FT DR Chapter 31: Eight Days and Nights of Struggle

Chapter 31: Eight Days and Nights of Struggle

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Jin Xuan’s first twenty-four years of life couldn’t be described as luxurious, but they were definitely smooth sailing. Ever since Jin Zhe took him out of the embryo bank, he hadn’t faced any major troubles. He was good-looking, intelligent, and had a super dominant older brother to rely on. Even though some people annoyed him to death, they didn’t dare to lay a finger on him casually.

Never in a million years did he expect to encounter the first disaster of his life upon arriving at the Voyager Army’s territory.

From the Grasshopper Space Station to the asteroid, he was chased and attacked every step of the way. First, he was bombarded, and after landing, he was relentlessly pursued by unidentified experts. Just when he barely escaped one wave of attacks, he tragically discovered that his oxygen was running out.

What to do? Standing at the edge of a steep cliff, he truly felt that he might die here. The atmosphere on this asteroid was extremely thin, with very little oxygen. Without a breathing apparatus, even a strong sentinel couldn’t last half an hour.

The Barbary lion was extremely anxious, pacing around him vigilantly, occasionally growling fiercely in the direction their pursuers were coming from. Jin Xuan extended his senses and indeed heard the noisy footsteps approaching; the pursuers were getting closer.

He took off his breathing apparatus and dropped it off the cliff, wiping the sweat off his face. He didn’t know who was chasing him, but he vaguely felt something suspicious — although they were dressed haphazardly, their equipment was very sophisticated, nothing like a ragtag army.

“I can’t let them catch me,” Jin Xuan muttered to himself. He knew how sensitive his identity was. This was the Voyager Army’s territory. If he fell into the hands of a terrorist organization, it could bring trouble to Jin Zhe and even widen the rift between the Voyager Army and the Federation.

If he didn’t want to be captured alive, there was only one way out. He looked down at the steep cliff. This place was probably a geological fissure left by geological activity, surrounded by mountains on all sides, extremely steep. Through the misty pale blue haze, he could see that the vegetation below was very lush, and he could faintly hear the sound of water.

The gravity here was very weak. Directly jumping might not necessarily result in death. Jin Xuan took a deep breath, hearing his lungs making dry hissing sounds due to lack of oxygen, but he couldn’t afford to think about that now. The pursuers’ footsteps were getting closer, they would arrive in a few minutes. Without oxygen, he couldn’t afford another round of physical combat, especially since the other side had guns.

After weighing for two seconds, he gritted his teeth and jumped.

The cliff was deeper than he had imagined. He floated in the air for a long time before crashing into a wrist-thick vine, then another, and more.

Clusters of vines broke because of his impact, his ribs emitting unbearable creaking sounds. He could even feel them cracking, causing intense pain. However, because of this, his falling speed also sharply decreased. By the time he fell onto a large patch of soft fungi, the intensity was similar to falling from the second or third floor.

The impact of landing caused him a moment of shock, but he quickly came to his senses. Looking around, he realized he had fallen beside a small river, surrounded by black mushrooms over a meter high, umbrellas as large as canopies, with sparkling water droplets hanging from their edges, dripping onto his face. The feeling of suffocation miraculously eased; the oxygen content here seemed much higher than above. Jin Xuan sat up, clutching his chest, feeling that his ribs were definitely broken, and his right foot was sprained, but it wasn’t too serious.

Faint voices came from above, indicating that the pursuers had arrived. He strained his hearing and barely made out some fragmented sentences, “He jumped off the cliff… dead… maybe… probe…”

They were going to send a probe down. Jin Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to find a cave to hide in, he heard the Barbary lion emit a fierce roar.

A black beast, two meters tall and four meters long, stood behind him. Its body was as strong as a bull’s, with a circle of dagger-like bone spurs around its head, its mouth open, its blood-red fangs gleaming with ferocity, drooling dripping down.

This thing was definitely looking for dinner… Jin Xuan dared not move, quietly drawing out the cold light dagger from his boot, his only weapon, brought from the space station. He didn’t know if this thing could penetrate the beast’s thick armor, scanning up and down, trying to find its weak points.

A faint “drip drip” sound came from above, indicating that the people above were sending a probe down to scan the valley. Jin Xuan stood up slowly, enduring the pain, approaching the beast. It was too huge, like a wall, and emitted high heat, completely covering his figure and the heat he emitted.

Of course, provided it didn’t immediately jump up and eat him.

The beast was attracted by the light and sound emitted by the probe, stretching its head to look at it and attempting to lick it with its tongue. It received a shock from the static released by the probe, got startled, shrugged, and retreated, the bone spurs on its neck emitting a faint glow.

Seizing the opportunity, Jin Xuan approached it, suppressing all his aura, sticking to its side like a shadow. He held the dagger steadily in his hand, wary of it suddenly going berserk.

The probe didn’t linger much longer; after scanning this side, it turned around and floated towards the other end of the valley. Jin Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. While the beast was still threatening the probe with its bone spurs, he aimed for a delicate piece of flesh on its neck and silently stabbed into it. He was lucky; the beast only struggled in place for a few moments before falling into the river and dying, its blood staining half of the river black.

Jin Xuan dared not move, silently lying in the shadow beside the beast. After a while, another probe came, scanned around, and left. About half an hour later, he heard people on the cliff talking, “It’s a black-armored beast… There’s a large group to the east… It’ll be troublesome to fight them… With such a deep cliff… Even if he didn’t fall to their death, he’ll be eaten… Inform the higher-ups… Let’s go.”

The noisy footsteps gradually faded away. Jin Xuan still didn’t dare to move, waiting another hour before confirming that the pursuers had all retreated. He was safe now.

Of course, this safety was relative. On the other side of the valley, there was still a large group of black-armored beasts. If they came over for revenge, he would be doomed. Jin Xuan got up, cut off a large piece of the black-armored beast’s neck flesh, stuffed it into his backpack, and slowly walked upstream along the river.

This valley was lined with giant mushrooms along the river. After walking for a while, Jin Xuan discovered the secret of the high oxygen concentration here — these mushrooms consumed the inert gasses in the atmosphere and produced oxygen. Whenever he felt suffocated, he could climb under a large mushroom and replenish his oxygen by inhaling the bubbles condensing underneath the umbrella.

After walking a few kilometers, the terrain became steep, and ahead were all rocky mountains where mushrooms couldn’t grow. After considering for a moment, Jin Xuan found a clump of sturdy mushrooms and lay down in a shallow pit underneath.

This lie-down lasted for eight days.

The oxygen produced by the mushrooms barely sustained his breathing. Though the dew along the umbrella’s edge was a bit bitter, it was drinkable. The neck flesh of the black-armored beast was very unpalatable, especially when eaten raw, it was smelly and fishy. But when roasted, it was passable. Jin Xuan lived stubbornly on the asteroid like a cockroach, his ribs slowly healing, his right leg recovering. However, to conserve energy and not disturb his adorable neighbors, the black-armored beasts, he stayed very cautious in his mushroom grove every day.

Jin Xuan spent most of his time lying under the large mushroom, counting the smaller ones. As an optimistic daydreamer, he didn’t dwell on how miserable his situation was or how worried his brother must be. Instead, he focused on not losing hope and surviving. Thus, he often fantasized about large-scale mushroom cultivation, improving the atmosphere, developing agriculture, dominating the world, crowning himself the ruler, forming a cabinet… Of course, all this required people.

Thinking about reproduction inevitably brought thoughts of his beloved little guide, Wu Chenghe. If he remembered correctly, Wu Chenghe’s gender was male, and while he could get pregnant, men had more limited fertility compared to women. Typically, one or two pregnancies would be the limit. So, he could have a Secretary of State, a Speaker of the House, and now he was missing a Chief Justice and a Secretary of Defense…

While Wu Chenghe was frantically trying to borrow a starship from Chen Miaomiao, Jin Xuan was already worrying about whether their family should adopt a constitutional monarchy or a system of separation of powers.

In the world of a daydreamer, things worked in mysterious ways. Basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation were easily solved. However, Jin Xuan overlooked a more critical issue — his mania.

As a genius and a superstar, his mania persisted objectively, recurring periodically and uncontrollably. After counting mushrooms for seven days, he began to feel uneasy, sensing a restless energy spreading through his body. Consequently, his lion also became agitated, pacing around him incessantly.

Jin Xuan realized his cycle had come. He fought against the restlessness in his body, rummaged through his backpack, and regretted that he had not brought any stabilizers.

“Damn it!” He cursed aloud. In this place, in this environment, a mania episode could be fatal — just a few kilometers away was the headquarters of the black-armored beasts. If he lost control and went over to challenge the wild monsters, there would surely be a bloodbath!

The pursuers dared not come down to find him, so there must be a large number of black-armored beasts, and if he went berserk, it would be his blood flowing like a river!

After cursing for a while, Jin Xuan started to consider finding something to control himself — rope, chains… But unfortunately, he found nothing. The only usable thing in this place was mountain vines, but their strength was insufficient; in his berserk state, he could easily tear through a large bundle!

His vision began to turn red, and Jin Xuan felt despair creeping in. He dragged his trembling body to the edge of the river and plunged his head into the water, hoping the biting cold would calm him down. However, his volcanic temperament couldn’t be cooled by external means. He felt his muscles swelling, his blood accelerating, and a wild beast roaring in his mind, urging him to destroy everything, the world, and even himself.

The Barbary lion, just like him, had blood-red eyes, prowling like a ferocious beast on the riverbank, emitting hot breath from its nostrils, drooling from its fangs.

Just as he was about to fall into a frenzy, he suddenly heard a faint call, “Jin Xuan!”

Jin Xuan could hardly believe his ears. He struggled to climb out of the water, ignoring the wheezing from his lungs, and strained to extend his hearing.

“Jin Xuan!” Another call came.

Jin Xuan trembled violently. “Wu, Wu Chenghe!”

The Barbary lion leaped up, jumping onto a giant mushroom, and howled into the sky, “Roar!”

“Is it him?” Jin Xuan’s teeth chattered, and his eyes were veiled with red mist, wavering on the edge of consciousness. “Is it really him?”

The Barbary lion jumped off the mushroom and dashed towards the cliff. Jin Xuan looked up at the dark night sky and, after a while, saw a slender figure descending from the top of the cliff.

“Wu Chenghe!” Jin Xuan roared hysterically, staggering a few steps towards the shore before collapsing into the river. He grabbed onto the rocks at the edge, gasping for breath, his distorted vision seeing the figure approaching through the mist.

Wu Chenghe was wearing a flying squirrel gliding suit. Due to his lack of control, he landed somewhat clumsily but fortunately had thick mushrooms to cushion his fall, avoiding any serious injury.

Through his night vision goggles, he immediately spotted the man standing in the river. After days of separation, Jin Xuan looked frighteningly thin, dressed in black, his long hair disheveled, his shoulder blades protruding, giving him an almost skeletal appearance. His lion was also leaner, its golden-brown fur matted, its mane tangled. Both master and pet looked lost and soulless, like demons crawling out of hell, emanating an aura of devouring everything, including themselves.

“Jin Xuan!” Wu Chenghe hastily removed his gliding suit and rushed over, tossing his backpack on the shore before jumping into the water to drag him out. “Get up quickly, the temperature is too low, you’ll get pulmonary edema…”

The moment he felt Wu Chenghe’s touch, Jin Xuan’s will collapsed entirely. He let out a weak moan and opened his arms to embrace him, holding him tightly as if trying to merge him into his own body.

“Wu Chenghe!” 

Wu Chenghe’s ribs ached from the tight hug, but he didn’t notice anything abnormal; he thought Jin Xuan was just too excited. He patted his back to comfort him, “It’s alright, I brought a tracked vehicle and a starship parked outside the atmosphere. I’ll get you out of here.”

Jin Xuan remained silent, holding him tightly and kneading his body with his large hands, sniffing him eagerly as if trying to memorize his scent. Eventually, he lifted him up and carried him towards the mushroom grove on the shore.

“What are you doing?” Wu Chenghe, being shorter, had both his feet off the ground as Jin Xuan held him. Helplessly grabbing onto his neck, he said, “Let go of me, I can walk on my own.”

Jin Xuan didn’t answer, gently placing him under a large mushroom and removing his helmet. He then covered him with his body, running his hands gently over his face.

With no night vision goggles, Wu Chenghe lay in the shadow of the mushroom umbrella, unable to see much. He groped for Jin Xuan’s neck and used his thumb to lift his chin, trying to get a glimpse of his face through the scattered fluorescent dots outside.

“What’s wrong with you? Why won’t you speak…” Wu Chenghe’s sentence was cut short as he saw Jin Xuan’s eyes, shrouded in red mist, suddenly become denser. 

Jin Xuan raised his upper body and let out a beast-like roar, “RAAAW!”

 

 

 

 

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