2.13

Auray wore his clothes. Then, he helped Qiao Chen pull back up the blanket that had slipped down to his waist. After, he leaned over and gave Qiao Chen a deep kiss. The half asleep Qiao Chen subconsciously hugged Auray's neck. Qiao Chen felt a dull pain radiate from his waist and opened his eyes.

He looked closely at Auray and seriously asked, "Do you love me?"

"I love you." Auray replied with no hesitation.

Qiao Chen didn't want to have doubts about Auray's love for him, so he turned off that good feelings pack. Qiao Chen thought about the course of events, and he also felt that Auray really did fall in love with him. However, the question that still emerged was: Why hadn't the soul download activated yet? Was it because I turned off the Good Will and Intimacy pack, so now it'll take longer?

—–

Eventually, several other countries from throughout the universe sent their own military fleets to the emerging planet system after they discovered news of the ores. This forced the third fleet to suspend operations until all the countries came to an agreement on how to divide the planets' resources among themselves. However, such talks normally took a long time. Even if they had negotiations for a year or two, there was the possibility that they still wouldn't come to an agreement. Therefore, the third and fifth fleet returned to their country.

The border would be guarded by the empire's border control unit.

After returning to their country, the fifth fleet was quickly hit with disciplinary action. Not only was half of the year's military expenditure deducted, but all those who participated in the mission were also demoted a rank. Furthermore, they were demanded to carry out three missions that were labeled as community services*.

(T/N: No awards/credits to their military career i.e. free labor)

Bachner's offence of attempted robbery was upgraded to attempted murder when he decided to shove one of the country's mech engineer while in a mission. For such a serious offence, he was removed from military service with a dishonorable discharge and sentenced to a five year incarceration.

Qiao Chen never knew what Greene said to Bachner. It could have been that he felt that he was at the end of his rope, but Bachner assumed all responsibility. He plead guilty to the charges and vehemently denied Greene's involvement, insisting that he acted alone. Therefore, Greene didn't suffer as severe punishments nor was he held liable.

Qiao Chen learned about the consequences and sighed. This guy… even though he was a dumb and impulsive fellow, he was deeply in love. It was just a pity that Greene didn't even put Bachner on his radar.

After returning, Qiao Chen continued to work on and repair the Z-801. He had to leave abruptly, so there wasn't time for him to compare and select the candidate for the mech's testing either. Therefore, he had to analyze the data now that he could.

—–

Qiao Chen was just about to log in to the Z-801's mainframe for the final inspection when Auray came into the lab to look for him. He asked Auray if he wanted to go up to the cockpit together. Of course Auray cheerfully agreed.

"It took so long to finally come so close to fixing it." Qiao Chen said. To be able to erase the greatest regret from his past life allowed Qiao Chen's to feel quite satisfied. Once he finished this, he decided that he'd be able to throw himself into the next task.

"It took less time than all of us expected it to." Auray said. They really hadn't expected Qiao Chen to even able to repair the mech, which no one else could even turn on, let alone the short amount of time that he took to repair it.

"You're all looking forward to it, huh?" Qiao Chen asked.

"Of course." They all eagerly yearned for the day that the Z-801 would be back on the battlefield.

"Father would have also been very happy if he knew that the mech was repaired." Qiao Chen smiled with some regret. "Too bad he didn't live to see it."

Qiao Chen had a moment of happiness, but also felt a sense of melancholy seeping through. Suddenly, his system's soul downloader activated. He was stunned and stared, baffled, at Auray.

Auray had a serious demeanor, but his eyes were brimming with a deep affection as he looked at Qiao Chen and said, "Even though your father wasn't able to witness you restoring his mech, I'm here. I will definitely take the place of your father and pilot it to the best of its capabilities."

"Everyone has their own styles and ways. Even if you wanted to efficiently show the maximum capabilities of this mech, it's not necessary to pilot it exactly like my father did." Qiao Chen replied a bit annoyed. He always felt that Auray looked at him with a strange look in his eyes whenever his 'father' was being mentioned…

Auray took Qiao Chen's hand and kissed it. He gently said, "I'll treat you well, just like your father did. I can take on the role of both your husband and your father."

Qiao Chen resisted the urge to kick him out of the cockpit. Ugh, this again? What is wrong with this man? Why does he always want to be my dad? It was like this in the life before and it's the same now.

Qiao Chen immediately, and roughly, pulled his hand back. He retorted, "You can only be either the husband or the father. If you choose to be a father, then don't even think about touching me in the future. You should treat me how a father really treats his child."

Auray embarrassedly looked at Qiao Chen.

You're embarrassed? Do you even know how to be embarrassed? Embarrassed my butt. Was it necessary to make this choice difficult? Qiao Chen didn't bother to pay him any more attention, so he focused his attention to carefully go over the system procedures in the cockpit.

——-

After he compared the data, Qiao Chen found that Auray was the best person to pilot the Z-801. All of his performance indicators were all aligned with the mech's functions. However, Qiao Chen eventually chose to allow Henry to pilot the mech. Henry was only second to Auray in meeting the Z-801's standards.

Everyone was surprised after Qiao Chen announced that his assistant for the Z-801 was Henry. They knew that the person who helped Qiao Chen with the tests in this round meant that they were most likely to become the Z-801's pilot. However, they also knew that Henry's mech combat and piloting capabilities was not the best of the Special Ops team. There were more than a few people who were better than him.

Qiao Chen posted the comparison data up to prove that Henry best fit the qualifications of the Z-801. However, the data posted did not include Auray's results.

Soon enough, Qiao Chen was stopped by Auray at his lab. Qiao Chen immediately knew he came looking for trouble.

"What about my data? Why didn't you post it?" Auray stared at Qiao Chen and asked.

"Because it can't be posted." Qiao Chen said.

"Why? Even if I don't meet the qualifications, then at the very least, let me know where I don't meet them." Auray said unhappily.

"You are the most qualified." Qiao Chen truthfully said. He(QC) never intended to hide this from him (Auray) anyways.

"Then why was Henry chosen?" Auray closed in on Qiao Chen and narrowed his eyes. "Is it because, deep in your heart, you want him to pilot your father's mech more than me? He's more important to you than I am, isn't he?"

"Of course I have my own opinions. Furthermore, you two both have special places in my heart, but they aren't the same kind of importance."

"Both are important? Why does he hold a special place in your heart?" Auray angrily asked.

"Can you calm down? How can I talk to you when you're like this?" It was also the first time Qiao Chen had seen him look so irrational and unreasonable.

Auray took one last look at Qiao Chen and abruptly turned around.

"Where are you going? I'm not done talking with you yet." Qiao Chen called out.

"I'm looking for Henry. We're going to duel it out, man to man. Furthermore, I'm not giving up on piloting the Z-801." Auray left and locked Qiao Chen's door from the outside.

"Duel? What are you dueling for? Bastard! You stop right there." Qiao Chen quickly ran to stop Auray, but the door was locked shut. He immediately pressed the buttons on the wall to unlock it. The bastard locked the door from the outside. I knew I shouldn't have told him the pass-code. Qiao Chen's hands quickly pressed several numbers on the number pad to crack the pass-code.

Auray arrived at the training area, found Henry, and told him, "You. Come with me."

Henry didn't know why, but he still followed behind Auray. The other team members watched as the two men walked into the close-ranged combat room. They also followed behind, brimming with curiosity.

Auray affixed weights to his hands and legs as he spoke to Henry, "I am your captain, so it'd be considered bullying if I squared off against you with no restrictions. I'll be using weights to limit my movements. I'll also adjust my strength to match yours- in that way, we'd have a fair duel."

"D-duel? Captain, you want to fight against me?" Henry only realized what was going on now and sputtered. "Why? Is it this about me acting as the Z-801 test assistant? "

"We'll talk about that at a different time." Auray said.

"Then if it isn't about the Z-801 testing, then why do you suddenly want a duel, Captain?" Henry knew he wasn't able to defeat Auray. But if I'm about to meet the gates of hell, then at least let me know why.

"We are all members of the same team. What is so bad that it can't be properly solved by words, but instead through a duel? It's such a hurtful way to deal with things." Vice Captain Kurit quickly came over to resolve the dispute.

The other teammates were also standing next to each other, baffled. Their captain wasn't such a rash person. What is going on?

"It's because you're my teammate that I'm challenging you to a duel- fair and square. However, public matters are in the public and personal matters are private. We're dealing with it now. So win or lose, I hope you won't bring any personal feelings into the regular session of sparring and training." Auray said seriously. "Even though I am the one who challenged you to this duel, I still hope that you will not spare any effort in your attempt to defeat me. You should not fail to live up to the importance you have in his heart."

"Dueling? What duel? Can't you let people finish with what they're saying before you walk away?" Qiao Chen finally found the man. He actually ran away to have a duel. How embarrassing. Qiao Chen thought

"The things that occur between males must be solved through our ways. You don't need to mind it." Auray looked at Qiao Chen and said.

"What do you mean don't mind? Come with me. I have something I want to tell you." Qiao Chen said with his jaw clenched. He was in a very bad mood.

"Those words can wait until after the fight." Auray broke eye contact with Qiao Chen and turned to face Henry. He pointed to Qiao Chen and said, "Now listen here, Henry. If you can't beat me today, then you can never even think about marrying him anymore."

Qiao Chen covered his face and felt like dying.

"Me- with him?" Henry looked at Auray and Qiao Chen. "But..."

"Come. Let's begin." Auray said.

"But he's my older brother. Captain, how can I even think of him that way?" Henry asked and threw Auray a confused and strange look.

"Your older brother?" Auray blanked out. Then, he furrowed his eyebrows together and said, "You only have a five year old younger brother. When did you get an older brother?" He knew his team members well. Besides, everyone knew that Qiaoyi is the only child of the flock family, and Henry is the oldest child from the Khiels' family.

The other members looked at them surprised. They had some doubts. Was engineer Qiaoyi really Henry's brother? Was this real or not?

"I am his older brother. We share the same birth mother." Qiao Chen said unhappily. He thought Auray already knew because it wasn't really a secret that his mother had married Henry's father. All the aristocrats and nobles under this empire knew all about it.

Auray was completely stunned. Why didn't he know about it?

In fact, it wasn't really a secret when it happened. It was the go-to-gossip the nobles had discussed for a long time. However, twenty years had passed since it occurred. Who would still be talking about it? No one would be bored enough to mention any gossip from twenty years ago anymore.

Furthermore, Qiaoyi's mother was forced into the arranged marriage to his(QC) father by his(Fionn) family. Fionn's family relationship was really rocky. After his parent died, he basically had no contact with any of the people anymore. Additionally, he normally carried a low profile, so people from Auray's generation wouldn't really know about such an insignificant matter.

Because the whole thing wasn't really kept as a secret, nor was it a significant matter, the twenty-year-old-after-dinner-gossip was easily forgotten. Furthermore, even though any people from the older generation knew about it, no one would think about specifically mentioning a matter anymore.

Later, when the story broke about Qiao Chen's successful restoration project of the Z-801, some people would remember the incident and bring it up again.