AGTCTCC Chapter 1

It hurts.

So painful.

A tingling sting spread from the back of his neck, like ants gnawing. Every nerve ending screamed a sharp alarm, even his fingertips felt numb as if electrified.

Xiang Li was leaning over, lightly sniffing the bloodstains on Chu Qi’s combat suit collar, like a jungle cub confirming the extent of its prey’s injuries.

“Awake?”

He noticed Chu Qi’s slightly trembling eyelashes and abruptly retreated half a step. The wisps of black Spiritual Power lingering at his fingertips also quickly retracted into his sleeve.

“Officer?”

He felt a familiar voice near his ear, a very soft sound.

A blurry silhouette of a young man swayed in his hazy vision, but Chu Qi only felt excruciating pain all over.

The Spiritual Power around him was unable to coalesce, now straining with all its might to gather near him, but unable to enter his body.

The next second.

A cool sensation gripped Chu Qi’s hand, carrying warmth. Spiritual Power flowed into Chu Qi’s body, tracing back up along their joined fingers, repairing his fragmented meridians.

When his pupils finally focused, Chu Qi was finally able to see the person before him clearly.

Eighteen or nineteen years old, his jaw taut, a pair of eyes that were excessively bright.

Meeting Chu Qi’s gaze, his pink lips beneath a high, straight nose pursed slightly. He could only feel the warmth of the hand holding his.

“I saved you.”

The boy increased the strength of his grip, the silver chain on his wrist chiming softly with the movement.

Chu Qi scanned the surroundings, realizing that he had left the Interstellar Bay Cape. The unique scent of eucalyptus from the Healing Pod lingered at the tip of his nose.

The unfamiliar surroundings made him tense slightly. He pursed his lips, silently studying the boy before him, a vague sense of familiarity fleeting.

Chu Qi: “Have we met before?”

“No.”

The boy’s answer was firm. The Dark Serpent on his wrist stared at Chu Qi, hissing, flicking its tongue.

Memory chimed like a plucked string, resonating back to three days before.

At that time, the Bay Cape Starfield was like a boiling crucible.

Xiang Li leaned against the porthole, coldly watching the restless silver light drawing anxious trajectories before him.

“Little White?”

Xiang Li recognized the silver ball. Dark ink dot eyes stared at the tattered mech deep in the Bay Cape.

Xiang Li reached out and gently pinched the Little White silver ball. Something seemed to occur to him, and the corners of his mouth curved.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he called out.

Little White: “!!!”

The silver ball, as if angered, slammed its round body against Xiang Li.

Xiang Li effortlessly pinched it with his thumb and forefinger, while his other hand fidgeted, poking the white ball here and there.

“Want me to be a savior?”

He flicked the frantic spiritual form. The Dark Serpent lurking at his wrist flicked its pinkish-white tongue, which brushed against his protruding wrist bone.

Speaking of serious matters, Xiang Li’s voice was very deep, sounding particularly empty in the vast interstellar space.

The silver ball in his hand fluttered twice, as if nodding, its round body uncontrollably pressing toward the wrecked mech.

Xiang Li’s gaze followed. His black Spiritual Power spread.

Inside the Bay Cape, Polluted Entities were entangled in dense silver Spiritual Power threads. Occasionally exposed parts revealed their disgusting and terrifying torsos.

The dense teeth in their mouths hungrily bit at the threads of Spiritual Power, snapping them one after another.

Once the surrounding Polluted Entities broke free, the mech would be devoured clean.

Xiang Li’s dark eyes dimmed. Through the void, the mech’s outer shell was as good as nonexistent before him, the other person’s face exposed to his sight.

After clearly seeing the person inside, the arc of Xiang Li’s mouth lowered slightly.

“Chu Qi?” Xiang Li stared at the familiar features, wondering when they had last met.

Every meeting was so wretched. Xiang Li chuckled inwardly.

His fingertip traced a dark light through the void. Black Spiritual Power shrouded the entire Bay Cape like a spiderweb.

The Polluted Entities entangled in the silver threads suddenly stiffened, their rotting torsos shedding mucus with a rustling sound. They froze into horrifying sculptures at the instant before severing the last Spiritual Power thread.

Little White: “!”

It suddenly broke free from Xiang Li’s collar, its fur brushing against his jaw in an electric tremor.

Xiang Li lowered his eyes, watching the spiritual form fly abnormally toward the ruins. The damaged Silver Mech was like a withered metal flower, half-buried in the piled-up remains of Polluted Entities.

The black little snake crawled along the finger bones all the way to the palm of his hand, opened its mouth, and its sharp two little teeth grinded his owner’s fingernails.

The snake’s tail was wrapped around Xiang Li’s wrist, gently tightening. Seeing his master’s gaze fall on it, it loosened its strength.

Xiang Li hooked his index finger, reaching into the snake’s mouth, feeling the little snake’s two little teeth with the pad of his finger, and pinching its cold upper jawbone.

The black little snake opened its mouth, not minding Xiang Li’s actions. After he touched it twice, it retreated without changing its expression at all.

Xiang Li once again looked at the broken mech. Even though it was now battle-damaged, it was still possible to tell that the materials used were extremely precious.

Xiang Li: “Looks like you’ve become rich. It’s worth a lot of money.”

He approached the Silver Mech, and made a gesture of holding in the empty air with his empty hand, black Spiritual Power leaked from his fingertips, solidified, and finally transformed into a slender stick.

Xiang Li forcefully stabbed one end of the stick into the seam of the mech. Chu Qi’s pale face emerged from the steam.

The Silver Mech, which had not been opened after being tormented by the Polluted Entities for so long, was fragile in Xiang Li’s hands.

Xiang Li looked at the Polluted Entities around him being restrained, their roars continuous. He frowned slightly, silently staring at the person in the mech.

“How pitiful,” he said.

Xiang Li leaned over, his nose almost touching Chu Qi’s trembling eyelashes.

Xiang Li: “Spiritual Power Restoration Agents are very expensive on the market these days.”

“No one else might come here besides me. If you want to live…”

“Shelter fees are charged by the second, Off-i-cer, Sir.”

“…”

Chu Qi in his arms was tightly clutching Xiang Li’s clothes. Although unconscious, his brow remained furrowed, unsure if it was from nightmares or his injuries.

Xiang Li stared at him, his gaze falling on the communicator on the other man’s wrist. His eyes deepened as black Spiritual Power slowly drilled into the silver metal bracelet from his fingertips.

The next second, the silver metal bracelet unsurprisingly emitted a sound of disrepair.

Xiang Li stared at the cold white metal bracelet, his fingers hooking onto the platinum cufflinks dangling from Chu Qi’s collar.

“The military’s tracking signals are really more annoying than bugs.”

The body in his arms suddenly spasmed, the commander’s bloodstained gloves crumpling his clothes.

…

“I saved you.”

Xiang Li repeated for the 23rd time.

Chu Qi was trapped in the rattan deck chair, the nerve pain from the shattered spiritual landscape making even his fingertips tremble.

Chu Qi was lying on a wooden rocking chair, the design of the arc supporting his weak body.

“Mm,” Chu Qi croaked, feeling all his strength gone. Looking at the person before him, he thought, still a child.

Xiang Li brought Chu Qi back to his home, which was actually just a small dwelling on a nameless Little Potato Planet.

There were no Polluted Entities here, nor were there any traces of civilization. Quiet and peaceful, no one would discover them.

The weather on Little Potato Planet was very nice, the sun warm, shining through the glass. Scanning the view, outside was a sea of flowers stretching acre after acre.

Yellow and white bright, blue and purple interspersed, the sun-facing flowers swaying with the wind, graceful and charming.

Chu Qi: “What’s your name?”

Hearing this, the other man pouted, poking Chu Qi as if dissatisfied.

“My name is Xiang Li!”

“Officer.”

As he spoke, Xiang Li looked up and met Chu Qi’s gaze. The smile on his face was uncontainable, as bright as the outdoors, causing Chu Qi to be momentarily dazed.

The next second, he heard the other man say.

“You’re so rich.”

Chu Qi remained silent. Xiang Li didn’t care, picking up a pair of scissors from the side on his own.

The scissor blades touched the corner of his clothes, the coolness seeping in from that moment.

“Combat suit woven with antimatter fibers, it should make fireworks when torn, right?”

Although Xiang Li said this, his hands didn’t stop moving. Only the sound of the scissors “snip, snip” could be heard in the silence.

The scissors went upwards from the corner of the combat suit, and the cold iron occasionally touched the exposed skin.

Chu Qi silently closed his eyes, pretending not to see Xiang Li swiping the metal cufflinks from his combat suit.