He was dreaming again.

Like every dream before.

The dead disturb the living and do not make him clean.

But this time it was different.In the past, he could only dream of the phantom Ryan, but this time he saw a very clear scene from the perspective of a bystander.

He saw the glowing clouds of Omega Alien reflected on the window glass of Black Shark Base.He saw the leader of the base who took off his hood, who was also Empress Dowager Sylve.

"Your Highness, Kaios... I don't know what message your original consciousness left for you, but you need to know."

The old woman's expression was complicated and solemn: "'his' mental state is very likely abnormal, 'he' is probably insane, awakening 'his' consciousness was my hasty mistake, you don't have toListen to that nonsense."

On the opposite side, the young Prince Chu was wearing a formal dress and a thick red gown.He showed a beautiful smile, but his voice was as cold as an ice knife: "Then, I'm crazy too."

He put his palm lightly on his heart, "Leader, please tell me what else this body can do."

"His idea is almost impossible to realize. It's too bizarre. There has never been a precedent." Sylph shook her head. "I don't understand how this person can be so arrogant."

Ryan: "He said it was an unfinished journey."

Silver: "Even if the end of the journey is death?"

"What if the end of death is reunion?"

Ryan responded with a rhetorical question.

"It doesn't have to be a reunion," Sylph said, "What you said is to let your excellency choose for himself."

Whether to stay in the empire and live an ordinary but happy life; or to cut off the back road and embark on the journey of the star sea full of pain and hardship.

But this is not actually a choice. A choice should have two roads in front of people for people to choose a direction. Jiang Jianming clearly only has the first road in front of him.

Unless he is willing to embark on a new path, it is also "almost impossible", "too bizarre", and "there has never been a precedent".

"Your Highness," Sylve said helplessly, "Do you really want to use your life to do something even more illusory in order to gamble on an illusory possibility?"

Ryan: "Yes, I have decided. In the end, no matter what the result is, I will accept it."

Sylph closed her eyes and sighed, as if she had realized that she couldn't be persuaded anymore.

"At least," she said bitterly, "you can't be too greedy."

"Whether to choose to be the ruler and bearer of this empire, to be the strongest weapon for mankind to fight back against the crystal nest... or choose to love the person you want to love, please choose one."

"What I mean is, the plan to die in Crystal Nest is too ridiculous. If you really make up your mind, you can choose the way of peace. It's not impossible for Black Shark Base to refine crystal particles—"

The young prince laughed again when he heard the words, the birds of the alien star were singing in the distance, and the mighty dusk by the window was lengthening his shadow.

He has the elegant aura cultivated by the royal family since he was a child, which is slightly different from the founding emperor of the original body and the second matrix later.

"No."

Ryan said with a smile: "I'm greedy, I don't choose."

Then he repeated what he just said, "Tell me, what else can this body do."

In the dream, the scene changes and time flies.

"You can try to take it orally for several days in a row."

Silph put a potion on the table and made a soft sound.

"This is the failed output of the base's research on the third-generation tranquilizer. It will not weaken the power of the crystal bone, and it can also play the same role as the tranquilizer."

Ryan's eyes twitched: "...is this also called 'failure output'?"

Silver explained: "The side effects are too great to be popularized, and it can only be used by people who are looking for death."

Ryan eased his brow, opened it and drank slowly.

Silf said: "I will place the anti-crystal nest weapons used during the White Bird Expedition on the Golden Dawn Crown, and then please put them all into the crystal nest, Your Highness."

"Ok."

"Remember to turn on the video and data monitoring. If you can really reach the crystal nest, it can be regarded as guiding the way for the next silver Beidou expedition."

"Know."

"Let His Majesty Lin Ge worry about the matter behind you. If you have any last words, I can write them down for you."

Ryan nodded and opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly his face turned pale.

He knocked over the chair with a bang, collapsed on the floor dripping with cold sweat, and soon convulsed, crystal bones emerged from his body uncontrollably, piercing the floor.

Sylph sighed and opened her eyes sideways: "It's a side effect of the drug. Please try to control the crystal bone and don't harm yourself. If you need external restraint, please tell me..."

"Of course, you can stop anytime you want."

……that's it.

The underage crown prince took the initiative to walk into the depths of the Black Shark base.

Every day, he would drink sedatives like intestinal poison, stick electrodes like electrodes on his temples to simulate the mental impact of crystal particles, and practice uninterrupted high-intensity training.

Those tortures are enough to destroy a person.

The leader is very busy, so he can only visit him once every few days, and every time he will first ask: "Can I continue? There is still time to stop now."

In the room, Lean's long hair was disheveled, and he leaned against the window tiredly and asked, "Is the military academy on summer vacation?"

He stared at Zhaoxia in Yixing, and remembered the day he proposed to the black-haired military cadet.

Sylph froze for a moment, saying that this needs to be confirmed again.Based on the date of previous years, it should be almost the same.

But that year's semester was delayed a bit, and it was already a week after the summer vacation really came.

When the leader came again, Ryan curled up in a dark corner, as if he was fished out of the water.

He was a little mentally disturbed, and he continued to have a high fever under the influence of the medicine, shivering like a small animal.

"Do you want to continue?" Sylph asked him, "It's too late to turn around now. Yesterday, the Sixth Academy finished the last course, and the students all left school. Your Excellency is looking forward to your going back to accompany him."

The crown prince was delirious, squinting his eyes and raving drowsily, saying that he wanted to hear Jiang Jianming's voice.

Sylph touched his sweaty forehead: "Should I call your Excellency?"

"No." Ryan woke up suddenly, and pressed the leader's black armor gloves, "No, no need."

That night, his condition suddenly deteriorated, and he fell into a coma several times. He didn't wake up until the early morning of two days later.

I don't know if it was a nightmare or what, but the crown prince looked around in the dark with a panicked expression, gasping for breath.

He suddenly shed tears, grabbed the head of the bed and wept bitterly, and said incoherently: "No...I haven't...I haven't had time..."

Haven't had time for what yet?

He hasn't had time to disclose his underground lover to the empire, and he hasn't had time to give Jiang Jianming an upright identity and status.

I didn't have time to fulfill those promises, and didn't have time to walk into a happy future hand in hand.

"I've always asked him to believe...to wait for me...but now..."

Sylph patted him on the back like comforting a baby, and coaxed softly: "The ones that haven't been made yet, the next base will do it for you."

"No, no more...the next one...will never treat him better than me, and it is impossible for him to forgive me and trust me again."

"..."

"What's more," Ryan's eyes were covered with mist, and he looked sullen and fierce in the darkness, "What if the next one has a bad personality, what should I do if I bully him?"

After another moment of silence, he said blankly: "After I die, he will be alone. Who will protect him? He is just a crystalless human... and so strong."

Sylph stroked his shoulder, "So, do you want to stop?"

"Stop, you can go back in the starship right away. It should be afternoon in the third district of Aslan Star City, and you still have time to have dinner with him."

Ryan closed his eyes and trembled, he said, "No."

Silver: "Why? There was no need to do such an extreme thing. There are still many years before the war starts. You can cherish the present and love each other more deeply."

"When the war starts in a few years, you will go to the front, and he will wait for your return in the rear, just like he is doing now."

"Perhaps the war was unexpectedly won quickly, and you returned to him full of glory, presented the medal as a gift to him, and picked up those things that were not done in time."

"You can make your love affair public, and you can marry in a fair manner. Although your Excellency can't become an officer, he will be an excellent scholar, professor, or mecha master. If he makes achievements, it will not prevent him from being loved, and evenLeave a name in history."

"Gradually, some people will think that the crown prince and his lover are actually a good match. Many years later, you will become the relationship between the emperor and the empress, and you will stay together until the end of your life. The story spreads to every street in the nine star cities of the empire.lane."

In the quiet darkness, the tone of the leader's narration seemed to be telling a fairy tale.

Sylph raised her eyes and sighed softly: "Think about it, isn't this also a very happy and fulfilling life?"

In the room, there was no sound for a long time.

The leader looked down and found that the crown prince had fallen asleep, tears wet his eyelashes and slipped silently into his temples.

After waking up the next day, Ryan still did not give up his plan.

The days passed day after day like this, and the moment finally came.

In fact, the crown prince could do nothing but plan a disappearance and death without anyone noticing.

But Ryan thinks that it is still necessary to have an explanation and farewell to the empire and the military, and he really wants to see Jiang Jianming's face and hear Jiang Jianming's voice for the last time.

That day, Ryan made a lot of preparations in advance, getting enough sleep the night before, getting up early the next day to take a shower and change clothes.

He administered various overdoses of drugs to himself to try to look better, and he made serious confirmations in front of the mirror many times.

no problem.

Except a little nervous.

He also knew that arguing with Marshal Chen and his gang would probably take a long time, so in order not to delay the usual medication, he took out a goblet and put it at hand.

The liquid medicine given to him by the leader is transparent, and poured into this kind of cup, it should be able to pretend to be wine or something... Although Jiang doesn't like him drinking underage, there is nothing he can do about it.

In the last correspondence, many people came and went.

Ryan dealt with each one patiently.

Every time the door on the opposite side opened, his heart would hang up, and when he found out that it was not that person, he would fall back to the original place in loss.

After a long, long time, finally.

The door opened.

A young military cadet with black hair and dark eyes walked in.

Ryan's heartbeat started to quicken.

He looked at Jiang Jianming's slightly tense face, pale lips, slender eyebrows, anxious eyes with a hint of anger...it was so beautiful.

The speaking voice is also nice.Usually it's more gentle, but today it's probably really rushed, with a bit of a cool edge.

It turns out that just being able to live, looking at the face of the person I like, and listening to him talk to me is already such a rare thing.

If only could be a little more extravagant, really want to hug him.

...

Later, the communication went black.

Ryan watched Jiang Jianming cut off the communication.Before, he was motionless like a cold stone sculpture, but when the projection on the opposite side disappeared, he collapsed instantly.

The glass fell to the ground, and the shards flew.He pounced, his fingers piercing through nothingness, and finally he could only cling to the cold communication machine.

Don't, don't... wait, don't go.

Let me look at you one more time, and say one more word to me.

The young prince hunched on the ground and cried bitterly. He whimpered and said sorry, sorry, sorry...

He cried until he passed out.

No outsiders came in the room, probably because Lai An guessed that she would lose her composure, and cleared out the miscellaneous people in advance to avoid embarrassment.

Therefore, when the people at the Black Shark base saw the Crown Prince again the next day, His Highness had already cleaned himself up normally, except for some redness and swelling around his eyes.

He said to the leader, "You can go."

Crown of Dawn started the jump, passed through the wormhole, and came to a known coordinate point closest to the crystal nest.

The mecha began to move forward alone.

In the cockpit, Lai quietly looked at the universe in front of him.

The following tragic journey does not belong to him, or not only belongs to him now.This trip is too difficult, the memory of the original body will be merged to make him stronger.

He is a base, a container.After the memory is merged, the matrix will die in the crystal nest.

So for this seventeen-year-old young prince, the moment is the time to bid farewell to pure self-awareness. Looking at it from another perspective, it is indeed death.

The future is uncertain, and you can't even know if your death is meaningful.

That's it...he dared to bet.

"Leader." The young Chu Jun's lips were pale, and he asked dreamily, "What will be the end of death?"

During the communication, Sylph stared at the child: "It will be a reunion, my lord."

Lai An laughed with relief: "Actually, it doesn't matter if we don't meet again, as long as he can be well."

The crown prince closed his eyes calmly.Soon, that smile gradually faded.

Like the spring breeze blowing from the depths of the soul, the remaining snow faded away.

When those emerald green eyes opened again, the aura contained in them had become deeper and bottomless.

"The child is still immature."

Inside the mecha, Lai An sat up straight, wiping away the water marks at the end of her eyes with a headache, "Tsk, the next matrix is going to start from scratch again."

"I will keep some subconsciously." Sylph said.

"It's a pity that the next one doesn't have so much time to grow up." Lai An laughed at himself, then said sadly, "...Let him teach me a lesson."

When he said this, the prince's demeanor was gentle and docile, but the powerful red gold crystal bones had already begun to grow from his shoulders.

"Who said that I am arrogant and conceited?"

The L-Crown of Dawn is still in the Smectic Nest Yu Region.

The dark gold shell is covered with scars, and the equipped anti-crystal nest weapons are completely empty, and countless alien creatures have been killed along the way.

"Sylph, look, this isn't..."

The young man smiled, his brows and eyes gleamed with an aggressive brilliance, his hands supported the driver's seat, and he stood up precariously. With his movements, sticky blood splashed down.

"I didn't choose...have you done it..."

The voice floated like a cloud.

Even with the assistance of medicine, the hard battle along the way has already made his crystal bone backlash to an extremely serious level.

"Sylph?"

On the other end, there is only a buzzing noise.

The distance is too far, and communication has long been cut off.

"..."

Lai An squinted his eyes for a long time, panted slightly and reached out to turn off the communication, so there was no more interfering sound.

The Crown of Dawn was pitch black, and blood was still dripping down the side of the driver's seat and the armrest.

Tick tock, tick tock... became the only sound in the mech, but it was so suppressed that it was creepy.

Lai An looked up and looked out of the mecha, knowing that he had finally come to the end of everything he lost.

The dark cosmic space expands infinitely.

There are no compatriots here, no way back, no familiar life forms other than myself, and the mecha is as small as a speck of dust.

There is only the tomb selected in advance, the crystal nest covered by white crystals.It is huge, mysterious and silent, like a living eyeball sunk in the dark universe.

The ultimate silence, the ultimate desolation, the ultimate loneliness.

Lai An checked the data in the mech one last time, then sat back in the driver's seat with difficulty.

He felt that Jin Xiao could go a little further, so he activated the mecha again, while he leaned his head on the driver's seat and remained still.

A long time passed.

Lai An's face was already very pale, and with his eyes closed he looked like a dead person.But suddenly, his eyelashes trembled, and he called out:

"ginger."

Then there was a sigh, with mixed feelings.

"If you can see now..."

The young man coaxed softly, "Don't cry."

...

—Crack!!

Suddenly, a crack penetrated the space.

dream.

The lost dreamer finally realizes that this is a dream.

Jiang Jianming raised his face full of tears, he didn't know when he started crying.

He looked around in a trance, seeing the cold mecha, the blood that was getting colder, the dark universe, the dead crystal nest... and the boy with platinum curly hair and emerald green eyes.

"If everything goes well, my crystal particles...should take away some of my consciousness, including memories and emotions...I don't know how much you can see in the future...ahem."

Still closing her eyes, Lai An whispered weakly, "Okay, okay...be good, don't cry...listen to me."

Is it a dream?

Is it really a dream?

Half asleep and half awake, he once smelled the wind in the midsummer morning.

Someone's fingertips caressed his cheek.

"..." Jiang Jianming suddenly covered half of his eyes with his palm, clenched his teeth, but couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.

"Liar, you lied to me."

He laughed miserably: "Didn't you say that year... isn't there anything more important than loving me?"

Only then did finally understand.

Not a dream.

It is the truest call from the soul.

"The death of the base body will cause mental damage... The next time I see you with a complete memory, I don't know what it will be like..."

"No, I don't know if there is a chance to see you again...Jiang, are you here?"

Lai An continued on by himself.Of course, the crown prince four years ago could not predict the future, and the time and space he was in was still accompanied only by darkness and blood.

All he can do is believe, believe that Jiang Jianming will come to this point one day, believe that Jiang Jianming will hear his own words one day.

Jiang Jianming closed his eyes, took a breath tremblingly.

He took a step forward, stepped over the crack that traversed the dream, and walked through the river of nearly four years, and put his palm on the boy's head.

In this vast and magnificent "dream", when the tears rolled down silently, he bent down and kissed Lai An's brow lightly, and opened his mouth with sobs.

"Well, I am here, Your Highness."

Across time and space, across life and death.

They embraced each other in the illusion.