Chapter 94: Does It Still Hurt?
It was a sunny day, but he didn’t seem to feel any heat on his body.
Only soldiers of the rank of major and above could be buried in the Martyrs’ Cemetery on the Imperial Star. Even so, the cemetery of those who had been buried here three years ago stretched as far as the eye could see.
The Elder was among them, and for a moment, he couldn’t come back to his senses.
He didn’t know why, after he had discovered the abnormality on the flying ship, he had still not had the pilot change course back to the Council of Elders, but had instead continued to let the flying ship go to the cemetery.
The golden-haired youth’s curious inquiry had been lingering in his mind, and he couldn’t get rid of it. It had taken root and was itching in the Elder’s barren and old heart. They were growing, expanding. Every time he thought of it, a blurry face would flash through his mind.
They were saying, “Aren’t you going to see your students?”
He was one of the professors at the Imperial Military Academy.
The reason why his reputation was good was also because he had many students who respected and admired him.
He should have retired long ago, but he had always been unwilling to let go of the Council of Elders. But one day, after the trial conference three years ago, the Elder had resigned without any warning and had handed the Council of Elders over to the successor he had personally cultivated.
On the tombstone in front of him, some had photos and names, some had not had time to take a photo and only had a name, and some even had nothing on the tombstone.
The Elder pondered for a moment before he remembered that the owner of this photo had once come to him with the command book issued by the military academy to ask him a question.
He was a vibrant child, full of curiosity about the world.
The Elder stood for a moment, his old face showing no expression. After a moment, he rarely took off his hood, and bowed deeply and straight to the tombstone in front of him. The members of the Council of Elders behind him quickly exclaimed, “Elder!”
He stepped forward to help him up.
The person in power would not be stingy with his useless compassion. The Elder turned and left as if he had been relieved of a heavy burden.
Although his steps were slow, the sound of his cane hitting the ground was still heavy.
A night as ordinary as usual.
He woke up without any warning.
He was already very old, over a hundred years old. With every movement, his bones would make a sound of decay and aging. Waking up in the middle of the night, the Elder was covered in a cold sweat. He struggled to get the sleeping pills and tranquilizers from the side of the bed and, while sighing, drank them down.
His cloudy eyes, under the effect of the drugs, groggily glanced at his comm.
Ever since what had happened last night, the Council of Elders had not dared to let down its guard at night and had sent him several messages.
The Elder roughly glanced over them. The moment before, he had just thought of a response, but in the next second, he couldn’t remember it at all.
He sighed helplessly under the influence of the sleeping pills.
Every character that entered his eyes turned into a blank slate in his mind, forming an extremely large number of words. He didn’t understand what they were at first, until the name carved on the tombstone that he had bowed to in the afternoon was suddenly remembered by him at a certain moment.
The Elder suddenly realized that every one of those words was a name.
For as long as he had walked in the cemetery today, these names had been piling up in his mind, like a heavy mountain, pressing down on his back.
The hand that was holding the comm was trembling nonstop.
“Have you been to see them?”
The youth’s clear voice suddenly sounded in his mind. It was an unfamiliar language, but he could unexpectedly understand the meaning within.
It had already grown into a giant tree, deeply rooted and impossible to uproot.
The calming component of the sleeping pills began to take deep effect. The fragile defense line of the human psyche became a thin layer under the effect of the drugs. At a certain moment, it urged the Elder to open the video of the trial conference from that year for the first time. Under the hot comments, there were more grievances from the families of the soldiers who had died that year.
Wailing, cursing, unbearable to look at.
They were like a large net, covering the Elder. He stretched out his hand, trembling. After several hesitations, he clicked on the star network’s backend.
·
The vast manor was also extremely quiet in the dead of night.
Only two empty shells were left in the pool, and the little jellyfish was clinging to its own small shell.
He had slept for too long today. Deng Xi, who had always been a good sleeper, was a little unable to sleep. He tossed and turned, secretly peeking at the little mute beside him.
Si Jisheng was half-leaning against the head of the bed, dealing with the documents on his terminal. After the convention was issued, he had been so busy he didn’t even have time to breathe.
It wasn’t until Deng Xi had drilled to his front, and his messy golden hair had blocked the blue screen in the air, “Why isn’t Little Mute sleeping yet?”
Si Jisheng closed his terminal. “What’s wrong?”
Deng Xi was a little troubled. “I can’t sleep.”
It was clearly him who had insisted on having the little mute, who was working in the study, sleep with him. Deng Xi’s cheek was pressed against the little mute’s body. He was hugging the other’s lean waist. He was a little hesitant. After a long while, he finally raised his face and confessed in a small voice, “I did something bad today.”
“Will Little Mute hate me?”
Si Jisheng was stroking Deng Xi’s messy golden hair. His cold fingertips would occasionally brush against the little merman’s ear. Hearing this, he paused for a moment. “Did you sneak a snack again?”
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment. After he reacted, he retorted angrily, “No, I didn’t sneak a snack today.”
He had only eaten a small cake today!
Si Jisheng nodded slightly, indicating that he believed him. He asked in a low voice, “What bad thing?”
Deng Xi hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to explain. He said slowly, “I made a very bad person a little better.”
Si Jisheng asked in a deep voice, “Then why is that a bad thing?”
Deng Xi said slowly, “But for that bad person, it seems to be a bad thing.” He thought for a moment, then clumsily denied his own words. “But if he hadn’t done anything bad, it wouldn’t have affected him.”
Si Jisheng cast an inquiring gaze.
Deng Xi anxiously knelt up, left the little mute’s embrace, and gestured, “Just like the first time I met Little Mute, Little Mute choked me, and I wanted to use my ability to escape.”
Si Jisheng replied with a sound. “Every living creature has the instinct to protect itself. This is not a bad thing.” He said seriously, “On the contrary, I am very happy.”
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, then pursed his lips. “Why?”
Si Jisheng carried the youth over. “I am very happy that you have learned how to use your instincts to protect yourself.”
Deng Xi looked at the silver eyes in front of him. “Does protecting you also count?”
Si Jisheng: “It counts.”
He extended his fingertip and, with a very light touch, touched Deng Xi’s neck. He touched the little merman’s not-so-obvious Adam’s apple with the pad of his finger. His voice was deep. “I’m sorry.”
The little merman, who had been enlightened, curved his eyelids and took the initiative to lean over and offer his neck as a sacrifice. He was not afraid at all and let the little mute touch him.
Deng Xi said as if it were a matter of course, “But I think that the little mute at that time was also using his own ability to protect himself. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
Si Jisheng suddenly asked, “Does it still hurt?”
This question was inexplicable. It had been so long, of course it didn’t hurt anymore. His blue eyes lowered and met the silver eyes that were staring at him. The slow-witted little merman seemed to have suddenly understood the silver Jiaoren’s meaning.
Deng Xi let out a hot breath. “A little bit?” He blushed and quickly changed his words. “No, not a little bit. It hurts very, very much.”
A cool, damp kiss was placed comfortingly on Deng Xi’s neck.
A kiss and the pain will go away.
It was itchy, like a feather.
Deng Xi thought in a daze.
“Ding—”
The abrupt sound made Si Jisheng instantly stop his movements.
Deng Xi had not yet reacted. The mating heat that had been aroused by the kiss made him rub against the little mute’s nose in dissatisfaction. “I want more kisses.” He complained pitifully, “It’s not enough.”
Si Jisheng’s voice was low and hoarse. “Wait?”
Deng Xi blinked his wet blue eyes. After a long while, he finally nodded his head very pitifully.
The constantly vibrating comm was finally stopped. Si Jisheng answered the communication. His tone was extremely cold. “What’s wrong?”
The adjutant swallowed. He felt that he seemed to have disturbed the Marshal’s good business, but the matter was urgent, so he had to brace himself and say, “Marshal, please take a look at the message.” Then he was as quiet as a chicken and did not dare to make another sound.
Si Jisheng’s expression was one of forbearance as he looked at the message in his comm.
Deng Xi did not settle down. On the contrary, the little merman, who had learned a new skill, clumsily learned from how the little mute had kissed him just now and placed one stamp after another on the man’s shoulder and neck, leaving one wet mark after another. Sometimes, a kiss was not enough, and he would curiously bite with his blunt and flat teeth.
Just now, a small tooth mark had been left on his thick Adam’s apple. After biting for a while, Deng Xi, who had done a bad thing, guiltily licked it with the tip of his tongue as compensation.
Not long after he had licked, he was forcibly lifted by his cheeks. His silver eyes narrowed dangerously, and his breath was unsteady. “Be good.”
Deng Xi hummed angrily and let out a muffled “oh.”
The adjutant couldn’t help but let out a low cough. Although it wasn’t a video call, he had to at least consider that he, an outsider, was still here, right?!
Just now, the information department that was monitoring the Council of Elders had suddenly discovered that the Elder had, out of the blue, sent several messages on the star network. The moment they were sent, they were deleted in a second.
But fortunately, besides the information department, many people had taken screenshots.
[I suddenly remembered something today. It seems that the release of the《Alien Convention》has made many people forget what happened three years ago and are grateful to the military. I still remember that the families of the soldiers who died that year could receive compensation from the Council of Elders with their death certificates.]
[At the trial conference back then, the royal family had sentenced a large number of members of the Council of Elders. These are their verdicts.]
[Image x9]
[I was the one who paid this compensation for them. It was me.]
[I apologize to everyone on their behalf.]
The nine pictures were a bit dim, but the handwriting was clear. It was clearly the verdict of the trial conference from that year. There were more than a dozen of them, and the names were clearly visible. Every name had left a magnificent mark on the Council of Elders’ resume and was well-known to the public.
The adjutant suppressed his emotions and said strangely, “Marshal, am I remembering wrong, or is he remembering wrong? How do I remember—”
Si Jisheng said, word by word, “You are not remembering wrong.”
He remembered that besides the half-video that had been released at the trial conference three years ago, the rest had all been erased by the royal family. The public did not know the verdict of that year.
What had been circulating on the internet was that the royal family had sheltered the military and the Marshal.
Old and senile, with a confused memory and an unclear consciousness.
It would indeed cause trouble.
An hour later, a message on the star network suddenly exploded—[Did anyone see the few messages that the former Elder of the Council of Elders just posted? Can anyone interpret what he was implying in his words?]
[Screenshot x9]
[Am I remembering wrong? What does the trial conference from three years ago have to do with the Council of Elders? Weren’t they only responsible for the monitoring and recording part at that time?]
[The people on the verdict, didn’t they all gradually retire three years ago?]
[What the hell is going on?]
