The Third Rebirth (REBIRTH)
As soon as the sky brightened, Ye Xiao got out of bed, grabbed his knife, and prepared to go out for his morning training. But as he reached the door, his steps hesitated.
He turned back to the bedside to look at Ling Chen, who was still deeply asleep after taking his medication. Ye Xiao took four deep breaths before slowly leaning down and kissing Ling Chen on the lips. Emboldened, he even dared to lick twice with his tongue. Then, as if stepping on the wind, he rushed out the door with reddened ears.
He sprinted all the way to the corner of the hallway, where he came to an abrupt halt and narrowly avoided a collision with Bai Hengyun.
Bai Hengyun, who had just pulled an all-nighter, was holding an empty coffee cup and yawning. Seeing Ye Xiao, she smiled and said, "Up so early?"
Ye Xiao stood straight and replied earnestly, "Yes, I’m going to practice." After a moment of thought, he added, "The Captain is still asleep."
Bai Hengyun noticed his nervousness and smiled warmly. "Alright, I’ll go check on Ling Chen." She handed her coffee cup to Ye Xiao, freeing her hands to carefully straighten his clothes. As she did so, she remarked, "You’re just like Ling Chen. Every time you wear clothes, the collar is always crooked, never neat."
After finishing, she stepped back, satisfied, and nodded. "Our Ye Xiao is really handsome."
Ye Xiao’s ears turned completely red, and he whispered, "Thank you."
Bai Hengyun took back her coffee cup with her eyes curving into a smile. "Alright, good luck with your morning training!"
After Bai Hengyun left, Ye Xiao stood in place for a while longer and absentmindedly touched his collar—was this... what it felt like to have a mother?
…….
Ling Chen’s physique was indeed exceptional as his wounds healed quickly.
After just three days, they had already stopped bleeding. Given the scarcity of medical resources, he was conscious not to waste them and moved into the room next to Jiang Cancan’s, staying with Ye Xiao.
However, he seemed to be very busy, often not returning to his room until the early hours of the morning.
When Ye Xiao received a message from Ling Chen, he was playing chess with Jiang Cancan and Jian Lan. He had just learned the game and was losing miserably, with a row of white strips stuck to his face, leaving only his eyes visible.
Seeing the message from Ling Chen on his Communicator, Ye Xiao tore off the strips, stood up, and said, "The Captain is calling me. I’ll head over now."
Jiang Cancan waved with a grin, "Alright, we’ll continue our strip journey tomorrow!"
Over the past few days, Ye Xiao had become familiar with the temporary base.
The base covered a large area, surrounded by forests, and was well-hidden. It had previously been a testing ground under the Engineering Institute, but after Bai Hengyun and the others arrived, it was renovated to be barely functional.
Following the directions in Ling Chen’s message, Ye Xiao made his way to the top floor. He pushed open the door to the rooftop, closed it behind him, and then froze in place.
On the rooftop, someone had strung together a series of palm-sized woven cages with thin grass ropes and hanging them overhead. Each delicate woven cage contained a firefly, glowing brightly.
It was as if the stars had fallen.
In that moment, it seemed as though the stars had landed in Ye Xiao’s eyes. The night breeze blew in from an unknown direction, causing the starlight to sway.
Ling Chen was wearing a black shirt, with the top three buttons undone, revealing the sharp lines of his chest muscles.
His hair was clearly styled, with his forehead exposed, making his features appear more defined and his eye sockets deeper. On his wrist, he wore a watch that was more expensive than a car, adding a touch of extravagance.
He stood next to Ye Xiao and both of them looked up, "Do you like it?"
Ye Xiao's gaze shifted to Ling Chen's face, and he softly replied, "Yes, I like it very much."
The smile on Ling Chen's lips widened, his mood exceptionally good. "When I first made you a woven cage, I said that if we ever found fireflies, I'd catch a few and put them inside. Then it would truly be a little lantern."
Back then, they were still in D Zone. Ye Xiao had heard a commotion and came out from the back of the vehicle before taking down a Giant Lizard without getting hurt himself. As a reward, Ling Chen had made him a woven cage.
After the last word fell, both of them fell silent, with only the gentle sound of the wind in their ears. Ling Chen, who hadn't flinched even when a gun was pointed at his chest, now felt his heart pounding with nervousness.
All the words he had prepared beforehand were forgotten. So, he decided to improvise, "Ye Xiao, I—"
A "beep" sound interrupted him as the Communicator in his pocket automatically opened a communication channel. Bai Hengyun's urgent voice followed, "Ling Chen, come to the control room immediately, something's happened!"
"...Damn it!" The carefully built atmosphere was completely ruined.
He had worked so hard, coming out in the middle of the night to weave a cage and catch fireflies, even writing five versions of a three-thousand-word confession—it was enough to make him want to vomit blood!
Struggling to steady his voice, Ling Chen took out the Communicator and replied, "I'll be right there."
Forcing a smile, Ling Chen ruffled Ye Xiao's hair, "I'll go see what's going on."
Ye Xiao nodded, "Alright, go ahead. I'll head back later."
As the door closed, Ye Xiao was left alone on the rooftop.
He gently touched each of the woven lanterns one by one, then found a spot to sit down before resting his chin on his hand as he stared at the glowing lanterns. His heart felt so full, as if something was about to overflow.
Ye Xiao's fingers tightened and loosened around the scabbard. After a while, he called out in his mind, "Noah, are you there?"
After a few seconds, Noah's voice appeared, "Hello, Ye Xiao."
Ye Xiao asked in his mind, "Can you see these fireflies?"
Noah replied, "Yes." He then added, "Ye Xiao, your heart rate is currently abnormal."
Ye Xiao admitted, "Yes."
He knew it himself because when placing his palm over his chest, he could feel the intense heartbeat.
After a few seconds of silence, Noah suddenly said, "I know that thinking of someone can cause your heart rate to increase, your tear glands to secrete tears more easily, your body temperature to rise, and the frequency of your smiles to increase. In your human terms, this is called 'liking.'"
…….
With a loud "bang", the door to the control room was pushed open from the outside, and Ling Chen stormed in with his aura so intimidating it was frightening.
Bai Hengyun had obvious dark circles under her eyes. She turned to look at Ling Chen and raised an eyebrow, "Oh, is this a delayed rebellious phase?"
Ling Chen thought to himself, ‘I'm almost thirty, what rebellious phase?’
He asked in a deep voice, "What's happened?"
"It's your dad."
Ling Chen frowned, "Old Ling?"
Bai Hengyun handed the empty cup to Ling Chen, who poured her a fresh one. After taking a sip of the warm coffee, Bai Hengyun pinched the bridge of her nose. "The day before you arrived, which was the 24th, your father led the team out. They’ve been in contact with us every day. But just now, during the voice call, after only a couple of sentences, it suddenly turned into static and then cut off. When I tried calling back, all I got was a busy tone."
Ling Chen’s eyes sharpened. "Can we locate them?"
"Yes," Bai Hengyun tapped a few times on the screen. "This is the location displayed during the call. We’re not sure what happened there yet."
Ling Chen looked at the location on the map. "That’s a wasteland. What were Old Ling and General Jiang doing there?"
Bai Hengyun pointed at the screen. "Underground, there’s an abandoned testing site. There’s a piece of information inside that we must retrieve."
From her tone, Ling Chen sensed the gravity of the situation and nodded. "I’ll take a team over. Don’t worry."
Bai Hengyun set down her coffee cup and looked at Ling Chen before speaking softly, "Be careful."
Ling Chen smirked with his expression somewhat nonchalant. "Got it."
Hearing that there was a mission, Jiang Cancan jumped up and almost danced on the spot. "Can Ye have been so bored he’s about to shed his skin! Days without missions are no different from being a salted fish!"
Ling Chen kicked him lightly and handed a chip to Jiang Mu. "Professor Bai said all the useful information is on here. Take a look."
Jiang Mu took it and asked, "Is the little friend going?"
Ling Chen hesitated for a moment. "I don’t want him to."
Jiang Cancan patted his newly grown buzz cut. "Yeah, this mission has no backup, and we’re not sure how dangerous it is. If we die, we might at least get a first-class merit—"
What he didn’t say was that Ye Xiao wasn’t part of the official roster and had no family. If he died, no one would remember him.
Just then, Ye Xiao opened the door and walked in. "What are you talking about?" He was holding three woven cages woth the fireflies inside already released. He stood next to Ling Chen and looked up at him. "Are we going on a mission?"
Ling Chen reached out and pinched the back of his neck. "Yeah."
He suddenly remembered that he had promised before that no matter where he went, the two of them would always be together, and he would never leave him alone again.
So the words on the tip of his tongue changed. "Is Little Fuzzball going?"
"Yes, I’ll go with you."
"Alright." Ling Chen felt a sudden sense of relief.
His Little Fuzzball was never weak. He was a strong person who could cut him down with a blade.
He shouldn’t treat him like a delicate flower in a greenhouse and make decisions for him under the guise of what’s best for him. Instead, he should respect him and his choices.
At 11 PM, after packing up, the five of them boarded an armored vehicle.
Bai Hengyun came to see them off. She wasn’t one for sentimental gestures, so she simply waved her hand. "Go early and come back early. Be careful." The night breeze lifted a few strands of her hair. Her tone was light, but her eyes still held a trace of worry.
Ling Chen sat in the driver’s seat, raised two fingers to his temple, and saluted her. "Cut back on the coffee. Do you still want your stomach or not?"
Ye Xiao thought for a moment, then leaned out and added, "Get more sleep."
Bai Hengyun chuckled. "You two are so naggy!"
The engine roared to life, and the camouflage-painted armored vehicle vanished into the vast night.
The navigation device emitted a fluorescent blue light.
Ling Chen glanced at the rear compartment and said, "Put away the sunflower seeds and the Go-Moku game. It's time to sleep."
Jian Lan quickly packed up the sunflower seeds, while Jiang Cancan put away the Go-Moku board. The three of them found spots to lie down and soon fell asleep.
Ahead lay the pitch-black night. Ling Chen lowered the partition between the driver's cabin and the rear compartment, then looked at Ye Xiao, who was sitting upright in the passenger seat, and asked softly, "Are you tired?"
Ye Xiao shook his head. "Not tired. I'll keep you company."
Despite his words, within three minutes, Ye Xiao's eyes closed, and his chin began to nod.
Ling Chen chuckled, took off his own jacket, and draped it over Ye Xiao with one hand.
As if he could recognize Ling Chen's scent even in his sleep, Ye Xiao grasped a corner of the jacket and fell into a deep slumber.
As dawn approached, Jiang Mu woke up and came to take over the shift from Ling Chen.
Ling Chen stopped the vehicle, opened the door, and jumped out. He walked around the front of the vehicle then opened the passenger door, and gently lifted Ye Xiao into his arms. Then, he mouthed to Jiang Mu, "It's your turn now."
Jiang Mu nodded.
Carrying Ye Xiao back to the rear compartment, Ling Chen found a spot to lie down and cradled him in his arms. However, before he could fall into a deep sleep, Jiang Mu woke him up.
Following Jiang Mu to the driver's cabin, Ling Chen lowered his voice and asked, "Something wrong?"
"Yes," Jiang Mu nodded. "The vehicle's signal receiver was on, and we just picked up a distress signal. The encryption method is ours."
Ling Chen frowned. "What does it say?"
Jiang Mu handed the translated message to Ling Chen. It read, "Brothers passing by, help us! Our entire team will repay you with our lives!"
After reading it, Ling Chen rubbed his fingers together and asked, "Is it on our way?"
"Yes," Jiang Mu also looked at the line of text. "Shall we help?"
Ling Chen replied, "We will."
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