The Age of the Heroes

大英雄时代

the-age-of-the-heroes

Chapter 7

The person Robin was going to serve this time was General Yang's mother - strictly speaking, his stepmother.
This general's wife was going to celebrate her 50th birthday, a round number. There would be a very grand birthday banquet in the evening, with the venue already decorated and invitations sent out.
The styling of the female protagonist of course had to dazzle, to outshine everyone at the scene. It was also a matter of General Yang's reputation. After all, if he finally got to enjoy a tender young wife, he couldn't let people see that she turned out to be a dog's tail.
Half a month ago, Yang Ning had already contacted Robin. The two sides began to communicate the plan intensively, revising it again and again, discussing various details bit by bit. They were even more meticulous than the internal references before a war, until the night before, when the entire styling plan was completely finalized.
Somehow, Fu Luo felt a bit unreal. It wasn't that she didn't want to believe Ye Wenlin, but reality was too naked - was there really a possibility of war?
But Yang Ning, a colonel in the Space Combat Second Department, had spent a full half month doing this in such a serious manner!
If it was true, then... it really had a sense of "soldiers half dead and alive at the front, while beauties still sing and dance under the curtains."
Emotionally, Fu Luo wanted to agree with Genius Ye, but rationally, she really hoped her future superior was not such a frivolous person.
Colonel Yang's stepmother, also the general's wife, was named Ji Tao. True to her name, she was a great beauty with a face like peach blossoms.
Led by Robin, more than a dozen assistants were all revolving around her alone, tending to every cell exposed on her body like stars holding up the moon.
The orderly and extremely solemn appearance of the group made Fu Luo involuntarily think of the production process of the world's largest steamed bun on TV, which applied for the Guinness World Record.
First there were hand masks, foot masks, lip masks, face masks, eye masks, hair masks... all kinds of masks, wrapping the client in the middle like a silkworm cocoon. Fortunately, two holes were left in the face mask so she wouldn't suffocate to death.
The mixed scents of many essences filled the entire bedroom - floral, herbal, oceanic - giving a strong sense of "purple and red are always spring"... For Fu Luo, who had a slightly sensitive nose, it was simply a biochemical weapon.
Robin did not get hands-on, only calmly instructing the assistants on the side. There were people specifically responsible for fiddling with the hair, the hands, the feet... At this rate, the formal steps of makeup and hair styling probably wouldn't start until at least evening. It wasn't time for the master himself to take the stage yet.
After observing for a while, Fu Luo felt dazzled. She finally understood that the styling she got was indeed Robin going easy on her, really just "simple grooming".
In order not to get in people's way, she quietly slipped out and stood stiffly at the door, motionless, pretending to be a stone lion guarding the entrance.
Before long, footsteps approached. Yang Ning appeared, bringing along a nanny pushing a small cart filled with drinks and various snacks, specially delivered for the staff inside the room.
"Considering everyone's dietary habits, these are all sugar-free and zero-fat foods," Yang Ning stood at the door without entering, just signaling the nanny to hand the cart over to one of Robin's assistants. He politely said, "If you need anything else, please let me know directly. Thank you all for your hard work."
Fu Luo observed coldly, thinking that as a son with no blood relation at all, Yang Ning had already done his utmost duty for his stepmother. Not to mention personally contacting Robin and going to communicate the plan, he was now accompanying here throughout the process.
In contrast, the lady's two biological children, after showing their faces out of curiosity for a while, quickly lost patience and ran off somewhere unknown again.
No airs, thoughtful, gentle, good-tempered... Fu Luo silently appraised this future superior in her heart. His character was probably quite good indeed.
But she still didn't want to serve as an orderly or honor guard under such a leader.
Ever since she first heard the name "Dagger" when she was young, she had been enchanted by this space military organization. Inexplicably, there seemed to be some indescribable bond. The moment that name fell into her ears, it gave her an unfounded sense of belonging.
As if she was born to be there.
However...
Fu Luo's gaze fell on the snow-white walls of the Yang family home. Beautiful dynamically blooming flowers rolled across the wallpaper. She stared at the gorgeous petals, feeling a bit lost about her future.
With her current abilities, she indeed wasn't good enough to join Dagger. Fu Luo had to admit that no matter how hard she tried to chase Ye Wenlin's footsteps, the gap between them never seemed to narrow.
Moreover... neither her mom nor her dad Wang Yizheng, who remarried her mom years after their divorce, would agree to let her go to the front lines.
Back then, before Fu Luo even graduated from high school, she had secretly gone alone to participate in the military academy's early admissions. Only after the admission notice arrived did she inform her mom, who had been kept in the dark. Fu Xiaoxin's face changed color at that time, but seeing Fu Luo's joyous appearance, she reluctantly endured with an adult's restraint and didn't lash out in front of her.
However, Fu Xiaoxin cried the entire night that day.
Her mom didn't want her to become a soldier at all, regardless of whether she would be flying in the sky or running on the ground. Fu Luo was well aware of all this.
But the vast starry river had always been her dream.
She had been able to live very casually since she was a child, making do with anything. The only bit of persistence was like a carefully nurtured flame of the soul. How could she easily give that up?
Suddenly, a bottle of drink was handed under her eyes. Fu Luo's spine stiffened. She froze for a moment before reacting, discovering that Yang Ning had walked up beside her at some point.
Fu Luo immediately became nervous again, "Commander!"
Yang Ning casually waved his hand, "You haven't officially enlisted yet. Besides, I'm on vacation right now. No need to be so formal. Don't shout in my ear like you're counting off every time. Here, have some water."
Fu Luo took the bottle hesitantly, "Oh."
Yang Ning asked, "You're not going in to help?"
Fu Luo, "I'm not responsible for that."
Yang Ning, "Then what are you responsible for?"
Fu Luo hesitated for a moment before truthfully saying, "Just... moving some equipment and such."
The woman in the room was not his biological mother after all, and she was young. A grown son always needs to avoid suspicion, so it was inconvenient for Yang Ning to casually walk around inside and out while his stepmother was dressing up. So he also stood guard at the door like Fu Luo, chatting with her on and off.
Yang Ning: "You told me last time that you just graduated, right? How are your grades?"
Fu Luo stood at attention: "Reporting to the officer, top marks in all ten categories!"
Yang Ning: "...Relax, I'm just asking casually."
Fu Luo shifted her center of gravity to her right foot, loosening up a bit.
Yang Ning: "I heard that the internships for this year's fresh graduates were arranged in the third department. Did Old Cao give you an internship grade?"
Fu Luo reflexively resumed her attention posture: "Reporting to the officer, yes, excellent!"
Yang Ning looked at her helplessly.
Only then did Fu Luo remember his "casual chat" command. So she shifted her center of gravity back to her left foot again, in a very stiff posture, forcing herself to "loosen up" a bit again, lowering her head a little like a rookie soldier who had made a mistake, fidgeting with her toes in embarrassment, completely ruining the bit of androgynous charm that Teacher Robin had deliberately created with the sultry glasses frames and shiny hair gel.
Apparently, with the tight schedule and heavy task this time, Teacher Robin had truly misjudged - Comrade Fu Luo was indeed not suitable for the flamboyant "drag queen" style, she was more suited for the rookie soldier style of a child from the rural-urban fringe.
"You... forget it, let's just watch TV." As Yang Ning spoke, he randomly pressed a spot on the wall. The flowers on the wallpaper dissipated, and a clear screen appeared on the wall surface.
The two stood side by side against the wall like they were being punished, all in a military-straight posture, their eyes simultaneously fixed on the television as if it were a missile about to explode at any moment. In any case, the screen itself seemed to tremble for a moment.
The TV was broadcasting a segment of interstellar news about the human general election in the other star system.
"Insiders revealed that according to statistics, the hawkish candidate Adolf received nearly 80% of the votes this time and has already secured victory. So what tendencies did Adolf show in his campaign speeches? And what new situation do people expect him to bring to the Earth in the star system..."
80% of the votes...
Something suddenly flashed in Fu Luo's mind.
Just then, Yang Ning slowly spoke up beside her, "Not long after your enlistment certificate came out, Political Commissar Wang had already given me a heads up. I knew your father before. When you see me in private, you don't have to be so nervous. Just treat me as an older brother normally."
Fu Luo came back to her senses and couldn't help wrinkling her nose.
Yang Ning knew about her parents' divorce, otherwise she wouldn't have a different surname from her father.
Of course - in fact Yang Ning didn't know that for some reason, Fu Luo didn't take her mother's surname either. But at this time, observing her expression, he found that Fu Luo's look was more like a spoiled complaint about elders meddling, and didn't seem as anxious about the parent who left her as an abandoned child from a single-parent family.
Unfortunately, they weren't close, so Yang Ning couldn't conveniently ask more.
So he naturally changed the subject, "Do you have any plans? Which department do you want to go to?"
Fu Luo hesitated and glanced at him. Yang Ning immediately smiled - sure enough, she was a kid fresh out of school, guileless and unguarded, her thoughts almost completely transparent.
He patiently reassured, "I was just joking about the honor guard thing. Even if you were really interested, you'd have to have the quartermaster prepare a pair of height-increasing shoes specially for you."
Fu Luo hesitated for a moment, staring at the TV still commenting on the general election in the other star system, and asked, "Can I go to the front lines?"
Yang Ning was stunned for a moment, then suddenly narrowed his eyes. After a pause, his voice became even slower and softer.
"Front lines?" He asked almost word by word, "There's no war, so where are the front lines?"
Fu Luo stared at the TV, sorting out the jumbled thoughts in her head, "A year after our military achieved a complete victory in the war against the space exile army a hundred years ago, the humans in the other star system, who had already established an ecosystem and regime there, sent a congratulatory message, implying their desire to return to Earth. It was rejected by the United Nations that year with an unprecedented unanimous vote. In the hundred years since then, relations between the two sides have eased on the surface. Although there have been ongoing talks of cooperation between the officials and unceasing trade exchanges, resentment has been fermenting among the people. On the online platform of the Space Human Alliance network, large-scale cyber wars have occurred six times in a century..."
"Seven times," Yang Ning couldn't help correcting. "The last one happened right before the signing of the Space Free Trade Zone Agreement. The officials suppressed the news for fear of bad influence. You probably weren't even born then - so? What are you trying to say?"
Fu Luo was a bit apprehensive, but she couldn't read anything from Yang Ning's expression, as if they were just having a casual chat.
"Also..." Fu Luo organized her words. "The human regime in the other star system has been in turmoil for fifty years, with a sustained economic recession. Thirty years ago, there was a brief unification. At that time, after the Hawk faction gained a slight advantage in popular support and took power, they put forward a proposal to 'return to Earth'."
She paused and continued, "Although we are the same race, for the two regimes to merge into one and 'return to Earth', the only way is through war."
Yang Ning said slowly, "Oh? If I remember correctly, it was precisely because of that crazy proposal that the newly unified political arena in the other star system fell into turmoil again. What makes you think that the second time the Hawk faction comes to power, they will make the same choice?"
Fu Luo said quickly, "Because this time the hawk leader Adolf received nearly 80% of the votes, indicating that the people of the other star system are choosing war."
Yang Ning seemed to glance at Fu Luo with some surprise. With his hands behind his back, he couldn't help asking again, "Why didn't the people choose war thirty years ago?"
Fu Luo was stunned for a moment. She hadn't thought about this. After a while, she asked a bit uncertainly, "Is it because the generation that fled Earth was still alive at the time, and they couldn't bring themselves to attack their home planet psychologically?"
Yang Ning neither agreed nor denied, but just quietly observed Fu Luo for a moment. His eye sockets were a bit deep, and the color of his pupils was exceptionally dark. The gaze shooting out from them unconsciously carried a hint of unfathomable meaning. After a good while, he finally asked, "Did you come up with all of this on your own?"
"Huh?" Fu Luo felt a bit uncomfortable and scratched her hair, only to feel her hand covered in hair gel, making her even more uncomfortable. "No, one of my senior brothers reminded me, but he didn't explain the reason clearly. The reasoning part was just my own wild guess from watching TV, so it might be a bit off..."
"Sharp, but not being a smart aleck, just still green and lacking tempering. A young person like a blank sheet of paper, with a background neither too light nor too heavy, not overly entangled. Perhaps can be taken in and used." Yang Ning quickly gave Fu Luo an assessment in his heart. "Unfortunately... she's a girl. Who knows how far she can go."
On his face, he showed a good-looking smile without any change in expression, and praised her with a very insincere tone, "Mm, not bad, very imaginative."

The Age of the Heroes

The Age of the Heroes

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7

Sleepy