Chapter 1000: Terminal

Chapter 1000: The Terminal Station

The moment the hibernation pod closed, countless thoughts flashed through Jiang Xuezhou's mind.

She even considered that once she fell asleep, she might never wake again.

Yet, despite the turmoil in her heart, she felt not a trace of fear.

She could sense someone holding her hand.

The warmth that traveled through her fingertips was not just the blood spilling from her body, but something else.

She did not know that person's name, nor could she recall their face—only that it was a gentle older sister.

She had been here all along.

And she had waited for a full 215 years...

Peacefully, she closed her eyes, and at the moment the Orion-class cruiser jumped into the hyperspace lane, she, unconscious and sleeping, completed her first and final meeting.

It was a very, very long dream.

In the dream, she met many people.

Though in the dream she was asleep, never opening her eyes for a single second, everyone there seemed to know her.

Both her face and her name.

Vaguely, she had a blurred sense that she had not come here alone.

Someone who had set out with her—or perhaps an instant after her—had arrived here before her and told them her name.

In that invisible darkness, she was not alone.

Then, a hand gently brushed across her forehead.

And a warm whisper.

"...You will survive."

"Your companion is a brave child... and his courage is no less than any of ours."

That voice was like a torch dispelling the darkness, illuminating her entire world in an instant.

And when the light of dawn broke, all the darkness surrounding her crumbled like tainted mud under the ever-brightening radiance.

Dimly, she heard another voice.

It was a voice filled with unwillingness, drawn out long, like a ghost wandering in the abyss, howling and wailing.

"...Why..."

"Two hundred years! I waited two hundred years!"

"Why do you oppose me! Why!!"

That creature seemed to have broken down.

Had someone done something?

At that moment, Jiang Xuezhou did not fully realize what had happened to her counterpart on the original timeline during her slumber.

The data packet she had downloaded to her bionic chip earlier when hacking into the warp engine cache server was now releasing outward at an incredible speed, surging along the data cable at its neck into the Orion-class missile cruiser's onboard server.

That broken roar came from the AI named "Navigator."

The ghost dwelling on that old circuit board.

It probably never imagined, even in death, that the people it had killed over two hundred years ago would wield the sword it once used to cut off its own head...

Everything was over.

In a daze, Jiang Xuezhou seemed to see the hibernation pod's door close a second time.

It was a man in powered armor.

Having done everything, he wanted to sit down and rest for a while, but then, as if remembering something, he stood up and walked out of the twisted, deformed cockpit.

Her eyes could not see, yet she could vaguely perceive everything happening outside.

And just as that door closed, the warped hatch was opened again, and a familiar figure rushed in frantically from outside.

He searched desperately for something in the room.

His clumsy manner made her want to laugh and cry at the same time, but she could not shed a tear.

In this bizarre dream, she could do nothing, not even open her eyes.

Fortunately, that reckless fellow eventually found what he was looking for.

It seemed to be a key.

Then, as if he finally noticed her lying there, he walked toward her in ecstasy.

Just as she tried to open her eyes to meet his gaze, the already blurry vision suddenly frosted over with white, and then the lost five senses returned to her.

Feeling a piercing pain in her abdomen, she frowned slightly and let out an involuntary whimper.

At that moment, a panicked voice came from not far away.

"...Don't get up yet! I'm treating your wound!"

The blood scab stuck to her eyelids, and she could not open her eyes.

But after hearing that familiar voice, her tense nerves instantly softened.

"Ye Shi..."

"I'm right here! Hang on!"

Standing beside the hibernation pod, Ye Shi, drenched in sweat, applied the just-thawed hemostatic gel to the wound on her abdomen.

The emergency airlock of the landing craft had already opened, and the cockpit was filled with air.

Under positive pressure, the twisted hatch was automatically pressed tightly against the doorframe.

Meanwhile, the ship's artificial gravity system had successfully restarted, and the cabin now felt gravity close to that of the moon, gradually returning to 1G.

The piercing pain was slowly replaced by a cool sensation. Jiang Xuezhou breathed softly, and the blood scab sealing her eyes gradually melted with warm tears.

"Woo..."

Seeing the tears rolling down Jiang Xuezhou's face, Ye Shi panicked and quickly asked.

"Does it hurt?"

She shook her head gently and whispered, "It doesn't hurt."

But her uncooperative tears kept falling, one after another, more and more.

If it doesn't hurt, why are you crying?

Seeing her face streaked with tears, Ye Shi was completely at a loss, momentarily unsure what to do.

Fortunately, his hands kept moving, and he eventually managed to stop the bleeding using the method Lin Youyou had left behind, then wrapped it with bandages.

As an unlicensed amateur, that was the best he could do.

As for repairing radiation damage and such...

We can only wait until we return to Earth to seek help from the Alliance's biological research institute, or think of some other way.

There must be a way to solve it.

"...The bleeding has stopped. Your previous spacesuit was damaged. I got you an extravehicular exoskeleton that can be worn instead of a spacesuit."

Jiang Xuezhou, her eyes red-rimmed, softly hummed an "mm," then lay there without a word.

Having never seen her so quiet, Ye Shi couldn't help but stare a little longer.

To his surprise, she, who was usually all teeth and claws, now grew shy, shrinking her neck and retreating slightly.

"...Don't look at me..."

Seeing her own reflection in those eyes, Jiang Xuezhou awkwardly turned her neck, averting her gaze.

"I... right now... look so ugly."

Objectively speaking, that was true.

Her hair was almost gone, her body covered in dried blood scabs and tissue fluid oozing from broken skin, like a chick just pecking out of its shell.

In the past, he might have teased her with low emotional intelligence.

But now, he was no longer the clueless person he once was.

Did it really matter whether she was an NPC or a real person?

Not at all.

What truly mattered was that his feelings at this moment were utterly real.

He gazed deeply into those bright, clear eyes, as if looking at a gem buried in ashes.

Watching her paper-white face flush crimson, he spoke with a tenderness he had never tried in his life.

"...I don't mind."

Time frosted over.

The air seemed to freeze, solidifying the slowly burning sunset.

Silence reigned.

For a long while, there was no sound between them, until finally, from her lightly bitten lips, a stubborn phrase escaped.

"...You don't have to force yourself."

As it turned out, a dog's mouth can't spit out ivory.

Jiang Xuezhou, who had been moved to tears by him a second ago, was now furious enough to explode.

What did he mean by "I don't mind"?

She admitted it.

She did look a mess right now, but what had she gone through to end up like this?

Ahhh!

If she had known, she might as well have died.

With what little strength she had left, she bit her teeth, feeling her negative emotions boil over.

Was he doing this on purpose?

He must be!

Just as she grew more aggrieved, on the verge of crying, a sudden breeze blew before her.

Before she could react, the grievance nearly spilling from her lips was blocked by a surge of passion.

That warmth dispelled the cold, melting the ice that had nearly frozen her heartbeat.

Her pupils widened for a moment, then misted over, and her eyes slowly closed.

All the grievances and pain she had endured, the confusion and helplessness in the face of despair, now turned into a faint saltiness rolling at the corner of her lips.

Those things no longer mattered.

Before this unprecedented happiness, everything past was superfluous.

She only wished time would stop forever.

Let that warmth linger a little longer...

Lips parted.

It wasn't just Jiang Xuezhou whose face was as red as an apple; the other person, arms propped on the hibernation pod, was too.

His posture was indescribably strange, like an orange cat stuck halfway up the stairs.

But at that moment, she was utterly content, with no desire to tease or bicker.

Burying her flushed face, she whispered.

"Idiot... you... are you trying to knock my teeth out..."

Too cunning.

Using this trick...

How could she stay angry now?

Looking at the suddenly shy Jiang Xuezhou, Ye Shi blushed and stammered.

"I, I didn't mean that..."

He had tried so hard to imitate that guy Fang Chang, but somehow he still messed up.

Maybe it was because he usually said too many crude things; his mouth was just not made for such sentimental words.

But that was truly how he felt at the time.

No matter what she became, whether there was still a chance to heal, he would never let her down.

"...I mean, no matter what you become... I... like you?"

Her fist, which had just softened, hardened again. Jiang Xuezhou wanted to knock his head off.

"Why is 'like' a question! You idiot... can't you just say 'like' properly? It's so infuriating!"

Seeming a bit embarrassed himself, Ye Shi's face couldn't take it, and he blushed as he shot back.

"Ahhh... fine, I'll say it! I like you! I like you! I like you!"

He said it three times in a row, making up for all the times he hadn't.

The moment she heard that word, Jiang Xuezhou's face turned bright red, steam seemed to rise from her ears, and her fierce demeanor softened like a melting snowman.

Ye Shi, who had never lost an argument, naturally didn't miss this chance to counterattack. Watching Jiang Xuezhou, who looked dazed as if about to melt, he blushed and pressed on.

"I've said my part. Your turn?"

"Me, me?"

As if not expecting to be asked back, Jiang Xuezhou panicked, her rising tone wavering.

Looking at her who wanted to dodge, Ye Shi nevertheless stubbornly stared into her eyes and pressed on.

"Yeah, I've already told you, I like you, I like you so much, even if I know it embarrasses you I have to say it, I don't want to be like just now... almost missing you."

"..."

That word "like" was like a remote control switch; each time it was pressed, her brain short-circuited.

Her thin lips parted and closed for a long while, fiery red clouds spreading into a haze of smoke and sunset.

Wait... wasn't this all happening too fast?

Should she take another look?

Even if she didn't really dislike children... one or two were fine, three wasn't unacceptable, but she really ought to ask Yuehan's opinion, right? She wondered if that child could accept suddenly becoming an aunt.

It wasn't until she started thinking about what to name her granddaughter that she suddenly realized she had gotten way ahead of herself, and she almost wanted to bury her burning head in ice to cool down.

Ye Shi had no idea what strange thoughts were running through her mind, nor did he keep pressing; he just fixed his gaze on those deer-like evasive eyes, waiting for her answer.

Finally...

This person, even more insincere than him, couldn't bear to make him wait forever.

Her lips parted softly, and she spoke the answer both of them had long known in their hearts.

"Like..."

"Like who?"

"Like... you, you idiot—!"

Before she could finish, she was silenced again.

...

When Jiang Xuezhou sat up from the hibernation pod, ten minutes had already passed.

Under the effect of the hemostatic gel, the wound on her abdomen had scabbed over and begun a slow recovery.

"Cyborgs" were far superior to ordinary wastelanders in adaptability and healing ability.

And that was one of the main reasons why the Academy's people were such hot commodities in the eyes of wastelanders.

Although Jiang Xuezhou's body was still very weak, she had no problem standing up and walking under normal gravity.

Following Lin Youyou's dying instructions, Ye Shi helped her put on the exoskeleton for extravehicular activity.

Getting out of the "icebox" as soon as the wound scabbed over would help promote blood circulation and metabolism; staying in the hibernation pod at this point was actually not a good thing.

With the exoskeleton's assistance, he didn't have to worry about her bumping into things or falling.

After ensuring safety, Ye Shi closed the emergency airlock and opened the cockpit hatch.

The air inside the cockpit was instantly sucked out, returning to a vacuum environment.

With Ye Shi's support, Jiang Xuezhou carefully climbed down from the landing craft's hatch.

Seeing Jiang Xuezhou wince and bend over in pain, Ye Shi, who had just let go, quickly reached out to support her again, worried.

"What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable?"

"I'm fine, just the wound pulled a bit... Don't act like I'm so fragile."

Jiang Xuezhou muttered softly, her face reddening. This guy suddenly being so attentive made her feel strange.

But though she said that, her heart felt as sweet as honey.

"I'm just worried about you..." Ye Shi scratched the back of his head and tightened his grip on her hand. "Take it easy, hold my hand and don't let go."

Jiang Xuezhou softly hummed in agreement, saying nothing, but she held his hand even tighter.

She was enjoying the moment.

Even though their situation was far from optimistic—five light-years away from Earth...

The reactor fuel probably couldn't sustain another jump, or else that android wouldn't have been so anxious.

But despite all the difficulties, she wasn't afraid at all.

Why?

She felt like she had been here before.

Everything here was so familiar, like her own living room.

"By the way... I just had a really, really long dream." Gazing at the android wreckage buried in the corner of the ruins, Jiang Xuezhou suddenly spoke softly.

Ye Shi gently squeezed her hand.

"What did you dream about?"

Jiang Xuezhou closed her eyes and thought hard for a moment, carefully recalling that bizarre dream.

"I saw so many people I didn't know... They said a lot of things, but I couldn't hear most of it. Oh, and later, a sister touched my head and said to me... I'll get better."

Ye Shi was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Was that sister named Lin Youyou?"

Jiang Xuezhou froze, her left hand touching her forehead.

"...That name sounds so familiar, I feel like I've heard it somewhere."

Ye Shi took a voice recorder from his pocket and handed it to the bewildered woman.

"Maybe... it wasn't a dream, but something that really happened."

He had once promised her that he would bring Jiang Xuezhou to see her, and now it seemed they might have already met.

During the time after he left.

Taking the voice recorder from Ye Shi's hand, Jiang Xuezhou stared at it intently, murmuring with a dazed look.

"I think so too... It didn't feel like a dream."

Seeing the confused Jiang Xuezhou, Ye Shi reached out and gently touched her helmet.

"Anyway, it's good that you're awake... They handed over command of this starship to us. Even though it's basically scrapped, there should still be some usable functions. You take a look around, and I'll log off to let my friends know I'm safe."

As expected, he had now arrived at Proxima Centauri.

No one in this game had gone farther than him; even the tail end of the Arctic was nothing compared to this.

But on the flip side, his troubles were also considerable.

Later, on the official website, he'd ask for their advice, and also give Guangge a shout-out—that world five light-years away was no empty promise.

Even if it had been before, now that promise was fulfilled.

As for showing off, that didn't exist.

Was he that shallow?

Even as he thought this, the corners of his mouth were already struggling to stay straight.

Seeing Ye Shi suddenly talking nonsense, Jiang Xuezhou tilted her head.

"Log off?"

“Uh, it’s... something like a method of perception. I told you I have some special abilities, right? Alright, alright, don’t worry about it. Just give me two minutes.”

Night Ten, having accidentally let it slip, quickly dropped the topic, ignoring the suspicious gaze, and sat down against the wall, closing his eyes to log off.

But perhaps because he logged off too hastily, his handsome sitting posture didn’t last two seconds before his head hit the ground.

Watching Night Ten, who had curled up like a shrimp while talking to himself, Jiang Xuezhou couldn’t help but make a helpless expression. She sighed and sat down beside him, letting out a “heave-ho” as she moved that blockhead onto her lap.

Come to think of it, something similar had happened before.

He claimed that by closing his eyes he could see residents of other shelters and communicate despite physical communication barriers.

She used to think he was bragging, but now she wondered if he might be serious.

But this was a distance of five light-years... Could special abilities really accomplish that?

“Speaking of which, this idiot looks pretty cute when he’s asleep...”

Looking at his peaceful sleeping face, Jiang Xuezhou couldn’t resist reaching out her index finger to gently touch the tip of his nose.

This guy was like a little pig—no matter how you messed with him while he slept, he wouldn’t wake up.

But after all they had been through,

maybe he was tired too.

Gently stroking his smooth, jet-black short hair, Jiang Xuezhou’s face bore a gentle, loving smile as she murmured softly.

“You’ve worked hard.”