Chapter 106: The Journey Back Home
Soon thereafter, the Hydra Legion fleet stationed at the rear also landed on this strange planet upon receiving Lin Yuan’s signal. Marching ahead the rest was naturally Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yi and Dr. Fornt, their hearts nearly beating out of their chests. As soon as they saw Ling Yu in the cave, the two immediately stood upright at attention and gave a respectful military salute to Ling Yu: "General!"
Following the time of the Dark Night Legion’s disbandment, they both kept in contact with Ling Yu through both mail and electronic communications, and now, finally seeing General Ling Yu himself in person, Zhou Yi and Fornt’s excitement threatened to cause tears to spill from their eyes.
Ling Yu was also very excited when he saw his two trusted lieutenants, but the expression on his face was nonetheless calm, he smiled and nodded at them.
Zhou Yi immediately walked up to Ling Yu and asked in concern: "General, are you okay? I heard that you have been missing for more than a month. I was scared to death thinking that something happened to you."
Ling Yu spoke steadily: "I'm okay."
Though really, he wasn’t completely "okay." In this month, he was not only completely marked by Rosen yet again, but also pregnant with his second child. Of course, with Ling Yu’s proud personality, he could never tell such a thing to his subordinate, he could only say a simple "okay".
Fornt said in concern: "General, your complexion doesn't look so good, why don't I give you a thorough examination?"
As the former Captain of the Dark Night Legion’s medical team, Fornt personally took care of Ling Yu when he was ill. Ling Yu's face was indeed a bit unnaturally pale, Fornt suggested a comprehensive examination, Zhou Yi and Lin Yuan naturally agreed.
Zhou Yi quickly echoed after: "Yes, General, let Fornt examine you."
Lin Yuan also looked at him anxiously and said: "Dad, aren't you feeling unwell?"
Ling Yu waved him off with his hand and said: "No need… I know my own body better than anyone. We should just get going as soon as possible."
Fornt wanted to go on with saying something, but Ling Yu shut him up with a meaningful look and he was forced to drop it.
Rosen couldn't help taking a look at Ling Yu. Only he knew the real reason why Ling Yu had such a bad complexion— he was having severe pregnancy symptoms and after two consecutive days of vomiting, how could his complexion be good? But Ling Yu obviously doesn't want to let people know about his pregnancy. Apart from him disliking to disclose personal matters, there was another reason. He is now pregnant at a fairly unsuitable time and that fact being known would only invite more troubles.
Ling Yu didn't want to say it, Rosen naturally acted in tandem with him.
Although he was worried to death, Rosen pretended to effortlessly say on the surface: "It's nothing, General Ling Yu and I have been reliant on eating wild fruits to scrape by. He ate something bad, his complexion isn’t too good.”
Fornt looked at his general, seeing only Ling Yu's tranquil expression, he finally relinquished any lingering worries.
Ling Yu's heart on the other hand was still a little uneasy— From the second Xiao Yuan said that "the military announced the news of Rosen's death and the funeral will be held three days from now," that sense of dread had grown like vines rapidly sprouting in the bottom of his heart.
According to his time estimation, Xiao Yuan should have seen the news on TV three days ago. That is to say, the military will be holding a funeral for Marshal Rosen in the Capital Star of Cepheus any minute now.
If they don't head back as soon as possible, things might just go from bad to worse.
Ling Yu pondered for a moment and then calmly said: "I will pilot Suzaku directly through the Isville Cosmic Wormhole so that I can reach Naomi Star in eight hours. Time is running out, we must return immediately."
Rosen frowned and objected: "I know you are in a hurry to go back, but the risk of doing so is too great. I cannot let you take this risk."
Ling Yu looked back to look at him and said gravely: "The funeral of the Imperial Marshal will be starting soon. We must make every single second count. Do you want to see the Glory Legion be seated under another name? Do you want to see your own portrait hung in the Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs of the Capital Star?"
Rosen: "……"
Had it not been for Xiao Yuan coming to find them so out of the blue, they wouldn’t have expected the military to handle matters like this. After all, the life and death of the Imperial Marshal should not be so easily decided before the body is found. Even if the mech fragments were found, they should also be carefully verified. The specialist team would analyze the composition and structure of the wreck in detail, they will then reconstruct the wreck into a 3D simulation, analyze the probability of the master’s escape, etc…. Such careful inspection and verification would take at least half a month.
However, the military seems to be quite eager to announce the news of the Marshal's death. It has become clear that things are not so simple.
Although Rosen was very worried that taking this risk with Ling Yu pregnant would present harm to his body, as the commander-in-chief of the military, he should naturally focus on the big picture in these crucial moments. After lowering his head to think things over for a while, Rosen finally came to a ruling. Looking at Ling Yu, he whispered: "Alright, then I will return with you, Black Dragon, and Suzaku ahead of the others and go directly through the cosmic wormhole. We will strive to get to Naomi Star in as short of time as possible.”
Ling Yu smiled and nodded at Rosen.
—I am not someone weak who needs your worry and protection. Even if I am pregnant, I will use my own strength to protect this child. I won’t be hiding behind you for an eternity.
—Being able to walk side by side with you is what I, Ling Yu, like to do the most, Rosen, don’t you see that now?
Rosen saw right through the thoughts that bled through his resolute and firm gaze, his heart was shaken yet at the same time he felt unbelievably gratified.
—That’s right, his Ling Yu doesn't need anyone's protection. As a general, Ling Yu is more than able to protect himself.
—And as Ling Yu’s Alpha, the best thing to do is not to always be thinking about how to protect Ling Yu, but rather, to understand him, support him, and allow him enough trust and freedom.
When Rosen rescued Ling Yu, he didn’t think these things through clearly. He just wanted to do his best to protect Ling Yu. He wanted to allow Ling Yu to stay at home and give birth to their child without the need for worry. This decision undoubtedly poked Ling Yu’s sore spot, making the prideful Ling Yu choose to leave.
It wasn’t until this moment that Rosen fully realized just how stupid he was back then.
After living through so many years, at this moment, with just a simple glance Rosen finally understood Ling Yu’s innermost thoughts. From Ling Yu's point of view, what Rosen saw was not the fragility and helplessness that a pregnant Omega should have, but the firmness and persistence of a military general.
Nothing about Ling Yu has changed.
He was still the Major General of the Imperial Dark Night Legion who made his subordinates swear their dying loyalty to him and made the enemy forces tremble at the slightest breeze!
If you have such a battlefield companion, have such a lover, what more could Rosen have left to say?
With a simple shared look between them, they had rekindled the deep connection they held between one another as they did those years they spent fighting on the battlefield side by side.
Coming into contact with Ling Yu’s gaze, the corners of his mouth also pulled into a smile.
The two looked straight at each other tacitly and then respectively moved their gazes away as if their mind were on the same wavelength. Rosen looked back at the group of people and said: "Who was in command of the Hydra Legion's fleet prior to this?"
Lieutenant Colonel Ian of the Hydra Legion immediately saluted, saying: "Responding to the Marshal, General temporarily appointed Lin Yuan as the commander. he led us to Pavo to locate your whereabouts."
Rosen looked at Lin Yuan in shock.
Lin Yuan sheepishly smiled at his father and said: "Because I brought Suzaku to find Black Dragon, General Drew let me temporarily command the fleet on the route going onward… In fact, I was so lucky to have had Lieutenant Colonel Ian's help along the way, I have absolutely no experience in commanding a fleet."
His son's modesty and earnesty made Rosen break out into an uncontrollable smile, he called Lin Yuan over to his side and asked in a low voice: "On the way back, do you want to continue being the commander?"
Lin Yuan lowered his voice and said: "…I want to be with Dad, can I?"
After he finished speaking, his glistening eyes looked off to the side at the man with a cold expression.
Although Ling Yu's face had always had a cold indifference about it, Lin Yuan felt that he was especially close and dear to him.
The moment he saw this man, the memories of childhood came pouring out of his mind in an endless flowing torrent. Lin Yuan remembered everything, how his dad was actually very kind-hearted and how well he treated him too… For some reason, he couldn't help but want to be a bit closer to his dad.
Ling Yu: "……"
Faced with his son’s anxious pitch-black eyes aimed right at him, it was physically impossible for him to speak out any words of refusal.
After a moment of silence, Ling Yu said: "Okay, then you come with me."
Lin Yuan immediately said with great enthusiasm: "Great, I will go back with you and the fleet will be handed over to Lieutenant Colonel Ian. With his rich experience, there most certainly won’t be any problems."
Rosen nodded and said to Lieutenant Colonel Ian: "Then it’s been decided. General Ling Yu and I will return to Naomi Star ahead of the others. We will pilot our S-Class mechs directly through the cosmic wormhole. You are to be left in charge of the fleet, continue forward if the surrounding area of the wormhole stays within the expected range, keep in touch should there be any problems."
Lieutenant Colonel Ian promptly saluted: “Understood! Marshal!”
***
The group made no further pit stops and immediately set off on the journey back to Naomi Star after coming to a general consensus on the route.
Black Dragon and Suzaku took their masters one pace up ahead of the others, everyone else tailed at the rear of the fleet to provide support.
Ling Yu had already drawn up the quickest route for the return journey during his time spent in the cave and soon computed the route so that Suzaku could conduct a space jump right to the target point. Black Dragon and Suzaku had been companions for many years, it followed Suzaku tacitly, the time interval separating their respective space jumps wasn’t greater than a single second.
Very soon, the two mechs, one black and one red, were completely swallowed into the vast universe.
Hydra Legion fleet, on the bridge, Brian looked at the two small dots fading into the distance, one black and one red, he finally couldn’t help asking: “Even though crossing through the wormhole is the quickest way, I still think it’s much too big of a risk, isn’t it?”
Snow spoke coolly: “They should know that better than anyone. Since they were able to pilot through level 6 spacial shocks at the time of their escape, they ought to have carefully studied this cosmic wormhole… It certainly won’t pose any problems for them."
Facing Snow's serious gaze, Brian immediately agreed with him: "Yes, yes, what you say does make sense."
Snow: "……"
Caesar had not heard Brian and Snow’s exchange, he was currently frowning in worry.
As it so happened, he really wanted to accompany Xiao Yuan, but Xiao Yuan wanted to be together with his dad and Caesar didn't have a thick enough face to squeeze into Suzaku's control cabin with Xiao Yuan. He had wanted White Feather to tail behind for cover, but unfortunately, White Feather had been in a state of excitement ever since it caught sight of Black Dragon. It unintelligibly rambled: "Why doesn’t Predesscor Black Dragon hate talking? Why is it so distant, why does it ignore me when I greet it? Hadn’t it seen me?"
…when Suzaku is together with you, it is always bothered to the point of wanting to shut down, yet you still wish for Predecessor Black Dragon to say hello to you with a smile? You hopped around like a madman and spit torrents of word-vomit out at it. The fact that Black Dragon didn’t slap you right then and there could serve as a testament to its self-control.
Caesar really had nothing more to say about this chatter-box mech.
It'd be best for him to not let this guy follow after and stir up trouble, right? Causing a ruckus in front of Marshal Rosen and General Ling Yu would only give a terrible impression, ah…
So, Caesar could only swallow this bitter pill and stay behind in the Hydra Legion’s fleet with White Feather, Brian, and the rest, looking on helplessly as his Omega and his two terrifying fathers disappeared into the vast and obscure universe in their mechs.
***
Inside the control cabin of Suzaku. The red nerve line was gently wrapped around Ling Yu's hand. After many years of separation, Suzaku and Ling Yu had completed a mental compatibility match and their compatibility easily exceeded 300%.
Seeing Lin Yuan sitting in the co-pilot seat and looking at him curiously and in amazement, Ling Yu couldn't help but smile and ask in a low voice: "You’ve piloted Suzaku before, haven’t you? How high of a compatibility did you have?"
Lin Yuan bashfully said: "I only got 100%…"
Ling Yu said: "It is already pretty good to get up to 100% your first time piloting. Suzaku is not a newly manufactured mech after all. There are too many memories left in its intelligence center. Your mental threshold should be quite high to be able to pair with such a mech.”
Lin Yuan spoke out of curiosity: “By the way, Dad, I heard that out of all the generals to this day who were in possession of an S-Class mech, your mental threshold is the highest one, is that true?"
Ling Yu shook his head and said: "No, your father is the one who has the highest."
Lin Yuan was a bit taken aback: "Father is the highest?"
Ling Yu said: "En, Mr. Aston had tested us privately, Rosen's mental threshold was 10 points higher than mine… In all honesty, though, an excellent mech pilot is not judged solely by their mental threshold. it also depends on the degree of harmonization between them and their respective mech. Black Dragon tends to be unyielding while Suzaku is more on the flexible side. Although my mental threshold is lower than that of Rosen’s, I really have a 50-50 chance of winning."
Lin Yuan tilted his head off to the side and attempted to envision how Black Dragon and Suzaku would fight… Uh, it’s honestly impossible to picture it.
Lin Yuan couldn't help but smile and say: "I think that if you guys fought, you would have a 0:10 chance of winning. Dad would definitely win."
Ling Yu was thrown in for a loop, "Why do you say that?"
Lin Yuan said in all seriousness: "Father would certainly hate to lay a hand on you, ah, he’d let you win."
Ling Yu: "…………"
Ling Yu couldn't help being embarrassed when his son said such a thing right to his face. If they really were having a battle, Ling Yu would indeed go all out, but with Rosen's character, or a genuine outburst of chauvinism, would he just let his Omega win?
Lin Yuan had actually wanted to close the distance between him and his dad with a joke, but when the joke got to his ice-cold dad, it didn’t seem to be very well received? Could he not have reconciled with Father yet? Did this joke cross a line?
His dad hadn’t said anything, Lin Yuan was also forced to lower his head and say nothing more.
The atmosphere in the control cabin was a bit awkward for a while.
Ling Yu was silent for a bit, then touched his nose. He coughed lightly and changed the subject: "Has Berg told you about the Nine-Tailed Fox?"
Lin Yuan replied obediently; "The Nine-Tailed Fox, isn’t that the SS-Class mech?"
"En." Ling Yu looked back at his son, "Have you ever experienced piloting an S-Class mech?"
Lin Yuan said hurriedly: "I haven’t. The last time after I matched with Suzaku, the stress was too much for me and I fainted… From then on out, Suzaku was downgraded to C-Class and I hadn’t piloted it."
Ling Yu gave it some thought for a while and said: "Then let me teach you."
Lin Yuan's eyes immediately lit up, "Can you?"
The child, with bright glistening eyes, was just as cute as when he was fed good things as a child…
Ling Yu couldn't help smiling and said: "It's okay, the route is already set and it’s still a few hours until our arrival to Naomi Star. There isn’t anything else to do along the way. I may as well teach you some techniques for piloting S-Class mechs."
Lin Yuan bolted upright and insistently put his hand on Suzaku's nerve wire, "Great!"
Ling Yu asked Suzaku to connect a subset of the nerve circuit to Lin Yuan's hand, accepting the consciousness stored in Lin Yuan's mind and quietly ordered Suzaku: "Suzaku, you don't need to conduct a compatibility match with Xiao Yuan. You just need to temporarily transfer part of the piloting authority to Xiao Yuan and obey his commands."
Suzaku said softly: "I see, Master."
Ling Yu looked at his excited son and said: "Xiao Yuan, S-Class mechs aren’t like the C-Class mechs you have piloted before, there’s no need to use the keypad to control it. From now on, you need to forget all of the button commands."
Lin Yuan said in confusion: “Forget every single one?”
Ling Yu said, "Correct, the commands for piloting C-Class mechs are different from those of an S-Class. Those commands will affect your judgment. When piloting an S-Class mecha, you need to entirely unlearn C-class mech piloting commands."
"…I see." Lin Yuan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and readied himself.
Ling Yu continued on: "An S-Class mech will directly accept its master's consciousness. Whatever you think of, the mech will execute any command. Therefore, when piloting an S-Class mech, you must maintain a high level of concentration…"
Seeing that Lin Yuan's focus began to become centralized and the preparatory work was finalized, Ling Yu then said: "We’re about to leave Pavo. Now try to concentrate and give the mech an order for its next action."
Lin Yuan stared closely at the simulated star atlas in front of him, as expected, the vast Pavo Galaxy gradually faded away on the screen. On the basis of the previous plan, they should take the closest route through the wormhole of the universe. Lin Yuan thought to himself, should he space jump into the wormhole now?
Suzaku should jump to… this coordinate works just fine.
Unexpectedly, right as the thought crossed his mind before his finger could even point to the coordinate point, the blazing mech suddenly increased its speed and dived to the boundary—
The surrounding airflow was rapidly compressed down at a constant rate, the space seemed to be distorted like a thin, flimsy piece of paper being crumpled, and then, with a bang, the mech directly penetrated through the spacial barrier and entered the Isville Cosmic Wormhole, the precise coordinate point that Lin Yuan had thought of.
Lin Yuan: "………"
The entirety of the wormhole was so dark that there wasn’t even a single speck of starlight to be seen, the view outside the porthole was filled with a suffocating amount of cosmic dust and spacecraft debris…
Lin Yuan laughed excitedly: "The jump was successful! Dad, this is the Iswell Cosmic Wormhole, right? How amazing, as soon as the jump route crossed my mind, Suzaku directly followed through with the order!”
Seeing how the child was nearly hopping around in excitement, Ling Yu couldn't help but slightly lift his lips into a smile, he stretched out his hand and lightly ruffled his hair, saying in a soft tone: "You did a good job, the route of the jump was chosen perfectly."
Lin Yuan was taken aback and looked back at Ling Yu in turmoil…
With a separation of fourteen years dividing the father and son, some unfamiliarity was to be expected, but at this moment, the feeling of his head being lightly ruffled by this perpetually cold and indifferent man made Lin Yuan so happy that he could hardly tell North from South. He couldn't help but think back to a scene of his childhood, nestling himself into his hold and eating things. The more he thinks of it, the warmer he felt…
In fact, his dad, Ling Yu doesn't dislike him, he just wasn’t good at expressing things, his dad's temperament was just awkward.
Lin Yuan smiled in understanding.
Ling Yu saw his son smile in pure joy and thought that piloting an S-Class mech was the cause for his stirred emotions.
So, Ling Yu, who intended to instruct his son, surrendered full piloting authority Suzaku's to his son. He then supervised from the side, letting Lin Yuan pilot Suzaku through the wormhole.
Tailing from behind, Rosen, had his heart practically shoot up to his throat—
My God, what was going on with Suzaku? It was flying all over the place in the cosmic wormhole! As a result, there were several instances where Rosen’s heart nearly gave out! Fortunately, it finally stabilized with the only scars being on Rosen’s mental health! Otherwise, Rosen felt like he was going to lose it…
What kind of joke was this, sitting in that control cabin was no one but the two people he valued the most… oh correction, make that three people.
Ling Yu, you’re pregnant now, can you not put me through such heart-wrenching mental ordeals?
Seeing Suzaku once again thrillingly brush by an enormous spacecraft wreck, the exasperated Rosen finally connected to Suzaku's communicator at the end of his wits and asked in a low voice: "Ling Yu, what’s going on with you? Suzaku almost ran right into that spacecraft wreckage just now… What’s this all about?"
With Ling Yu's piloting skills, such a rookie mistake shouldn’t have ever come to fruition. Suzaku was running into things like it’d drank itself drunk, but right in the second before impact, it suddenly turned sideways and just had a passing glance with the remains… It's practically taking his heart on a rollercoaster.
Rosen was nervous enough to put him into an early grave, but Ling Yu nonchalantly said: "Oh, I'm teaching Xiao Yuan how to pilot an S-Class mech."
Lin Yuan nodded ecstatically: "Yeah, Dad is teaching me one-on-one. That was on me just now, I accidentally went the wrong direction."
Ling Yu smiled and continued to guide Lin Yuan, piloting Suzaku to set the stage for a "thrilling moment."
Rosen: "………"
The big monster teaches the little monster how to play with mechs and Rosen is left to watch on the edge of his seat from behind… As a father, won’t he be driven to madness at this rate?
(TN: Six days off work to fly to another state… the feeling of not working a 40 hour week sure is magical. I'm so happy I could push through and update so close together! Also, F in the chat for driving lessons, those are scary af in this world too. Feel ya Rosen 😀 Edit: I found an embarrassing typo… I wonder just how many are in this translation as a whole. Yikes. That's on not having an editor or proof-reader.）