Chapter 45: Marking Youke’en, a Tender Moment Before Going to War
The matter of Xue Yu going to the battlefield was a foregone conclusion, with no room for maneuver.
Feng Qizhou’s heart was in his throat. He was the most worried one, looking at Xue Yu from all angles. “What about your equipment? How are your preparations? And the bullets? Don’t run out when the time comes.”
Xue Yu counted the bullets in the box Zhou Siyan had brought. “It should be enough. I’ve never been to war, so I’m not very sure.”
Feng Qizhou, like a worried old father, picked up the ammunition bag and weighed it in his hand. “It’s so heavy. Can you carry it?”
Although Xue Yu’s physical strength was increasing day by day, his impression of her was still stuck in her military academy days.
At that time, Xue Yu was a fragile, poor student. A hundred-jin pack could make her legs tremble.
“I can carry it, I can carry it. Don’t you worry. Just stay at home and take care of yourself. I’ll try to come back early,” Xue Yu said with full confidence.
Zhou Siyan remained silent, standing to the side and watching Feng Qizhou show Xue Yu how to use the first-aid kit.
Only after Xue Yu and Feng Qizhou had left did he go to the naval combat command center and to Meng Wu’s office.
Meng Wu was still studying the combat plan for Pinglan Lake this time.
When he saw Zhou Siyan come in, he was very surprised. He threw the tablet in his hand, pulled out the leather swivel chair, and sat down. His every move carried the brutish, bestial nature of a war machine.
“Director Zhou is so busy, with work and… ahem.” His decadent smile stopped. “By the way, what brings you here?”
“I’m here to make a deal with you,” Zhou Siyan said faintly.
He was a man with extremely high self-requirements. His figure, emotions, and even his voice were controlled within an extremely calm range. Even when he was asking for a favor, he still maintained a calm and composed demeanor.
“Just say what you have to say. We’re so familiar with each other. How can I not help you?”
Meng Wu’s long, slender fingers, covered in thin calluses, picked up the self-made cigar and held it between his lips, biting it until it was wet.
Zhou Siyan said, “I can help you get rid of the deputy commander of the naval combat team and let you get promoted.”
This was indeed a huge temptation. Meng Wu put down the cigar. “So generous? Then what’s your request?”
Zhou Siyan said clearly, “Bring Xue Yu back alive.”
Meng Wu smiled. “Didn’t you and Xue Yu break up a long time ago? You still care about her so much? I heard you’re planning to leave the conservatives. Are you planning to rekindle your old flame with her?”
Zhou Siyan had no patience for his messy questions and did not answer, just saying, “Are you going to make this deal?”
“Of course,” Meng Wu repeated his terms of the deal. “I will definitely bring Xue Yu back alive.”
“After you come back from the battlefield, you can pick a day for your promotion.”
With that clean and crisp sentence, Zhou Siyan turned and left the office.
“Things are getting more and more interesting…” Meng Wu muttered to himself.
He tapped on the holographic virtual screen on his desk with his fingertip, entered the water-type spirit body archives again, and pulled up the information on the seahorse spirit body, repeatedly mulling over it word by word.
The information on the file was very simple: ordinary water-type, strength D+, speed E, reflexes C+, good at stealth and camouflage, with a high-speed predation mechanism, and a predation success rate of up to 90%.
“That can’t be right. I remember it wasn’t that simple,” Meng Wu continued to talk to himself.
When he was first transferred to the naval combat team, he had spent a few days reading all the information in the spirit body archives.
He vaguely remembered that the seahorse spirit body had another very interesting characteristic. What was it? He couldn’t remember it all of a sudden.
***
Xue Yu asked Zhou Siyan about marking Youke’en.
Zhou Siyan said, “If he agrees, you two can come to my office tonight.”
Xue Yu had no idea what spiritual marking was. She went to Zhou Siyan’s office with Youke’en, her eyes a mixture of confusion and worry.
Feng Qizhou was also there, and he had even prepared a medical kit, which made Xue Yu even more nervous.
“Are you really sure, Youke’en?” Zhou Siyan asked. “Once you’re marked, there’s no turning back.”
Youke’en nodded. “I’ve decided.”
“How do you mark someone?” Xue Yu looked back and forth between Feng Qizhou and Zhou Siyan, her heart in a turmoil.
Feng Qizhou said, “Your spirit body is not strong enough now. You need both me and Zhou Siyan to assist you to mark Youke’en. Don’t worry. It won’t cause you any pain.”
“What about Youke’en?” Xue Yu asked.
Feng Qizhou raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. “I think he’s prepared.”
Xue Yu saw that both Zhou Siyan and Feng Qizhou had given themselves several injections of libido suppressant in their arms.
Feng Qizhou also gave Youke’en a shot of a light blue liquid called a spiritual power relaxant.
Its purpose was to prevent Youke’en from falling into a frenzy when he received a huge spiritual stimulus.
After all the injections were done, Zhou Siyan sat down on the sofa, placed a thick white cotton towel on his lap, and gave Xue Yu a look. “Sit up here.”
“Oh,” Xue Yu fumbled, twisting the corner of her clothes as she walked to him. “Where do I sit?”
“Sit on his face,” Feng Qizhou said leisurely.
Xue Yu thought he was serious and said with embarrassment, “Isn’t there a more decent posture?”
Zhou Siyan glanced at Feng Qizhou, spread his legs slightly, and said to Xue Yu, “Sit on my lap.”
“Oh, that’s better,” Xue Yu sat on Zhou Siyan’s lap and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.
Feng Qizhou let out a “tsk” for no reason and also sat down on the sofa. Xue Yu awkwardly let go of her arms around Zhou Siyan’s neck.
Zhou Siyan’s large palm pressed on the back of Xue Yu’s neck, holding her head in place and making her look at him without any distractions.
Xue Yu met Zhou Siyan’s dark purple pupils, and her scalp tingled.
Zhou Siyan did not give her any time to buffer and directly invaded her spiritual landscape.
Then, Xue Yu felt a gentle hand on her chest, and her heart felt as if it had been suddenly squeezed.
Feng Qizhou also followed and invaded her spiritual landscape.
Her spiritual landscape was invaded by two people at the same time. Xue Yu’s mind went blank, and she couldn’t react.
She clenched her fists and felt that her palms were full of water.
She still didn’t know how to construct a spiritual landscape. There was only a vast ocean and a few floating water weeds in her landscape. Usually, Blueberry would sleep under the water weeds.
After Zhou Siyan and Feng Qizhou invaded, Xue Yu saw her spiritual landscape constantly expanding.
The three of them seemed to have merged together, forming a situation of shared spiritual power.
Xue Yu heard Zhou Siyan say, “Open Youke’en’s landscape.”
“Got it,” was Feng Qizhou’s voice.
A few seconds later, Xue Yu saw Youke’en’s spiritual landscape appear in her own landscape. Her landscape slowly enveloped Youke’en’s landscape, like a black hole swallowing the starry sky.
She heard Youke’en’s painful screams.
The screams continued until her landscape completely swallowed Youke’en’s landscape.
Xue Yu didn’t know how long it had been. She saw a small new area appear in her landscape. It was Youke’en’s domain.
Her and Youke’en’s spirit bodies had formed a mother-son system link. Her spirit body had become the master of Youke’en’s spirit body.
Then, Zhou Siyan and Feng Qizhou both withdrew from her spiritual landscape.
After this experience, Xue Yu was so nervous that she was soaked.
It wasn’t sweat, but the unique constitution of a water-type warrior. The water seeping from her skin was very fresh, like the cool taste of a lake deep in a dense forest.
Seeing her dazed expression, Feng Qizhou waved his hand in front of her. “Xue Yu?”
Xue Yu was still in a state of out-of-body experience and didn’t react.
Feng Qizhou frowned, his voice louder. He deliberately looked left and right. “Which bastard peed in my Xue Yu’s pants? It’s so wet. Who did it? I’ll kill him!”
Xue Yu suddenly came back to her senses and looked down. It was indeed very embarrassing.
She was sitting on Zhou Siyan’s lap. Zhou Siyan had had the foresight to put a towel down in advance, so the water seeping from her skin did not get on him at all.
Zhou Siyan was well-prepared and said, “There’s a new set of clothes for you in the bathroom.”
“Thank you!” Xue Yu ran off with her tail between her legs.
Feng Qizhou sat on the sofa and looked at Xue Yu running into the bathroom, a gentle smile on his face. “Little fool.”
When Xue Yu came out of the bathroom with her clothes changed, she saw Youke’en kneeling on the ground with his back hunched, his face pained.
She finally understood what “spiritual marking” meant.
She could feel all of Youke’en’s thoughts and emotions. She knew that Youke’en was in pain and anxious now.
A message was released from his thoughts—he had no self anymore. He was afraid of being abandoned by his master.
Xue Yu walked over, squatted down beside Youke’en, and gently hugged him. “Youke’en, I will never abandon you.”
Youke’en sat on the ground, turned his body, and hugged Xue Yu back tightly, his face buried in her chest. “Xue Yu, don’t abandon me.”
“I won’t.”
“Is it necessary to be so dramatic…”
Feng Qizhou snorted coldly, stood up, and went to the side to pack the medical kit. He turned his head and asked, “Youke’en, do you need a shot of painkiller?”
“No need,” Youke’en said, still holding onto Xue Yu.
Feng Qizhou had a surgery to perform and left first.
Zhou Siyan touched Xue Yu’s head and said in a low voice, “From now on, his body and thoughts belong to you completely. He is your weapon.”
He was afraid that Xue Yu wouldn’t understand, so his tone became more direct, reminding her, “On the battlefield, you have to learn to make good use of this weapon.”
Xue Yu nodded, pretending to understand.
In fact, she didn’t understand at all. How to use it?
Would Youke’en be her personal soldier from now on?
Like the death warriors of ancient times, who could be dispatched at will?
Five minutes later, Youke’en had recovered. Xue Yu then took him away.
They were going to the Pinglan Lake battlefield tomorrow. They still had to go to a pre-battle meeting later.
The two of them walked out of the Manster Building together.
Xue Yu was still thinking about the matter of spiritual marking. She could see Youke’en’s spiritual landscape without invading it.
Youke’en’s thoughts, physical strength, and various emotions were all exposed, with no privacy at all.
The embarrassing thing was that Xue Yu could sense that Youke’en still wanted to develop a father-daughter relationship with her.
Even though Youke’en had relieved some of his reproductive anxiety by taking care of Xue Xiaohai and the others, in the depths of his thoughts, he still wanted to treat Xue Yu as his daughter.
The daughter he wanted most was not Xue Xiaohai, nor was it Xue Xiaobei, but Xue Yu.
After understanding Youke’en’s true thoughts, Xue Yu sighed secretly. Her relationship with Youke’en was really a tangled mess.
Her spiritual landscape and Youke’en’s spiritual landscape had formed a mother-son landscape relationship, just like the mother-son relationship in a programming system.
But in the depths of his heart, Youke’en was still stubbornly treating her as his daughter, wanting to develop a father-daughter relationship.
So, was their relationship a conjugate mother-son or father-daughter relationship?
Xue Yu was almost dizzy from this question.
“What are you thinking about?” Youke’en asked.
Xue Yu’s consciousness returned. She waved her hand and said, “Nothing. Just thinking about life. Let’s go. We still have to go to a meeting.”
***
The night before they set off for the battlefield, Xue Yu went to Zhou Siyan’s apartment and spent a long time with Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei. During this time, Zhou Siyan was helping her pack her equipment, not saying much the whole time.
Zhou Siyan had been to the battlefield many times and was very familiar with packing equipment.
Quick-drying underwear, toiletries, rations, a first-aid kit, firearms, ammunition, and so on. The army would issue a set of these things, but the quality was very poor, so it was better to prepare your own.
After packing the bag, Zhou Siyan finally spoke. “Do you have anything to ask?”
“Are the frogmen scary?” Xue Yu said seriously.
Zhou Siyan: “Are you afraid of frogs?”
Xue Yu shook her head. “Not really. I’m most afraid of reptiles, especially snakes.”
Zhou Siyan: “Frogmen are similar to frogs. If you’re not very afraid of frogs, it should be fine.”
Xue Yu thought for a moment. “Can you eat frogmen?”
Zhou Siyan: “You can’t. Their skin is poisonous. But they will eat people, so you have to be careful.”
Xue Yu continued to ask, “Is fighting tiring?”
Zhou Siyan: “It’s alright.”
Xue Yu: “Is fighting hard?”
Zhou Siyan: “It’s alright.”
Xue Yu: “Do you want a birthday present?”
“It’s alright…” Zhou Siyan blurted out and then immediately stopped, looking at her quietly.
Xue Yu took out a paper box from her pocket. Inside the box was a pistol and a small pink flower.
“This is your birthday present. I wanted to give it to you the night before last, but I didn’t have this flower then, so I delayed it until now.”
Zhou Siyan picked up the small pink flower and looked down at it.
Xue Yu said, “I bought the gun when I went to the military factory. Do you remember when I said in the group chat that I was going to buy you guys gifts? The gift I wanted to give you was this gun.”
“I asked Zhuang Xinzhang to bring me the flower. Zhuang Xinzhang is a good friend of mine in the mining district. She came to the city center to play today.”
The flower had been in the box for a day, and the petals were slightly creased, but it was still very fresh.
Xue Yu picked up the flower and arranged it to make the petals stand up.
“This is a flower that grows in the pool near our mining district. It’s strange. You can’t see a single flower in the city center, but our mining district has a lot of flowers.”
“Is this a jasmine flower?” Zhou Siyan suddenly asked.
He had also rarely seen flowers and didn’t remember the names of many.
He had a deep impression of jasmine flowers, mainly because on the way back from the South Continent, Xue Yu would often sing to Mo Li: What a beautiful jasmine flower…
Xue Yu laughed so hard she was bent over. “This is not a jasmine flower! Jasmine flowers are fragrant and white. This one is pink.”
“I don’t know what kind of flower this is either. It’s probably a lotus, but it doesn’t look like the lotuses I remember. Lotuses should be bigger and pinker.”
“I like it very much,” Zhou Siyan said.
Xue Yu took the flower and playfully tucked it behind Zhou Siyan’s ear.
Zhou Siyan touched it but didn’t take it off, just saying, “Fragrant and white, praised by all?”
Xue Yu held her stomach and laughed. “Where is this white? This is a pink flower!”
She stared at Zhou Siyan’s flawless skin and superior features and said mischievously, “You are a pink and tender Zhou Siyan, pink and tender, loved by all.”
“This kind of flower is edible. The cafeteria in our mining district often uses this flower to make soup. It’s also delicious in a cold salad,” she added.
Zhou Siyan took off the flower, tore off a petal, and put it in his mouth. He chewed it. The taste was sweet and refreshing, inexplicably reminding him of the first time he had kissed Xue Yu.
He leaned down and kissed Xue Yu. The sweet and refreshing floral fragrance in his mouth spread between their lips and tongues, like the breath of nature.
Xue Yu’s heart was in her throat, worried that Zhou Siyan would be electrocuted.
“Mommy!”
Xue Xiaohai, who had been playing with a rubber ball, crawled over with drool and snatched the flower from Zhou Siyan’s hand, about to stuff it into her mouth.
Zhou Siyan was quick and snatched the flower back. Fortunately, the flower was not too damaged.
Xue Xiaohai stared at the flower, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, as if she had seen a bottle.
Xue Yu hurriedly took out a tissue and wiped the baby’s mouth. “My god, you little glutton are too greedy. Your drool is all over the place!”
She picked up the baby and kissed her.
She felt a little heartbroken. Xue Xiaohai was so gluttonous. How would she survive in the food desert of the White Tower in the future?
“Mommy is going to war tomorrow. I’ll bring you back something delicious when I come back, okay?”
“Mommy, Mommy…” Xue Xiaohai kept calling, as if she sensed that her mother was about to leave.
“Be good and listen to Daddy at home. Drink a lot of milk and exercise a lot. When Mommy comes back from the war, you have to weigh thirty jin, okay?”
Xue Xiaohai nuzzled into Xue Yu’s arms, just kept calling for her mother.
Xue Yu looked at the baby’s toys. These toys were all bought in the South Continent.
Xue Xiaohai could only stay in the bedroom all day, playing with these toys every day. She was full of energy, and most of the toys had been torn by her. Even the rubber ball had deflated.
“When Mommy comes back in triumph, I’ll bring you delicious food and lots and lots of new toys,” Xue Yu promised the child.
Zhou Siyan put the flower in a glass, added water, and hid it in the fridge.
Only then did he return to Xue Yu and the child, holding them both in his arms and kissing her on the cheek.
“You must come back safely. The child and I will be waiting for you at home.”
“Okay.”
The next day, Xue Yu got up early and waited with the new soldiers in the central square of the station.
They needed to take the levitation train to leave the White Tower and then transfer to a military bus to go to the Pinglan Lake war zone.
Mo Li also had to go to the battlefield. He was one of the first vanguard soldiers to set off.
When Xue Yu and the others arrived at the square, Mo Li and his group of vanguard soldiers had already left on the earliest train.
There was a sea of new soldiers, as far as the eye could see.
Everyone was wearing a helmet, a brown camouflage uniform, and a heavy backpack.
Xue Yu was also in the line with her backpack.
The basic equipment of a submachine gun, bullets, grenades, a dagger, and so on, added up to over one hundred and fifty jin.
This was a weight that Xue Yu could not have imagined before.
Now that she had awakened her spirit body, her physical fitness was improving day by day. This weight was nothing to her.
She saw a group of officers speaking in front.
Zhou Siyan was also among the officers. He was wearing a blue-gray high-ranking officer’s uniform.
The black brim of his military cap covered his deep-set eyes. He was also holding a large black safe in his hand.
Yan Wantang was also in the line of officers. She was standing in the center, speaking.
They were all just pleasantries, something about defending the White Tower, defending the people of the White Tower, and everyone having to do their best.
Yan Wantang loved to laugh. As she spoke, she couldn’t help but laugh. When she laughed, she revealed her signature big white teeth, which were very dazzling.
An officer on the side coughed hard several times before Yan Wantang stopped laughing.
She covered her smiling face with her manuscript, clenched her fist, and raised it high to lead everyone in shouting a slogan: “The White Tower will win! Defend the White Tower, defend the people!”
Xue Yu thought it was just a formality and followed suit, raising her hand and shouting, “The White Tower will win!”
None of the soldiers around her shouted the slogan. They looked at her with a playful smile, winking at her.
Xue Yu sheepishly lowered her hand and pretended that nothing had happened.
After the officers’ speeches, everyone relaxed.
The soldiers chatted, and the officers also chatted nonchalantly. Everyone was used to war. Fighting was as common as eating.
Meng Wu came to Xue Yu and gave her a look, signaling her to follow.
When they reached the security room in the corner of the square, Meng Wu said to her, “Five minutes. You have to be out in five minutes.”
Xue Yu was confused but was pushed into the security room by Meng Wu, and the door was closed.
“Zhou Siyan, why did you call me here?”
Xue Yu was both surprised and delighted when she saw Zhou Siyan.
Zhou Siyan didn’t speak. He put down the black box in his hand and opened the lid.
Xue Xiaohai’s head, wearing a lamb hat, popped out of the box. She called out in surprise, “Wow!”
Xue Yu anxiously took the child out and asked Zhou Siyan, “Are you crazy? What if Xiaohai cried in there? Wouldn’t she be exposed!”
Zhou Siyan picked up the bottle in the box and put it in the child’s hand. “The box is soundproof. The child’s cries won’t get out.”
Xue Yu kissed the child’s soft face. “That’s still very hard. The baby must be scared in such a small box.”
“She wanted to see you off too,” Zhou Siyan said.
This was the first time Xue Xiaohai had been outside since she returned from the South Continent.
She looked around the small security room curiously, then looked out through the one-way glass, very happy.
“My poor baby,” Xue Yu felt a little sad.
Xue Xiaohai sucked on the milk for a couple of times, then held the bottle up to Xue Yu. “Mommy, eat.”
“Mommy is not eating. This is Xiaohai’s. Xiaohai, eat it yourself. After you finish, you’ll grow up big and strong. When you grow up, you can go on adventures with Mommy. You won’t have to stay in this broken place all day.”
Time was tight. Xue Yu couldn’t stay with the father and daughter for too long.
Meng Wu knocked on the door outside. “Are you done? We have to go.”
Zhou Siyan comforted the child, put her in the safe, and locked it before opening the door and letting Xue Yu go out first.
“Go and line up. It’s time to board,” Meng Wu said to Xue Yu.
“Yes, sir.”
After Xue Yu left, Meng Wu and Zhou Siyan walked out side by side. He couldn’t help but glance at the box Zhou Siyan was carrying. “What’s in that box?”
“Documents,” Zhou Siyan’s eyes were as calm as an ancient well.
Meng Wu asked again, “What documents?”
“Confidential documents,” Zhou Siyan quickened his pace and walked out.
Xue Yu followed the large group into the station.
While waiting in the waiting area, Feng Qizhou rushed over in a white lab coat. He had probably just come from the hospital. He had a strong smell of disinfectant on him.
He went straight to Xue Yu, whistled at her, and signaled her to follow.
Xue Yu asked her sisterhood to watch her bag for her and ran to catch up with Feng Qizhou.
When they reached the first-aid room inside the station, as soon as Xue Yu entered, Feng Qizhou pulled her into his arms.
Hearing the train’s whistle outside, Xue Yu’s nose tingled. She hugged Feng Qizhou. “Are you here to see me off too? Wait for me at home with the child. I will definitely come back safely.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Feng Qizhou said, as if his eyebrows were on fire. He threw down his white lab coat. “Hurry up and eat. You have to be full to fight.”
Xue Yu was so grateful she could barely breathe. She was actually very grateful to Feng Qizhou. She had been away from Earth for too long and missed her mother very much. Feng Qizhou’s actions made her feel a strange sense of dependence.
This was completely different from the situation where Youke’en wanted to be her father. Feng Qizhou was actually taking action. He was nurturing her, transmitting spiritual power to her in this strange way.
Feng Qizhou’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He gently stroked her back.
“If it’s delicious, you should eat more,” he said with a smile, his eyes beginning to well up.
It was strange. He didn’t have such a strong sense of affection for Xue Xiaobei, but with Xue Yu, he found an indescribable tenderness and affection. He wanted to dote on her, to nurse her.
He suspected that he had been infected by Youke’en.