Chapter 34: Night Raid Part 2

The adjutant nodded at that, his gaze sweeping over Lin Tao’s face. He had actually recognized long ago that this girl was a member of the Deep Blue star pirate group, but so what? As he had just said, with the job market tough, it was reasonable for people without work to do less respectable things.

Making money wasn’t shameful, especially since Lin Tao hadn’t killed anyone; she was just a doctor.

So the adjutant continued the topic. “That’s why none of us really want something to happen to him. After all, who knows what kind of scum the next group that takes his territory will be.”

Wei Tingxia kept his head down flipping through the archives, separately setting aside a few suspicious ones. Without lifting his head, he asked, “No news at all?”

“None. The only thing known is that a few days ago, Scarface led a group to barge into an Insect Mother Planet—probably to rescue Yan Xinfeng and his omega. After that… total silence.” The adjutant’s tone carried a hint of emotion. “I have to say, Deep Blue keeps information tight; even we couldn’t dig up anything useful.”

Wei Tingxia picked out a few more files. System 0188 was focused in his mind on scanning, needing to cross-reference the backgrounds of the suspicious personnel Wei Tingxia had marked, calculating the probability of their connections to the imperial family and major nobles.

Once it broke the 75% alert threshold, it could basically be determined as a nail planted by Capital Star.

“Sir,” the adjutant’s voice came from diagonally ahead, interrupting Wei Tingxia’s thoughts. “You’ve been at the border these three years—have you met Yan Xinfeng in person?”

Wei Tingxia looked up, meeting the adjutant’s curious, bright eyes.

“I have.” His tone was flat.

“Then have you seen his omega?” The adjutant pressed, with the gossip enthusiasm unique to young people. “He’s really mysterious; the wanted poster only has a blurry back view.”

He was only in his dozens of years old this year, yet he had already become the adjutant’s commander of the Border Military District. It was clear that although he looked honest, he was actually a very shrewd person. He did not dawdle in his speech or actions, and he had his own agenda.

Wei Tingxia’s expression did not change. “Never seen him.”

The adjutant looked up, briefly fantasizing. “He must be a very beautiful, very formidable, and very tough omega. Otherwise, Yan Xinfeng wouldn’t care so much about him.”

The bounty on his own wanted poster could buy two planets, yet this omega had not even exposed his name. Such serious protection meant that if something happened to him one day, his lover could still leave without any ties.

Lin Tao could not help it and quickly glanced toward Wei Tingxia.

Wei Tingxia merely lowered his eyes and continued flipping through the pages in his hand, as if he had not heard. Only the corners of his mouth tugged into an extremely faint, ambiguous snort of laughter. He folded the last few selected documents and casually tossed them in front of the adjutant.

The adjutant picked them up and looked at them for a few moments. His expression turned grave. “Are you sure?”

“Nine times out of ten.”

It was no wonder the adjutant was shocked. Among these people, three already held the rank of major—brave soldiers who charged into battle. No matter what, they did not seem connected to the Blue Nail Ship explosion.

“These things can actually be viewed separately. Leaking information doesn’t mean they’re bad people, and charging into battle doesn’t mean they’re purely loyal.”

Wei Tingxia stared at the faded ID photos on the documents, his tone heavy. “A report from the Empire Military Academy three years ago pointed out that on average, one out of every twenty cadets had received funding from nobles.”

Parents raised you—that was a debt of gratitude. Nobles providing aid in critical moments—that was also a debt of gratitude.

Debts of gratitude… always had to be repaid.

When the third arranged patrol team landed at the drop-off field on the edge of the military district, it signaled the arrival of night.

The adjutant folded the few thin sheets of paper over and over before stuffing them into his pocket and hurrying away. Wei Tingxia took back his coat and slung it over his shoulder. He kicked Lin Tao’s stool. “Wanna go eat?”

Lin Tao snapped out of her thoughts and sized up his complexion. She frowned. “You’re the deputy commander personally appointed by the Emperor.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Why aren’t you working?” Lin Tao asked.

“Why should I go work?” Wei Tingxia laughed. “You think I haven’t lived long enough? Why go looking for trouble?”

Why was work trouble?

The doubt in Lin Tao’s eyes was too obvious; she did not even need to voice it before Wei Tingxia understood.

“Doctor Lin, what’s the benefit in me sticking my neck out right now? Letting everyone know I want to compete?”

Wei Tingxia lowered his head to smooth out the wrinkled cuffs of his sleeves, his tone casual. “You know my status. The Border Military District is a juicy piece of meat everyone wants to grab. Lin Wensi doesn’t favor anyone—that’s best. No one gets it, so it’s like no loss for anyone. But once he starts choosing, whoever he picks will be in big trouble—especially if it’s me.”

Missing for three years, with no backing. The more proactive and outstanding Wei Tingxia appeared now, the more dangerous it was.

Moreover, his relationship with Lin Wensi was not that good. So for now, it was best to just honestly finish his duties and not scramble around.

With that in mind, Wei Tingxia gave Lin Tao a meaningful look. “Kids these days, don’t always think about work. Play more!”

Yeah, play more like you, and then you’d end up playing out…

Lin Tao silently retorted in her heart but reined in her thoughts when Wei Tingxia’s gaze swept over. She merely nodded silently and watched as he grabbed his coat and left the archives room with light steps.

Having practiced medicine for decades, Lin Tao had seen all kinds of bloody exhaustion. Naturally, she could tell that Wei Tingxia’s condition was much better than a few days ago. Connecting it to those few hours he had disappeared right after arriving at the military district—his whereabouts were clear.

It seemed the leader was not only alive but in very good condition. Who knew if the two had fought.

Lin Tao lowered her head to brush the dust off her hands and also got up to leave.

…

On the way back to his dorm, Wei Tingxia had System 0188 pull up the world collapse value list for a look.

This was probably the part System 0188 handled best throughout the entire mission. Before he finished speaking, a translucent table had already been projected on the side of his vision.

The red symbolizing collapse hung steadily high up. Wei Tingxia looked at it for a while but did not see anything special.

System 0188 took the initiative to explain: [It’s actually a bit better than before.]

“How so?”

[The day you two got into bed, it dropped some,] System 0188 said. [But not by much—at least not as much as in the previous world.]

Wei Tingxia’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Why?”

[Maybe because the world’s collapse conflict point isn’t about you stabbing him once. Of course, that doesn’t mean stabbing him was right,] System 0188 explained in a steady tone. [You need to find the real problem.]

The real problem was that Wei Tingxia needed to become emperor.

“I want to be emperor,” he told System 0188 his inner thought. “Once I’m emperor, if Yan Xinfeng dares to keep up this mess, I’ll exile him to a border planet to dig potatoes.”

System 0188 fell silent, uncharacteristically unsure how to respond. A string of jellyfish grapes flailing helplessly was still quite amusing.

Wei Tingxia watched for a moment and laughed out loud. “Just kidding.”

Exiling Yan Xinfeng to dig potatoes was tempting, but for the mission, Wei Tingxia would have to go dig with him anyway. Better not.

System 0188 breathed a sigh of relief: [Thank you.]

Wei Tingxia smilingly accepted its thanks and pushed open the dorm door.

He had only taken two steps inside when his footsteps suddenly halted.

The room’s furnishings were as before, the alarm silent and without a trace of being triggered. But a biological instinct—or rather, the intuition honed from countless brushes with death—tensed his nerves in an instant.

—There was more than one person in this room.

The air was stagnant like a solid. The faint breathing was deliberately suppressed to the limit, almost blending into the dead silence of the darkness. Wei Tingxia stopped in the shadow by the door, did not turn back, and silently pushed the door shut and locked it with his hand.

A soft click sounded, exceptionally clear in the absolute silence.

Wei Tingxia took a deep breath. System 0188 automatically appeared, and on the marked map, a blue light spot was rapidly approaching.

A whoosh of breaking wind exploded by his ear. Wei Tingxia unhesitatingly swept out his leg in a horizontal kick. When it missed, he lowered his body for a rushing punch straight to the target’s abdomen—not aiming to defeat in one blow, just to create an opening for the next attack.

The intruder was exceptionally agile. After dodging Wei Tingxia’s sweep, he quickly closed in, unconcerned with damage to his abdomen, trading the injury for closer distance.

He was too familiar with Wei Tingxia’s attack patterns. When Wei Tingxia threw an uppercut hook, he clamped down on his wrist as if divinely aided, using his upward momentum to press the man into his embrace.

The alpha’s aura entwined around the omega’s neck like vines. No words of recognition, yet the pheromones were already tender and lingering.

Wei Tingxia’s movements were restrained, and he realized who it was. Without a word, he lifted his leg to kick, but before he could act, the one gripping his wrist lowered his head and clearly aimed at the scar on Wei Tingxia’s brow, biting down.

Nibbling was generally an aggressive move, but Yan Xinfeng’s bite was like flirtation—lingering and tender. Wei Tingxia’s actions abruptly stopped. A flush he could not suppress rapidly spread across his face, even his eye corners burning like fire.

“What are you doing!”

His voice uncontrollably rose in question. The lights came on, illuminating the teasing smile at the corners of Yan Xinfeng’s eyes and brows.

“You’re blushing,” he said, his gaze intense. “Your eyes are wet too.”

“Screw you!”

Wei Tingxia flushed red and kicked him. “Let go of me!”

Yan Xinfeng grunted muffledly from the kick and retreated two steps. The distance between them finally opened a bit. Yan Xinfeng was still laughing like a thug. Wei Tingxia glared fiercely at him, feeling that kick had been too light.

He raised his hand to cover his brow and touched a wet mark from the kiss. His heart flared with anger as he cursed, “Bitten by a dog, huh?”

“No,” Yan Xinfeng observed his current expression with appreciation and unconsciously grinned. “Just a sudden thought.”

Wei Tingxia sneered. “Don’t dress up your episodes as bursts of inspiration. It doesn’t work.”

He was still angry, covering his brow with eyes wide round, face still flushed. Even in anger, there was a cute charm to it. Yan Xinfeng had been harboring fire when he sneaked into the military district, but seeing this, all the fire was gone. He just felt fondness.

He wanted to bite again.