Chapter 77
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The night before departure, besides thinking about the mission, Rong Qiu rarely had other thoughts.
“Qiu Qiu, I’ll wait for you to come back.”
Rong Qiu felt a tingling sensation in his heart upon hearing the Alpha’s words, like newly hatched butterflies fluttering and brushing past his nose, extremely gentle yet impossible to ignore.
From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever said such words to him. The aunties and the director of the orphanage, the teachers and classmates he met when he entered A University, they would only say, “Goodbye, Rong Qiu/Little Qiu.” Even though he knew these were beautiful farewell words, he still couldn’t agree with them.
In a person’s decades-long life, how many opportunities are there for a “goodbye”?
Compared to “goodbye,” the impact of the phrase “waiting for his return” was much greater.
He had always thought that no one would stand still and wait for him.
Wherever he drifted, his return was always rootless.
Rong Qiu licked the slightly cracked corners of his lips.
He wondered, why was there such a big difference in people? Qin Zexi’s existence contrasted Qin Muye’s righteousness in all aspects.
But, it seemed that Qin Muye had always been like this.
Regardless of what he said or did, what he liked or disliked, Qin Muye was always straightforward. While being with Qin Muye, he didn’t need unnecessary suspicion or extra caution.
Rong Qiu didn’t even know that if others knew of his high praise for Qin Muye, they would be so shocked that their jaws wouldn’t close.
What kind of person was Qin Muye?
An S-class Alpha, no matter how peaceful he appeared outwardly, inside, he looked down on betas. Because in the eyes of the Alphas, apart from the Alpha peers and omega partners, betas were simply a waste of social resources—betas were mediocre in all aspects, lacking the pheromones that possessed attacking power or attraction. The continuous degeneration of the glands and the shrinking of the reproductive organs highlighted the failure of betas in the ABO evolutionary process.
Since they were failures in biological and social evolution, they should naturally stay obediently in the place where failures belonged.
Rong Qiu carefully recalled the year he first met Qin Muye, and all the words and actions of the beta “Qin Ye” were highly consistent with Qin Ye’s good friend, Su Ran. At that time, he thought Qin Ye had been led astray by Su Ran, not realizing that they were originally on the same path… But now, the change in Qin Muye was evident to all.
Rong Qiu leaned against a soft pillow, absentmindedly rotating the joints of his right ring finger.
But what his fingertip touched was still the smooth and cool bone of the ring finger.
He forgot.
He forgot again.
The ring that had accompanied him for five years had already been handed over to Qin Muye.
All because of that momentary impulse.
Rong Qiu felt some regret.
How would Qin Muye treat his ring?
Put it away casually in a box, or like him, hang it on a keychain and carry it around all the time…
Both scenarios were possible.
But that wasn’t the key issue anymore.
The most crucial thing now was when his hand, unable to find the ring, reached toward his chest, his heartbeat was steady and rhythmic. However, the frequency of this rhythm was slightly faster than usual.
A heart rate below 60 beats per minute is considered bradycardia, while more than 100 beats per minute is tachycardia.
He was at least 180 beats per minute.
Rong Qiu had a stern face.
But he had to admit, his heart was in turmoil.
***
What was even more chaotic than Rong Qiu’s heart was the complex relationship between the beta and the Alpha groups within the Volunteer Army. With the high praise from the commander of the Thirteenth Military District for Rong Qiu, the Volunteer Army had long regarded Rong Qiu as one of their own.
Alpha: “Chief Rong Qiu truly deserves the praise and attention of the commander. He’s amazing.”
Beta: “Praising is just praising. Does Chief Rong Qiu’s outstandingness in the eyes of Commander Qin surpass his own achievements? Before Commander Qin even knew Chief Rong Qiu, Chief Rong Qiu had already earned several ‘Triple One Medals’ in the military district based on his own strength!”
Alpha: “I was just praising casually. Why are you so worked up…”
Beta: “Can’t you praise properly? Clearly, Chief Rong Qiu’s outstandingness is evident based on his own merits, yet you an Alpha still have to praise him to show off the excellence of betas? I’m annoyed by your Alpha behavior, acting like there’s no one else in the world besides Alphas!”
Dialogues like this had circulated within the Volunteer Army several times.
After all, Alphas were Alphas. Naturally, they were angry when scolded by betas, but after being scolded several times, they strangely got used to it.
After all, they were all influenced by Big Boss Rong.
Even Big Boss Rong, who was still unconscious, was a typical sharp-tongued beta. It was not an exaggeration to say that the betas around him had sharp tongues. But what was up with this group of betas? They secretly applied to change teams behind their backs. Looking at the fully manned beta mecha operators behind Rong Qiu in the latest mission list, the Alphas from other teams felt inexplicably flustered.
From this mission onwards, the Volunteer Army began a scoring system. The higher the score of the mission, the higher the benefits. But Chief Rong Qiu, who was always victorious, didn’t even let them catch up!
The regretful Alphas naturally wouldn’t blame Rong Qiu. They just secretly acknowledged this loss.
Who said betas were all honest and straightforward? Why were the betas in their Volunteer Army even more cunning than them!
When assembling the team, Rong Qiu saw the Alphas traveling with him but not belonging to his team, each with eyes full of hostility, glaring at his team. Before boarding the short-range starship, Rong Qiu asked the deputy team leader sitting beside him, “What’s wrong with Teams Two and Three? They seem a bit off. It’s fine usually, but now it’s a critical time for missions. We mustn’t have internal strife.”
Coincidentally, the deputy team leader sitting beside Rong Qiu was also a beta. The beta deputy team leader turned his head, blurred the focus, and said, “They’re just excited about the mission. This mission is so far away; they’re treating it as a vacation.”
“A vacation?”
“Yeah, a strange saying in the Volunteer Army.”
Initially, it was from the extremely pessimistic mecha pilots. They had no parents, no wives, no children. They went on missions just to kill pirates. When they died, they would be buried anywhere. So every mission was the last journey of their lives.
Hearing what the beta deputy team leader said, Rong Qiu sighed silently.
“Go back and continue perfecting the scoring system.”
While the betas and the Alphas were at odds, Rong Qiu’s missions outside continued smoothly.
After all, ambushing three hundred pirates with a team of one thousand people, they were still driving the latest military mecha designed by Rong Qiu. Even without the assistance of the regular army, Rong Qiu’s missions were exceptionally perfect. Similar missions became more and more frequent, and the number of accompanying personnel requested by Rong Qiu decreased. From the initial one thousand to eight hundred, then to five hundred.
In the last ten days of October, Rong Qiu, leading a volunteer army of less than three hundred people, destroyed a temporary base of five to six hundred pirates, killing or capturing seven hundred and sixty-three pirates.
Even after the real combat victory, Rong Qiu came back and reorganized the mecha repairmen to redesign the Volunteer Army’s military mecha. Although the mecha driven by the Volunteer Army team looked almost the same as the ones previously sold, their agility increased significantly. The cost of this was sacrificing some firepower suppression.
But that didn’t matter. Their task was to expel and inflict a certain blow on the scattered pirates.
Such mecha were especially suitable.
In a blink of an eye, October passed.
In early November, the southwest district, a sub-attribute, was still lush green.
Leading the Volunteer Army under the official army’s escort, Rong Qiu traveled from the bustling city of Sand City to the natural tropical forest. According to the confidential letter given to him by Qin Muye, they were about to approach the pirates’ lair. However, this lair was vast, covering an area of 4.3 billion square kilometers.
The follow-up was still not optimistic. In the encrypted message from the two—
Qin Muye: “The mission is going smoothly. Continue according to plan.”
Rong Qiu: “Okay, but, are there enough people? The regular army plus the three volunteer armies add up to only seventy-five thousand…”
Qin Muye: “We can’t afford to fight yet.”
Rong Qiu: “Huh?”
Qin Muye: “The pirates are still relocating. Right now, you mustn’t make any sudden moves. Before the majority of the troops from the Thirteenth Military District arrive, you all must remain still.”
The Alpha emphasized repeatedly not to act impulsively. Rong Qiu understood his meaning. Their small actions now were just feints, intended to deceive the pirates. When the pirates let their guard down and fully transferred to the jungle, it would be the time for them to gather all their forces and capture the pirates.
Rong Qiu replied, “I understand. By the way, how’s my brother doing now?”
Qin Muye’s tone relaxed a bit, “Two days ago, there was a slight movement in Brother Rong Qin’s fingers, but there hasn’t been any reaction since then. However, the doctor said this is a good sign. The cerebral congestion is slowly dissipating, and Brother Rong Qin has already been moved out of the ICU.”
“Really? My brother has been moved out of the ICU!”
“Yes, maybe he’ll wake up one of these days.”
“Then, when my brother wakes up, you must tell me!”
“Yes. Alright.”
The day Rong Qin woke up happened to be Rong Qiu’s birthday.
On November 11th, the blood ties between brothers ultimately called out.
Rong Qin opened his eyes groggily. The bright light in the VIP ward made his eyes sore and tearful. He slowly sat up, feeling a bit dizzy. It seemed like someone ran out happily, shouting, “He’s awake, he’s awake.”
Am I awake?
Rong Qin struggled to open his eyes.
He found himself in a sparse room, and Rong Qin was very familiar with the layout inside.
It was a hospital room.
After lying on the bed for a while, he slowly became clear-headed.
He didn’t know how long he had been asleep, but now all he could think about was the day of the mission ambush, and his heart screamed with pain.
In the past, when ambushed, he would only secretly blame himself for not being as capable as others, unable to strategize like God Zhuge. But when he saw the figure of a certain Alpha during the ambush, all his self-blame and anger were engulfed by endless fear.
Even now, he still felt bone-chilling coldness.
He had never imagined that the person who used to be by his side would one day become an enemy.
Rong Qin rubbed his eyes with a frown. Deceived several times, he had long been at odds with Qin Zexi.
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