CAT Chapter 21: Lost In Space (3)

Ling Yi had woken up early.

In fact, he had very good habits. Unless there was a mission, he would always go to bed early and wake up when the sun was about to rise.

Today, dust choked the basin, smearing the sunrise into a hazy glow. Even the Voyager’s silhouette, usually faintly etched in the clouds, had vanished behind the grit.

Ling Yi was very annoyed.

He withdrew his gaze from the window and returned to his room.

This room was extremely simple—or rather, almost shabby, with steel furniture, a bed, and pure white blankets and sheets, nothing else.

Every room in the base had this style because this planet had nothing but iron.

Ling Yi had seen some wooden items on the spaceship—very light and warm. He had heard that there were many such things on Earth, but since the Voyager began its journey, no other planets had been found to have even a single-celled organism, let alone trees. Therefore, almost all the products they used now were made of steel, and the entire city was composed of silver-gray and white.

He dressed, smoothed the sheets, and watered the cat grass by the window.

That tuft of green was the room’s sole decoration in the otherwise steel-room. Zheng Shu had given the seeds to Lin Si, who passed them to Ling Yi—a living relic from a time when organic things still existed.

Zheng Shu loved this little grass very much, and Lin Si said it was in memory of his late fiancée.

Ling Yi stood by the window, looking at the cat grass in the beaker, easily remembering how, when he had first woken up, he had been angry with Lin Si and killed his grass.

He smiled slightly, his eyes bending. He flicked the tips of the grass, and stared blankly at the sky.

He knew he had a very good memory, remembering many details about his time with Lin Si, and also with others, but only during these three years—before he woke up, everything was still a blank.

Lin Si explained that during his mutation, his neurons had undergone regrowth, and the original memory circuits had been disrupted or even destroyed. This was, theoretically, an irreversible form of forgetting, just as people rarely remember things that happened before they were three years old.

He remembered having vague dreams about Earth when he first woke up, but in these three years, such dreams hadn’t appeared again.

Ling Yi was a little troubled. He really wanted to know more about his past, but it seemed no one on the entire spaceship recognized him from before, and he couldn’t find any information about himself in the database. It was just like how he couldn’t find anything related to Lin Si’s past, no matter how hard he searched.

He opened a tube of nutrients, bit the soft hose, and walked out the door. There were no patrol tasks today, just training.

The military base in the city was a semicircular structure, but in the past year, everyone had somewhat coincidentally become passive.

The colonel was playing a snake game and greeted him when he entered, “Good morning, Xiao LingLing.”

“Good morning, Colonel.” Ling Yi walked over and set the parameters for the battle robot.

As one of the warlike individuals, the colonel stretched his joints and sighed, “Still no aliens coming to attack us. I’m so bored I could rot.”

Svenya sneered, “Boss, if you’re so bored, you can fight Ling Yi and see.”

“Can’t win, can’t win.” The colonel leaned back in his chair, his arm resting over his eyes. “Why does everything feel so dull… When we were on the spaceship, there was at least something to look forward to.”

He had just finished speaking, waiting for someone to agree with him, when he saw that Ling Yi, who had been dismantling the combat robot, looked toward the door. “Lin Si’s here.”

Everyone had long been used to his keen perception, but recently, this ability had become even more exaggerated, especially when it came to Lin Si.

Life at the base was incredibly boring, which gave the colonel and Svenya plenty of time to observe Ling Yi. They noticed that Ling Yi didn’t even need to rely on hearing or sight to know when Lin Si was nearby, just like now. Even though Lin Si was outside the base, separated by a layer of thick walls, a normal person wouldn’t be able to sense anything.

But Ling Yi could feel it, and he was always accurate. Now, even the pheromone theory didn’t hold, and it could only be explained as intuition.

The colonel opened the training hall door and, as expected, saw a silver-white shuttle approaching.

The shuttle arrived at the door and slowly stopped, its side door opening.

The temperature difference between day and night on the ground was vast, and it was very cold in the morning. Therefore, Lin Si wasn’t wearing his usual white shirt but a black long coat over a light beige turtleneck sweater. His tall, graceful figure, always poised and elegant, made him look outstanding in anything he wore.

As a beautiful and romantic woman, Bethy had impeccable taste, so she had made sure that both Lin Si and Ling Yi were dressed appropriately. The only regret was that Lin Si wasn’t the kind of person who stood out for his clothes, and most people found it hard to even scrutinize his appearance up close.

Lin Si didn’t have much combat ability, but he had strong aggression. As soon as you met those frosty eyes, your momentum would involuntarily weaken, and you’d be dominated by him. After three years, this quality had become more pronounced. When he arrived, even if he didn’t intend to speak, people would instinctively fall silent.

Ling Yi, on the other hand, was very popular, and people would naturally approach him to talk. If both of them appeared in a crowd, they would both become the focal point, but the type of attention they drew was different. People would gravitate toward Ling Yi, while they would stay far away from Lin Si.

At this moment, Ling Yi, who had just finished taking down the robot with precision, turned toward the door.

“Lin Si!”

Lin Si, noticing the clear happiness in Ling Yi’s eyes, softened slightly.

At this age, children change almost every day. After about three months of not seeing him, Ling Yi had grown a little more, losing some of his previous delicate, fragile appearance and replacing it with the lively and playful demeanor of a young boy. However, his incredible personality remained unchanged. Now that the child had grown up, there was no longer the same cooing affection he used to show, no more leaning on Lin Si’s chest to snuggle.

If it had been three years ago, after not seeing him for so long, the little one would have definitely pounced on him and nuzzled into his arms. Now, he could only speak.

“How’s everything?” Lin Si asked calmly.

Ling Yi nodded obediently, “I’ve been training hard every day and studying… Have you been busy these past few days?”

“Not too bad,” Lin Si replied, “I’m taking you back today.”

Ling Yi tilted his head, “Just for one night again?”

“This time, it’s a collaborative project,” Lin Si explained. “You might have to stay with me for a long time.”

Ling Yi was very happy and eagerly agreed, clearly in a good mood, like a student anticipating the start of summer vacation on Earth.

Lin Si was very familiar with the situation of the “Limitless” 200 people. In a short time, he had selected fifty candidates and sent them to the small shuttle bound for the Voyager.

As the testing scale gradually expanded, others would also participate in the project.

The colonel once again traveled with Ling Yi and Lin Si on the same shuttle, watching the awkward conversation between the two.

“How’s the training?”

“Nothing special, just the daily plan. You want the data?”

“No need.” Lin Si’s voice was calm.

Ling Yi asked again, “Are you still working on the project with Zheng Shu and Tang Ning?”

“Mm.”

“Mrs. Casalan asked me to pass on her greetings. She said she’s your elder.”

“I remember her.”

The textbook conversation continued, and the colonel couldn’t bear to listen anymore. He resumed playing his snake game, completely engrossed.

Ling Yi noticed this too, becoming a little upset. The happiness he had felt earlier disappeared, and his beautiful brows furrowed as he leaned back in his seat, refusing to talk to Lin Si anymore.

Lin Si watched him for a moment and smirked, “Come here.”

Ling Yi thought he was starting to get into a quarrel with Lin Si and couldn’t just go over obediently.

So, he reluctantly approached.

Then Lin Si dragged him over and gently rubbed his head for a while, and Ling Yi angrily thought, “Fine, I’ll temporarily forgive him this time.”

But forgiveness was one thing. The score still needed to be settled.

He found a suitable angle, lay down on the seat with his head resting on Lin Si’s thigh, and gave Lin Si a dramatically fierce glare. “Do you not love me anymore?!”