Discussing The Correct Posture To Enjoy Dog Food

Chapter 167 - Pomegranate Flavored Sentinel Gong (8)

Translated by Hua Li ^_~

“Use their own plan against them.”

Xiang Muchuan didn’t elaborate, but Yao Zicong and the others knew their Young Marshal well enough. At once, they could guess what he intended.

It had been a while since they’d crossed paths with Jack Litt. They wondered—would this next meeting leave a scar the man could never forget?

The three exchanged a glance, then broke into wicked grins.

Through resonance, Gou Liang understood Xiang Muchuan’s entire strategy. But right now, he didn’t care about what price the Federation would pay for inviting Xiang Shao into their den. What he still couldn’t let go of—was Jesu daring to kick Xiang Muchuan. Across countless worlds, no one had ever dared insult the Lord God like that. And when he convinced Xiang Muchuan to feign surrender, relying on his potions to turn the tables, it had never even crossed his mind that Jesu would dare touch him.

Clearly, Xiang Muchuan had anticipated it, and hadn’t taken the slight to heart.

But Gou Liang couldn’t forgive it.

He could accept his own injuries if they were for the mission. But even if it were for the mission, he couldn’t bear to see his beloved target take a single hit.

Lifting Xiang Muchuan’s uniform, he carefully examined the spot where Jesu had kicked him.

“No injury. Don’t worry.”

Xiang Muchuan was just taking Jesu’s personal terminal from Yao Zicong, preparing to breach the warship’s systems. He saw Gou Liang’s brows knit in worry as he touched his stomach and chuckled, ruffling his hair.

Jesu was only a B-rank sentinel. His strength was nothing before an S-rank like Xiang Muchuan. Even that full-force kick had left no mark, and the pain had nearly faded already.

Still, Gou Liang pulled out a spray from his pocket, erasing what little discomfort remained. His face, however, was far from pleased.

Everyone stared at his “endless pocket” in wonder. Since he offered no explanation, they didn’t dare ask. But Aiqi, their medical specialist, finally spoke up: “Yuan Shao, you only just entered the Capital’s Academy of Pharmacology this year, right? Did you make all these medicines yourself?”

Her voice was tinged with awe. As an A-rank sentinel, she was destined never to match a guide’s natural gift for medicine, though even among sentinels she was top-tier. She would never boast before Gou Liang, but she was desperate to know how he’d mastered so much.

After all, he’d only just come of age, was a mere first-year student, and hadn’t even been awakened as a guide for ten days yet. His skill couldn’t have come from school.

And more—none of them had ever seen medicines like the ones Gou Liang used: the coma serum, the disguise serum.

“No. All mine.”

He tried his best to be modest, yet they were still floored.

Xiang Muchuan smiled faintly and explained that Gou Liang had studied since childhood under a mysterious guide-pharmacist, Old Mr. Kemi. The old man had died before Gou Liang turned ten. His achievements today were owed first to his own brilliance and effort.

And from what Gou Liang had told him, the anesthetic and disguise formulas were his own innovations, building upon what his mentor had left behind. Their potency spoke for itself. Even the most senior pharmacologists in the Empire couldn’t match such work—his talent was undeniable.

Seeing him wear that proud expression, Gou Liang’s eyes curved into a smile.

“So Yuan Shao’s old looks weren’t real either?” Barton blurted. “I knew it! The Yuan family isn’t ugly, but they aren’t that ugly either. Hey, so Yuan Shao, doesn’t that mean you can cure your stutter too… uh, no offense! I just meant—”

“You care too much.”

Xiang Muchuan shot him a warning glance. Sitting down, he drew Gou Liang into his lap, stroking his hair. “He didn’t mean anything. Don’t mind him. When we’re back, I’ll deal with him for you.”

Aiqi and Yao Zicong stared speechlessly.

After all, to outsiders, Major Barton was colder than the Young Marshal himself.

—But because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, he’d long ago learned the less he spoke, the fewer mistakes he made. Among their own group, though, he dropped the act entirely, showing his foolish side without shame.

Realizing his blunder, Barton hurried to add, “Sorry, Yuan Shao. I wasn’t saying the way you are now is bad. I just meant—”

“Enough. If you can’t speak properly, just shut up.”

Aiqi glared at him.

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“DY’q GN-GNHg.”

stz EbnmZ kdttq dbk dhnQ. OM tmgh dh kMzfVJhQ nZnbm tUhy dbk ItyQk, Angh MbZdMhmbmZ IbMd AyzkMynMbtm.

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“pyH’Y Kcy-KcyHVg.” uzv SNyHV qoNmgr GyNHYmW. “DY’q NH Ycg Vg-VgHg KcyNH.”

hcg zdNVNHym’q qbggKc rgGgKY cyr xggH qgAgdg. hcg LvyH GyoNmW cyr qYdvVVmgr RvqY Yz cgmb cNo qbgyP yY ymm, xvY YcNq wyq Ycg mNoNY. kHmgqq cNq VgHgYNK oyb NYqgmG wyq dgwdNYYgH, Ycg qYvYYgd KzvmrH’Y xg GNOgr.

Though it was possible—if Gou Liang willed it, nothing was impossible.

But once he noticed how Xiang Muchuan always waited, gentle and patient with every halting word, he no longer wished to change. That kind of undivided tenderness was far too easy to become addicted to.

Once Xiang Muchuan confirmed he truly didn’t mind, he relaxed.

Settling back, he adjusted Gou Liang’s position in his arms before returning to his work.

He saw nothing wrong with working while letting Gou Liang lounge against him. Even in the one- or two-second pauses of program debugging, he would still stroke his hair or nuzzle his cheek with his chin, cherishing him endlessly.

The other three nearly gagged on the dog food. They thought bitterly: married sentinels lose all sense of humanity. Even the Young Marshal isn’t exempt.

But curled against him, Gou Liang still wasn’t satisfied. After a moment, he stirred. “Tail.”

The smile on Xiang Muchuan’s lips cooled.

He stopped his hack, lowering his gaze to meet Gou Liang’s bright, expectant eyes. After a long beat, he chuckled softly. “Me or the tail—choose one.”

Gou Liang: “…”

The three adjutants thought in unison: Even when jealous, the Young Marshal is cooler than everyone else. We’re hopeless fangirls now.

“Mmph.”

Without hesitation, Gou Liang wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed it, all innocence: What tail? I don’t know any tail.

Xiang Muchuan was satisfied. In such high spirits, his fingers flew across the console faster than ever. Soon, he had extracted the warship’s confidential data and every classified file Jesu’s clearance could access.

Jesu Litt might be useless, but he had a good father. The spoils were plenty.

Among them were top-secret Federation research into drugs and weaponry, as well as war-game data no one outside Litt’s legion had seen. With these, the Xiang legion would have the edge against them for years to come.

As Yao Zicong rushed to copy the intel, he said, “Young Marshal, turns out Jack Litt’s running maneuvers on Tuth Star. Looks like he doesn’t trust his idiot brother much either.”

Tuth was only five hours from Jesu’s ambush site, located in the Nelson system—what the Empire called part of its Frontier Star Domain.

The Federation had splintered from these very frontier worlds, lands the Empire never recognized as legitimate. In their histories, the Federation would always be “traitors” and “anti-human rebels,” while Imperial soldiers swore to reclaim the territory.

Jack Litt was no ordinary man. An S-rank sentinel, heir to the Federation’s third-largest legion, he had clashed with Xiang Muchuan on battlefields many times.

Xiang Muchuan usually had the upper hand, but he’d lost to Jack before. His men still gnashed their teeth at the name.

“Perfect timing! Jesu gave us such a fine ‘gift.’ Wouldn’t it be rude not to return it?”

Gou Liang turned his face aside, unimpressed by his excitement.

“What’s wrong, Yuan Shao?”

A chill pricked Yao Zicong’s neck.

Hiding his face in Xiang Muchuan’s arm, Gou Liang muttered gloomily: “Feel like hi-hitting you.”

Aiqi and Barton froze—then, looking at Yao Zicong’s expression, burst out laughing.

Xiang Muchuan only stroked Gou Liang’s hair, smiling deeper. He was discovering there wasn’t a single thing he disliked about him—not his grudges, not his stutter. And now, his eyes lingered on the hidden dimples in his cheeks. He brushed his hand there, and Gou Liang leaned into it, pressing a kiss into his palm.

Xiang Muchuan stiffened—then pulled him in tighter.

In that moment, he realized he couldn’t wait two months. Right now, this instant, he had the urge to proclaim to the universe that Gou Liang was his alone.

Three hours later.

A Federation sentinel knocked on Jesu’s cabin door. “Colonel Jesu, we’re nearly at the destination.”

“Got it.”

Yao Zicong yanked the door open, scowling. Behind him, six men were beaten black and blue, two carried unconscious over shoulders.

The messenger outranked Jesu—a Federation senior colonel.

He knew well Jesu’s violent streak and had been on the receiving end before. But this time, seeing him go so far, his frown deepened.

He couldn’t punish him, given his status, but warned: “General Jack detests abuse of soldiers. Don’t push too far, Colonel.”

Yao Zicong snorted. Seeing the hidden anger in his eyes, he only grew more arrogant.

“My business isn’t yours. Take these two wastes away. You four, follow me to interrogate the prisoners. This is your chance to redeem yourselves. If I don’t get what I want before we land, I’ll have my father strip your ranks.”

“Yes, sir…”

Xiang Muchuan and the others forced themselves to swallow their fury and answered in unison.

The senior colonel’s temper flared, his voice low with warning: “Colonel Jesu, the prisoners aren’t even awake yet. Besides, our orders are to deliver them to the General—”

“Enough! You’re not qualified to give me orders!”

Yao Zicong shoved past him without hesitation, dragging along four badly injured sentinels.

The colonel’s adjutant caught the two more seriously wounded, gritting his teeth. “Jesu’s gone too far! We’re not even his men!”

“Remember—he bears the Litt name. Even as useless as he is, that’s more than enough to crush you.” The colonel snapped back, then frowned. “Still… didn’t you feel something odd about Tom and the others today?”

“Odd? You mean not saluting you? If it were me, beaten bloody and unable to fight back, I wouldn’t dare meet your eyes either. And they’re all A-rank sentinels—Jesu could never take them down if not for…”

“Enough. Stop complaining.”

The colonel cut him off, burying the fleeting doubt in his heart—never realizing he’d just let the last chance slip away.

Tuth Star.

“General, the Prime Minister is calling—he says it’s urgent.”

Watching his troops’ military exercises, Jack Litt withdrew his gaze and took the call on his private terminal.

“Prime Minister.”

He gave a salute, but his manner made clear his respect for the Federation’s leader was… limited.

The Prime Minister’s eyes flashed with irritation, though he kept his composure. “General Jack, I’ve just been informed my son Benjamin has gone missing in the Nelson system. His terminal has gone dark. I must ask that you locate him immediately.”

“Benjamin? What was he doing in Nelson?”

Jack’s brow furrowed.

The Prime Minister himself was livid at his son’s recklessness, but he couldn’t abandon him. His expression was all worry as he replied: “He heard Jesu was in Nelson and went to find him. You know, they’re about to be married. It’s only natural he wanted to visit his fiancé. But he’s too naive—he’s just a guide, it’s far too dangerous for him alone. General, you must ensure his safety. After all, he’ll soon be your brother-in-law.”

“I understand. You have my word.”

Once the line cut, Jack asked, “When is Jesu due to arrive?”

“General, according to the warship’s report a minute ago, twenty minutes.”

“See to the transfer of the prisoners. Don’t give them any chance for suicide. And watch Jesu closely—don’t let him cause trouble.”

With that, Jack ordered his adjutant to ready a ship. He would go find Benjamin himself.

The adjutant blinked in surprise. Jack explained: “Benjamin may only be a C-rank guide, but he’s the Prime Minister’s only son. Xiang Muchuan of the Empire has already found a 100% compatible guide—this puts us at a disadvantage. Litt Legion still needs the Prime Minister’s support. I won’t allow anything to derail this marriage.”

The adjutant understood instantly, promising he would keep Colonel Jesu in check.

He, too, knew that both Benjamin and Jesu loathed this marriage. If Jesu learned Benjamin had gone missing in Nelson, the selfish fool—who never thought of the family’s interests—might even use their influence to make Benjamin disappear without a trace.

Not long after Jack departed Tuth, Colonel Jesu’s warship arrived.

“Long live the Federation, long live freedom! This is Federation Free No. 444 requesting permission to land.”

“Confirmed. Permission granted.”

The Federation’s port ran smoothly, oblivious to the death they had just invited inside.

As the warship touched down, it suddenly went berserk.

Without warning, it surged forward, racing straight for the Litt Legion’s training base. Within moments, it was overhead. Then—the Empire’s anthem blared from its speakers.

“The Imperial anthem?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Shut it down, now!”

“No—there’s an Imperial spy aboard!”

“By the gods—it’s triggered the self-destruct system!!”

“Hurry! Alert the General—”

BOOM.

—“What happened?!”

The battleship Jack rode shuddered violently as it cleared Nelson’s gravity well, jerking him awake.

“No meteor storms detected, General. That energy surge came from Tuth,” his aide reported in confusion.

Such force could only come from a planetary explosion—but a planet exploding?

Impossible.

Jack’s expression hardened. “Turn back.”

When they returned at full speed, the self-destruction had already run its course. The Litt Legion’s base lay in ruins, white light still fading across the scorched wreckage.

And echoing in the void, looping endlessly was the Imperial Anthem:

“Brave men, tear apart the vile insects, drive them from the Empire’s lands.

Our faith united, our warriors unyielding.

Long live the Empire.”