Chapter 149: The Wicked Little Curly-Haired One

Such cruel words—Ji Laili silently mourned for the poor Beta beside him for a second.

Then, with a bright smile, he said, “Alright! I’ll work hard and make sure you don’t have a chance to get mad, my lord!”

Watching as the Alpha walked away with an awkward, stiff gait, Ji Laili’s smile didn’t waver. He patted the Beta’s shoulder beside him.

“Relax, bro. You’re way too tense.”

“That’s only going to cause problems. Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy. Your colleague just took a nap somewhere else.”

The Beta stiffly stared at the so-called “wicked little curly-haired one” who had now leaned in close, flashing him an almost sinister grin.

“Work is exhausting, huh? Those dark circles under his eyes were terrible—he needed the rest. I’ll just finish his job for him.”

Ji Laili patted the Beta’s shoulder, which had gone stiff as a rock, and shook his head, sighing.

“Bro, you wouldn’t want to end up like him, would you?”

Losing wages? Possibly even losing the job?

“You saw how scary that lord was just now, right? We were this close to being done for.”

—This close to being chopped into eight pieces.

Ji Laili smiled, eyes curving. “I’m not a bad guy. I won’t chop you into eight pieces. So just work with me, yeah?”

The Beta operator recalled the Alpha’s fierce expression, the very real threat of being hacked into pieces. His body shuddered involuntarily. Then he looked back at Ji Laili, who was still smiling.

Suddenly, the “wicked little curly-haired one” didn’t seem so wicked anymore.

Under that beaming smile, the Beta subconsciously nodded.

Ji Laili’s grin grew even brighter. “Great! Thanks, bro!”

Then, as if remembering something, he added cheerfully, “Oh, and don’t even think about lying to me, okay? Otherwise, I’ll have to chop you into ten pieces.”

He watched with satisfaction as the Beta’s body instantly froze, his expression morphing into sheer terror. Ji Laili’s smile deepened.

—Settled!

Turning back to the task at hand, he picked up a tool and casually fiddled with the heap of spacecraft parts.

The Beta operator behind him hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something. With this level of effort, forget an hour and a half—even a whole day wouldn’t be enough.

But thinking of the earlier threat, he quietly hugged himself, swallowing all his words and staying silent.

—Of course, Ji Laili had no intention of actually fixing the spacecraft.

Fixing an enemy’s ship? No way! This was the perfect opportunity to make things even worse.

After escaping the experimental base, Ji Laili hadn’t contacted Shen Yu’s group in order to avoid exposing them. Instead, he found a spot to reach out to Instructor Aiger.

While waiting for a response, he mentally reviewed his past actions.

He had told Per-ge that Instructor Aiger would meet them at the Nagano Wastelands.

Regardless of whether Per-ge was still in Philo’s hands, Aiger was sure to head there for the rescue. Once both sides clashed, their location wouldn’t be too far from the wastelands.

Sure enough, while he was still on the move, he received a communication from Aiger.

After nearly a full day of radio silence, Ji Laili found himself feeling slightly nervous as he answered.

“Instructor, it’s me. What about Per-ge? How are he and Chi Fei? Are you all okay?”

There was a brief silence on the other end—like the eerie stillness before a death sentence.

Soundless, yet deafening.

Ji Laili’s expression momentarily went blank. His lashes quivered in hesitation. His throat tightened. He didn’t dare ask who had fallen.

Because no matter which name it was, it wasn’t one he wanted to hear.

But some truths don’t disappear just because you don’t want to face them.

“Chi Fei is dead. Lei Po is in Philo’s hands.”

Ji Laili lowered his gaze.

“…I’m sorry.”

The ever-short-tempered Aiger spoke in a rare hushed, hoarse tone. “I couldn’t bring them back.”

“…What about the others?”

“They’re hiding in the wastelands. As we searched along the way, we found some Imperial Alpha corpses—probably ones Chi Fei took down before he left.”

When they gathered the body, aside from the fatal gunshot wounds, it was covered in countless scars. His tall frame was battered beyond recognition, like a candle burning to its very end—about to be snuffed out.

The weight of silence spread across the comms.

Then, Ji Laili suddenly asked, “Was it in the Nagano Wastelands?”

Aiger let out a puzzled noise.

Ji Laili lifted his gaze. The wastelands stretched endlessly before him, green and full of life, reaching all the way to the horizon. No one would be able to tell that this land had once been baptized in blood.

“Then let’s bring them all back.”

“Instructor, there are still Chi Fei’s comrades on Nagano Star. There may even be Federal forces we don’t know about. We can’t just leave them behind.”

“And Per-ge—he’s still waiting for us.”

Aiger hesitated for a moment, then realized—he was being comforted by the little curly-haired brat.

The one who was supposed to be grieving… was now consoling him instead.

The bitterness and guilt in Aiger’s chest lightened slightly. His expression turned a little strange. “You little brat…”

After a long pause, he finally squeezed out, “What, you only get sad for a few seconds?”

Ji Laili curled his lips into a faint smile. “No matter how sad I am, it won’t change anything.”

Of all emotions, grief was the most powerless.

“Right now, the only thing I want is to bring them back.”

There was no time left for sadness.

Aiger was silent for a moment, then let out a quiet tsk.

“You’re right. From now on, don’t let me hear any more of this sentimental crap!”

Ji Laili: “…”

—Says the guy who was definitely being sentimental just now.

He blinked and ruffled his own curly hair, thoughtfully choosing not to expose Instructor Aiger.

Ji Laili and Aiger analyzed the overall situation and decided to sneak into the aircraft.

“With me sabotaging things from the inside, Instructor, you’ll definitely be able to take them all down in one go, right?”

What a perfect ‘sabotage’—this scheming little curly-haired brat really never changes, Aiger thought deeply.

Then he let out a mocking snort, full of disdain.

“You think it’s that easy to sneak in? Our people are already trailing the aircraft nearby.”

“The moment anything happens, Philo will notice. Forget just alarming him—a single misstep will immediately alert him.”

Philo was clearly aware that the Federation’s aircraft was following him, yet he still remained here, openly allowing repairs to be made.

That was because he had hostages.

He was deliberately forcing Aiger to hesitate, ensuring that he wouldn’t dare to act rashly.

If they made a move recklessly, even if Aiger was willing to take the risk, those who were close to Lei Po—or the passionate Federation military school Alphas—wouldn’t stand for it.

He was blatantly and shamelessly forcing their hands.

By the time Aiger finished speaking, his blood pressure had already spiked. He suppressed his growing irritation and told Ji Laili:

“Even if you weren’t on our aircraft, sneaking in would still be impossible.”

—Ten minutes later, Instructor Aiger was utterly slapped in the face.

Using high-resolution binoculars, he watched as Ji Laili, with a bright, confident smile, calmly walked up to the aircraft—without a single elaborate plan—and knocked on the hatch.