C45

Bonus Chapter: Thanks for the kofi lesbien 🖤

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As a “super armor”, its cockpit was larger than any other one Duan Hengye had ever been on before. Although he was already familiar with the internal structure of this armor, Duan Hengye really had an intuitive feeling about it when the data was visualized.

It was amazing that a human could drive such a huge armor.

Similar to the outer shape of the armor, the inner side of the cockpit was also made of silver-white metal. At this time, the armor had not been officially started, and the dashboard and light screen were not lit up, so the whole cockpit looked very cold.

When he saw Duan Hengye standing still at the door, Meng Jinhuai, who was standing behind him, slowly came and gently put his hands on both sides of Duan Hengye’s shoulders and said: “Let’s go in and have a look.”

Meng Jinhuai’s words brought Duan Hengye out of his daze, and he nodded once, then walked into the cockpit of the armor.

It wasn’t easy to fly an armor, especially the higher the level of the armor, the larger it was, and the higher the demands on the pilot. Although this cockpit was large, no half-meter was useless. Duan Hengye knew that when the war started, there would be various light screens in the entire cockpit. Although the data recorded on them were different, each of them was related to the pilot’s life and safety and the outcome of the war.

At this moment, the marshal stepped into the driver’s seat of the armor. At the same time, a thin red curtain of light fell from the top of the cockpit. Meng Jinhua slowly closed his eyes, and the red light swept across his face. Then the red light turned to light blue, and Meng Jinhuai also opened his eyes, waiting for the blue light to sweep across his eyes.

“Welcome: Marshal Meng Jinhuai of the Southern Star of Ye Tian Empire, open the armor.”

The cold electronic synthesizer sounded, and the control panel in front of Meng Jinhuai finally lit up, while at the same time no less than ten light screens of various sizes appeared in the entire operation room. These light screens didn’t light up for nothing, when they appeared, there were dense text data on them and they started scrolling, which looked very lively.

Duan Hengye had previously used the military department’s internal system to watch driving videos, but the angle of the military department’s filming system was fixed, so generally speaking, it couldn’t illuminate so many light screens in the cockpit. Even though this scene had been conceived countless times in Duan Hengye’s brain, when he saw it for real, he was still shocked by it.

The extreme technology and extreme beauty had never been in conflict.

Now the armor had been officially opened, and Duan Hengye, as the armor researcher, began to pay attention to the data on the surrounding light screens. Right at this time, Meng Jinhuai, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, suddenly turned around, and he said to Duan Hengye, “Ah-heng, come over here, I’m going to open the co-pilot’s seat now.”

After hearing Meng Jinhuai’s words, Duan Hengye was stunned. Unlike Meng Jinhuai, who always piloted the armor alone, many pilots who were not very strong or young would first find a partner to work with. Therefore, when they designed the armor, they actually reserved at least two pilot seats.

Just …… was Lord Marshal really so sure of him?

After binding the passenger seat, he would have certain operating privileges, and then it would be easy to interfere with him. ……

Duan Hengye couldn’t help but cast his suspicious eyes to Meng Jinhuai, and after receiving this look, the other party nodded to him with great certainty.

Duan Hengye didn’t say anything more, he walked over to Meng Jinhuai’s side, and then slowly sat down on the sea-black driver’s seat.

As soon as Duan Hengye sat down, a blue-purple light curtain fell down on the driver’s seat. Although he didn’t have the experience to board this armor, Duan Hengye was still a top armor designer. After performing the authentication, he entered the opening information on the operation panel very smoothly, as well as confirmed the status of the armor.

While Duan Hengye was doing this, Meng Jinhuai was also watching him all the time.

From his perspective, Duan Hengye’s waist fit perfectly with the black leather driver’s seat back, forming an extremely relaxed and graceful angle. And because he was looking down to enter information, Duan Hengye tucked his chin slightly, revealing a piece of cold white skin at the back of his neck that almost blended in with the color of his jacket.

Although he had the armor’s operation dial under his hand, if one looked at his appearance when he was typing, it was easy to create the illusion that what Duan Hengye was typing was not the operation dial, but piano keys.

…… Duan Hengye had already noticed that Meng Jinhuai was staring at him, but he really couldn’t figure out why the Lord Marshal was staring at him.

He was a bit nervous by the other party’s stare.

After entering all the information, Duan Hengye’s hand remained quietly hanging on the operation panel, waiting for a while before he finally slowly lifted his chin, and then said an unusually stiff sentence towards Meng Jinhuai: “Okay.”

“Hmm.” The Lord Marshal didn’t seem to find it strange that he was staring at someone else, he nodded and turned back, then said, “Let’s go to Southern Star’s satellite and take a look.” As soon as his words fell, Duan Hengye felt a force bind him tightly. When he looked down, he realized that it was a fixation device on the driver’s seat that had appeared, fixing his waist tightly to the driver’s seat.

After all, unlike starships, to avoid any sudden danger, the system would automatically activate this device to ensure the driver’s safety before taking off.

The last time the armor was activated in An Luo, Duan Hengye didn’t really set up instructions for it to fly off the ground, so the fixtures didn’t appear. In fact, he was originally not nervous, but when the fixture came out, Duan Hengye had a feeling that he was on a roller coaster …… and was unconsciously excited.

Meng Jinhuai felt this, and he said to Duan Hengye, “I’ve set the minimum running speed, don’t worry.” As soon as Meng Jinhuai finished speaking, the silver-white wall in front of the armor’s cockpit slowly fell down.

As the person who designed this feature, Professor Duan then remembered …… that in order to ensure combat safety, the front and side bulkheads of the cockpit would become this transparent material when the armor was in full operation.

But in an instant, Duan Hengye’s view was unobstructed, and this angle was really exciting ……

Although he was a geek, Duan Hengye had studied ancient martial arts since childhood. He wasn’t afraid of heights, and after getting used to such a height and perspective, Duan Hengye’s heart also couldn’t help but get excited.

At this instant, the armor lifted off from the ground and flew off into space.

The earth shrank and faded away in an instant, and in just a few seconds, the armor passed through the atmosphere and into a vast sea of stars.

Unlike huge starships, the armor did not need to follow a fixed course. Meng Jinhuai was an extremely good armor pilot, and he did not look nervous like the average person, but rather relaxed.

From this, he could see that Meng Jinhuai’s control over this armor was to a perverted degree.

Looking at the starry river outside the window, Meng Jinhuai said to Duan Hengye: “The one in front is the satellite, called ‘Nanwei Star’.”

Looking in the direction Meng Jinhuai was looking, Duan Hengye saw a planet that was emitting fluorescent white light. Unlike Earth, Southern Star had more than one moon, and the star he saw was one of them and the one with the largest area.

Meng Jinhuai hovered his armor here, and he said to Duan Hengye: “Actually, this satellite was not originally called ‘Nanwei’, but was called ‘Southern Star One Satellite’. Later on, people moved to Southern Star, and gradually became attached to this huge satellite that had to accompany them every night, so its name changed from ‘Southern Star No.1 Satellite’ to ‘Nanwei’ in Chinese.”

As he said this, Meng Jinhuai’s tone was soothing, as if he were telling him a bedtime story. The Lord Marshal’s voice was very well-conditioned, and when he spoke, his voice turned into warm water that twisted around Duan Hengye’s fingertips and heart.

Duan Hengye didn’t pay attention to whether the author of “Dumping Interstellar” had intentionally described the appearance of Nanwei, but from his point of view, this satellite really resembled the moon.

In the traditional culture of China, the moon’s yin and yang seemed to be always connected with human sadness and happiness. Duan Hengye grew up with ancient martial arts and traditional Chinese culture, and although he started to do scientific research when he became an adult, the “moon” and its accompanying images had been engraved in Duan Hengye’s bones unconsciously.

In the interstellar era, people no longer lived on only one planet, so the moon was no longer the companion in the night sky. They abandoned this sadness, and Duan Hengye, the accidental intruder in the interstellar era, was extraordinarily lonely.

From the moment he transmigrated into the book, Duan Hengye intended to forget his former life, but at this moment, when he looked at the star Nanwei from afar, there was an unexplained feeling in his heart.

He wondered how his family on Earth was doing? Did they remember him? ……

Duan Hengye was so enthralled with Nanwei Xing that he didn’t notice that his eyes had unconsciously produced a thin layer of watery light. Although he didn’t mean to shed tears, the shiny appearance couldn’t hide from Meng Jinhuai’s eyes.

Seeing that Duan Hengye suddenly showed an expression of nostalgia mixed with regret, Meng Jinhuai couldn’t help but feel a little worried. However, he didn’t disturb Duan Hengye’s emotions, and just stared at the other silently.

After seeing the thin layer of water mist in Duan Hengye’s eyes, Meng Jinhuai’s hand couldn’t help but leave the control panel. He paused but did not follow his instincts and caress Duan Hengye’s cheek. Meng Jinhuai was waiting …… for the day when he would truly feel at ease to shed tears in front of him.

After a while, Duan Hengye finally got out of the emotions he had just been feeling and was embarrassed to feel the lingering tears in his eyes.

Duan Hengye sneaked a glance at Meng Jinhuai, and after seeing that the Marshal was looking ahead, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Of course, Duan Hengye didn’t feel that Meng Jinhuai did not notice his own difference, he just felt at this moment that Meng Jinhuai was really a person who knew how to take care of other people’s emotions.

Seeing that Duan Hengye had recovered, Meng Jinhuai ended the armor’s hover mode and maneuvered it to fly towards the Nanwei Star.

As the distance drew closer, Duan Hengye finally noticed something strange about Nanwei. The surface of this silver-white planet had the same potholes as the moon, but those potholes were obviously not caused by a meteorite impact.

After confessing to Meng Jinhuai, Duan Hengye seemed to have suddenly become brave enough to ask questions. He took a look at the large craters that had obviously formed recently in front of him, then turned to Meng Jinhuai and asked, “Why are there so many craters on Nanwei?”.

Duan Hengye didn’t realize that he had actually asked a question which showed he lacked common sense about the interstellar era …… After hearing his words, even Meng Jinhuai was taken aback. The Lord Marshal couldn’t help but look at Duan Hengye for a moment, then confirmed with him once again, “Which pit did you say?”

Although the armor’s running speed had slowed down, it was still running to a position that was close to the surface of Nanwei Star. Although Duan Hengye’s EQ wasn’t too high, he could still get some meaning from Meng Jinhuai’s question, he hesitated for a bit, and finally reached out his hand to point to the biggest hole directly in front of him.

After seeing what Duan Hengye pointed out, Meng Jinhuai found that …… as the director of the Armor Research Institute, his spouse seemed to lack some basic common knowledge more than he thought.

The Lord Marshal was silent for a moment and replied: “The special silver soil of Nanwei Star contains some kind of metal, and these pits were left behind when people dug the soil and extracted the metal material earlier.” After saying that, the armor landed steadily on the surface of Nanwei Star, and Meng Jinhuai cut the topic off at the right time.

“The current outdoor temperature is minus two hundred degrees.” He said.

After Meng Jinhuai’s words fell, Duan Hengye saw that a golden and purple light suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

“This is the star of the galaxy in which the southern stars are located.” After discovering Duan Hengye’s lack of common knowledge, Meng Jinhuai directly explained the light source to him. Immediately afterward, the cockpit was quiet once again, and Duan Hengye saw that the golden and purple light gradually expanded, giving a different color to the silver-white star.

Because the original color tended to be pure white, the star was like a clean canvas at this time. As the dreamy light from the star slanted, the pits of the star also had their own different shadows.

It was so beautiful. …… Duan Hengye finally understood that perhaps Meng Jinhuai brought him to Nanwei Star today for this special “sunrise”.

He didn’t know how long the sunrise lasted, and at the end, the star returned to pure white again, only brighter.

Although Duan Hengye was a bit reluctant to leave, he was already very satisfied to see such beautiful scenery. When Professor Duan was about to turn around and ask Meng Jinhuai if it was time to go back to Southern Star, he didn’t expect the other party to speak before him.

Meng Jinhuai asked, “Does Ah-heng want to try flying this armor?”

……

What?

It was no exaggeration to say that after Meng Jinhuai’s words, Duan Hengye’s entire soul trembled.

It was not that he was excited by the invitation to drive, but rather that an alarm suddenly went off in Duan Hengye’s brain, reminding him over and over again.

According to the person, he should be a person with zero mental energy!

Duan Hengye didn’t know that the fact that he tried to open the armor in An Luo was already known to the Lord Marshal.

At the moment, he was struggling with a question in his mind, that was, what else did …… Meng Jinhuai know? If he knew, where did he learn about it?

But at this time the reason was not the most important, Duan Hengye wondered …… whether he should now give the other party a straight confession, or continue to play dumb.

Just at this time, Meng Jinhuai suddenly said, “If you want, just relax and enter the L09 command.”

After hearing Meng Jinhuai say “L09 command”, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that Meng Jinhuai was not aware of the fact that he had recovered his mental strength.

The “L09” command was one of the two-pilot modes of the armor, which was normally used by people who were piloting the armor for the first time. After entering the armor driving program of the military academy, the students were not yet capable of piloting the armor alone. At this time, they would turn on the L09 mode, which was led by the teacher’s mental energy to assist their perception little by little.

What this instruction reflected was the magic of armor and spirituality. This was because only when the armor was the medium could the mental energy perceive each other.

In this mode, the person in the co-pilot’s seat did not even need to have mental energy. After all, from a certain point of view, he only acted as a “spectator”.

Although Duan Hengye was familiar with the armor, he didn’t know much about mental power. He apparently forgot one thing: general auxiliary perception could only be done on entry-level armor, but since Meng Jinhuai could bring himself to open the L09 mode on his armor, that was a direct default that Duan Hengye had more than A-class mental power. ……

He had already been thoroughly exposed.

After listening to Meng Jinhuai’s words, Duan Hengye began to try to relax, then quickly entered the L09 command on the operation panel.

However, after a few seconds, his fingertips lightly tapped the confirmation key of the operation panel, Duan Hengye slowly withdrew his hand, and then relaxed his mind.

Just at this time, he felt another golden, powerful, almost solidifying energy enveloping his entire body. Duan Hengye was still slightly nervous, but after that feeling appeared, he finally relaxed completely.

Then Duan Hengye felt that his brain was interconnected with the mental energy. But in a split second, his consciousness spread to the corners of the huge armor.

Meng Jinhuai began to operate the armor to fly into the sky, and as the armor moved, Duan Hengye also had the illusion that he was controlling it.

“This is the feeling when you start the armor.” Meng Jinhuai was teaching Duan Hengye how to get the giant armor off the ground.

Duan Hengye saw the excavation hole begin to shrink, but the armor didn’t completely move away from Nanwei Star. After a few seconds, the armor hung a hundred meters higher, and Duan Hengye again felt his mental energy focus on a point inside the armor.

Meng Jinhuai said, “Try to enter the 5VX command.”

Duan Hengye was incredibly familiar with the armor, and his grasp of the operating instructions was far better than that of an ordinary armor pilot. As soon as Meng Jinhuai’s voice fell, he quickly and successfully entered the command, and then with the mental impetus, the outer wall of the silver armor immediately glowed with a light blue light.

The protection system was on.

After the blue light completely covered the armor, Meng Jinhuai said to Duan Hengye, “If you encounter danger in the future, remember these two operations.”

Hearing the other party’s words, Duan Hengye was shocked. He just realized that Meng Jinhuai didn’t assist him with the auxiliary perception as he did with the military freshmen, but really taught him how to defend himself after encountering a crisis.

Duan Hengye knew how demanding the L09 instruction was for the person in the driver’s seat. If it were in a military school, it would take at least a year from the time of perception to the time the professor activated and turned on the protection device.

After all, if the person in the passenger seat accidentally failed to control his mental energy during the process, the result was that both of their mental energy would be damaged.

…… Meng Jinhuai did this for what purpose?

Did Meng Jinhua know that his mental energy was fixed and there was no possibility of losing control or was he absolutely confident in his own strength?

Puzzled, the armor slowly fell back to the surface of Nanwei Star. Duan Hengye was just about to ask Meng Jinhuai if he was closing the protective shield now, when he once again felt his mental energy move.

This time, it didn’t try to push the armor but was guided by Meng Jinhuai, who began to probe into the corners of the large armor – just like he had done in An Luo. Meng Jinhuai was leading him, using his mental energy as a medium to probe the inner structure of the armor!

This time Duan Hengye was completely shocked.

Opening the L09 mode was already very demanding for the person in the driver’s seat, but it was nothing compared to leading the person in the co-pilot’s seat to explore the details of the armor through the medium of mental energy.

This could only be done by someone with extremely strong mental energy, and the consequences of a slip-up was unimaginable! After feeling the details of the other party’s mental energy running smoothly through the various structures of the armor, Duan Hengye finally gained a new understanding of Meng Jinhuai’s strength.

He thought that to be precise, the Lord Marshal was no longer “flying the armor”, but what the other was doing was completely “controlling the armor”. The silver-white super-armor, which looked incredibly dangerous to others, was unbelievably gentle under Meng Jinhua’s hands.

This could only be done by someone who had superior control over the armor!

After thinking about this, Duan Hengye realized that the upgrades he did to Meng Jinhuai armor were far from enough. If he wanted to design an armor that truly matched his strength, he needed at least three generations of advancement from the original.

……

Duan Hengye couldn’t help but look at Meng Jinhuai, and then an unexplained doubt suddenly flashed in his heart – how did the Lord Marshal look like the male lead? Why did the author of “Dumping Interstellar” make it clear that he would never be the male lead of the novel?