The commander and adjutant stared blankly at the now vacated hole. Their brains, reeling from the near-death experience, could barely process what they were seeing. Light shone in through the opening, nearly obscuring that figure from sight. The dust that floated through the air shone almost gold.
The adjutant was a little dazed. “G-God, is that you?”
Or was he still dreaming?
Meanwhile, Ano paid no more attention to the still-twitching carcass below and peered into the cabin. He took in the messy interior and the unfamiliar controls and command console.
He could barely stop his expression from souring when he saw all the buttons and controls. What the heck was all that?
He didn’t even see a psychic power input control module or the commander’s seat used to stabilize signal transmission that should be in the center of the room.
He could already tell that these were outdated models from when he forcibly linked to the ships using psychic power, but how was he supposed to expect these were ancient relics that only had manual drive?
He subconsciously glanced at Norton, who was standing on top of a rocky outcropping nearby.
Norton noticed his gaze and frowned slightly as well.
Ano paused before realizing they didn’t have the luxury of exchanging vast amounts of information using psychic power right now. Normally, a Grantz’s psychic power would suffuse the entire battlefield, transmitting countless messages instantly so that they only needed to exchange a look to understand each other.
However, both of their reserves were nearly exhausted and still recovering at the moment, so they couldn’t afford such a luxury.
Ano awkwardly gestured with his hands.
Norton landed lightly beside him moments later.
The commander had managed to recover most of his wits by now. “Are you natives that haven’t evacuated yet?”
He knew there was a planet on the frontlines whose coordinates were kept secret. He had heard many rumours about it as well. Now that its coordinates had been made public, there was no need to pretend otherwise.
However, he had never seen humans use their own body as a weapon to slaughter insects.
That was, until today.
When both Ano and Norton ignored him, he could only backtrack, “Thank you both for stepping in. May I askā”
Even if he was still shocked on an intrinsic level by their inhuman strength, his instincts from recruiting people over the years kicked in.
“Would you like toā how about leaving here, with us? There’s no meaning in staying here. I don’t have any other intentions, it’s just, I mean, no matter what you’re here to do, you have to leave this place first, right?”
The experienced commander was near incoherent right now.
Ano glanced at Norton, who spoke a moment later.
“Hm.”
He paused, “That would be great.”
ā¦ā¦
The adjutant’s back was ramrod straight as he snuck another quick look behind him.
Norton’s eyes were closed while Ano was staring fixedly at the controls. The adjutant did his best to ignore the gaze digging into his back as he worked with 110% efficiency.
“…Weapons systems are 70% damaged. Propulsion system is operating normallyā”
Another alarm blared. The adjutant quickly checked, another interface alarm. It stopped before he could do anything about it. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief and continued his report.
“Please advise, sir.”
The commander let out a long sigh, “The mission will have to wait. We’ll gather the team and go take a break at a nearby supply post.”
Ano’s brows unfurrowed a bit. He could care less about their mission. He had work to do.
In any case, leaving here ASAP was for the best. This place was so remote not even the galactic network could be accessed reliably. He had tried in secret several times earlier to gather some intel to no avail, causing those alarms to sound until he gave up. This scrapheap of a ship was really getting on his nerves.
That familiar alarm sounded again, but just for a moment. The adjutant read out the report again. The captain paused before adding a few remarks to the operation reportāĀ
Warship experienced frequent malfunctions, therefore the operation was temporarily halted.
Ano snuck another glance at Norton, whose eyes remained closed.
Surely Big Brother couldn’t question his technique now, he thought.
ā¦ā¦
Ye Muo was bored out of his mind in the base these days.
He couldn’t take it anymore. He had been forced to stay here too long by Ambrose, only able to watch as the other Grantz came and went everyday with a metallic scent about them.
He wanted to leave too.
Ethan, who had just returned from a defense mission, pushed his head down as he was thinking about it and gloated, “Forget it. Ambrose would never agree to that. Who told you to leave Elias behind back then? Now Ambrose is personally keeping an eye on you, happy?”
Theodore didn’t stand unconditionally by Ye Muo’s side for once. He pretended he was actually a little kitty and cleaned his paws diligently. He too hoped Ye Muo would stay quietly by Ambrose’s side.
There was no place safer than by the side of the strongest Grantz.
It wasn’t until Ethan upped the ante and put Ye Muo in a neckhold to ruffle his hair into utter disarray and Ye Muo started protesting that Theodore jumped up like his tail had been stepped on and started batting at Ethan to save him.
Once everyone settled down, Ethan sobered up. He reiterated for the umpteenth time that Ye Muo should not sneak out of Ambrose’s territory. “It’s a mess out there. What if you get lost?”
Ye Muo could even wander off and end up at the Rift. Ethan had no trust in him.
Ye Muo’s constant reassurance that he got it wasn’t enough. Ethan insisted he repeat every single instruction after him.
Ye Muo was getting a bit fed up with him. “Ethan, you’re like a broken nannybot.”
His nannybot had acted just like this when it malfunctioned when he was a child. It kept repeating the same actions, picking him up with the plush he was holding before placing him back down and then picking him back up…
It happened 16 times until Ye He happened to pass by and took him from the nannybot.
Ye Muo actually really liked being held, but in hindsight he was relieved the nannybot fixated on something so innocuous instead of repeatedly feeding him food or water. Besides, the warm embrace of his big brother was more comfortable for sure.
Ye Muo lowered his head as his mind started wandering again. Ethan thought he was holding a grudge and looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and nervousness.
Ye Muo pushed his face away. He was much more familiar with the other Grantz here now, otherwise he wouldn’t do such a thing.
Ethan sobered up a little as well. He didn’t want to be a grown-up that the kids disliked.
Besides, he pondered, Ye Muo was being quite obedient already.
Ambrose lucked out with Ye Muo. If it was him that was being kept cooped up all day, he would sneak attack Ambrose 800 times everyday. Even Salem, who had a slightly better temperament than him, wouldn’t put up with this.
But what could Ethan do about it? He actually completely agreed with Ambrose’s actions.
However, he understood the need for someone to play bad cop and good cop in a family. You had to balance doting with discipline.
Therefore, he would be the doting uncle.
“Go ask Ambrose. If he agrees to it, I’ll take you out to play nearby today.”
Ye Muo looked up with trusting eyes. “Then I’ll go ask him right now.”
Dummy. Ambrose would never agree.
Ethan patted himself on the back as he watched Ye Muo run off.
Sure enough, the child returned to the windowsill with a defeated air about him shortly after and quietly sat down beside Ethan.
Ethan’s conscience started eating away at him.
He shuffled closer to Ye Muo and told him sincerely this time, “I have a pursuit mission coming up that shouldn’t be dangerous. If Ambrose agreesā”
Ye Muo’s eyes brightened. “Then I’ll tag along!”
“Of course not! He just rejected you. What I meant is, if he agrees, I’ll share my perspective with you.”
It would be more immersive than sharing info alone. It felt like you were really there, the only caveat being you couldn’t control where you went.
It was a common method older Grantz used with little Grantz. Before they were strong enough, it was a good way to let them experience high-level battles and learn more advanced skills.
Especially in the face of strong enemies, many Grantz would take the initiative to let little Grantz tag along in their psychic domain. The benefits outweigh the risks when it came to high-level battles.
Ye Muo looked completely confused.
Ethan was even more surprised than him. “You don’t know?”
He frowned. “You father really was lacking.”
“My dad’s great,” Ye Muo reflexively retorted.
“Then how will you learn to fight?”
“Father will teach me.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds.
“How will he teach you then?”
Ye Muo hesitated, worried he would say something wrong again. “Bit by bit?”
He wasn’t a fast learner by any means.
“Like personally?”
Ye Muo blinked. Were there other methods? “Sometimes, we go practice on insects. My big brothers also help teach me.”
Ethan fell silent after getting Ye Muo’s answer. It seemed like his conclusion may have been a bit premature. It wasn’t that Ye Muo’s family overlooked him to the point that he wandered off here, it sounded like they actually coddled him instead.
Only a family that was unwilling to take the slightest of risks would lead to a little Grantz not experiencing this once at his age.
Ethan was already learning how to fight before he even started walking using this method, but Ye Muo had no idea it was even a thing.
His family wanted him to grow up at his own pace and did not push him beyond his current capabilities in any way. It was their way of telling Ye Muo there was no hurry to grow up.
Ethan fell silent for a while. He felt a bit down for some reason.
“In any case, go ask Ambrose. I’ll share my perspective with you if he agrees. I promise it’ll be interesting.”
Before he even finished speaking, Ye Muo was already rushing off to find Ambrose again.
Ethan perked up a bit moments later. He was only sharing his perspective for fun, not for educational purposes. Regardless, it seemed like he would be the first to share what would normally be a parental experience with Ye Muo.
