Chapter 33: Almighty God, lead me to the path of truth.
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Ryan stepped on Lin Xu’s foot for the hundred and eighth time.
He can’t, he really can’t…. . Ryan broke down like a stiff zombie. “You never took dancing lessons?”
“Yes…” Ryan hung his head in defeat. But he was born as a male alpha, and the social dance steps he learned were always male, but Lin Xu was also a male, and the two were extremely awkward together.
“Professor Lin, who did you dance with in the past?”
“…A colleague.”
“A colleague from the museum?” Ryan remembered that Lin Xu was not close to the staff in the museum.
“No, it was before that.”
Even apocalypse bases had recreational activities used to relieve repressed emotions so that everyone didn’t turn into psychotic lunatics.
Ryan wasn’t quite sure what kind of work Lin Xu had done before, and he couldn’t even tell Lin Xu’s true age from his face.
“Oh… Eh! Ugh, sorry, Professor Lin, I stepped on you again.”
“Heh.” Not far away, Katherine gave a light laugh, “Marshal Chu, Dr. Lin doesn’t like you much, does he? He’d rather dance with a dumb alpha who took the wrong steps.”
Her partner, Heinrich, who had been pushed by Lin Xu, looked like an emotionless robot, and as Katherine spoke and leaned forward, he even tried to push the omega away without regard to etiquette.
Katherine grabbed Heinrich’s arm, “Marshal Chu, the partner exchange is coming up, so if you want to get close to Dr. Lin, don’t do it now.”
This would be very embarrassing for Katherine’s face, but Heinrich would not care about her face, she could only use Lin Xu to threaten him.
Heinrich looked like frost, Katherine smiled at him and said, “Marshal Chu, why don’t you think about my offer? Even without me, there will be other nobles who will covet the position of Lady Marshal, and they may not be able to offer the same terms as I. If you want to pursue Dr. Lin, why don’t you promise me that you will bring back something from Earth and propose to me?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the conductor of the orchestra playing live raised his hands, the rhythm of the music changed back and forth, and it was time to exchange partners.
Katherine had been bringing Heinrich towards Lin Xu and Ryan, and when they exchanged partners, Heinrich and Ryan switched places.
Faced with a brightly smiling Katherine Hill, Ryan finally sighed in relief and saluted with his right hand on his left breast as the lively music moved into its next phase, gradually picking up speed, and amidst the progressive drums and oboe, Heinrich finally took Lin Xu’s cold, pale palm.
Lin Xu had never danced the female step, nor could he, but he was half a head shorter than Heinrich, so he had to put his free hand on the side of Heinrich’s shoulder.
When Heinrich’s hand rested on Lin Xu’s thin waist, he could feel Lin Xu stiffen for a moment, and his foggy gray eyes lifted slightly, sweeping over his sharp-edged lips, and Heinrich held his breath at the same moment.
The music continued and Lin Xu took a step back, tugging at Heinrich’s palm, and it was only then that Heinrich realized that the dance had resumed in the hall, his breathing resumed for a moment, but his footwork was cautious and precise.
Ryan danced thinking about the rules of the dance at all times, but Lin Xu clearly didn’t mean to follow them, and Ryan couldn’t keep up with his thoughts, and his hands were fumbling.
But not Heinrich.
The two dancers were not necessarily bound by the pace of men and women, with one side stepping back and the other moving forward, spinning and interacting, always maintaining a subtle distance and, if anything, a breathable blend.
The physical movements of the two people tacitly understand each other, no one would apologize for stepping on their feet, but it was not much of a slowdown. As the movement gradually intensified, the pace became more and more offensive and defensive with the charming fireworks.
Heinrich looked at the thick, soft eyelashes of Lin Xu, and smelled the sweet fragrance of silk at the tip of his nose, but it was so light that it seemed to be Heinrich’s own imagination.
“Lin Xu… Just now was…” Heinrich wanted to ask, but hesitated just before he opened his mouth, what should he say to Lin Xu?
Lin Xu lifted his eyes and looked straight into Heinrich’s golden pupils, his vision almost straight, and Heinrich’s mind went blank.
“Marshal, don’t look at me.” Lin Xu was very serious, “If someone attacked in close quarters, would you be able to block it completely?”
“Now?” Heinrich’s expression was stony, “How much distance?”
“What if… As close as I am?”
—
Ryan finally relaxed as he took Katherine’s hand in the delicate soft lace gloves, Katherine, who had been irritated by Heinrich, took one look at the dumbfounded young alpha in front of her and snorted, “Why on earth did the young master of the Kalt family let go of the Deep Blue Military Academy’s special admissions slot and instead decided to study ancient Earth science?”
“I like it.” At this point, Ryan spoke much more fluently, and his dance steps became normal, displaying the poise expected of the son of one of the Empire’s upper class aristocrats. As he spun, Katherine’s wide, flamboyant skirt raised into the shape of a wave, “I like to comb through the history of mankind’s journey in Star Ocean.”
“Why not go to your father’s Sixth Legion and face the rebel front? Then you too would become a star in the long history of mankind.”
Ryan sighed, “Please, don’t do that, I don’t like war.”
The vaulted ceiling of the ballroom amplified the music infinitely, and the guests standing outside the dance floor talked animatedly. With the special tilt-up construction, however, their volume would not disturb the men and women enjoying themselves on the dance floor.
Godric, with a glass of wine and a smile on his face, broke away from the crowd of people trying to pull him in for an exchange and walked toward the quiet corner covered by the curtain.
“There you are.” Godric gasped and stood in front of Ika, seeing Ika look at the crowd dispersing from behind Godric and explained, “It’s just lobbyists who want to invest in my projects, don’t worry.”
Ika nodded.
Godric, “How is Dr. Lin doing?”
Ika, “I approached his student Ryan to ask, he was in a bad mood after Marianna’s death; then Marshal Chu’s susceptible period, bit him and the wound stayed for a few days; yesterday there were two explosions against Lin Xu and Ryan.”
Godric’s teeth clenched as he listened, grinding his back teeth, “Those people are really bold too! I was shocked to hear about the explosions on the Victoria yesterday and was worried that something had happened to Dr. Lin.”
“No.” Ika stared out at the ground, “He rushed into Ryan’s room and disposed of the bomb as if he knew in advance.”
“It was him, after all.” Godric’s tone was deep.
“Can you really be sure he’s God’s Crown?” Ika, however, was blunt.
“I think so, but hopefully the Empire doesn’t know. In any case, they can’t kill him.” Godric closed his eyes and held the Path of Truth necklace, his index finger skimming over his eyes and lips. “Almighty God, lead me to the path of truth.”
Ika looked at Lin Xu’s cold face on the dance floor and repeated in a thoughtful voice, “Almighty God, lead me to the path of truth.”
Lin Xu is holding Heinrich’s hand, smoothly leading him to another direction, and as the rapid drumbeat gave the command to spin. He suddenly leaned close to Heinrich’s right ear, “Someone is watching you, with hostility, but I’m not sure which one it is here.”
His gesture was direct and natural, never letting emotional issues delay his primary mission.
“Hmm.” Heinrich’s blood rushed to the tips of his ears, but his expression was restrained, his body going into a state of alert, almost tearing himself into two personalities. One was on guard, the other wanted the sweet scent of the moment to last forever. Lust and sharpness tangled and entwined.
Lin Xu, his head still lolling at the side of Heinrich’s neck, asked in a low, breathy voice, “I don’t understand how anyone could make you a target on such an occasion.”
An S-Class alpha was not a title that wasn’t meant. With his strong physical attributes and harsh training, Heinrich’s combat awareness and level of fighting was enough to crush the entire field.
Who had the confidence to target Heinrich? What’s the point of an assassination that’s bound to fail? Lin Xu thought that he and Ryan, who seemed so easy to mess with, would take the brunt of the attack.
The sound of the orchestra’s ensemble gradually slowed down, but the ever-slowing tempo appeared to be an invisible hand stretching the tension, and the sound of guests talking, shoes touching the ground, and clothes rubbing together, which had been masked by the music, came to the fore like a spike. Until a tipping point – bang!
A figure and its proximity burst out, and Heinrich pulled Lin Xu behind him as the guests shrieked and dodged, just as the attacker, a sharp black object in his hand, lunged straight at Heinrich.
He shouted until his voice broke, “For the glory of mankind!”
Heinrich was about to shield Lin Xu behind him and easily avoid the attacker, when his body froze in a flash and the black sharp object pierced the sleeve of his uniform and cut a long bloody mark on his arm.
The next moment, Lin Xu lifted his leg and kicked the attacker with thunderous force, kicking him five meters away and hitting the ground with a dull thud.
He pulled his hand out of Heinrich’s hand and strode toward the twitching assailant, who had suffered several broken ribs from the kick, and was spitting blood from his mouth. His mouth was opening and closing, but the broken ribs pierced his lungs and he could barely utter a complete syllable.
Lin Xu struggled to discern from the quivering shape of his lips that the man was saying, “For the glory of mankind…”
As the last word fell, a sixth sense that was so strong it made his scalp tingle hit him, and Lin Xu immediately leaned down and cupped the assailant’s jaw, controlling it to keep his bloodied mouth from closing.
“Ah! –” Katherine, who had been watching Heinrich and Lin Xu, ran in through the crowd of onlookers at the first moment of the accident, but the blood-covered eyes and the limbs bent to bizarre arcs by the fractures scared her out of her wits.
“Miss Hill, don’t look, let’s change places.” Ryan took Katherine, who was seeing the bloody scene for the first time and whose hands and feet were weak, aside.
Lin Xu wrinkled his eyebrows and radiated a fury, the force of his hand almost crushed the assailant’s jawbone, and the index and middle fingers of his other hand stirred in the assailant’s mouth while turning on telekinesis powers to collect the deadly poison powder the assailant had bitten into a ball and removed it.
The rest of the dose that had already been swallowed into his stomach could not poison him, but could make his stomach burn, regurgitate and vomit in pain with broken ribs.
A hoarse scream emanated from the throat of the same table.
After confirming that his attacker would not commit suicide and was no longer capable of attacking, Lin Xu got up and backed away from the vomit, looking at the blood on his hands in disgust, his peripheral air pressure suffocatingly low.
A clean white handkerchief was handed to Lin Xu and he took it, wiping his hands as he asked, “What happened to your arm?”
Heinrich gestured to his own soldiers, and a group of officers rushed ahead of the Hill family guards to hold the daring assailant down while Arnold stepped forward to carefully pick up the weapon used by the assailant. Then he stood three meters away and presented it to Heinrich.
The outer layer of his uniform sleeve was cut to reveal the inner layer of his shirt, which had been stained red with blood, and the blood gathered in the palm of his hand in the direction of Heinrich’s arm and then dripped down his fingertips.
He took a step closer to Lin Xu’s direction and his form seemed to sway a few times as Arnold took a few more steps back, his weapon moving away from Heinrich.
Only Lin Xu remained beside him. Lin Xu held Heinrich with his still clean hand and heard him say in a hushed voice, “It’s the Radiant Black Stone that targets the Dragon’s weaknesses.”
The author has something to say.
The author shouted: we have friendly troops in Og!!!
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