138: Chapter 138 Invites Chen Shuyin aboard the ship to stargaze (and incidentally, to fall in love).

The smoky atmosphere of the barbecue stall finally dissipated.

The pile of skewers was tossed into the recycling bin, and the live stream signal was cut, leaving the world with a black screen that left everyone wanting more.

Jiang Chen wiped the grease from the corners of his mouth, glanced at Zhao Gang, who was still staring wide-eyed at Pikachu, and gave him a look that only men would understand.

"Old Zhao, I think Pikachu hasn't had enough to eat."

Jiang Chen said with a straight face, "Take it to the power room for a stroll; I hear the spare batteries there have quite a good taste. By the way... help me guard the door, and don't let anyone who doesn't know better come up."

Zhao Gang froze for a second, then immediately understood.

He scooped up Pikachu, who was still licking its paws, and gave a perfectly standard military salute, his face wearing a simple, honest smile that said, "Don't worry, Boss, I understand."

"Understood!"

"Mission guaranteed to be completed! This mouse won't be a third wheel tonight!"

With that, he hugged the struggling Pikachu and slipped into the deck passage below in a flash.

In an instant, only two people remained on the massive observation deck.

The wind seemed to have stopped, too.

Only the low, powerful hum of the luan niao starship's engines, like a unique heartbeat, pulsed beneath their feet.

"Let's go."

Jiang Chen turned around and looked at the figure behind him, wearing a starry evening gown and appearing somewhat fragile in the night wind. He took off his jacket and naturally draped it over Academician Chen Shuyin's shoulders, with an air of irresistible dominance:

"I'm taking you to a good place."

"It's too crowded here, and there's the smell of smoke; it doesn't do justice to your dress."

Academician Chen Shuyin tightened the jacket, which still held his body heat, her cheeks slightly flushed, but she did not refuse. She obediently followed behind Jiang Chen, her high heels clicking as she walked step by step toward the panoramic starry sky observation deck at the top of the bridge, which belonged only to them at this moment.

As the elevator slowly rose.

The surrounding scenery began to change drastically.

The sea of clouds beneath their feet grew further away, and the city lights turned into blurry spots of light. The originally azure sky gradually deepened into a profound ink blue, and finally transformed into a dead, pure darkness.

Gravity was weakening.

The heavy feeling of being bound was stripped away bit by bit as they climbed higher.

"Where are we going?"

Academician Chen Shuyin watched the scenery rapidly receding outside the window, her voice trembling slightly.

"To the sky."

Jiang Chen did not turn back, merely uttering those three words calmly.

"Hum—"

A soft sound.

The elevator stopped.

At this very moment, they had broken through the troposphere, rushed out of the atmosphere, and were hovering in low Earth orbit, four hundred kilometers above the ground.

The world here was still.

There was no wind, no noise.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling porthole was a magnificent picture that would make any human feel breathless.

Beneath their feet was the azure Earth, emitting a soft halo. White clouds wrapped around the land and ocean like ribbons, breathtakingly beautiful.

And above their heads.

Was the vast, boundless, and dazzling Milky Way.

Billions of stars twinkled in the darkness; it was the sea of stars that humanity had been looking up at for hundreds of thousands of years, yet had never been so close to before.

"So beautiful..."

Academician Chen Shuyin walked to the porthole, pressing herself against the glass.

The star sea was reflected in her pupils. The rational, logical light that usually filled her eyes had vanished, replaced by a pure, emotional awe.

"I have calculated orbital data countless times and simulated atmospheric refraction countless times."

She murmured to herself, her voice so soft it seemed as if she were afraid of disturbing this starry sky:

"But on the laboratory screens, they were just a bunch of cold pixels."

"No one ever told me that in reality... they are so bright, so close."

"Do you like it?"

Jiang Chen walked to her side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her, also gazing into the deep void.

"I like it."

Academician Chen Shuyin nodded without the slightest hesitation.

She turned her head, shifting her gaze from the starry sky to Jiang Chen's profile.

At this distance, at this altitude, in this world of only two people, she suddenly felt that the man beside her was even more dazzling than those stars.

"Jiang Chen."

"Hmm?"

"Do you know? Most people in scientific research are actually lonely."

Academician Chen Shuyin's voice was very low, carrying a trace of vulnerability she would never show on ordinary days:

"All day long, we face cold machines and dull data. We walk alone on the path of truth, surrounded by endless darkness."

"I used to think I would keep going like this until I grew old and died in the laboratory."

"But..."

She reached out and gently grabbed Jiang Chen's hand, which was resting on the railing.

It was the first time she had taken the initiative to grab a man's hand.

Not for "sampling," not for "scientific research."

Simply because she wanted to hold onto him.

"But ever since I met you."

Academician Chen Shuyin looked at Jiang Chen, her eyes shimmering, and those cool, clear eyes were now filled with starlight:

"I suddenly felt that that world had changed."

"Those data are no longer dull because they can turn into the miracles in your hands."

"Those machines are no longer cold because they can protect the people you want to protect."

"Jiang Chen..."

She leaned forward a step, her starry dress floating slightly in the microgravity environment, like a blue rose blooming in space:

"Thank you."

"For showing me this starry sky, and for leading me out of that... laboratory where I was all alone."

Jiang Chen looked down at her.

Looking at this woman who was usually resolute and swift, but at this moment was as gentle as water.

He turned his hand over to hold hers, interlacing their fingers.

The warmth of their palms seemed exceptionally scorching in this absolute zero space.

"What are you thanking me for?"

Jiang Chen smiled, his eyes carrying a trace of complexity and determination only he could understand:

"This is just the beginning."

"Old Chen, from now on, I will take you to see this kind of scenery as many times as you want to see it."

"As long as I'm not dead, this ship will always have the best spot reserved for you."

This was the most hardcore love confession from a science and engineering man.

Without saying "I love you," he had promised an entire future.

Academician Chen Shuyin's eyes turned red.

She felt her heartbeat racing, as if it were about to jump out of her chest; that substance called "dopamine" was secreting crazily, leaving her mind blank.

Whatever reason, whatever reserve, had all been thrown to the nine heavens.

At this moment.

She only wanted to do one thing.

A thing that went against the rigorous principles of a scientist, but followed biological instinct.

She stood slightly on tiptoe, closed her eyes, and her exquisite face moved closer to Jiang Chen's, inch by inch.

Their breaths intertwined.

The atmosphere had been built up to its peak.

However.

Just at the moment their lips were about to touch.

Jiang Chen's gaze, however, drifted past Academician Chen Shuyin's shoulder and looked in a certain direction outside the porthole.

There.

A huge, pale, and oppressive full moon was quietly hanging in the darkness.

The moonlight was cold, spilling onto the two of them.

Jiang Chen's gaze became imperceptibly sharp.

He saw it.

In the shadows of the Far Side of the Moon, something seemed to be wriggling, peeping at the tenderness here.

It was a crisis.

It was an impending storm.

But this did not hinder his mood at the moment.

On the contrary.

Precisely because of such a threat, the beauty before him appeared even more precious.

"Old Chen."

Jiang Chen's voice suddenly became very light, very soft, carrying a magnetism that made one sink into it.

"Hmm?"

Academician Chen Shuyin's eyelashes fluttered, waiting for that moment to arrive.

"Look."

Jiang Chen did not dodge, nor did he back away. He just looked quietly into Academician Chen Shuyin's eyes, and then slowly said a sentence that, in this context, was both romantic and full of dark humor:

"The moonlight tonight..."

"...is truly beautiful."