Chapter 20: The Marshal is a real man!
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The large canteen that provided artificial fast food was in the center of the C deck. Although nutrients could meet the body’s elemental needs and satiety, the taste was thin and soft, and long-term consumption would cause teeth atrophy as well as decreased digestive capacity of the intestines. The large canteen would provide different textures and different flavors of artificial food.
The ninth canteen, which utilized real vegetable and meat cooking, was at the end of the C deck, facing a circular floor-to-ceiling window with a distant galaxy view and a beautiful and elegant environment.
–Payment was required.
The currency was the personal points of the ship’s personnel. Heinrich had instructed the Ninth Canteen to put Lin Xu on his tab if he came, but not once did Lin Xu show up, and he never even left Area H alone.
Not until Heinrich invited him to join him in person, and this time, Lin Xu did not refuse.
It was mealtime when the two entered the cafeteria, but it was not crowded, and the shiny shoulder patches on the guests’ shoulders signaled their status as high-ranking generals. The prices of the dishes in the Ninth Canteen were in line with those of the Capital Star, and only once in a while did an ordinary soldier save enough points to come here to try them.
However, their status as senior generals also meant that they had more opportunities to meet the Marshal directly, and knew Heinrich’s character better than ordinary people. At least, they had never seen Heinrich set foot in the Ninth Canteen, as if his dragon genes had wiped out his craving for food, requiring only the intake of artificially nutritious food sufficient to sustain life.
And Heinrich invited someone to dinner? Are you kidding me? Marshal’s lieutenant Arnold would only spout off that eating with Marshal means working late at the table. But he was followed by the fabled Dr. Lin…
Gossip about superiors could circulate widely no matter what rank group they were in. The generals and captains under Heinrich didn’t dare to ask the truth of the gossip to his cold face, but they still had the guts to sneak around and take a look now.
Oh, the bite mark on Dr. Lin’s neck had completely healed, and the Marsal’s residual pheromone had largely faded. Although as a beta, his body was still skinny, but he seemed to be better than when he first got off S105? Ah! Heinrich is helping Dr. Lin with his chair!
A technical officer watched breathlessly as his vice-marshal mate squeezed his arm and shook it violently, extremely excited and suppressed his voice to share his feelings.
The galaxy was brilliant outside the window, with the bow facing a young star, and the Ninth Canteen at the stern, was not being directly bathed by the star’s light, but with distant companion planets and floating objects reflecting the star’s radiance.
The nearest planet was bluish-purple, as if the cool sky had been revealed after Earth’s rosy evening sun had faded, and huge, broad clouds of white gas were blown into wisps by the planet’s fierce winds, stretching across the planet’s surface like a light veil of glittering diamonds.
The lighting set by Ruth in Ninth Canteen was very soft, a light blue and purple glow overlaid the white light of the room, mysterious and peaceful.
Heinrich chose a window seat, surrounded by empty tables, and when he sat down, the electronic menu appeared on the light screen in front of him.
“Lin Xu, what would you like to eat?” Heinrich looked over to the side at Lin Xu’s face, who was turning his head to stare into space. The blue-purple light outlined the smooth side lines and shone straight into his gray eyes, as if it would shine through them.
At the question, Lin Xu withdrew his gaze and looked at Heinrich. The light no longer fell on his face, and the gray eyes once again returned to their foggy state, “I’m not picky about food, Marshal can order anything.”
Heinrich pursed his lips and slowly flipped the light screen menu. Lin Xu looked at the dishes added one by one in his own interface and stopped Heinrich when the tenth large dish was selected, “Marshal, this should be enough.”
Steak, fried chicken, grilled fish, bacon… Lin Xu suddenly wanted to laugh as the Lord Marshal, a frequent visitor to the most exclusive parties, had never ordered his own food and never cared about the menu design.
His life consisted only of the cold blackness of space and the cold darkness of starships and mecha, with only the blood of his enemies and the torch of victory smoldering. While the people cheer his triumph, Lin Xu delighted in the occasional moments of uncertainty in his life.
The order was passed to the back of the house, where the intelligent robot first brought two glasses of red wine, and Lin Xu took a sip from his goblet and swished it around, reflecting the stars in the sky, as he tasted the wine from the Victoria.
In between, Heinrich gazed at Lin Xu, who was no longer sensitive to Heinrich’s gaze, and asked, “Lin Xu, do you like outer space?”
“Or not?” Heinrich added that the Lin Xu he remembered was resistant to boarding a starship, but now… he seemed not so averse.
The wine was smooth, sweet and mild, although still called red wine, but the raw materials used were no longer the crops used to make red wine on ancient Earth, missing the slightly sour, bitter and rich taste of the wine.
During the apocalypse, Lin Xu occasionally found abandoned spirits of all kinds, their owners fled or were killed, the spirits were left in place and accidentally became aged, rich and fragrant. If the task had been completed and the environment was relatively safe, Lin Xu would get drunk.
Now, Lin Xu put down the glass after one sip and asked instead, “Marshal, the news said you were born in space?”
Heinrich nodded, “Right on the Victoria, when she had another name.”
“So you like to roam around in space, it’s a habit of yours.” Lin Xu said, “I was born on the ground.”
“You don’t like space?”
Lin Xu frowned, Heinrich’s logic was too straightforward, but he quickly smiled softly again, “Not really. The universe is deep and unknown, full of adventure.”
–Can you stand a life that is as quiet as a pool of dead water?
–No.
The darkness of the unknown seduced him, the madness of his passions encouraged him, and all he needed was a breakthrough and the rivers would burst.
Heinrich sighed with relief, his life was basically bound to the universe, and if Lin Xu hated it, Heinrich didn’t even know how to answer.
The intelligent robot presented the dishes a few minutes later, and the dining atmosphere was harmonious. Both men were not very talkative and had little expression, and occasionally talked about a few things and always lowered their voices, so that the officers, who were also in the restaurant and wanted to listen to the gossip, were stifled.
Due to the change in ingredients, the dishes tasted different from what Lin Xu had tasted before the apocalypse, but the food in a lavish restaurant on a starship could never taste too bad.
After dinner, the two walked through the corridor to the recreation room to go up to the holographic pod.
C deck was the ship’s recreational area, the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, there were many soldiers moving around. Heinrich received numerous salutes along the way, he pressed down the brim of his hat, took Lin Xu’s elbow to speed up his pace.
“It’s that Dr. Lin eh!” There were still whispers.
“Marshal is really close to him…”
“Dr. Lin is good-looking…”
“He is very… good looking,” the answerer couldn’t find the words for a while. He felt that handsome, clean, beautiful, pretty and a series of other words to praise his appearance were not suitable to describe Lin Xu. He could only use the most general description of good looking, “but not the omega kind of good-looking, he’s just a beta.”
“What’s wrong with betas?” His beta companion was offended, “What era is it that still requires alphas and omegas to be the only good ones?”
“Nothing. It’s just the Marshal can’t smell omega pheromones anyway, so there’s probably no difference between an omega and beta for him. It’s just that male betas can’t reproduce. It’s a pity for the Marshal’s genes ah, S-Class alphas are too rare.”
“Think outside the box, at least we know the Marshal is a real man who can afford to stand up! I’ll go tomorrow and rebut my Sixth Legion friends who are always mocking me in a shady way!”
Heinrich’s pace quickened as the young people’s conversation drifted away, at first he didn’t think anything was wrong, but the further he listened the stranger it became. After entering an empty corridor, Heinrich couldn’t help but stop and face Lin Xu, who had been pulled along at a fast run, and stopped in front of Heinrich, his forehead almost hitting his cheekbone.
“Lin Xu, I…”
“What’s wrong?” Lin Xu asked, taking a half step back.
Heinrich suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence, gazed at Lin Xu’s serious expression, and turned his words around, “Sorry, I was walking too fast just now. The holographic chamber is not far ahead.”
The whispering soldiers were so far away that even Heinrich’s excellent hearing could only vaguely hear them, and he thought that Lin Xu should not be able to hear them. If not, it was better not to let him know.
The sweet aroma and hot memory came to his mind, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t suppress it. Heinrich pursed his cold lips and released his palm on Lin Xu’s elbow so that the other man wouldn’t notice his trembling.
But he couldn’t summon the blood that had crept to the tips of his ears to descend back.
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