Chapter 534: The Twentieth Day of Transmigrating into an Interstellar World

Chapter 534: Day Twenty in the Interstellar World

Around that time, the messages An Yi received from him started coming in at all kinds of weird times.

Sometimes Xing Ruize would send "goodnight" at 3 a.m., sometimes "good morning" at six, sometimes two or three days would go by with nothing, and sometimes he'd send several in a single day—those were usually the times when he had just finished a mission and had a brief moment to breathe.

But no matter how busy he got, he still sent something every single day.

The war finally broke out in the fourth year.

The Federation fleet crossed the border and launched a surprise attack on the outpost in the Third Star Sector—the exact same outpost where An Yi had discovered the chip four years ago.

Fire erupted in space, and countless lives were snuffed out in an instant. By the time the news reached the capital star, the whole interstellar community was rocked.

At the time, An Yi was running tests in the laboratory.

He was working on a newly developed warp engine, running simulations under extreme conditions. Dense streams of data jumped across the screen—thousands of parameters changing every second. He needed to find patterns in that data, to spot what could be optimized.

Around him were grim-faced researchers, all staring at their own screens, murmuring to each other now and then.

The wall screen lit up with an alert. An Yi glanced over. It was a breaking news alert—

"Federation Fleet Strikes Third Star Sector, Border Conflict Escalates."

The words were red, big, and impossible to miss.

An Yi stared at those words for two seconds. Then he looked away and went back to the data.

The war would come. He'd known it all along.

Because of the chip incident, the war had already been delayed by more than half a year. In the original story, the war dragged on for five years. The interstellar side took heavy losses, but it also kicked off rapid tech development—a lot of the ships and weapons that would later become staples were developed during this war.

And him? He just kept testing.

By now, the stuff that in the original story wouldn't be developed until much later was already almost done.

That night, he left the lab.

The hallway lights had already dimmed for nighttime. He grabbed his wristband from the locker and turned it on.

There was a message on the screen.

Sender: Xing Ruize.

Same as always—a simple "goodnight," sent at 11 p.m. the night before.

But An Yi knew Xing Ruize was already out on the battlefield. So he typed back: "Stay safe."

Sent.

Xing Ruize didn't text back.

The next day came and went. Still nothing.

The third day, still nothing.

An Yi stared at the chat thread.

The last message in the thread was his own "Stay safe." Above that was Xing Ruize's "goodnight." Above that were the messages from the past few days—short, sparse, scattered.

He blinked. Then he leaned back in his chair and stared out at the night sky above the capital star.

The night sky here was crazy bright—so much artificial light that you could barely see the stars, leaving just a few of the brightest ones twinkling alone against the dark.

He thought of Xing Ruize's always-stern face, of how he'd mull over a message forever and then just send a couple of words, of the random gifts he'd bring every time he came to the capital star—local specialties, souvenirs, little knickknacks he thought An Yi might like.

Those gifts were now piled up in a corner of his place, a whole box full.

An Yi smiled.

Then he went back to reading his research papers.

On the fourth day, his wristband buzzed.

An Yi looked down—there was a little red dot on Xing Ruize's avatar.

He tapped it. "Sorry, I lost my wristband earlier. Only just got around to buying a new one."

An Yi read that and replied: "Are you hurt?"

There was a pause, then a message popped up: "It's nothing. Just a minor wound."

A minor wound? An Yi didn't push it. He just replied with one word: "Okay."

Xing Ruize sent another: "It really is just a minor wound."

An Yi replied: "Mm."

Xing Ruize was silent for a moment, then sent a photo.

The photo showed an arm with a wound on it—but thanks to the rapid advancement of interstellar medical technology, the wound was already nearly healed, leaving only a faint red mark.

The background was the white wall of some medical bay, with a few pieces of medical equipment visible in the corner.

An Yi looked at the photo and the corner of his mouth lifted. He replied: "Stay safe."

Xing Ruize sent another: "I'll stay safe. Don't worry about me."

Then, a few seconds later, another came through—a voice message.

An Yi tapped it.

Xing Ruize's voice came out of the wristband.

"An Yi..." he said. "I'll come back to see you. Don't be sad, don't worry. I miss you a lot. I'll come back in one piece."

An Yi listened, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

He replied with a single word: "Mm."

Comments:

"Somehow this gives me old married couple vibes... old married husband vibes..."

"I knew it! An Yi definitely knows how Xing Ruize feels. Is he finally going to respond now?"

“I miss you~~”

“I’m dying laughing, this book is just pure action! Action! So satisfying! The MC levels up! Then suddenly throws in a bit of sweet romance, and then back to the fighting!”

【What does An Yi’s “Mm” even mean! What does it mean! Is that a yes! Is he accepting it! Or is he just acknowledging it!】

“Damn it! You two, kiss for me!”

“How are they supposed to kiss from that far away?”

“On the phone!”

“Text... uh, text.......”

“Holy cow! This fight is awesome!”

“They’re gay, sure! But they’re strong gay guys! So satisfying!”

“......”

An Yi: “......”

Fighting is awesome!

----------

Two months into the war, Xing Ruize’s unit was sent to the front lines.

It was a star sector called the “Rift,” so named because of a massive asteroid belt that lay across its center, with countless rocks of all sizes drifting slowly through space like a natural wall.

This barrier split the sector in two—one side under interstellar control, the other under Federation control.

The two sides’ fleets were locked in a standoff here.

Every day, scout ships slipped through the gaps in the asteroid belt, and every day, minor clashes erupted, with tension running high.

Xing Ruize’s mission was to lead his squad deep into Federation-controlled territory to scout the enemy fleet’s deployment.

It was an extremely dangerous mission.

Sneaking behind enemy lines, going deep into their territory, and then making it back safely after the reconnaissance—every step was fraught with uncertainty.

The asteroid belt’s routes were already treacherous, and Federation patrol ships could appear at any moment. If they were discovered, his squad would become sitting ducks with nowhere to flee.

Before departure, Xing Ruize stood at the ship’s viewport, gazing at the gray, hazy asteroid belt in the distance.

He tapped his wristband and sent An Yi a message: “I have to go on a mission. Might not be able to contact you for a few days.”

An Yi replied quickly: “I understand.”

Xing Ruize stared at those four words, then sent another: “Wait for me to come back.”

An Yi: “Okay.”