His little slave was so delicate and frail, with a physique that didn't even meet the minimum C-level requirement to operate a mech, and possessed no spiritual power. How did he manage to get a mech and drive it all the way here on such a long journey?

Audrose didn't dare think about the answer to this question.

His little slave was so afraid of pain, turning red from the slightest pinch. During their first meeting, he even cried that Audrose's gloves were too rough, more difficult to serve than those pampered noble sons. The pressure in a mech's cockpit was so great, what state must that frail body be in now?

It felt like sharp hooks were tugging at his heart, each rise and fall bringing with it slowly flowing blood.

Audrose rarely cried, but now, his eyes were hot and swollen, his mind buzzing, as if some deeply buried, untouched emotions were swelling in his heart, so hot it seemed they would overflow.

He wanted to say I don't need you to protect me, hurry and go back. But looking at those jet black eyes that still sparkled brightly, even carrying a hint of a smile despite the pain, the words reached his lips but he swallowed them back trembling.

This prince, who always placed himself in the role of protector, suddenly understood that in a relationship, there is no absolute division between strong and weak, protector and protected.

Even if his little slave was so fragile he would shatter at the slightest touch, the little slave's desire to protect him was exactly the same as his desire to protect the other.

He had no right to deny such precious feelings.

Taking a deep, heavy breath, Audrose used the last of his spiritual power to control his spirit body that was already showing stark white bones and lunged at the alien beast.

There was still time, they still had time—as long as Su Duan's mech could hold out a bit longer, he could remove the energy compartment from Su Duan's mech and install it on his own, then take his little slave and leave this place.

"Duan Duan, don't move, I'm coming to get you." Audrose tried to indicate with his lips as much as possible.

As long as he moved fast enough—

But Su Duan didn't give him a chance to hesitate. The moment Audrose' hand touched the cockpit door, Su Duan had already locked Audrose' mech door with the system. He swiftly ripped off his own mech's energy compartment and roughly shoved it into Audrose' mech.

Without delicate wiring or seamless connections, merely using the energy compartment like a rocket launcher, letting the system control the energy release direction, Audrose's mech instantly started moving out of control.

There was no time. The opening of the cosmic rift was extremely brief. Now there was only a tiny, barely discernible crack left. If they waited for Audrose to open the door and take him over, neither of them would be able to get out.

"Duan Duan!" Seeing Su Duan's series of actions cutting off his own path of survival, Audrose was so anxious he nearly lost his mind, unable to open the mech door no matter what.

His spirit body wanted to stop Su Duan, but the alien beast pounced from behind, biting the exposed pale skeleton on its tail spine.

The dragon let out a sharp howl, twisting its head to frantically tear apart the alien beast clinging to its tail. Using its half-folded bone wings and hind legs, it struggled to rush towards Su Duan.

—But halfway there it came crashing down, its form dissipating in midair.

...He had used up his last bit of spiritual power.

When he felt the shaking of the mech, Audrose, who was already starting to lose consciousness from overusing his spiritual power, opened his mouth and pleaded to the black-haired boy in front of him, separated by a cockpit frame: "...Don't do this."

—Because the energy compartment wasn't connected to the mech's circuits, he didn't even have the right to stop its activation.

However, the black-haired boy only curved the corners of his eyes and mouthed: "Wait for me."

The next second, the mech instantly took off, heading straight for the nearly completely closed rift.

Because the mech was already damaged, its center of gravity was unstable, rising unsteadily.

In the gaps between the mech's shaking, Audrose no longer had the ability to think. The only thing he could do was to hold onto his consciousness with all his might, seizing every opportunity to look at the black-haired boy below, look at him again and again, as if he could engrave the person into his heart.

Something broke free from its cage, countless complex emotions carrying along gray-tinged memories came rolling in. Hot and salty liquid gushed from the corners of his eyes, flowing down his cheeks into his neck, soaking his collar.

His little slave sat in the nearly exposed frame cockpit, under the immense pressure from the ubiquitous huge rift, raising his head to face him from afar.

Although death was imminent, the boy who had always been protected showed no fear. The tips of his hair began to dissolve under the enormous pressure, but his eyes still shone with a gentle light.

Meeting those eyes, Audrose felt he saw starlight.

Don't be sad, we will meet again.

—I will wait for you at the start of the next life's journey.

Inexplicably, Audrose read these words in the black-haired boy's eyes. He was stunned for a moment, then the mech suddenly experienced immense pressure, as if wanting to push him down. The energy compartment exhausted the last 30% of its power, resisting the rejection force of the rift, increasing speed to let the mech dart out a second before the rift completely closed.

With a beep, the signal connected, and the text message lying in his personal terminal's inbox was successfully sent out.

But the owner of the personal terminal had already lost consciousness due to excessive spiritual power overdraft.

......

[Ding, the healing target Audrose' healing value has increased by 50, the current total healing value for the target is 100! Congratulations to the host for perfectly completing the mission!]

It was actually completed?

Su Duan was stunned for a second, then curved the corners of his eyes and said to the system: "His illness is cured."

—Although he had the intention of having Avid cure Audrose, he completed this mission himself, which could be considered an unexpected gain.

After saying this, Su Duan just quietly smiled with curved eyes, not asking why.

He was too tired, almost losing the strength to ask questions.

The system took the initiative to provide an explanation: "The healing target's emotional fluctuations exceeded the threshold of his spiritual power, causing a secondary mutation. It connected the higher-dimensional space where his spirit body existed, thus transmitting the emotions and memories preserved in the spirit body."

Su Duan blinked and said, "So that's how it is."

After a moment, he looked up at the now-vanished crack and asked the system, "We'll meet again, right?"

The system said, "I wish you all the best."

Su Duan said, "Thank you."

He could feel his body starting to disintegrate. Even though the painkiller had reduced his pain by ninety percent, the agony of his bones shattering and tissues being torn apart bit by bit was still unbearable even after being diminished.

After Audrose left, the dark and hideous beasts remaining in the crack did not attack him. They wandered aimlessly in this universe space, unanimously ignoring Su Duan's existence. Even when they wandered in front of him, they would deliberately stop for a moment, then silently go around him.

Su Duan thought that they probably didn't eat herbs, and might even find the medicinal smell on his body a bit unpleasant.

Sitting and waiting for death seemed a bit boring, and the atmosphere in the crack was so quiet that it was frightening. So Su Duan forced himself to chat with the system, but as he talked, his consciousness began to scatter. Often, the system would say two or three sentences, and he would only respond with a delayed "hmm".

When his consciousness was about to completely dissipate, Su Duan vaguely heard the system say that the mission rating had come out, and the special items in the mall had also been refreshed...