AHDIBCB Chapter 57

Flying Wolf said, “Isn’t that a bit too much? It might tire you out. Right now—” he gestured toward Yuan Yi’s belly, “you really should rest more. And if we remember correctly, aren’t you still studying medical knowledge every day?”

Yuan Yi looked down at himself and said, “I’ll manage my schedule carefully. But I have to learn all of this. As for the Brutemen beast language… I won’t trouble you with that for now. But everything else, I’ll have to rely on you.”

Snow Wolf responded, “Not a problem. As long as you can spare the time, Flying Wolf and I can teach you. But the General has instructed us to keep an eye on you. We can’t let you overwork yourself. You still need proper rest. This trip will take around fifteen to twenty days. If everything goes smoothly, we should reach Aysdiya by next month.”

“Will we need to stop midway for energy or supply replenishment?”

“No, the food and energy on the Ghost Ship are enough to last at least six months.”

Yuan Yi thought for a moment and said, “Then could I trouble you to show me the design schematics of the Ghost Ship first? Either a digital version or paper copy is fine.”

When Li Heng was around, there were many things Yuan Yi didn’t need to worry about. But now that Li Heng wasn’t by his side, if anything really happened, he couldn’t rely solely on others—he needed to have some idea himself.

Of course, he trusted the people Li Heng had left behind, but one more person meant one more layer of strength. At the very least, he shouldn’t be the one dragging them down if something happened. He trusted them, yes—but he didn’t know if they had Li Heng’s ability to turn the tide in a crisis. After all, they hadn’t known each other that long.

Though he had been on the Ghost Ship for some time, he had mostly either been alone with Li Heng or studying by himself. He hadn’t interacted much with the people close to Li Heng.

Alphas tended to be very possessive, and Li Heng’s pheromones were especially domineering. They carried a strong cedar scent, and most people naturally kept their distance. Even now, although these people were speaking to him, they still stood several meters away—at least four or five meters—and any further would have required raising their voices to be heard.

Snow Wolf quickly transferred the design schematics to Yuan Yi’s communicator. Yuan Yi gestured for them to return to their tasks and then lay down to rest again.

The ointment Li Heng had applied earlier was beginning to take effect. The pain had nearly subsided, though there was still a strange sensation when he moved. He decided to rest properly for the day and resume his usual routine the next day. Even though they had only done it twice, the second time had gone on too long, and it had left him quite exhausted.

Yuan Yi softly called out, “Li Mian?”

The communicator answered excitedly, “Hey! Brother Yi, you finally remembered me—wahhhhhh…”

“When did you ‘arrive’?”

“I’ve actually been here the whole time, but that mean master wouldn’t let me talk. He said I wasn’t allowed to distract you and that I had to wait until you called me first. So how could I dare to reach out? I’ve been holding it in until now. Brother Yi, are you doing okay lately? I detected that your body’s a bit weaker than usual, and your vitals aren’t as good.”

“It’s nothing serious. I just need some rest. Can you still connect to the net?”

“Not at the moment. Master said that for safety reasons, I’m not allowed to connect to the net on my own. So I can’t update myself, and I can’t help you get in touch with him either. But I can still help you study. That includes the starfield maps and how to read interstellar navigation charts—I can teach you all of that. As for weapon usage, I can’t help there. I’ve never seen the weapons Master and the others use.”

Yuan Yi touched the communicator. “No need for weapons. But you have to teach me the Brutemen tribal language. Do you know it?”

Li Mian said, “I do. As long as it’s a language we’ve discovered so far, I know it. Brother Yi, you just touched me, right? I don’t have my own body right now, so you might feel a bit uncomfortable. But Master has already arranged things—soon I’ll have a new body. Are you going to sleep now, Brother Yi?”

It had noticed that Yuan Yi’s eyes were closing for increasingly longer stretches, and the time they stayed open was getting shorter and shorter, like he was really drowsy.

Yuan Yi murmured a reply, “Mm, I’m a little tired. Let’s talk after I wake up.”

Li Mian observed him for a moment and saw that his body temperature was normal, and his breathing rate was normal too, so it said, “Alright, Brother Yi, sleep well.”

In the afternoon, someone brought over Li Mian’s new body. By then, Yuan Yi had already woken up. When he saw Li Mian’s new little appearance looked no different from before, he was fine with it—but Li Mian was absolutely fuming.

Because the face was exactly the same, but this time its little body had an extra layer of metal outerwear—one that couldn’t be taken off. A rather crude vest-and-underwear two-piece, and the color was plain too, just pure white. A perfectly cute kid, but from the back looked kind of like a little old man—and a curly-haired one at that.

“Outrageous!” Li Mian said angrily. “It must be Master—was it Master who made them do this?” Li Mian asked Yang Mei.

“It indeed was,” Yang Mei replied, puzzled. “But is there something wrong with this clothing?”

“My original clothes were all made by Brother Yi for me to wear. Master didn’t, so he’s just jealous—ahhhhhh! So annoying!” Li Mian was so angry he clenched his little fists and jumped up and down.

“Don’t be mad. Just treat it as underwear,” Yuan Yi said. “I’ll make you new ones when I have time, bigger ones too, so you can wear them over.”

“Hehe, thank you, Brother Yi. Brother Yi is still the best to me!”

Li Mian floated over and hugged Yuan Yi’s arm, rubbing against him. That flattery—Yang Mei was speechless just watching. Never seen a robot this vain. This thing had been trained way too smart.

But what mattered most was that the Madam liked it. Yang Mei took away Yuan Yi’s used dishes—he already knew now why Madam hadn’t been able to get out of bed. The chief medical officer was right, this was a good thing! Their general had finally ended his old-virgin life. From now on, with someone managing him, his training methods probably wouldn’t be so perverted—not that he said that, it was what a few of the bodyguard brothers said. So Madam absolutely had to be taken good care of.

While Yang Mei was taking the plates away, he also left Yuan Yi some afternoon snacks.

Yuan Yi didn’t really bother hiding anything—everyone here was sharp, they could probably guess it anyway—so he simply said, “I should be able to go to the canteen by myself tomorrow. Sorry for the trouble today.”

Yang Mei balanced the plates in one hand and waved the other frantically, “No no, if you say that, you’re treating me like an outsider. This is nothing, not troublesome at all. If you can keep the General in a good mood every day, you’re already doing a great favor for all the brothers on the Heavenly Wolf ship.”

Yuan Yi asked in surprise, “Is he usually in a bad mood?”

Why did that sound like he had some kind of anger disorder?

Yang Mei looked around cautiously, then leaned in like a thief and said, “The General is usually very strict. We’re all kind of scared to interact with him. The way the General is in front of you is one way—he’s a different way with us.”

“What way?”

“Emmm… probably like this—he’s the alpha wolf, and we’re all wolf cubs. If something happens, he really does look after us. Whether it’s getting sick or injured, or big stuff like promotions or dangerous missions, as long as he knows, he’ll check in on us. But when there’s nothing going on, his training is seriously brutal. We’re all scared of him.”

“But I see you and Winter, Night, Flight and Snow all get along with him pretty well.”

“Hahaha,” Yang Mei gave a dry laugh, “Well, how do you think we stood out from tens of thousands of people to become his close guards? That’s all blood and tears. You don’t know—there was this one time when he entered his susceptibility period, and he tormented us so badly, even Brother Winter was nearly driven bald from rage.”

“Susceptibility period? When was that?”

“Around three months ago, I think.”

Yuan Yi thought back and recalled that once, during class, he suddenly felt a bit off—his heart started racing, and he felt restless. Later, when he asked about it, “He Yanwu” used the excuse of being busy and disappeared. That time, someone had accused him of having an improper relationship with “He Yanwu,” and that same day, “He Yanwu” got into a conflict with someone from the basketball team.

At the time, he thought “He Yanwu” left to avoid suspicion, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Yuan Yi asked, “Then how did he get through that susceptibility period?”

Yang Mei said, “He used a lot of strong inhibitors. The most at once was five in a row, I think—Brother Winter Wolf was scared to death. Luckily, that spiced beef recipe of yours really helped a lot. Later on, the General just kept listening to that voice message you sent him, and didn’t even need inhibitors anymore—he slowly got through it.”

Yuan Yi thought of the voice message he had sent to Li Heng at the time and asked with a smile, “I heard from the General that you all split up the beef jerky he had?”

Yang Mei instantly looked super guilty. “Hehe… yeah, that happened. The brothers heard it was made by you, so they wanted to share the good fortune.”

Yuan Yi nodded. “If you all like it, I can make more when I have time. But since you were able to split snacks I made out of his pocket, I don’t think you’re that afraid of him, are you? You say he’s strict, then say he’s strict but treats you all well, then hint that he has feelings for me, then start by saying that making him happy is a big help to you guys. With all that exaggeration, are you trying to get me to keep an eye on him more, treat him better, and help take some of the pressure off you guys?”

!!!

Yang Mei was stunned, and laughed awkwardly. “W-Was it that obvious?”

Yuan Yi smiled gently. “Not that obvious. But I’ve noted it.”

When Yang Mei left, he looked dazed. He was carrying the food tray, originally intending to go to the kitchen, but somehow ended up walking over to Flight Wolf and Snow Wolf.

“Brother Flight, Brother Snow, why do I feel like our General has left… but also hasn’t left?”

Flight Wolf asked, “What do you mean?”

Yang Mei said, “I feel like our General’s consort is like a split body of the General.”

That conversation just now—was it really him leading it, or was it Yuan Yi who was in control the whole time?!

Yang Mei suddenly shivered and hurried off to deliver the trays. Flight Wolf was stunned for a moment and asked Snow Wolf, “Did you understand what he was trying to say?”

Snow Wolf said, “I didn’t understand, but I did see it clearly.”

Flight Wolf: “Huh?”

Snow Wolf patted Flight Wolf on the shoulder. “In the future, just speak directly with the Madam if you’ve got something to say—no need to go around in circles. He’s far more sharp-minded than people his age.”

Flight Wolf said, “That’s true. When we went to Sector 72 before—you didn’t see it—but Commander Liang’s little brother, compared to our Madam, was basically a kid. Their ways of thinking aren’t even on the same level.”

Soon, the others remaining on the Ghost Ship noticed this as well. Yuan Yi didn’t panic just because his alpha wasn’t around, nor was he afraid when facing other alphas. He still had his own plans—and could carry them out perfectly.

He got up at the same time as everyone else every day and went to the canteen on time. After eating, he would go to the armory to study weaponry theory and applications.

Flight Wolf personally taught him.

For the heavy equipment he couldn’t handle, he only studied the theory and had Flight Wolf demonstrate the usage. For the lighter ones, he would try them himself.

Flight Wolf discovered that he learned everything really fast, and his accuracy was also very good. He couldn’t compare with those who had undergone professional training, but he wasn’t far behind either. His weakness was mainly in dynamic shooting. But for stationary shooting, he almost always hit the ninth or tenth ring.

The nth time he saw Yuan Yi hit the bullseye, he couldn’t help but ask in surprise, “Have you trained before?”

Yuan Yi said, “Sort of. Maybe because I used to draw—my hands are steady. Whether it’s holding a gun, a paintbrush, a scalpel, or a suture needle, all require steadiness and focus. There’s a kind of commonality between them.”

Flight Wolf: “……”

Was it really because of that? It’s not like he hadn’t met other people who used paintbrushes—but none of them had marksmanship like this.

Yuan Yi said, “The weapons here are mainly used for dealing with the beast race of the Brutai barbarians.”

Flight Wolf nodded. “Yes. Although the Gel Star and Shenshi Star aren’t part of Owanda, we’ve had good relations with them for a long time, and there haven’t been any conflicts. The current threat mainly still comes from the Brutai barbarian beastmen, followed by the dark tree people of Yigtan and the insect race of Gaellich. The dark tree people and the insects used to follow the Brutai barbarians as their leader, and only quieted down after the General dealt them a heavy blow a few years ago. But in recent years, they’ve also had their eyes on Blue Gel Star. Back then, when the General went to support Blue Gel Star, a lot of people were against it—they wanted to take the opportunity to annex Blue Gel Star into Owanda. But the General was against that idea at the time.”

Yuan Yi picked up a small gun and toyed with it. “That’s probably because Owanda’s current combat power isn’t enough to handle all three planets alone, right?”

Flight Wolf said, “Exactly. Some people think that Blue Gel Star will need to ask Owanda for help eventually, and when that time comes, if we set conditions, they’ll have no choice but to agree. But the General thought that would mean losing the initiative. Once Blue Gel Star gets taken over by the Brutai barbarians—even if only temporarily—we’d be at a great disadvantage.”

Yuan Yi picked up a gun that looked a little strange. This one kind of looked like a trumpet? And it had no energy outlet—the front end was solid.

Flight Wolf took the gun at that moment and turned it on—the entire armory lit up brightly.

“This is for dealing with the dark tree people. They’re afraid of certain types of light—this is one of them.”

“Could work as a flashlight.”

“That’s a bit extravagant. Don’t be fooled by how small this thing looks—each time it’s activated, it costs one round gel coin. And this light actually has certain harmful effects on our kind. But don’t worry—short-term exposure is fine. It won’t affect you or the babies.”

“Alright. Then let’s call it a day. Thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s no trouble. It’s what I should do as your subordinate.”

Flight Wolf put the weapon down and escorted Yuan Yi out. Yuan Yi then went to learn about star maps and interstellar routes from Snow Wolf. Snow Wolf would also explain some political matters to him. His entire morning was basically spent in study.

These personal guards were the people Li Heng trusted most in recent times. They all knew a lot and were clearly being prepared to take charge on their own sooner or later.

After lunch, Yuan Yi would take a nap. Once he woke up in the afternoon, he’d study his medical books and spend about an hour and a half learning beast language. During that time, Li Mian was both his best classmate and best teacher.

After that, Yuan Yi would have dinner, then take a walk down the longest corridor on the ship, to help digest and look at the view outside.

Unless they encountered some special celestial body, there usually wasn’t much to see out there. But no one ever saw Yuan Yi get restless or irritable because of that.

Only occasionally, they would see him spray some cedarwood-scented pheromone on himself—making it easy to guess that, in truth, he was missing someone.

One week later.

Li Heng finally boarded the warship.

However, it wasn’t the Heavenly Wolf—it was a new warship, even larger in scale and more advanced in weaponry than the Heavenly Wolf.

As soon as he landed, he was greeted by a uniform shout of, “Welcome, General!”

Only one-tenth of them were human soldiers—the rest were all robotic soldiers, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Li Heng made a hand gesture, and Scarlet Snake came over. Li Heng asked, “Is what I asked you to prepare ready?”

Scarlet Snake said, “It’s ready. We can contact the Madam at any time. But the new fleet hasn’t been named yet—the brothers are waiting for you to name it.”

Li Heng said, “Let’s call it ‘Zhenyuan’ (True Essence).”

Scarlet Snake thought for a moment. The General was highly learned—this name must have some deep meaning. So he racked his brain and guessed, “The root of all things, called mysterious—‘Zhenyuan’ as in true essence?”

While taking off his gloves, Li Heng replied straightforwardly, “Wrong. It means ‘to cherish one person, named Yuan Yi (袁毅).’ Taking the homophones from that—‘Zhenyuan (真元).’”

Scarlet Snake: “???”