Thrive in Catastrophe

“Just me?” Xiao Yan stunned for a moment, and smiled, “that’s probably because you don’t know him.”

“It’s true that I don’t. But there’s one thing I’m certain of, is that a man like Heine Burton, would never turn back easily.”

Before Xiao Yan could ponder further on her words, an officer came towards them.

“We’re a.s.signing rooms for everyone from the base. Six in a room, but it seems that there are 8 of you cadets, including you, Lily Grand, a female cadet.”

“Yes, Officer,” Lily saluted to him.

The officer nodded in acknowledgment, “You’re a.s.signed to Room 8, you’ll have the female liaison officers as your roommates.”

“Thank you, sir!” Lily sighed in relief.

The officer went on calling another 6 cadets’ names and have them a.s.signed to Room 9.

Xiao Yan was the only one left and Lily begin to worry he didn’t get a room as the base has limited s.p.a.ce.

“Xiao Yan.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re a.s.signed to Room 2.”

And with that, the officer left them be.

Xiao Yan gave Lily a beaming smile, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a room, didn’t I? Maybe, I get to have the whole room to myself!”

“Dream on!”

Each of their dinners was simple — a packet of hardtack and bottle of water. Xiao Yan’s bad experience with hardtack still haunts him, but he forced himself to swallow the tasteless biscuit as he knows very well this was needed to keep his body going.

After dinner, all cadets went off to their respective rooms.

Xiao Yan walked along the pa.s.sageway, looking for his a.s.signed room number. The crowd lessens as he went deeper until the pa.s.sage became eerily quiet.

All of a sudden, an arm circled Xiao Yan’s waist and lifted him off the ground without warning, where Xiao Yan nearly shrieked in terror until Mark’s provoking email appeared before him.

“Haha! Hey Xiao Yan! I told the officer to a.s.sign you to sleep with us! Since Maya’s went back to Charles, you could use his sleeping pod!”

Now Xiao Yan knows why he’s the odd one out….

“Let go of me, Mark! Or I gonna throw up on you!”

Mark let out a hearty laugh and challenged him with a smack on his b.u.t.t, “Go ahead!”

“Mark, you’re too loud.”

Xiao Yan went stiff at the voice as Heine walked past them until he disappeared behind the sliding door.

Mark rubbed his nose and put Xiao Yan down, but still with his hands flopped over his shoulder, “Hey, is your brain alright? Being attacked right after you woke up, are you sure your brain level hasn’t dropped?”

“Even if his brain is damaged, he’s still smarter than you,” Reeve snickered and entered the opposite room of theirs, a room for female soldiers and officers.

Xiao Yan entered their room and noticed that the room has nothing except for 8 lined-up sleep pods.

He has his belongings, which were the hardtacks and water bottle, placed by the wall like others and went to his pod.

“Hey, that’s all you eat?” Mark stared at him with a look that says ‘you eat like a woman’ on his face.

“This biscuit is tasteless…” Xiao Yan gave a wry smile.

“True, but officers with ranks above Major would have something better,” Mark paused for a moment before standing up abruptly, and turned to Heine guilelessly, “Errm… Boss…… our tech soldier seems to have a bad appet.i.te, he only had a hardtack for dinner!”

Xiao Yan froze.

Mark! You idiot! You’re getting me into trouble! I didn’t have you to ask Colonel Burton for food!

Heine gave no reply to Mark’s remark. Without a word, he opened his pod and laid down.

The others soldiers did the same.

Mark turned to Xiao Yan in sympathy, “And I thought Boss treats you quite well! ‘Cause he had saved you several times. But it seems that he treats us better than you!”

He words seem somewhat bragging in Xiao Yan’s ears……

Xiao Yan gave an exasperated sigh, “You’re his subordinate and I’m just a reserve soldier, why should he be nice to me?”

With that, he got into his pod, leaving Mark alone outside.

The pod is small and narrow but is just the right size for a human adult to lie in, eventually, the exhaustion from the long run sinks in, as he fell into slumber.

Xiao Yan was woken up by the sense of hunger from his stomach. The only piece of hardtack has been digested hours ago, leaving his stomach grumbling in emptiness.

He tossed and turned, yet the sense of hunger held him awake. A glance at his wristband, the clock shows 3 in the morning.

Opening his pod, Xiao Yan was greeted by the beaming light of the room that remains lighted throughout the night. Seeing that the others’ pods remained shut, Xiao Yan crept over to where he placed his hardtack and water and sat on the floor beside them.

He believes that Heine, for sure, has a strict schedule of both work and rest, if he were to find out he’s eating at this time……

Xiao Yan refuse to think further. He’s sleeping anyway, he wouldn’t know as long as I keep it low.

With that, he snapped a hardtack in half and tossed half of it into his mouth. The dry and tasteless flavor made him frowned and then quickly followed by a mouthful of water to swallow the biscuit down his throat.

I swear if I were to get my own research lab, the first thing I’m gonna do is to reform these hardtacks.

While Xiao Yan was pondering with a frown about hardtack, one of the pod slides opened as a tall figure stepped out from it.

Instinctively, Xiao Yan turned to the sound and when he saw the person standing before him, he choked.

He placed his hand over his throat, coughing vigorously from the hardtack that got stuck inside, his heart pounding.

“What are you doing.”

Xiao Yan couldn’t bring himself to lift his head under the cold voice.  The origin of the voice is Heine Burton. He thought this man won’t wake up anytime soon…

d.a.m.n… Miscalculation….

It’s only 3 in the morning! Why are YOU awake!

“…I… am eating, Colonel,” he had to reply.

The man walked over to him, his tall shadow looms over Xiao Yan.

His slender fingers reached out to the packet of hardtack in Xiao Yan’s hand, took the packet from him, and released it without warning. Almost immediately, Xiao Yan put out his hands to catch it, for fear the crumbs would fall to the ground, putting Heine on edge.

Then, the man went over to his baggage and took out a packet of bread. A mild fragrance of milk and oat fills the air as he tears open the packet.

Xiao Yan stared at Heine in bitterness, gulping at the same time to prevent himself from drooling.

His mind was screaming with resentment on the unequal standards, but on a second thought, who else could have deserved a better treatment than Heine in this base in terms of ranks or contributions?

But the moment Heine open a small container, Xiao Yan nearly went rampant at the smell.

It’s b.u.t.ter! High quality even!

Xiao Yan’s eyes were locked on Heine’s every movement. G.o.d knows he hasn’t tasted b.u.t.ter for so long. Or should he say, he never had a proper meal ever since he came to this base!

Despite the searing gaze from Xiao Yan, Heine continued preparing his meal. Scooping the better from its packet with a knife and spreading it onto the bread.

Xiao Yan’s gaze was locked onto the bread, as the bitterness he feels increases.

Is he trying to show off? Or is he punishing me with this?

Noticing Xiao Yan’s gaze, Heine came before him with the bread in hand, “Sleep after you finish it.”

“……” Xiao Yan was dumbstruck.

He held out his hands, feeling the weight of the bread in his palms when Heine placed it down. The man had a slight frown on his face but vanished in second. His fingers brushed across Xiao Yan’s bandaged fingers, seemingly like a caress.

“These wounds. You have to learn to heal them by yourself,” his voice is surprisingly soft, a huge difference with his usual aloofness.

Xiao Yan remained dumbstruck even until Heine turned away.

Not only did Heine gave me a bread, he even spread b.u.t.ter for me?!

This is not another one of my imaginations, right?

Is this going disappear in a count of ten seconds? Hmm?

Heine got back into his pod and everything was back to silent.

Who cares if it’s just an imagination!

Xiao Yan took a bite of the bread, the softness, the sweet fragrance. Now, this is what I call food!

After gobbling down the bread, Xiao Yan let out a satisfying sigh.

The sense fullness he felt in his stomach shows that the bread he ate was not his sheer imagination.

Nevertheless, Xiao Yan did not ponder upon the reason behind Heine’s action, for it is a futile thing to do.

I’m not Heine, so how would I know how his brain works. Perhaps he’s in a good mood? Otherwise, why would he wake up from his slumber and prepare a bread for me to eat?

Xiao Yan lowered his head and smiled. He could a.n.a.lyse and decrypt mountains of data if he is into it, but he could never understand Heine Burton.

It only must I learn to ‘heal’ by myself, but to ‘grow up’ as well.

He knows he won’t be a reserve forever. He will become a real technical soldier one day.

Feeling satisfied, Xiao Yan got back into his pod and fell asleep comfortably.

He had a dream.

He dreamt that he was back in Charles, sitting around the table with his cla.s.smates, eating barbecue and drinking beers.

And when everyone is concerning about their cadet level test next day, for once, Xiao Yan had the strong urge to pa.s.s the test, to become an A ranked researcher that has a research lab of his own and for him to pursue the answers that he wants.

“Hey! Rookie! Wake up! Rookie!”

Xiao Yan waves his hands in annoyment.

“Hey! Wake up—— Rookie!”

Xiao Yan was dragged out from his sleep pod.

“Ah——” he woke up with a jolt, and was greeted with Mark’s defeated look.

“You really are a heavy sleeper, huh!”

“Mark?” Xiao Yan scratched his head, still in a daze, and noticed that special force soldiers are all fully-equipped to go.

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