…The next day, Ming Yi didn’t leave the starship.
But while Ming Yi shut himself off, Xue Yuanqing couldn’t afford to.
Unable to contact the main star system for now, even with bloodstains marking his face and receiving countless curious stares wherever he went, he had to grit his teeth and press on, no matter the cost.
Xue Yuanqing was indeed furious.
He hadn’t expected Lu Yuan and the others to be so reckless in beating up Ming Yi, and even more unexpected was that Ming Yi… instead of taking responsibility, came back and vented his anger on him!
Xue Yuanqing’s face, which had always been considered merely delicate, had been clawed by Ming Yi, and now it was almost unrecognizable.
As he walked past, trying to avoid the gazes of others, Xue Yuanqing accidentally caught sight of Xu Yin. Upon seeing his handsome face, Xue Yuanqing couldn’t help but feel a rare surge of jealousy.
In the past, he had never paid much attention to Xu Yin.
So what if he was good-looking? Wasn’t he still just a useless fool who couldn’t do anything?
And so what if his father was powerful? Didn’t he know that one day he would eventually be eliminated?
However, right now, Xu Yin, despite carrying the identity of a criminal, was calm and composed. His demeanor was even more captivating than before.
As for Huo Lingqi, he was like a protector, always standing by his side… It was said that when Ming Yi was beaten yesterday, the two of them had been kissing in the corner…
To be honest, if it weren’t for his father wanting to ally with the Ming family, Xue Yuanqing wouldn’t even have given Ming Yi a second glance.
It was common knowledge that, as a man, Huo Lingqi had much more appeal!
But Huo Lingqi was clearly not in their league.
Furthermore, ever since Huo Lingqi had gotten out of the battlefield and stationed himself here, Xue Yuanqing had become increasingly uneasy, sensing that everything was heading in an unfavorable direction…
With all these factors coming together, Xue Yuanqing now found himself growing increasingly irritated every time he saw Xu Yin and Huo Lingqi together.
Meanwhile, communication with the main star system was still impossible, and progress on breaking through the spiritual power barrier seemed hopeless. Xu Yin completely ignored their concerns.
Huo Lingqi, on the other hand, had already dispatched his team to search the surrounding star systems for any undiscovered spatial tunnels.
The pressure on Xue Yuanqing was immense. After returning to the starship that day, he pondered for a while and then initiated an encrypted communication.
The connection was quickly made, and Xue Yuanqing asked, “Have your people all evacuated from those tunnel exits?”
The voice on the other end was unnaturally stiff, as if each word had to be forced out. “Our clan has many uncontrollable groups, I can’t manage all of them. But if you run into those people, it doesn’t matter. If you want to kill them, go ahead. It’s their own fault.”
Xue Yuanqing felt drained. He nodded, intending to end the communication, but then he heard something that made him pause: “Has a very special human appeared on your side?”
Immediately, Xue Yuanqing asked, “How do you know? Are you still keeping clan members there? How dare you be so bold!”
And how could they hide such a large evolutionary beast?
Xue Yuanqing was puzzled, but the other party just laughed eerily twice, not answering his question. Instead, they said, “Is that person very close to Huo Lingqi? Huo Lingqi and his deputy are hard to deal with, but that person—how easy would he be to handle?”
Xue Yuanqing frowned at the evasion but quickly became intrigued by the latter part of the message: “What, do you want Xu Yin?”
The voice on the other end chuckled. “Very interesting. We want to study him. And if we can deal with him, taking care of Huo Lingqi won’t be far behind. Heh, thanks to Huo Lingqi, he’s delivered the weakness right to us.”
Xue Yuanqing furrowed his brows. “What kind of method do you plan to use?”
“That’s none of your business,” the voice replied. “If you can manage it, bring him to a location 10 light years away from that exile planet in three days.”
The place the other party mentioned was a low-level planet, one that Xue Yuanqing was familiar with. It was underdeveloped, and the planetary official there was someone from his father’s faction.
“How come you still have clan members in so many places?” Xue Yuanqing was irritated, but he didn’t think too much about it. “Although the planetary official of that planet is one of ours, now that Huo Lingqi is here, we need to be careful.”
“Got it, got it,” came the teasing response.
Xue Yuanqing wanted to ask more questions, but he knew the other side wouldn’t answer him. With a frustrated sigh, he ended the communication.
After hanging up, his gaze shifted slightly.
Xiao Jiu and the others had already begun searching nearby star systems, and Xu Yin had joined the operation.
At first, Huo Lingqi had opposed this.
However, things took a turn when Xu Yin, now piloting a repaired mecha, had a spar with him. The match ended with Huo Lingqi’s training mecha’s right arm being sent flying.
As soon as the arm flew off, Huo Lingqi fell into silence.
He then stepped out of the mecha, watching as Xiao Jiu and the others rushed over to Xu Yin, jumping up and down excitedly.
“Awesome, Xu Yin!”
“Told you, the old-style mechas are the best! The new ones are too weak!”
“Boss, why don’t we just switch our entire army to the old mechas?”
“Yeah, yeah!”
Xu Yin gave Huo Lingqi a gentle smile as he walked over.
Huo Lingqi: “…”
He stiffened his face and reluctantly gave in.
As it turned out, their search bore fruit. In the nearby star systems, they found five spatial tunnels, one of which led to a group of extremely dangerous evolutionary beasts.
That day, Xu Yin happened to be on a mission with Xiao Jiu. The two of them led their team to charge in, wiping out a wave of evolutionary beasts and completely clearing out the evolutionary beasts’ lair.
During this small skirmish, Xu Yin and Xiao Jiu also managed to break through another layer of potential, causing their spiritual power to surge again.
Xu Yin was quite surprised. From this, it seemed that after breaking through the first layer of spiritual power with external intervention, the subsequent layers could be broken through by pushing the body’s extreme physical capabilities.
This made things a lot more convenient.
As for the “dense” spatial tunnels, they vaguely pointed to a suspicion.
“The evolutionary beasts are secretly trying to take over the entire star system,” Xiao Jiu said with a vicious tone.
“Although this star system is rather remote with loose management, to open so many spatial tunnels, there must be someone helping them from the inside,” Yan Shu added.
“That means someone is acting on their own and handing over this entire star system,” Lu Yuan sneered.
As they were speaking, Xu Yin noticed Xue Yuanqing walking over from a distance. He glanced at them briefly but then awkwardly avoided their eyes. Xu Yin narrowed his gaze slightly.
If he wasn’t mistaken, that look from Xue Yuanqing was directed at him.
And this was the third time such a look had happened in the past two days.
Trying to cover up something.
His way of doing things was still too immature.
Xu Yin wasn’t sure whether the elders of the Ming and Xue families genuinely believed in their two young heirs, or if the secretive plans they were hatching were too classified for anyone outside the family to handle. Perhaps that was why they didn’t dare to let anyone else get involved.
However, no matter what, since they had already revealed their tail, Xu Yin and the others had no reason to let them off the hook.
No matter what Xue Yuanqing was planning, Xu Yin intended to follow through, and he was even waiting for Xue Yuanqing to make his move.
Hmm… but his Lao gong probably wouldn’t approve of him taking risks, so before making any moves, he had to first coax his Lao gong into agreeing.
…
So that night, after returning to the dorm, Xu Yin dragged the man into the room and shut the door.
That’s right. Since sending Xu Yin’s mother away, Huo Lingqi had moved into this small dorm room with Xu Yin.
He claimed that this arrangement made it more convenient for him to take care of his lover.
At this moment, Huo Lingqi was pinned to the bed by his lover.
Huo Lingqi’s face was stiff, his ears were bright red, and he was at a loss for words. His voice was hoarse: “…Yinyin?”
The young man lowered his head, a faint jasmine fragrance lingering in the air around them.
Xu Yin lightly brushed his nose against the man’s, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He spoke softly, “General, there’s something I want to discuss with you…”
“What?” Huo Lingqi’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly.
Xu Yin’s voice lowered further: “Just to be clear, if you accept the reward, you must agree to this.”
“?” Huo Lingqi furrowed his brows warily, and the next second, he felt his belt being undone. The sound of it “clicking” made him freeze, his face flushing red from his ears down to his neck, his entire body stiffening like a stone.
Xu Yin smiled and asked, “Hmm? Do you agree or not?”
Huo Lingqi looked dazed, “…What?”
“Okay, we’ll take that as a yes,” Xu Yin said with a grin.
Huo Lingqi: “???”
Xu Yin lowered his head and kissed the man’s lips, whispering, “Get ready to accept your reward.”
…
Extreme physical exertion can break through potential limits.
Practice makes perfect.
It turned out that “extreme physical exertion” wasn’t limited to activities like mecha piloting or hand-to-hand combat… it could also apply to other intense activities.
The next day.
The group was ready to set off, and Xiao Jiu, noticing the flush and the serious yet happy expressions on both Huo Lingqi and Xu Yin, felt something was off. He keenly asked, “Why do you both look so good today?”
“After breaking through potential limits, your complexion improves for a while. Didn’t you feel the same yesterday?” Xu Yin replied with a smile.
Xiao Jiu: “???”
So, what’s going on with you and the boss looking so good so early in the morning??
Before Xiao Jiu could ask any more questions, Xue Yuanqing suddenly walked over with a group of people. Taking a deep breath under the gaze of the group, he said, “General Huo, Xingyun Council has sent me and Ming Yi here. Aside from matters concerning you, we’re also here to investigate the spatial tunnels. So… from today, our two teams would like to join yours in the search. Is that alright?”
He looked earnest. “We were wrong about the conflict a few days ago, and I apologize for that. But we can’t afford to waste time, so I hope you’ll agree to our joining.”
Here it comes.
Huo Lingqi’s face remained expressionless. After Xu Yin gave him a quick glance… he blushed, his ears turning red, and coldly responded, “Mm.”
Xiao Jiu immediately realized what was going on. He glanced at Huo Lingqi and then at Xu Yin, raising an eyebrow.
‘Heh, looks like they’re getting ready to catch the tail now,’ he thought.
Upon hearing Huo Lingqi’s response, Xue Yuanqing’s eyes immediately lit up.
He secretly clenched his fists, desperately trying to suppress his excitement and the satisfaction of getting ready to take his revenge. He smiled gently at Xu Yin and the others. “Then, I look forward to working with you.”
Xu Yin smiled back, “Mm, looking forward to it.”
Xiao Jiu crossed his arms and grinned mischievously, “Mm-hmm, it’ll be a pleasure.”
Xue Yuanqing: “???”
His smile instantly faded, a chill running through him. He cautiously thought…
‘…Why does this feel a bit creepy?’
