Jiang Yue looked down at the elderly man who had collapsed to the ground. It turned out that, like her, he also had a pair of gray eyes.
The old soldier placed his hand on Jiang Yue’s wrist. His hand was covered in wrinkles and age spots, and his nails curled inward, filled with dirt. It was in stark contrast to Jiang Yue’s pale, slender palm.
“Are you alright?” Jiang Yue asked.
The old man shook his head and, holding onto Jiang Yue’s arm, slowly tried to stand up. But just as he was about to get to his feet, his knees weakened and he fell back down again. He coughed violently. Jiang Yue had no choice but to bend down and said to the veteran, “I’ll carry you.”
The old man opened his soft gray eyes and gave her a gentle smile. Jiang Yue carried him on her back and picked up the bag from the ground with one hand, slowly walking forward.
“Where do you live?” she asked.
The old man coughed twice and, in a hoarse voice, gave her directions.
Unexpectedly, the place where the old man lived was very close to the Chubby Boss’s residence. In the backyard of the Chubby Boss’s scrap recycling station, there was a warehouse used for storing discarded goods. Next to it stood an abandoned single-story house.
The house was not large, about eighty square meters. The furnishings inside were extremely simple, but that wasn’t the key point. The important thing was that there was not a single person inside this house.
Weren’t there supposed to be a whole group of adopted orphans?
Jiang Yue had originally expected to see a bunch of lively, chattering children in the old man’s home. She felt puzzled, but didn’t ask.
Inside the room was a clay kang bed covered with a straw mat. Jiang Yue placed the old man down on it, then scanned the room. On a small wooden table by the window, she noticed a set of tea utensils that looked blackened with age.
Although the old man appeared shabby and unkempt, his tea set was actually very clean.
There was also a gray thermos flask on the table. To be honest, Jiang Yue hadn’t seen a thermos like that in a long time. She had only bought one back in university, but later found the school water had a strange bleach-like taste, so she ended up using large bottles of mineral water just to wash her face.
She lifted the thermos flask and poured a cup of hot water for the old man.
The old man took the cup. Just as Jiang Yue pulled up a stool and sat down, the Chubby Boss suddenly pushed the door open and came in. Their eyes met, and both were visibly surprised.
The Chubby Boss froze for a moment in shock, then looked at Jiang Yue and asked, “What are you doing here?”
The old man took a sip of water, coughed for a while, and then said, “This child saved me.”
The Chubby Boss became even more shocked. “What! In a place like this dump, there’s actually someone with a conscience!”
Jiang Yue: “……”
She said a little awkwardly, “It was just a small effort.”
The Chubby Boss clapped his hands. “No need to be so modest.”
Jiang Yue instinctively touched her hair to ease the awkwardness. Her hair had already grown out now, about half a knuckle in length, and felt a bit prickly to the touch.
“Should we call a doctor to take a look at this old man?” she asked.
The Chubby Boss scoffed. “A doctor? There’s no such thing here.”
He pointed at the black tea cup in the old man’s hand. “Even if there were a doctor, he wouldn’t be able to treat this.”
He then asked Jiang Yue, “How many elderly people have you seen in the scrapyard?”
Jiang Yue shook her head. “Almost none. This kind of place isn’t really suitable for old people to be scavenging anyway.”
The Chubby Boss smiled faintly. “Have you ever thought that many people simply don’t live long enough to become old?”
Jiang Yue looked up at him. The Chubby Boss continued, “Do you know how badly polluted the garbage planet has become? Clean water is even more precious than white crystal. The average lifespan of interstellar residents is around 150 years, but most people on garbage planets don’t even make it past fifty, less than a third of that.”
Jiang Yue fell silent. During her time on this garbage planet, the water she used for drinking, washing, and everything else had all been of this kind. But her body had long since deviated from that of an ordinary human, she didn’t know whether it would even be affected.
Even if it was affected, there was nothing she could do. It was impossible to have bottled mineral water shipped in from another planet.
She remained silent.
Pan Bu’en finished the water in his cup. Then he looked at Jiang Yue and suddenly asked, “Child, you studied at the Federation Military Academy, didn’t you?”
Jiang Yue was startled. The hair on her body seemed to stand on end. The old man watched the female Alpha’s body instantly tense up, then coughed a few times before saying in a hoarse voice to reassure her, “I mean no harm. It’s just that your fighting techniques feel familiar to me. In the virtual combat training of the full-immersion drills, the simulated figures would hold their swords across their chests as a starting stance.”
What the old man said was correct. Combat training was a relatively advanced course, and Jiang Yue had fallen behind on several classes because of her time at the base, including this one.
In that course, the virtual humanoid opponents used swords, and their opening stance was exactly that pose, holding the sword horizontally in front of the chest. The moment they struck that pose, every military academy student’s heart would tighten.
Jiang Yue had once been hit in the groin by a virtual fighter. Even now, thinking about it made her feel a phantom ache.
Gray eyes met gray eyes, and a wordless sense of understanding and emotion rose within Jiang Yue’s heart, making the corners of her eyes feel slightly sore.
How could she ever forget her days at the Federation Military Academy?
Strict instructors, absurdly difficult assignments, exhausting courses on Current Affairs and Policy, Federal History that felt as long-winded as a foot-binding cloth, and roommates she had lived with for half a year.
Jiang Yue rubbed her brow and forced back the tears welling in her eyes. When she looked up again, she saw that the old man also had a thin layer of moisture in his eyes.
The Chubby Boss stood in the middle, looking from one to the other, then wisely took a step back. He still couldn’t resist making a teasing remark.
“Well, well, what a touching reunion between fellow townsmen, tears in both eyes.”
The old man slowly said, “I didn’t expect to meet a Federation Military Academy student here.”
Jiang Yue replied hoarsely, “I also didn’t expect to meet a senior from the Federation Military Academy here.”
The Chubby Boss, standing off to the side, clapped his hands. “What fate we have here. May I ask, young hero, what your name is?”
The moment of emotion was touching, but she was still a criminal exiled to a garbage planet. It was best not to reveal her real name.
Jiang Yue said, “My name is Li Si.”
The Chubby Boss leaned his head back in exaggerated disbelief. “No way, no way—you’re really called Li Si?!”
Jiang Yue lied without changing her expression. “I was born in the slums. A humble name makes it easier to survive.”
The Chubby Boss said, “Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it,” she said, standing up from the stool. Then she added, “I still have trash to pick up. I’ll be going now.”
“Hey, wait, wait, wait!” the Chubby Boss hurriedly called after her.
Jiang Yue stopped in her tracks. “Is there something else?”
The Chubby Boss rubbed his hands together, looking a bit embarrassed. “Well… I was hoping you could help me with something.”
Jiang Yue said, “What kind of help? Just tell me.”
The Chubby Boss said, “Nothing much, I just want you to kill someone.”
Before he could finish speaking, the old man shook his head and said in a hoarse voice, “Who asks for help like that?”
“I want to ask you to stay here and help me deal with those who come looking for trouble, so I can have time to settle these children properly.”
The Chubby Boss seized the moment and added, “If you stay and help, I’ll give you a generous reward. You won’t have to pick up trash for a whole year.”
He rubbed his fingers together, continuing to tempt her. “Not only will you get money, I can also give you a small house to live in. You can finally put an end to this life of drifting and hardship.”
Money and housing—Jiang Yue was indeed tempted. But after that moment of temptation, she quickly forced herself back to calm.
She hesitated for a moment, thinking it over carefully before asking, “What happens if I don’t help?”
The old man looked at Jiang Yue silently without speaking.
The Chubby Boss let out a short laugh. “Nothing much. It’s just that quite a few of these kids are Omegas. That makes them very valuable on a garbage planet.”
He rubbed his fingers together again, mimicking the motion of counting money. “If you sell just one Omega, you won’t have to pick through trash for the rest of your life.”
Jiang Yue felt a wave of nausea rise in her chest, far worse than anything she had ever felt from the stench of the worst garbage.
She knew this would definitely be trouble. Rationally, she wanted to refuse, but emotionally, she couldn’t bring herself to.
Even if she had fallen to the point of picking through trash, she couldn’t become trash herself. She could live an ordinary, uneventful life, but she couldn’t stand by and watch people die without doing anything.
She glanced at the empty room and said to the Chubby Boss, “You say you’re protecting those children, but I haven’t seen a single one here.”
The Chubby Boss said, “Of course you don’t see them. They’re all in the tunnels. Do you want to see them?”
Knowing something and actually seeing it are two different things. There’s a saying, what the eyes witness can be shocking. Only when the eyes see it does the heart truly tremble.
Jiang Yue didn’t want to see them. She had neither the ability nor the patience, and she didn’t have a heart of stone either. Seeing them would only add to her sorrow, there was no need to make things harder for herself.
She immediately shook her head, took a deep breath, and said, “No. Even if I see them, what difference would it make?”
The Chubby Boss looked amused and clapped his hands once. “I have to say, I quite like people like you.”
Jiang Yue ignored his teasing and said seriously, “There’s something I need to make clear. I also carry a lot of trouble. What I mean is, people around me might suffer unnecessary harm because of me. So you need to think carefully, unless it’s absolutely necessary, don’t come looking for my help.”
The person who had eaten her instant noodles and ended up infected by Zerg eggs, the employees at the Blue Whale Building who had died because of her, and the more than two thousand innocent people who had been affected when her psychic power went out of control and exploded.
The Chubby Boss and the old man looked at her. After a moment of silence, the Chubby Boss said, “You don’t understand Old Pan’s personality. If it weren’t absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t ask anyone for help.”
“We all know this is hasty, but the situation is urgent. No one is willing to touch this kind of trouble.”
Jiang Yue paced back and forth in the room. In the end, emotion overcame reason. She felt she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, so she made up her mind, nodded firmly, and said, “Alright. I understand. I’ll stay.”
The old man said, “Child, have you considered the consequences?”
Jiang Yue replied, “I have. I already have plenty of trouble on me, one more doesn’t matter.”
A smile spread across the old man’s face. “My name is Pan Bu’en. I was once a soldier. Like Xia, you can just call me Old Pan.”
Jiang Yue gave a slight smile. “Got it, Old Pan.”
All three of them laughed.
The sky gradually darkened, and the night on the garbage planet grew very cold. The Chubby Boss hugged a pile of scrap and began lighting the kang bed to warm it.
The three of them sat cross-legged on the kang bed, each with a whetstone. Pan Bu’en was sharpening a knife, the Chubby Boss was honing a dagger, while only Jiang Yue held a large metal rod, unsure where to even begin.
Leaning against the wall, Pan Bu’en sharpened his blade. He had taken off his pointed cap, revealing a head of messy, snow-white hair that stuck out in all directions, reminding Jiang Yue of Einstein’s famously unruly hair.
This was the first time Jiang Yue had seen such a traditional cold weapon up close. The weapons she had encountered at the military academy were all highly technological, for example, thermoblades that could instantly release high temperatures with the press of a switch, or chain swords with chainsaw-like destructive power.
Pan Bu’en’s knife was just that—a knife. Entirely black, it was about 160 centimeters long, even taller than some girls.
Jiang Yue watched it without blinking. Her father had once collected a Japanese sword, about one meter in length, and had been extremely fond of it.
At the time, Jiang Yue had only thought that men really were creatures who loved swords and blades. She herself didn’t like these things; rather than wasting money on them, she would have preferred to buy a few pieces of clothing and some watches instead.
But now…
She looked at that blade as if she had just seen a 400GB collection of premium visuals, her eyes lighting up instantly.
Only then did Jiang Yue realize: it wasn’t that she disliked cold weapons before. It was simply that she had no use for them at the time. Perfume, clothes, bags, skincare, and cosmetics; those were what she considered useful back then, things that could enhance her appearance and charm.
And the benefits of improving appearance were very real. But the benefits of improving combat ability were just as real. After becoming an Alpha, she had naturally developed an appreciation for weapons.
At this point, on the garbage planet, if someone tried to hand her a lipstick, she would absolutely look at them like they were an idiot.
The Chubby Boss brought over a roasted chicken. Pan Bu’en leaned against the wall, carefully wiping down his long blade. Jiang Yue reluctantly tore her gaze away and looked down at the metal rod in her hands, feeling utterly speechless.
The Chubby Boss tore off a chicken leg and handed it to her. “Eat more and regain your strength. There’s a hard fight coming up. Old Pan’s long blade will drink blood again.”
Pan Bu’en had already started coughing up blood. Since ancient times, heroes were not meant to witness their own aging; in his declining state, he could no longer fight. This long blade was being entrusted to Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue tore off a piece of meat with her teeth. The moment she heard the words “drink blood,” a strange tingling ran across her scalp, and an overwhelming surge of heroic spirit suddenly rose within her.
Pan Bu’en continued wiping the blade. At that moment, the faint gray haze that usually lingered in his eyes, giving him a somewhat melancholic air, seemed to dissipate slightly. In its place emerged a bloodthirsty ferocity, the kind only a warrior who had survived countless battles could possess.
Something inside Jiang Yue ignited. It was as if his gaze had set her ablaze.
The old soldier felt her burning gaze and paused slightly as he wiped the blade. He said to Jiang Yue, “Its name is Chang Geng.”
Jiang Yue softly repeated, “Chang Geng?”
Pan Bu’en said, “It means ‘long night.’”
“That’s quite fitting. The name suits it well. I rarely see such a traditional cold weapon anymore.”
Pan Bu’en smiled. “This blade was originally a mounted sword used on a mech. It’s so heavy that most humans are unable to wield it.”
Weapons that had taken lives were different, you could sense the cold killing intent in them at a glance.
Its pitch-black blade looked as if it had been forged from the night itself. As Jiang Yue stared at the long sword, a trace of hesitation rose in her heart. She asked the old soldier, “Can I really use this blade well?”
Pan Bu’en lifted the black sword with both hands. His eyes were bright, and his expression solemn as he said, “As long as you know what you are fighting for, you will be able to wield it well.”
Jiang Yue took the long blade. Her slender yet powerful hand gripped the hilt tightly, and she held the heavy sword horizontally in front of her.
The night grew even deeper. Jiang Yue stood on the rooftop, listening to every faint rustle carried by the wind in the darkness, waiting for the hyenas lurking in the shadows, those about to begin their hunt, to reveal themselves.
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152