DDT - Chapter 119
Chapter 119: Interstellar ABO (4)
After a moment of awkwardness, Yi Shuhan turned her head away and began operating the light screen, a faint blush creeping up her ears.
Chi Junluo was also taken aback by this sudden development. The clothing designed by the people of this seemingly hyper-advanced future world was far too uninhibited. If someone accidentally bumped into you on the street, wouldn't you end up streaking?
Chi Junluo shook her leg, rolled up the clothes, and set them aside. Fortunately, things like underwear still existed in this era, so she wasn't completely naked.
The pretty girl who had brought her out didn't speak again. She simply sat cross-legged on the ground a few steps away. Her black hair rested smoothly against her shoulders and back, with a few strands falling in front of her. Perhaps they were obscuring her view, because while looking at the light screen on her left wrist, she used her right hand to tuck the loose strands behind her ears.
Only then did Chi Junluo have a chance to properly observe her. This pretty girl's skin was very fair, but not the sickly white of someone who hadn't seen the sun in years. Her cheeks were slightly rosy, and her skin was delicate and smooth. It must feel wonderful to the touch, she thought. Her nose was straight, and her small, pursed lips were a tempting shade of red.
Her visible left ear was exquisitely shaped, with fine red veins faintly visible. The earlobe was full but not overly large. In the world Chi Junluo originally came from, such an earlobe would surely belong to someone of great wealth and nobility.
Her neck was long and slender. Chi Junluo's gaze naturally drifted downward. Just as she caught a glimpse of a collarbone, her vision suddenly went dark. A round instrument had been placed over her head. For some reason, Chi Junluo sighed inwardly as an ancient line of poetry flashed through her mind: A fair maiden, a gentleman's desire.
Chi Junluo didn't notice the slight tremor in Yi Shuhan's fingertips.
As a genius with SS-grade mental power, Yi Shuhan was extremely sensitive to everything in her surroundings. Just now, Chi Chi's unrestrained gaze had roamed all over her, stirring a strange, indescribable feeling within her. Yi Shuhan could clearly feel her heart rate quicken. Chi Chi's gaze was too bold. In that short moment, it was as if a hand had gently caressed her face, her ear, her neck. The unprecedented tickling, numbing sensation felt like a small cat was scratching at her heart. Then, as that gaze began to move downward, Yi Shuhan panicked and quickly operated the instrument to cover Chi Chi's head, promptly cutting off that inexplicable stare.
After the gaze disappeared, Yi Shuhan belatedly realized her breathing was a bit ragged. Her face flushed, and she quickly tried to regulate her breathing.
The medical system had already begun its analysis. The entire cockpit fell silent. Listening to the thumping of her own heart, Yi Shuhan couldn't help but recall the feeling from just now. What if… what if she hadn't stopped Chi Chi from looking further…
Yi Shuhan lowered her head and touched her collarbone. She was about to move her hand lower, but then she paused.
She felt that something wasn't right. Subconsciously, Yi Shuhan knew she couldn't dwell on this any longer. She forcefully suppressed the burning sensation deep in her heart and refocused her attention on the medical system.
Most of the medicine in her medical kit was only effective for external injuries and illnesses. If the system detected internal injuries, she would have to get her to a hospital for professional treatment as soon as possible.
Chi Junluo sat quietly in the cockpit seat. The round instrument on her head was performing a comprehensive scan, while several mechanical arms collected data from her wounds.
Yi Shuhan issued all the necessary medical diagnostic commands on the light screen. The final results would be ready in a few minutes.
Taking advantage of the lull, Yi Shuhan secretly glanced at Chi Chi, who was sitting primly not far away.
This was the first time Yi Shuhan had seen Chi Chi like this. She had known her for eight years. From their very first meeting, this Alpha had captured her attention. For some reason, a voice deep inside her had told her that only she was worthy of her mecha.
It was also Chi Chi who had given her the inspiration to develop command-class mecha. When they met, they chattered away. As a veteran mecha pilot, Chi Chi gave her a lot of useful information that she could never have gathered from mecha alone.
As a frail Omega whose fate had been all but decided from birth, Yi Shuhan had resented her gender since she was young. Although Yi Jun doted on her, the Yi Family had grown over a thousand years and had numerous branch families. Several influential elders in the family were deeply dissatisfied that the family head, Yi Jun, had only a single, useless Omega as an heir. As the strongest and most capable Alpha of the main branch, Yi Jun had married an ordinary Beta after taking over the family.
In this era, due to various factors, Betas had very low fertility. The greatest fear of the oldest generation of elders was that the head of the Yi Family would be unable to produce an outstanding Alpha heir.
After Yi Shuhan was born, aside from her parents, everyone in the Yi Family was either disappointed or gloating.
From a young age, Yi Shuhan had encountered too many people who spoke ill of her simply because she was an Omega. The condescending superiority of the Alphas and their view of Omegas as breeding machines disgusted her to her core.
Yi Shuhan had longed to become strong since she was a child. She wanted to prove that she was in no way weaker than the so-called pillars of humanity, the Alphas.
Unfortunately, it was all in vain. As an Omega whose constitution barely hovered around C-grade, she wasn't even qualified to enroll in the Alliance Youth Military Academy on the Main Star. Most Omegas were sent by their families to Alliance-run Omega schools. In these schools, the teachers were also Omegas from noble families. They would teach these young Omegas to understand the physiological differences between them and Alphas, and that as the gender with the highest fertility in the Alliance, their most important responsibility was to bond with the most outstanding Alphas and give birth to the most outstanding Alpha warriors for the Alliance. This was the greatest meaning of an Omega's existence.
Yi Shuhan had also studied at one of these so-called noble Omega schools for a time. The fanatical devotion of the teachers and students to breeding superior offspring left her feeling lost. For some reason, she felt from the bottom of her heart that this was all twisted.
She once asked a teacher why an Omega's greatest purpose in life was childbirth. The teacher said that the Alliance was locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Zerg, and only powerful Alphas could pilot mecha to fight the Zerg in space and protect the Alliance. The teacher said that an Omega's life was protected by Alphas, and only by bearing outstanding offspring for them could they repay the Alphas' kindness.
A young Yi Shuhan was skeptical, but a voice in her heart always urged her to refute and question.
Eventually, Yi Shuhan, whose views were completely at odds with the young masters and misses of the noble Omega class, had her parents called in.
The reason was that she had openly questioned the teacher's curriculum in class. Yi Shuhan confronted the teacher, citing the most ancient records from her family's library. She said that long ago, before the Alliance was formed, everyone was equal. People had their own roles, and childbirth was merely an accessory to love, not the meaning or responsibility of one's life. Every gender should be equal, and a person's value was not determined by their gender.
Yi Shuhan argued that Omegas were only slightly weaker physically, but there were many jobs they were capable of performing. She said that Omegas had the right to choose the person they wanted to spend their life with, rather than being treated like a commodity waiting to be sold, to be picked over by the so-called superior gender, Alphas.
She said that people should live for dignity, not for reproduction. Otherwise, what was the difference between humans and the Zerg, who knew only how to breed?
The Omega teacher was furious. When Yi Shuhan's father, Yi Jun, received the school's notification and arrived at the reception room, he overheard this teacher—an Omega famous in the Alliance for marrying into a wealthy family and giving birth to five Alphas—scolding his precious daughter. "An Omega's dignity is given by Alphas! As an Omega, you don't want to contribute to the Alliance at all. What right do you have to talk to me about dignity?"
Yi Shuhan was angry. "Teacher! Dignity is something you give yourself! If Omegas don't even respect themselves, who will respect them?!"
The wealthy Omega teacher, who had given birth to five Alphas, looked as if her sorest spot had been struck. Fury practically spilled from her eyes.
Yi Jun knocked on the door with a cold expression. The moment the teacher saw the head of the Yi Family, she immediately suppressed all her emotions and put on what she considered a proper smile. She invited Yi Jun to sit on the sofa in the reception room and deftly brewed a cup of fine tea.
"Not bad." Yi Jun sat ramrod straight on the sofa, his hands placed properly on his knees. He was imposing without being angry. Watching the teacher bustle about, he nodded slightly and offered a comment.
The teacher stood to the side. Hearing the praise from the head of the Yi Family, she couldn't help but straighten her posture.
Before she could be happy for more than a few seconds, she heard the Alpha before her add in a flat tone, "Mrs. Adel, you live up to your reputation."
The Omega teacher lowered her head slightly, waiting for the Alpha to finish speaking.
Yi Jun glanced with a hint of disgust at the Omega who didn't dare to meet his gaze, then shifted his eyes to his own precious daughter. Seeing Yi Shuhan looking at him defiantly, his stern face softened. "Your etiquette is good, but it's rather pitiful."
Hearing the last part, the Omega teacher was stunned. She looked up in surprise and met the cold, deep eyes of the Yi Family head. A shiver ran down her spine, and she quickly lowered her head again, having already forgotten that she was the one who had summoned the parent to the school.
Yi Jun was annoyed by these meek Omegas. Sending his daughter to a noble school on the Main Star had been a joint decision with his wife. After all, his precious daughter's constitution was weak. A noble school full of Omegas would ensure Shuhan's safety, and she could also learn. Shuhan had always had a mind of her own, so her studies shouldn't be too difficult. When choosing a school, he had consulted friends with Omegas in their families, and many elders and relatives had also recommended this school. He had his subordinates investigate it, and there were no problems. But now, this teacher had called him to the school, saying Shuhan was having major problems with her studies and that he, even as the head of a family, needed to cooperate with the school. The message said Shuhan was completely uncooperative with the school's educational approach and that the problem was very serious.
But after arriving, he realized things were not as he had thought. Upon seeing that Mrs. Adel was a teacher at the school, Yi Jun had already made up his mind.
"Show me your curriculum."
Mrs. Adel hurried to her desk and brought back the entire curriculum for the noble academy, from the first year of enrollment to the ninth year of graduation.
Basic Identification of the Three Genders, Fundamentals of Omega Etiquette, The Guardians of the Alliance—Alphas, Two Hundred Ironclad Rules Omegas Must Not Break…
Yi Jun stopped reading after two pages. He tossed the curriculum back onto the coffee table. He was an Alpha, and his wife was a Beta. They had met and fallen in love at the military academy and had never attended a school with Omegas. Subconsciously, they both thought that since their daughter was an Omega, she should attend a school for Omegas. Recalling his earlier consultations, he now realized he had been deceived.
The Yi Family was unwilling to bear the risk of Yi Jun grooming his Omega daughter to be his successor. Once Yi Shuhan inherited the Yi Family and was then tricked by an Alpha from another family, the Yi Family would face a catastrophic disaster.
In just a few moments, Yi Jun understood the family's concerns.
He stood up and walked toward the door, signaling for his daughter to follow. Before leaving, he left one last sentence. "You are both Omegas. You should think about why you only know how to have children, while Yi Shuhan will be the next head of the Yi Family."
She will never understand, he thought. A person without self-respect and independent thought is no different from a lifeless puppet.
On the cockpit floor, Yi Shuhan recalled the past. Even at a young age, she had understood many things. That was why she had kicked up such a fuss. After just one month in that noble academy, she had felt suffocated. If she hadn't escaped that long-term, brainwashing education, would she now be like those other Omegas, waiting to be chosen, manipulated, and slaughtered?
When she first met Chi Junluo, there was no contempt in her eyes, no disdain, no false gentlemanly deference or cloying protectiveness. When talking with her, Yi Shuhan completely forgot all the various identities the outside world had imposed upon her.
She had been left wanting more.
After just one conversation, Yi Shuhan knew that there could be no one else better suited for her creation.
As her thoughts wandered, Yi Shuhan's eyes began to drift over Chi Chi's body again. It was a pity Chi Chi hadn't taken off her underwear; her two most mysterious parts were well-covered.
Yi Shuhan didn't even realize she had swallowed.
Should she use the excuse of an examination to get Chi Chi to take off those two extra pieces of cloth?
A "ding" from the light screen pulled Yi Shuhan's wandering thoughts back. The test results were out, and the system was generating a report.
Yi Shuhan rubbed her slightly hot cheeks. She felt particularly strange today, always thinking about frivolous things.
Shaking off her thoughts, she saw the medical system had finished its scan. The mechanical arms retracted from Chi Junluo's body and stood by, awaiting commands.
Yi Shuhan scrolled through the report, and her expression turned ugly.
Chi Chi… Brain Region 4 and Region 9 were severely damaged. Two of the most important functional areas. This was not good at all.
The mental power test result was only C-grade. Her body was also severely damaged, with her constitution barely reaching F-grade. Brain Region 4 was 88% damaged, and Region 9 was 99% damaged.
Yi Shuhan was stunned when she saw the specific data. Such extensive brain damage was almost irreversible. Region 4 was crucial for controlling mental power. Chi Chi had Super S-grade mental power, arguably the highest in the Alliance. The grading system only went up to SSS-grade; Super S-grade was a level of power so immense its specific strength couldn't even be measured. Yi Shuhan thought about Chi Chi's severely damaged body and found it hard to accept. The once-powerful Alpha might become a cripple, even weaker than an Omega. She didn't know if Chi Chi could handle the truth about her injuries.
Region 9 was the brain's memory storage area. How could it be so damaged?!
Since the discovery of mental power, humanity had yet to fully understand it. But one thing was known to all: ninety percent of a person's mental power was dedicated to protecting the brain. That was why ordinary people whose mental power didn't reach S-grade couldn't project it outside their bodies. Even those with SS-grade mental power didn't dare to overuse it externally.
With mental power as strong as Chi Chi's, it was impossible that she would have allowed her brain to be so severely damaged. A chill ran down Yi Shuhan's spine, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
It was very likely that the people from the military weren't the only ones behind this attempt on Chi Chi's life!
Someone had deliberately set out to destroy Chi Chi, and this person had likely been plotting for a long time.
Chi Chi was incredibly powerful. Scheming against someone with Super S-grade mental power would not be easy. The slightest hint of malice would be detected immediately. This person was either someone Chi Chi trusted most, or someone even more powerful than her!
As for the person Chi Chi trusted most, Yi Shuhan shamelessly thought that besides herself, there was no one else. And she would never harm her. Could there really be a more powerful existence in the Alliance?
Or perhaps… someone had used her to tamper with Chi Chi's mecha?
When it came to Chi Chi, Yi Shuhan couldn't help but overthink. Right now, she was terrified. She had been so close to truly, completely, and forever losing this one-of-a-kind Alpha!
Yi Shuhan decided that after reading the report and getting Chi Chi settled, she would retrieve the mecha, find a place to dismantle it, and find out what really happened.
Yi Shuhan finished reading the rest of the report. Chi Chi's vocal cords were also damaged, but that was easy to recover from as long as they weren't destroyed. Most of her physical injuries were burns. With proper medication and no infection, they shouldn't be a major problem.
The most difficult issues were Chi Chi's brain, the left side of her face, and her left eye, which was covered in grime and couldn't be examined.
The more Yi Shuhan read, the more her heart ached, twisting with pain. Then, a burning rage followed. Chi Chi had risked her life for the Alliance for so many years, only to be casually designed and erased by those bastards because her great accomplishments had obstructed their interests and stood in their way!
Yi Shuhan was both furious and anxious. Her eyes stung, and she felt like crying again.
Those bastards! How could they bear to harm such a good, gentle person!
Once the mechanical arms detached from her, Chi Junluo waited for the pretty girl's next move. She also wanted to know the current state of this body.
But the girl just sat on the floor, staring at the thin screen without speaking or moving.
After two or three minutes, the girl suddenly stood up and walked to the hatch. She did something, and a light-blocking curtain descended. Then Chi Junluo heard the sound of the hatch opening and a lift ladder operating. The curtain was fixed at the top and bottom, so almost no wind from outside could get in. Curious about what the girl was doing, Chi Junluo crept over, pulled the curtain open a crack, and peered down. She saw the girl hadn't gone far; she was just sitting on the stairs, seemingly wiping away tears.
Seeing her cry, Chi Junluo's heart clenched. She quickly retreated, not daring to look anymore. It seemed the original owner and this girl had a very close relationship. Why else would she be so sad?
Yi Shuhan's tears flowed uncontrollably. No wonder Chi Chi seemed so strange today. With her memory region severely damaged, she had likely lost her memories. If it was worse, Chi Chi might even become a simpleton.
Yi Shuhan wiped her eyes again and walked over to the wreckage of Chi Chi's mecha. She placed her right hand on it, and in the next second, the massive wreck vanished, leaving only some shattered, charred mecha parts on the ground that were unrecognizable. Yi Shuhan checked them over but found no suspicious or useful components, so she ignored the debris and returned to her own mecha.
Yi Shuhan understood that Chi Chi was in a terrible state. Even though she desperately needed the most professional and advanced medical care, she couldn't take her back to the Main Star right now. No matter how good the medical resources were there, no matter how powerful the Yi Family was, she wouldn't risk Chi Chi's life. Within the entire Yi Family, Yi Shuhan only trusted her parents. Taking Chi Chi back could easily lead to a leak.
If Chi Chi's mecha had truly been tampered with, then someone from the Yi Family was definitely involved.
The most important thing now was to treat Chi Chi's wounds. In her emotional turmoil, she had almost neglected the most urgent matter.
The hatch closed, and the light-blocking curtain retracted. Aside from her slightly red eyes, Yi Shuhan showed little other emotion.
Yi Shuhan deftly cleaned the wounds, warmed some water from the reserve tank, and gave Chi Chi a simple wipe-down. This time, her mind was free of any of the previous chaotic thoughts.
Applying the medicine went smoothly. Chi Chi actually hissed in pain from her wounds. In the past, that would have been absolutely impossible. This deepened Yi Shuhan's suspicion that Chi Chi had amnesia. But now was not the time to test it. After applying the medicine and wrapping the wounds with medical gauze, Yi Shuhan took off her long trench coat and had Chi Junluo put it on, buttoning it up securely.
Seeing Chi Chi sitting obediently in the seat, Yi Shuhan couldn't resist reaching out to gently stroke her hair. She unconsciously used a soothing tone, as if talking to a child. "It's okay, Chi Chi. I'll take you to a hospital soon. The treatment there is very professional. You'll get better."
Chi Junluo blinked. Why did it feel like this girl was coaxing her like a child?
Yi Shuhan logged onto the Star Network and looked up several of the better hospitals on Moon Star, finally settling on a public hospital on the outskirts of the central city on the southern continent. She checked the energy gauge. The main power source wouldn't last long enough to fly the mecha to the southern continent, and she had to conserve the backup energy. Performance-grade mecha were rare on Moon Star; if a combat-grade mecha was spotted flying here, it would likely be investigated. Fortunately, Moon Star was vast and sparsely populated. Yi Shuhan set the destination to the eastern outskirts of the central city and switched the mecha to autopilot.
She flattened the seat, letting Chi Chi lie down to rest. Yi Shuhan herself sat behind the seat, leaning against it and browsing the Star Network on her light screen.
Chi Chi was probably exhausted. Not long after she lay down, Yi Shuhan heard the sound of even breathing next to her.
Yi Shuhan turned her head and shifted to the right, able to see the back of Chi Chi's head with its unevenly cut hair.
She reached out and gently stroked Chi Chi's hair, remembering how this person liked to keep her hair long, tying it into a ponytail for training or battle. She had seen her on the training grounds, heroic and dashing, sweat pouring down as she trained.
Yi Shuhan sometimes envied Chi Chi for having such a good constitution. She still remembered Chi Chi telling her that her only job was to be clever, smart, and beautiful as a flower.
Although she never quite understood why Chi Chi said that to her, Yi Shuhan felt the description suited her quite well, so she never probed for any deeper meaning.
Yi Shuhan sighed internally. If Chi Chi really became a simpleton, if she wasn't as strong as before, if she could no longer pilot a mecha…
She was willing to take care of Chi Chi for the rest of her life.
After all, Chi Chi was her only friend. Chi Chi was truly, incredibly important to her.
The top searches on the Star Network were all about Admiral Chi's disappearance or death. Netizens were in a heated debate. For all these years, it was because Admiral Chi had led the army into life-and-death situations time and again that the Zerg had never gained an inch, allowing the people of the Alliance to live in comfort.
Most netizens were convinced that there was definitely a conspiracy behind Admiral Chi's disappearance!
Admiral Derian listened to his subordinate's report on the public opinion trends on the Star Network, an irrepressible joy in his eyes. He gave an order, "Make preparations. The military will hold a press conference in three days."
Derian's subordinate acknowledged the order and immediately turned to leave and carry it out.
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