Chapter 63 Thirst
◎Past 1◎
On Thursday morning, Shi Hanqiao and Luo Wusheng sat in the restaurant downstairs to eat, watching Celia and Albert leave early for the competition. Luo Wuming and Josephine wanted to watch the competition but did not arrive as early as the other contestants.
"I'm so annoyed. When will Ulysses come back?" Luo Wuming was about to collapse.
Shi Hanqiao asked for the first time: "What's wrong?"
Among her roommates, except Luo Wusheng, the others are interesting, but Ulysses is the most interesting.
She hadn't deliberately observed him, but she still noticed some interesting little details.
For example, he usually stood behind Josephine on her left side; he rarely participated in conversations, and only answered directly when his sister asked questions, which showed that he already knew the answer to the question or had a plan.
The most interesting ones are the Alphas who can calm down and take a back seat.
His position is the raid position, a position that players usually play as Beta.
Hidden in the dark, a position where one strike will kill.
"He sends me messages at the exact same time every day!" Luo Wuming glared at the innocent Josephine with resentful eyes. "I used to think he took good care of you, but now I realize he's an Omega! He's so meticulous, even down to the time he wakes you up, the time he reminds you to go to bed and not stay up late, and the time he makes sure you have a balanced meal plan, as well as your various elective courses..."
He found it incredible: "Is this how he reminds you?"
"Almost." After Josephine finished speaking, she coughed twice in embarrassment. She had been accustomed to Ulysses following her around to handle things since she was a child.
At first, she did everything on her own, but after he came to Black Manor, if he didn't stay by her side doing work similar to that of a personal servant, then he would follow the gardener to trim the garden and patrol with the guards. He was completely unable to attend the same aristocratic school as her and receive various training.
Laziness easily forms a habit, and later she got used to Ulysses following her around and handling all kinds of daily chores for her.
"I..."
Luo Wuming was speechless. Although his Alpha mother was not the head of the family, he was still one of the legitimate young masters of the Luo family.
If he had not promised to help Ulysses in advance this time, he would have quit halfway.
"Next time I'll definitely ask before I agree!" Luo Wuming slapped his forehead. "I was so angry that I lost my mind. I must ask for details. In a situation like this, if I asked for details before agreeing, I would be completely stupid."
Shi Hanqiao spoke frankly: "I think you look quite stupid now."
Luo Wuming's eyes were as big as copper bells. He looked at Luo Wusheng, signaling him to help him fight back.
"You're wrong."
Hearing his cousin say this to Shi Hanqiao, he nodded continuously, and then heard, "He has always been quite stupid."
“Ouch!”
Luo Wuming shook his head violently and twisted his neck.
Josephine covered her mouth and laughed secretly. To prevent him from making noises again, she quickly took out the spray and pressed it on the place where he twisted his body.
After another round of commotion, Luo Wuming repeated his question: "Seriously, when will Ulysses come back? Didn't we agree to start practicing together this weekend?"
The training he was talking about was group training for the league in a year, no, more than half a year.
"Then I'll send him a message." Josephine said as she was about to send him a message. At the same time, she said, "When I video-called my mom last night, she mentioned that Ulysses had left a long time ago and should be on his way back now."
"He should have his own things to do. Practice can wait until Sunday. It's only Thursday, so there's no rush."
After Luo Wusheng finished speaking, he saw Shi Hanqiao turning his gaze to him. His heart paused, and he looked back at her in confusion. Female A raised her eyebrows slightly, the smile in her eyes deepened, but she shook her head to indicate that it was nothing.
Josephine responded but did not send a message to Ulysses. She glanced at the time in the corner of the screen and accidentally knocked the spray bottle onto Luo Wuming's wound.
"you--"
"Let's go, time is almost up." She quickly pushed the man who was about to get angry out of the door.
The restaurant was quiet for a while, and then Shi Hanqiao's watch started flashing. It was a call from Bai Shuiyang.
He and Shi Qi were both stunned when they saw Luo Wusheng, but Alpha's expression was not as obvious.
"Greetings to His Highness Visir."
Woman A reacted quickly, clenched her right fist against her chest, bent down and bowed, then stood up.
After all, she was the general of the Ninth Army, so she could not avoid the necessary etiquette, but she would not be overly servile.
Bai Shuiyang is the same as his Alpha.
Shi Hanqiao turned her head to look at Luo Wusheng. She remembered that the name of the eldest prince announced by the royal family was Viscount Russell.
W, Visher, I see.
"No need to be so polite, both of you. This is a communication between your families. I stumbled in by mistake."
Luo Wusheng forced himself to remain calm in the face of the smiling gaze of woman A beside him. He was extremely cautious in his demeanor and wording, not daring to make any mistakes.
"Auntie, uncle, just treat me as an ordinary classmate of Aqiao."
Shi Qi's gaze fell on the two of them. She nodded slightly but did not speak. Her Omega was at a loss as to how to start talking to her daughter who looked cold. When she heard that he was her daughter's classmate, her eyes lit up.
Bai Shuiyang saw that the background of the two people was a restaurant, and a robot was taking away the tableware in front of them.
"Are you roommates now?"
Luo Wusheng nodded. He was concerned about Shi Hanqiao's identity and took the initiative to talk about their recent team-up and study together.
Bai Shuiyang was obviously very interested and listened very carefully.
The other two similar-looking women A looked at each other silently, each with their own considerations beneath their calm gazes.
Shi Qi knew that the two were roommates and were deliberately assigned to participate in the double mecha competition together by the Luo family. This was because the Luo family did not know the true identity of the young woman A, they only knew that her body was that of her daughter, Shi Qi.
The Luo family members stood on Tan An's side, and her young collaborator had no way out.
She stayed with her Omega throughout the whole process, watching him and Luo Wusheng chatting happily. The female A on the opposite side gave brief answers when asked, and there was no silence or awkwardness at all.
Finally, Shi Hanqiao ended the conversation by teaching a class. Bai Shuiyang looked at his daughter reluctantly, but thinking that she was going to attend class, he took the initiative to cut off the communication.
Shi Qi knew that she had applied for exemption from classes, but he didn't expose her.
"What's wrong? Didn't I communicate with her?"
She saw that after her Omega turned off the communication, the corners of his smiling mouth drooped.
"Are we failures as parents?"
Bai Shuiyang threw himself into her arms, his hands tightly around her waist, his voice choked with sobs,
"Qiao Qiao was very indifferent to us. She gave me a feeling of being unfathomable, just like the feeling I had when I first met you."
Shi Qi lowered his eyelids, hugged the Omega with one hand, and stroked his black hair with the other hand as a silent comfort.
"I don't blame her, and I have no right to blame him. In the end, we were the ones who made the mistake. We left her on the Capital Planet since she was a child, and we haven't cared about her since then."
Even though they had their own reasons, Bai Shuiyang still couldn't put on airs as a respected parent and ask his daughter to understand him.
He deeply regretted not being a responsible father. His daughter's arrival was so unfortunate, coming when they were the busiest and least prepared.
Therefore, Omega felt extremely guilty. He didn't want to be a controlling person like his mother, but he also regretted his own indifference as a father.
He used his own example to prove that a loving and harmonious relationship between parents does not necessarily provide a stable and healthy relationship for their children.
Shi Qi patted the Omega's shoulder and lowered his eyes: "Let the past be the past."
Bai Shuiyang murmured to himself: "Can I really get through?"
He held on to Woman A's clothes tightly, as if he was holding on to his last straw.
He was answered by silence.
On the other side, there was also a brief silence after Bai Shuiyang hung up the phone.
"You and Shi Qi know each other?"
The "knowledge" that Shi Hanqiao mentioned did not mean knowing each other or having superficial communication, but that there was some kind of relationship between the two people that was unknown to others.
Luo Wusheng did not hide anything and explained to her in detail the cooperative relationship between them.
As for the origin of this relationship, we have to go back to the past.
"Twenty years ago, the Zerg invaded the border. The Ninth Army originally belonged to the Russell family. It was formed by merging two legions into one, and was commanded by my great uncle, Claude.
Although Claude and Tan'an had the same mother and father, their disagreement was well known in the community. The reason was that the former was born with a difficult birth, causing their father O a lot of pain, while the latter did not cause him any pain and was born naturally.
Therefore, Claude received a very strict and dogmatic education from a young age, growing up in a rigid and rigid manner, while Tanan grew up favored by his parents. Over seventy years ago, my grandparents died in the annihilation war launched by the five great families against the Holochim family.
Claude didn't want the throne, but Tan'an did. Claude, who had been instilled with the values of family and raised with strict standards for the head of the family, discovered that his grandparents had left the position to the latter. His faith collapsed, and he turned against Tan'an, leaving the Russell family forever.
Later, Tanan ascended to the throne, but at the cost of losing two of House Russell's legions. The other four families initially planned to divide the soldiers of these two legions, but the men under Claude's command used all means to resist annexation. As a result, the Ninth and Tenth Legions were assigned to guard the harshest and most barren borderlands.
Seventy years ago, the Zerg had been pacified for years, refusing to attack humanity. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been the time or energy to fight for power within the interstellar system, and everyone simply viewed the border as a place of exile. Even when the Ninth and Tenth Armies later sent urgent reports to the capital planet, claiming traces of an unknown species had been discovered along the border, suggesting a Zerg resurgence, the four major families dismissed them as a desperate struggle and requested more supplies.
No one took it seriously, and the result was the complete collapse of the border, with humanity paying a heavy price. Claude, who had disappeared for a while, reappeared and, under his leadership, merged the heavily wounded Ninth and Tenth Legions into one, saying that this was to ensure that all surviving warriors would remember the dead.
From now on, every survivor of the Ninth Legion will bear the responsibility of two lives: one for himself and the other for the soldiers of the Tenth Legion."
"Can the wounded win?"
Shi Hanqiao didn't say that he looked down on the morale of the reorganized Ninth Army. The virtues of the four major families could be seen from the young man's words. If they really took it seriously, they would not have waited until the Zerg invaded and let the two legions without backup fight to the death.
She wasn't afraid to speculate on the worst-case scenario, saying, "The complexity of human hearts can greatly influence the outcome of a battle."
If you don't have much desire to win and act perfunctorily, you may not win even if you have ten times more troops.
Luo Wusheng nodded. Although he always felt a sense of freedom from the world and being unrestrained from Woman A, he had to admit that she looked at the problem more thoroughly than the people involved. Just from her statement, she could see through the fig leaf that time had covered the four major families back then.
"We were truly defeated. The reorganized Ninth Army was struggling. If we couldn't wait for rescue, it wouldn't just be a matter of border collapse; it would be a matter of the fate of all humanity. Tan'an, back then, still had some sense of responsibility for the people. He wasn't as angry, incompetent, selfish, and greedy as he is now."
"Puff~"
Shi Hanqiao chuckled. In front of her, the young man didn't even pretend to be hostile to his biological father.
Luo Wusheng blushed slightly and glared at her.
This was not because he had been suppressing his feelings for too long, but because he finally found someone who knew his true thoughts and supported him, he easily opened up to Woman A.
The young man's glare was not very lethal. The emotions in his phoenix eyes under the thick crow feathers swept across her face as gently as feathers. Shi Hanqiao unconsciously deepened her breathing and twisted her fingers. She had an urge to touch those eyes that seemed angry but resentful.
She put her fist to her lips and coughed lightly: "Go on."
"Tan'an also wants to resolve the Zerg crisis on the border, but the problem is, he has no military power, and his foundation is unstable. Even the previous leader of the Holochim family was annihilated in the annihilation war launched by the five major families."
Luo Wusheng never shied away from mentioning the Holochim family, even though he was a descendant of the perpetrator.
The destruction of the Holochim family often reminded him that the past cannot be changed, but the future can still be pursued.
Although he believed that the five major families were too cruel in their treatment of the Holochim family, the past would not change according to his will.
This incident made him think twice before facing major matters, and make decisions only after careful and thorough consideration.
"However, he was related to the Luo family by marriage at the time, and since he had only been in power for two years, his words were still listened to. The four major families gathered some troops and supplies to support the border, but it was too late.
The current borderline represents the area Claude abandoned seventy years ago. The borderline back then was defined differently than it is today. Back then, the borderline was centered on the capital planet, with the unnamed galaxy belt as its edge. However, with the Zerg launching a full-scale attack and his own forces weak, Claude could only concentrate his forces against the north, while abandoning the other seven directions.
Shi Hanqiao said, "It's risky, but it was the best option under the circumstances."
The first point is that Claude's troops suffered heavy casualties, so it would be difficult for him to defend eight directions, let alone three.
If we disperse our forces without considering our own capabilities and try to defend more directions, the end result will only be a complete collapse.
The advantage of holding on to one place is that it will delay the Zerg's fighting power, and at the same time make the nobles who are in power and out of touch with the world in the capital star realize the degree of danger of the Zerg invasion.
After she finished her analysis, she said, "But it's useless without support."
"You're right. Fortunately, the reinforcements from the four major families discovered that something was wrong. While providing support in other directions, they reported the seriousness of the situation to the main family on the capital planet."
Although these things happened a long time ago and are confidential, the artificial intelligence in the Royal Library that is not open to the public still preserves indestructible traces. It is not difficult for Luo Wusheng to deduce the general situation at that time through the evidence.
"Only then did the nobles of First Star begin to take the Zerg threat seriously. The current border was the last of the three defense lines to be reinforced. Back then, the Zerg breached the defenses and occupied an inhabited planet."
"One, not too many."
Shi Hanqiao had learned that there were nearly a thousand planets inhabited by humans in the interstellar space, not to mention the resource-rich planets that were unsuitable for human habitation, and there were also many undeveloped barren planets.
Moreover, the population density decreases outward from the capital planet, so there shouldn't be many people living on the edge planets.
Luo Wusheng shook his head. He would not be angry because of Shi Hanqiao's indifference. She was free and unrestrained by nature. He would be surprised if she really felt pity for all living beings.
At this moment, he suddenly realized that perhaps he would never be able to achieve complete self-realization like girl A and his mother, without any worries.
If the emperor of an empire only cares about himself, how sad would that empire be.
In the past, his ambition was to seize power, but what about after that? He had never considered it. Now, Shi Hanqiao's indifference woke him up and made him see another path that was parallel to his goal.
The young man's sudden silence puzzled Woman A. She raised her eyebrows and looked at him: "What's wrong?"
"You made me think that maybe there's another, longer path I can take."
A greater goal, a responsibility worthy of honor.
Although he is still far from that goal now, he will try his best to reach it.
There was a gleam in her phoenix eyes, as beautiful as a dazzling galaxy. Shi Hanqiao couldn't help but be dazed. In a trance, she seemed to see Luo Wei, and the light fell on her again.
A closer look revealed an unspeakable determination in his phoenix eyes. The light emanating from him was different from the kind glow of the Virgin Mary. It was an irresistible majesty.
Shi Hanqiao's eyes revealed an unconscious, genuine smile, and the corners of his lips curled up as he said, "I look forward to seeing that day."
She did not expect the young man to shoulder the so-called responsibility, but wanted to see his eyes shining with the light of self-achievement when he finally accomplished whatever decision he made as long as it was what he wanted to do.
Luo Wusheng was overwhelmed with emotion when he got the support from girl A. He licked his dry lips unconsciously. His throat was a little dry because he had talked too much.
A glass of water was handed to him. Luo Wusheng grabbed it and drank it as if he was hiding something, as if this could suppress the heat in his heart.
She hurriedly drank a large glass of water, and the hurried water drops flowed down the corners of her lips and slid down her slender neck. It originally stopped on the protruding Adam's apple, but moved slowly as it rolled up and down.
The Adam's apple stained with water droplets rose and fell repeatedly, and the water droplets it contained fell from the edge and sank into the collar.
Shi Hanqiao also poured himself a glass of water.
For some reason, she suddenly felt very thirsty.
【Author’s words】
The past cannot be rebuked, but the future can still be pursued. —The Analects of Confucius, Weizi
ps: There will be another update at 9pm.
I am afraid that the ten thousand words will be too long to read and will make people feel tired, so I divide it into chapters.
ps: set a flag, April weekend day 10,000 (try not to overturn!
PPS: Just wondering, do you want to divide the book into chapters or not? This will allow me to prepare in advance over the last four weekends.
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