Chapter 69 Orbital Breakpoint (11)

Chapter 69: Orbital Breakpoint (Part 11)

Another location?

Bao Yan immediately decided: "Let's go up and take a look."

"Good idea." Shi Wu nodded in agreement, a bright but punchable smile appearing on his face as he playfully winked at Bao Yan.

Bao Yan suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Well then, you're up, handsome!"

Shi Wu patted Bao Yan's solid shoulder and pointed at the ventilation opening at least three meters off the ground, his meaning clear.

Looking at Shi Wu's utterly matter-of-fact expression, Bao Yan's perpetually icy face showed a trace of an extremely subtle emotion, something like exasperation.

He initially wanted to retort with his usual "get lost," but the words stuck in his throat as his mind uncontrollably concluded that this was probably the best plan available right now.

Bao Yan looked at Shi Wu, then suddenly stood ramrod straight right in front of him.

Shi Wu raised an eyebrow curiously, about to tease him further, when he saw Bao Yan's gaze shift away from his face. Then, from top to bottom, from collarbone to waist to legs, Bao Yan scrutinized him meticulously, inside and out.

Shi Wu: *Hiss*, why do I suddenly feel like I'm streaking outside?

Bao Yan was still carefully comparing their builds—height, center of gravity, shoulder width, waist circumference flashed through his mind.

*Hmm*, Bao Yan thought, Shi Wu was about five centimeters shorter than him, with relatively narrower shoulders.

How come he hadn't noticed before that Shi Wu's waist was quite slim...

Well, in short, given Shi Wu's current build, he was perfectly suited for crawling through that duct.

"What are you spacing out for?" Shi Wu couldn't help but ask, seeing Bao Yan lost in thought. "Are you taking my measurements?"

Shi Wu said this jokingly. After all, a three-meter distance was something he could manage with a running start and using the wall of a nearby compartment for leverage.

His earlier comment was just meant to annoy Bao Yan.

However, as soon as Shi Wu finished speaking, Bao Yan took a swift step forward, steadily reaching his hands toward Shi Wu's waist.

"Hey! Bao Yan, what are you doing?" Shi Wu exclaimed in surprise, too late to react.

The next second, Bao Yan put his strength into it, one hand under him for support, the other gripping Shi Wu's arm, his own arms tightening.

"Holy sh—!"

The sudden sensation of weightlessness and the close, body heat belonging to Bao Yan instantly stunned Shi Wu.

Instinctively, he reached out to grab onto Bao Yan to steady himself, feeling the solid, reliable support beneath him.

And... Bao Yan's exhaled warm breath gently brushing against his wrist.

"Stop talking nonsense," Bao Yan's voice was full of seriousness. "Hurry up and pry off the cover."

Only then did Shi Wu snap back to reality. He took a deep breath, suppressing the strange flutter in his heart, and refocused his attention on the ventilation opening in front of him.

He reached back and grabbed the rusted metal cover. With some effort, the cover let out a *creak* and came loose.

A cold, slightly oily-smelling wind rushed out from the hole, carrying dust and a faint smell of mildew.

Behind the opening was a dark, narrow duct only wide enough for one person to crawl through. The pipe walls were covered with patch welds and age-old labels.

Shi Wu's eyes adjusted to the darkness for a few seconds, and he saw a faint light reflecting from further down the duct—as if there was a small room at the end, still lit, waiting for its owner's return.

"Hold steady," Bao Yan instructed from below. "I'll help you up."

"Tsk tsk tsk." Shi Wu looked down at Bao Yan's form below him, then teased, "General Bao, if word got out that the Federation's finest general served as Shi Wu's stepping stone, how would you live it down?"

Bao Yan thought this was ridiculous and didn't reply. He simply repositioned Shi Wu's arm, then with a powerful heave, Shi Wu was placed steadily on the edge of the ventilation opening.

The three-meter height wasn't too high. Shi Wu got onto his stomach, his arms reaching back to grip the inner edge of the duct opening. He bent his legs and, with a boost from Bao Yan, flipped into the darkness.

Inside the duct, there was a hollow echo, along with his own breathing and the *clack* of his fingers against metal.

The passage was narrower than he imagined. Shi Wu could only shuffle forward slowly inside the pipe.

Darkness swallowed his footsteps. At the far end of the duct, a brighter outline gradually enlarged, and then he caught a whiff of the sealed-in smell of preservatives and lubricating oil.

Finally, the duct ended—revealing a cramped, enclosed little room barely large enough for a single person to squeeze into.

Shi Wu gently pushed with his knees, his body sliding through the narrow exit and landing steadily on a floor covered with shock-absorbent padding.

The walls of this room were all fitted with old-fashioned shelves. On them were neatly labeled parts boxes, several rolls of wire in different diameters, and several thick engineering books.

On a table lay a few hand tools and several sets of drawings sealed in plastic bags.

In a corner against the wall were piled several personal stash oxygen cylinders.

The light wasn't too bright, but it was enough to see that those cylinders were recently sealed, identical to the ones he had seen in the cold storage unit.

Shi Wu's heart tightened sharply—the presence of such private storage indicated this was a place someone had secretly maintained long-term.

The professional nature of the items on the table also didn't seem like a temporary hideout. Someone had systematically maintained and stored things here.

He walked around the table, quietly flipping through the engineering books and drawings.

He saw some notes tucked between the pages, with hastily scribbled, incomprehensible things like "Channel Node Notes," "AUX-PWR Reset Sequence," "Temporary Allocation."

In the corner of one page was a familiar printed header: the imprint of the Ship's Security Department.

The Security Department's imprint?

Security Chief Xiao?

Suppressing the doubt in his heart, Shi Wu reached for another black toolbox at the corner of the table.

Inside the box was a thick manual. The cover was worn, and its size and thickness seemed to perfectly match the empty space left by the "item" he had earlier deduced from the safe.

Several words on the cover were worn smooth, but Shi Wu could still make out the six characters: "Ross User Manual."

His heartbeat quickened slightly as he reached in and pulled out the manual.

Shi Wu opened the manual. A yellowed note was tucked between the pages. On it, in faded blue ink, were written a few words: *Non-Public—Security Chief/Bridge Authorization Only; Record Required for Retrieval or Transfer.*

The handwriting was neat and severe. Below it was a small signature, the abbreviation looking like an "X."—the initial for Xiao.

In an instant, various clues connected into a line in his mind: Xiao had consciously hidden and stored key supplies and documents here; this place bore the Security Chief's mark; the item missing from the safe was likely this very manual.

Coupled with Xiao's inexplicable defensiveness and greed in the dining hall earlier, the facts seemed to point exactly to this.

Xiao resented others' fondness for Ross, fearing it would replace his own position, even going so far as to revoke Ross's permissions and keeping others from getting the manual.

Shi Wu carefully tucked the "Ross User Manual" under his arm, then quickly looked over the other small booklets on the table: one was an avionics maintenance log, another a stack of parts inventory slips, and one more was the latest record of temporary authorizations for some shipboard AI interfaces.

The record indeed bore Xiao's signature, along with a timestamp from shortly before the accident.

He cautiously climbed back the way he came, wriggling his body out of the narrow ventilation duct.

The air outside suddenly felt starkly different, and Bao Yan's figure was still standing there quietly, waiting.

Shi Wu poked his head out and called down, "I'm back! And I found something good!"

Hearing this, Bao Yan instinctively opened his arms, making a gesture to catch him.

Seeing this, Shi Wu couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, muttering, "It's not that high; are you looking down on me?"

He could have jumped down steadily on his own, but Bao Yan's gesture just rubbed him the wrong way.

Now it was Bao Yan's turn to be taken aback.

A flicker of surprise crossed his expressionless face, as if he hadn't expected himself to make that move subconsciously.

Just then, a series of urgent knocks sounded from outside the door.

"Wuwuwu... Who's in there? Open the door! I can't hold it anymore!" A male voice, choked with tears, frantically shouted outside: "Open the door! I know you're in there, is that you, Boyan Sigou? I know you're in there! Open the door! Save me!"

Hearing this, Shi Wu couldn't help but laugh, "Looks like someone really can't hold on."

He then tucked the manual under his arm, pushed off with his legs, about to jump down directly, but quickly realized something was off—this was a terrible spot to jump from.

Because the ventilation duct had no protruding platform, his feet had nothing to push off from. If he didn't want to land headfirst and get a concussion, he'd have to drop down from a crouch.

Now he was truly in a bind.

Bao Yan leaned against the wall nearby, watching him leisurely, a hint of amusement in his tone: "Well? Jump."

Shi Wu gritted his teeth, glanced at Bao Yan's teasing eyes, then at the ground several meters below, and simply steeled himself, jumping down directly.

However, the moment he jumped, Shi Wu realized he had been too careless.

Eagle-eyed, Bao Yan immediately noticed Shi Wu's posture was off.

He stepped forward in one stride and, just as Shi Wu was about to fall, steadied him with a near-grappling hold.

But the three-meter distance was too short. Shi Wu's foot still buckled slightly upon landing, causing him to stumble and drop to his knees, falling against Bao Yan.

"Damn!" Shi Wu grimaced in pain, unable to hold back a curse.

"Unnecessary bravado reduces efficiency. Your findings?" Bao Yan steadied him, his tone cool.

"Aren't you supposed to be amazing? How come you didn't catch me properly?" Shi Wu retorted defiantly, enduring the pain.

"I was just doing what you wanted," Bao Yan replied coldly, indicating he couldn't have done otherwise.

The tension in the air thickened as the two glared at each other, neither one happy with the other.

Outside the door, Qi Lan was almost out of breath, frantically pounding on the door panel, his cries growing louder: "Please! I'm gonna die! Open the door—!"

Due to the earlier mishap, Shi Wu could only limp toward the door with his right leg.

Bao Yan stood to the side and called out to Shi Wu, "Need help?"

Shi Wu didn't even look back.

"Tch." Bao Yan clicked his tongue lightly, feeling somewhat annoyed.

He then walked over to Shi Wu, pulling him up by the arm. "The one outside seems like he won't last."

Shi Wu limped along, sucking in a sharp breath from the pain, still complaining, "It's all your fault."

Bao Yan fell silent for a moment, but reason pulled him back—if he didn't support Shi Wu now, mission efficiency would surely suffer.

Expressionless, he reached out and wrapped an arm around Shi Wu's, half-dragging, half-supporting him to the door.

With a click, the cabin door opened.

Outside, Qi Lan stumbled in, eyes red, face etched with the relief of a narrow escape.

But the moment he saw the scene inside—

Shi Wu, limping, leaning against Bao Yan, still gritting his teeth and complaining, "It hurts so much";

Bao Yan, calm in demeanor, yet standing extremely close, their shoulders almost pressed together.

Qi Lan froze completely, his previously contorted face suddenly stilled, then he let out a meaningful, drawn-out "Hiss—".

At that moment, his stomach no longer hurt, his backside no longer felt bloated. Looking at Shi Wu and Bao Yan, tears still glistening at the corners of his eyes, he wore a sly, knowing grin: "Hiss, you two in the restroom... Well, it is a public place, after all. You should still be a bit more careful!"

Shi Wu: "?"

Bao Yan: "..."

Author's Note: