Dawn Sleep

At the end of the 64th year of the new imperial calendar.

Far interstellar, smectic hive space.

The fierce battle of nearly three hours was over.The remains of alien creatures are floating in space, and the transparent white crystal blocks are like scattered islands in the deep sea.

Yin Beidou's fleet shuttled out of the battlefield, and the mecha soldiers lined up to return to the ship.

This is the first White Bird Expeditionary Force dispatched by the Empress since the empire entered a wartime state.With the Silver Beidou First Army as the main force, Jinrilun, who has experience in supporting the frontlines of the far interstellar, also accounted for [-]%.

Major General Xie Yuduo of Yin Beidou was the main general, Crown Prince Leian Keos was accompanying the army, and the young son of Glory Star City, Hara Nagasawa, was also secretly accompanying him.

Inside the flagship Tianshu.

Tang Zhen had just vomited once. He took off the special battle armor of the expeditionary force, wobbled and jumped off while supporting the body of the mecha.

Xie Yuduo brushed past him, and patted the young officer on the back: "Okay, Xiao Tang, we have improved compared to last time."

Tang Zhen trembled when he was photographed: "...vomit!!"

He threw up again.

The closer to the core area of ​​the crystal nest, the more difficult it is to maintain a stable mental and physical condition - Xie Yuduo also encountered this problem during his private expedition.

I didn't know the reason at the beginning, but now it is clear that it was the attack of crystal particles on human beings.

The expeditionary force has been marching for a month, and the newly developed anti-crystal combat armor at the Black Shark base is almost ineffective.The soldiers of the empire had to learn a new way of fighting while advancing in such a high-load environment: using mental power to counteract the grain consciousness.

"Major General Xie, the mecha team has confirmed to return to the ship." Hara Nagasawa ran three steps in two, stood at attention and handed the towel, "Please instruct!"

Xie Yuduo took it over and hurriedly wiped off his sweat, "Where is Your Highness?"

Hara Nagasawa: "I haven't come back yet... I'll contact you."

The once gentle young master also put on Yin Beidou's military uniform, with the pistol that Jiang Jianming gave him at his waist.

In the beginning, no one expected him to do anything, and he was only asked to be responsible for some clerical work.It was not until the smectic nest Yuyu discovered that the original Nagasawa, who was an amorphous race, was much less affected by the crystal particles than the new human soldiers.

This discovery was exciting, and Xie Yuduo immediately reported it to the old Marshal Chen of the military department, hoping to select more amorphic races to do further comparative tests.

In the rear, a dark golden streamer passed through the broken corpses of alien creatures, chasing the starship fleet with superb driving operations, and it was the crown of golden dawn who was in charge of breaking the rear.

Xie Yuduo: "Here we come!"

The bloody mecha gradually slowed down after approaching the Tianshu, its back wings folded, and it slid into the interior of the starship.

With a "da", the military boots stepped on the floor.

Ryan Keos stepped off the mecha.The crystal bones like iron wings are half-closed and attached to the back, and the red gold is slowly extinguishing from the bottom of the eyes.

His expression was indifferent, he was only wearing the ordinary silver Beidou military uniform, his long curly hair was coiled around the back of his head, and he was the only person in the entire army who did not wear the crystal-blocking armor to participate in the battle.

"Your Highness!"

Xie Yuduo rushed to meet him, grabbed the crown prince and looked up and down, he was relieved when he saw that there was no missing arm or leg, and returned to the state of frowning and nagging:

"My lord, after a normal person dies, it's a cover for the large army to retreat while fighting. How about you... you won't come back after you die!?"

"There is an S-level alien creature attached to the back, it's not safe, just clean it up."

Ryan walked in calmly, "Don't worry, I said... until he comes back, he won't do anything risky."

"..."

Xie Yuduo had a complicated expression, silently watching the stern back of the crown prince disappear at the other end of the aisle.

More than half a year has passed since the thrilling battle to recapture the first fortress.This also means that nearly two hundred days have passed since they lost Jiang Jianming.

Time can dilute the sadness, but it cannot erase the lack in the heart.

A few days ago, some soldiers were chatting and said that since the crystal-less race is less affected by crystal particles, letting the crystal-less race be the leader may be the hope of breaking through to the crystal nest mother core.

"Hey, that's easy to say."

A silver Beidou man was holding harmless smoke in his mouth, holding his own crystal-blocking mask in his arms, "We used to think that disabled humans are useless, and military schools don't accept disabled human children. Now where can I find someone who can lead the army?" The handicapped people come over?"

Suddenly, a large area around fell silent.

Anyone can think of that person.

No one could bear to say that name.

The gurgling blood solidified and was washed away by the water of the years, leaving a deep scar.

It's usually not very good, only when I accidentally bumped into it at a certain moment, it will suddenly hurt and burst into unstoppable tears.

Night, 11:30.

There is no sun rising and moon setting in the universe, but the army still strictly follows the 24-hour timing.

Ryan came out of the shower, sat down at the desk with his long hair loose, and turned on the wrist phone.

He slowly called up a small video, projecting the picture in front of his eyes.

In the video, Jiang Jianming is lying in a sterile special treatment cabin with his face as snowy and his eyes closed peacefully.

It was still the same... There was no heaving of the heart, no sound of breathing, let alone the slightest movement, it was completely a corpse.

Ryan stared at it intently, and he carefully stretched out his hands, enveloping the square picture in his palm.

It's as if Jiang Jianming has turned into a little thumb in a fairy tale and can sleep in his palm.

"Wang."

Seth let out a small cry beside him.

Ryan tapped his wrist phone, his voice hoarse: "Quiet."

This is the daily life of the crown prince.During the day, he and Xie Yuduo analyzed the battle situation together, and when appropriate, he ended up as a human-shaped bomber for the fleet to open the way.

In the evening, the fleet's march would slow down, so he went to deal with official duties and check on the situation of the empire.

Before going to bed, he set aside 10 minutes for himself to stare at Jiang Jianming silently for a while.

It has become a habit.

The video is transmitted from the Black Shark base, the distance is too far, and real-time communication is very difficult, so it can only be recorded and sent once a month.

According to Silver, there are re-records every month, but with Jiang Jianming's appearance, no one can tell whether it is a re-record or not.

Ryan didn't care either.Every day after losing a lover feels like draining him.Sometimes in the dead of night, when he was lying on the bed, hiding under the thick quilt, death would come whistling through the darkness.

Closing eyes is the depths of the snow-falling mecha, the top of the fortress where the sky is shining.Jiang Jianming melted into the distance like a bubble, or turned into a piece of white cloth in his arms.

The irresistible pain will pierce him at this time, and the most powerful new human in the empire will suddenly open his eyes, like a toddler awakened from a nightmare, and roll out of bed in embarrassment.

Like a lost lamb, he wandered around the bedroom, trying to find some medicine that could relieve the pain.In the end, Jiang Jianming's relics and old clothes must have been dug out from the sealed bag, his arms were tightly hugged, his face was buried in it and rubbed, his eyebrows were lowered and he let out a deep gasp like pain.

But sometimes it doesn't work. He can only open the videos sent by the base, and watch them over and over again under the blanket.

A small piece of light screen flashing in the darkness gradually blurs the vision, and it will achieve an effect comparable to sedation.

...My lord, you are exaggerating too much.

In a trance, Jiang Jianming's phantom seemed to pat him on the back helplessly: "Your Highness walked away back then, and I was not like you."

"...I'm sorry about what happened back then."

Well, I forgive you.Just watch me sleep in a while, okay?

Ryan's eyes were dim, and he said softly, "Jiang, I miss you very much."

Okay, okay, I know...I miss His Highness very much too.

"When will you come back?"

I don't know either, after all I'm just a phantom imagined by you.

With gentle eyebrows and eyes, Jiang Jianming leaned over and kissed him: Go to sleep, I'm tired today, and I still have things to do tomorrow.

Ryan closed his eyes, he would dream of his lover's voice and fall asleep while he was half asleep.

In short, this is already the last resort for him to keep his emotions out of control.Three 10 minutes every night can support him to live normally the next day.

Sometimes he would also send messages to Silve, asking how Jiang Jianming was doing.But the situation never changed, so he turned to ask other questions.

For example, "What if he thinks about the past and loses his desire to survive?" or "Which is best for him, the original body or the two substrates, and which one does he like best?" and so on.

Sylph didn't reply much.Ryan guessed that the leader was too annoying, and automatically filtered it into spam text messages in his mind.

Lin Ge would occasionally send him something, such as the photos of the assembly where the people of Aslan Star City spontaneously collectively "sacrificed" Jiang Jianming, or the sensational essays that went viral on Zhiwang.

Ryan knew that Lin Ge wanted to appease him and reassure him.Now that the empire has entered a state of wartime, the citizens are struggling to live, coupled with mental anxiety, social problems will inevitably appear over time.

But the emperor never let the soldiers stationed in the distant interstellar know about this, nor told him.

"Di Di-"

Suddenly, the small square projection flickered, and the pop-up window blocked Jiang Jianming's figure.There is a call.

... It was only No. 17 minutes, and his important time was interrupted.

Ryan gritted his teeth irritably, picked up the communication, and hoped that this would not affect his fighting state tomorrow.

"Say."

"Your Highness! I'm sorry to interrupt your important time," Xie Yuduo's tense face appeared on the opposite side of the pop-up window, "Second Fortress Emergency Report, Lava Space Bandits..."

Ryan stood up abruptly, his eyes sharp: "Is the lava coming out?"

After the battle on Alien Alpha, the Crystal Sect was severely damaged by the Imperial Army, and the Lava Space Pirates also abandoned their positions around Alien Beta and retreated to the distant star space.

Months have passed since then, and the fortress has received no new information about the space pirates.

"Yes and no."

Xie Yuduo just said something and shook his head to change his words, "We have received news about Yu Pirates, but they are not near the fortress, but in a remote space."

"The lava was overwhelmed by the crystal teaching, and a large number of space robbers died violently. Both the old black sheep and the red dragon were seriously injured. Silver Beidou detected L-Hephaestus who was fleeing."

"—!"

The crown prince's pupils shrank slightly, and his face suddenly became tense.

"Your Majesty and Commander-in-Chief Chen have just found out about this. Let us not be distracted and carry out the expedition as originally planned. The empire will send troops to deal with it, but we must also be careful."

Ryan's eyes darkened, "...I know."

"There are so many crystal chaos dead, and the power of the crystal nest may be increased."