The appearance of Yu Xinran’s message, for Meng Jinhuai at this time, was like a pillow being handed to him immediately he became drowsy.
Like Duan Hengye, who stopped looking at his light computer after posting his status a few hours ago, Meng Jinhuai also logged out of his social account after replying to Yu Xinran, and then continued the work he left unfinished. After receiving the reply from her boss, Yu Xinran, who was located on the other side of the distant stars, couldn’t help but look like she had seen a ghost.
After all, she had known Meng Jinhuai for more than ten years. Compared with Duan Hengye, it seemed that few people used the word “Cold” to describe Meng Jinhuai, but the Marshal had never been as grounded as he was now!
Faced with this reply, even Yu Xinran’s heart couldn’t be calm for a long time, let alone others.
On this day, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai blew up the whole internet with one photo and one reply respectively. But while the netizens were going crazy over this, the people involved were calm.
……
Duan Hengye slept extraordinarily well, and when he woke up, he felt that his brain had become refreshed because of the adequate rest time. Just …… Duan Hengye slowly sat up from the bed, he took a look at the tightly drawn curtains, and half of the bed that was empty, and then finally took the light computer that was hanging quietly on one side.
It was now eight o’clock in the morning, the standard time of the Institute. It seemed that it was only a little later than when Duan Hengye always woke up, but when he thought that he had fallen asleep at noon yesterday, Duan Hengye was still surprised by the duration of his sleep.
The bedroom was a little too quiet in the morning, and somehow, after feeling this atmosphere, Duan Hengye actually felt a little lost. It seemed that Meng Jinhuai had left …… although he knew that he was an exceptionally busy marshal, the fact that Meng Jinhuai could come yesterday was enough to make him surprised. But after finding out early in the morning that Meng Jinhuai had left, Duan Hengye couldn’t help feeling a little down casted.
After looking at the time, Duan Hengye put down the light computer, stepped on the carpet with bare feet, and then slowly walked towards the closet.
He had been too busy recently, even his dressing and washing up speed became much faster.
But today, when the string that had been taut relaxed a little bit, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but slow down his movements, and only after a long time did he slowly walk out of the bedroom.
The house where Duan Hengye lived had a reasonable design structure, even the corridor had windows to let in the sunlight. As soon as he went out, he could tell that someone had opened the window at the end of the corridor. The breeze wrapped with the fragrance of grass blew in from the window, the outdoor temperature seemed higher today, even if it was still morning, the wind was warm.
Since he was a child, Duan Hengye loved the smell of grass, so seeing the open window, he stood there and took a deep breath before walking towards the corner of the corridor.
After walking out of this visual blind spot, Duan Hengye suddenly realisethat there was someone other than him at home at this time. He couldn’t help but cast his eyes downstairs, then he saw Meng Jinhuai sitting on the sofa reading the news through his light computer.
Today he wasn’t wearing his military uniform, but a black loose T-shirt, he looked very casual.
.
Meng Jinhuai didn’t leave?
After seeing the person sitting on the sofa, Duan Hengye’s footsteps slowed down. And at this time, Meng Jinhuai simultaneously moved his eyes from the news to the stairs, apparently he also noticed Duan Hengye.
“Good morning.” Meng Jinhuai smiled at Duan Hengye.
“…… Good morning.” Duan Hengye said as he walked down the stairs.
In his first year in this world, Duan Hengye stayed on this planet every day and the events he attended were all planned and sent to him by the military department in advance.
Unlike Duan Hengye, who mainly did research work and rarely attended public events or meetings, Meng Jinhuai had meetings almost every day, and he often bounced around the various planets in the interstellar world, so he was very busy.
Meng Jinhuai’s previous schedule didn’t include coming to the Institute, he knew that his visit wasn’t easy done, he definitely put off a lot of work. Because of this understanding, when he woke up, Duan Hengye was prepared for his absence.
But seeing him wearing casual clothes, sitting in the living room and also greeting him, after answering him, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but cast a suspicious gaze at him.
He didn’t know when a tacit understanding was formed between them. Duan Hengye was a man of few words, and because of his constant blank expression, his emotions were hidden deeper than others. But despite this, there were times when Duan Hengye didn’t need to speak, Meng Jinhuai could guess what he was thinking.
The Marshal stood up from the sofa and said to Duan Hengye, “There are still some things to do in the military department, so I’ll have to leave after having breakfast with you.”
It turned out that the reason why Meng Jinhuai didn’t leave was because he wanted to wait for Duan Hengye so they could have breakfast together ……
It certainly wasn’t the first time they ate breakfast together, but perhaps it was because they had been staying in the huge building in the military department before. Now that they were back in this residence filled with signs of life, everything seemed more warm. Although there were still a whole lot of things to do behind the scenes, Duan Hengye wanted time to stand still forever in this moment.
……
After Meng Jinhuai left the institute that day, Duan Hengye’s work continued. Perhaps it was because he had come out of the bottleneck, or perhaps because of the break, his body was no longer as tight as before. This time, although Duan Hengye’s schedule was no longer packed, he was more efficient.
A few days later in the evening, Duan Hengye sat in his study before the office desk, he was staring at the data on the light computer in front of him with a nervous expression. Duan Hengye’s state at this time was very much like that of the birth of the mass-produced mecha a while ago. Although for the decryption of the file, even if it failed, he could start over, but Duan Hengye’s fingers tapping the last few lines of data couldn’t help but tremble lightly.
This time the work wasn’t only completed by Duan Hengye, to the last step, as he entered every character, the Southern Star side and the Ministry of the military subordinate agencies involved in this plan would also synchronize the update. Although they weren’t in a video conference, just by virtue of Duan Hengye suddenly slowing down, everyone could feel the tension in his heart.
Duan Hengye’s movements became abnormally slow, and at the end, every time he entered a few characters, he would look back at the previous content again. Finally, Duan Hengye’s hand stopped and entered the last end command in the background. In theory, Duan Hengye only needed to press the start button at this time, and then wait for the final result. But because of the apprehension in his heart, Duan Hengye’s hand was slow to move.
Meng Jinhuai’s voice suddenly came from the originally quiet study – at this time, he was receiving file information synchronously in Southern Star.
“Ah Heng, don’t be nervous.” Although the video function wasn’t turned on, the voice communication between the three parties had been uninterrupted. Before Duan Hengye entered these last procedures, the voice of the staff would often come over the communication channel, but before that Meng Jinhuai had never spoken.
Suddenly hearing Meng Jinhuai’s voice, Duan Hengye wasn’t disturbed, instead he finally nodded his head gently – even though Duan Hengye knew that Meng Jinhuai couldn’t see his movement. After checking the data one last time, Duan Hengye finally pressed the start button.
He let out a long breath, then slowly leaned back towards the leather backrest of his office chair.
At this time, the progress of file cracking began to load on the light computer, and none of the three sides spoke. Placing all his weight on the seat, Duan Hengye had a kind of out-of-body feeling. It took a long time before he finally reached out and gently patted his face, then sat up straight again.
At this time, the file’s crack progress bar had already loaded to seventy percent.
Because of the proximity of the light computer, Duan Hengye even heard the heavy breathing of the staff because of the tension. Unlike his mood before when he needed to press the confirmation button, Duan Hengye felt relaxed. He picked up the cup beside him and then sat down on the sofa to the side.
Duan Hengye put his legs up on the sofa, and then casually took the photo album to the side – although this printing technology was very old and outdated for the interstellar, there were still families who chose to use a more traditional way to print out photos and display them at home.
The photo album that Duan Hengye was holding in his hand was the one he found in a bookcase at home a while ago. Because Duan Hengye was rarely taken to public events by his parents when he was young, there were almost no photos of the family on the Internet. Including this photo, Duan Hengye had only seen a total of three or four.
Duan Hengye looked only six or seven years old – his expression was a bit serious when the photo was taken, and his hands were on the edge of his pants, with that young face, he looked extremely cute. Duan Hengxing was even younger, or perhaps still a “baby”. His face was full of ignorance, he couldn’t tell it was the same person.
Next to Duan Hengye and Duan Hengxing, stood their parents. Although they already had children and the two parents could no longer be said to be “young” by looking at their age alone, their appearance was still like they were in their twenties or thirties. Unlike the serious-faced Duan Hengye, his parents were smiling at the camera during the photo shoot, and both of them looked gentle to the extreme.
Duan Hengye’s hand gently stroked over the photo, then put it carefully to the side. When he transmigrated into this world, Duan Hengye never put the “original owner’s parents” in his mind. But now, after he discovered that he may have come to this world as a child. And after receiving that dusty document of more than ten years, Duan Hengye’s curiosity about the two of them also grew stronger.
He thought …… maybe one day he would remember the story of his childhood and tell the whole interstellar what kind of story was hidden behind that so-called accident back then.
Duan Hengye retraced his steps back to the light computer, it was a coincidence that just as he sat down, the progress of the cracking of the file had reached ninety-nine percent. Although he was no longer nervous, Duan Hengye still couldn’t help but sit up straight, then lock his eyes firmly on top of the light screen.
The voice effect of the communication equipment was very good, Duan Hengye could vaguely hear the murmurs of the rest of the staff. But facing the progress of 99%, Duan Hengye was unusually calm and said to them: “It’s okay, just wait patiently.”
Although they had never worked with Duan Hengye before, as they deciphered the data, they had also seen Professor Duan act as “backbone” of the team. After hearing his words, their heartbeats finally calmed down little by little.
Perhaps it was his calm attitude, or perhaps the powerful professionalism of Duan Hengye, no matter where he was, Duan Hengye could always give people a sense of trust.
This last one percent seemed particularly slow. The interface on the light screen didn’t change for half a day, as if it was fixed in place. Just when everyone’s tension started bubbling up again, the original dark blue light screen suddenly lit up and the loading progress bar disappeared.
The light screen went black once again.
What was this situation? After seeing the dark appearance of the light screen, even the experienced staff froze.
“It’s done,” Duan Hengye said at the right time, “the file has been cracked successfully.”
The moment Duan Hengye’s words fell, the light screen lit up once again. Although the system interface was still in the background, anyone who knew these codes could see – just like Duan Hengye just said, it was successfully completed.
Duan Hengye heard a cheer from the communication channel. Just like him and Meng Jinhuai, these staff members recently had a very heavy workload, and all of them put their 100% attention into this work and were looking forward to the final result.
Now after seeing this interface, the office instantly exploded. The pressure that had accumulated for a long time dispersed in this instant, and although the communication equipment sensitively lowered the volume, the cheers that suddenly rang out still reached Duan Hengye’s ears without fail.
After a few seconds, thy finally remembered that the people who were on the same communication channel as them were Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai. So the sudden outburst just now was swallowed back by them, but at this time, Meng Jinhuai, who had only said one or two words, suddenly spoke up.
“Thank you all for the work you’ve done recently.” Meng Jinhuai’s words were light as he continued, “Now that this phase of work has officially ended, everyone can take a good rest for a while.”
The time of the three locations could be seen on the communication channel, it was still daytime everywhere except for the research institute where Duan Hengye was. So after hearing Meng Jinhuai’s words, everyone immediately understood that Meng Jinhuai was urging Duan Hengye to rest. In a flash, various staff members began to say goodbye to Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai on the channel, and it didn’t take long for the place to quiet down.
However, unlike what the staff thought, after they left, the communication didn’t end, and Duan Hengye didn’t go to rest immediately as Meng Jinhuai said. For Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai, the focus of today’s work had just begun.
Suddenly, the interface on the light computer suddenly changed, the background screen of the system disappeared, and after a burst of white light, the software interface that Duan Hengye was familiar with appeared in front of Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai at the same time.
“This is the mecha design software.” Duan Hengye said, his voice sounded calm, forming a great contrast with the staff who couldn’t help but scream after seeing the successful decryption of the file. But only Meng Jinhuai, who was familiar with Duan Hengye, could hear that underneath Duan Hengye’s calm voice, there was hidden excitement.
Compared to the successful cracking of the file, Duan Hengye was more excited about the software interface he saw at this moment.
As a mecha designer, Duan Hengye was more familiar with this software than anyone else, after all, he spent most of his time here.
After speaking, Duan Hengye began to skillfully operate the software. Meng Jinhuai didn’t say anything, let alone do anything to interrupt Duan Hengye’a movements. After a while, several commands were sent by Duan Hengye and the interface began to change.
Duan Hengye raised his hand from the keyboard and said to Meng Jinhuai, “This software is still parked on the version from more than ten years ago, so it’s running a bit slow.” The technological progress of the interstellar era was too fast, compared to the era when information was just stored, now the mecha design software alone had been updated and replaced several times.
The information that was stored back then was very complex, and it was a little slow to open with the old version of the software.
Duan Hengye wasn’t a person who was easily anxious, but seeing the mecha model loading slowly in front of him, his fingers couldn’t help but tap lightly on the desk. This wasn’t even noticed by Duan Hengye, but Meng Jinhuai, who was located in Southern Star, vaguely heard the sound.
Meng Jinhuai could understand Duan Hengye’s feelings right now – as a mecha designer, he would be able to see the answer to a difficult problem that had been hidden for more than ten years in a moment, which was exciting enough just thinking about it. However, Meng Jinhuai didn’t directly comfort him like he did before, but he suddenly asked about Duan Hengye’s vision for the next mecha.
His words diverted Duan Hengye’s attention, and his mind finally left the mecha prime model that was being loaded.
Although the loading speed was slightly slow, Duan Hengye’s parents did use the best system to store it. A few minutes later, a mecha model finally appeared in front of Duan Hengye. Ninety percent of this mecha was gray, and only the location under the cockpit was painted blue.
After seeing this image, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but take a deep breath, “The gray part is the original mecha model, and the blue one is the weapon assembly point.” In addition to that, the two also noticed at the same time that the gray mecha prime model was actually the previous generation of top mechas. The mecha Meng Jinhuai was currently piloting was upgraded from it.
Meng Jinhuai couldn’t help but smile a little, then said with nostalgia, “I haven’t seen this mecha for years.” Unlike ordinary mass-produced mechas, top-quality mechas were mostly customised. Just like there was no replica of Meng Jinhuai’s mecha in the Ye Tian Empire’s Mecha Research Institute, this previous generation of top mecha belonging to Meng Jinhuai’s father was the only one in the entire interstellar world.
Although it was based on the previous generation, the appearance of Meng Jinhuai’s mecha was still somewhat different from it. Therefore, after seeing the legendary mecha that disappeared in the war with the old marshal many years ago, Meng Jinhuai’s tone suddenly changed.
Both of them were not people who easily fell into nostalgia, although the mecha in front of them and the confidential documents had a different meaning for both Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai, they didn’t patronize nostalgia, or lament about the past. Duan Hengye didn’t pause as he opened the weapon assembly point, then without hesitation, he clicked on the file and began to copy all the data to his and Meng Jinhuai’s light computers.
In the process of copying the files, Duan Hengye also began to study the mecha model. Then he suddenly realized something – judging from the structure at first glance alone, and his accumulated experience, this model wasn’t simple. But when he saw it, Duan Hengye didn’t feel it was complicated and difficult to understand, he had the feeling that he had seen it somewhere before.
Duan Hengye put his hand back on the light computer, then clicked into the interior of the weapon model, and began to quickly observe its structure from all angles.
He didn’t know how long it took, but Duan Hengye suddenly heard Meng Jinhuai’s familiar voice in his ears.
“…… Ah Heng? Ah Heng?” Now that the file had finished copying, but there was no response from Duan Hengye, Meng Jinhuai subconsciously started calling his name.
After hearing Meng Jinhuai’s voice, Duan Hengye finally came to his senses. He couldn’t help but inhale and then glanced at the document that had been completely copied.
Meng Jinhuai asked, “What’s wrong, is there any problem with the model?”
Duan Hengye couldn’t help but shake his head, and only at the end did he remember that Meng Jinhuai wasn’t by his side right now. So he softly hummed, then revealed the things he just found out.
“When I saw the model just now, I suddenly had a familiar feeling. After a careful recollection, I think …… when I was small, perhaps I saw it.” Duan Hengye said.
Hearing his words, even Meng Jinhuai couldn’t help but feel surprised. After all, at the time of that so-called accident, Duan Hengye was only a child. According to this age, no matter if he was a “genius”, he should have still been in the accumulation of basic knowledge stage, he shouldn’t have had contact with core technology.
But Meng Jinhuai also believed that since Duan Hengye said so, it meant he wasn’t lying.
But because of the lack of childhood memories, what Duan Hengye said now was only his own general guess.
“I think this model is very familiar, I probably saw it when I was small. So just now I opened the interior of the weapon and took a look at its structure ……” Duan Hengye once again synchronized the internal structure of the weapon to Meng Jinhuai, he kept adjusting the angle and tapping some connections every now and then. While his hands were busy adjusting the angle, Duan Hengye’s mouth wasn’t idle, he began to explain the purpose of each connecting parts, and the significance of placing here.
Perhaps because he was a little excited, he didn’t simplify his lecture like he did for his students, nor did he consider in advance if what he was going to say was a little too professional. This time, Duan Hengye said all the things he had just discovered in a single breath, and even the speed of his speech couldn’t help but increase.
Although as a marshal, Meng Jinhuai already had an incomparable understanding of mechas, he had a half-understood feeling listening to Duan Hengye. However, this didn’t prevent Meng Jinhuai from understanding what Duan Hengye meant when he showed him this – Duan Hengye was right, he had indeed been in contact with knowledge about weapon systems since he was a child, and his understanding of it didn’t stop at the surface, but was extremely deep.
It could be imagined that back then, in addition to the study of mecha basics, Duan Hengye’s parents were talking to him every day about weapon system assembly. Although at that time Duan Hengye really didn’t understand the relevant content, but day after day, year after year, after such a long time, those related knowledge had long been imprinted in Duan Hengye’s brain.
Whether it was the royal family or others, no one would have thought that the director and his wife back then would actually give such knowledge to a child. Even if it wasn’t for deciphering this document, Duan Hengye himself wouldn’t have discovered that he was actually able to read the structure of it.
Duan Hengye paused for a moment, then he suddenly smiled softly and said, “This way, I can save a lot of time in understanding and research.” Although he couldn’t see his expression, Meng Jinhuai somehow felt that although Duan Hengye smiled, his mood when he spoke had nothing to do with being “happy” or “relaxed”.
As expected, after finishing tat sentence, Duan Hengye sighed gently, then he asked Meng Jinhuai, “Do you …… they taught me this, did they already think of the worst outcome back then?” Duan Hengye’s words carried an indefinable sense of vulnerability.
For a moment, Meng Jinhuai felt that many words were stuck in his throat, but he couldn’t say anything.
Professor Duan wasn’t a fragile person, not to mention that he hadn’t yet remembered what happened back then. So after a moment of silence, Duan Hengye turned off the internal interface of the weapon system.
“Okay,” Duan Hengye said with a long breath, “I’m going to rest, goodnight.”
“Hmm.” Meng Jinhuai didn’t disturb Duan Hengye’s mood. He softly replied, “Goodnight.”
Compared to the past, Duan Hengye’s work and rest had become much more regular these days. He and Meng Jinhuai both knew that although he said “goodnight”, the night owl Professor Duan certainly wouldn’t do so.
After the communication was closed, Duan Hengye once again walked over to the sofa. However, he didn’t pick up the photo again, but took a small square box from the low cabinet in one corner of the sofa.
The location where Duan Hengye was now was the Mecha Research Institute, although there was no replica of Meng Jinhuai’s top-notch mecha, the most common object were also mechas. Duan Hengye was now holding the opening medal of a mid-level mecha, the code name of this mecha was “YL-0”, in addition to the Ye Tian Empire, it was also exported in large quantities to other countries, it could be said that it was a very common medium-sized mecha on the interstellar.
Unlike the design of mass-produced mechas, the top-level mechas took longer to develop. Although the weapon system model was now in his hands, Duan Hengye still had to make preparations. He had left himself enough time to design, and in that time, he had other things to do as well.
Duan Hengye took the medal out of the box, then clutched it tightly in his hand. The special metal material of the medal was frighteningly cold, Duan Hengye just held it in his hand, yet a bone-chilling coldness came from it. But despite this, Duan Hengye still didn’t let go of it.
The experimental building of the Mecha Research Institute was in the same hemisphere as the residential area, and at this time it was already dark. After Duan Hengye took out the medal, he took a jacket from the hanger on the side, put it on and walked outside.
Duan Hengye’s movements were fast and without hesitation. After leaving the house, he directly boarded a hovercraft that had been parked for a long time, and then flew towards the other end of the planet where the institute’s test centres were located.
In contrast to the other hemisphere, which was bustling with activity, this side was mainly test sites, the Institute’s warehouse was also located here. Although it was the same buildings from high altitude, the staff were much less. Duan Hengye stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window of the hovercraft, and he saw that the scenery outside the window was receding rapidly. It didn’t take long for the hovercraft to cross the morning and evening lines, and then enter the brighter side of the planet.
Just like Meng Jinhuai had the highest authority on the Southern Star and other Marshal’s affiliated stars, Duan Hengye also had the highest freedom of movement here. No one could have imagined that during the late night hours in the living and working areas, Duan Hengye actually arrived at the mecha test site at the other end of the planet by himself in a hovercraft.
After reaching the destination, the hovercraft gently vibrated twice, then reduced its speed and descended. After the hatch opened, cold breeze poured in.
This mecha testing ground was empty most of the time, its function was somewhat similar to that of Test flight star, but the environment was much simpler. Now only some auxiliary mecha tests, or small experiments were run here.
After Duan Hengye stepped off the hover, he saw the old mechas that were scrapped from the experiments parked not far away, but otherwise there was nothing here. Compared to the buildings in other parts of the planet, or the exquisite greenery, this test site looked a bit barren.
But Duan Hengye obviously didn’t care about this, anyway, what he was looking for was an open space.
After getting off the hover and taking a look around, Duan Hengye took the mecha opening medal out of his pocket and threw it high into the air. In the blink of an eye, a dark gray mecha appeared in front of Duan Hengye.
Compared to the one that Duan Hengye first opened secretly on Nanwei Star, this one was much larger, and the oppressive feeling from the mecha could be felt after getting closer. After seeing it, Duan Hengye became slightly nervous, but after a few seconds of preparation, he still chose to enter the mecha.
That’s right …… Duan Hengye’s previous plan to do “something else” during this time was to learn to drive a mecha.
A long time ago, Duan Hengye found out he had a very high spiritual energy. It was conceivable that if not for the fact that Duan Hengye was now engaged in mecha design and no one in the interstellar world knew that his spiritual energy had been restored, with such a spiritual energy value alone, Duan Hengye would have definitely received an olive branch from the military corps.
Due to the need to hide his strength from the royal family, and not knowing how to explain to the outside world, Duan Hengye couldn’t reveal it. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to learn to drive a mecha …… It was too tempting, and the few incidents he encountered before also clearly told him that the environment he was in wasn’t safe.
Although the first two situations were dodged because of Duan Hengye’s fighting skills, he wouldn’t be naive to think that he could have the same luck next time.
This was an era where crisis lurked everywhere, and everyone had to prepare themselves for the worst – Duan Hengye had long known that. And after finding out that his parents had been consciously teaching him about weapon systems since he was a child, Duan Hengye’s perception of this was even stronger.
After a while, Duan Hengye boarded the mecha cockpit. He slowly sat down, and then slowly turned on the mecha according to his high level of knowledge of mechas, as well as Meng Jinhuai’s lecture from the last time he was in Nanwei Star.
At this time, Duan Hengye was concentrating, he didn’t have time to pay attention to what was happening around him. So …… Duan Hengye naturally didn’t see the message that Meng Jinhuai had just sent him.
The matter of Southern Star had been dealt with, Meng Jinhuai was now rushing to the Institute. Duan Hengye forgot one thing, or rather he didn’t care at all …… After the last incident, Southern Star once again raised the security level around him. In addition to the number of security personnel, Duan Hengye also had a miniature tracker in his body. It could factually send positioning to Southern Star to prevent any accidents from happening. Because this thing was a bit inconspicuous, after a period of time, Duan Hengye forgot about its existence.
But whether the owner of this tracker still remembered it or not, the fact was – it thing was still working diligently.