Sleep? You’ll definitely have trouble sleeping after watching it. Arthur had carefully selected the movie, thinking that any normal man would react to it!

Especially when the person he liked was sitting beside him, and he could smell the fragrance of Yan Xueshan’s shower gel, it was more delightful than any pheromones.

The movie had just started, still in the plot development stage, and Arthur already felt a fever coming on. He was also paying more attention to Yan Xueshan’s reaction than the movie’s plot.

Yan Xueshan was watching the movie seriously, sitting in a relaxed position with his body slightly leaning back and his elbows on the bed. The indecent scenes were reflected in his clear eyes, but there was no ripple of emotion. He seemed to be calmly observing the world of animals.

He didn’t like it, nor did he dislike it; there was no curiosity or interest.

His expression was so pure and sacred that Arthur found it even harder to control himself.

As he watched, Yan Xueshan’s eyelashes began to droop with each blink, gradually becoming more and more droopy.

Arthur realized that Yan Xueshan was getting sleepy.

Unbelievable.

How could there be no reaction at all?

Yan Xueshan couldn’t take it anymore. He turned his head and said, “You’ve been staring at me instead of watching the movie. Can we stop now? I’m really tired.”

Oh, he noticed?!!!

Caught off guard by Yan Xueshan, Arthur’s heart skipped several beats, and he felt like he was about to die.

Arthur stammered.

Yan Xueshan seemed to take it as a given and returned to his own bed. Just as he got under the covers, Arthur asked, “Did you notice that I was looking at you?”

“Mhm,” Yan Xueshan replied.

Summoning up courage, Arthur asked, “Do you know why I was looking at you?”

Yan Xueshan considered it for a moment and said, “To tease me, I suppose. It’s okay, I’m not angry.”

Arthur had no choice but to turn off the movie.

Now he was left hanging and feeling uncertain about his situation. Clearly, Yan Xueshan hadn’t flirted with him; he had flirted with himself.

What kind of situation was this?

Arthur lay flat, feeling sulky for a while, and then couldn’t hold it in any longer, saying, “Actually, I like you.”

Without waiting for a response he turned around to look, but Yan Xueshan had already fallen asleep!

Arthur felt like he was losing his mind and came up with another reckless plan. He deliberately chose the time when Yan Xueshan would return to the dormitory and engaged in some self-indulgent activity in a place where Yan Xueshan could see him as soon as he entered the door.

He wanted Yan Xueshan to see.

Then he indeed achieved his purpose.

Yan Xueshan’s reaction was to pause briefly and say, “Sorry for disturbing you.”

Then he closed the door and left.

By this point, Arthur had expected it, as it was quite reasonable.

In the evening, he used this matter as an excuse to chat with Yan Xueshan. He apologized in a pitiful manner, saying, “I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t have a chance to apologize to you. What I did was shameful.”

Arthur thought that Yan Xueshan should at least feel a bit embarrassed, right?

As long as there was some embarrassment, he could start looking at him with a different perspective! This was the precursor to enlightenment!

The result was that Yan Xueshan just said with cold understanding, “Oh, it’s fine.”

Is that it? Arthur wondered, “Are you not talking to me because you’re embarrassed?”

Yan Xueshan replied, “No.”

Does he need to comfort Arthur? Yan Xueshan speculated and said, “Well… you’re also at this age. If you need to, you can go find a bed companion. I don’t mind sleeping next to you. I can sleep soundly. I’m mostly concerned about your embarrassment.”

This was so infuriating! Arthur was taken aback and blurted out, “I don’t need a bed partner.”

Yan Xueshan responded, “Oh.”

After venting his frustration, Arthur tried to continue talking to him, only to find that he had fallen asleep again.

Arthur just didn’t understand.

Why was it that no matter how he flirts or hints, this person remains unresponsive?

Could Yan Xueshan actually be a robot? Could he be made of stone, wood, or steel?

He probably isn’t, though!

Yan Xueshan loved to hold his sniper rifle to sleep; Arthur felt so jealous of that rifle. He wished he could come back as a sniper rifle in his next life and be held by Yan Xueshan every night.

With repeated attempts, he only met with failure.

Arthur felt a little discouraged.

Eugene, who had been teasing him all along, said, “Are you giving up just like that? I haven’t given up on finding my parents yet. I believe I’ll find them sooner or later! I hope that when the time comes, I can introduce you to them first and say these two gentlemen were very kind to me and they are a loving couple.”

Perhaps only children could have such pure and passionate courage.

In the heat of the moment, Arthur made a pact with him. “If I ever succeed in confessing, I’ll tell Yan Xueshan that we’ll adopt you as our foster child.”

Eugene was dumbfounded. His face turned red instantly as he responded, “What are you saying? I used to just call you big brother. If you adopt me, won’t you become my elder? Humph, you are taking advantage of me! Wait for the future when I also become a Master Sergeant. Once I become famous in the Federation, my parents will naturally find me!”

Unfortunately, that promise couldn’t be fulfilled.

Eugene died.

Out of the dozen or so children they knew, only one survived.

Upon hearing the news of Eugene’s death, Arthur temporarily set aside his thoughts of love and affection. He remembered when he was thirteen and found out that his sister had been killed. He felt like he was going crazy, consumed by thoughts of how to exterminate those despicable beings.

A frenzy of darkness and madness grew uncontrollably in his soul, once again consuming his entire being.

Then, Yan Xueshan said to him, “No, you’re not happy at all. Eugene said he wanted to find his parents. Help him find them. If they’ve also passed away, bury him beside them.”

He then realized that Yan Xueshan had already found someone to collect the children’s bodies when he lost his sanity and couldn’t handle it.

In front of their graves, Yan Xueshan lit a purple candle for each of the children. He squatted while facing the tombstone like he used to squat down to speak with the children at eye level, the faint candlelight reflected in his pupils, and swaying.

Yan Xueshan said, “I really wish I could shed a tear for them, but I can’t. I can’t cry, and I can’t smile.”

Arthur looked at him, seeing him squatting like a child. He couldn’t help but imagine how lonely and helpless little Yan Xueshan must have been when he lost his parents.

He bent down and embraced Yan Xueshan.

For the first time, Yan Xueshan explained to him, “I’ve told you before, when I was five, my parents died in an attack on our planet. I suffered a head injury that damaged my emotional nerves.”

He rarely told people about this, mainly because he didn’t think it was necessary.

He could have avoided talking about it this time too, but for some reason, he felt it was necessary.

He didn’t mind if others looked at him with eyes that saw a monster, whispering that he was heartless and cold, but Arthur… for some inexplicable reason, he didn’t want Arthur to misunderstand him.

So, he decided to explain it to Arthur proactively.

Only then did Arthur finally understand why he had been doing useless work all these years.

As it turns out, Yan Xueshan wasn’t unresponsive; he genuinely didn’t have that emotional baseline. He really was like a stone.

Yan Xueshan said, “It would be great if the war could end in our generation, Arthur. I hope there won’t be any more children dying in the future. I also hope no more children will lose their parents.”

Arthur responded with a heavy, “Mm.”

But as time went on, the war intensified.

Day after day, time flowed like swift currents through their fingers, often without even a moment to rest, let alone talk about love.

Their partnership grew more synchronized. Through one life-and-death battle after another, they became increasingly proficient, to the point where they didn’t even need to communicate on the communication channel anymore.

As long as they turned on their mechas, they were able to match each other’s battle rhythm by instinct.

Like two polished gears that fit together seamlessly, the rate of synchronization between them climbed step by step.

He had saved Yan Xueshan, and Yan Xueshan had saved him, falling into a desperate situation together and killing their way out together.

By the time they came back to their senses, they were already the undoubtedly number one active ranked Mecha Master Sergeant partners in the entire federation.

No one could compare to the two of them.

From the day he chose to become a Master Sergeant, all Arthur wanted was to avenge his sister’s death and gain enough power to get his revenge and never considered himself talented, or even particularly righteous.

His initial intention for joining the war was also selfish.

At the age of twelve or thirteen, he had never thought about family, country, or the world. He also hadn’t deeply pondered the concepts of war and peace.

He still remembered during junior high school, some boys would joke about joining the military as if it were some kind of fun game, a way to prove their masculinity.

He disdained playing along with those people, but he didn’t take the war seriously either.

However, he experienced waking up from a nap and learning that an entire city’s population had been slaughtered, witnessing thousands of bodies strewn across the landscape, and after not only losing his biological sister but also learning one after another that his cousins, his university classmates, and his comrades-in-arms with whom he had served in the military had all died. Their deaths in the galaxy war were like drops of water falling into the ocean, yet they merged into a mighty torrent, propelling the Federation toward the victory’s finish line.

His father didn’t think he was special either. During a mobilization speech, his father had said that victory must be achieved at all costs, even if it meant shedding all the blood of the Federation’s soldiers. He would be the final bastion. If everyone else died, he would pilot the mecha himself.

The day of the final battle was approaching.

Arthur, after years of neglect, suddenly remembered his stagnant love life. Over the years, he had made sure that Yan Xueshan had no other options but him, yet even so, it seemed like Yan Xueshan wasn’t paying attention to him.

Later, Yan Xueshan would ask him, “Did you plan that day in advance?”

Arthur replied, “Either it didn’t happen, or I’ve been planning it for six years.”

In truth, he hadn’t thought that much about it.

He didn’t believe he could deceive Yan Xueshan. No matter how cunning he was, what could he do if Yan Xueshan didn’t take the bait?

He just really thought he might die tomorrow.

So, he summoned all his courage and told Yan Xueshan, “If I die this time, then I’ll die a virgin.”

He hadn’t expected such a ridiculous and straightforward request to actually get Yan Xueshan’s attention.

Arthur knew it wasn’t out of love, but he couldn’t resist the temptation.

However despicable or shameless it might be, to have the person he had liked for six years for just one hour—even if they didn’t share mutual feelings—Arthur felt he could die without regrets.

He had never believed in God, but that night, he earnestly prayed: if there really was a God in this world, please listen to his prayer and let the person he loved survive. He was willing to die to protect his loved one, to exchange his life for Yan Xueshan’s peaceful and smooth future.

Until the end of the great battle, he remained in a daze, trapped in a mood of grand and resolute determination.

It wasn’t until someone told him, “We won! The war is over!” that Arthur snapped back to reality.

He hadn’t died, and Yan Xueshan hadn’t died either.

At the victory celebration, Arthur excitedly hugged Yan Xueshan.

Yan Xueshan wasn’t particularly pleased, but he didn’t refuse Arthur’s embrace. He was the calmest person there, refraining from drinking, as if the wild celebrations had nothing to do with him.

Sanity returned to Arthur as well.

Many people had told him that he possessed remarkable mental fortitude and that after years of war, he still maintained such a bright and cheerful personality, without a trace of darkness.

Arthur would think to himself, how could that be true? If Yan Xueshan hadn’t been there, he doubted he would have retained even a glimmer of light.

For the sake of this battle…

After serving in the military for six years, Arthur finally got a chance to return home.

On the second day after returning home, Arthur was thinking about when to introduce Yan Xueshan to his mother. Since they were both alive and had achieved significant breakthroughs, could they progress to the next stage of their relationship? Maybe even get married?

At that moment, his elderly father, the President of the Federation, unexpectedly left work early and came home. He found Arthur and angrily asked, “Do you know that your partner, Yan Xueshan, intends to retire? Why does he want to retire?”

It was then that Arthur learned about Yan Xueshan’s retirement, and he considered himself to be Yan Xueshan’s closest person. He hadn’t expected to hear it from someone else, which left him deeply shaken.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

Support translation: