place to write about.

This is also the same as Lu Fenghan's previous speculation. If the rebels want to replace the Alliance, they will definitely not follow the star map and take the time and effort to fight all the way from the front line of the Southern Cross Region to the Central Region. Instead, they will occupy Leto first, and then the Central Region. The troops stationed in the other three regions are loose, so it won't take much effort to solve them.

In the six months before Lu Fenghan came back, the two sides were in a standoff, but they were barely at peace. The Alliance needed a top-down cleanup and reorganization, part of the rebels' forces were spent in Leto, and those who stayed on the front line did not dare to engage in large-scale exchanges of fire with the expeditionary forces.

But now, Nie Huaiting has regained control of what he should have, and the rebels have temporarily stabilized the situation in Leto.

For a while, the war situation once again gathered on the front line of the Southern Cross Region.

Lu Fenghan never had the idea of ​​"letting go of the territory being taken away". On the contrary, he believed in taking it back the way it was taken away.

Therefore, he directly planted the small flag with the shield and sword logo on Turin Star.

The meeting was over, and everyone had left. Lu Fenghan was still sitting there, staring at the location of Turin.

Vincent, Lu Fenghan's adjutant, sorted out his personal records and saw that Lu Fenghan had not left yet: "Commander?"

"Nothing." Lu Fenghan came back to his senses, and when he stood up, he picked up the military jacket on the side, with a hint of murderous intent on his brows.

Vincent guessed that Lu Fenghan was thinking about the first big defeat, and his heart was a little heavy. Although he had been on the front line for a long time and was used to sacrifice, he always felt uncomfortable when he saw the rows of empty rooms on the starship and the names in the roster turned into black and white.

Following Lu Fenghan out of the conference room, Vincent deliberately changed the subject: "Commander, where are you going next?"

"It's almost eleven o'clock, picking up Qiyan after work."

Lu Fenghan made an appointment with Qiyan, and he would pick her up every day in the future.

"So during the meeting just now, Commander, you were always looking at the time?" Hearing Lu Fenghan mention Qiyan, Vincent's doubts had already turned over and over in his mind for several times. Seeing that there was no one around, he asked in a low voice, "Commander, Qiyan...how did you suddenly become Y?"

When they were in Leto, they had speculated on Qiyan's identity based on the known clues, and finally concluded that Qiyan should be a direct relative of the core members of the White Tower and was listed on the White Tower's protection list, so his identity information was classified.

But they didn't expect that Qiyan was not only a member of the White Tower, but also the White Tower's chief, the legendary Y.

At this point, when Vincent was talking to Eric about Leto's past, he couldn't help but sigh back and forth: "He is actually Y! God Y is only 19 years old, can you believe it? A second-year student in Turan is actually God Y!"

But what he wanted to ask most was actually why Qi Yan looked a little different from before. But his instinct was to avoid danger, and he felt that this question could not be asked. If he asked it, something would happen, so he had to hold it in.

"He is an ordinary second-year student in Turan, is Y, and is the chief of the White Tower. What's the difference?" Lu Fenghan's question was exactly what he thought in his heart.

To Lu Fenghan, no matter what identity Qi Yan has, he is just Qi Yan.

There is no difference.

No matter what identity label is attached to him, he is still that coquettish, confused little clingy spirit.

Vincent followed Lu Fenghan and opened his mouth to refute him, but he felt that what Lu Fenghan said made sense. However, when he talked about this, he remembered: "Besides you, Erich and me, and Pojun, no one knew that the White Tower had brought in a new detection system, and the same was true for Qi Yan."

Lu Fenghan understood what Vincent meant.

In the past six months, not only Nie Huaiting was reorganizing the military, but Erich and Vincent were also busy, and they strictly screened the expeditionary army inside and out.

——The exact coordinates of the jump point were exposed, and the army was ambushed by the enemy as soon as it left the jump channel and was annihilated. This kind of thing must not be allowed to happen again.

But even after screening, there is no guarantee that everything is screened out, which is one of the reasons why Weiss must be brought back for questioning.

"The new detection system will be announced in two days, and it will be a good opportunity to test it out in the next battle. Everything is based on Qi Yan's safety, he--" Lu Fenghan thought of the contract they signed when they first met, and his expression slowed down, "He is my employer."

Vincent had a good idea in his mind and knew how to address the outside world. Seeing that they were getting closer to the equipment room, he stopped following, raised his hand to saluted Lu Fenghan, and turned to find Eric.

Lu Fenghan stood in front of the metal door of the equipment room, and before he could identify his personal terminal, the door slid open--when it comes to things like opening and closing doors, Pojun always likes to show his presence.

The silver metal door closed behind him. Lu Fenghan stood at the door with his back against the wall. He did not approach rashly, nor did he make any sound.

He just watched Qi Yan quietly from a distance of 10 to 20 steps away.

At this moment, his emotions, which had been fluctuating due to the mess of various chores, calmed down completely.

This scene reminded him of the library in Turan Academy. When Qi Yan went into the principal's library to read paper books, he was waiting for him outside through a layer of glass.

After an unknown amount of time, Pojun's voice rang out in the equipment room: "It's eleven o'clock."

Qi Yan came back to his senses from the data stream, his eyes a little dull, and he subconsciously tilted his head to look at the door.

Lu Fenghan was standing there.

While being slightly startled, Qi Yan felt as if a feather floating in the air slowly fell to the ground.

He stood up and wanted to ask, "Are you here to pick me up?" But he felt that the answer to this question was obvious, and there was really no need to ask. He simply chose not to speak, and lowered his head to pack up the writing board that he used as draft paper.

Lu Fenghan didn't mind Qi Yan's silence. He walked closer and held Qi Yan's wrist: "Does your hand hurt?"

Qi Yan was a few seconds late before answering: "... A little sore, and a little painful."

He was busy in the equipment room all day. After connecting "Catching the Wind" to the central control system, he also entered the database of the central control system and optimized some details according to the data records in it.

The workload is huge, but whether it was before in the White Tower or now, he has never paid attention to whether his hands will hurt after he is done.

Until Lu Fenghan controlled the strength and gently pinched his knuckles and wrists.

When rubbing to the base of the fingers, Qi Yan whispered: "Be gentle, it hurts."

After that, Qi Yan fell silent again.

Because of his sensitivity to pain, he has become accustomed to various degrees of pain, rarely showing it, and even less speaking out.

"Does it hurt?" Lu Fenghan softened his grip as he was told, raised his eyes, and smiled, "Blame me."

Qi Yan wanted to explain that he was intolerant to pain, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know why he said it.

Lu Fenghan seemed to have seen something: "Tell me if your hands hurt. If you have nightmares, feel lazy, or feel uncomfortable, you can come to me."

Qi Yan was silent, and slowly responded with a "OK". After

helping Qi Yan relax his hands, Lu Fenghan sent Qi Yan back to his room to rest, just like yesterday, and chatted with him about the problem of the central control system while walking.

When they reached the door, Lu Fenghan saw Qi Yan open the personal terminal and was about to open the door, so he suggested: "Your nails are long, come to my place and I'll cut your nails?"

After saying this, Lu Fenghan was actually unsure whether Qi Yan would agree.

Cutting nails is too small a thing, so small that it can't even be a reason for an invitation. But the wound on Lu Fenghan's hand had been healed after applying healing gel, and there was no chance for Qi Yan to help bandage it again.

He knew that what he was relying on now was just the subtle "difference" of Qi Yan towards him.

Qi Yan agreed.

The reason he gave for his decision was that when he was in Leto before, his nails were also cut by Lu Fenghan.

The two went to Lu Fenghan's lounge.

Before entering, Lu Fenghan specially added Qi Yan's permissions to the system: "In the future, when I'm not here, you can also go directly to my room."

The lights in the lounge were on, and Lu Fenghan went to pour water for Qi Yan, and asked him to sit anywhere.

Qi Yan didn't sit down, but looked at the furnishings in the room with some curiosity.

Lu Fenghan's lounge is not only a bedroom, but also has an office desk. The suspended virtual screen above is on, and there are several documents displayed on the screen, which are obviously not finished before. There

are not many things in the room. In addition to the bed and necessary furniture, there are only two metal pens and a few bags of nutritional supplements placed randomly.

Qi Yan doesn't know why, but he wants to remember every detail.

After handing the cup of water to Qi Yan, Lu Fenghan sat down on the only chair in the room, and Qi Yan had to sit on the edge of the bed.

The bed sheet was grey without any pattern, and the bed was very hard.

Qi Yan drank some water. Although the environment was unfamiliar, he felt comfortable and relaxed subconsciously because he was surrounded by Lu Fenghan's aura.

Lu Fenghan waited for him to put down the empty cup, then held up Qi Yan's fingers and carefully trimmed his nails, with the same concentration as manually aiming at the target before firing a particle cannon.

"Will you feel uncomfortable without emotions?"

This was the first time Lu Fenghan brought up this topic, just as if he was chatting casually.

This tone made Qi Yan feel that losing emotions was not a terrible thing.

Qi Yan shook his head: "No, I felt a little... empty at first, but slowly I didn't feel that way anymore." He thought about it carefully, "It's just that it feels strange when I recall it." "

Just like when I recall the first time I went to the Sky Diamond Plaza with you to watch the fountain show, I knew I was happy, but I didn't know what kind of emotion happiness is. It's clearly my own memory, but it's like someone told me I was happy, but I couldn't understand it."

"There are many more, and... when I received the message that you said you were back," he confirmed with confusion in his eyes, "Lu Fenghan, should I be happy?"

After asking this, Qi Yan's fingers lightly touched Lu Fenghan's neck, and then he felt the blood vessels pulsating under his fingers.

Warm and clear.

The person in front of him is real.

He is still alive.

It was not until his tears were wiped away by Lu Fenghan and he felt a slight chill that Qi Yan realized that he had cried.

But he still felt confused and didn't understand why he was crying.

Lu Fenghan felt that the fingertips that dipped in Qi Yan's tears were like being splashed by sparks, and the burning pain spread all the way to his heart.

He held Qi Yan's cold fingertips in his hand and said in a low voice: "Don't cry, dear, I will accompany you to find it back."