Chapter 23 Part 2

Lu Mingjin gritted his teeth. “You can pull up your partner’s measurements on your terminal. They definitely gave you the right sizes.”

“No way!” Bai Ruonian shook his head like a rattle drum. “You can’t tell if it looks good unless you put it on. I bought the clothes; I want to see the effect!”

Lu Mingjin: “…”

All night, Lu Mingjin endured with great difficulty. Bai Ruonian wasn’t matched to him to stabilize his pheromones at all.

He was simply sent to hold his weaknesses and entice him into acting out.

===

The next day

Everyone in the 10th Division saw the dark circles under Lu Mingjin’s eyes, which seemed even more hostile than usual.

As luck would have it, they ran into someone with no sense.

The Capital Star’s Planetary Governor was sporting equally dark, thick eye bags, having aged visibly overnight. The reason was simple: he had spent the entire night watching the interrogation of his brother-in-law.

His brother-in-law had been pummeled until he wailed like a ghost, and every blow had landed right on the Planetary Governor’s fragile nerves.

This time it was his brother-in-law; next time, it would be him.

He looked at the cold and handsome young Major General before him. The dark circles under his eyes made him seem slightly sinister, especially when he raised his gaze, a chilling thinness that made one shudder.

“Major General Lu, I know the empire has the 10th Division handle many special affairs. But this matter, it’s just my good-for-nothing brother-in-law acting wildly. Please, be magnanimous…”

Before he could finish.

A stack of account books had already been thrown in his face.

“Releasing him is simple. Just repay ten times the amount.”

When the Planetary Governor saw the astronomical figure in the books, he almost dropped to his knees.

Damn, when had his brother-in-law swindled so much money? Relying on a single Collection Permit, he’d sold goods worth hundreds of millions of Star Coins. Multiplied by ten, that was billions.

Even with all his bribery, he didn’t have that sum.

Lu Mingjin raised an eyebrow. “Well? Fair and square, right?”

This was clearly making things impossible, yet it was impossible to argue against.

The Planetary Governor’s face cycled from white to green, then from green to purple, like a dye workshop. Gritting his back teeth, he made a desperate, decisive decision. His voice hoarse, he said, “Major General Lu, send him to the Military Tribunal. I’ll accept whatever the sentence is.”

“Ha.” An extremely soft, cold laugh escaped Lu Mingjin’s lips, like a viper’s hiss.

He leaned forward slightly, creating a suffocating aura of pressure.

“What I dislike most,” Lu Mingjin’s voice dropped even lower, with a metallic grating quality that hammered against the Planetary Governor’s collapsing nerves, “is casually throwing people into jail. No freedom… and no fun.”

“If he can’t bear the burden, then you, your son at the Imperial Academy, his elder sister, your siblings, your parents, your entire clan—all of you will help him pay it back.”

Lu Mingjin’s silver eyes stared at him, utterly devoid of emotion, like a serpent, sending a chill down one’s spine. He smirked. “Can’t pay back? Exile to the mining planets to work it off according to hourly wages. There’s always a way.”

The Planetary Governor’s suspended heart finally crashed to its death. He felt as if he could hear the entire collapse of his political life, his family’s future. “What do you want?”

“The list.”

The Capital Star’s Planetary Governor had entered Military Command early in the morning and, shortly after, was being supported out with legs like jelly. Song Hanshan and a few others witnessed the scene and couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.

“I heard it involves illegal genetic modification and organ trafficking. His days as Planetary Governor are numbered.”

“This just goes to show the courage of the person who exposed the Blue Snowflake affair. So many layers of interest… not long ago, StarNet reported it was a very beautiful omega who brought it to light.”

“Any photos? How beautiful?”

“How could there be photos? Major General Lu ordered a news blackout. He doesn’t want people bothering that omega.”

“No photo, so be it.” Song Hanshan sounded quite regretful, but then became mysterious again. “But let me tell you, there’s no way he’s as beautiful as the omega I saw.”

Instantly, the people around him perked up.

“How beautiful??”

Song Hanshan suddenly remembered something.

The one he saw that day in the ward, the one with a particularly pure, innocent look…

“You guys definitely don’t stand a chance.” Song Hanshan shook his head affectedly. “It’s the one matched to Major General Lu. If you don’t believe me, just look at the Boss’s dark circles.”

Someone immediately caught on.

“Holy shit, so his dark circles… are from…?”

No way… the group let out low exclamations of surprise.

Song Hanshan coughed. “He left very early yesterday. That account book—we interrogated him all night and got nothing. He came in this morning, twenty minutes, and that buddy was singing like a bird, wailing like a ghost… a living King Yama…”

“So it’s really…”

“For real or not… I heard back then he was planning to send the omega away.”

“You guys haven’t seen that omega. Incredibly pretty, with blue eyes…”

Song Hanshan suddenly became animated, gesturing enthusiastically. It was clear Bai Ruonian had left a deep impression on him. Just as he was about to launch into a lengthy description, he noticed all his colleagues around him had fallen silent. Their faces had all changed, busy pretending to be occupied.

“Eh, what’s wrong… don’t you want to know what he looks like? Super pretty…”

Mid-sentence, he suddenly felt a chill creeping up from behind him. Turning around, Lu Mingjin had appeared behind him at some point, his voice eerie: “Who’s pretty?”

Song Hanshan’s voice cracked. “Major General… Major General… um…”

Having savored his subordinate’s incoherence thoroughly, and as the silence thickened, Lu Mingjin finally spoke, his silver eyes appearing ruthlessly indifferent. “Everyone except Song Hanshan. Training Ground, gravity training, extra thirty sets. Simulated battlefield, defeat one hundred Zerg each. Attach a practical combat research report. Due tomorrow.”

“Why is Song Hanshan exempt…”

“Mercy!”

Wails filled the air.

The group immediately turned their hatred on Song Hanshan.

Song Hanshan became the target of public fury, a mix of killing the man and breaking his spirit, wanting to cry but having no tears. He muttered for a long moment, “Boss, why don’t I go do the extra training too?”

Lu Mingjin smirked. “No need.”

As he spoke, he tossed over a pile of materials like a small mountain.

“All paper documents are to be archived. Fill in the missing content. According to the confessions and what’s been uncovered, tell the men below to return the money that fake medicine peddler swindled. And don’t let me hear any more loose talk.”

Song Hanshan looked at that mountain of headquarters materials and felt like weeping.

He’d rather patrol the Zerg Zone and pick up trash than be buried in a mountain of paperwork. That guy had cheated hundreds of millions in Star Coins; refunding it all would take until next year.

Killing the man and breaking his spirit.

Then he suddenly realized something. Hadn’t Lu Mingjin said that swindler would pay his debt through hard labor on the exile planet? Could he really pay it back this fast?

Lu Mingjin glanced at him. “It goes through my personal account.”

That little omega had been fussing about that one million all night. Better to refund it to him quickly so he’d stop the racket.

Song Hanshan, looking miserable, was about to leave when he was called back.

He watched his Boss toss him an extremely precious Mental Stone box.

“Go test its composition.”

“Th-this… this should just be a Mental Stone. Carrying it for long periods stabilizes the mind and effectively raises Mental Power limit…” Song Hanshan stared at the box, wondering what his Boss was on about.

Even in normal combat, one wouldn’t forget what a Mental Stone was.

“I’m talking about the stuff inside,” Lu Mingjin frowned.

With great solemnity, Song Hanshan opened it. His eyes widened.

“This is…”

Isn’t this just cat fur?

=

At home, bored out of his mind, Bai Ruonian heard the notification that one million Star Coins had been deposited into his account and jumped for joy.

The money was refunded!

Beaming with delight.

Eh, wait. It dawned on him belatedly: he had paid using his Master’s supplementary card. Why did the money end up back in his own account?

Strange.

But this oddity was quickly replaced by a newer, fresher interest.

Today, he was going to try gaming!

Tricked into eating the Blue Snowflake, Bai Ruonian felt bursting with energy. He felt like he was back to when he was a cat and urgently needed to pounce on a few bugs to burn off that energy.

The game Rui Rui and the others had recommended seemed to be about fighting bugs. Perfect for killing energy output. Maybe he could even play with his master in the future.

But Master hadn’t played this game in a very long time.

Bai Ruonian had seen him play right after Lu Mingjin had picked him up. Back then, he often saw him gaming, but in the years after, never again. Now he went nowhere except his study and the training room.

Finding the long-unused Gaming Pod, Bai Ruonian circled it, poked it excitedly, looked it over left and right, and didn’t hesitate to crawl inside.

The moment he lay down, the full-dive holographic Gaming Pod immediately triggered its online system. A flash of light suddenly illuminated before his eyes. Bai Ruonian widened them excitedly. In an instant, after the white light faded, he had entered a brand-new virtual world.

The first sight that met his eyes was neither pure darkness nor overly saturated bright colors. The dome was a flowing tapestry of deep blue and dark purple nebulae, countless stars embedded like diamonds, with the occasional meteor trailing an ethereal blue tail flame across the sky.

A sense of cyberpunk sci-fi and fantasy washed over him.

The breeze felt incredibly realistic against his skin. Bai Ruonian comfortably narrowed his eyes. He was currently standing in a plaza, thronged with silhouettes. Unaware of when, a glittering firefly flew up before him. Bai Ruonian instinctively swiped at it, only for the little firefly to let out a shriek.

“Attacking system sprites is prohibited!”

The system sprite, the little firefly, circled Bai Ruonian, maintaining a cautious distance neither too far nor too close.

Seeing Bai Ruonian had no intention of pouncing on it, it finally relaxed and gave a formal little bow.

“Welcome to the full-dive immersive strategy survival game, Star Dome Online. I am your system sprite, Little Firefly.”

Star Dome Online.

Bai Ruonian had just logged in and randomly picked a star zone.

The deep thrum of mecha engines came from afar, occasionally interspersed with system prompts: [Player 43694 has entered the combat zone].

[Player ‘Better To Mine Than Fight Bugs’ has entered the combat zone.]

[Player ‘Not Changing Name Till I Hit The Rankings’ has entered the combat zone.]

“Star Dome Ranking?” Bai Ruonian muttered, “What’s the Star Dome Ranking?”

Little Firefly dutifully answered again.

The game had three leaderboards: the Star Dome Ranking, the Kill Ranking, and the Star-Seeking Ranking. The Star Dome Ranking recorded combat power value; the Kill Ranking recorded Zerg and player kill counts; and the Star-Seeking Ranking was based on the number of treasure chests obtained from exploring ruins.

All these leaderboards were related to selections for the Imperial Academy. The top one hundred got a chance to take the Imperial Academy entrance exam, and the top three were exempted entirely.

Before Bai Ruonian could listen carefully, a tooth-grinding sound of a chainsaw reached his ears. Someone was diving straight at him.

Bai Ruonian scrunched his nose and instinctively rolled aside.

“Beautiful!”

A few veteran players spectating outside the Arena couldn’t help but praise.

“Those reflexes are pretty impressive…”

“Looking at the exterior, he’s a newbie. Not even an embedded Mental Gem. Has real talent.”

Among them, one in a dark blue mecha observed Bai Ruonian’s mech thoughtfully. After a moment, he memorized the ID.

Bai Ruonian saw the comments on the public chat and felt a little happy. But before he could react, his chest armor was struck square by a chainsaw that came from nowhere.

Bai Ruonian was knocked back three meters, losing his balance. The world spun; he almost fell to the ground. Luckily, his sense of balance was decent, though he was a bit stunned.

All around, more bugs sprayed acidic fluids. Once a person fell, they would swarm, like vultures waiting to scavenge.

The system sprite still took the time to remind him: “Even the Arena simulates the battlefield Zerg environment. These bugs aren’t easy to deal with. Player, you must be careful!”

“Your timing is great…”

Bai Ruonian was also starting to panic. It was his first time in the Arena, and he hadn’t even mastered the controls. How had the fight started the moment he entered?!

“That’s how cruel it is. Not just in the Arena, you can be attacked anywhere. It’s just that here, there are points for it. Moreover—”

The chainsaw swept across again. Bai Ruonian rolled out of the way, barely dodging. Panting, he asked, “Moreover what?!”