Chapter 72 Just Partners 17
On the edge of the Alliance system, a small starship in stealth mode drifts through the sea of stars.
Inside the starship, the "person" lying in the medical bay suddenly opened his eyes. As he regained consciousness, the tissues on his body, which had been constantly breaking down and reforming and occasionally showing strange characteristics, finally returned to the appearance of a normal human.
The rhythmic thud of boots on the floor reached the young man, who had just regained consciousness. His ears twitched, and his body tensed for a moment, but he quickly recognized the source of the footsteps and relaxed again.
The door to the medical room opened, and a black-haired young man, impeccably dressed from head to toe with even the top button fastened, walked in.
Upon seeing the newcomer, Lando, still soaking in the nutrient solution, lazily greeted him, "Yo~ Risel."
The person who came in was Risel.
That day, most of the Alliance's garrison's attention was focused on "Star River," and they didn't pay much attention to the downed alien. After all, there was no friendly cooperation among aliens. Even if it was seriously injured but not dead, it would soon be eaten by its own kind after falling into a vulnerable position. This gave Riesel the opportunity to rescue Lando.
The muffled sound came through the nutrient solution in the medical pod. Despite his miserable state of barely surviving, the young man appeared relaxed and content, as if he was still savoring the fight he had just had.
Riesel wasn't surprised by his reaction. He remained calm and said, "The boss is very angry about the matter on Rode Star."
Hearing this, Lando finally frowned, revealing an annoyance at having his good mood interrupted. "That annoying old man?"
Risel didn't seem to mind the disrespectful way of addressing him, as if he was already used to it.
Lando, who was still lying down, began to show some abnormal features uncontrollably due to his changing mood, and his expression also became violent.
"Let's just kill him."
Lando's suggestion, which had seemed casual at first, suddenly became quite appealing. His face lit up, his eyes sparkling, as if he were casually mentioning a holiday outing rather than a murder plot targeting his boss. He even eagerly sought his companion's opinion, "What do you think? You agree, right? Compared to my troubles, that old man is far more annoying, isn't he? Riesel, you've put up with him for a long time, haven't you?"
Riesel "..."
He glanced at the person in front of him with a strange expression. It turned out that this guy actually had the self-awareness that he was a "troublemaker".
However, he glanced one last time at the thick layer of healing gel covering the wound, and at the disabled person whose several broken bones had not yet been set, and said in a flat tone but with a hint of sarcasm, "Wait until you can get out of this medical pod."
Lando, who was rarely speechless, was speechless.
He paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter caused the nutrient solution around his body to vibrate, and his silver-gray eyelashes, wet with the liquid, blinked slowly, revealing a deep smile in his eyes.
Of course he had to get out of the medical pod; the little guy who had put him there was still waiting for him.
Ren Yi had no idea that there was a half-crippled lunatic who was thinking about him. If he knew, he would definitely feel extremely innocent. In the matter on Rode Star, it was Zhou Kai who piloted the mecha, and it was the Alliance starship that almost killed Lando in the end. Even if the whole thing could be related to him, he was definitely the one with the least connection in the process. There was no reason why the other party would remember him, the "pitiful, weak and helpless" observer.
However, Ren Yi was unaware of these things at the moment; his attention was focused on the people who had come to "visit" him.
To prevent Ren Yi from getting nervous about his captain's upcoming "visit," Zhou Kai had given him a lot of introductions beforehand. However, Ren Yi actually knew Zhou Kai's captain, even though it was just a pseudonym. But facing a soldier he had once trained, Ren Yi really had nothing to be nervous about.
However, Ren Yi was still somewhat surprised when the other party actually arrived.
The unexpected incident wasn't directed at Zhou Kai's captain, but rather at someone he knew better who had come with him.
—Selected by Tan Feng.
The former lieutenant of the small account, but now he should be the one who has taken over the small account's position.
Compared to Ren Yi's surprise, Zhou Kai's reaction was far more exaggerated. He was completely stunned, instinctively giving a straight military salute, but stammering, "Tan... Tan..."
Tan Fengxuan seemed much more relaxed. He returned the salute, but as he lowered his hand, he casually patted Zhou Kai on the shoulder, signaling the latter to relax. His casual attire also indicated his purpose for coming: "I'm accompanying Xiao Zhao to see his friend."
Zhou Kai turned to his captain with a complicated expression, his face full of reproach, saying something like, "How come I didn't know you had such a powerful background, Captain? You've been hiding it well!"
Team Leader Zhao was speechless. He couldn't help but glare back fiercely.
To be honest, he himself didn't know until today.
Although Tan Fengxuan called them "friends," no one dared to speak first with him there. He himself realized this, smiled at Ren Yi, and showed an expression that was a bit like a sudden realization, but also a bit like nostalgia. He spoke first, "I've seen you before."
Ren Yi knew things were bad the moment Tan Fengxuan showed that expression. He could almost see the pot being placed even more firmly on Xiao Hao's head, but he couldn't explain it.
However, Ren Yi was stunned when the other party finished speaking, he really didn't expect the other party to say that.
He couldn't help but carefully review the memories of this alternate account. The alternate account and this adjutant met almost every day, but the main account should have had no contact with the other party.
Tan Fengxuan noticed his confusion and explained, "Once, when the marshal went to Weisi Star, the guards were temporarily reassigned that day, so I went with the marshal."
Weisi Star is a first-class star under the Alliance, and DaDaMaJia lived there before enrolling in school.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yi remembered that there seemed to be such a thing.
But it was only once, not even a formal meeting, and it's amazing that the other person remembers it so clearly.
Tan Fengxuan had to remember it clearly.
Although it only happened once, it was enough for him to understand why the guards always had that expression when they returned from Weisi Star.
To be fair, Marshal Hall was not a particularly cold-hearted person, but he always had a strange, out-of-place quality about him (a side effect of being controlled by the system for a long time).
But something was different the moment the boy appeared.
That was the first time Tan Fengxuan had seen such a soft expression on the marshal's face. The marshal, who had remained calm even under the attack of the alien species, actually showed an impatient expression (when the physical distance is close enough, the difficulty of controlling two accounts can be greatly reduced).
To be honest, Tan Fengxuan only managed to suppress his curiosity and not stare directly at the boy that day thanks to his excellent professional skills, but he was definitely left with a deep impression.
I never expected that our reunion would be like this.
Ren Yi had no idea that his former adjutant had such a complex inner journey.
He sighed inwardly, realizing he hadn't discovered his deputy's excellent memory before, and deeply regretted that he hadn't fully utilized (or exploited) his subordinates' talents back then.
However, despite his feelings, he really didn't have much to talk about with Tan Fengxuan. Not to mention this main account that he had only met once, even his old alternate account had very little personal contact with Tan Fengxuan outside of work. The latter was just a normal interpersonal relationship between the alternate account and others.
This world is rather special. Ren Yi's two aliases overlap for a very long period of time. Maintaining both accounts for a long time is too energy-consuming. In fact, the secondary account is under the system's control most of the time. To avoid trouble, the secondary account's interpersonal relationships are very simple. There are colleagues and comrades-in-arms, but there is almost no personal relationship when it comes to personal life. The latter is precisely the shortcoming of intelligent AI.
Therefore, although Xiaohao had the longest contact with Tan Fengxuan, he could not be said to know him well.
In the ward, after Tan Fengxuan finished inquiring about Ren Yi's physical condition, the two fell into a brief silence. Tan Fengxuan looked at Ren Yi, as if lost in some past thoughts.
After a long silence, he spoke, "Don't worry, since 'Star River' was left to you by him, it won't be taken away by anyone else."
...
Tan Feng left shortly after saying that, as if he had only come to see Ren Yi.
However, given Tan Fengxuan's current status in the league, and with his words, there's no need to worry about the ownership of "Star River." Moreover, his personal trip is itself a statement; he's vouching for Ren Yi.
With this guarantee, Ren Yi only needed to wait for the routine inspection of the mecha to finish without worrying about anything else.
There's just one thing.
After this ordeal, the pot on Xiaohao's body is so big and black that it can't be cleaned at all.
Ren Yi: "..."
He silently comforted himself, telling himself that it was a minor issue and had nothing to do with him.
Just as Ren Yi was "peacefully" waiting for "Xinghe", the joint simulation competition of the nine military academies also ended. Ren Yi didn't pay attention to what happened there, but he knew without a doubt that the winning pair was the main couple.
That's true, but Xia Yanshen couldn't be happy about the result at all.
In the final match, he was on the field, but he was excluded from the game entirely. It wasn't "they" who won, but "he" who won—Duan Rui was the one who won.
The Alliance's top military academy is about to produce another genius in a single-person mech.
Xia Yanshen had always thought that the so-called "tacit understanding" between Duan Rui and Senior Ren was actually just Senior Ren's one-sided cooperation. However, after the final match, Xia Yanshen finally realized that they were indeed partners.
"One-sided cooperation" is also "cooperation".
Duan Rui wasn't without his own judgment, but he was willing to relinquish it and entrust all his trust to the other party.
Xia Yanshen suddenly realized that Duan Rui had probably already noticed the problems that had occurred during the adjustment period, problems that even he could perceive.
He just "doesn't want to change".
It seems that only by maintaining the old habits can we keep the other person here.
But in the end, it still had to be changed.
Xia Yanshen couldn't help but recall the moment he came out of the simulation pod. At that time, he was still in a state of confusion and had no mind to care about others. However, as partners, he and Duan Rui were in very close positions in the simulation pod, and even though he didn't look at them intentionally, he noticed the latter's posture.
His muscles were taut, his head was lowered and his expression was obscured, only his tightly pursed lips were noticeable.
That's definitely not how a winner should behave.
This final of the nine military academies' simulated battle is probably the only match in the league's history where the winner was in a worse mood than the loser.
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