Chapter 54: Departure

Chapter 54: Departure

Ji Jing did not leave without saying goodbye. Before boarding the spacecraft, he sent a farewell message to Luo Ke—

"Luo Ke, I have some personal matters to attend to and need to leave Imperial Star for a while. Don't look for me, goodbye!"

At that time, Luo Ke was attending a military meeting at the Ministry of Defense. It wasn't until half an hour later, after the meeting ended, that he saw this message.

When Luo Ke tried to call Ji Jing's communication number again, he found it was already disconnected.

Luo Ke immediately panicked.

He hurriedly checked the surveillance footage from his home and discovered that after he left this morning, Ji Jing had first fed Dahua and Xiaohua, petted the cats and dogs for a while, and then left with a backpack.

That backpack was very familiar; it was the same one Ji Jing used to carry his change of clothes when he came to Luo Ke's place.

Now, carrying the same backpack, he left just as he had arrived.

Luo Ke continued to call Ji Jing's communication number, but it still showed as disconnected. He quickly reviewed the surveillance videos from all the spaceports and transportation hubs on Imperial Star. After extensive screening, he finally found someone who looked like Ji Jing.

Why "looked like"?

Because the person in the video had a similar build to Ji Jing, but a completely different face.

Luo Ke recognized him because the person was carrying the same backpack as Ji Jing, and there was a noticeable red mark near the throat—left by Luo Ke last night during their intimate encounter.

Seeing that familiar figure in the video, Luo Ke was momentarily dazed, only to remember that Ji Jing had borrowed a biological morphing disguise from him, which he hadn't returned.

Luo Ke: ...

Watching Ji Jing board a starship with a strange and ordinary face, Luo Ke felt both shocked and speechless.

The good news was that Ji Jing seemed to be traveling alone and was not under any duress or coercion.

The bad news was that when Luo Ke checked the surveillance footage from the final destination of the flight, he found that although Ji Jing had bought a ticket for the entire journey, he had disembarked midway. After entering the restroom, he disappeared from the surveillance cameras.

Luo Ke speculated that Ji Jing might have changed his clothes and appearance in the restroom, covering up the red mark on his neck and possibly altering his build.

This made it even more difficult for Luo Ke to find him, akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

After losing track of Ji Jing, Luo Ke felt utterly dejected and fell into deep reflection—

Had he done something wrong to upset Ji Jing, causing him to leave so suddenly?

Luo Ke recalled their interactions over the past few days and realized he had been too straightforward and insensitive.

First, he had put Ji Jing through a lot of public pressure and forced him to undergo a deep gland pheromone sample test.

Then, he had spent too little time with Ji Jing.

Other Alphas and Omegas usually started their relationships with sweet and romantic dates, but they seemed to have skipped straight to the old-married-couple phase.

He had never taken Ji Jing out on a date, never given him flowers or small gifts as surprises, and had never even asked if Ji Jing was bored at home or if cooking for him every day was tiring...

The more Luo Ke thought about it, the more alarmed he became. He had secretly learned about Ji Jing's past with the Grace family and found Ed Grace's behavior disgusting—marrying Ji Jing but not caring for him, treating him like a free housekeeper, and thus deserving to be left.

Looking back now, wasn't he making the same mistake?

The only consolation was that he had not cheated like Ed Grace.

But was this the life Ji Jing wanted?

Re-reading Ji Jing's farewell message, Luo Ke automatically ignored the explanation and focused on the last few words: "Don't look for me, goodbye."

—Feeling anxious, Luo Ke suddenly wished he had a keyboard or remote control to kneel on.

Meanwhile, after three changes of clothes and four facial transformations, Ji Jing had successfully entered the Jasmine Galaxy and was waiting at a small spaceport for a flight to Spry Star, where the Elf Mother Tree was located.

This trip was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; he had been planning it for some time.

Besides researching routes, scheduling flights, and figuring out how to disguise himself to avoid surveillance, he had made other preparations.

For example, masking his pheromones and perfecting his disguises.

Although he had been staying at Luo Ke's place, he had not become complacent with the comfortable lifestyle.

In addition to learning combat techniques from Luo Ke every evening, he trained his physical strength during the day when Luo Ke was away. When his body was too exhausted to move, he used Dahua and Xiaohua to train his mental power.

Just a couple of days ago, he tested his level and found that his mental power was almost reaching the 3S level, and his physical condition had improved to the S level. This gave Ji Jing the confidence to leave.

Unfortunately, time was short; otherwise, he would have liked to learn mech operation from Luo Ke.

Currently, Ji Jing's appearance had completely changed, even his race.

He now had the face of a handsome young man, with pointed elf ears and shoulder-length black curly hair that made his skin appear almost translucent, giving him the air of a noble elf prince.

Thanks to advanced human technology, the biological morphing disguise he "borrowed" from Luo Ke worked even better than expected.

Such a transformation made Ji Jing quite attractive, and he now had a companion—

A Flame Dragon warrior from the dragon clan—Long Su.

They met during Ji Jing's last transfer, when he was already in elf form. Long Su, who was planning to visit the elves, approached him immediately.

To be honest, elves rarely leave Spry Star because they are highly dependent on the Mother Tree and do not wish to be far from it.

However, seeing Ji Jing's hair and eye color, Long Su found it less surprising.

Rebels exist in every race.

Elves have a wide variety of hair and eye colors—gold, silver, red, or green—but pure black is quite rare, unless they are—

Dark Elves.

Though Long Su was currently in human form, he still retained the characteristics of his dragon heritage. He was tall, with fiery red hair, two small dragon horns atop his head, and vivid red scales that spread down from behind his ears, even covering a small patch on the back of his hands.

Ji Jing, who had never seen a dragon before, found Long Su extremely fascinating. With deliberate guidance, the two quickly fell into a lively conversation.

Upon discovering that their destination was the same—Spray Star—they immediately decided to travel together.

During the journey, Long Su didn’t hold back in sharing details about the dragon race and his own experiences. Ji Jing listened with rapt attention, looking at Long Su with admiration and occasionally chiming in:

"Really?"

"Wow, that sounds amazing!"

"You’re so awesome, Long Su!"

"Wow! I wish I could see it too; you’ve really seen a lot!"

...

In less than three hours, Long Su’s face had turned almost as red as his scales from all the compliments Ji Jing had showered upon him.

This innocent Flame Dragon didn’t realize that he had revealed everything about himself to Ji Jing.

If Ji Jing had any intention to deceive him, Long Su would probably count the money while being sold.

**Author's Note**

Thank you, my dear "27066309," for the nutrient liquid, and thank you, "Feng Yao Zhu Huo," for the nutrient liquid as well!