Yang Hui and Leesa Kyūjō left the Federation University together. The reason was twofold: first, after hearing such shocking information, neither Professor Efman nor Billy Katagiri had any interest in continuing their research. Second, Leesa Kyūjō had received an urgent order from the AEU, with her return to duty scheduled earlier than expected. She needed to depart by noon the next day, so Yang Hui and Leesa Kyūjō planned to cherish their remaining time together.
After all, once the "military exercise" was over, they would head to Celestial Being. From that point onward, they would each have their own tasks, and whether they would be assigned together was still up in the air.
However, as they were about to leave the university, they ran into Katy Manekin. If it had been anyone else, they would have respectfully left, but with Katy Manekin... their couple time was immediately interrupted.
"Kyūjō, you got the orders too, right?"
"Yeah, when do you report back?"
"Tomorrow noon."
Upon hearing Katy Manekin's answer, Leesa Kyūjō's smile turned somewhat "gentle" as she turned to look at Yang Hui with a smile.
For some reason, Yang Hui suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced at Leesa Kyūjō, silently asking what was going on. But what he got in return was a guilty hand that grabbed his side and gave it a brutal 360-degree twist.
"Ugh~!" Yang Hui quickly muffled his mouth and sucked in a cold breath.
In his past life, he had always wondered how women could twist that part of the body 360 degrees. Wasn't that like giving the skin a stretch surgery? Ridiculous.
But now, he knew—apparently, it could really be done!
Strangely, he also noticed Katy Manekin giving him a... vague look.
Having been a relationship novice in his past life, and still somewhat the same in this life (after all, Leesa Kyūjō was the one pursuing him), Yang Hui didn't quite catch on. However, Leesa Kyūjō, as her best friend, understood it all too well.
Katy Manekin had actually developed feelings for Yang Hui around the same time as Leesa Kyūjō, but due to her personality, she kept it hidden, leaving the opportunity for Leesa to win him over.
Although Katy often said she wished them well, Leesa Kyūjō knew that her best friend had never truly gotten over her feelings for Yang Hui.
After their bittersweet farewell under Katy Manekin's complicated gaze, Leesa Kyūjō and Yang Hui finally managed to have some uninterrupted time together. The next day, they boarded the plane to the AEU.
On the plane, with Yang Hui absent, Leesa Kyūjō began to chat with Katy Manekin.
"Katy..."
"Don't say anything, Kyūjō. Losing is losing."
"Sigh, it's because of this that you lost to me."
"My personality is just like that."
"But... you still can't let go of him, can you?"
Upon hearing this, Katy froze, her face turning slightly red. She turned her head away, unable to meet Leesa Kyūjō's gaze.
"Don't worry, Kyūjō, I won't get in the way."
"Katy, actually... it's not like you don't have a chance," Leesa Kyūjō said with a hint of curiosity.
"What do you mean?" Katy Manekin was completely confused. What was Leesa Kyūjō implying? Was she trying to be an old-fashioned good wife?
"Didn't you know? Actually..."
Leesa Kyūjō leaned in and whispered something into Katy's ear. Immediately, Katy's face turned bright red, and she became completely flustered, unable to speak coherently.
"Y-you... how could you be so... so... no no no..."
"Heh~ You're too cute like this, Katy, not like your usual cold self."
"Kyūjō!"
"Ahahaha, I wasn't joking, Katy. Think it over. After all, the People's Revolutionary Federation doesn't have limits on the number of people, as long as you can afford it."
"I... I... Let's talk about this later. For now, I have to focus on the military exercise."
"Sigh, you..."
...
Unaware of his fiancée's "earth-shattering" plans, Yang Hui packed his things and headed back to the People's Revolutionary Federation. This time, he was preparing for an escape route.
As a transmigrator, he knew that Celestial Being's plan was a trap, and anyone who stepped into it would suffer.
The first phase, on the surface, appeared to be about using violence to stop violence, eradicating all forms of war. But in reality, it concentrated all the world's conflicts onto Celestial Being, forcing the three most powerful factions to unite under the pressure. Then, at the right time, they would deliver the Solar Furnace to these three nations, eliminate Celestial Being's threat, and establish a unified world government. This would effectively end the wars, at least in name.
So in Aeolia's first-phase plan, Celestial Being was just a pawn—sacrificed, though Aeolia himself had been taken out by someone else.
As for the second phase, despite being controlled by the crazy Liphons, it had long been planned by Aeolia. Once the unified government was formed, internal strife would inevitably erupt. Celestial Being would then intervene as the saviors, eliminating the conflicts and leaving only those who supported the new government, which would then stabilize.
So, the second phase upgraded Celestial Being from a pawn to a "tool"—useful until it was no longer needed.
The third phase, the final stage, involved the long-awaited dialogue, where the pioneers of change would communicate with the outsiders and bring about peaceful coexistence.
It all sounded beautiful, didn't it?
But Yang Hui knew better. The ELS, which had been hiding on Jupiter for a long time, had numbers in the trillions. And that was just one of their tribes.
Moreover, the ELS were silicon-based lifeforms, living in a hive-like network where one was all and all were one.
Communicating with one ELS was the same as communicating with the entire race. Sending someone to communicate with them using quantum brainwaves was pure madness.
Just look at Setsuna from the movie. He almost became a fool!
In the end, the dialogue succeeded, but when Setsuna returned to Earth, he had no idea whether he was a carbon-based or silicon-based lifeform anymore.
Now, the first phase hadn't even begun, but Yang Hui wanted to prepare in advance. He didn't want to become a sacrificial pawn in Aeolia's plan. He needed to set up more escape routes to ensure that, while Celestial Being's plan proceeded smoothly, the members of the Ptolemaios would survive.
Moreover... after spending a close night with Leesa Kyūjō, he received a new task from the system.
[Ensure the successful completion of Celestial Being's first-phase plan, the establishment of the Earth Federation government, and the survival of all Ptolemaios members. Reward: Unknown (PS: The reward will be reduced with each death. If all members die, no reward will be given).]
Seeing the new task, Yang Hui didn't know how to respond.
First, the reward for the previous task, "one building opportunity," was something he still didn't understand. Now, this task had an "unknown" reward... and a penalty? He didn't even know what the reward was, and it could be reduced? What kind of monkey civilization created this system? There had to be a limit!
Then there was the task content. From the first task of joining Celestial Being to this second task, it felt like the story had jumped straight to the end. Wasn't this skipping ahead to the grand finale? Couldn't they add in some smaller tasks in between?
For instance, designing a Gundam, improving piloting skills, completing a few missions, saving Aeolia... something like that would have been better. This direct jump was a bit too much for him to handle.
But complaints aside, the task wasn't particularly difficult.
In the end, only four members of Ptolemaios died: the most regrettable being Lockon Stratos, the pilot of the Dynames; the control officer Christina Sierra; the helmsman Riddhe Mark; and JB Moreno, the doctor who had little screen time.
The first two contributed to strengthening the Gundam and Ptolemaios. With a few more escape routes, they could all be saved.
"Well, I'll think about it after a month. For now, I need to focus on my backup plans..."
"What backup plans?"
"Ah!" Suddenly, someone slapped him on the back, startling him out of his thoughts.
"How is it you?" Yang Hui, seeing who it was, cursed in annoyance.
"I just got off the plane. Professor Efman called the military, said they needed an elite pilot for some test, so I was called in. Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, going home for a bit."
"Oh, what a shame. I was hoping to have another round with you."
"I told you... a big man like you shouldn't be looking at me with such intense eyes. I'm already engaged!"
"I won't be interested until I beat you."
"Get lost! Go away!"
"Haha, see you!"
With his golden hair, rugged face, and a smile full of battle intent, Graham Aker, the ace pilot of the UNION MSWAD team, had an ongoing rivalry with Yang Hui.
As for how they met... that's a
story for another time.
After Graham left, Yang Hui checked the time, sent Sergei a final message, and walked toward the boarding gate.