Bonus Chap
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As a medium to manipulate a mecha, spiritual energy was, of course, incredibly powerful, but it was also very fragile. Being a mecha designer, Duan Hengye clearly knew how many years and generations of effort the people of the Interstellar Era had put in before they managed to securely connect their mechas to their spiritual energy. Although Duan Hengye didn’t have a very specific understanding of interstellar history, just from what he currently knew, there had been countless people who had lost their lives due to unsuccessful experiments with spiritual energy.
That’s right—loss of life. Spiritual energy-related instruments that were in the trial period were extremely dangerous. If something went wrong during the operation, it would not only damage the user’s spiritual energy but would also directly harm his brain and his life. Meng Jinhuai was the marshal of the empire and, even more so, a soldier, and no one understood the preciousness and fragility of spiritual energy better than he did. However, Wen Xunyin now told Duan Hengye that Meng Jinhuai was using a dangerous instrument related to spiritual energy that was still in the experimental period because of him.
After saying what he just said, Duan Hengye heard Wen Xunyin’s breathing clearly become tense. Obviously, Meng Jinhuai wanted to hide this matter from him. Seeing that Duan Hengye didn’t say anything for a while, Wen Xunyin, who was a little apprehensive, spoke slowly and tentatively, “Prof. Duan, they didn’t want to tell you about this; I couldn’t control myself… But rest assured, the instrument is working well now.”
Because of the appearance of Wen Xunyin, Duan Hengye’s mood was slightly better, but just after he told him about the instrument and Meng Jinhuai’s spiritual energy, Duan Hengye’s mood fell to the bottom again. Of course, Duan Hengye knew that since the instrument was able to use spiritual energy as a medium to contact him and had been functioning well during this period of time, there was no problem with it. But despite this, Duan Hengye was still worried.
Seeing that Duan Hengye didn’t say anything, Wen Xunyin continued, “This is the case, Professor Duan; this instrument in the institute serves as a guide. Right now, from the monitoring data on our side, we can see that the fluctuation of your spiritual energy is still a bit abnormal, so it’s not suitable for the next step right now.”
Duan Hengye piloted a mecha, so he knew that a person’s strong emotional fluctuations would also affect their spiritual energy. But as he faced his own funeral, how could Duan Hengye calm down?
“Okay,” Duan Hengye replied.
At this time, far away in another parallel time and space, Wen Xunyin was staring at the light device in front of him. He didn’t tell Duan Hengye that his spiritual energy at this time couldn’t be simply summarized by the words’unstable’, and calling it ‘chaotic’ seemed more appropriate.
However, Duan Hengye’s ability to hide his emotions was indeed strong, and Wen Xunyin saw that although the fluctuations in the other party’s spiritual energy were extremely abnormal, his voice was still so calm. So after listening to Duan Hengye’s words, Wen Xunyin was first silent for a short while and then hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Okay, then Professor Duan, we will monitor your spiritual energy in real time on our side, and when the data stabilizes, I will contact you again.”
“Okay.” Duan Hengye said to him as he slowly adjusted his breathing.
When the connection was temporarily suspended, peace returned to Duan Hengye’s ears. He saw that the lawn not far away was already full of people.
The Duan Hengye of this life was an otaku; he didn’t have many friends, and his relationship with his family wasn’t exactly very close. But now, Duan Hengye clearly saw clear and incomparable sadness in the faces of these people.
It was a bit ironic that it was only after leaving this world that Duan Hengye finally realized that there was so much love around him. The funeral had officially begun; in traditional families like the Duan family, people like Duan Hengye who died due to external conflicts wouldn’t have such grand funeral ceremonies. So the current situation was in line with his thoughts; at least there wouldn’t be any more grand events to amplify the sadness in his heart.
The heavy cumulonimbus clouds that drifted in the sky not long ago stopped here, and Duan Hengye saw that there was no more sunlight coming through now. Not far away, his family members dressed in black gently placed the white bouquets held in their hands before the black stone monument in turn, and after standing in silence for a while, they left.
Colleagues that Duan Hengye hadn’t seen for a long time also came, and many of them had already cried so much that they couldn’t even stand up steadily. These people were assisted by the staff. Then they gathered together in groups of three to five, probably talking about the events of Duan Hengye’s life as their leader. Although Duan Hengye looked a bit serious, in reality, he was often described as “cute” behind his back.
Unlike the scene on the colleagues’ side, just like Duan Hengye, no one in the Duan family seemed to be very good at words. Duan Hengye saw his parents standing side by side from afar, and they didn’t say anything; they just looked at the stone monument in front of them in silence like that. At this time, the cumulonimbus clouds that had been hanging in the sky for a long time were finally pierced by something. It was like a plastic bag full of water; once it was accidentally pierced, it would leak and wouldn’t stop until it was empty.
Although they had read the weather forecast and prepared enough umbrellas when they arrived, the rain fell a little too suddenly. By the time the staff came over with umbrellas, the clothes of Duan Hengye’s parents, who were standing at the front, had already been drenched by the rain. Duan Hengye saw that his mother, who had always been image-conscious, gently flicked her rain-dampened hair to the back of her head, and on her cheeks, rainwater mixed with tears dripped rapidly downwards—the woman had never been in such a sorry state before.
After seeing this scene from afar, Duan Hengye’s heart simply felt like it was being tightly gripped by a hand. He slowly walked over to his mother, but unfortunately, Duan Hengye’s hand still couldn’t touch the person in front of him. No matter what Duan Hengye did, it was all in vain.
Looking at the hand that couldn’t touch anything, a sense of powerlessness came heavily towards Duan Hengye.
Right now, he was incomparably sure in his heart that this trip back to his homeland was clearly a punishment.
Through the thick curtain of rain, Duan Hengye saw his mother finally unable to hold back, and she flung herself into the arms of the man in front of her.
Duan Hengye’s father stretched out his hand and gently patted her on the back.
Duan Hengye had never seen his mother this fragile, nor had he seen his father be that gentle. He realized that his understanding of his family was really too little. After finally seeing this side of them that he had never seen before, it was too late for anything.
The heavy rain continued and was getting heavier and heavier. Because of this rain, Duan Hengye couldn’t even see things three or four meters away.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but his family finally started to leave, and Duan Hengye, who wanted to follow them home, realized that he couldn’t even board the car for the return trip.
However, after ten minutes, the place was empty, leaving only Duan Hengye. Faced with the seemingly never-ending heavy rain and his own black stone tablet in front of him, Duan Hengye was extremely confused. He wasn’t a timid person, but the scene at this moment still made him panic.
Duan Hengye didn’t know if the instrument that Wen Xunyin had just mentioned was still running now or if the Interstellar Era’s side could still hear what he said. After waiting to sit down, Duan Hengye began to murmur Meng Jinhuai’s name in his mind over and over again.
There was still no response from the other side, but at this time, Duan Hengye’s ears finally heard a little more than the sound of raindrops. There was a car that slowly stopped not far away, and then a man in a black shirt walked over—he didn’t have an umbrella—and the rainwater slid past him unchecked.
The person who came was Shen Yiyu; after seeing him, Duan Hengye suddenly felt a little amused. If he remembered correctly, last night Shen Yiyu was in his home, saying that he wanted to see him, and now, even though they were separated by something, it could be considered that he really saw him.
Just now, Duan Hengye was full of despair, but when he saw Shen Yiyu appear here and silently kneel down towards the black stone tablet, his mood unexpectedly calmed down.
Before, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but connect things like “spiritual power” and “soul” in his heart, but now he felt that he basically understood what “letting go” was. Seeing Shen Yiyu, the person who indirectly caused his death, Duan Hengye’s emotions were certainly complicated. However, after the fleeting, complex emotions disappeared, he once again missed Meng Jinhuai in the depths of his heart.
It wasn’t wanting to return to the Interstellar Era, nor was it wanting to leave this suffocating rainstorm; he just missed Meng Jinhuai. This thought was incomparably simple yet incomparably clear.
The heavy rain continued, and Duan Hengye sat under the tree. He didn’t go to see whether Shen Yiyu in front of him had gone; he just sat there quietly, remembering the previous two years.
Just at this time, Duan Hengye suddenly felt a familiar force wrapping him up tightly. In an instant, the temperature that had just been deprived by the torrential rain returned once again, and it was as if Duan Hengye heard a familiar call coming from his ears.
On Earth, he tentatively released his spiritual energy for the first time, and immediately afterward, he felt a familiar response. Wen Xunyin’s voice once again appeared in Duan Hengye’s ears, he heard the other party say with some excitement, ”Professor Duan! Your spiritual energy fluctuations are now normal.”
In other words, Duan Hengye might be able to go home.
TN:
His poor parents ༎ຶ‿༎ຶಥ‿ಥ