ARIPOEC Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A perfectly good dinner inexplicably turned into a gathering of relatives and friends.

The rooms in the academy’s residence were already small. The room barely had enough space for a large bed and a table. With three more people suddenly crammed inside, the whole room felt incredibly crowded.

Si Zhuo and the others didn’t dare to sit with Ye Mingyuan, so they could only stand pitifully to the side.

This awkward scene made Lin Jun extremely uncomfortable: “Are you… just going to stand there the whole time?”

The only girl among the three immediately understood. She raised her hand and took out three small stools from her Space Ring, placing them to the side, “It’s more comfortable to chat while sitting.”

Everyone sat down. In the small room, several young people sat around a table full of dishes, creating a strangely warm feeling.

Once they were seated, Ye Mingyuan finally spoke: “This is Si Zhuo, Xiao Han, Li Li…”

Lin Jun followed his movements, looking at each person. He wasn’t unfamiliar with these faces. In his previous life, these three often followed Ye Mingyuan.

Lin Jun realized for the first time just how much power Ye Mingyuan had around him.

His greatest assets from his previous life were still two naive and innocent students, but these people around Ye Mingyuan in this life already possessed such strong abilities.

No wonder he could never win against Ye Mingyuan in his previous life. He had lost from the very beginning!

“Sister-in-law, this is a gift from us.”

Si Zhuo rummaged around in his chest and took out a small, chip-like gadget.

A vein on Lin Jun’s forehead twitched slightly: “…Can you not call me sister-in-law?”

Si Zhuo’s expression of offering a treasure froze, and he looked over in confusion: “Then what should we call you?”

“Just Lin Jun.”

Si Zhuo hesitated: “That’s too distant…”

The group couldn’t decide and all looked toward Ye Mingyuan.

Ye Mingyuan had a hint of a smile in his eyes. Under the threatening glares that Lin Jun kept sending his way, he finally nodded: “Just call him Lin Jun.”

Si Zhuo wrinkled his nose awkwardly: “Then… Lin Jun, this is a gift we prepared for you.”

Lin Jun turned his gaze to the small chip, no bigger than his fingernail: “What is this for?”

“It’s an information transmitter.” Si Zhuo’s expression gradually became serious: “Li Li developed it. Everyone on our team has one.”

“This chip has the highest authority. It can access all the information we obtain and can also issue commands.”

“…” Lin Jun’s expression suddenly changed.

He understood what Si Zhuo’s words meant better than anyone else.

This couldn’t possibly be a gift that Si Zhuo and the others had decided to give him on their own. With such high-level access, no one but Ye Mingyuan could provide it.

Lin Jun was momentarily speechless.

Si Zhuo continued to explain: “Don’t worry, this has the most advanced anti-intrusion system. If our system is hacked, it will cut off all signals immediately, preventing others from tracing our identities.”

Li Li also chimed in from the side: “Absol…Absolutely safe!”

The small chip was pushed closer to Lin Jun: “Should I install it for you?”

“…” Lin Jun turned to look at Ye Mingyuan.

Although Ye Mingyuan didn’t have much of an expression on his face, his tone was very gentle: “They carefully prepared a meeting gift, accept it.”

Lin Jun bit his lower lip. He hesitated for a long time before taking off the Personal Terminal from his wrist and handing it to Si Zhuo.

Si Zhuo breathed a long sigh of relief, and like throwing away a hot potato, quickly tossed the Personal Terminal and chip to Li Li.

The burly and honest boy took the Personal Terminal, and within a few short minutes, he had installed the chip.

“Okay.” Li Li handed the Personal Terminal back to Lin Jun: “You can operate it by pressing here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a semi-transparent interface popped up above Lin Jun’s Personal Terminal, indicating that it had been registered as an S-level user.

“These are all automatic privacy settings. No one else can see any of the content.”

Lin Jun took the Personal Terminal and put it back on his wrist.

Even though it was just a small chip, Lin Jun felt that the Personal Terminal was much heavier than before.

+

After delivering the meeting gift, Si Zhuo and the others didn’t stay for long. They quickly excused themselves, saying they had other tasks to attend to.

They returned the way they came, once again flipping down from the balcony and disappearing into the darkness within moments.

Once again, only Ye Mingyuan and Lin Jun were left in the room.

Ye Mingyuan looked as calm as ever. Seeing the others leave, he picked up his chopsticks again and placed a small piece of meat near Lin Jun’s mouth.

Lin Jun didn’t react in time, and the smooth slice of meat slid into his mouth.

“?!” Lin Jun grabbed Ye Mingyuan, who was trying to pick up another piece of food: “Wait a minute.”

Ye Mingyuan turned around obediently.

“You asked them to give this to me, didn’t you?” Lin Jun pointed to the Personal Terminal on his wrist.

The corners of Ye Mingyuan’s lips curved into a small smile: “It’s just a small gift, don’t worry about it.”

As he spoke, he tried to turn around and get Lin Jun some more food: “Eat, aren’t you hungry?”

Various thoughts were swirling in Lin Jun’s mind. He had no mood to eat. He grabbed Ye Mingyuan’s wrist and looked directly into his eyes.

“Do you know what this represents?”

Ye Mingyuan’s actions had almost revealed all his cards to him. All resources, all information, and even the people around Ye Mingyuan could be used by him.

If Lin Jun had even a slightly unfavorable thought, he could use this to completely destroy Ye Mingyuan.

Ye Mingyuan’s expression was nonchalant: “Of course I know.”

Lin Jun: “Aren’t you afraid that…” I’ll use you?

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Mingyuan interrupted him: “I believe you.”

The words that Lin Jun had not spoken were stuck in his throat. He looked at Ye Mingyuan in disbelief.

Ye Mingyuan turned his wrist slightly, clasping Lin Jun’s palm in his own, holding their hands tightly together, fingers interlaced: “I believe you won’t.”

He already knew what kind of person Lin Jun was in his previous life.

Upright, righteous, clean and kind.

Ye Mingyuan’s hands were stained with too much blood. In order to get revenge and to gain the complete trust of the Ye family, he had done many outrageous things.

That’s why, in one collision after another with Lin Jun, he couldn’t help but fall deeper and deeper.

Whether on the battlefield or in everyday sparring and fighting, Lin Jun was always full of integrity. He would choose to defend and retreat to evacuate innocent civilians, and he would choose to take all the blame after the orders came down from the Central Government.

Before the final battle in his previous life, Ye Mingyuan hadn’t planned to die.

Ye Mingyuan made a deal with the Zerg. He promised to help their most elite troops tear open a gap in the empire’s border defense line. In return, Ye Mingyuan asked the Zerg to immediately turn around and attack the Third Star Region after tearing open the gap.

He copied all of the Ye family’s border defense deployments and gave one copy to the Empire and one to the Zerg. He wanted the Ye family to be attacked by both the Empire and the Zerg. He wanted to personally cut off his father’s head.

So in the beginning, when Lin Jun chose to defend and retreat, he did not stop him.

But watching Lin Jun become increasingly haggard because of the war and decide to risk his life to stop the Zerg, Ye Mingyuan suddenly changed his mind.

Lin Jun had become the last ray of light in his world.

Even at the last moment, he had a chance to escape.

But he chose to die on the battlefield, burying the sins in his hands in this all-consuming fire.

“What are you thinking about?” Lin Jun stared at Ye Mingyuan with some nervousness.

The expression on Ye Mingyuan’s face suddenly sank, and those sea-blue pupils narrowed slightly, revealing a sharpness like the tip of a knife.

Lin Jun was shocked, almost instinctively activating his defenses.

Ye Mingyuan came back to his senses. He turned his head and looked over, and that sharp killing intent seemed to disappear in an instant.

“It’s nothing…” Ye Mingyuan reassured him with a smile.

Lin Jun also breathed a sigh of relief.

“I forgot to ask…” Ye Mingyuan frowned: “How were you reborn?”

He himself had died on the battlefield, and when he opened his eyes again, he was thirty years in the past. Why was Lin Jun?

Lin Jun’s body stiffened slightly: “I was assassinated by the Zerg.”

“What?!” Ye Mingyuan was stunned.

The Zerg’s elite troops had already been annihilated. How could they still have the strength to organize an assassination?

“Shortly after you… After that battle, the Zerg were indeed severely weakened, and the Empire took the opportunity to reclaim many planets.” Lin Jun paused for a moment, seemingly unsure how to continue.

How could he say it?!

He stole Ye Mingyuan’s credit, was promoted to general, and was blown up by the Zerg at the award ceremony.

Don’t ask, because it’s too embarrassing.

Fortunately, Ye Mingyuan saw the difficult expression on Lin Jun’s face and did not continue to press him.

He thought for a moment and asked: “So, what happened to the Ye family after I died?”

Lin Jun frowned and thought for a moment: “After the Zerg were defeated in the Empire, they suspected that the Ye family had given them false information, so they turned around and attacked the Ye family.”

“By the time I… was reborn, the Ye family had just suffered a major defeat. Ye Wenming took the Second Prince and fled overnight…”

Ye Mingyuan’s eyes flickered: “What about…”

Although he didn’t say the name, Lin Jun understood: “Dead.”

The whole room fell into an eerie silence. Ye Mingyuan’s expression seemed frozen. He wasn’t agitated, and he didn’t even ask for the details.

But this calm state made Lin Jun uneasy: “Are you okay?”

Ye Mingyuan shook his head. He didn’t say anything, but he held Lin Jun’s hand even tighter.

Sensing the change in his mood, Lin Jun didn’t say anything either, but silently stayed with him.

After a long time, Ye Mingyuan’s emotions gradually calmed down.

Lin Jun spoke softly: “Do you hate him a lot?”

“Yes.” Ye Mingyuan nodded: “That was all from my previous life.”

That person had already been punished. He had schemed his whole life, but in the end, he was destroyed by his own ambition.

Although it was a pity that he hadn’t done it himself, the obsession in his heart slowly dissipated with the arrival of this news.

And in this life, that person hadn’t had time to make a move, and the people he cared about were still living healthy lives.

It was time to let go of the hatred from his previous life.

Ye Mingyuan turned his head and looked at Lin Jun seriously.

“Lin Jun, I want to take you to see my mother.”