MLiS – Chapter 8.5

There are Always Variables in Life

“Madam Commander?” Qian Xu’s voice was erratic and lacked his usual strength as if it came from a very distant place.

Perhaps he wanted Luo Lan to say, “He admitted the wrong person,” but currently Luo Lan didn’t even have the courage to look at him.

Zong Li raised his voice, full of displeasure. “Madam Commander! Her Royal Highness! Did you hear what I said? Please go out!”

Luo Lan knew she should go out, but her body trembled uncontrollably. If it weren’t for her holding Zi Yan’s arm tightly with one hand, she was afraid she couldn’t even stand.

Zi Yan said to Zong Li, “I’ll send the princess out.”

He took her by the shoulder and led her out of the ward.

Zi Yan escorted her, “Go and sit down in the lounge for a while.”

Luo Lan released her grip and stared at him tearfully, “Why did you do this? Don’t pretend as if you don’t know anything and say it was an accident!”

Zi Yan kept his poker face.

“These past ten years, I don’t believe you haven’t spied on me. Obviously, you know that the person Qian Xu knew has always been Luo Xun, why did you let Zong Li tell him my real identity?” Luo Lan managed to let her voice out, “You knew how Zong Li acts! You knew the result even before entering the ward! You did it deliberately! It’s not Zong Li, it’s you! It’s you who want to expose my identity in front of Qian Xu! Zong Li was used by you!”

A mocking smile floated on Zi Yan’s lips, “It seems that in the past ten years, not only have I been observing you, but you’ve also been observing me. To the point that you could understand me this much!”

“Why?” Luo Lan’s eyes were full of grudges.

Zi Yan exposed her lie. She could accept it. What she couldn’t accept was the time he chose. She quarreled with Qian Xu and asked if Qian Xu was going to cut off all contact with her, and Zi Yan made it even worse. What he did was pretty easy to understand. He wanted to force Qian Xu into a misunderstanding with her and sever their relationship. She foolishly sought skin from a tiger^[1], she even thought to ask for his assistance!

Zi Yan raised his eyebrows, still with a smile on his face, and spread his hand innocently, “Why? I am just telling a fact, do I need a reason?”

“You bastard!”

Luo Lan was both sad and angry. Like a child throwing tantrum, she pushed Zi Yan with all her strength, but there was too much difference between their physical ability. Instead of pushing Zi Yan, she bounced back and fell to the ground.

Luo Lan’s heart was full of sadness and tears flowed down.

Zi Yan’s expression became complicated, but his smile was still there, “Hey! Is it necessary to react so fiercely? It was merely poking a soap bubble^[2], nothing more!”

“I only have this soap bubble!” Luo Lan wiped away her tears, got on her feet, and ran away from Zi Yan.

“Luo…!” Zi Yan subconsciously wanted to chase her. He stopped his impulse in time and silently watched her back gradually fade away.

————·————·————

Luo Lan rushed out of the Research Institute and bumped into another person. She looked up and saw it was Chen Sha.

She didn’t apologize, on the contrary, she questioned Chen Sha, “What are you up to?”

With Chen Sha’s physical ability, even if she sprinted over 100 meters, he could easily dodge instead of letting her bump into him. Why did he let her bump into him?

“What happened?” Chen Sha answered her question with another question.

His icy voice shocked Luo Lan awake, quenching the anger in Luo Lan’s heart. She has done too many stupid things tonight. She didn’t want to also offend this boss of her.

“Qian Xu knows that I am Princess Luo Lan, Commander Chen Sha’s wife.”

“How did he react?”

Luo Lan’s mouth tasted like ash, “Before he knew my real identity, he wanted to cut off all contact with me.”

Chen Sha was silent for a moment and suddenly changed the topic, “At that time, why didn’t you shoot? If it weren’t for him to regain his sanity in time, you would be eaten alive by him!”

“Aren’t I still standing right here in perfectly good condition?”

“You’re gambling with your life.”

“He is Qian Xu, it is worth betting my life on him.”

Chen Sha said coldly, “He is not Qian Xu! When the mutation happens, he is no longer the person you know, but a man-eating beast. Your forbearance just gives it a chance to hurt you in a way that also hurts him, because he cares about you.”

Luo Lan couldn’t help but ask, “If one day you mutated, would you want someone to kill you immediately?”

“If I mutated, I want you to kill the beast immediately.” Chen Sha pointed to his head and said with a strange but stern expression, “I have been killed by the beast. You kill it to avenge me.”

Luo Lan couldn’t speak a word, only stared at Chen Sha with a contemplative look. Unexpectedly, there was someone out there that meticulously thought of reasons to persuade others to kill them.

“There was a case of someone regained his sanity back,” she murmured

“Nearly 7000 cases, with only 1 case where the person regained his sanity. The probability is less than 0,01. Moreover, that person completely lost their sanity in the second mutation. I never believed that such miracles would happen to me.”

Luo Lan suddenly felt so weary, she just wanted to lie down and fall asleep right here and right now, “I want to go back.”

Chen Sha acquiesced to her request and gave instructions to his car through his personal terminal. After a while, the car flew over and stopped in front of Chen Sha and Luo Lan.

————·————·————

Luo Lan leaned on the car window, staring outside.

The track of the Interstellar train was like a shining dragon circling in the sky, and the lights of thousands of households twinkled in the dark like stars in the sky.

She didn’t know which light was illuminating Qian Xu’s home and didn’t know whether Qian Xu could turn off the light and fall asleep without a nightmare tonight.

Ten years. That was how long Qian Xu had accompanied her. She gradually fell in love with this planet because of him. She made up her mind and decided to stay for him, but at this rate, she was going to lose him.

Sure enough, nothing can exist above the quicksand.

Luo Lan felt as if a knife were being twisted in her heart and closed her with a pained expression.

————·————·————

The car stopped outside their home. Luo Lan was leaning on her seat and still asleep.

Chen Sha silently looked at her. The picture from before came to his mind——

Qian Xu smashed the car window fiercely, while Luo Lan in tears cried out Qian Xu’s name.

Gradually, Luo Lan’s face morphed into the face of another woman. In tears and crying out.

“Run! Run with all your strength! Don’t look back!” She used her body as a shield and pushed a little boy out of the car. With great speed, she locked all the car doors from inside.

The little boy ran forward obediently. However, he couldn’t help but turn his head back.

Inside the locked car, the woman was knocked down by the ferocious beast, and the window was painted with scarlet color.

Her face was pressed tightly against the glass window, twisted and deformed, and her lips let out a faint voice, “Run! Run fast…”

Separated by the glass window, the little boy couldn’t hear her faint voice at all.

However, the grief, despair, plea, and hope in her eyes were louder than any voice. The little boy continued to run hard while crying.

There was a deafening explosion behind him. He stopped, turned around, and watched with tears on his face.

The car has turned into a dark mass, burned by the skyrocketing flames.

Chen Sha snapped out of this though and caught Zi Yan and Zong Li had been standing outside his car. One was with his usual “smiling-but-not-smiling” face and the other was with his usual gloomy face, but both of their eyes showed some astonishment.

The door opened gently and Chen Sha quietly left the car.

“We had walked to the side of the car before you noticed us. What were you thinking? Could it be that you finally discovered that your wife is a beauty?” Zi Yan said half-jokingly.

Zong Li noticed Luo Lan was sleeping in the car. His face was full of displeasure, “There are still some questions left for me to ask her! How can I ask her about it if she is still sleeping?”

Chen Sha ignored Zong Li’s question, “The two bodyguards I sent to secretly protect Luo Lan were all killed, and their personal terminals were also destroyed without leaving any clues. However, the dashcam on Luo Lan’s car is still intact. Have you seen it?”

Zi Yan said, “I’ve seen it! Their plan was very meticulous. If that man wasn’t vigilant, didn’t realize that the police car was fake, and didn’t suddenly mutate, I’m afraid they would have succeeded. The method used is very similar to the assassination a few days ago.”

Zong Li added, “I checked their identities, they should be professional killers. They pretended to be miners working in Energy Star and come to Alikarta for vacation. The police cars and uniforms are purchased on the StarNet black market. The payment account was not from the Federation. In cases like this, the purchase order probably already got deleted after the transaction was done and couldn’t be traced anymore. I also checked Qian Xu’s files. His experience is very clean. After graduating from the military academy, he entered the military and served in the army. He has never performed a secret mission. Which could only mean this operation target was not him. Based on the last incident, we can conclude that their target was the princess. “

Chen Sha asked coldly, “That’s all? No other clue?”

Zi Yan and Zong Li were silent.

“A fake policeman spoke.” a tired voice with a nasal sound came from behind them.

All three men looked at Luo Lan.

“I think.. his accent was rather strange.”

Zong Li’s eyes lit up. “Are there any other anomalies?”

Luo Lan thought about it for a while and shook her head.

Zong Li showed a disappointed expression, turned around, and left.

Zi Yan followed behind, he glanced at Luo Lan and said to Chen Sha, “The princess has been involved in many dangers recently. Before finding out who targeted her and why they targeted her, don’t let her run around and get her more bodyguards for when she goes out.”

Chen Sha nodded, expressing his understanding.

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Footnotes

1. 与虎谋皮 – yǔ hǔ móu pí; lit. Seeking tiger skin. Do an impossibility; Request sb. to act against his own interests; Planning things that harm the other party’s interests.↵

2. 肥皂泡 – féi zào pào; lit. Soap bubble. To say or do something that shows someone that their beliefs are false, or what they want to happen will not happen; Something fragile; Dreams and desires (which are shattered and not fulfilled.)↵

Amoeba’s Corner

Every time Zong Li appeared, he is always in displeasure, lol.

I’m weak for soft Chen Sha… He is too pitiful, lol. Tong Hua really has a tendency to be cruel to her main casts, doesn’t she?

“Zi Yan said half-jokingly.” En, because he is half-serious when he said Luo Lan is a beauty.

See you on Monday?

This chapter words count (excluding title, footnotes, and TL’s corner): 1889