Chapter 61 Part 2

"The cooling program has started."

On the command room's console, the huge thermometer reading began visibly dropping.

As the medium causing the burning became more and more sparse, along with the activation of the command ship's cooling equipment, the flames on the small ship gradually extinguished. Only then did Fu Luo reveal a nervous expression: "Big Brother Ye and the others wouldn't be roasted, right?"

"No matter how well done," Yang Ning's expression turned solemn, "be prepared to write a full report when you get back."

Fu Luo: "..."

No, wait... did she just drag the leader along for a round of "chasing the moon"?

Yang Ning opened the communicator and began a phased summary of this battle process of being chased by a giant fireball in a sorry escape: "The command ship now only has a bare-bones commander left. All units retreat! Everyone please note the expected route and coordinates and immediately assemble here."

As he spoke, he glanced at the salvage program and found that a physical connection had been established with the salvaged ship. Yang Ning connected: "Is anyone still in the warship? Please respond to indicate your identity."

That side was silent for a while. Then a voice, panting for breath but extremely familiar to Fu Luo, clearly came through: "Number cst02424921s, I am Ye Wenlin from Dagger, under the Earth Allied Forces China Fortress Special Forces. May I ask for your unit number, comrade."

Fu Luo: "Big Brother Ye."

"Holy shit..." Ye Wenlin let out a sound like a cry of pain, but also like a sigh of relief, nearly changing pitch, "The temperature is too high, girl!"

Ten minutes later, the three rescue mission teams finally caught up. The command ship also stopped, slowly starting to self-sufficiently charge the energy system. The military medics pried open the deformed door of the salvaged small ship by force, only then carrying Ye Wenlin out on a stretcher.

Ye Wenlin looked like he had just been pulled out of a roast duck oven, covered in ash, covered in wounds, blood still flowing down from his temple, one arm hanging unnaturally, probably fractured.

And then... there was no one else behind him.

"Hey, hey, don't peek," Ye Wenlin weakly raised his hand, waving at Fu Luo, "There's no one else, just me alone. The brothers all became martyrs. I nearly made it onto the deification list but you guys pulled me back."

This news stunned everyone present.

The special forces... have already suffered so terribly?

Yang Ning bent down slightly, lowering his voice to ask: "Where is General Zhao Youxuan?"

Ye Wenlin lifted his head and smiled at him, softly saying: "That old man... should be in the heavens now, right."

Silence.

After an unknown length of time, Yang Ning reached out his hand and patted Ye Wenlin's shoulder, saying to the medical personnel: "Take good care of him, treat the wounds quickly."

"It's fine, just connect it casually. It'll heal in a couple days." Ye Wenlin said. He raised his head to glance at the others' expressions, his own still affecting a flippant unseriousness. "In times of chaos, moving like the stars, who knows, maybe we'll see old comrades again soon. No need to rush to mourn."

After speaking, he lowered his eyes slightly, as if not wanting to see the others' even more pained expressions. He pointed at his broken arm: "I'll report the specifics later. Before setting the bone, take out the thing inside. For this thing, I was chased all over the solar system by that group of alien bastards."

The medic half-knelt down at Yang Ning's indication, using scissors to cut open Ye Wenlin's sleeve that was pasted together with blood and flesh. Only then did they see a centipede-like scar on his upper arm - this was a common surgical scar in ancient times when medicine was undeveloped. It had already disappeared by the mid-to-late 21st century.

"Didn't apply the anti-scarring medicine," Ye Wenlin said. "Leaving a mark so it's not hard to find. The thing is too big. With our current fragile communications, there's no way to transmit it to the surface. The mission nearly couldn't be completed. If you guys hadn't come today, I might have only been able to utilize their terminals to embed it in the enemy's system, leaving it for later generations to find."

"What is it?" Fu Luo asked.

"The other star system's human interstellar strategic defense map, the instructions for every piece of equipment, the files of every general and prospective general, all inside. You can't read the miniaturized storage device here, need to use the processors on the giant ships - don't tell me even the giant ships are gone."

The moment these words landed, the entire room was shocked.

Yang Ning: "Immediately prepare for surgery, activate curvature drive, return to port!"

The three fleets, like the wind, circled past a few pirate patrol zones, rushing towards the secret base of the Second Department.

All the technical staff started spinning like tops. Although Ye Wenlin had issued a series of unlocking commands, it still took a while to process the complex keys in the miniaturized storage device. Fu Luo waited outside the operating room until Ye Wenlin was all patched up.

When she walked in, Ye Wenlin was turning a medicine package over and over. He shook it at Fu Luo: "What is this? It seems to work even better than the rapid bone healing agent we produce ourselves."

"Looted from the space pirate group," Fu Luo said.

Ye Wenlin looked quite emotional: "My dear sugar mommy, why do you always seem so loaded no matter what the situation is - hey, mommy dearest, is there anything to eat?"

Fu Luo: "Do you want fresh food or synthesized nutrients?"

Ye Wenlin's eyes widened: "There's fresh food?"

"...Also looted."

Ye Wenlin was stunned for a long time, showing an expression that looked like he really wanted to hug her leg and shake it desperately. After a while, he said incoherently, "Please...please kill me with delicacies!"

Fu Luo got up to get it for him. Ye Wenlin: "Wait, if I could have a change of clothes I'd die even more content."

Fu Luo nodded, and a moment later, walked in with a tray and clothes: "Is your arm okay?"

Ye Wenlin winked at her obscenely and said, "Do you mean you're going to help me change clothes?"

He said, showing a horrified expression, with one arm across his chest, whimpering, "Although I know you've been lusting after my good looks for a long time, don't be so blatant, okay? I'll be embarrassed too."

Fu Luo: "..."

She turned and walked out.

"Close the door, close it tight for me," Scoundrel Ye howled behind her, "Lock it tight, no peeking at me changing clothes! Otherwise you're done for, you know? I will definitely pester you to marry me!"

Fu Luo slammed the door, locking his barking inside, and walked away without looking back.

After a while, however, she didn't know what she thought of, and hesitantly walked back. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but suddenly put it down -

She heard the sound of wailing coming from inside.

Oh, right, she realized... in the transmissions where he had mentioned his "brothers," he had really just been talking to himself all along.