The mecha that Arthur piloted was called “Zhulong“.

The Artemis was named after the ancient Western mythology Goddess of the Hunt, as opposed to Zhulong, who was named according to ancient Eastern mythology. It was named after the mythical god who created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, created seasonal winds by breathing and illuminated the land with its scarlet body.

Zhulong was a red humanoid mecha, as crimson as blood.

When the micronuclear engine lit up, at first glance it was as if a blazing flame was ignited.

It was a very beautiful mecha.

In the past, when Arthur first appeared, the media called him the Red Knight. Now, very few people call him that.

The Empire’s S-class mechas could be counted on two hands in total.

Occasionally, the mecha’s image would appear in the public media. In the past, it was used to intimidate the enemy, letting them know that their side had a super weapon.

However, whether or not the Master Sergeant behind the mecha wanted to show up to be interviewed depended on the personality of the individual.

Some people were very open minded and eager to give media interviews to create their own popular social image.

Yet there were some people who preferred to keep a low profile, such as Yan Xueshan who refused all public appearances.

He was very mysterious so, except for people inside the army, no one knew his true identity. Even when people from other legions saw him, they had no way to connect him with the “Blue Reaper”.

In the past, Arthur also didn’t accept interviews, but now that he transferred to a command post and appeared in front of the public more frequently, he gradually transformed into a politician and was no longer just a simple Master Sergeant.

Yan Xueshan thought for a while, and interrupted abruptly, “If a partner dies accidentally, the army will arrange the same level Division Sergeant as a replacement. They wouldn’t select people from school, much less train them from scratch.”

His words made the group of people who were discussing it turn their heads in unison and look at him. At first, they wanted to refute him impatiently with “What you would know?” but halfway through the sentence, they became stunned seeing Yan Xueshan’s face and forgot the latter half of the sentence.

There were very few “pure blood” people with the appearance of black hair and pale skin like Yan Xueshan, and even among them, he was regarded as an exceptionally beautiful one.

When he looked at you with his pair of clear and bright eyes like glass beads, he gave a mysterious and cold feeling. Even the shadows cast by his slender eyelashes were so delicate and moving that people would subconsciously hold their breath for fear of disturbing him.

When his classmates saw him they made a judgment based on his appearance. “You are right.”

There was no other reason to say so except to please him and grant his wishes.

The student who led the “rumor” was a 17 or 18 years old girl with two thick braids, light brown skin, light brown eyes and a pair of thin-rimmed metal round glasses and freckles on both sides of her nose. When she saw Yan Xueshan, she was intimidated by his beauty and with her face burning red she asked, “How do you know?”

Yan Xueshan replied, “To be paired with an excellent Master Sergeant, you also need to be excellent. Moreover, the Red Knight and the Blue Reaper were only partners during their service, so even if the Blue Reaper is no longer present, it’s not appropriate to use a word like ‘widower’.”

The little girl became angry. “What do you know? They are the best match!”

Yan Xueshan: “The Blue Reaper may have retired.”

The little girl puffed up under his stare. “Impossible! The Blue Reaper has been flying Artemis since she was put into service, from the time she was just a test model to the time she was upgraded. For six years he was Artemis and Artemis was him. Unless he died he couldn’t abandon Artemis.”

 Yan Xueshan: “Uh…”

Suddenly, there was a commotion.

The person next to him said, “Stop it, stop it, Arthur is coming up! Look!”

When Arthur came out from behind the curtain of the big podium, the lobby resounded with exclamations and applause that almost ripped off the dome, shocking Yan Xueshan’s ear drums.

It was the first time for him to look at Arthur from this perspective, which was a very novel experience.

In front of him, Arthur always seemed to be the 19-year-old boy who had just joined the army, always like a ray of sunlight.

It’s just that sometimes he was like the sunshine in spring, warm and gentle; sometimes like the sun in summer, hot and anxious; sometimes like the autumn sun, carefree; and sometimes like winter sunshine, calm and deep with the hint of coldness.

He still remembered the first time they were partnered on the battlefield, which was a very close call. Arthur was still a new Master Sergeant who had just graduated from school, but dared to charge into a group of enemy ships all by himself.

Even from a distance he could see Zhulong’s firepower, fully charged. Its red energy shield was alarmingly bright, with a trail of a meteoric streak because of its excessive speed, going forward without a trace of timidity.

None of his past partners had ever been as crazy as Arthur, Yan Xueshan thought later.

At the time, he only concentrated on quickly snipping, clearing the obstacles for the Zhulong so it could move forward. It was also amazing, because when they did a psychic match test, the two of them didn’t match very well, so Yan Xueshan thought they could just barely be partners.

This was indeed the case at the beginning, when they first arrived on the battlefield, but when Arthur went crazy, the synchronization of the two gradually got better and better.

Not even a conversation was needed.

The enemy mechas that could potentially hinder him and the warships that tried to attack Arthur exploded one by one under Yan Xueshan’s amazingly steady sniping. He himself also felt that his sniping accuracy had improved, making it clear that Artemis’ power had also been brought to another level, catalyzed by their high synchronization rate.

Yan Xueshan felt that his mind had entered a state of deep tranquility, as if he wasn’t on the battlefield, very relaxed and comfortable.

Bang, bang, bang, bang…

Afterwards, according to the data, during the first half-hour of Arthur’s high-speed charge the synchronization rate between the two of them soared to 98%, and his sniping frequency also reached an astonishing number of 12 times per second. This was also the limit of a human’s natural reflexes, and none of his shots missed.

He had occasional moments like this before.

But it was mostly when all his comrades were wiped out– because there were no more comrades who needed his protection, he could fight freely.

This time he cooperated with others.

Arthur turned into a blood-red lightsaber, piercing the enemy’s heart.

Hit.

Energy burst.

He took advantage of the shock wave he returned.

After assassinating an enemy general, the opposing divisional soldiers became red-eyed and lunged to take revenge for him.

Yan Xueshan used his communicator to say to Arthur, “Don’t engage in the battle, come back and I will cover you.”

The red mecha that acted crazy just a seconds ago, accepted his call in a second, without a trace of doubt.

In that nearly 72-hour non-stop battle, Yan Xueshan’s sniper accuracy rate didn’t decrease from the beginning to the end, which was his normal level. He was calm as an artificial intelligence.

However, melee fighters would be even more tired. Yan Xueshan acquiesces up to a maximum of thirty hours before the melee fighters he partnered with would experience a sharp decline in performance due to exhaustion. It was also at that time they were most likely to make mistakes and be killed.

So usually, every once in a while, he would find a way to let his partner have a breather and drink some medicine or something to replace his energy.

But Arthur didn’t need it; he remained in the same state as he was at the beginning of the battle.

Was it because he was young? Yan Xueshan secretly wondered.

Yan Xueshan remembered that everyone thought he was a monster, while he thought this young rookie mecha Master Sergeant was a true monster.

Little monster.

That was his first time on the battlefield but he was already like this? A crazy killer, right? Seems to be a natural born killing maniac. There were also such guys among the Master Sergeants.

When the battle was over, they flew back to the base.

Yan Xueshan got off the mecha first, with Arthur one step behind him.

The blond-haired, golden-eyed boy was greeted with cheers as soon as he got off the mecha.

An officer patted Arthur on the shoulder and said, “You’re really not afraid of death! But even if you die, your military exploits will be recorded.”

Contrary to Yan Xueshan’s expectations, Arthur got off the mecha and didn’t seem to have any killing intent at all.

Although Arthur’s entire body looked like he had just been fished out of the water, hot, as if his body was steaming, his mental condition was quite good.

Hearing the compliments from others, Arthur’s ears and neck blushed as he touched his head in embarrassment, and said, “I’m just lucky. It was all because my partner Yan, Mr. Yan protected me so I could come back in one piece.”

As he spoke, he looked at Yan Xueshan, his eyes begging for praise.

“…?”

‘Why was he looking at him like this?’ Yan Xueshan thought.

Yan Xueshan took off his helmet and hugged it in his arms. Although he didn’t know why, he still nodded slightly to show his praise.

He only nodded lightly, but Arthur was like a sunflower under the sun: Overflowing with joy due to praise.

Yan Xueshan became a little confused, turned around and left without saying anything.

In his heart, he thought with satisfaction, it seems that in a short time there would be no need to change partners and experience another headache caused by the psychic power assimilation test.

Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, he turned around and saw Arthur following behind him with bright eyes as he spoke shyly, “I’ll go back to rest too.”

In a flash, the newbie Melee Master Sergeant who stammered in front of him, promising to fight to the best of his ability, grew into an idol for other teenagers, giving lectures meticulously on stage.

Yan Xueshan came back to the present as everyone around him started applauding Arthur.

“Thank you.” Gentleman Arthur said politely, looking down at Yan Xueshan in the crowd, as if asking with his eyes: Master, how did I do?

Yan Xueshan lazily raised his hands and applauded him.

The calm and reliable Admiral Arthur’s eyes lit up as he smiled brightly with little restraint.

As soon as Arthur left, the students started discussing him.

“My God, Admiral Arthur is so handsome, he is even more handsome than on TV! How can his legs be so long? How could he be born with a face like that? Not only does he have good academic performance, but he is also an S-class Mecha pilot! Which possibilities did God choose for him?”

 “Don’t talk to me right now! He seemed to smile at me. Ah! I feel like I’ve been shot straight in the heart. I’m going to die.”

“Now that the war is over, Admiral Arthur should start thinking about marriage. Isn’t he the dream lover of omegas in the entire Federation?”

“What’s wrong? Are you discriminating against betas? I’m a beta. I dream of him too!”

“I’m an alpha and I dream of him too! Hahahaha.”

A group of young boys and girls were star-eye as they chatted and laughed.

Yan Xueshan was calm as he watched them play, and thought, ‘It’s great that the war is over and children can laugh as much as they want.’

Only the girl with braids and glasses puffed out her checks and sulked. “He is smiling all day long so you don’t notice that he’s sad about the passing of the Blue Reaper. How cold-blooded and cruel!”

“Humph.” She turned away angrily.

Yan Xueshan didn’t talk to her again, he was afraid of getting into a quarrel. He didn’t like arguing with others.

Another chubby girl saw this and spoke to Yan Xueshan. “Don’t mind her, Polly didn’t mean it. The Mecha Master Sergeant who piloted the Artemis was the idol she worshiped from childhood.”

She blocked her mouth with one hand and said, “She is only a fan, not a toxic one.”

Yan Xueshan: “?” 

He didn’t understand.

The fat girl continued, “She also wanted to learn about mecha for this reason, but because of her poor physique, she was eliminated in the first round.”

Before she could finish explaining, the girl named “Polly” turned around and said in annoyance, “Nana, don’t talk about me to others! Let’s go!”

The chubby girl followed but Yan Xueshan still heard her gently say, “But he is so handsome and his temper also seems good.  It looks like we will be in the same class in the future.”

Many students slipped away after Arthur gave his speech, thinking that Arthur must have left directly. Maybe if they were lucky, they might still be able to ask the Admiral to sign an autograph for them.

Yan Xueshan was very disciplined and sat there until the whole opening ceremony was over and disbanded before he left.

Ding.

The simple communicator Yan Xueshan bought rang.

He touched his earlobe.

This communicator was a military technology product. At first glance it was an obsidian stud, the size of a small thumbnail, but with light touch it could read and send voice messages.

Yan Xueshan also noticed that Arthur, accompanied by the principal, reappeared on the podium, looking at him unblinking, and bowing his head to say something.

Only Yan Xueshan heard his whisper, which came directly and ambiguously into his ear: “Master, wait for me at the villa.”

Yan Xueshan smiled and was ready to leave.

However, he was blocked by a male student. The child had an unruly face and was short and thin, with a bit of unwanted baby fat on his face. He stared at Yan Xueshan warily. “Who the hell are you? Why do you keep staring at the Admiral?”

Yan Xueshan, who was being questioned, was expressionless, while Arthur, who saw it from a distance, showed an uneasy expression.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

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