Chapter 113 Surveillance Period

Chapter 113: The Surveillance Period

If he weren't no match for Qi Yanshen, he'd have given him a punch, no question.

But as "He Zhi," he obviously couldn't.

Biting back his frustration, "He Zhi" said he was very tired and wanted to rest, and said goodbye to Qi Yanshen.

Qi Yanshen was in a good mood now, telling "He Zhi" to rest well. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he remembered something and turned back to ask, "What's your communication number?"

"He Zhi" paused, embarrassed, "Um... I don't have a communication number..."

Qi Yanshen rummaged through his Space Bracelet and asked, "Do you have a personal terminal then?"

"No."

Finally, Qi Yanshen found a brand-new limited-edition personal terminal. A limited edition from a year ago, it still wasn't out of style—a silver and black color scheme that matched well.

Qi Yanshen explained, "For when we need to be in contact. This terminal is for you."

He patiently taught "He Zhi" how to use the terminal step by step, completely ignoring the fact that "He Zhi" was under surveillance and communication devices should be strictly monitored.

Ji Anzhi was speechless.

Did Ji Anjue scramble his brains when he wiped his memory?

However, Ji Anzhi was more inclined to think the Federation was playing hard to get—waiting for him to slip up.

After the lesson, "He Zhi" successfully activated the terminal and gave a slight bow to Qi Yanshen. "Thank you."

Qi Yanshen's face flushed at "He Zhi's" gratitude. "Don't mention it... Oh, right, I'm Qi Yanshen, a Brigadier General. You can call me Brigadier General Qi."

"He Zhi" was quick on the uptake, "Thank you, Brigadier General Qi."

He added a shy smile. Qi Yanshen's ears turned bright red, and he made up an excuse to leave.

After closing the door, Ji Anzhi thought to himself that Qi Yanshen was still the same as before—easily flustered by the slightest show of kindness, so pure-hearted.

Ji Anzhi scanned the room. The quarters for senior officers were definitely a step up. Private rooms for ordinary officers and soldiers were equipped with surveillance cameras, though access was restricted.

However, senior officers' rooms had no surveillance cameras, which made Ji Anzhi feel at ease so he didn't have to be on high alert.

On account of Levin, Ji Anzhi had told Ji Anjue not to contact him recently, especially through mental links. Levin might not perceive the content, but he could detect the link itself, and his suspicious behavior would land him in the hottest water.

Opening the device, Ji Anzhi checked it and was surprised to find that it had no surveillance mode.

There wasn't even any signal tracking. It perfectly matched all his requirements for a personal terminal.

Ji Anzhi couldn't believe it and checked again, but the result was the same.

Searching for this terminal model on the StarNet, Ji Anzhi was surprised to find that it had only been sold once—a year ago, priced at six million star credits, during the last month of his relationship with Qi Yanshen...

Looking at the terminal in his hand, Ji Anzhi couldn't quite describe his feelings.

After a long while, Ji Anzhi crouched down, burying his head in his arms.

Warm, damp tears soaked into his sleeve.

How could he play so dirty... you fool.

...

Levin returned to his office. His adjutant, seeing he had returned, placed the documents for his signature on the desk and then withdrew.

Levin sat down, ignoring the pile of official duties on his desk, and video-called Qi Lan.

She picked up immediately.

"Marshal Levin. What's the matter?"

Levin briefly explained the matter of "He Zhi" to Qi Lan. Qi Lan was initially surprised but soon took it in stride. However, the last sentence rattled her.

"Yan Shen is responsible for monitoring that omega?"

Levin nodded.

Qi Lan queried, "Are you sure about assigning Yan Shen? He's always wanted to know about the memories he lost back then. Is this really a good idea?"

"Qi Yanshen still needs thirty-nine thousand military merits and one successful promotion mission to be promoted to Major General. At that point, we'll have to tell him the truth about his past memories."

Qi Lan understood Levin's meaning.

When Qi Yanshen was truly promoted to Major General and they revealed the truth, should we still let him obsess over a beta who abandoned him?

True, He Zhi's identity might be questionable, but at least he was an omega.

Moreover, over the years, they had observed Qi Yanshen's attitude toward omegas. Apart from his father and younger brother—omegas with blood relations—he treated other omegas as if they were mortal enemies, wanting nothing to do with them.

Now, there was finally an omega whom Qi Yanshen treated specially. Even if his identity was questionable, it at least gave her hope.

As a mother, she didn't want her son to spend the rest of his life tormented by his rut cycles.

After pondering for a moment, Qi Lan finally agreed.

"Very well, then. But is He Zhi's genetic screening confirmed? Is he definitely an omega?"

Levin said, "The test was conducted on the Third Legion's flagship. The examiner was a medic from your Third Legion, using military-issued equipment. The final result confirmed he is an omega."

Hearing this, Qi Lan felt relieved. As long as he's really an omega, that's what matters.

Both were busy, so they wrapped up the call and hung up.

Qi Lan was lost in thought, a rare thing for her. Why did her children have to be such a handful?

Xiao Jin was the same—bringing self-concocted potions to school again and successfully paralyzing an alpha. Now she had to go negotiate with the school and get scolded...

Qi Lan sighed. After this Bug Swarm was over, it would be time to select reserve legion commanders. She wanted to retire early.

...

Dangerous Star Sector

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Star Eagle

Ji Anjue sat in the command room, eating potato chips and drinking cola, saying gloomily, "Sigh—why is my luck so bad? I only go there once every few months, and I still managed to run into the Federation."

As he spoke, he took another sip of the carbonated drink.

After all, the Federation wasn't going to harm Ji Anzhi. If Ji Anzhi were really discovered, he would simply help Qi Yanshen recover his memories.

Of course, the memories of the breakup would definitely be erased. Given how devoted that guy was, he would protect Ji Anzhi.

Ji Anjue actually thought it might be good for Ji Anzhi to stay in the Federation.

After Ji Anzhi woke up, although he didn't show it on the surface, Ji Anjue could sense that he still felt guilty, likely towards Qi Yanshen.

His body was already weak, and with excessive worry, it was easy for him to worry himself sick.

Now might actually be a good opportunity to untangle this emotional knot.

If Ji Anzhi knew what Ji Anjue was thinking, he'd probably confiscate Ji Anjue's entire secret stash.

After moping for a bit, Ji Anjue finished the chips and cola, dusted off his hands, stood up, and walked to the starship's airlock. Without any physical protection, he directly exposed himself to the space environment.

In reality, he was already wrapped in multiple layers of his own psychic power, more than enough for normal space conditions.

Leaving the airlock, Ji Anjue stood there nonchalantly in space. Before long, a King Insect came scurrying over.

The King Insect emerged from behind a nearby asteroid. The asteroid was large enough to completely conceal the King Insect's form.

Trembling, the King Insect approached Ji Anjue. Ji Anjue took out blood and gene collection equipment from his Space Bracelet and got to work.

"Be good. Don't make me think you're a worthless waste. It's been a year now. If you still can't find anything helpful for my dad Ji's body, you'll be worse off than the rest of your kind."

At this, the King Insect trembled again.

Although the King Insect didn't have human-level intelligence, it was about as smart as a five-year-old, able to tell if something was good or bad for itself.

Every month for the past year, it had to have its blood and genes collected. Sometimes a piece of flesh was cut out, or its insect limbs or antennae were severed while it was still alive to observe its regenerative abilities.

Each time was done without any anesthesia, excruciating. But thanks to its powerful healing, it never died from it, so the process was repeated.

Especially in the two months after Ji Anzhi first woke up, Ji Anjue came every three days, employing inhumane methods, with Ji Anzhi even coaching from the sidelines, pointing out which parts were most likely to fail to regenerate.

The King Insect was like a pitiful creature that had stumbled into a den of thieves, living a life worse than death.

Ji Anjue frowned; the King Insect was shaking too much, making blood collection difficult.

"What are you shaking for? You want me to drain you dry?"

The King Insect instantly froze, not daring to tremble at all.

After collecting what he wanted, the King Insect immediately retreated behind the asteroid to hide, afraid of being discovered by humans and, second, because it couldn't leave this place anyway.

Returning to the laboratory on the Star Eagle with the samples, Ji Anjue continued his research.

This year wasn't entirely without discoveries. The source of the King Insect's healing ability had been identified—it was caused by a specific gene segment. This gene segment activated the body's vitality when injured, triggering a short burst of hyper-metabolism to achieve rapid healing.

Ji Anjue's goal was to try to extract this gene segment to see if he could produce a substance with the same effect, restoring Ji Anzhi's body without altering his genes.

Unfortunately, the experiments showed no progress, frustrating Ji Anjue so much he wanted to go raid foreign laboratories, but he was stopped by Ji Anzhi.

Now he could only proceed step by step. After all, this King Insect wouldn't run away, and Ji Anzhi wasn't down to his last year or half-year; there was still plenty of time.

However...

Ji Anjue's psychic power sent back a message: more Zerg were heading this way.

"Tsk... so damn persistent."

Ji Anjue quickly went to the command room and had the starship leisurely leave the dangerous star region.

This was the place where Ji Anzhi and Qi Yanshen had crashed last time. Space jumps couldn't be used here; they could only make the jump after leaving the dangerous star region.

This was also one of the reasons Ji Anjue thought it was good for Ji Anzhi to be in the Federation. Those Zerg were numerous and widely distributed, with noses sharper than dogs'. Plus, he himself was now about to bloom and bear fruit, with unstable psychic power, so the Zerg often managed to track him down.

Thinking about his current flower buds—nineteen of them—Ji Anjue felt melancholy. All this extra nutrition was a real pain.

Later, he'd need to find a safe place to properly bear fruit and absorb it.

...

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The next day

6:30 AM

Ji Anzhi couldn't get up. Qi Yanshen kept ringing the doorbell outside until, after more than ten minutes, Ji Anzhi was finally awakened, opening the door with a splitting headache.

Poking his head out and seeing Qi Yanshen fully dressed, Ji Anzhi really wanted to ask: Did I just break up with you and make you lose your memory? Are you really that hung up on it?

But Ji Anzhi obviously couldn't say that, so he could only grit his teeth and bear it.

Ji Anzhi's discomfort was too obvious; Qi Yanshen wasn't blind; he could see that perfectly well.

Worried, he asked, "Headache?"

Ji Anzhi nodded weakly.

"Is it because of yesterday's interrogation?"

"...Don't know... probably an old issue. I'll be fine after resting a bit more."

He Zhi's reply was weak and faint.

Qi Yanshen was silent for three seconds, then put away his schedule and said, "Then rest well. Send me a message when you wake up, and I'll take you to eat."

Nodding in thanks, He Zhi closed the door and went back to bed to sleep.

Qi Yanshen stood at the door for a few minutes before leaving for the training room.

The training room was packed with many alphas, all those forced into extra drills for peeping yesterday. Seeing Qi Yanshen enter, many cast resentful glances his way.

Qi Yanshen ignored them all and began his own training.

Halfway through, his adjutant came to find him.

"Sir, the Marshal asked me to give you this document. You need to sign it. There's also an electronic version already sent to your personal terminal."

Qi Yanshen stopped, opened his personal terminal, and sure enough, a document had been sent.

Opening it, it was a mission order regarding the surveillance of "He Zhi," with a mission duration starting at three months. During this period, it would be difficult to take on other tasks, meaning Qi Yanshen couldn't complete missions and earn military merits for these three months.

Without hesitation, Qi Yanshen accepted.

He felt this omega was more important to him. As for the bet with his parents, there was only the final step left anyway; he would find out sooner or later, so there was no rush.

Completely forgetting how intensely competitive he had been this past year, Qi Yanshen subconsciously felt "He Zhi" was more important.

After finishing signing the electronic documents, Qi Yanshen finally realized how ridiculous his line of thinking was.

Taking the paper document handed over by his adjutant, Qi Yanshen gave it serious thought. He truly felt something was off—should he go to the infirmary for a checkup? Had he been drugged?

But he had the detector his father gave him. Once drugged, the detector would send a message to his neural interface, alerting him to any abnormalities in his body.

His neural interface hadn’t sent any messages, meaning there was nothing wrong with his body. Could it be a psychological issue? With Marshal Laiwen and Jing Lao monitoring the situation, any mental interference would be detected immediately, triggering an alert.

After much thought, Qi Yanshen finally reached a conclusion: Could it be that he had fallen in love at first sight with an omega?

...How absurd.

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Qi Yanshen signed the document and handed it back to his adjutant.

"Have this returned to the Marshal."

"Yes, sir. But... are you sure you want to guard an omega and give up on mission merits?"

Qi Yanshen nodded firmly.

Seeing this, the adjutant sighed, unsure whether it was for the 900,000 star credits he had lost or for his superior’s infatuation clouding his judgment.

However, he had seen that omega himself. In terms of appearance, he was only average among omegas. As the son of Commander Qi, his superior had seen plenty of top-tier omegas—how could he treat such an ordinary one so specially?

And appearing at an auction, aside from the children of the powerful, most were either accompanying guests or auction items...

Could his superior have some unusual preference?