Chapter 528: The Fourteenth Day of Transmigrating into an Interstellar World

Chapter 528: Day Fourteen in the Interstellar World

That night, Xing Ruize opened that chat window again. He looked at the messages, staring at them for a bit.

Then he opened the group chat. George had just posted in there, saying, "An Yi sent this to me—the scenery on the capital star is really beautiful."

In the screenshot, what An Yi had sent was a photo—the same one he'd looked at during the day: the sunset over the capital star, golden light spilling across the buildings.

The caption was just one line: "The sunset here."

Xing Ruize stared at the photo for a bit.

Then he opened his own chat window and read through the messages once more.

"Captain, I've returned to the capital star with the instructor. Thanks for taking care of me on this mission. Hope we get to meet again sometime."

"Thank you."

"Okay."

He counted them. The messages An Yi had sent him came to twenty-nine characters total.

The messages An Yi had sent George—not counting the photo, just the text—had to add up to several hundred characters by now over the past few days.

Xing Ruize set the data pad down.

Then picked it up again.

Then set it down again.

He lay down.

Then sat back up again.

Then he opened the chat window and started typing: "Is the sunset on the capital star nice?"

After typing it out, he stared at the line, then deleted it.

"What have you been up to lately?" Deleted.

"George said you message him every day." Deleted.

Xing Ruize stared at the empty input box for a long time. In the end, he sent nothing—he just read through that chat window again.

Then he lay down and closed his eyes.

The messages An Yi had sent him were fewer than the ones he'd sent George, but they were more formal. An Yi called him "Captain," but George was just "George."

But... "Hope we get to meet again sometime"—he'd later find out An Yi had said that to everyone, not just him.

But—the first message An Yi had sent him was "Hope we meet again next time," but to George, he'd said "See you next time."

That's different.

Right?

An Yi had replied "Thank you" to his message, but what did that "thank you" even mean? Was it just being polite, or was he actually grateful?

An Yi had replied "Okay" to him, but what did that "okay" even mean? Was he just acknowledging it, or did it mean something else?

Xing Ruize opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling.

Why am I even thinking about this.

He closed his eyes again.

The messages An Yi had sent him really were twenty-nine characters.

Comments section:

"??????????"

"Wait, Xing Ruize, what are you doing? What are you counting? Why the hell are you counting that???"

"Twenty-nine characters... hahahahahahaha I'm fucking dying laughing!"

"Help! Male lead, wake up! You're supposed to be the cold, ruthless captain! What the hell do you mean you're sitting there counting how many characters someone sent you?! Explain yourself!"

"Men, am I right? Always obsessing over every little detail about their crush!"

"Damn gay men! Disgusting! Us straight guys can't watch this shit!!"

"Who said that! Us straight guys love watching this shit!"

"What kind of straight guy are you, up there?"

"The kind that's straight-up into dudes! Hehe!"

"Help! There's a GAY invading! Everyone protect the rear!"

"Hahahahahaha! Don't worry? I wouldn't even look at you guys! (cheerful laugh) (rose) (heart)"

"? Buddy? That's a little harsh! (angry) (angry)"

"Twenty-nine characters vs. several hundred—I hereby dub this 'The Moment Xing Ruize Broke.'"

"Wait, have you guys noticed—the male lead didn't just count the characters, he also compared the ways An Yi addressed them—'Captain' vs. 'George,' 'Hope we meet again sometime' vs. 'See you next time'~~"

"What the hell? Seriously? Is the male lead a lovesick idiot?"

"Wait, dude? You're just now figuring that out?"

"'That was different. Right?' Right what?! Right my ass! You're just trying to convince yourself, aren't you! What are you even making excuses for!"

"'Why am I thinking about this'—yeah, you shouldn't be thinking about it! So don't think about it! Can you?! But what do you do? You close your eyes and keep thinking!"

"So, Xing Ruize broke down, right?"

"An Yi actually replies to every message, even though it's George he's replying to!"

"Exactly, exactly! It's that kind of warm-but-distant vibe. You could say he's being dismissive, but he replies to everything. You could say he's being friendly, but he never gives a specific time!"

"George~ I'm Peppa!"

"What? Seeing that An Yi isn't warm to the male lead but is closer to a side character, you guys are projecting and breaking down too? (I mean no harm.jpg)"

"Damn! You, up there!"

"Twenty-nine characters for a broken male lead—worth it!"

【LMAO "twenty-nine characters" is already a meme now?!】

"Xing Ruize: I'm gonna go by 'Twenty-Nine' from now on! (jk)"

"I just wanna ask: when is An Yi coming back? I want to see the male lead keep cracking!"

"+1"

"+2"

"+10086"

"+Twenty-nine!"

"Enough already! Hahahaha!"

"Stop joking around! Get the hell out, you people! This is a guys' channel! Get out, gays!"

"Nope~ Not doing it!"

"......"

An Yi set down what he was holding and narrowed his eyes a bit.

So Xing Ruize was actually counting the characters in his messages?

----------

The next morning, Xing Ruize walked into the military headquarters with barely noticeable dark circles under his eyes.

Actually, they weren't that heavy—just a slight shadow of bluish-gray beneath his lower eyelids. Unless you were looking closely, you wouldn't even notice. But he was usually so energetic that the faint discoloration stood out.

Jiang Biao saw him and paused. "Captain, you didn't sleep well last night?" That's a first!

Xing Ruize looked up from the data pad and glanced at him. "No."

Jiang Biao went "Oh." He hesitated, then added, "You've got a bit of shadow under your eyes."

Xing Ruize: "No."

Jiang Biao said nothing more. He got the feeling the captain was in a bad mood today.

And it wasn't just a little bad—it was heavy, like a storm was brewing. Although the captain was usually quiet, today's silence seemed to carry something else, like he had something to say but was holding back.

Jiang Biao smartly made himself scarce.

And so five days passed in a blur. During those five days, Xing Ruize opened that chat window every day, and his messages still got cold responses from An Yi—

"Good morning." — An Yi texted back: "Morning."

"Busy today?" — An Yi replied: "Meh."

"Did the mission go smoothly?" — An Yi replied: "Went fine."

"Have you eaten?" — An Yi replied: "Yeah."

Every message got a reply, and every reply was just a few words—no more, no less, neither warm nor cold.

Xing Ruize stared at those replies, sometimes wondering: does An Yi treat everyone like this? Or is it something about me?

Every time, he typed out a long message, then deleted it, afraid An Yi would find it annoying.

Then he remembered what George had said about "sending every day" and "replying to every message." George's replies probably weren't just a few words, were they?

He didn't ask. He just kept sending messages every day, kept reading those brief replies every day.