Thrive in Catastrophe

"You did well, thank you."

The deep voice soothed Xiao Yan"s weary nerves and washed away his anxiousness instantly, while a sudden sense of secure whelmed his heart.

His forehead pressed against Heine"s firm chest, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat. Xiao Yan suddenly realised, that Maya is not someone unimportant to Heine despite his aloof face, otherwise, a man who dislikes human contact would not have used such a way to express his grat.i.tude.

Though the thought disappeared within seconds when Heine pushed him away.

The room fell into silence, where only one"s own heartbeat could be heard.

Maya stared at the ceiling in boredom, while Heine sat on the instructor"s seat, wiping his blade.

Ten minutes later, Reeve and Mark rushed over.

Xiao Yan could see a moment of shock on their face when they saw Maya, and back to normal seconds after, accepting the fact.

"d.a.m.n! You actually survived through the encirclement of those two maniacs! You have my respect, buddy!" Mark said while giving a good smack on Maya"s left shoulder, and continued, "Don"t tell me you"re planning to use these injuries as an excuse to drop out from the front line and enjoy your life huh?"

"Hey! I was just thinking about that!" Maya replied triumphantly.

"Like h.e.l.l! Do you know how much our team"s combat level"s gonna drop without you in it!" Reeve rolled her eyes at Maya.

"Aww, I didn"t even know I"m so important!"

Sadly, after an hour, only another two of their team managed to reach Platform 42. The others did not make it.

Base 2 has sent out three aircrafts to reinforce. A female Special Force soldier leaped down with a rope from mid-air, and when she saw Maya that is leaning against Mark for support, she whistled, "Goodness— Maya, who got you cut into this?"

"The two sc.u.mbags that killed Instructor Medwin," Maya lifted a corner of his mouth.

The teasing look on her face immediately turned solemn.

"Where"re they?"

"Dead."

"You got rid of them?"

Maya hooked Xiao Yan over to him with his right arm, pinched his cheek and said: "We killed them together!"

Xiao Yan was not in combat suit, nor does he has an epaulet.

The female soldier looked surprised for a moment, before showing an approving smile, "Not bad, tech soldier."

"Come, Xiao Yan. Let me introduce you to one of the three G.o.ddesses in our Special Task Forces, Senior Officer Sharon Mich.e.l.le.

Xiao Yan was dumbfounded for a second. The lady before him has a brunette hair pulled to the back, with an elegant eye feature and a full, juicy lips, an undeniably alluring beauty.

Moreover, she is a Senior Officer, higher in ranking than Reeve.

She gave a firm salute as she turned to Heine Burton, "Colonel."

Heine only gave a slight nod in return and shot off a wire towards the hovering aircraft. He took a few steps back towards Xiao Yan and pulled him into his arms without a word.

Before he had the time to think, Xiao Yan was locked between Heine"s arm and shot up into the air at great speed.

Within seconds, Heine entered the cabin and Xiao Yan was shoved into a seat.

By the time he was back to his senses, Heine was placing the safety equipment onto Xiao Yan"s head.

He recalled the time when he was abandoned by Heine at the nuclear power plant due to the accidental kiss. But this time, Heine had brought him up personally, does that mean he had finally gotten a small acknowledgment from Colonel Burton?

Soon after, Mark and Reeve entered the cabin with Maya clinging to each side.

The aircraft was heading to Base 2.

"Hey, where are you staring off to?" Maya gave a flick at Xiao Yan"s forehead.

"……We won"t get attacked again, right?"

"Ah?" Maya shook his head, "Not only the elites of Colonel Burton"s unit are on these aircrafts, Jean Wallis"s main detachment is here as well. Sharon is one of his subordinates."

"Ah? Jean Wallis?" Xiao Yan thought the name sounded familiar, and it took him some time to recall that he had heard of it a few times from the news.

"You don"t know about Jean Wallis?" Maya looked astounded, and then lifted his chin towards Heine"s direction, "You"ve never heard of Colonel Burton as well then?"

"Hey! How can I possibly not heard the name, Heine Burton!" Xiao Yan retorted immediately while glancing at Heine at the corner of his eyes to see his reaction.

The said person seems to be taking a nap, sitting straight with his eyes closed.

Though, he believes Heine would not even care if Xiao Yan has heard of his name. This man has no concern for how people see him.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, "Reeve, is this the end of our mission?"

"Ya," Reeve nodded.

"Ah…… finally, I can have a good sleep, I"m all worn out."

"Sleep then," Reeve ruffled his hair.

Closing his eyes, Xiao Yan dozed off to sleep. It has been a long and tiring mission.

He refused to think no longer, wishing to clear off everything from his weary mind.

Reeve tried to wake him up as they are closing into the base, but her outreached hand stopped abruptly in mid-air when she heard Heine"s icy voice.

"Let him sleep."

Inside the command room of Base 2, the liaison officer reported to Lieutenant Colonel Raven in puzzlement.

"Lieutenant Colonel, the aircraft Colonel Burton"s boarding has been hovering around the base for an hour."

"What? The other two aircrafts are back to the base, what is he doing?" Lieutenant Colonel Raven became worried, "Have you made contact with Colonel Burton?"

"I did. He said all normal."

Lieutenant Colonel Raven stroked his forehead and sighed, "How is this normal…?"

The aircraft finally entered the pa.s.sageway, while Xiao Yan was shoved awake by Mark.

"Hey! Rookie! Your mouth"s drooling, gross!"
"Huh? What?" Xiao Yan jolted up from sleep and touched the corner of his mouth, clean as ever.

And Mark started chortling at Xiao Yan, as Reeve gave him a punch.

"Idiot!"

As Heine stepped out from the cabin, he was greeted with a dark look on Lieutenant Colonel Raven face, "What are you doing up there? I almost thought your aircraft"s been hijacked by the Tides!"

When everyone left the aircraft, Lieutenant Colonel Raven glanced around, looking perturbed, "Where"s Major General Manson?"

"You"re here to pay your respects to Major General?" Maya gave a mocking smile.

"What do you mean? Where"s Major General?" the moment Lieutenant Colonel Raven saw Maya, his mouth opened, but no more words came out. Finally, he turned to Xiao Yan.

The latter shifted his eyes to the container in Heine"s hand without uttering a word.

Heine walked pa.s.sed Lieutenant Colonel Raven, placed the container in his hands and went off.

"Hey! Hey! Wai- What is this?!"

"Major General Manson." Reeve winked at him and strolled off as well.

Leaving Xiao Yan and Lieutenant Colonel Raven standing there, staring at each other.

On the same day, the news of Major General Manson betraying Charles and turned to the Tides spread like wildfire to Charles. His brain was sent to the interrogation unit.

The Base 2 cafeteria held a farewell party for Maya, with him sitting at the dining table, enjoying the special service of Reeve and Mark spoon-feeding him.

Maya"s Report of Injury has been sent over to the Special Task Forces headquarter in Charles, and tomorrow, he will be flying back to Charles to have his prosthetic limbs done.

The level of agility and control of the prosthetic limb is nowhere less than a human limb. It can be connected to severed nerves and is able to transmit signals of touch towards the user"s brain. Frankly speaking, they can function almost flawlessly like a real human limb. However, the only downside to the prosthetic limb is that it does not have the ability to self-heal like a Special Force soldier once can.

For instance, if the artificial arm is pierced by an enemy during battle, unlike the arm of a Special Force soldier that can recover by itself in seconds, the artificial arm will malfunction once the nerve connections are severed, and that can be fatal in battles.

Maya has been promoted into Major and was relocated to the Military Strategy Department, served as a guard for Major General Gordon, the commander of Special Task Forces.

"You fellow even got promoted! From now on, you get to continue to immerse yourself in a life of luxury and dissipation!" Mark shoved a piece of beef into Maya"s mouth, smearing the sauce on his face on purpose.

"Hey! Hey! Get that away from my hair!" Maya yelled, fending off Mark with his right hand with all his might.

At the same time, Reeve poured a whole gla.s.s of red wine into Maya"s mouth, "Maya, tell us what"s the first thing you"re gonna do once you"ve got your prosthetics fixed?"

"Do a hair treatment of course!"

Everyone laughed right after Maya"s exclamation. He turned around slightly and caught a glance of Xiao Yan, waving at him.

"Hey, brother, everyone"s fighting over to look after me, shouldn"t you be doing something for me as well?"

"Well, would you like a slice of beef or a gla.s.s of red wine?" Xiao Yan asked with a smile.

"Leave those trivial matters to Reeve and Mark. I have something more important for you."

"What it is?"

"Help me comb my hair, would ya? The zombie goos have got it all tangled up." Maya pulled out a comb from his shirt"s pocket with a solemn look, as though it truly is an extremely crucial matter.

Xiao Yan could help but laughed at his seriousness, "Alright, alright, I"ll comb your hair."

Maya hinted others with a look, and they went off with the beers in hands.

Xiao Yan carefully let down his hair and groomed earnestly.

"It"s the first time to hear you calling me "brother", sounds kinda funny."

"Or do you prefer me calling you "dear" instead? But sadly, I can no longer roll in the sheets with you," Maya stated glumly.

"Why?"

"I have my own principles in lovemaking as well. First, do not sleep with my comrades; Second, friends allowed either."

"Which one do I fit into then? Comrade or friend?" Xiao Yan gently pulled Maya"s hair back into a ponytail.

"Unfortunately, you"re now both," Maya held a big cup of beer towards Xiao Yan, "Hey brother! Let"s get drunk!"

Xiao Yan was stunned by his words for a moment, as he something overwhelmed his heart.

He laughed heartily, "Yes, let"s have a good drink! And you"re back to Charles, I"ll introduce Casey to you!"

"Casey? Which Casey?"

"Major Casey from the Central Academy of Science, of course, I"m sure you two will get along. He"s my only friend before I met you guys. That fellow can be a bit difficult sometimes, but he"s really, really adorable. You can try luring him to your bed if you can!"

"Oh~ A Major from the Central Academy? Nay, forget about it, people of the sort usually have high standards! Not everyone is as adorable as you are."

It was the first time Xiao Yan had some much fun in drinking, with his hand draping over Maya"s shoulder, talking about their lame stories of the past. Xiao Yan even blurted out the little fantasies he had Lily that brought a roar of laughter from Maya.

"Hey, I have to say! You have a really rare chance of having a beauty of her kind to fancy you!"

"Well, what kind of men would they prefer then? Someone like Colonel Burton?"

Authors Note:

Maya: Hey, brother. The name of our male lead No.2 has appeared in this chapter!

Xiao Yan: What No.2?

Maya: Hehe… Take good care of your little chrysanthemum (reminder: "little chrysanthemum" is the Chinese metaphor for a.n.u.s)

Xiao Yan: Wha- Hey! Stop beating around the bush and explain it clearly!

Maya: I"ve said it clear enough, it was you who did not listen carefully! Don"t blame me if it was wilted one day! *Hmph*

**This story is 100 percent 1v1, no worries~ =)

Note: There! XY and Maya, brothers, at last~ There are a few important characters introduced in this chapter, and they will be playing quite an influencing role in the following story flow, so keep their names in mind! And if you have noticed, I"ve changed it (again) to Senior Office (his previous rank) and got promoted to Major (his current rank after the fight). Clearly, I had to change it, because he only got to Major after the promotion. Sorry for the confusion XD. Now, a question for you: Who is the male lead No. 2? Easy peasy I believe. Teehee~

A little support? ^.^