Chapter 84: Not Forcing You Anymore
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Smile, would you?”
Lin Xu’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly, barely touching each other, like a startled fish. He didn’t expect Heinrich to make such a small request with such cautious and careful words, in stark contrast to his stern expression.
Lin Xu suddenly realized he had never seen Heinrich smile in real life, whether it was on the recruitment posters on Capital Star, the imposing figure in Imperial headlines as Marshal Chu, or the man standing in front of him. By interstellar human standards, Heinrich was still young. His face, apart from the inherent majesty, showed no signs of age except for a deep crease between his brows. From Lin Xu’s current distance, the wrinkle from Heinrich’s frequent frowning was clearly visible.
Heinrich met Lin Xu’s gaze, finding the other’s eyes deeply observing him, serious but without a hint of a smile, like a cloud of transparent water droplets, yet impenetrable. Did Lin Xu dislike smiling? Or did he dislike being touched on the cheek?
Before Heinrich could come to a conclusion and withdraw his hand, a cold, soft touch suddenly landed on his cheek. Lin Xu also raised his hands and pinched Heinrich’s cheeks. His chiseled face didn’t have much soft flesh, making it hard to pinch and slightly painful. Lin Xu clearly saw Heinrich’s brows twitch together in discomfort.
So, Lin Xu released his fingers, and just when Heinrich thought he would withdraw his hand, Lin Xu suddenly switched to patting his cheek with his palm.
“Marshal Chu…” Lin Xu spoke, dragging out the last syllable, his breath flowing out between his lips and teeth, carrying a honey-like natural sweetness, moist and warm. Heinrich licked his lips, but quickly retracted his tongue when Lin Xu spoke again, freezing in place.
“Smile, won’t you?”
Facing Lin Xu’s sincere gaze, Heinrich couldn’t utter a single word of refusal with his stiff lips. Then, Lin Xu’s palm felt the twitching of Heinrich’s muscles. Heinrich was trying to smile, his nose and eyes barely moving. He tried to control them but didn’t know where to exert force, making the upper and lower halves of his face extremely uncoordinated.
Humans are born knowing how to laugh and cry, without needing instruction. But for Heinrich, who hadn’t smiled in so long, controlling his facial muscles to pull off a smile was harder than aiming a starship’s main cannon at a flower on a planet.
He looked as stiff as a malfunctioning robot fresh off the assembly line, conducting a self-check with a look of deep suffering, trying to get everything back on track to avoid being discarded.
“Sigh…” Lin Xu’s fingers brushed Heinrich’s face. “That’s enough. Don’t force yourself.”
At these words, Heinrich stopped contorting his expression. But Lin Xu’s exasperated sigh made him press his lips together, his eyebrows drooping slightly. He seemed to lower his gaze, not daring to look at Lin Xu, because he couldn’t even give him a smile.
Heinrich’s gaze fell on Lin Xu’s hand, still on his cheek. Lin Xu’s hands bore some old calluses—on the palms, fingertips, joints, and thumb crotch—some from writing, others, as Heinrich realized today, from years of holding guns and knives in battle. Beneath his clothes, Lin Xu’s body bore crisscrossing scars.
Heinrich retracted his hand, took Lin Xu’s hand, and kissed his pale fingertips. Lin Xu’s fingers pressed against Heinrich’s thin, dry, yet soft lips, turning red from the warmth. What’s this…
Heinrich held Lin Xu’s hand as if afraid he would run away. Lin Xu couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, Heinrich, I won’t abandon you just because you didn’t smile.”
When Heinrich took command of the Abyss Fleet, he was too young. The responsibility and pressure forced him to suppress his emotions and expressions. Over time, people revered him, looking up to him as an invincible star.
No one found anything wrong with a fleet commander exuding bone-deep coldness and authority. They even praised Heinrich’s calmness and composure. They wanted a symbol of military might, often forgetting that the symbol was a person, capable of love and being loved.
Hearing Lin Xu’s amused voice, Heinrich looked up at him. Lin Xu was smiling, warmth and liveliness in his fog-gray eyes, dimples showing faintly on his cheeks. His face seemed to radiate a gentle, moon-like glow, shrouded in mist, half-hidden and half-revealed. Even thorny, rugged rocks can become tranquil and gentle under the icy blue moonlight.
Lin Xu poked Heinrich’s lower lip with a finger. “Aren’t you going to the meeting?”
Heinrich opened his mouth, seemingly awakened by Lin Xu’s words. “Yes, I should go.”
Lin Xu tilted his head. “Then hurry up.”
“…Alright.” Heinrich hesitated before releasing Lin Xu’s hands, but the next moment, he kissed Lin Xu’s forehead without hesitation. He tucked Lin Xu’s stray hair behind his ear, moved his military boots, and turned to leave.
Lin Xu watched Heinrich’s figure recede until it disappeared. He returned to his room, feeling his body in a strange state. Heinrich had only kissed his fingertips, but…
If Heinrich hadn’t left or said he wasn’t going, Lin Xu might have dragged him into the room and pushed him onto the bed.
—
“How did Marshal get hurt?”
“Do you really need to ask?” Zhou Pingbo slapped Ika’s head. Ika widened his eyes, earnestly turning to Zhou Pingbo. “I saw Marshal hurt, but I don’t know why he’s hurt?”
“…I didn’t ask you why you’re asking. I just wanted you to shut up.”
“Oh.” Ika made a meaningless sound and obediently stopped asking.
Zhou Pingbo hadn’t expected Lin Xu to learn a new language so quickly. In just a few days, he said he could start translating. Zhou Pingbo hurried back to the Victoria from the surface.
Initially, on Endymion, the audio Heinrich played for Lin Xu was just a snippet of the entire recording. A segment of the audio couldn’t be picked up by any other recording devices and had to be heard on-site.
The recorder was kept secretly, requiring multiple password verifications to access. Heinrich, Zhou Pingbo, and Ika, each holding a password, verified together. An automated safe produced a silver box without any human touch, placing it on a square table surrounded by the four of them.
Ika could see the scratches on the back of Heinrich’s neck peeking out from his collar. Zhou Pingbo saw them too, but Lin Xu’s calm demeanor told him they were probably Lin Xu’s handiwork. Only Ika, the naïve child, would ask such a question. But if Heinrich had scratches, their night must have been intense…
When they rescued them from the ice cave, Zhou Pingbo noticed Heinrich had injuries. He initially thought they were from the avalanche, but now he realized he had been mistaken.
Zhou Pingbo wavered between advising them to be gentler and saying nothing. In the end, he stayed silent, shifting his focus from gossip to the recorder. It was a rectangular silver-white metal box with dark geometric patterns etched on top, diamonds nested with squares and circles.
Lin Xu confirmed the mark. “This is the emblem of the Eastern District Base. What material is it?”
“Strong gravity, high-density proton metal,” Zhou Pingbo replied. “The particles are so tightly packed that all our optical and radio instruments together can’t fully penetrate its internal structure.”
“The base didn’t have this technology,” Lin Xu said. He was familiar with all the technology and industrial capabilities of the base. With limited resources, the old base couldn’t advance further in physics. Even if the new base made progress, it couldn’t reach the Imperial’s three thousand years of technological development in just twenty years.
Lin Xu frowned at the recorder, its smooth metal surface reflecting a blurry image. “Where’s the recording switch?” The metal box was completely smooth, with no visible buttons or indicators.
“We don’t know,” Heinrich replied. “I found this rectangular object while piloting my mecha. In the lab, we tried various scans and perspectives, all failed. We measured its radiation and electromagnetic emissions, and it was like an ordinary piece of iron. But once you touch it, it plays the recording.”
“Touch?”
“Yes,” Zhou Pingbo said, “Touch it with your hand. Machines, animals, plants, or energy beams won’t work. It has to be a human touch. I suspect this little box has a genetic recognition feature.”
That level of technology was beyond the base’s capabilities. Could it be from the Spiritual Monarch? But why would the Spiritual Monarch place this metal box containing audio in the Kuiper Belt? Zhou Pingbo asked, “Shall we try listening to it now?”
Lin Xu and Heinrich exchanged a serious glance and then nodded. Zhou Pingbo extended a finger towards the palm-sized metal box. “I’ve conducted tests. After touching it, the human body retains no traces. I can hardly imagine a gene-detection method that leaves no trace.”
His finger touched the outside of the metal box. As everyone’s attention focused on it, the air went silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, the box vibrated slightly and emitted a sound, but Heinrich and Zhou Pingbo’s expressions suddenly changed.
Human voices emanated from the metal box, but the content was entirely different from the repetitive phrases Heinrich and Zhou Pingbo had heard before. Lin Xu, who had only heard a small segment of the copied version, noticed the pronunciation, emotion, and tone were completely different from the current speech.
The three Imperial individuals couldn’t understand the words from the box, but Lin Xu caught key phrases. He raised his hand to signal them to stay calm and not speak; he needed to understand what the box was saying.
It was speaking human languages… more than one. Within seconds, Lin Xu identified at least fifteen languages. Some he understood, others he didn’t. In the languages he comprehended, the box seemed to be repeating the same sentence. A minute later, the box stopped speaking and emitted a low noise, like channel interference.
“What is it saying?” Heinrich asked during the pause. Lin Xu, both serious and puzzled, replied, “Je pense, donc je suis.”
He repeated the phrase in Imperial for the others to understand. At the same time, the metal box spoke again.
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
