FT DR Chapter 4: A Heartbreaking Recap

Chapter 4: A Heartbreaking Recap

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The race that fights for humanity!

After Wu Chenghe had stitched up four external wounds and reconnected three leg bones, causing all medical personnel to unanimously demand to kick out this non-consensual quack, Ivanov, the squad captain, finally notified him that he could go meet his Commander dad.

Wu Chenghe boarded a starship called “Scout025,” a fusion-powered starship without substance, something he had only seen in science fiction movies in his previous life, but was now widely popular in the Voyager Army. Because he had received a military order from the Commander, Ivanov attached great importance to Wu Chenghe. Not only did he bring along flight surgeon Ava, but he also arranged for ten agile cavalry soldiers to protect his safety.

In addition, the girl, Monica, whom Wu Chenghe had saved on the “Mayflower,” was also brought onto the “Scout025.” Her name was Monica, and she was originally going to visit her uncle at Gabriel Military Harbor but unexpectedly encountered terrorists. Because her uncle was once Ivanov’s combat instructor, Ivanov, after consulting Wu Chenghe’s opinion, brought her on the starship as well, to be sent to Gabriel Military Harbor together.

The girl Monica admired Wu Chenghe immensely. If she weren’t underage, she probably would have offered herself to him. Although Wu Chenghe had been tall and handsome in his previous life, attracting many infatuated girls, he didn’t expect to be so liked in this life, even with his current bean sprout-like appearance. Although he politely declined the girl’s love confession, he felt very pleased inside.

Indeed, Mr. Charlie Simpson’s original appearance… looked quite effeminate to Wu Chenghe’s eyes! This body was very slender, only seventeen years old, standing at just 1.68 meters tall and weighing only 54 kilograms. His features were handsome, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a high nose and deep-set eyes, but combined together, they felt particularly discordant for a man, especially when he smiled, revealing a small dimple on his left cheek. It was just… so effeminate!

Finding Wu Chenghe often looking melancholic in the mirror, Monica was very puzzled. “Brother, why are you so handsome and still so melancholic? The school’s campus heartthrobs aren’t as good-looking as you.”

Ava, being a mature woman, roughly understood what Wu Chenghe was brooding over and comforted him. “Charlie, there are many types of men. You don’t have to be big and muscular like my brother (she and Ivanov are siblings). Your clean and elegant temperament is just the type that Asians love the most. Besides, you’re only seventeen, you’ll continue to grow taller.”

Wu Chenghe silently turned his head. “It’s nothing, I’m just worried that I’m too handsome…” Being handsome to the point of being effeminate was really annoying!

Fortunately, he didn’t dwell on it for long. Wu Chenghe was soon placed into a hibernation pod. After passing through an asteroid belt, the “Scout025” initiated curvature flight and was expected to arrive at Gabriel Military Harbor in 45 standard days.

Wu Chenghe lay heavily on the bed in the hibernation pod. He hadn’t expected to be awakened by the system after only thirty-some days. Stepping out of the hibernation pod, he found a slight tremor in his left palm.

It was his personal terminal emitting an electric alert. In this era, everyone was implanted with a biological terminal after birth, and the terminal was located on the left hand (or the right hand for left-handed people), integrating with the brain.

The personal terminal was basically a future-enhanced version of a computer + cellphone + PDA combination. And because it was DNA-bound, it could never be lost. As long as a person was within the range of the Internet, they could contact each other and access information anytime, anywhere.

Whispering “activate,” a faint blue light shot out from the palm, projecting onto the ground two meters away, outlining a tall and sturdy man wearing a neat black military uniform, with a military cap on his head, a blue star with a golden border on his shoulder, and a flying lion badge on his chest.

Wu Chenghe recognized him at first sight — Hannibal Simpson, the star marshal, the Commander-in-Chief of the Voyager Army, his awesome dad.

Hannibal was a man of somewhat Germanic descent, judging by the standards of a thousand years ago, he couldn’t be older than forty, or maybe the people of this era appeared younger than their actual age due to frequent repairs. In any case, he looked extremely handsome, with flaxen hair, icy green eyes, and deep and sexy facial features. He didn’t look like the father of a seventeen-year-old child at all.

“Charlie.” His voice was also very sexy but carried a heavy concern. “I was just awakened from hibernation. They said you were injured and suffering from amnesia. How are you now?”

“The injury has healed, but the amnesia… is still there.” Wu Chenghe didn’t know how to address him, whether as dad, godfather, or papa, so he skipped that issue.

“Oh, that’s terrible.” Hannibal frowned, pained. “I’m sorry for putting you in danger due to my negligence. I should have sent someone to pick you up myself.” He paused, a hint of compelling resentment flashed between his brows. “It seems I have been too optimistic about the security of the territory.”

Was this an innate king’s aura? Wu Chenghe envied, the Commander was the Commander, just a frown made people feel frightened. But what if he found out that his “son” was an impostor… hehe.

Feeling guilty, Wu Chenghe said, “It’s all accidental. Don’t blame yourself too much.”

Hannibal sighed and said gently, “Anyway, it’s lucky that you’re safe. Don’t be afraid. I believe Ivanov, the squad captain, will safely escort you to Gabriel Military Harbor.”

Wu Chenghe could only nod. Hannibal continued, “I’m worried that you won’t be able to recover your memory in the short term, so I’ve prepared some simple information for you, so you won’t be too anxious about your past. The information will be sent to your personal terminal later. It will take some time before you arrive at Gabriel Military Harbor. You can take a look yourself.”

This decision was so considerate. Wu Chenghe sincerely said, “Okay, thank you, I will review it intensively.”

“Don’t rush too much; excessive use of your brain can lead to disability,” Hannibal said kindly. “So, let’s leave it at that, Charlie. I’m really looking forward to our meeting.”

“I am too.” Yeah, right!

The call ended, the 3D projection disappeared, and a few seconds later, Wu Chenghe’s palm trembled again. He silently recited “activate,” and a one-foot-square holographic screen appeared in front of him, showing the future version of a PowerPoint sent by Hannibal.

So Wu Chenghe finally understood what his “second-generation official” identity was all about.

Eighteen years ago, Hannibal Simpson was not yet a star general but a special forces officer. His unit was stationed on the outskirts of a large-scale planetary city, and everyone often went to the city for entertainment during their leave. One day, he unfortunately encountered a fierce second-generation rich kid.

The rich kid was a young Asian girl named Wu Xi. She was about to get married, and according to local customs, unmarried girls would have a wild bachelorette party. Wu Xi met Hannibal at a bar, found him well-endowed, good in bed, and handsome, so she invited him to her party.

After a night of fun, the matter ended there. Wu Xi happily got married, Hannibal continued to fight and find a partner, and eventually married and had children. Eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye, and Hannibal became the glittering Commander-in-Chief. Suddenly, he received an email from Wu Xi.

Wu Xi said she had divorced two years after marriage because the child she gave birth to wasn’t her husband’s. The poor man had no affection for other people’s children and coldly left her. After a brief period of sadness, the tough woman quickly regained her confidence and didn’t look for another husband but instead lived alone with her son. Her family had plenty of money anyway.

If things had ended there, it would have been a good outcome. Unfortunately, Wu Xi’s father had incurred a huge debt due to mismanagement and declared bankruptcy last year, then fell into depression and passed away. Wu Xi was left alone to shoulder the struggling family business. Three months ago, she went alone to a mining planet to handle affairs and encountered an old nuclear-powered starship crash with widespread fuel leakage. She was unfortunately deeply contaminated by radiation. After more than two months of painful gene therapy, she passed away.

Before she died, Wu Xi was deeply worried about her underage son. Perhaps because his mother was too strong, this child was extremely soft-hearted, kinder than Winnie the Pooh and more clueless than Lazy Sheep. Without his mother’s protection, he probably wouldn’t survive in this cruel world. So Wu Xi brazenly wrote to Hannibal, asking him to reluctantly take care of his seventeen-year-old son, whom he hadn’t met, at least to let the boy grow up safely, marry a fierce wife, or marry a strong man, so as not to be gnawed away by this cruel world.

After reading the melodramatic recap, Wu Chenghe’s mood was mixed. He was happy that his entire family was dead, so he didn’t have to worry about someone exposing him. But he was worried because he was now penniless, with only a few properties (all on barren mining planets) and less than twenty thousand federal credits in cash, barely enough to cover his tuition until he graduated from college.

Of course, he had an awesome dad. Hannibal was now undisputedly the head of the Voyager Army, and supporting such an illegitimate child was as easy as pie for him. But the Commander had a wife and son. His wife was the daughter of another powerful star marshal, Lancer, and his son was the captain of the Voyager Army’s junior baseball team, a genius child with outstanding academic achievements!

Such a perfect family suddenly had such a real deadweight added to it. Even Wu Chenghe himself felt, “Damn, I’m so out of place!” 

The heartbreaking recap was something he had to accept. However, all this information was only Hannibal’s side of the story. Out of military habit, he felt he couldn’t fully trust it. Moreover, many details of this story were a bit questionable — the Commander, who was known for his precision, actually didn’t use protection during a hookup? A rich second-generation didn’t go for prenatal checks when having a baby — you know, DNA testing is as common as blood typing nowadays, and it’s a standard procedure during prenatal checks. And why didn’t Wu Xi ask for help when her family business was in trouble? The number one handsome guy of the Voyager Army could have just snapped his fingers and saved her life!

The most absurd thing was that she died from nuclear radiation. You know, nuclear-powered starships have long disappeared from the stage of history, rarer than donkey carts. How lucky was she to collide with a nuclear starship explosion?

Wu Chenghe had a headache. He didn’t know if he was thinking too much or if there were just too many unreasonable things. Everything about this body was like a box entangled with spider silk. The more information he knew, the more he thought about it, the more confusing it became.

A week passed, and the flight was coming to an end. Two days later, the “Scout 025” was about to enter Gabriel Military Harbor. Wu Chenghe’s mood was slightly heavy; he would soon meet Commander Hannibal, and he didn’t know how his wife and son would treat this additional family member.

Being a poor illegitimate child wasn’t easy… As he was swinging his golf club on the golf practice range, he suddenly saw Ava rushing towards the medical bay.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Chenghe called out. Ava didn’t stop her pace but made a “follow me” gesture to him. “Monica is in trouble, and I may need your help!”

“What happened to her?” Wu Chenghe was startled, dropped the golf club, and ran towards the medical bay with Ava.

Ava said, “She just had her first cycle.”

“Huh?” Wu Chenghe choked on his own saliva. First cycle? Isn’t that… Aunt Flo? What help could this teenage boy provide? Go to the supermarket to buy pads?