◇ Chapter 52 Returning Home
The eldest prince's body slid down like noodles.
An expression of fear was frozen on his face, his dark pupils dilated, and he was staring panickily in the direction where the gunshot came from.
Fresh blood flowed down his forehead, then quickly coagulated and turned black, forming a bottomless blood hole.
The whole hall was in chaos, everyone was in a hurry to avoid, no one even tried to support his body, and messy footsteps trampled on him, crushing the priceless cloth.
——Even someone as noble as him would look like this after death.
In the aircraft, the glass curtain wall slowly rose up. Lann stared at his fallen body with a terribly cold expression on his face. He slowly loosened his fingers, and the silver gun fell to the ground. Then, he knelt down along the edge of the sofa.
He has no strength left.
The bodyguards in the "factory" were not fools either. In just five minutes of contact time, they fired hundreds of shots into the aircraft. In order to set the sniper angle, Lann couldn't count how many scratches he had on his body. He even had a penetrating wound on his right shoulder. Blood gushed out in small streams, dyeing the pure white uniform dark red.
He didn't even have the strength to climb back into the cab.
After the brief stimulation of adrenaline subsided, pain surged up like a tide. A layer of cold sweat seeped out of his skin, sticking his shirt to his back. The massive blood loss made him feel dizzy and he couldn't even see the direction of the cab.
——It’s time to end.
Lan thought.
He turned his head, shifting his gaze away from the eldest prince's ugly face, and looked towards the French window on the other side, where countless dilapidated starships slowly passed by. The metal had long been deformed, and the logo of the Third Army on it was mottled and peeling. Kelan's expression softened, revealing a nostalgic look.
His old friends were buried there, and in a few minutes, perhaps he would be buried there too.
The two shells were within arm's reach, and Lane couldn't even climb into the cockpit and make the most basic turn.
He is in so much pain now.
only……
Lann pinched the index finger of his left hand, on which was a small silver ring.
The commander of the Third Army never wore jewelry on the battlefield. A useless burden like a ring would only affect his performance. However, this ring was an exception. In the most important war in Lann's life, it still stayed on the commander's index finger.
The four letters "WASD" were engraved on the ring. Lan never understood what they meant, but he remembered the owner of the ring.
Now, blood soaked the gloves and rings. Lann stroked the lines on them and closed his eyes slightly.
Having come to this point, he has no regrets, he just feels a little bit regretful.
It's a pity that he was ultimately unable to fulfill his promise to come back. It's a pity that we met too late, spent too little time together, and never fully enjoyed that warmth.
If he had known this would happen, he should have asked Lin You for two more kisses.
Today, the Collette family is declining, and Lan has no relatives worth worrying about. Devon and others have their own careers and do not need him to worry about them. The only one he cares about is Lin You.
Lan En stared at the ceiling and thought: Will Lin You be sad?
Will you be angry, sad, or even resentful of him because of his breaking of the promise?
In the Third Prince’s residence, Lin You punched the power button of the training system.
Today, after reading the original novel, he has completely understood it.
Why was Lan in the novel so proud, but allowed the third prince to trample on his dignity and even had to fawn on him; why was he addicted to pheromones, with a bleak future, locked in the basement without seeing the sun, but had to endure all these days; why did he directly assign his family to the third prince to seek protection... All this dormancy was just waiting for an opportunity.
The third prince in the novel thought that Lan was a plaything in Lan's hand, but in fact he was the chess piece chosen by Lan. Lan's soul was above the endless pain of the world. He watched coldly all the suffering inflicted by the third prince, but he didn't care, because he had already chosen this desolate galaxy as his grave, and on this day, he fired this shot.
Several years ago, in the battle for District 23, the Third Army destroyed the black market, but no one knew that the black market was the industry of the eldest prince. The eldest prince made a lot of money on a large scale through inferior pheromones, won over the powerful and consolidated his position as the crown prince. In this battle, the Third Army suffered heavy losses, and Lann was also hated, so he was accused of murdering her fiancé.
The eldest prince has been sitting on the throne for many years and has enormous power. Even Lin You's biological father, Admiral Hoyle, has difficulty surpassing him, let alone Lan. This desperate assassination is his only chance to get justice for his old friend.
Lin You closed his eyes.
He closed the training cabin door.
66's calm voice came: "Connected to the spacecraft control system, host, please get ready."
The next second, the line of sight suddenly changed, the picture in the training cabin changed, and when Lin You opened his eyes again, he was already in the cockpit of the aircraft.
On the screen to his right, two red dots were approaching at high speed. They were two missiles.
On the main control screen, countless blue dots rose and fell, flying past quickly. They were rock fragments flying at high speed in the star ring.
Lin You took a deep breath.
He had never done a flight simulation of this difficulty.
66: "Provide you with real-time calculation services."
His CPU ran at full capacity, capturing and calculating the movement trajectory of each rock and marking them on the screen. For a moment, the screen was covered with dense blue lines.
Lin You has always been a quick learner and never gets stage fright. He calmly fiddled with all the buttons in front of him. His hands were sweating as he gripped the joystick, but his operation was still meticulous and precise, like the most experienced general in the military.
The two missiles collided at high speed behind the aircraft and then exploded. The violent cosmic rays covered the sky and even though the spacecraft was equipped with shielding equipment, it almost failed.
Lin You steadied the shaking boat and looked ahead calmly.
Ten kilometers, five kilometers, one kilometer...
The red-gold ring passed by the window and turned into a gorgeous background behind.
He rushed out of the star ring.
To outsiders, it seemed that the aircraft started up on its own without human control, performed a variety of difficult maneuvers in space, and finally left the danger zone.
The "Factory" tried to give chase, but it was not an aircraft designed for war after all, and its speed was slow. In just a few blinks of an eye, the aircraft disappeared.
66: "There is a blockade by the Grand Prince at the border of Area 23. We have to take a detour."
It marks all sentinel points one by one.
Seeing that the biggest danger was gone, Lin You breathed a sigh of relief.
He half-lay down in the cab: "66, plan the route."
The distance from Area 23 to the main planet is long. Even the fastest aircraft will take a day and a night to fly. 66 quickly gave a navigation plan: "Let's take this route. The road is relatively remote and not easy to be detected. We will land at the berth of the First Army on the border of the main planet."
Lin You nodded: "Admiral Hoyle will cover it for us."
Lin You has not yet ascended the throne and cannot completely control the situation. The eldest prince's biological father is also a general. He will definitely investigate if the child dies. Lin You does not want Lan En to be charged with assassinating the prince.
66: "OK, estimated flight time 36 hours."
The route was in good condition, with neither a large amount of cosmic rays nor adverse turbulence. Lin You pushed the speed to the extreme. Outside the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room, countless planets flew by.
During the journey, Lane had brief moments of clarity.
Lin You couldn't touch him, so he could only let the major general lie on the carpet in the living room. He adjusted the temperature and humidity in the room to appropriate values, and directed the small cleaning robot to drag a blanket and cover Lann with it.
Lann's condition was very bad, but thanks to the military female's terrifying recovery ability, he was temporarily out of danger.
In the soft blanket, Lan was stunned for a moment.
His mind was confused, his vision was blurry, and he couldn't even tell if this was an illusion before death.
At this time, they were passing through a double spiral galaxy. From afar, the beautiful blue-purple spirals looked like two ripples in the universe.
——This is definitely not District 23.
But he couldn't think carefully, the blood loss made his body cold, and almost the next second, he fainted again.
Lan En was drowsy, dreaming one after another. Sometimes he dreamed of war, and the faces of his dead friends passed by him, with traces of blood and fire; sometimes he dreamed of his childhood, when his father stood in front of him with a ruler, saying that the female insects of the Colette family must do their best in everything and must behave properly; sometimes he dreamed of Lin You, dreaming that Lin You touched his skin, bringing unbearable itchiness, and the Third Prince frowned tightly, complaining, "Lan En, you need to rest, you still have a fever."
He came to himself from a trance.
There was a soft quilt under him and the bed was very large, wrapping him up completely. The air was filled with the fragrance of citrus, fresh, sweet and clean.
Lann moved his eyelids.
He was lying in a bedroom, which was neatly and brightly decorated. White gauze curtains were drawn on the windows, and sunlight was pouring in. In the corner there was a one-meter-high fiddle-leaf fig tree, with its branches and leaves stretched out, full of vitality.
“…”
Is it life, or an illusion before death?
Someone touched his face and wiped away the cold sweat with a towel: "Are you awake?"
Lan En paused and looked sideways. Lin You was sitting at the head of his bed with a worried look on his face.
How come he is here?
"Third Prince..." Lan En wanted to straighten his body, but the pain suddenly spread up. It was not sharp, and even a little warm, but because the area was too large, it was still unbearable.
There were wounds on his shoulder blades and back. The bleeding had stopped, but the wounds opened again as he moved, seeping out from the bandages.
Lin You stopped his movements and forced him back into the quilt: "Don't move, you are very weak."
He called the waiter and brought milk and porridge: "You couldn't eat for the past two days, so I gave you an IV drip, but your stomach still feels good. I asked the waiter to cook some porridge. Would you like to have some?"
The temperature at my fingertips is not an illusion.
It was difficult for Lan to describe his feelings at the moment. He was full of doubts, yet extremely nostalgic, so he almost greedily depicted the outline of the person in front of him, as if protecting a fragile dream.
Lin You just softened his voice and asked, "Do you want to eat?"
“…”
Lann hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly.
He tried to raise his arm, trying to catch the spoon in the bowl.
"hiss--"
Lin You moved the bowl away, tapped him on the forehead, and said angrily, "You dare to raise your arm when you have a wound on your shoulder?"
He was referring to the penetrating wound in his shoulder.
The bullet from the rifle tore the muscles, but fortunately it was a long-range sniper and the accuracy was not enough, and the sofa blocked it a little, otherwise the whole arm would have been lost.
Lan En pursed his cracked lips and had to drink the porridge from Lin You's hand.
He was very uncomfortable.
As the eldest son of the Colette family, he received the most stringent education since childhood. Lying in bed and waiting for others to take care of him was neither strong nor decent. In his memory, his parents had never fed him in this way.
But Lin You's action was undignified. The porridge and rice were placed directly to his lips. One was feeding, and the other was eating. The room was silent except for the sound of the spoon colliding.
After his stomach was filled with warm food, Lann raised his face. His face was still pale. "Third Prince, what's wrong with me?"
He was clearly waiting for death at the border of Area 23, so why did he end up at the prince's residence in the blink of an eye?
Lin You stirred the porridge and was about to speak when a sudden strong wind blew in the courtyard, followed by the sound of a jet aircraft landing and messy footsteps coming from the door of the mansion, mixed with the noisy life.
66 was lying on the windowsill basking in the sun. He straightened up lazily and looked outside, then lay back down again: "Host, it's Admiral Lawrence."
Admiral Lawrence, the father of the eldest prince Lin Yu, is the earliest famous admiral in the empire and the predecessor of Admiral Hoyle. He currently commands the Third, Fourth and Sixth Armies.
Lin You stopped and said, "It's pretty fast."
Lann had been in a coma for three full days. During these three days, the news of the eldest prince's death had reached the imperial capital. Although it was suppressed by Admiral Lawrence and kept secret, the news could not be suppressed easily. It had already spread all over the city. The major families were ready to move, waiting for a reshuffle of power.
Suddenly, the imperial capital was in danger of a storm.
The old Insect Emperor was so sick that he was about to die, but he had to get up from his sickbed and, despite his sick body, order the establishment of an investigation team to thoroughly investigate the murder of the eldest prince.
Lan was brought back privately by Lin You. The situation on the field was chaotic and the two spaceships were far apart, so no one could see Lan's face clearly. His aircraft had been modified and the logo of the Third Army had been erased. He and Devin had left the country secretly, so no one even knew that he appeared at the border. In the eyes of others, Major General Lan had been imprisoned in the mansion by the Third Prince and had never gone out.
But Admiral Lawrence is not an ordinary person.
He was well aware of the feud between the eldest prince and Lann, and Devin happened to appear at the border these days. No one had visited the prince's residence in three days. When he saw Lann, Admiral Lawrence was convinced that there was no such thing as a coincidence in the world.
What's more, there are not many people in the entire military who can fire from two starships, more than ten kilometers away, and kill every shot. Lan is one of them.
He then quickly obtained an investigation warrant from the Insect King and wanted to search the Third Prince's mansion.
The noise at the door obviously disturbed Lan En. He stood up, clasped Lin You's wrist and applied a little force, then lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, maybe you should kill me."
If he died in District 23, it means that he left the prince's mansion without permission, and the assassination of the eldest prince was his sole responsibility. Lin You was not aware of it, so it cannot be blamed on Lin You. At most, it can be considered as a failure to discipline him strictly.
But if he was found in the prince's mansion, it would mean that Lin You had actively instructed him to assassinate his brother in order to become the crown prince. The old Insect King would surely be furious at their fratricide. How much dirty water would be thrown at him and how many unpleasant words would be waiting for Lin You? Lan En didn't dare to think too much about it.
He didn't want Lin You to be involved in any of this heinous crime.
On the other hand, if the Third Prince is convicted, the Colette family, which has already taken the Third Prince in, will also be implicated. All of this is not what Lann wants to see, and he would rather die on the desolate planet.
There was a gunshot wound on Lann's back caused by the Crown Prince's guards. The bullet was used exclusively by the Second Army. Once Admiral Lawrence checked it, it would be impossible to hide it.
Seeing the footsteps approaching, the monitoring team had already come from the garden. In the hall, Admiral Hoyle's voice sounded synchronously, and it seemed that he was arguing with Admiral Lawrence.
But Lawrence had the supervision order with him, and Admiral Hoyle couldn't delay for long.
At least it couldn't delay the recovery of Lan's back wound.
Lan En held Lin You tightly, and a smile appeared on his pretty face: "Your Highness, can I ask for a caning?"
Lin You paused, and instantly understood what Lan En meant.
Since he couldn't wait for the condition to get better, he might as well destroy all traces and cover the gunshot wounds completely with whip wounds. For the tyrannical prince, lynching was a common occurrence, and the whip wounds on his back would not arouse suspicion.
...But that would be so painful.
His back was covered with wounds, which had just healed after three days, but now he was whipped, causing the wounds to completely erode. This was a punishment he could not imagine.
Lin You started grinding his teeth again.
Lan En is always like this, saying things that hurt the body casually, as if this body is unimportant and he doesn't care about the pain at all. He even smiled when he made suggestions to Lin You.
...What are you laughing at? Are you laughing at the fact that he has found a perfect solution?
Lin You felt very bitter in his heart and wanted to bite his shoulder to vent the excessive emotions in his chest, but Lan En's shoulders were covered with wounds, and he didn't even have room to bite.
Lin You felt even worse.
He pursed his lips and said nothing. He could only push the major general into the quilt again, wrapping him tightly, and then pretended to be fierce: "Don't worry about this. I have a way. Just go to sleep!"
Lan En showed surprise on his face, but seeing Lin You's ugly expression, he lay back on the quilt and said with a smile: "...Okay."
The author has something to say:
I guess I got the schedule wrong, I can’t finish it this week, I’ll have to write a few more chapters orz.
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