Chapter 35: It Depends On Whether You Can Beat My Husband

T/N: I wish I could translate as fast as a hare! Pff!

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The military doctor immediately dissected Hans’s body and obtained the cause of death which showed that he had an invisible chip in his brain that he himself didn’t even know about.

It was also unclear if someone was listening in on him, or if he said something that triggered the self-destruction program.

No wonder Hans always felt that someone was watching him.

Damel felt quite a chill saying, “What a bunch of extreme lunatics.”

Qi Qing withdrew his gaze before leaving a command, “We will proceed according to the original plan. Prepare to set sail.”

He then turned his head to look at Ji Xingjue, who was leaning against the wall. The latter had his eyes lowered, with a rare smile on his face. His pale and handsome profile was cold, in which showing a distance of the person himself seemed to be far away.

Qi Qing couldn’t help but walk up to him. “What are you thinking about?”

Hearing the voice, Ji Xingjue recovered from a trance, and the corners of his lips raised again. “It’s nothing, I just feel provoked.”

Hans’ death seemed to be deliberately shown to him by the man behind the back, and in the last few seconds, it seemed that it wasn’t Hans staring at him, but another person.

Was the last thing Hans wanted to say Yser?

What in the world was Yser’s identity in the Holy Order?

Ji Xingjue’s gaze subconsciously drifted over at Hans’ corpse, but before he could reach the dissected corpse, his vision was blocked by a slender hand.

“It’s not because of you,” Qi Qing pursed his thin lips, “Stop looking.”

Ji Xingjue was stunned for a while, and for some reason, the dark cloud shrouded deep in his heart dissipated. He winked his right eye, and said with a teasing tone, “Our Marshal is really considerate, in the future…”

Qi Qing coldly interrupted him, “If you don’t add this ‘in the future’, I will be more considerate.”

Ji Xingjue raised his hand in surrender, and after leaving the room with him, he suddenly said, “But aren’t you afraid that people will be particularly bothered about our relationship?”

Qi Qing snorted, “At the moment, it seems that the only person who is bothered is you.”

Of course I do, but what exactly was written in your protocol agreement?

Ji Xingjue silently cursed, but didn’t ask it out loud.

Before the battleship was ready to set off, Qi Qing wrote a letter to His Majesty the Emperor, who was far away in the Imperial Capital, explaining the current situation. Then, in the sight of the troops of the base saying farewell, they boarded the battleship returning to the Doyler base.

Half a day later, the main ship that sailed to the first transition point quietly opened a hatch on one side, and released an unmarked starship—which was captured from the star pirate.

Before leaving, Ji Xingjue couldn’t help but turn around again, waving his hand to the pitiful looking little robot who was held in Damel’s arms, then jumped into the starship before faintly sighed. “Why do I feel like we are a pair of heartless parents who throw away their children to take on a tour?”

Qi Qing softly smiled upon hearing that.

The battleship then separated from the main ship and drifted away silently.

“There is a very famous planet in this Star field,” Ji Xingjue leaned over to the console and clicked on the star map. The hideouts of the Holy Order he marked overlapped a small field of a group of Stars, and among them, there was one star that was quite special, called the “Dark Star.”

It was an asteroid located at the junction of war, and the position was very delicate.

This kind of marginal planet had always been poor and backward with no precious resources, so poor that the Alliance or the Star pirates were too lazy to snatch it as their own.

As time passed, there had been some areas that were not bound by the law, and this star called “Dark Star” was particularly famous. It was said that, on this planet, as long as there were star coins, one could buy anything, including the lives of each country’s heads. 

Ji Xingjue checked the prices of the country’s heads on the Dark Star, and said unexpectedly, “Lord Marshal, you are on the list ah.”

Qi Qing: “Oh?”

“Three hundred billion star coins,” the poor ghost Ji Xingjue clicked his tongue, “ranking first, even worth more than our Majesty.”

Expressionless Qi Qing was speechless after hearing that. “You seem to be very interested.”

Ji Xingjue looked at the light in Qi Qing’s eyes as if he was looking at sparkling star coins: “Three hundred billion!”

“Are you excited?”

Ji Xingjue thought about it for a while, and told the truth, “That, I still have to give up.”

Qi Qing was delighted by his words, and the corners of his lips curved slightly.

“Although I’ve narrowed down the scope as much as possible, there are hundreds of planets, big and small that I can’t go check on them one by one,” Ji Xingjue said, “Let’s go to the Dark Star to collect clues first.”

Qi Qing had no opinion.

The Dark Star was not too far from Qi Qing’s resident base, Doyler Star, and it took half a day to reach there after a long-distance transition point.

Ji Xingjue used to cross over that line.

After destroying Yser’s starship, he passed out for a while, and when he woke up again, the starship he was boarding actually floated to the neighboring Doyler Star, so he stopped by and took a look at it from a distance.

It was unexpected that there would be another day arriving at the Dark Star. When It was time for Ji Xingjue to take the medicine, and after taking it, he couldn’t hold back his sleepiness. Yawning, he groggily got into the rest cabin and went to sleep for a while.

The little robot, who was usually used as pillows and Qi Qing were not around, so it didn’t take long for Ji Xingjue to wake up again after a slight toss and turn, and return to the operating cabin with a yawn. “Go and rest, I’ll watch.”

When patrolling the base, Qi Qing would spend half a month in space at every turn and was very used to this kind of cosmic drifting and shook his head, “Not tired.”

“It’s not a matter of whether you’re tired or not, it’s time you should rest.”

Ji Xingjue looked at the handsome face with seriousness in speech and manner and sighed, while thinking about the feasibility of knocking the Marshal into a coma before bending down and glancing at the star map. “Ah! A little further ahead, is the famous ‘Hundred Flowers Nebula’.”

At the junction of the Seventh Galaxy and the Galaxy outside the Empire, there was a huge cloud of cosmic gas and dust, which radiated magnificent and moving colors, and was carved into the shape of flowers. In the boundless sea of stars, it was like a hundred flowers blooming in a garden. More than ten years ago, when the Star pirates were not so arrogant, many daring couples in the Empire would specially come to watch this beautiful scenery.

The Hundred Flowers Nebula was also jokingly called the “Blossom of Lovers”.

Probably a little romance bestowed by the universe.

Qi Qing lifted his eyelids. “You also know about this?”

“One of the daring students used to invite me.” Ji Xingjue rubbed his still little tired eyes and leaned on the operating table. His long legs leaned against the ground as he tilted his head to look at Nebula, which gradually entered his line of sight, “Young people ah, really have no idea how the word ‘dead’ is written.”

There was silence in the operating cabin, only the slight hum of the machine running.

Qi Qing followed his line of sight, looked at the group of shining and beautiful masterpieces of the universe, and said lukewarmly, “You are really popular.”

Ji Xingjue teased him, “Lord Marshal, with your tone, I would mistake that you are jealous.”

Qi Qing’s face was stiff. “How is that possible!”

Ji Xingjue turned his head to one side and secretly snickered.

Lord Marshal is really interesting.

After he had enough of laughing, Ji Xingjue took out a ruby-encrusted ring from his pocket and handed it to Qi Qing. “Here.”

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Qi Qing’s voice instantly tightened in an imperceptible moment. “What is this?”

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“A ring ah,” Ji Xingjue replied as proper as a matter of course, “Cecilie’s little gadget for trading, I didn’t expect it to come in handy. After wearing it and pressing the switch, you can change your appearance in the eyes of outsiders. Although it can’t escape the instrument survey, it is enough.”

With a chuckle in his voice, he jokingly said, “Lord Marshal is so priceless, can’t just be shown to other people causally.”

“…” Qi Qing silently relaxed his tight shoulders before closing his eyes, and after taking the ring, he lowered his head to play with it, and lightly said, “Didn’t expect it to come in handy? You were going to use it, weren’t you?”

Ji Xingjue coughed lightly: “Haven’t I been caught by you?”

He watched Qi Qing put on the ring. The fingers resting on the cold alloy console moved involuntarily, and the presence of the ring that he was used to wearing became particularly clear.

Why gave him a ring made of polished buttons?

The words came to his lips, but he couldn’t ask them again. Ji Xingjue turned his eyes back and calmly looked at the magnificent Nebula.

After half a day, the starship gradually approached the Dark Star after a long-distance transition.

Before landing on the Dark Star, due to a certain person surname Ji’s rocky reputation, Qi Qing followed his contract written in chapter 3: “Keep in touch at any time, prohibited to act alone, and evacuate immediately in case of danger.”

Ji Xingjue’s facial expression did not change: “Certainly.”

Qi Qing’s eyelids twitched, but still decided to take him seriously for a bit.

There was an unnamed city-state boosting as unrestrain on the Dark Star. In addition to the natives of this planet, there were many interstellar wanted criminals who did business here, and as well as many Alliance and Imperial spies who came to inquire about the news.

There was also an unwritten rule in the city-state: fighting was forbidden.

Once this rule was violated, the body of the striker would be hung on the city wall the next day for people to admire.

Thanks to this rule, a group of ferocious and wanted criminals were able to coexist friendly in the city, holding their noses in a violent temperament.

Of course, it was not necessarily the case when you left the city.

The metal city wall was covered with countless mottled scratches, and there was no guard at the gate of the city, only a few large characters were written crookedly: Alliance and Imperial Dogs Are Not Allowed To Enter. 

Ji Xingjue stroked his chin: “It seems that they are still not unrestrain enough.”

Qi Qing, who had changed his appearance with the help of the ring, said casually, “It’s the dogs that are not allowed to enter, what does it have to do with us? Let’s go.”

Feeling very reasonable, Ji Xingjue agreeably nodded, no longer bothered with those ugly words, and stepped into the city gate calmly.

This city-state was unexpectedly lively and prosperous. Several main streets were filled with shops, and there were also many outdoor floors and layouts. Ji Xingjue took a closer look and saw that there were all kinds of things for sale, valued animals, valued seeds of plants, rare minerals, drugs, guns, cultural relics, androids… everything.

This was a place without laws after all.

Ji Xingjue glanced a few times, then calmly retracted his gaze.

Many people’s eyes were also attracted to Ji Xingjue, looking at him recklessly, whistling frivolously. After only walking a few steps, a tall man with muscular knots came up and stretched out his hand to hook his chin with a smile. “It’s rare to see such a beautiful person in this wicked place. Beauty, how much is… ah!”

Qi Qing held the man’s wrist expressionlessly, his pupils were icy cold. “Are you courting death?”

Once the cracking noise of the joints sounded, the other party’s facial features became a little distorted.

Ji Xingjue was all smiles. “Then it depends on whether you can beat my husband or not.”

Qi Qing then took out the handkerchief and wiped his palm with his eyes lowered. 

Seeing that there was someone protecting Ji Xingjue by his side, those presumptuous gazes were withdrawn, and no one came close to him again. 

Qi Qing was still a little irritated. He really wanted to poke those people’s obscene eyes blind, or hide Ji Xingjue completely so that he could only be shown to him. 

He was originally his own person. 

“…I have someone planted here,” Qi Qing took a breath, suppressing the weird thoughts that had always been surging recently, “We’ll go find him first.”

Ji Xingjue took a look at him and lowered his voice. “You don’t seem to be in a good mood?”

“No.” Qi Qing’s face was cold, “It’s just that it’s very unpleasant here.”

Ji Xingjue was very much approve of this statement. “Isn’t there anyone teaching these wanted criminals to be a little bit disciplined?”

The person Qi Qing placed here opened a shop for smuggling rare minerals on the third main street. The ores were not particularly popular on the Dark Star, so it was hardly anyone coming to take a look.

When the two walked in, Scarface, who was guarding the shop, was dozing off. Hearing footsteps, he looked over vigilantly, and when he saw Ji Xingjue, he was taken aback. 

Qi Qing didn’t plan to reveal his identity, just moved his lips silently, and got the password.

Scarface’s expression was a bit strange as he stood up. “This guest wants Mingyue Stone? The best Mingyue Stone can’t be shown to the light. Come in with me.”

[T/N: Bright Moon, legendary pearl that can glow in the dark.]

After they entered the dark room, Scarface pressed a few buttons to confirm that the partition wall had no ears, and then carefully glanced at Ji Xingjue. “I didn’t expect this officer to be from higher-ups, and last time it was this subordinate who was blind as a bat and failed to recognize the important person. Ai, if you didn’t say the password correctly, I wouldn’t have known…”

Ji Xingjue paused and interrupted him, “What did you say?”

Scarface scratched his head, a little dazed: “You have been to Dark Star half a year ago… Could it be that I remembered it wrong? It shouldn’t be.”

Ji Xingjue’s face slightly paled, his knuckles trembled, while saying coldly and affirmatively, “You’re mistaken.”

Salted Fish – Drifting Wanderer

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