A few minutes later, the starship landed in Area S.

Li Po was still asleep, his head resting on Jiang Yu’s shoulder, sleeping deeply as if completely worn out. His eyelashes were long, his eyelids lightly dusted with pink, looking quite adorable in his sleep.

“We’re here,” Jiang Yu spoke softly to notify him.

However, Li Po, leaning on his shoulder, didn’t react at all, as if dead to the world.

Jiang Yu paused silently for a moment. A few seconds later, he raised his hand, supported the back of Li Po’s head, and pushed him away slightly.

“What are you doing? I’m so sleepy…” Li Po, rudely awakened, complained with a frown, his voice thick with grogginess.

Jiang Yu just watched him silently.

Meeting Jiang Yu’s indifferent gaze, Li Po suddenly shivered, all trace of sleepiness vanishing. He finally realized something, his eyes widening slightly, and looked at Jiang Yu somewhat bewilderedly.

Seeing clarity return to Li Po’s eyes, Jiang Yu finally stood up and said indifferently, “Let’s go.”

Li Po yawned and hurriedly followed.

The moment he set foot on the ground of Area S, Li Po knew he had to part ways with Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu was a high-ranking combat officer, and he was a backdoor omega; if they were seen together, it could blow up the whole area.

With this thought, he consciously slowed his pace, yawning as he pulled out his communicator and sauntered forward.

His communicator had a new friend request—Yang Guang. Li Po glanced at it and without much hesitation accepted it.

It seemed as if the other side had been waiting, for the moment he accepted the request, messages started popping out one after another.

【How are you guys? Are you okay, not hurt?】

【I managed to get everything done you asked for. I never thought that the officer would agree. You know, ordinary combatants never get to call in external help—privilege must be nice…】

Li Po stared at these messages, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably. So sleepy, he really wanted to go back to sleep.

He didn’t reply to Yang Guang, instead, he opened his mission tab. To his surprise, the mission tab was empty—his C-level mission had vanished.

Gone? Li Po was shocked.

But then it dawned on him. They hadn’t completed this mission, nor had they killed the contaminants; perhaps Jiang Yu had intervened and canceled the mission.

He was so focused on his communicator that he didn’t see where he was going.

Just as he was about to bump into someone, his chin was suddenly lifted. His gaze was forced upward, and he saw Jiang Yu looking at him coldly, his voice devoid of warmth: “Trying to scam again?”

“…” Li Po’s ears turned red instantly.

He knew what Jiang Yu meant. He was hinting at the last time Li Po had accidentally bumped his nose into Jiang Yu’s back, and now it seemed he was about to repeat the mistake and likely blame him again.

Li Po pursed his lips uncomfortably, batting Jiang Yu’s hand away: “Don’t frame me.”

Suddenly, he thought of something and asked, “Commander, why haven’t you left?”

Jiang Yu glanced at him expressionlessly and didn’t answer that question, only asking, “Where to?”

Li Po replied without thinking: “Back to the dorm to sleep.”

As the words left his mouth, he wanted to yawn again. But in front of Jiang Yu, he resisted, instead pinching his palm to ward off the overwhelming drowsiness.

“First, go to the White Tower,” Jiang Yu stated flatly.

Li Po paused, his foggy brain starting to clear. In an instant, he understood Jiang Yu’s meaning—he was covered in blood.

Although most of the blood was someone else’s, Jiang Yu didn’t know that. He might think Li Po was seriously injured, like the gunshot wound Yang Guang had on his shoulder. Thinking this, Li Po swallowed his objections and asked softly, “Commander, are you concerned about me?”

The moment he spoke, Li Po immediately regretted it. The words sounded innocent enough, but something about them felt off. An omega asking an alpha if he was concerned about him sounded a bit… odd.

Li Po’s scalp tingled, he gripped his communicator tightly, unsure of what to do next. His gaze flitted uncertainly, landing on Jiang Yu’s pale lips and then on the buttons of his uniform, but he dared not meet his eyes.

Suddenly, a cold voice came from in front of him: “Isn’t that what you said?”

Li Po looked up at Jiang Yu, puzzled.

“As a combat officer, you should be considerate of your combatants,” Jiang Yu said coolly.

“…” Li Po got it, and he obediently nodded, “Yes, Commander, I’ll go right away.”

As he spoke, the military boots in front of him finally left his field of vision, and Li Po breathed a sigh of relief.

•

On the third floor of the White Tower, in a certain hospital room.

“What, Jiang Yu really agreed?” Bian Lu was momentarily excited, pressing down too hard with the cotton swab, causing Li Po to inhale sharply.

“Ouch…”

Realizing his mistake, Bian Lu immediately lightened his touch, apologizing with some guilt, “Are you okay?”

Li Po nodded, his expression somewhat speechless as he looked at Bian Lu, “Dr. Bian, have you noticed that you get a bit… excited whenever I mention the commander?” He thought for a moment, swallowing the words “lose your composure” and replacing them with a gentler term.

“…” Bian Lu’s face went expressionless. He was silent for a while before finally speaking, “That’s because you don’t know how difficult he is to manage.”

“Other alphas do everything they can to save their lives, but he’s reckless with his. Over the years, he’s ignored my advice eight times out of ten. As a doctor, I’m really helpless.”

“I’ve been suggesting he find a teammate or an omega to stabilize him for three years, and he’s always ignored my advice. I didn’t expect that he’d listen to you after you’ve only been in Area S for a short time…”

Bian Lu didn’t finish his sentence, but Li Po keenly smelled a hint of jealousy. He couldn’t help but smile wryly: “Dr. Bian, it’s all thanks to your teachings.”

Bian Lu blinked, “My teachings?”

Li Po nodded earnestly, “You told me to act pitiful, so I just…” He didn’t finish his sentence, instead letting his gaze fall on his bruised and battered hand, then winking at Bian Lu.

Bian Lu followed his gaze, suddenly understanding something, his eyes widening. He stood dumbfounded for a moment before giving Li Po a thumbs up: “Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”

Li Po innocently curled his eyes into a smile.

…

Back in the consultation room, Bian Lu’s communicator suddenly rang, and he quickly pulled it out to check.

He was startled to see that the message was from Jiang Yu!

He was rarely the initiator of messages, so Bian Lu was flattered.

He eagerly opened the message, but his throat tightened at the moment of clarity, blood rushing to his head, nearly furious.

The cold and disheartening message read only a few words:

Jiang Yu: 【Is he badly hurt?】

“That ‘he’, even with my eyes closed, I know who it is.” Bian Lu sneered, typing furiously:

【Badly? Of course, it’s bad. There’s so much blood on his clothes, do you think his injuries are light? What if I tell him what you said, do you think he won’t cry about it?】

In reality, Li Po’s injuries were nothing serious, just some minor bruises and skin abrasions. He didn’t even need to stay in the hospital; a little ointment would do.

But Bian Lu couldn’t say that to Jiang Yu. Li Po had managed to soften Jiang Yu’s heart for once, and if he blabbed too much and ruined their good thing, what if Jiang Yu regretted it?

Although he and Jiang Yu had been friends for five years, Bian Lu always felt he couldn’t quite figure him out. It was like trying to see flowers through fog, very tricky.

Elsewhere.

Jiang Yu stared at the message on his communicator, his brows slowly knitting together, a nameless emotion brewing in his eyes. He glanced at the military uniform hanging on the clothes rack, then withdrew his gaze and typed expressionlessly: 【Don’t tell him.】

Otherwise, he might cry again.

•

Resources at the White Tower were limited, and Yang Guang’s gunshot wound hadn’t fully healed before he was discharged from the hospital. On his first day out, he tried to contact Li Po and proposed a meeting. Surprisingly, Li Po was willing to see him.

“Di Kai is dead?” Yang Guang was caught off guard by this news, stunned into silence for a moment, unable to speak.

Li Po nodded slightly, “He was parasitized by the contaminant.”

Yang Guang’s mouth hung open even wider, stuttering, “Wh…when?” It must have been after he left, since Di Kai had shown no signs of it before then…

Wait a minute! Suddenly, a chilling thought struck Yang Guang, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Li Po’s next words struck like a heavy hammer on his heart: “It happened while you were fighting the attackers, before I arrived.”

“…” Yang Guang instantly lost all his sunshine. He felt as if he was standing on the edge of an abyss, his life darkening before his eyes, “Then I… I won’t also be…”

Li Po suddenly smiled, “Don’t worry, the commander already had someone test your blood for contaminants. You’re not parasitized.”

Relieved, Yang Guang stared at Li Po, unable to see anything else, his eyes filled with his smile. For a moment, he even thought Li Po was glowing.

Li Po didn’t notice Yang Guang’s daze, his smile fading as he became serious, “There’s something else.”

Yang Guang perked up, all ears, “Tell me, I’m listening.”

Li Po lowered his gaze, his voice calm and unhurried, “Don’t talk about me taking a gun and killing people on missions, you understand.”

After speaking, he lifted his eyelids and glanced at Yang Guang.

Yang Guang’s heart clenched, not sure if it was his imagination, but just then, he thought that gaze was sharp and dangerous, like a dagger gleaming with a cold light, making his heart skip a beat.

“…Okay.”

After a long pause, he spoke again, his heartbeat still racing.