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ntranslator: baumkuchen editor: glitterypanda

nZhan Yanchao had a dream.

nIn the dream, he was an invisible third person.

nHe saw a youth who looked exactly the same as him waving around his whip, lashing Ji Zuoshan until he was curled up into a ball.

nJi Zuoshan’s limbs were incredibly delicate and weak, the standard Omega body type. With practised movements, he wrapped his arms around his head, leaving every other part of him to the lashes of the whip, as if he’d resigned himself to this damned life.

nZhan Yanchao was flabbergasted.

nHe didn’t have the time to think about how Xiao Ji had become an Omega, he could only think about how beating an Omega was something a person could do.

nHe went to go grab that bastard’s hand, to slap him across the face.

nBut with a swing of his hand, he only met air.

nThe scene changed. The person who looked exactly like him had already returned to normal. He held Ji Zuoshan in his arms, his face comfortably buried in his chest, while Ji Zuoshan had already fallen asleep, exhausted, his dark, feather-like lashes trembling slightly, like he was in some incomparably terrible dream.

nZhan Yanchao was half seething with jealousy, half burning with rage, like he was being tortured in a tub half full of ice and half full of boiling water. His entire body was trembling with anger.

nHow could he treat Xiao Ji like this?

nThe scene changed once more.

nSeeing that person drag Xiao Ji along, forcing him to go to the battlefield with him, Zhan Yanchao was teetering on the brink of madness. He tried to drag the Xiao Ji in his dream back by the hand, yelling, don’t go, don’t listen to this bastard.

nHe’d seen Omegas go into heat on the frontlines. When their pheromones exploded into the air, the Alphas behaved like hungry wolves who’d caught a scent of raw meat.

nDon’t go with him, it’s too dangerous——

nJi Zuoshan, do you hear me?!——

nHis shouts went unheard by Ji Zuoshan. Ji Zuoshan stared helplessly at the young master rolling about and raising a ruckus in front of him. After a moment of silent thought, he nodded.

nZhan Yanchao watched helplessly as the young master wrapped his arm around Ji Zuoshan’s shoulders and solemnly swore “I’ll protect you”, and watched helplessly as Ji Zuoshan, in that cramped little granary, was forced to the end of his rope by several Alphas.

nHe tried to drive those snarling, salivating wolves out of the granary. He waved his fists around, he even pulled out his gun.

nBut as an outsider to this world, his fists, his gun, were completely unable to stop the crazed beasts. The Alphas completely ignored him, passing through his transparent body one after another, reaching their hands, covered in gun residue and machine oil, towards Ji Zuoshan.

n……Ji Zuoshan was desperately crying out “Yanchao”, he was calling his name.

nZhan Yanchao cried out tearfully, “Xiao Ji, I’m here, I’m here, don’t be afraid.”

nBut he couldn’t even hold his hand, couldn’t even give him a word of reassurance.

nHe woke up crying.

nHe was met with a view of eye-piercing white, making him squint and the tears stream faster down his face.

nZhan Yanling was sitting by his bedside, reading the news. Upon hearing the movement on the bed, he poked his head out from behind his newspaper. Seeing his younger brother sobbing silent tears, crying so hard that he couldn’t breathe, he immediately let out a “**”, and ran off to find a doctor or a nurse.

nFrom the distance, Zhan Yanchao heard his brother, who had always acted rationally and elegantly, yelling, “Someone please come! My brother’s awake!”

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nZhan Yanchao let out a few dry coughs, then reached out a trembling hand and pressed the call button next to his bed.

nFortunately, Zhan Yanling only lost his composure for a short while. When the doctor and nurses streamed in one after another to check on Zhan Yanchao, and confirmed that he was no longer in danger of dying, he returned to being the appropriately calm Zhan Yanling.

nHe wasn’t wearing his military uniform, just dressed in his home clothes. Clearly, he’d been here, unwaveringly taking care of him, for a long time.

nHe sat back down by his bed, and pulled out a white handkerchief to wipe at the corners of his still slightly wet eyes. “It hurts that much?”

nOnly then did Zhan Yanchao belatedly remember the reason behind his unconsciousness.

nTricked by the tactic of showing weakness arranged by Ji Zuoshan, the Zerg put in all their military strength into launching an overwhelming, full scale invasion of the planet.

nZhan Yanchao’s division was in charge of meeting the enemy head-on. He was repeatedly trapped in a sea of Zerg, their piercing chirps incessantly filling his ears.

nZhan Yanchao’s mecha was practically torn to pieces by insect wings. However, even ten minutes after he’d lost consciousness, his body was still fighting.

nZhan Yanling lightly slapped him over the head. “We almost didn’t manage to save you. Do you know, when Dad heard the news, he almost killed me.”

nZhan Yanchao asked, “What about him?”

nZhan Yanling of course knew who he was asking about.

nThe ultimate aim of Ji Zuoshan’s tactic of feigning weakness, was to make the Zerg believe without a doubt that this human planet had a strong exterior but a soft core, and could be taken down in one move. When the Zerg army launched its full force attack, sending out all its troops, Ji Zuoshan would lead a force to raid the Zerg from the rear.

nZhan Yanling’s expression was a little strange. “Don’t bother about him, take your medicine.”

nZhan Yanchao shot up, not even caring about pulling at his wounds.

nHe stared straight at his brother, “What happened to him?”

n“He’s perfectly fine!” Zhan Yanling pressed his younger brother back down onto the bed, and said with an air of hating iron for not becoming steel, “He brought every single soldier under his direct command back! He even killed the Zerg queen!”

nZhan Yanchao let out the breath he’d been holding. “As long as he’s okay, as long as he’s okay.”

nAfter lying down for a few seconds, his eyes suddenly widened. “……He killed what?!”

nZhan Yanling slapped the newspaper in his hand onto Zhan Yanchao’s face. “He’s been on the front page of all the news outlets for eighteen days straight. People are practically writing his life story into a legend.”

nZhan Yanchao gripped the edge of the newspaper. As he looked at the Ji Zuoshan on the front page, his shoulders were shaking with excitement.

nIn the picture, Ji Zuoshan was walking out of the cabin carrying the Zerg queen’s massive head. His body was covered in battle wounds, but he was glowing with handsomeness.

nA battle that birthed a god, this was probably that.

nThe history books that would be written from today onwards, would all contain Ji Zuoshan’s name. The hero, a battle god, all the words of praise that you could imagine and those you couldn’t imagine would rush at him like snowflakes.

nZhan Yanchao pressed the newspaper to his face and breathed in the fragrance of fresh ink.

nPaper media had already declined, so it went without saying what it meant for Ji Zuoshan to continuously occupy the front page under such circumstances.

nHis older brother preparing this newspaper for him, however, made Zhan Yanchao think of the Xiao Ji from so many years ago who liked collecting newspapers.

nHe’d asked him what he was collecting those pieces of trash for. Xiao Ji, a little embarrassed, had said, in the past, when he was living on the streets with his younger siblings, newspapers were very useful for keeping warm.

nThe Zhan Yanchao of that time had gone out, brought back three newsstands worth of newspapers, stacked them in front of Ji Zuoshan and proudly patted himself on the chest, saying, see, if you stay with this young master, I can guarantee that you don’t go hungry or feel cold. I can get you all the newspapers you could ever want.

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nLittle could he have imagined that he would pass up that person, as well as pass up an entire life.

nNow, only this faint smell of fresh ink could let him remember the feeling of carrying the newspapers, humming a faint tune as he hurried back home.

nZhan Yanchao wanted to cry, but at the same time, he wanted to laugh.

nAt that moment, Zhan Yanling’s communicator rang. He picked up. After saying a few lines, he then covered the receiver, and said to Zhan Yanchao, “The military called, asking after Division Commander Zhan’s status.”

nZhan Yanchao buried his face in the newspaper. He muttered, “Tell them I’m doing well, but I can’t pick up the phone.”

nZhan Yanling said slowly, pausing after each word, “It’s General Ji personally calling to ask.”

nZhan Yanchao rolled out of bed and snatched the phone, then pulled up his quilt and buried himself underneath, his heart thumping.

nOn the other end of the phone was Ji Zuoshan’s calm voice, “Division Commander Zhan, how are your injuries.”

nZhan Yanchao twisted the corner of his quilt. “I’m doing well.”

nJi Zuoshan said, “I saw the recording of your battle. You led the troops to effectively block the Zerg army’s advance. The military is currently considering awarding your regiment with a collective first class merit and promoting you from division commander to deputy chief commander.”

nImagining the cold, indifferent expression of Ji Zuoshan on the other end of the line, Zhan Yanchao’s face burned. “Thank you.”

nJi Zuoshan said, “In two days, I, Military Staff Officer Xu and General Bai will come together to visit you at the hospital. Right now, I’m shopping with Rosie and Xiaoqing, goodbye.”

nZhan Yanchao, “Wait——”

nHis heart almost stopped beating, but Ji Zuoshan didn’t hang up. “En?”

nZhan Yanchao said, very, very carefully, “When you come, can you bring me my favourite fruit?”

nJi Zuoshan replied calmly, “Of course, after all, we’re coming to visit a patient.”

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nbaum: hi guys, I’m back! Sorry for disappearing on you all without a word orz Chinese New Year came and punched me in the face, essentially. First, there was all the family obligations that come with CNY, then it was project midterms season, and then I fell sick (and am still sick) with hopefully-not-the-coronavirus lol

nbut things have calmed down now, so everything will be back to its usual update schedule! Also, after this, I’ll be updating all the past chapters with the edits sere and panda have made, so by the time the last part of this arc comes out tomorrow, this whole arc will be fully edited! :>

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