Suddenly, He Lei appeared next to Xing Chuan. His face was bruised too. Seemed like he didn"t have recovery ability.
"I will be heading to Silver Moon City as well. To learn about military affairs.” He stole a glance at Xing Chuan before looking away in annoyance, as if he didn"t want to admit that Xing Chuan was much better at military management than he was.
“He Lei, how did you get yourself hurt?” I looked at He Lei confusedly. “Your speed…”
“He didn"t use his superpower.” Xing Chuan glanced at He Lei, then patted his shoulder. “I never thought that the three of us would gather again after a year.”
“Humph.” He Lei looked away. He seemed extremely reluctant to be around XIng Chuan.
I"d never thought that He Lei would follow us back to Silver Moon City. He"d actually realized the Aurora Legion"s shortcomings, yet I was still pretty confident in the Aurora Legion"s potential. Because Yu Wen had not run away but stayed until the end of the battle. The Aurora Legion would need to reorganize themselves and sieve out the best and the brightest amongst themselves.
“Now that He Lei is going to Silver Moon City, I feel more at ease,” Harry suddenly said as he stared at Xing Chuan.
Somehow, I felt that Harry"s hostility to Xing Chuan had become stronger. It might have been because Xing Chuan had caused me to get injured.
But this was a war. I"d been prepared to get wounded or even to sacrifice myself ever since I had first gone to Silver Moon City, become the North Star and decided to fight against the Ghost Eclipsers alongside Xing Chuan.
I would not live in this world warily and be fearful of death.
Silver Moon City was to settle within the Aurora Legion. The Croton City"s mothers.h.i.+p would be Silver Moon City"s ground base. The purpose of Xing Chuan"s visit was to build a moving fortress. The fortress would be ready-made, and wouldn"t need any resources from Silver Moon City to build.
After that, Silver Moon City would station troops there. But before that could happen, the engineers from Silver Moon City would have to upgrade the moving fortress.
Yama and Harry would stay behind at the Aurora Legion base. Gale"s arrogant att.i.tude was not suitable to staying back. Xing Chuan had taken that into consideration too, hence he had decided to leave the simple and honest Yama there instead. He was also right that Harry was a better candidate than Sharjah. Harry would be able fit in with the people easily wherever he was.
Most of the people from Silver Moon City were full of pride and had a sense of superiority, just because they"d grown up in Silver Moon City. They viewed the people on the ground with disdain. Yama"s att.i.tude was slightly better compared to the other knights.
However, Harry had been born and bred in Noah City and he was from the ground. He would be the best person to connect Silver Moon City and the Aurora Legion, and uphold the collaboration.
Xing Chuan was ruthless but I had to admit that he always made the best decisions.
We got ready while He Lei and Captain Chaksu bid farewell. Captain Chaksu patted He Lei"s shoulder as he gave him advice.
Sayee and Fat-Two came forward again. Sayee was reluctant to see He Lei leave. Fat-Two smiled at Sayee. "It"s not like he isn"t coming back. He"ll be back very soon.”
Sayee held He Lei"s hand and said, "Be careful. Come back soon.”
He Lei stroked her head softly and nodded. When he turned around and saw me looking, he became a little embarra.s.sed.
Sayee glanced at me in embarra.s.sment too, then lowered her head.
Harry patted He Lei"s shoulder and said, “Let"s go.” We headed towards the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, which was ready for departure. Xing Chuan stood at the cabin door. Everyone started stepping back and moving away from the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
He Lei hopped onto the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
Harry looked at me affectionately while holding my arm. "Be careful!”
“Mm!” I nodded.
Suddenly, he looked down at me and did the same thing that Raffles had done back then. He kissed me on my lips!
I stared at him with my eyes wide open, but there was only worry in his eyes. He hugged me and whispered into my ear, "Be careful of Xing Chuan.” He then let go of me and glared coldly at some point behind me.
I turned around and headed onto the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Gale stood stunned by the door.
He Lei stared at us with a puzzled look as well.
As the cabin door was closing, Harry shouted, "He Lei! Please protect my Lil Bing!”
He Lei then came back to reality and glanced at me awkwardly.
Xing Chuan pulled my hand all of a sudden and said, "Follow me!” Yet in the same instant, my body had already been pulled behind He Lei. Face dark, he said to Xing Chuan, “I"m sorry. I have to look after him from now on. Harry entrusted me with Luo Bing"s care, and I have already failed him once.”
Xing Chuan stared at him expressionlessly for a while before he turned away. "He needs to rest. Are you familiar with this s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p? It"s not just him, all of you have to follow me.” Saying so, Xing Chuan strode forward as he always did, in that same sweeping manner of his.
“He Lei, I"m okay. I"ve been with Xing Chuan for quite a while now. I have a better understanding of him now.” I slipped my hand out of He Lei"s and followed behind Xing Chuan.
He Lei looked astounded when he entered the c.o.c.kpit and took Harry"s seat. He used to be envious of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps of Noah City. Now he was even more amazed when he got to touch the technology of Silver Moon City. The gap in technology progress probably spanned around several decades.
It was a right choice for He Lei to follow Xing Chuan back to Silver Moon City. The Aurora Legion would have to depend on the technology of Silver Moon City in order to defeat the Ghost Eclipsers. At the same time, Silver Moon City, which had limited manpower, would need the armed forces from the Aurora Legion as well. Of course, that would have to be the reformed and reorganized Aurora Legion.
During our journey back to Silver Moon City, I still felt weak although I was pretty surprised by my recovery speed.
I"d lost a lot of blood and the scene had looked quite scary. The ice awl had actually helped to stop the bleeding. Plus, Xing Chuan had come just in time to heal me. That was why I hadn"t lost too much blood and I could walk on my own instead of being bedridden.
“Luo Bing, get a full body check up when you"re back,” Xing Chuan said to me seriously. Hearing those words, He Lei looked at Xing Chuan again.
I looked ahead calmly and refused. "Nah, I want to go back and sleep.”
“Fine. Up to you,” Xing Chuan replied smilingly.
He Lei narrowed his eyes at Xing Chuan, his gaze turning glum. The wounds on his face made him look like a street bully, adding a tinge of wild s.e.xiness to him.
Xing Chuan didn"t bother about He Lei"s stare, continuing to keep his cool.
Xing Chuan had said that he hadn"t known about the robots" shortcomings when He Lei had questioned him. But, had he really not known?
The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p landed on Silver Moon City quietly, parking directly in the hangar. Our reception this time wasn"t as exaggerated as the back when the girls had come to welcome us.
“Gale, bring He Lei to his dorm. After a rest, show him around Silver Moon City,” Xing Chuan instructed expressionlessly from his captain"s seat.
“Yes,” Gale quickly replied without any delay. He went up to He Lei. "Follow me.”
He Lei glanced at me and asked, "What about Luo Bing?”
"He will come with me.” Xing Chuan lifted his chin and flashed his usual smile again.
He Lei glared at him coldly. “No way. I have to take care of Luo Bing.”
"He Lei, we are already in Silver Moon City. Who is going to threaten him?” Gale didn"t dare to look at Xing Chuan when he spoke.
He Lei stared at Xing Chuan. "Xing Chuan would be one!” He narrowed his eyes and continued, ”He once threw Luo Bing off a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. He only let Luo Bing come up to Silver Moon City because of his superpower. Isn"t that right? Xing Chuan! How could you let Luo Bing take up such a perilous mission?!” He Lei roared at Xing Chuan as he stood up in anger.
It turned out that He Lei had been staring at Xing Chuan because of this.
Xing Chuan kept his cool. "This is a war, He Lei. You should have understood the rules of war long ago.”
He Lei stared at Xing Chuan glumly and muttered, "Xing Chuan! You are taking advantage of Luo Bing! You won"t hesitate to throw him off Silver Moon City again after you are done using him!”
"He Lei, you have become steadier.” Xing Chuan stood up and turned to face him. “This is also the reason why I brought you to Silver Moon City. Because I think the Aurora Legion should be governed by you.”
He Lei was stunned. He seemed to be at a loss for words when faced with Xing Chuan"s recognition.
Xing Chuan continued to face him solemnly. "I am sorry for the death of your people but I don"t think they are worthy of any sympathy. They deserted their comrades during the war. Their deaths are not to be regretted!”
He Lei frowned and remained silent.
I stood up and looked at He Lei too. "He Lei, get some rest. In this war, no one is taking advantage of anyone else. We share the same goal, which is to destroy the Ghost Eclipsers. Xing Chuan and I…” I paused and Xing Chuan glanced at me in antic.i.p.ation. I knitted my eyebrows and continued, “...are like partners. He needs me and I need him too. So, don"t worry. Nothing will happen between us.”
He Lei glared at Xing Chuan glumly and Gale quickly pulled him along. “Let"s go. Brother Bing has a high rank in Silver Moon City. n.o.body would dare to lay a finger on him. Don"t worry.”
He Lei looked at him coldly and spun around. “Humph!” Before He Lei was done, Gale had already disappeared from the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p along with He Lei.
Gale had been paying closer attention to Xing Chuan"s expression ever since he had been slapped by Xing Chuan that time.
I looked around, my face darkening. "All of you, get out.”
The aviators glanced at Xing Chuan simultaneously and waited for a response from him. At Xing Chuan"s nod, they quickly left.
“What"s the matter?” Xing Chuan asked gently.
“Stay right there!”
He stopped.
I glared at him coldly and questioned him, "There"s no one else here. Did you really not know about the robots?!” I stared into his eyes.
He frowned. He stared at me for very long before he replied, "Yes, I knew!”
Shocked, I stared at him in disappointment. He became expressionless. This was his truest expression. I turned around to leave.
“Luo Bing!” He chased after me urgently and grabbed my arm. I flung his hand off at once. "Don"t touch me,” I warned in a low voice. I no longer had the energy to shout at him, I just wanted to turn and walk away.
*Swoos.h.!.+* The cabin door suddenly closed, blocking my way out.
"Open the door!” I said glumly.
"Luo Bing, you said it yourself. This is a war and sacrifices are inevitable,” Xing Chuan said calmly behind me.
I turned to shout at him, "You should have told them!”
He stood right in front of me. Frowning, he looked down at me. "Someone would have had to test it out eventually.”
“Which is why you used the people from the Aurora Legion?!” I pointed to the side as I glared at him angrily.
His expression became cold. "But it also proved that they were afraid of death.” His gaze suddenly turned chilly.
I looked away. I didn"t want to listen to him anymore.
Many times, what might have been the right choice or decision, might not necessarily be human or just!