Chapter 535: The Twenty-First Day of Transmigrating into an Interstellar World

Chapter 535: The Twenty-First Day in the Interstellar World

Xing Ruize put his wristband away.

He took a deep breath and turned to look at his teammates—Jiang Biao, Ma Zhiye, Cheng Hong, George, and the newly joined repair engineer Wu Liu. They were all watching him, waiting for his orders.

"Let's move," he said, and then he led the team, vanishing into the dark void of space.

Over those eight days, An Yi received no messages. The last message in their chat was the one he'd sent: "Okay."

Sometimes he'd tap it open to check, and when there were none, he'd close it and get back to what he was doing.

On the evening of the eighth day, just as An Yi was lying down, his wristband buzzed.

He tapped it open to find a message from Xing Ruize.

An Yi blinked. Was the mission over already?

The message was just two words: "Good night."

Nothing special—exactly the same as the ones he'd sent on countless other nights.

An Yi looked at those two words and the corners of his mouth curved up. He replied, "Mm. Good night."

The second he sent it, his wristband buzzed again—another message from Xing Ruize: "Still up? I miss you so much."

An Yi's fingers froze for a moment. Xing Ruize was getting bolder with his honesty these days. In the past, you could've beaten him to death and he still wouldn't have said something like that.

He let out a chuckle. Not bad, huh.

An Yi smiled: "Got it."

Xing Ruize was silent for a few seconds, then sent: "What does 'got it' mean?"

An Yi looked at the question. He could almost picture Xing Ruize's face as he typed it—brows furrowed, staring at the screen, dead serious, like he was solving some major problem.

A mischievous streak hit him and he replied: "It means got it. What else would it mean?"

Xing Ruize went quiet again. A few seconds later, he sent another message, sounding a little hurt: "Then... do you miss me at all?"

An Yi stared at the question.

Do I miss him even a little?

He smiled and decided to let him off the hook: "Maybe... just a little."

Sent.

Xing Ruize replied instantly: "Really?"

An Yi: "Mm."

Xing Ruize sent another emoji.

It was one of the wristband's built-in smiley faces—round, yellow, grinning like an idiot, eyes curved into little arcs, mouth stretched wide.

An Yi looked at that goofy grin and his own smile widened a little.

Just then, his wristband buzzed—a call request from Xing Ruize.

An Yi answered.

Xing Ruize's voice came through the wristband, a little rough, like he'd just been through something exhausting and was trying hard to sound steady.

"An Yi... An An."

His voice was soft, a little uncertain, like he was testing the waters.

An Yi heard him call him An An, tilted his head, and answered in a lazy drawl: "Mm."

Xing Ruize heard that slow, drawn-out response and felt his ears go hot: "What I said earlier..."

He paused. "I said I miss you. That's the truth."

An Yi stayed silent.

Xing Ruize went on: "During the mission, I kept thinking—if I made it back alive, I'd tell you. I'd tell you how much I miss you."

"An An... I miss you so much."

An Yi just listened.

Xing Ruize went on: "And also..." He trailed off.

An Yi was confused: "And also what?"

Xing Ruize chuckled on the other end: "And also... I really, really miss you."

There was one more thing he wanted to say to An Yi, but he wanted to say it face to face.

He felt a confession should be made in person. An Yi's... An An's attitude couldn't just be his imagination, right?

He thought back over every moment with An Yi, and how An Yi's attitude toward him had shifted over the years. He was sure of it now—it definitely wasn't his imagination.

Maybe he'd actually found his way into An Yi's heart?

An Yi laughed softly: "I know."

Xing Ruize said: "I'll come back as soon as I can."

An Yi: "Mm."

Xing Ruize glanced at the time. No matter how much he didn't want to, he said: "Then... good night?"

He knew An Yi would throw himself into work first thing tomorrow morning—his beloved research. He couldn't keep him from resting.

An Yi smiled: "Good night."

The call ended. An Yi set his wristband on the nightstand and stared at the ceiling, a faint smile still tugging at his lips.

Comment section:

"This is basically him confessing, right? They're actually getting together?"

"Wait, they're actually together? They're actually gay?!"

"??? What chapter did you just come from? Haven't you accepted reality yet?"

"Wasn't the tension enough? They're really getting together? There won't be any explicit scenes later, right? Ugh~"

“? Do you want to see it or not? You've even got the car all figured out?”

“Something's off with you!”

“Oi~ little guy~ so feisty! (bass voice)”

“Are you guys actually straight?”

“Yeah! Straight means you like men directly, right?”

“Damn! Why didn't you say that earlier!”

“Alas! Why didn't you say that sooner!”

“Yah!”

“So what does Xing Ruize want to say in person? I'm so curious, I can't even guess! The author really knows how to build suspense! (smile) (rose)”

“What else could it be? It's definitely not a confession! (dog face) (dog face)”

“Maybe it's about depth and length? (wink)”

“What? It's not a confession? How do you guys know?”

“? The person above is so innocent, so cute, let me sit on them!”

“So what is it? What exactly does Xing Ruize plan to do?”

“...An Yi, duh! (grinning teeth.jpg)”

“Got it right away! Hahahahaha!”

“? How do you know it's Xing Ruize topping An Yi? Why can't An Yi be on top?”

“No way! Absolutely no way! Don't say such outrageous things! Careful, you'll give the author ideas!”

“What! The person above needs to delete that now! So scary! Is this what the world's come to?”

“Hahahahaha, Brother Twenty-nine! You're not getting lucky, are you?! (pointing.jpg)”

“Who's Brother Twenty-nine?”

“Because it's twenty-nine words!”

“Brother Twenty-nine is finally going to confess! But I feel like this is a death flag! What's this about saying it in person when he gets back? Nothing bad's gonna happen later, right?”

“...”

Say it in person—what does he want to say?

An Yi closed his eyes. Actually, he could guess.

Yeah... okay.

----------

By the end of the first year of the war, An Yi's research had achieved a breakthrough.

The new jump engine he'd developed passed all tests successfully.

That day, the lab was packed—military reps, school leaders, research institute experts—all staring at the constantly jumping data. On the screen, the new engine ran stably under simulated extreme conditions, with every metric far exceeding expectations.

When the last test ended, the whole lab was silent for two seconds, then erupted in cheers.

Performance was 32% better than the current engine.

A full thirty-two points.

The military rep made the call on the spot—this engine would be installed on main warships, ASAP. Orders were placed immediately, with numbers so big the people nearby gasped.

Cong Tianyue stood at the main console, looking at the test data, the curves, the parameters, the dense rows of digits.

She rarely smiled, but now her wrinkles softened, and her eyes held a proud gleam.

She turned to look at An Yi.

“You little rascal!” she said. “You really didn't let me down.”

An Yi stood in front of her.

Sunlight streamed through the lab window, falling on him. His brows curved, and his lips wore that usual gentle smile.

He curved his lips into a smile: “Thank you, teacher.”