The meeting didn’t last very long. After all, although the species of the giant insect had been determined, nobody had actually had contact with it.

And Luo Ran didn’t want Lucas to harm it for the time being, so the military department had not taken any action at present.

The giant insect was an EX1, which came from an unknown subterranean source, and the red lines on its back and on the surface of the UNK were made of energy from underground magma.

Presently, it had been determined that the insect came from the ground in the eastern part of Luobing. The excavation projects there were too frequent and deep, which even changed the geology, drawing the insect up.

EX1 was originally small in size, but it could absorb the energy of the land and the planet’s crust to make a hard shell for itself to protect it from enemies and magma. During the manufacturing process, it released radiant energy, just like humans breathed oxygen and released carbon dioxide.

This was the energy that changed the nature of stone, turning it into UNK.

Luo Ran had also evolved to 3S or above after absorbing the insect’s radiation, and his hair had genetically changed to silver.

Now that the First Prince had fallen, no one intended to harass the insect to produce UNK. And the Second Prince had handed over the decision to Lucas, who had the final say.

In the end, Lucas decided to go and see for himself, and Luo Ran insisted on following.

The two boarded the battleship and traveled to the cave where EX1 currently lived.

They were currently on the Luobing frontier where it met Empire territory, not far from Chonghua City.

The outskirts of Chonghua City, near the snowy mountain where Luo Ran and Kleiman discovered Cyril’s communicator before, was also the current stronghold of the star pirates. The new ice mine was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The giant insect had initially been discovered at the mountain, and it seemed that it hadn’t gone far and was still nearby.

It was also possible that the star pirates were mining a large amount of UNK nearby non-stop, and the energy fluctuation was so large that it interfered with the insect.

Luo Ran and Lucas were on the aircraft, and Luo Ran sighed: “EX1 may be the materialization of our greed. If we hadn’t exploited resources excessively, it wouldn’t have come up and caused so much trouble.”

“En.” Lucas said: “Follow me closely later, understand?”

“I understand.” Luo Ran said with a smile: “Admiral, I’ve said many times that I can still work and do things while pregnant. Don’t go without me just because of this.”

“I want to take care of you.” Lucas glared and said: “You’re really fragile now!”

“Aiya, we’re here.” Luo Ran changed the topic and pointed to the window.

It was getting dark outside as they slowly entered the cave.

Behind them followed a large platoon of troops, along with geological researchers.

The closer they got to the depths of the cave, the louder the sound of the detector was, sending out a warning.

Lucas and Luo Ran boarded a small, light aircraft and left the battleship.

As they went through a small passage, they saw a huge creature clinging to the stone wall of the cave, almost occupying the entire wall.

The giant insect had a square head, and just one of its feet was as big as Lucas’s small aircraft. On the back of the giant insect was a piece of hard armor covered with glowing crimson lines.

It seemed to be sleeping as it made its armor, the surrounding stones slowly turning silver.

—Rumble

The giant insect seemed to sense that there were outsiders, and its body moved.

Dust flew.

Then the insect rushed toward the aircraft where Luo Ran was.

? !

Although the insect was huge, its movements were not clumsy. It moved like a fighter.

But a creature that lived under magma couldn’t be clumsy.

Everyone was startled, but they had been ordered not to shoot at will, so they just kept alert and activated their weapons, ready to engage at any time.

The strange thing was that the insect didn’t attack them, but ran after Lucas and Luo Ran’s aircraft, trying to break the glass with its feet, as if trying to rob Lucas of Luo Ran.

Lucas controlled the aircraft, flexibly dodging the insect, and cursed in a low voice: “Fuck! It’s targeting you.”

“En.” Luo Ran frowned slightly.

“You have radiation in your body. It doesn’t want to eat you, does it?” Lucas cursed. “Retreat! Everyone retreat first!”

After the army retreated through the small passage, Lucas planned to catch up. This was a mine specially sought out by Lucas and the others to facilitate evacuation. Because it was so small, it would collapse and block the path if the insect caught up with them.

“Wait…..!”

Luo Ran had been carefully observing the insect.

Ever since Xhi Zhi mentioned EX1, Luo Ran had carefully memorized the insect’s behavior.

The insect could actually breathe fire to attack the enemy, and if it was in a state of rage and attacked, the lines on its back would be brighter and produce the energy of bursting flames.

Luo Ran pressed his temples tightly.

Perhaps because he was the one who absorbed the insect’s radiation to survive, he was a humanoid UNK, and could feel the insect’s emotions and thoughts.

“Admiral.” Luo Ran held Lucas’s hand and said: “Let’s jump out.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Trust me. Jump out.” Luo Ran said: “I wouldn’t lead you into a dangerous situation.”

“……..”

Lucas said: “Okay, I’ll switch the aircraft to spiritual driving mode. We’ll get out together.”

Lucas had absolute trust in Luo Ran.

“One……”

“Two……”

While dodging the insect’s attacks, Lucas cooperated with Luo Ran.

“Three!”

Boom! Suddenly, the two of them were ejected from the cabin, and their parachutes opened. At the same time, the glass of the aircraft was smashed by the insect’s feet, and fell into the dust with no one controlling it.

Lucas wasn’t worried. There were small passages here that the bug couldn’t reach, where he could hide with Luo Ran.

The insect stopped attacking after it realized that Luo Ran had landed on the ground, and just stared at him blankly.

Luo Ran couldn’t locate the insect’s eyes, but he could sense that he was being watched.

“……”

“……”

The surroundings were silent. A person and an insect stared at each other.

Lucas stood to the side with his hand on his weapon, on guard at all times.

After a while, Luo Ran stretched out his hand.

The insect stretched out its front leg.

Lucas: “……”

Luo Ran closed his eyes and felt carefully, then whispered: “It thinks I’m its child, and it wants to take me underground.”

The insect didn’t understand that the human body couldn’t withstand the temperature underground.

“Why?” Lucas frowned, feeling incredulous.

“Because I am the fruit of its ‘breeding.’”

“Then will it steal you?” Lucas didn’t move his hand from the gun on his waist.

“……I don’t know, I just know that it won’t hurt us or other humans.” Luo Ran touched the foot of the giant insect.

Luo Ran tried to take a couple of steps back.

The insect moved forward a little with a rustle.

And it stretched out its giant foot very lightly and slowly, perhaps in order not to disturb Luo Ran, and rested it on Lucas’s shoulder.

Lucas: “…….”

Lucas was also afraid of disturbing the insect, so he only frowned slightly and didn’t move.

Then the insect pushed Lucas away.

Away from Luo Ran.

Rather disdainfully.

Lucas: “……”

Luo Ran suppressed a smile and said: “Admiral…..we might have to force our way out.”

Although the insect wouldn’t hurt Luo Ran, it wanted to snatch him away, and a person couldn’t go underground.

Luo Ran tried to use his spiritual connection with the insect, but the insect couldn’t understand.

“Okay.” Lucas used the communicator attached to his ear to contact the people outside, and asked them to prepare the aircraft.

Wang Qiuyang led the team to sneak in silently. Soon after, Lucas put down the gun and raised his hand to knock down the insect without warning, then grabbed Luo Ran and rushed toward the small passage.

“Zhi—!”

The insect was huge, and was only stunned for a moment before catching up again.

The two jumped into the aircraft and rushed toward the exit.

“Zhi—!”

The passage collapsed with the insect inside, sealing it on the other side of the stone.

. . . . . . . .

This trip was quite rewarding. The researchers collected samples, which allowed them to conduct a deeper investigation, and Luo Ran found out the insect’s purpose. As for how it should be dealt with, they would have to wait for a detailed report from the researchers to see if there was any solution.

Once Lucas knew what was going on, he didn’t really want to kill the insect unless there was no other way.

“There’s this.”

On the battleship, Luo Ran smiled and took out a small plant from his pocket.

The leaves were light blue with a silvery gleam, soft and small.

“What is this?” Lucas frowned.

Luo Ran said: “This is a plant that grows in UNK caves. It’s the food I ate in the cave when I was young. I just remembered after seeing it.”

Luo Ran recalled what Xia Zhi had said before, that all things were born to balance each other.

There was no way to alleviate the side effects of UNK. He was a living person who had absorbed radiation but lived until now, and his spiritual strength had been injured because of Lucas, not because of the radiation. But during Luo Ran’s time in the cave, he did nothing other than drink the water in the cave and eat this plant.

“……En.”

Lucas thought to himself, this Luo Ran was quite capable…..as they were escaping the insect, he could bring such a thing with deft hands.

Luo ran handed the plant to the researchers, and only said with a smile: “Just wait for Xia Zhi’s test results.”

. . . . . . . .

After going back to rest, Lucas and Luo Ran went to visit Rong An, who was still recuperating in the battleship’s ward.

Rong Duo was also there.

She had originally not gone along with the army, but after hearing about her brother, she wanted to come and see him. Luo Ran made an exception and asked a team to escort her here so that she could take care of Rong An on the battleship.

When they pushed open the door, Luo Xingyuan was there.

“How was it?” Luo Xingyuan asked. “Did the trip go well?”

Luo Ran replied: “It was fine. We’ll wait for the test reports, and then have a meeting to make a decision.”

“Okay, don’t get too tired.” Luo Xingyuan glanced at Luo Ran’s stomach.

After hearing the news, Luo Xingyuan finally had a smile on his face, which had been gloomy due to the matter of Rong An for the past few days.

This was his precious little nephew or niece.

Rong Duo glanced at Rong An, who was leaning against the head of the bed. He had finally woken up after being in a coma for several days. Rong An’s face was half covered with bandages, and his eyes were red as he sat to the side.

As she held a pot of hot soup, Rong Duo’s shoulders shook as she began to cry.

“Gege…..”

Rong Duo swallowed and said: “I…..I…..”

“It’s okay.” Rong An said helplessly: “Xiao Duo, come here.”

“Wuwuwu……” Rong Duo said shakily: “I’m sorry, I seem to be..…hic…..wu…..”

“I’m really fine. Dr. Xia and the others said that I can also walk with prosthetics.” Rong An rubbed the top of Rong Duo’s hair and said: “Don’t cry, Secretary Luo is going to laugh at you.”

“Hiccup…..” Rong Duo leaned on Rong An’s shoulder and buried her head in his chest as she gasped.

“It’s all right.” Luo Ran smiled and said: “I haven’t formally thanked Adjutant Rong yet.”

Luo Ran bowed deeply to Rong An.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Lucas also said: “Thank you, Rong An.”

It was Rong An who protected his Luo Ran.

“It’s really okay.” Flattered, Rong An said: “Many other soldiers were injured more severely than me. I’m already doing well, it really doesn’t matter. Secretary Luo doesn’t need to think about it in the future, anyone would have done the same. This is my responsibility.”

“Thank you anyway.” Luo Ran said seriously: “I will definitely help you if you need anything in the future.”

“T-Then…..” Rong Duo was still very emotional at the moment, her cheeks red as she said: “Gege can’t continue to be an adjutant……”

Rong An was disabled now, and even if he could walk with prosthetic limbs, he could not longer perform the duties of an adjutant.

Rong Duo turned her head to look at Luo Ran with red and swollen eyes, and said: “Then, can Secretary Luo help send my brother to logistics?”

She knew that if Rong An lost his job in the military, he would be very upset.

Rong An immediately frowned, and stopped her: “Xiao Duo, we’ll handle this later…..”

“I’ll take care of him,” Luo Xingyuan said suddenly.

Rong Duo was taken aback, and so was Rong An.

Luo Xingyuan said earnestly: “Don’t worry, Xiao Duo. I’ll take care of your brother in the future. Even if he’s not an adjutant, I have many other civil servants by my side.”

“Ah…..?”

Rong An said with a frown: “You don’t need to…..”

“I said, I’ll take care of you in the future.” Luo Xingyuan disregarded Rong An, and just smiled at Rong Duo. “Is that okay?”

“…..O-Okay?” Rong Duo was stunned, and she realized that Luo Xingyuan’s care seemed to be more than just a superior’s care for a subordinate.

Rong Duo probably never thought in her life that she and Luo Ran would become in-laws.

. . . . . . .

After they left the room, Lucas rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“What is it, Admiral?”

Lucas said: “Rong An called your brother and you the informal ‘you.’”

“……”

Lucas turned his head and said sadly: “But you use ‘Admiral’ and the formal ‘you.’”^[1]

“……”

Luo Ran said helplessly: “It’s been so many years, I can’t change my words.”

“Then change them now.”

Lucas said with a straight face: “Call me by my name.”

Luo Ran hesitated for a moment, then said stiffly: “Lucas…..”

Lucas was like a lion who had eaten meat, and said happily: “Here!”

“…….”

“Call me again!”

“……Don’t make trouble.”

“Then call me gege.” Lucas blocked him against the wall and said fiercely: “Quick, call me Lucas-gege.”

“……”

Give him an inch, and he would take a mile.

“Lucas…..gege.” Luo Ran was very resigned, and said with red ears: “Okay, Admiral, there are people coming and going in the corridor.”

“Then you have to call me Lucas from now on. You can’t use the formal ‘you.’”

Luo Ran glanced at Lucas, and suddenly felt a bit like teasing him.

“Adm – Lucas.”

“En?”

“I use the formal ‘you’ because…..” Luo Ran said with a smile: “You are in my heart.”

“…….”

“Corny love talk. I learned it from you.” Luo Ran raised his eyebrows.

“…….”

The Imperial lion’s face turned red.

---

[1] Luo Ran refers to Lucas with the more respectful and formal you (您) rather than the informal you (你). ⮐

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Ninety << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety-Two