Chapter 136 Western Federation - 1 Back in his room, Tang Bufan...
Back in his room, Tang Bufan sat down on the sofa. He couldn't say whether he was happy or unhappy. Leaning back against the comfortable sofa with his hands on the wide armrests, he seemed a little lost in thought.
Lu Yi took off his military jacket, walked to him, squatted down, and lifted his feet to carefully take off his shoes.
They walked on the beach for a long time. Tang Bufan lay in the sand quite a few times to cooperate with Lu Yi for taking pictures, so his shoes, socks and trouser legs were covered with a lot of fine sand.
Tang Bufan was also a little tired, so he sat there and let him fidget with his feet.
After taking off Tang Bufan's shoes, Lu Yi looked up uneasily.
“You don’t want to go to the Western Federation.” Lu Yi didn’t use a questioning tone, but a statement.
He remained kneeling on one knee in front of Tang Bufan, who looked down at him without directly answering, "After you send me over there, will you come back?"
Lu Yi remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.
This is not just about finding Zero. He himself graduated from military academy at the age of eighteen and had to start leading teams to carry out missions, honing his skills little by little to become a qualified commander. His father did it this way, Anderson did it this way, and Guo Shen did it this way as well. Then he was promoted, either to become a senior general or to take over the Federation.
“I’m eighteen, teacher.” Lu Yi lowered his head to kiss Tang Bufan’s knee, then rested his head on Tang’s lap and looked up at him. “I ran away when I was seventeen, but Anderson was right. People like me have no freedom. Protecting the Federation is a responsibility I was destined to bear from birth.”
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and kissed Tang Bufan's leg again, his eyes slightly red: "I am very grateful to you. In the year before I came of age, you made me feel as free as the wind. Before I met you, I was actually very confused. I just wanted to go to the East to see, but what would I do after seeing it? Go back? Or not? I didn't know. I thought it would take me at least a few years to figure it out, but I was lucky enough to meet you..."
Lu Yi looked up at Tang Bufan again: "I gradually settled down with you. Every day when I open my eyes, I no longer see the sky over the wilderness, but your face. I didn't want to get married. I couldn't feel the meaning of marriage and having children if the world was this bad. But when I realized that I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life, I suddenly understood, ah, so this is what it means to want to start a family."
Tang Bufan's eyes reddened slightly as he listened, and he touched Lu Yi's head: "Then don't separate from me."
After Tang Bufan finished speaking, he reached out and touched his stomach: "I know my situation is special right now, and you want to protect me, but I can stay in this spacecraft forever and won't be in any danger. I'll wait for you to come back here every day..."
"No," Lu Yi interrupted him, her voice hoarse, "This is a warship."
He pointed to the curved glass wall: "Do you think I would let something so thin protect you?"
Tang Bufan fell silent, while Lu Yi stood up and hugged him, his strong arms tightening slightly: "The Western Federation is currently the safest place in the world. Far away from here, there are many orcs I can trust. I hope you will stay there throughout your pregnancy."
Tang Bufan bit his lip sadly: "What if... the fetus fails the genetic test?"
Lu Yi stood up and looked at him intently at close range: "Actually, it doesn't matter whether there's this fetus or not. My first priority is to protect you, and only then does he come into my life."
Tang Bufan stopped talking and lowered his head slightly. Lu Yi cupped his face in his hands, making him look at her.
"Okay?"
The two looked at each other. Tang Bufan saw the pleading look in Lu Yi's eyes and after a long while, he nodded gently: "Mm."
With his consent, Lu Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since it was already late, he picked Tang Bufan up from the sofa in his arms.
"I'll take you to take a bath."
The two had already done their business in the bathroom, so Tang Bufan wasn't shy with Lu Yi, but he still felt uneasy and a little uncomfortable.
"What kind of person is your father?" Tang Bufan asked in a low voice.
"He's a rather aloof person, I don't talk to him much. You don't need to pay him much attention either."
Tang Bufan was speechless.
The two rested together for a night. Lu Yi slept more peacefully than usual next to Tang Bufan. Occasionally, he would wake up when his hand unconsciously touched Tang Bufan's stomach, gently stroke his arm, and then move it to the side.
Tang Bufan had a lot on his mind, so he had some insomnia and probably didn't fall asleep until three or four in the morning. He only woke up when he heard the heavy rumbling of the aircraft.
He suddenly opened his eyes, got up from the soft quilt, and found that the bed next to him was empty, with only a little light coming through the gap in the blackout curtains.
Tang Bufan hurriedly got out of bed and went to the curved glass wall. He pulled back the curtains and saw that the aircraft had indeed taken off. Below them stood a group of people, the Eastern Federation army who had come to see them off. At the front stood Pei Zhishu and Guo Shen.
He also saw He Xing, He Yun, and Wan Yiming, who had also come and were standing behind the army, looking up at the aircraft taking off.
Oh my god, I overslept. Tang Bufan frowned and rubbed his forehead, his head aching from last night's insomnia.
"Brother Kai, why didn't you wake me up?" Tang Bufan then asked his personal AI.
"Both Lu Yi and I think you should get some sleep." Kai Ge's gentle electronic male voice came from a hidden speaker in the room.
"I should have gone down and said goodbye to them," Tang Bufan said regretfully.
“Xiao Tang, the world is slowly restoring transportation, and you will meet them again in the future,” Kai Ge said.
Tang Bufan thought about it and felt it made sense. Now that the orcs had flying machines, they could cross the Eurasian continent in less than a day, which made him feel a little more at ease.
"How long will it take us to get to the Western Federation?" Tang Bufan asked Kai Ge again.
“About five hours,” Kai said, suggesting to Tang Bufan, “You’re not feeling very well yet, so sleep for another three hours. I’ll give you two hours to prepare before waking you up.”
Tang Bufan hesitated for a moment, feeling that he was indeed not in good spirits and seeing that the Lu family was not doing well. So, after taking one last look at Taicheng, which was getting smaller and smaller below, he closed the blackout curtains and went back to bed.
After catching up on three hours of sleep, Tang Bufan felt much better when he woke up again. Lu Yi had returned to the room at some point and was sitting on the sofa not far away, looking at the virtual screen in front of him.
To avoid disturbing Tang Bufan's sleep, the screen was dimly lit, but Tang Bufan could still make out a large, intricately detailed image of a part. Upon seeing him wake up, Lu Yi waved his hand in the air, and the screen instantly disappeared.
"woke up?"
"If he doesn't wake up soon, we won't have time to get ready." Tang Bufan threw off the covers and got out of bed. He walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. He thought he would see clouds stretching to the horizon, but he was surprised to find that there was only half a dark space outside the window, and many satellite debris were passing by the spacecraft at different speeds.
Tang Bufan was startled by the sight and immediately opened his eyes wide.
Lu Yi came up behind him. His broad body and warm temperature quickly calmed Tang Bufan down, but his heart was still beating a little fast as he looked at the scene before him that he had never seen before in his life.
“We’re taking the low-space route,” Lu Yi explained to him. “There’s a region between the Eastern and Western Federations where the clouds are corrosive, so we’re increasing our altitude to take a look at the current satellite orbit.”
After Lu Yi finished speaking, he pointed to the satellite debris outside the window through the glass: "The Federation's resources and energy are limited now, but we will definitely have to clean up this space debris in the future, both to recover heavy metals and to make room for future new satellites."
Tang Bufan understood. Thinking back to the picture of the part he had just seen on Lu Yi's screen, he belatedly realized that it must be the debris of a satellite.
"Do you have to manage this project too?" Tang Bufan asked, frowning, feeling that Lu Yi was taking on too much responsibility.
"The major decisions are up to me. Although I'm not specifically in charge, I definitely need to do some research," Lu Yi said. He was used to it. Various departments would submit their various matters, and he would then discuss them with professionals before making overall plans based on the current situation of the Federation and deciding on the allocation of funds.
This is no easy task. If the strategy is wrong, it will affect the development process of the Federation. If a bad project is approved, he will be cursed online by some harsh politicians and the public. So sometimes, when Lu Yi is faced with a table full of documents, he will have the idea of setting them on fire.
“I hope the Federation can keep moving forward, but not all decisions can be correct, and every tax bill collected from the people can be used reasonably.” Lu Yi rarely complains to others, but he is willing to say these things to Tang Bufan.
"That sounds exhausting." Tang Bufan turned around and touched his face tenderly. "I understand. I have to consider so many things when I'm teaching a class of dozens of students, the children, the parents, and the school. Imagine how much more difficult it must be for you to teach an entire Federation."
After he finished speaking, he earnestly praised Lu Yi, saying, "You're amazing."
Lu blushed. She had only wanted some comfort, but Tang Bufan had satisfied her vanity instead. She smiled shyly and said, "It's okay, I have a team to help me."
Tang Bufan was still wearing his pajamas. Considering the time, he didn't continue chatting with Lu Yi. Instead, he tiptoed and kissed Lu Yi's cheek.
"You still have me," Tang Bufan said, straightening Lu Yi's uniform collar before turning and entering the bathroom.
Lu Yi raised his hand to touch his cheek where he had been kissed, feeling a sweet warmth in his heart. His eyes lingered on Tang Bufan as he entered the bathroom, and only after the other man closed the door did he lightly return to the sofa and sit down to continue looking at the important satellite debris that his subordinates had sent him.
I suddenly feel motivated at work.
After Tang Bufan finished showering, he picked out a black formal suit from the closet and asked Lu Yi to help him see if it would be suitable.
“Teacher, you can wear a Tang suit too.” Lu Yi felt that Tang Bufan didn’t need to insist on wearing a suit. Tang Bufan had a gentle bone structure, bright features, red lips and white teeth, and was very suitable for wearing gorgeous Tang suits with gold embroidery. Lu Yi never tired of looking at him.
"How could I possibly wear a Tang suit?" Tang Bufan complained. "I wear it every day at the Guo family's house because the servants there also wear Chinese uniforms, so there's that atmosphere. If I wore it in the west, people would definitely think I'm weird."
Seeing that Tang Bufan refused, Lu Yi did not force him, thinking that he would coax him to wear it later after Tang Bufan got used to his home.
Since Lu Yi couldn't give Tang Bufan any good advice and could only say "looks good," Tang Bufan had to figure out how to choose a tie and shoes on his own. By the time he finished getting ready, an hour had already passed.
Although they hadn't arrived in the Western Federation yet, Tang Bufan still went to the lower hall with Lu Yi ahead of time. He saw the rather aloof Fick. He and Bren returned with Lu Yi, while Sirius, as a senior researcher, stayed in the Eastern Federation to continue to be in charge of the cooperation between the two federations.
Bren was in the command cockpit. The old man had always felt that Lu Yi was too clingy to Tang Bufan, but Tang Bufan was pregnant now and the two would be separated later, so he was too embarrassed to force Lu Yi to stay in the command cockpit all the time and could only resign himself to taking over the flight.
Tang Bufan frowned immediately when he didn't see Anderson and asked Lu Yi, "Where's Anderson? Did he run away?"
"No, I told him to be in charge of protecting you." Lu Yi knew what Tang Bufan was worried about: "He's probably still in his room."
Because of what happened back then, even though Lu Yi wanted to support him, Anderson still couldn't help but be slandered by some people. Anderson seemed indifferent on the surface, but in reality, who can completely ignore other people's opinions?
Tang Bufan's brows remained furrowed: "You want him to protect me? You said he'd stay with me in the Western Federation? You should take him with you on missions."
Anderson needs real military achievements to restore his reputation and his status as a commander.
Lu Yi was aware of this. In fact, he was very conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to take Anderson away, and on the other hand, he hoped that Tang Bufan would have someone he could trust by his side.
“I asked him,” Lu Yi said to Tang Bufan. “He said he has no interest in restoring his commander status.”
Anderson's actual response was quite unpleasant.
“I’d be disgusted to be treated like a slave by your family.” Anderson looked at Lu Yi with a cold smile: “I’m willing to agree to protect him only because I drove him to his death back then. I owe him a life, that’s all.”
But Lu Yi knew that the reasons were not only that.
"Is that so..." Tang Bufan thought for a moment, and finally sighed softly. If this was Anderson's true thought, he wouldn't force him. Being a free man without any responsibilities was not a bad thing.
But restoring his reputation was still necessary. Tang Bufan looked out the window at the slowly falling scenery, and a slight heaviness settled in his heart.
How should Lu Yi's father, Hans, deal with this?
Evelyn's gentle electronic female voice rang out in the spacious and bright hall: "The aircraft has arrived in the Western Federation and will land in Fog City in about 20 minutes. Please prepare for landing."
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