5: Chapter 5 Giant Ship Rush

Night.

Li Ming, utterly exhausted, returned to the core combat vessel and went to the mess hall where only the nutrient paste dispenser was still operational to get some paste.

The taste of the nutrient paste was mediocre, cloyingly sweet, but it provided Li Ming with a small measure of psychological comfort.

He sucked down the paste in one go and leaned against the wall, zoning out for a while. The mess hall lights were off, and the dim environment made Li Ming feel a bit uneasy—perhaps the most intense emotion he had felt in quite some time.

The clock's hand now pointed to twelve. He truly felt weary—

He must be hallucinating, imagining a beautiful girl with white hair and red eyes appearing before him, leaning against the corridor and watching him...

It must be a hallucination. It must be.

His mind somewhat dazed, Li Ming walked up to look at her. This hallucination was so lifelike, without a single flaw of falsehood.

She was smiling—a genuine, heartfelt smile of joy. Then she straightened up, watching him approach her.

Her long white hair nearly reached the ground. The black-and-white clothing and body fittings were so familiar. The '003' on her chest armor was so clear. Her bangs covered one eye, but the exposed ruby-like eye seemed to convey emotions Li Ming couldn't understand.

Damn it, I must be going crazy, Li Ming thought, forcing a bitter smile. Then, under her puzzled expression, he reached out his hand... and pressed it against her black chest armor.

"Whoa!" She was startled, quickly slapping Li Ming's hand away. She crossed her arms in front of her, her expression one of stunned bewilderment. "Hey, hey, Commander, what are you doing?"

This time, Li Ming was the one left dumbfounded.

"Wow, I'm definitely hallucinating. To be called 'Commander' one day..." He took two steps back, leaning against the wall behind him. His right hand fished a military knife from his pocket—for self-defense—and he expertly gestured it toward his left hand. By now, he was partly awake, just unwilling to believe it. It was his last resort to find clarity or vent when feeling pain.

...The next second, his right hand was grabbed, the knife snatched away and tossed aside. Then the 'hallucination' gripped his shoulders and began shaking him vigorously, successfully convincing him this was real...

"Commander? Feeling better?" She stopped shaking him, her one visible eye looking at him. "Look at me. Look at me properly. I'm not your hallucination."

"...You're not?" Li Ming rubbed his eyes, still unable to believe it. "Hu... Fu... Hu Jian?"

"Mhm, it's me."

"Me? Commander? Yours?" Li Ming's expression was strange, as if he'd heard something that shouldn't be happening.

"Mhm, mine."

"Are you joking?"

"No, it's the truth."

"..."

Li Ming slid down the wall and sat on the floor. After a long silence, he looked up at the girl who had crouched down to his level.

"003, Hu Jian?"

"I'm here."

"How did you get here?"

"That cube."

"Why me?"

"There aren't that many 'whys'."

"Did you come from my room?"

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

Li Ming thought of the chaotic mess his room was in and nearly let out a wail of despair.

Hu Jian looked utterly confused by his expression of wanting to cry but having no tears, but she dutifully helped him up anyway.

"Commander, you look... a bit more prosperous than I remember?" Hu Jian lowered her gaze and noticed Li Ming's belly, which persisted even after training. She compared it to the image in her memory—though mainly to distract him.

"I'm so sorry for being a fat guy," Li Ming said, his face darkening, forgetting any sense of decorum he should maintain.

"Pfft, just kidding." Seeing his utterly defeated look, Hu Jian couldn't bear to tease him further. "Commander, I'm here to 'collect homework.' Let me see what level you're at now?"

"Now? At half past midnight?" Li Ming was really at his wit's end.

"It won't take long... Actually, I just can't find my way to the central control center." Hu Jian averted her gaze.

"So you ended up here because you're lost?!" Li Ming was speechless. "...Seriously? Can't you read a map? And as a KANSEN, shouldn't you know the ship's internal layout better?"

"Even for us, casually prying into another ship's privacy is very rude, you know!" Hu Jian puffed out her cheeks.

"That's not the same thing!"

"How is it not? Don't get hung up on details—by the way, do you want to see my internal layout?"

"Stop, stop, stop! I'll take you there!" Li Ming hurriedly stopped her from continuing. "Follow me."

——————

Bridge.

"Hmm... Although it's a bit low, having a positive income is quite good... The production lines are well-rounded, but the R&D system is progressing a bit slowly. Looks like you wanted to secure resource income before boosting technical levels..."

Hu Jian was earnestly studying the results of Li Ming's three months of base construction. To make it easier for her to view, Li Ming vacated his captain's seat. After some thought, he also assigned her the position of core vessel deputy Commander via the shipboard AI—doing so without her asking for it or showing any such intention.

"Military equipment production is a bit too low..." Hu Jian leaned forward, flipping through production records and equipment reserves. "No combat logs? Seems the area is relatively safe... What time is it now?"

"About half past one." Li Ming checked the time display in the corner of the floating holographic screen. Judging by the situation, it seemed she would need a long time to go through everything—Li Ming wasn't great at organization, and a massive amount of data was piled under one folder, requiring a lot of searching. Watching Hu Jian frown as she scrolled made Li Ming's heart sink.

"By the way, you mentioned you still have training tomorrow, right?" Hu Jian suddenly asked.

"Ah, yeah?"

"You should go back and sleep. I'll come find you after I finish sorting through the historical data."

"Uh..."

"Go on, go on. If you can't get up tomorrow, you'll have extra training."

"Then where will you sleep tonight?"

"Uh..." Hu Jian's serious expression froze, and her right hand, which had been swiping the virtual holographic screen, paused mid-air.

Even Li Ming's poor eyesight could clearly see the ring on her right middle finger—it looked like it was made from a section of a shell casing, sawn off and its edges smoothed.

Suppressing his chaotic thoughts and quietly averting his gaze, Li Ming heard Hu Jian, having recovered, reply: "I'll figure something out later. But are you sure you'll have the stamina to train tomorrow?"

"...Alright then. I'll leave a light on for you, in case you decide to come back to sleep."

Not long after Li Ming left, Hu Jian realized something.

Oh no. She seemed to have forgotten how to get back...

...