"..."

Jiang Jianming was caught off guard by the phrase "please".

When he was in a daze, Lai An stuck to him like he was chasing after the victory, took his right hand and quickly put the ring back on, and kissed his ring finger piecemeal.

The little highness was already extremely beautiful, but at this moment, his whole body seemed to be glowing: "How about it? Jiang, please..."

"You..." Jiang Jianming pushed him away with a headache, opened his mouth to scold and was tired, and finally asked helplessly, "Why?"

"I'm scared. You said you weren't scared, but I was. I...I don't know why."

Lai An lowered his head, his emerald pupils were faintly shining in the twilight.He looked at his palm and said softly, "Maybe it's because of this power."

He is too different from ordinary people and has always been used to being alone.Ever since she had a lover, she walked on thin ice even more, for fear that Jiang Jianming would be implicated in anything by him.

Sometimes, he watched Jiang Jianming get intimate with himself as if his soul had left his body, and he felt terrified.How can a soft and weak human being snuggle up next to a ferocious monster so unguardedly?

It's too dangerous, even if you inadvertently rub your arm against the monster's fangs, you will end up bleeding.What's more, monsters also have enemies, what if there are?

Too dangerous.

It’s not enough to give it to the Wings of Venus; it’s still not enough to give it to the mecha S-Snow Dove; even if it’s added with the brain Seth Henry, it still doesn’t seem to be enough.

Simply separate this terrifying power itself.

If it weren't for the fact that he still had to go to the battlefield, Lai An wouldn't even mind giving Jiang Jianming half of it.

But that seems elusive.The leader said that crystal particles are deeply integrated with human beings, and it is very difficult to forcibly extract 10% of them, and 20% is the limit.If half of it is pulled away, the flesh and blood of the whole person will be torn apart, and there is no doubt that he will die.

So, he tried his best to do so.

"..."

Jiang Jianming rubbed his forehead helplessly, and sighed again.

It's too difficult.He is not afraid of death, nor is he afraid of hardships and dangers, but His Highness...

Finally, he backed down a step.

"I understand, it can be kept with me temporarily."

Jiang Jianming glanced down at the ring on his ring finger and said softly, "But I won't use it."

"When the empire gets better and you get bigger... In short, when you can feel at ease, please come to me to get this ring back and destroy it with your own hands."

Lai An looked up suddenly, both surprised and happy.He didn't expect that Jiang Jianming would really give in to his principle, and quickly said, "Okay!"

He held his lover's hand and refused to let go, hugged that thin body, and said in a repeated voice: "Definitely, I assure you."

Looking back now on the youthful spirit and firm belief in the future, it is ridiculously childish.

At that time, neither he nor Lai An knew anything about the upcoming twist of fate.

Before returning to the empire, Jiang Jianming followed the little highness to the base, extracted a crystal particle from the body and combined it with the spirit of the ring, and the golden blade controlled by him was completed.

After that, time was twists and turns, and many things happened. Jiang Jianming never used this ring once.

He guarded that line for his little highness who didn't know how to measure, as long as he didn't use it, it was just an ordinary engagement ring, not a crystal bone weapon.

If it weren't for the star city being swept by artillery fire, the crystal chaos took innocent lives; the heretics stood under the dark sky, propagating that they would take humans to Paradise.

If he hadn't been told the truth about the crystal particles, the choice of race survival would be in front of him...

Perhaps this golden blade will never be unsheathed.

But at least for the moment, it illuminates this dark sea of stars.

crackle!!

There were cracked crystal bone fragments under his feet, and Jiang Jianming's eyes were filled with pure gold light.

The face of the chaotic bishop twitched ferociously, losing its previous elegance.In the severe pain of the crystal bone being shattered, he heard clearly the question of the young man in front of him.

Do you actually say that the personal feelings and desires generated by the separation of thinking are the cornerstone of human beings?

If the ultimate comes, his beliefs and ideals will also lose their meaning?

No, I don't care, Lauren thought to herself.

As long as it can lead mankind to that happy shore, even beliefs and ideals can be abandoned, I don’t care——

But in the blink of an eye, Lauren saw Jiang Jianming's ice-white face and dark eyes again.

"Only human beings pursue happiness, crystal particles don't. Your Excellency, what is happiness, have you ever thought about it?"

In this world, what is suffering and what is happiness?

For the children in the slums, starving and freezing is suffering, and it is even more suffering to watch their relatives and friends freeze to death due to poverty.

So for them, happiness is so simple: they have a spacious house with a warm fireplace in winter; they can eat hot freshly baked bread and sweet milk every day.

There are delicacies and fireworks during the festivals, and the future is full of hope; family and friends gather together, laughing and cursing, and stay together.

Losing the five senses without hunger or cold, losing emotions without relatives and friends is neither suffering nor happiness.

That's called "nothing".

Because they "have nothing".

"You've been on the wrong track from the start."

Jiang Jianming calmly drew the sharp blade in half a circle.At this moment, the two were close at hand, there was a sudden pause, and then passed by.

"When the ultimate comes, human beings will not feel suffering, but they will not feel happiness either."

Gently, silently.

The crystal bone blade sliced across Lauren's neck.

"Because at that time," Jiang Jianming looked indifferent and didn't look back at the bishop, "they couldn't feel anything."

Having personal feelings and desires is the happiness of human beings.

"Nothing" is not happiness.

Lauren's eyes widened, his features contorted.The first drop of blood emerged from the right side of the neck, and soon turned into a red line to the left. The neck is now bursting with blue veins, and a roar with a changed voice is squeezed out.

"This is impossible!!"

The voice was full of resentment and grief. I don't know if it was for the plan that fell short, or for my life that was about to wither.

Or, he believed in it for many years and dedicated his life to it, but was completely denied by a young man.

That eternal and only existence in the dream, the infinitely bright, happy paradise.

"Goodbye," Jiang Jianming said, "Your Excellency Gerhard Lauren."

A stream of blood splashed in the rain of blue crystal shards, and Lauren's head rolled and flew out.

In the mid-air of the starship bridge, the eyes of the Bishop of Chaos are watching from the sky with a dead eye——

This young cripple was pale and bloody, and gently closed his eyes. Every inch of his face was shocking, crowned by crystals and stars.

Boom.

Lauren's head fell to the ground.

Boom!

Jiang Jianming's knees softened and he knelt down on the ground shaking.

"His Excellency Bishop!!"

"Your Excellency the Bishop of Chaos has been killed—"

There were shouts, and the guns in the hands of countless Crystal Cultists raised again, aiming at the exhausted imperial officer on the bridge, and pulling the trigger!

boom

The loud shattering of the porthole drowned out the sound of the gunfire.

Everything is in the blink of an eye, the bridge is shrouded in shadows, and the mech M-Zhan Comet directly crashes in!

Crash... The shards of glass were swept away from the spaceship by the low pressure.Under the sweep of the red gold crystal bones, all the bullets were bounced off; the crystal cultists under the bridge were sent flying into the air, blood mist rose amidst the screams.

But Jiang Jianming's consciousness has quickly blurred.

Around the body, the mountains and the sea are roaring, and the sun and the moon are upside down.He fell soundlessly to the ground like a withered leaf, but someone hugged him.

He knew who it was, and felt a pang of sourness in his heart, wanting to say that His Highness should stop using crystal bones, something will happen; get out of here, please take me away...take me back.

Even if we can't go back to our innocent youth, at least we are still by each other's side, so there is still a way to go back together.

right?

...

The starship was engulfed in raging fire and fell into the Zhou Sea.

The half-destroyed Comet Zan was left there forever, the mecha Snowdove sailed out of the sea of flames, its wings pierced through the thick smoke, and escaped from the encirclement of Crystal Cult at the fastest speed.

Along the way, the starships parted ways in dead silence.No one dared to stop it, and the small snow-like mecha went straight away, sailing in the direction of the Imperial Golden Sun Wheel Fleet.

"Jiang Jianming!!"

"Look at me...you look at me..."

A vague sound rang in Jiang Jianming's ear, sometimes far away and sometimes near.

"open one's eyes……"

"Please."

It was the same tone as in previous years, and the years he had passed through seemed to flow back again at this time.

Jiang Jianming's consciousness was ups and downs in the tide of time.

In a daze, he was still sleeping in a corner of Aslan's library, the refreshing spring breeze was blowing from the half-opened window, the gentle sunlight fell through his eyelids, and everything was thriving.

The young Lai An quietly came to his side, blocked the sunlight for him with her body, leaned over and kissed the corner of his eyes.

Ginger, have you ever regretted it?

In the upside-down and disorderly dream, the curly-haired platinum-haired boy bent down and rubbed his broken hair with lowered eyebrows, asking this question.

You... even for a moment, have you ever regretted meeting me?

Jiang Jianming was in a daze, but he was agitated by the voice in his ear.

He doesn't know why, it's been three years, oh no, it will be almost four years later, the phantom of the young prince will still harass his dreams every day.

Could it be that I can't let go of it subconsciously?

Like every time in the past, Jiang Jianming raised his head indifferently in his dream, with cold and mean eyes.

This time he chose to pick up a book at hand and smash it at it. The crown prince's phantom was shattered, and he gave him a sad and affectionate look for the last time.

The world collapsed, and boundless white light enveloped him——

"Uh, cough cough...!"

In the treatment cabin of Mecha Xuejiu, the body of the remnant crystal human whose heart was almost unrecognizable convulsed violently, choking out a few mouthfuls of blood with a painful expression.

Jiang Jianming opened his eyes. In his blurred vision, he vaguely saw the glass cover of the treatment cabin, and outside the treatment cabin was the inside of the mech snow dove.

An oxygen mask was placed on his face, countless needles were connected to his body, and he was being soaked in high-grade medical fluid.

"...Okay, unblock the mecha taxiway of your starship, and the medical soldiers are ready for first aid!!"

Opposite is the driver's console, Lai An hung up the communication with red eyes, heard the sound in the treatment cabin trembled suddenly, turned back hastily, "... Jiang?"

"Le... Ann."

In the treatment cabin, Jiang Jianming's eyes were absent-minded, and his fingers hanging by his side curled up weakly, as if he wanted to reach out to the person in front of him.

"I'm here!" Lai An hurried over in two quick steps, kneeling beside the treatment cabin hastily, "We're going back to the starship, hold on for a few more minutes."

He opened the cover of the treatment cabin, tilted Jiang Jianming's head to his side, and said in a low voice: "Don't be afraid, open your mouth and spit out the blood..."

Jiang Jianming half-closed his eyes tiredly, and rubbed his cheek against Lai An's palm.

His consciousness was hazy, and he murmured weakly: "Your Highness..."

"Cough, can... give me some water..."

"Good... Thirsty."