It was as if a real bullet had penetrated the man’s body.
Ye Muo’s face and body were splattered with blood. A peculiar crimson pattern bloomed on pale skin.
The man still had a smile on his face as his body crashed heavily to the floor. A puddle of blood soon seeped out from beneath him all the way to Ye Muo’s boots, soaking them.
Ye Muo stood in place.
“Ah.” He softly exclaimed.
It was some time before he slowly looked down at his soiled clothes.
He didn’t control his strength well.
Psychic power seemed a little too sharp for the human body. It felt strange, like he was using some famous blade forged through a thousand hammer strikes to cut through butter.
More and more blood accumulated at his feet. Ye Muo paid it no mind. He sensed his mind growing more and more muddled. It was as if he was dreaming, floating in a vast ocean that transmitted countless data to him and filled his mind to the brim. The ship hatch to the left was missing a screw, one of the launch devices was 30% damaged…
This kind of information was still coming in endlessly at a steady pace.
Winning this contest of psychic power seemed like the easiest thing at first, but Ye Muo stopped after using a tiny portion. His vast psychic power began to stagnate.
His face became paler and paler as the skin beneath his clothes began to tear, revealing shocking vibrant crimson.
His body was gradually failing. The sudden burst of psychic power ran rampant through every part of him. Normally, psychic power was supposed to acclimate to their owner with time, finally becoming completely tamed after the development period.
Yet Ye Muo was almost completely unable to control them right now. Like he was holding a dagger with no hilt, he was wounded before even launching the first strike.
You could say that they had completely taken hold of their owner. Joyfully unsheathing themselves, they diluted its owner’s consciousness across their unfathomable depths, diligently and indiscriminately feeding all the information they could reach.
Right now, Ye Muo could neither control them nor call them back.
The warship emitted a dull, heavy roar as the gears snapped back into place.
The situation was at a standstill.
The corners of the port’s command centre were stacked high with destroyed instruments. Strange patterns were painted on its walls in dark red. The implications were hard to bear. The formerly orderly command centre was now rather unconventional like some bandit nest.
A redheaded man that was rather tall and muscular sat in front of the command console. Green veins bulged on his upper body and especially his arms.
“Damn it! There’s one tough bastard in there! Are Level S psychics a dime a dozen now??”
He was sweating profusely. This was the last card in his hand, his final chance.
Damn it. He should have never accepted this mission. Being captured by the Federation would’ve been much better than falling into the hands of those lunatics from the Empire.
Teased like livestock and herded around– those lunatics even provided them with basic survival necessities.
There was a moment where he contemplated just giving up. Even if he managed to snatch this warship, an entire fleet had this abandoned planet locked down. Yet he dismissed these thoughts the next second.
No, he wouldn’t give up. Not when he still had something they wanted. The distress signal had been sent beforehand. Even if he wasn’t of value to them, those people wouldn’t let that thing go.
He would survive.
Just a little longer. As long as he seized this damned warship.
When he got out of here, he would definitely come back and kill all of those brats. They wanted to use him as practice, right? Well they can bring back a warship filled with corpses.
Seemingly amused by his own imaginations, a smile appeared on the man’s pained expression.
In the command center.
The boy who had been trembling before pushed his glasses up. He knew the most about warship structure in Class A.
“I don’t know what went wrong during the other party’s takeover of the ship, but it may resume at any time.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, the warship roared to life again.
The blood drained from his face.
The warship was starting up again, meaning the door hatches could reopen at any moment. There was no telling how many galactic pirates were roaming around the ship’s halls.
“Keep quiet.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Gemar!”
Cr tlr kbgvr ofii, atf mflilcu nfcalijalbc vemar kfgf vfragbsfv. C clwyif wjc vgbqqfv ab atf oibbg jwlvra j rtbkfg bo ygbxfc wfaji.
Ye Yun immediately started shooting. Cairns and the others followed suit after a beat.
Bullets clanked away and fell to the floor. The protective device meant continuing would just be a waste of ammo. Damn it, how could a galactic pirate bear to buy such expensive scrap? Making them waste ammo for nothing…
This kind of device was extremely expensive, inefficient, and required manual activation. Several tragic incidents had come from using this device, including but not limited to not reacting in time before the bullets reached the user.
“Switch to daggers.”
They dropped their guns and drew their daggers. Claire was the swiftest and had already circled around to the other party’s back.
The man immediately raised his hands.
“Wait a minute! I surrender! Don’t hurt me by accident! I’m not with them! I’m just a thief, I don’t deserve this punishment!”
When he finished speaking, the barrier on his body broke down due to running out of charge– one more reason this thing was scrap. It became useless soon after the guns started firing.
Claire aimed a vicious kick at the man’s stomach, sending him to the floor in one fell swoop. Then he pinned the man to the floor and pressed an ice cold blade against his neck.
“Be careful, sir. Don’t be impulsive…”
The man swallowed the spit that had accumulated in his mouth carefully. His eyes darted around the room like a thieving rat.
“Sir, I have important information to offer! As long as you take me along!”
“You’re not a galactic pirate?”
“I’m not, I’m actually a hostage they took.”
Claire didn’t even move.
“Ye Yun, break his fibula.”
“Understood.”
The man hastily changed his tune.
“No, no need for that! I’ll be honest. I’m not a hostage, but I’m not with them either. I swear, I’m just their repairman! I was forced to do it. I’ve never killed a single person.”
Claire wasn’t taking any shit from him.
“Yeah? I’ve killed people, you know? Even kids the same age as my students. That isn’t even illegal in the Empire. Now be honest about your identity and motives.”
The man had obviously heard about the cruel laws of the Empire before. In the Empire, any methods taken against galactic pirates was legal.
He finally spilled the beans.
“You guys can call me Rat. I’m a thief. I saw how successful their fleet has been so far– all right, all right. I’ll be honest. I received word that they have an extremely valuable treasure, so I snuck on board disguised as a repairman. Many of their people had died then and they were in desperate need of manpower. It’s a long story. Are you sure you want me to go through it all right now? We don’t have much time–”
“Then make it short.”
The man quickly blurted out.
“I don’t want to be associated with them anymore. I’m here to defect. If I stay with them any longer, I’ll die too. I closed the door hatches, see? I shut those galactic pirates out there.”
“I also know their weapon distribution on the surface. I can show you guys around. I can be of use to you. As long as you take me along and don’t wipe your hands of me as soon as we get out of this place. I’m really not a galactic pirate. I wouldn’t dare to sneak in here and tell you all this otherwise.”
“Trust me, I’d rather deal with you guys than follow them around anymore. I’m just a thief, not a murderer.”
Aaron, who had been leaning against the wall to one side, suddenly spoke up. He accepted Rat’s explanation.
“There’s no reason for him to lie at this point. We’re already out of options.”
Rat sat up once he was released, grunting as he stretched and rolled his body.
“Spit it out. What’s your grand plan for defection?”
Rat huffed.
“I have a device, a good one from the black market, that can be used inside a warship to force out the psychic power in control for a short time. We can temporarily control the warship manually, just like you guys did during your first escape attempt. Once we get into the air, we can jump to the surface.
Claire grasped the key point.
“How short is short?”
“About 20 seconds.”
So this was a piece of scrap too. Yet it just might be what they needed in this situation. They were already willing to take Instructor Aaron out of the fight for 20 seconds’ sake. 20 seconds more would be enough for all of them to withdraw from the warship.
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get started.”
Rat’s eyes widened.
“So soon? Don’t you need to leave a little time for us to prepare ourselves mentally?”
Only one girl bothered to respond to him. She gave him a look and sheathed her dagger.
“If you don’t have landing gear already, quickly go grab one now. Those who do should equip them posthaste.”
Claire has already started setting up navigation conditions.
Rat scrambled over and connected the device to the command console. After he took a few deep breaths, the device began emitting high-frequency sound waves. Everyone present was immediately hit with a bout of disorientation. Aaron, whose psychic power had sustained damage, grimaced even more. It was not difficult to imagine what it would feel like for one’s psychic power to be in direct contact with this thing.
Everyone was poised at the door hatch. Claire grabbed Aaron at the waist and lifted him onto his shoulder.
Soon, the warship resumed climbing in altitude.
Rat shouted.
“Run!”
No sooner had he spoken than all the hatches opened automatically.
……
Ye Muo and the red-haired man, who were connected to the port’s control console, grabbed their heads at the same time, their faces contorting in agony.
Ye Muo staggered a few steps back before finally collapsing to one knee. His astonishing psychic power also slowly withdrew from the warship. His head was killing him, but his mind was actually much clearer than a moment ago.
The circular hatch beside him had reopened at some point. Cold, razor-sharp winds blew in from outside.
Ye Yun rushed over at the forefront. He was responsible for clearing the way while the people behind him called over the students that didn’t manage to leave earlier.
He ran swiftly. Fortunately, he didn’t encounter any galactic pirates along the way. As he turned the corner, he saw a person half-kneeling by the exit with his head down.
As the person at the forefront, Ye Yun subconsciously took aim with his gun. His pupils contracted a fraction the instant he recognized who it was.
It was Ye Muo. He was half-kneeling by the open exit, the whistling wind blowing his hair and uniform into disarray.
He was a sight for sore eyes. Half of his body was stained with fresh blood. The black uniform didn’t show much aside from being slightly darker, but the mottled bloodstains on his extremely fair skin were obvious. The sight of him next to a fallen body against the ship’s mechanical interior radiated a bone-chilling beauty.
A vague thought crossed Ye Yun’s mind. He didn’t recall hearing any gunfire. Still, he quickly reacted and pulled Ye Muo up.
The sound of the wind drowned out Ye Yun’s voice.
“Why are you here? Why didn’t you leave?”
Ye Muo couldn’t even hear the wind. The violent ringing in his ears drowned out everything.
The others gradually arrived as well.
Ye Yun gave up trying to converse. He pulled Ye Muo along and jumped straight down.
Their descent was very fast and would not slow at all until they reached the ground. Like little bombs, they crashed towards the surface. Just before impact, when their speed reached a terrifying height, the buffer device would form a barrier to protect them.
Ye Yun kept hold of Ye Muo. The moment before impact, he adjusted his posture to avoid Ye Muo, executing a cat-like flip and landing with almost zero impact. They had landed inside an abandoned factory. A few thumps came from nearby.
Almost right after landing, Ye Yun began checking Ye Muo over for injuries. He subconsciously wiped Ye Muo’s chin, smearing the blood that had yet to dry there and making Ye Muo look even more tragic.
Ye Muo lay in the ruins with his head tilted back. He was very quiet and cooperative.
Ye Yun breathed a sigh of relief after checking him over. His clothes weren’t torn so there should be no wounds. Then he started bombarding him with questions.
“Why did you go back? Didn’t I yell at you to leave? Who do you think you are when you only have Level B psychic power?”
Ye Yun quickly stopped once he noticed Ye Muo’s abnormal state. Ye Muo was very gentle or even timid, yes. But he would usually appear guilty or overwhelmed when bombarded with so many questions before silently bowing his head and listening.
Yet he was very quiet right now. Quiet to an abnormal degree, like a gorgeous, living corpse.
Ye Muo looked like he had been scared stiff.
Ye Yun felt unfamiliar with such a Ye Muo. He stopped questioning him and instead began to awkwardly offer comfort.
“It seems luck was on your side. You took care of that guy.”
He lowered his voice and spoke to Ye Muo while trying to wipe all the blood off him.
“I’ll forgive you this time.”
“It’s okay, Ye Muo. You did great.”
“They’re just galactic pirates. Damned pirates don’t deserve to be shown mercy.”
“You were very brave. I thought you would cry your nose off. After all, you always cried when those random plants you raised died when you were a kid–”
Ye Yun paused. He lifted the hand that he just placed on Ye Muo’s shoulder. The bloodstain on his palm was fresh. Only now did he realize blood was still oozing from Ye Muo’s body.
What was going on?
His clothes weren’t torn though?
Ye Yun quickly undid Ye Muo’s shirt and stopped almost immediately. The exposed skin of Ye Muo’s upper body was littered with scars upon scars, like cracks running through a broken little porcelain figure. Yet this was flesh and blood.
These cracks were unusually conspicuous against his fair skin, even before adding in the layers of healed wounds on his body.
Ye Yun was a little overwhelmed. He had never been in such a situation before.
Ye Muo had already closed his eyes. Ye Yun panicked a little.
“Don’t sleep, Ye Muo.”
“What’s all this, you bastard?”
“That’s right. The medication.”
Ye Yun scrambled for the medication Ye Zhiyuan gave him and injected it into Ye Muo’s carotid artery.
Ye Muo reopened his eyes. His pupils were already dilated and his consciousness fading, but the pain still made him curl up and struggle instinctively. When Ye Yun grabbed his wrists, he started to smash the back of his head again and again on the concrete floor.
“What the fuck is this medication?!”
Ye Yun held Ye Muo tight, furiously covering Ye Muo’s eyes with one hand. He had to hold Ye Muo down for a while before he quieted down.
Ye Muo suddenly spoke.
“Big Brother.”
Ye Yun grunted.
“They’re not plants though.”
Ye Yun felt Ye Muo’s eyelashes flicker against the palm of his hand. Then warmth trickled out from between the cracks of his fingers.
Ye Muo was crying.
This actually made some of the overwhelmed feelings inside Ye Yun settle down. Nothing had changed. This was still that timid little crybaby he knew.
Author’s Corner
Love you guys!
;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;
Plants are better than alot of people
Amen🙌
This is so good!
Thanks for the chapters! <3
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Thanks for the chapter! That was dramatic
oKAY concerned again poor Ye Muo;;;;;
They are not plants… Thanks for the update ❤️🌱👀
wtf is going on???
😭😭😭😭😭
Is it the older brother or the second brother that is with Ye Muo?? Because as far as i read, i guess start from chapter named ‘the hunt’ it was Ye He who was named then the following chapters it became Ye Yun?? Can translator-san enlighten me if i am wrong or right??
Did little ye muo caused death of his MOTHER?
Maybe a possibility after seeing this chapter.
Ye Yun is a good big brother.
the scars on him when he was a child was because of his powers!- i feel so bad for this child