To demonstrate sincerity in cooperation, Dawn’s group deliberately waited until Elansno arrived before starting the meal.
Whether intentional or not, at this large round table, Elansno was arranged directly across from Lan Xia—the furthest distance.
Nie Liang keenly perceived that after seeing his position clearly, the smile at the Admiral’s lips instantly faded, then rose again. Just his mood had clearly dropped.
He looked thoughtfully toward Lan Xia’s direction.
The Admiral… really cared about this person.
Nie Liang lowered his eyes, pulling out the chair for Elansno.
Lan Xia smiled: “Let’s eat!”
Shou Bing brought out dinner.
His cooking had become increasingly meticulous. Except for Lan Xia, everyone else’s dinner was identical, precise down to every piece of meat’s size and shape.
Balanced meat and vegetables, plus a dessert. Very pleasing to the eye.
Lan Xia’s dinner stood out starkly.
A bowl of mush.
He held back: “…There’s a guest today. Can’t you give me a little face? I’ve eaten this for three meals already!”
At the end, he added: “Even one piece of dessert would work.”
Elansno couldn’t help pressing his lips together.
Brother still loved desserts like before. He pushed forward the portion in front of him. “I don’t like sweets. You can have it all.”
Nie Liang looked with concern at the food on Elansno’s plate—
What was all this?
Not a single thing easily digestible.
The Admiral absolutely couldn’t eat it.
Lan Xia’s eyes brightened slightly, then he coughed awkwardly: “Well then…” He wouldn’t hold back.
“No!”
Four voices rang out simultaneously from Algiers’s group.
Lan Xia’s smile froze: “…”
Shou Bing explained to Elansno with some apology: “We appreciate the Admiral’s kindness, but Teacher has a bad stomach. I’ve always been responsible for regulating his diet. Tonight he’s only eating mush.”
Elansno didn’t answer. Nie Liang’s already furrowed brows knit even tighter.
A bit irritated. Who was more precious than who, really? Why should their teacher eat mush while the Admiral ate the same as them?
Nie Liang: “The Admiral also has stomach problems, and also has a dedicated doctor responsible for dietary regulation.”
Shou Bing: “?”
Shou Bing put down the spatula: “This bowl of mush for Teacher—I used no less than ten ingredients, cooking time four hours. Won’t cause any extra burden on the body.”
Both their eyes narrowed.
Atmosphere grew subtle.
Strange competitive spirit emerging.
Shou Bing: “Teacher blah blah blah…”
Nie Liang: “The Admiral blah blah blah…”
The conversation style gradually derailed.
Algiers & Jin Daike & Lian Yao slowly typed out: “…?”
Small light orb in Gong Du’s soul sea laughed shyly like a barbell, incidentally producing a dreamy Barbie castle: “Aren’t you embarrassed! Aren’t you embarrassed hahaha!”
Gong Du: “…”
Seeing they were about to argue, finally Algiers mediated: “Alright, alright. Since Mr. Elansno just woke up, probably also not suited to this dinner. How about trying to eat with Teacher… uh… mush?”
Nie Liang felt he hadn’t lost the argument and had achieved his purpose. He showed a smile: “Move the seats too. We who eat dinner don’t sit with those eating mush.”
Shou Bing: “?”
Lan Xia: “?”
Elansno: “?”
“Nie Liang, you…”
Nie Liang winked at him, quickly resuming his proper, refined appearance.
Elansno paused slightly.
Three minutes later.
Elansno’s position was moved beside Lan Xia, sitting side by side.
Before the two of them, each had a bowl of sweet mush.
Lan Xia held his forehead, saying quietly: “Sorry to drag you down.”
Those pale golden pupils looked over—no hostility, no disgust, only slight helplessness and amusement, gentle like a light breeze.
“…It’s fine.” Elansno lowered his eyes. His eye sockets felt a bit hot. Then he smiled, tasting a bite and saying: “Actually not bad.”
It was what he’d longed for these dozen years.
Dawn’s group ate in silence, only feeling this scene was harmoniously bizarre and absurd.
Had a kind of naturally warm feeling.
Never imagined in their lifetimes they’d see this scene—the Federation Admiral eating sweet mush at their place. Who’d believe it if told?
——
In a flash, over half a month passed.
The entire Northwest Sector’s forces gradually coalesced, preparing to launch a general offensive. Affairs grew increasingly busy. Algiers’s group often couldn’t be seen all day.
Elansno thus stayed continuously in Dawn. He especially cherished this time, constantly gravitating toward Lan Xia whether necessary or not.
Yet didn’t dare get too close, afraid he’d discover something.
The royal family had no movement. First Army affairs were handed to Nie Liang to manage. When he first ran between both places, he’d been very uneasy leaving the Admiral alone here. Later gradually grew accustomed.
Even memorized a copy of the Admiral’s usual menu to give Shou Bing, drifting away amid Shou Bing’s furious roar of ‘I’m not just a cook!’
Elansno seemed very interested in that seed Lan Xia always treasured.
He’d always lie at Lan Xia’s windowsill staring entranced.
One day Algiers passed by and saw, warning: “Be careful. If you touch it, Teacher will probably turn on you.”
Elansno: “This is just a stone.”
He’d lied to Brother saying he got it from the priest. Actually just ground a pebble into a seed shape. Never expected after so many years, Brother still kept it.
“You know?” Algiers was shocked, lowering his voice. His expression immediately grew serious. “You absolutely must not tell Teacher.”
Elansno paused slightly: “Why? You all knew long ago?”
Algiers briefly explained to him, then said: “Understand now? You should also remember—when Teacher clashed with you before, the seed fell down. He even disregarded his own life to catch it.”
“I really dare not imagine if Teacher knew… But how did you figure it out? Like Lian Yao, well-versed in seeds?”
Elansno was silent a long while.
“I…”
“Either way, just keep it secret,” Algiers nodded to him, saying politely, “I’ll be going.”
Elansno looked at the flowerpot, fingers curling slightly.
…Forget it.
After the Federation was overthrown, he’d tell Brother then. Hoped Brother wouldn’t blame him for deceiving him all these years.
This identity of ‘Admiral Elansno’—whether he’d chosen it willingly or not—the sins on his body were already overwhelming. Between him and that clean ‘Lan Nuo’ lay an insurmountable chasm of blood.
The current him was just as Brother said.
Bloody and filthy.
Unworthy.
–
One night.
Suddenly from the kitchen’s direction erupted a loud shout: “Elansno! Did you sneak desserts to Teacher again—!! Bastard jerk!!”
“Your breakfast tomorrow is canceled!!”
Shou Bing’s shy good temper had been provoked into outer space by Elansno during this time.
Jin Daike, stargazing under a tree, twitched an ear and immediately calmly moved aside her teacup.
Next second, a figure swept past overhead through the treetops. A few leaves rustled down.
Elansno swept past the treetops, protecting the dessert in his hands. That bit of mischief emerged as he turned back saying: “If you don’t cook, I’ll steal your teacher’s mush!”
Shou Bing: “…”
Ahhh—!
“Daike, don’t stop me!”
Jin Daike grabbed his collar, exasperated: “How childish can you two get?”
Elansno snorted softly. With a few swift leaps, he reached Dawn’s inner city gate. Spotting a figure, his eyes brightened. He landed, striding over quickly.
Brother. “…Here’s dessert for you.” He called silently in his heart, passing the dessert over.
Lan Xia turned around: “Didn’t get caught, right?”
He reached out to take it, skillfully—a habitual offender.
Two S-levels reduced to this.
Elansno watched him with a smile: “Eat quickly.”
Lan Xia complained: “Those few are too overprotective. Really, I’m fine… This is delicious. Want some?”
His eyes curved happily.
Elansno just said: “I don’t like sweets.”
“Teacher, Elansno, what are you two doing?” Algiers’s calm voice came.
The two—one stealing, one eating—both froze upon hearing.
“…”
Done for. Caught red-handed at the crime scene.
Lian Yao, under that genderless puppet shell, even anger seemed graceful: “Daike and I were patrolling the city today. Already heard from Shou Bing. Never thought we’d actually see it with our own eyes. Teacher, Elansno, are you two small kids?”
Algiers truly couldn’t understand how these two were so in sync.
Teacher’s attitude toward Elansno softened more each day.
Lan Xia turned around, holding only a scrap of wrapper, attempting to explain: “I was just taking Elansno out for a walk. The dessert was…”
“The dessert was mine. I finished it. Your teacher was just helping me hold the trash.” Elansno’s expression didn’t change.
Lian Yao: “…”
Think we’re blind?
“Forget it.” Algiers was helpless. “Since you’re out walking, then Teacher, please join us.”
Lan Xia: “Alright.”
Dawn’s inner city at night was very quiet. Living here were mostly families left behind by fallen warriors—many children—who slept early. Occasionally a dog’s bark could be heard.
Both sides of the street bore traces of children at play.
Colorful paper airplanes piled in corners. Mechanical sweepers didn’t clear them, because tomorrow they’d be taken up by children again, sent flying.
Full of life.
“In about three more days, the Northwest Sector will mobilize and depart,” Algiers said. “Mr. Elansno, you should return within these two days to prepare in advance.”
Eighty percent of the First Army arsenal’s contents had been transported by Nie Liang bit by bit. Plus the intelligence Elansno provided—enough for Dawn to take this gamble.
“…So fast.”
Elansno smiled: “Feels like it passed in the blink of an eye.”
Only two days left, turned out.
Suddenly a breeze rose. A paper airplane blew from somewhere, touching near Elansno’s feet. He bent to pick it up.
Lan Xia: “Recently, kids in Dawn’s inner city have been folding paper airplanes. During mechanical cleaning, some broken ones get cleared, leaving those that can still fly.”
Elansno held a red paper airplane, neatly folded, lying in his pale palm—very pretty.
He said: “Indeed very pretty.”
Lan Xia’s gaze was gentle: “Represents the children’s wishes. When they fly, they believe they’ll come true. Ever played? Can try flying it.”
Along the paper wing’s edge was faintly a line of crooked ink marks. Four characters written—
‘Dog El Must Die.’
With a few childishly drawn skulls.
Due to the angle, Lan Xia didn’t see, but Algiers saw it crystal clear.
He immediately frowned. News of Elansno cooperating with Dawn remained semi-restricted. These children didn’t know… Just as Algiers was about to say something, he saw Elansno smile.
He looked at Lan Xia: “This has a very good wish written on it. Want to make it fly?”
Lan Xia: “Want to see how far it can go.”
Elansno: “Then good.”
He held it steady, sending it forward—even using a trace of mental power. The red paper airplane flew lightly away, beautiful like an elegant butterfly, carrying children’s most sincere, innocent wishes, melting into the night.
Why of all things a red paper airplane?
Red. Blood red.
Countless people’s bone-deep hatred, even passed to the next generation, becoming a paper airplane—on this ordinary night he treasured immeasurably—flying from his hands.
Like tangled threads of fate, silently reminding him of something.
Algiers: “You…”
“I’m heading back first.” Elansno said, “It’s getting late.”
Lan Xia watched his departing figure. After a moment, frowned, keenly sensing something. Purple mental power quickly extended out, catching back that red paper airplane.
He unfolded it to look, pausing.
Remembered Elansno’s peaceful expression just now and what he’d said.
His chest tightened slightly.
The rose dessert’s fragrance still lingered in his mouth, yet now felt somewhat astringent. He looked toward the direction Elansno left. “…Is he upset?”
Lian Yao took it to look: “Probably not. These words—compared to previous online comments—can only be considered child’s play.”
“This is nothing to Elansno. He even publicly read these words aloud on StarNet before.”
Lan Xia murmured: “But why do I feel terrible?”
Algiers: “Teacher?”
“…Nothing.” Lan Xia came to his senses, lowering his eyes, extracting himself from that inexplicable emotion. “Maybe it’s his eyes—always make me think of my younger brother. After a long time, having hallucinations perhaps.”
He looked toward the paper airplanes at the street corner, pausing before saying: “Elansno and Dawn are cooperating now. Those things shouldn’t show up anymore.”
Algiers agreed: “Alright.”
——
The following two days, Elansno didn’t gravitate toward Lan Xia as usual. Aside from seeing each other at meals, he stopped coming out, citing ‘handling First Army affairs’ as his reason.
The day of departure.
Nie Liang came to fetch him.
They left directly from the inner city.
Algiers: “Safe travels.”
Lan Xia: “Contact us immediately if anything comes up.”
Today Elansno had changed into the military uniform he hadn’t worn in a while. The aura of severity formed from years commanding the First Army invisibly exerted tremendous pressure.
As if completely severed from the mischievous troublemaker who’d annoyed people during his time in Dawn. At a glance, somewhat unfamiliar.
This was Elansno in his normal state.
Master of life and death. The Federation Admiral who’d walked out from countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
“It’s cold.” Nie Liang draped a cloak over him from behind. “Admiral, let’s go.”
Elansno walked forward half a step, looking toward Lan Xia. After a long while, he said as if joking: “I was very happy in Dawn. Hit it off immediately with Mr. Lan Xia. You seem a bit older than me. Given our cooperative relationship, if you don’t mind—”
“Perhaps I could call you Brother.”
At these words, Algiers and the others, extremely sensitive to this term, froze slightly. Nie Liang, however, seemed to sense something as he glanced at Elansno.
Lan Xia was a bit surprised, then smiled: “I’m honored, but sorry—this title belongs to only one person. So I can’t agree.”
“What a shame.” Elansno seemed to have only mentioned it in passing. He lowered his military cap, hiding his eyes from view.
“Then I wish Dawn can achieve what it desires.”
He left.
Behind him came Lan Xia’s “Farewell.”
Elansno didn’t look back again.
Author’s Note:
Two kitties eating together then mutually vomiting blood knife (×)
Two kitties eating sweet mush together brothers bonding sugar (√)
So cute (/ω＼)
PS: Next chapter expected word count very high. I want to write it in one go, otherwise stopping midway feels terrible. So probably won’t finish today. Don’t wait up.
——
**
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1
Hmm, my.
Uh oh