Chapter 23

Wu Ying shook her head, paused, and swallowed. She tried to recall if she had made herself clear—her thoughts were a bit jumbled, but she had said everything she wanted to say.

Asher watched her in silence, his mouth slightly open, as if he had been about to say something from the very beginning. But after listening, his mind went blank.

He stared at Wu Ying, feeling that he couldn't answer a single one of her questions.

What was the purpose of war? Asher suddenly realized that he might be the most pitiful one of all.

Just standing there, keeping the insect race from getting through—and then what? He had never seemed to think about what the people behind him were doing.

His heart felt numb, as if it were beating, and yet as if it had been shaken into stillness. Every word Wu Ying spoke was a knock against his soul.

Asher couldn't describe the shock he felt in that moment.

Wu Ying was facing the light, and every strand of hair and every expression on her face was putting effort into her words. Her amber eyes looked at him with a burning heat, her nose wrinkling, which was especially charming when she showed disdain.

He saw the flames blazing in Wu Ying's eyes once again, this time even more dazzling.

"I accept your challenge. As the commander of the Fourth Military District, I will take action."

Asher gave her one last look, then stood and left without another word.

Wu Ying's emotions were still churning, but he had already made his exit. "Hey, you haven't admitted your mistake yet!"

The only response was the crisp sound of the door closing.

"Great, first battle won! Asher lost!"

Wu Ying clenched one fist and struck it into her other palm. Her loose hair flew wildly in the air, shining in the sunlight as if celebrating her victory.

She concluded that although she hadn't achieved her original goal this time, the enemy Asher had fled in defeat, his forces in disarray. He was probably crying in his room right now.

A great victory!

As Wu Ying enjoyed her spoils of war, she felt that every bite was perfectly to her liking.

Afterwards, Wu Ying no longer hid in her room. She lounged openly in the living room, and whenever Asher came out, she would sidle up to him without saying a word, just lingering nearby.

Wu Ying and Asher lived on the third floor, with his guard and adjutant below. Sometimes they would come up for official business and be surprised to see her, but she wouldn't dodge. Instead, she would offer a shy smile and look at Asher with a pleading expression.

In appearance, she had always maintained it well.

When Asher saw her like this, he only felt a headache. He didn't want to scold her, so he could only evade with his people.

Wu Ying sighed; he was really busy. So busy that sometimes she felt embarrassed to tease him, and sometimes she couldn't even find him.

One night, Wu Ying was using her Light Brain to study the semester's coursework when she suddenly heard footsteps outside. Asher must have thought she was asleep, but Wu Ying immediately ran out.

"Wait, where are you going?"

She happened to catch him just as he was heading downstairs. Asher was holding his coat, his hand on the elevator controls. He turned to look at her when she came out.

Following her intuition, Wu Ying felt she couldn't let him slip away. She walked over and stood in front of the elevator.

"The Boska Star matter is resolved. I need to return to Yuanji Star."

"And you're planning to sneak away in the dead of night without telling me?"

Asher was silent. He didn't like the term "sneak away" that Wu Ying used. "I'll send you a message later."

Wu Ying was speechless. He was right here, yet he said he'd send a message, and without explaining anything. How infuriating.

She scowled, stepped forward, and shoved Asher hard. Her fingers happened to press against the buttons on his military uniform, the cold touch lightly stinging her palm.

Asher stepped back a few paces, his eyes lowered as he looked at her. Wu Ying was only wearing a thin nightgown, barefoot, with messy hair sticking up. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide as she glared at him.

"Sneaking off in the middle of the night without waking your wife—what are you planning? Don't tell me you're doing something shady and leaving me here to take the fall? Caught you in the act! And here I am barefoot in the middle of the night. Doesn't your heart ache?"

"I thought you were asleep."

"Clearly, I'm not."

Asher raised a hand and rubbed his brow. "So what do you want? I still have things to do. I can't stay long. I've already told you about the confinement. When it's over, just go back to the training directly. Someone will take you."

Even if he was busy, he had time to come back for his things, but no time to check if she was asleep. Excuses, all of them.

Wu Ying took a step forward, and Asher immediately stepped back. She deliberately reached out to pull him, but Asher sidestepped, asking with his eyes what she was doing.

"If there's no goodbye kiss, then a hug should be fine, right? Do you really have the heart to watch your wife gaze at your retreating figure, all alone and miserable?"

Wu Ying's lips curved slightly, her eyes bright as flowers. She looked at him leisurely, as if waiting for his next move.

"Come on, come hug me. My feet are cold from standing here."

The whole floor was heated. She said she was cold.

"Stop messing around."

"You're the one messing around, Asher. The people downstairs have been waiting for ages. Why are you being so stubborn?"

When it came to reasoning with her, he always lost. Asher took a small step forward, opened his arms, and gently pulled her into an embrace. It was nothing big—he had carried her from the hospital before.

Wu Ying leaned against him, her head lightly pressed to his chest. His form blocked her view completely; all she could see was darkness. A breeze seemed to blow above her head, making her scalp feel cool.

His hug was a bit lacking, so she threw herself at him, bumping her forehead against the nameplate on his chest. "Ouch."

Wu Ying reached up to grab the thing that had poked her, but Asher tightened his arms around her, holding her until she calmed down. Then he released her, gripping her shoulders to gently push her away.

"Alright, I'm off."

Asher immediately stepped past her and pressed the elevator button. Soon, all Wu Ying could see was the floor numbers changing on the display.

She pressed a hand to her forehead, still a bit dazed. Soon, lights of hovering vehicles leaving flickered outside the window. A convoy of hover vehicles rose higher and higher, gradually disappearing into the night.

Wu Ying was sentenced to a week of confinement, and only after her body had recovered.

So she suddenly had a long vacation. By the time she returned, the training would probably be nearly over. The final event was a large-scale exercise, supposedly involving all students at the training base.

Cadets from the military academy would be split into factions for a mock battle, while the rest of them were to act as cannon fodder, playing NPCs who gave out escort missions. Their team task, apparently, was to complete soil sampling and plant analysis in a base area.

Oh, now they were testing their professional skills. Ridiculous!

Wu Ying could roughly guess the original intention: to simulate the battlefield situations students might face in their future careers, encouraging them to use their training to protect themselves and complete the tasks.

Training results? She had learned nothing. Whoever cared about the results could worry about them—she certainly wouldn't.

Wu Ying lay around with peace of mind, spending her days tending flowers and studying from textbooks. Apart from the military training, this semester they had coursework anyway. So Wu Ying started studying the textbooks herself, pairing them with the course materials. It worked well.

When her confinement ended, she returned to the base and endured two more grueling weeks. Then the whole group set off in force for the "battlefield."

This time, she finally had the chance to get to know her teammates.

Somehow, Wu Ying and Su Yi ended up in the same group. A group of them, carrying equipment and crouching low, moved through the battlefield. If they were hit, they lost points; if the students hit them, those students lost points.

At this point, Wu Ying had to admit that the weapons training had been useful. At least now she could launch a grenade without blowing herself up.

They lay on the ground, and the sounds of gunfire from a nearby skirmish grew louder, almost deafening. But their destination required crossing right through the middle of it. Su Yi, showing her composure, pulled out the map and shook it. "What do we do? The only route is through the opposite side. But the situation is unclear—we don't know how long they'll keep fighting."

Several heads huddled together. Wu Ying pointed to the side. "Can't we go through there?"

Another person said, "That's a rainforest. We don't know which plants there are toxic and which aren't. If we run into some mutated plants, we're done for—whole team wiped."

"Aren't we from the College of Plant Science? Can't we handle a few plants?"

"Is that the same thing?"

"So what do we do?"

"Can we ask them to let us through? Don't we have friendly forces?"

That wouldn't work. Normally, they could only issue escort missions after completing their task. Before that, friendly forces wouldn't let them through. If they were unlucky enough to run into enemy forces, even worse—they might be taken hostage.

They hid in a cave for nearly a day and a night, watching the road ahead become completely blocked, as if the enemy had turned it into an ambush point.

"Great, that road is completely sealed off. What happens if we fail the mission? If it comes to that, we might as well head back."

After Wu Ying spoke, a boy next to her stared at her in shock. "Wow, you're the top student in our year! Give up? We haven't even gone that far. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at when we go back?"

"That's exactly why it's fine to go back—we haven't gone far. And what's a little laughter?"

"Alright, everyone, calm down. We have to complete the mission. We're going around through the rainforest."

"But—"

"No buts. If we keep saying but, we'll miss our chance."

Su Yi glanced at Wu Ying, signaling her to stop talking. That girl had been driven crazy by the confinement; she was radiating a laid-back, 'whatever' vibe.

At the edge of the rainforest, they crouched down again.

They looked at each other, then Su Yi took charge. "We need to prepare. The vegetation in the rainforest is mostly interstellar mutations. Be ready for combat and for a tough struggle."

"Hold on, I think we can refine that a bit."

Wu Ying quickly stopped her teammates who were pulling out daggers and artillery launchers. Although the rainforest's plants were aggressive, they didn't attack based on human shape. Their group's mental power wasn't high to begin with. As long as they stayed calm and didn't act rashly, they wouldn't provoke the plants.

"We're from the College of Plant Science. Can we use our professional knowledge? The teachers said plants of the same kind don't attack each other. Sometimes, to activate plants, we need to disguise ourselves as plants. So why not avoid a direct clash?"