Chapter 112.1
His name was Gu Xiyu, the administrator of Fortress C-03 at the seventh level of the Space-Time Realm, and those below would respectfully call him ‘Commander’.
Before he became a staff member of the Time and Space Bureau, he was a resident of a certain magical continent. The continent worshipped all sorts of divine powers, and the ubiquitous pantheon of gods was their religion. Most were born with some degree of divine power, and it was also a world where the strongest were kings.
He was more fortunate than many, having been born into a royal family. His father was the powerful king of the empire, and his mother was one of his favored concubines. But he was also unlucky, probably because his birth was a threat to some people, and he fell victim to the rivalry between the adults. Not long after his birth, something happened to the empire, and the priest, who was most respected by the people and whom even the king had to respect, said he was a plague. His mother could not bring herself to kill him, and to neutralize the threat he posed, she had to follow the advice of the king and the priests to poison his right eye while he was still a baby.
With so many heirs, he who had lost his right eye would never be eligible to inherit the empire. This was secondary to the fact that, because of his physical handicap, he was slower to absorb divine energy and learn spells and slowly became an object of contempt both inside and outside.
His mother treated him well at first and was a good mother, but as other siblings were born, they were nurtured and took most of her attention away. Because of the oppression and low self-esteem he suffered, he was more often than not a silent child, not a laughing or gregarious person, and not able to say sweet things to please his parents like his other siblings, so he became the one who was neglected.
Later, he left the palace and went off on his own, and no one in the palace ever asked him where he was going. He may have been mentioned, but when he could not be found, they did not care. He had his own psychological struggles growing up, and like Wen Xinghan, he had very depraved thoughts for a while.
He met different kinds of people, and although they were not able to teach him or guide him well, there were a small number of virtuous people among them. There was even an old man who had suffered injuries similar to his who taught him how to better stabilize his talent and absorb power. So later, he went off on his own, relying on his faith, with the idea that the worse the others wanted to see him live, the better he would have to live.
He arrived In another empire when he was about twenty years old and was taken into the military after accidentally saving the princess of a royal family. After several years of campaigning for them, he was a man of high rank with meritorious service.
However, his conquering career did not last long, and he died heroically in the midst of a battle with an enemy nation. Thankfully, he destroyed the enemy’s secret weapon and saved the empire that had taken him in.
The Space-Time Bureau found him after his death.
“Based on our observations from the data, your character, courage, and strength are the kind of talents we need in the Space-Time Bureau. Your life in the small world may have ended, but your life in the space-time realm has just begun, are you willing to follow this path?”
There was nothing to be reluctant about.
He didn’t want to die, and since there was another place where he could live better and use his abilities to the fullest, he was happy to do so.
His composure soon saw him promoted to the rank of Commander of Fortress C-03. The fortress housed several prisoners who needed to be guarded and was located in a space-time rift that required constant vigilance due to changes in the environment. His calm and thrilling days moved on steadily like that, until the appearance of the demon called Wen Xinghan.
It took them some time to finally take him down and trap him in a special prison. Seeing him locked up in anger and helplessness gave Gu Xiyu a sense of accomplishment. There were few prisoners with a human appearance like Wen Xinghan, especially since he was also exceptionally good-looking, a stunner that could be remembered at a glance, so even though they hadn’t crossed paths much in the early days, he still had an impression of him.
It was only later, when Wen Xinghan developed an unstable condition, that he was forced to pay more attention to him. Wen Xinghan was a person who, although the things he did and experienced had made him seem like a heinous demon, when he came into contact with him, he could feel a purity and straightforwardness in him that contradicted his aura.
He looked stubborn, as If he would never let go of anything once he was allowed to grasp it, and unexpectedly, he liked this extreme temperament in Wen Xinghan.
He was well aware of Wen Xinghan’s initial hostility toward him. He was also not good at talking, as he deliberately yelled awkward vulgarities to disgust him. However, they didn’t make him angry when he heard them; he even felt a little amused, and then he would make a point of responding to only the questions that didn’t necessitate an answer.
They maintained such a relationship for a long time, so long that he couldn’t tell exactly when he started to accidentally cross the line he had set for himself. He supposed it was the same with Wen Xinghan, who seemed to be able to hide his thoughts, but he could see through some things at a glance.
He had been blind In his right eye for a long time, so long that he had forgotten that he actually saw the world with only one eye, until Wen Xinghan suddenly gave him the sight of his right eye. He was angry at first because he was worried that Wen Xinghan had given up his eye, and it was only after observing that he had not lost his own sight that he was relieved.
So when Wen Xinghan took his necklace, he didn’t ask for it back, even though it was the only item he had on him that was from his original world. He got that pendant after his first great feat in the empire, and it meant a lot to him. But he did not find it unacceptable to give it to Wen Xinghan.
It would have been great If life had stayed that way, but unfortunately, things change, and there was an accident in the fortress.
The difference between the seventh and second level of the space-time realms was too great, and the invading space beast was like the sudden fall of a huge mountain to them. In just a few words, the beats destroyed the whole fortress. People were killed and injured in countless ways, and Gu Xiyu immediately concluded that none of them, including himself, could stand against it.
Even if he let Wen Xinghan out, he might not be able to take it down.
Before he left, he remembered the prison that trapped Wen Xinghan. Originally, there was no setting for a two-way backlash; the defensive limit of the prison was only interchangeable, you could choose whether to turn it inwards or outwards. If the prison was used to deal with that space beast, it meant that he had gone against his duty by releasing the dangerous Wen Xinghan.
This was probably the only dereliction of duty in his many years in office. Logically speaking, he was not supposed to let Wen Xinghan out of the prison under any circumstances, even if it meant he had to die, but for once, he possessed a selfishness that he could not control. On the surface, he said that he wanted to kill the space beast, but in reality, he was giving the man in the prison a chance to survive
In a desperate attempt, he adjusted all the energy in the prison system and set it to change into an outward backlash after a short time. He took a mental note of the countdown displayed on the console and tried to hold on until the time was up, so by the time the space beast went to attack the prison, the defensive parameters on the prison would have changed to the backlash rebounding to outside attacks. The moment he collapsed, he immediately lost consciousness.
Gu Xiyu thought the same as Wen Xinghan, that there was no chance of survival in that situation, so when he finished his last mission and suddenly recovered his memory, he was quite shocked by the fact that he had managed to survive. Then he went to have a short talk with the Lord God and the director.
“This is the box that contains some of your things and memories.” With the director’s help, he finally retrieved the box that he had been thinking about for so long.
Before, he had wanted to open the box because part of his energy, which involved his memories and meta-soul, was sealed in it, and taking it back would restore the memory gap that had made him so uncomfortable for so long; the extra power was only a bonus. But he had somehow retrieved all of his memories, including his emotional side, during the course of the mission, was there anything else he wanted from this box?
The director did not explain, but only said, “You can open it now, open it yourself, and take a look.”
Gu Xiyu hesitated for a few seconds before opening the metal box, which no longer had any dangerous seals, and unexpectedly found it empty.
Only then did the Lord God’s voice come from far away: “In fact, we concealed it from you at the beginning, what unsealed the box was doing the mission, not finishing it.”
The matter was quite complicated, to say the least, and it was only after a long time that some people of the Time and Space Bureau, including the Lord God, found out that the Great Demon, who had run into their spatial level and caused trouble, might have a great connection with their Commander Gu. In order to confirm this matter, they decided to send Gu Xiyu to the mission worlds. Even if their guess was wrong, with Gu Xiyu’s ability, they weren’t afraid of anything happening to him.
“The only person who could open the box was actually yourself.” The box was completely unsealed when he achieved enlightenment after reaching the True Transformation Realm in the cultivation world.
The Lord God said meaningfully, “The character setting was indeed Tai Ling, but wasn’t it you who got the enlightenment and made the breakthrough?”
According to the Lord God, it was he who had found his missing part while executing the mission in those mission worlds, and because of his love for the great demon, he broke the emotionless dao and also released what he had been denying deep inside. The Lord God also explained why he was able to survive the accident at the fortress.
“You really should have died under normal circumstances, but the rampant spiritual power that we collected and put in that box saved you. It was concentrated in your right eye, and upon detection, it seems that it didn’t originally belong to you. So after surviving the accident, it ran rampant and clashed in your body, which caused the issues with your soul and memories.”
The moment the right eye was mentioned, Gu Xiyu instantly understood the cause and effect of everything.
In the end, it was Wen Xinghan who had saved his life.
“…… Now that I am whole once again, do I have to be locked up and separated from you again?” At some point, Wen Xinghan, who had stopped crying, issued a query in a hoarse voice.
Gu Xiyu did not answer immediately, walking to the side and unhurriedly pouring him a cup of water. After watching him drink it, he asked rhetorically, “Will you be as crazy as you were when you first came to this place?”
Wen Xinghan frowned for a moment and said with a bow of his head, “Not if I’m with you, I don’t think so.”
A few seconds later, Gu Xiyu smiled, “Coincidentally, that’s what I said to the Lord God as well.”
Wen Xinghan jerked his head up, his eyes filled with bewilderment and surprise.
What happened at the fortress was an accident, and since Gu Xiyu had not escaped at the last moment but had made a stand to the end, the Time and Space Bureau did not punish him for releasing Wen Xinghan.
As for the ‘accidentally’ released Wen Xinghan, they were more inclined to destroy the space beasts who only have an endless desire for destruction than this person who could still listen to reason. Besides, Wen Xinghan was initially locked up because he was too arrogant and always looking for a fight.
As long as he no longer had such an attitude, the Time and Space Bureau would be quite happy to give him an establishment for Gu Xiyu’s sake.
When Gu Xiyu took Wen Xinghan out of the ward, everyone in the corridor clung to the wall and made a spacious path, still somewhat wary of this great demon who was once the ‘legend’ of their branch. Wen Xinghan didn’t care about the stares of those people, his hands were shackled, the silver chains extending all the way to Gu Xiyu’s hands. He only watched the silver and black back quietly.
All around them, people were whispering and discussing the two of them.
Gu Xiyu happened to hear a man say, “Even if the Great Demon is powerful, hasn’t he been tamed by Commander Gu?”
Then everyone heard the sound of leather boots walking in the corridor suddenly disappear, and the tall man with cold eyes found the person who had spoken. He stared at him for several seconds, not saying anything but making people feel the pressure.
After a while, Gu Xiyu said in a neutral voice, “Watch your words.”
He tugged at the chain in his hand and brought the man towards him, saying, “This is my boyfriend, not some pet. Hanging this on him is just a way to go through the process for the sake of your mental state.”
Wen Xinghan was still wearing his prison uniform, after all.
“There is no need to leave it on any longer then.”
After leaving a crowd of people dumbfounded by the arrogant and blunt words, Gu Xiyu left the medical center with an equally stunned Wen Xinghan.
Gu Xiyu finally took the man back to his office, and after the door was closed, it was just the two of them once again. He calmly unfastened the silver chain hanging from his hands, and with a flip of his hand, the object was thrown into the bin with a “clatter”.
He looked at Wen Xinghan, who had not yet recovered from what he had just said, and quickly withdrew the smile from his eyes. He pushed the man into the adjacent lounge, and Wen Xinghan stumbled a little, but he soon came back to his senses.
There were not many things in the lounge, a small desk and a bed for resting. Next to the bed was a set of neatly folded clothes, the color and design of which were very similar to the ones Gu Xiyu was wearing.
Gu Xiyu leaned against the door with his hands on his chest and said to Wen Xinghan, “There is one condition if you don’t want to be locked up again. From now on, all your activities must be under my supervision, and you are going to work under me.”
This was not a selfish command, but a condition set by the senior management, after all, in their opinion, he was the only one who could control this rebellious person. Moreover, he had already left the Chaos Realm and had nowhere else to go, so it would be great if he could be under their Time and Space Bureau and work for them with Gu Xiyu.
Wen Xinghan didn’t say anything after hearing his words. He silently turned around, took off his prison uniform, and changed into the ‘work clothes’ Gu Xiyu had given him.
Gu Xiyu took a good look at him and said with satisfaction, “It fits well.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Wen Xinghan, who had just changed his clothes, suddenly walked up to him with big steps. He had just announced that this man would be his subordinate from today on, but now he was pressing him against the door, pinching his jaw with such force that it was slightly sore.
This decision sounded perfect to Wen Xinghan, it was something he had been dreaming of, so how could he possibly resent and reject it? He was so full of excitement and longing that he had nowhere to vent it. He had already prepared for the worst, and it was not impossible to go back to the way things were before, as long as he could still see Gu Xiyu.
But now, not only was he free again, but he could also stay with Gu Xiyu on the grounds that he was working. This was clearly a benefit!