ASFTB 15: A Second Spring With Your Lover

With the help of his three-year-old child, Jian Chengxi finally managed to set up a small vegetable garden.

He hadn’t really done much farming before, but he was good at it. Before entering the orphanage, he had lived with his grandmother. Back then, she was already getting old, so the garden and fields in front of their house were tended entirely by him. The family was poor, but his grandmother treated him very well. Whatever good food they had, she always saved the first bite for him. Those days were hard, but they were the happiest time of Jian Chengxi’s life.

So he wasn’t afraid of hardship.

What he feared was being alone again, returning to a life of relying on others and having to watch their moods.

As long as he could be with his family, as long as they were by his side, he wasn’t afraid of anything. Starting over was nothing—life is something you live through. As long as there’s hope in your heart, things will always get better!

Jian Chengxi broke open the soil with a hoe.

Li Suisui followed behind, burying fruit pits and patting the soil back in place.

Jian Chengxi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Tomorrow Daddy will go up the mountain to take a look. We’ll try planting a row of fruit saplings over there. If they actually bear sweet fruit, then Suisui and your gege will have something tasty to eat.”

He thought the child would surely be delighted.

But to his surprise—

Li Suisui stood on the dark soil, her fair little face showing a flicker of hope. “Suisui can eat sweet fruit too?”

Jian Chengxi nodded. “Of course you can!”

The smile on Li Suisui’s face didn’t last long. She quickly pressed her lips together, lowered her head, and her voice grew soft. “Suisui won’t eat any.”

Jian Chengxi was stunned. He asked her, “Why? Don’t you like them, Suisui?”

There’s no child who doesn’t like sweet fruit.

Li Suisui glanced at her brother not far away. Her tiny figure looked a little fragile in the wind. At her father’s question, she replied softly, “Sweet fruit can be sold for money. Suisui and gege can pick fruit and work the fields. We won’t trouble Daddy.”

Jian Chengxi froze.

There were no words to describe the complex wave of emotions rising in his heart at that moment.

He tossed the hoe aside, walked over, crouched down, and looked the little girl in the eyes, asking with a pained expression, “Suisui, who taught you to say things like that?”

The little girl looked at Jian Chengxi in surprise, as if a bit timid, and replied, “Back then, when there were sweeter fruits at home, Daddy said we weren’t allowed to sneak any. He said raising Suisui and gege was already a burden, and we still wanted to eat fruit that could be sold…”

Jian Chengxi couldn’t hold back and blurted out, “What?!”

How could the original father be so shameless!

The fruit was picked by those two young children, and after bringing it back, he still didn’t let them eat any?

How could someone so selfish even deserve to be a parent?!

It was truly hard to imagine what kind of people these two children would have become if they had continued growing up under the original father’s care!

Li Suisui looked fearfully at Jian Chengxi’s twisted expression, her childish voice cautiously asking, “Daddy, what’s wrong…”

Jian Chengxi quickly realized he had lost control of his emotions. He cleared his throat and said, “Suisui, those things, they were all nonsense I said before. From now on, if you and your brother want to eat, eat as much as you like!”

Li Suisui asked tentatively, “Even the sweet fruit?”

A bright smile spread across Jian Chengxi’s face as he nodded. “Yes!”

“You and your gege are still little, and this is when you’re growing. How could you not eat good food?” Jian Chengxi looked at his well-behaved, sensible daughter with deep affection and said, “You don’t need to worry about money. Once Daddy starts making money, we’ll fix up the treehouse, build a bigger house that doesn’t leak, and our whole family will be able to live a much better life!”

A gust of wind blew in from afar, rustling the hems of their clothes.

Li Suisui stared at Jian Chengxi without blinking, as if she wanted to etch this moment of him into her heart forever.

The little girl threw herself into Jian Chengxi’s arms, her crisp voice ringing like a silver bell. “Really?”

Jian Chengxi nodded firmly, hugging her with a smile. “Of course!”

The dusk light fell gently as the sun set, casting a golden glow over them and stretching their shadows long. Standing in the freshly planted vegetable garden, the scene looked especially warm and peaceful. But the smile on the little girl’s face, held in her father’s arms, slowly faded, and her eyes darkened—deep and unreadable.

It wasn’t real.

What Daddy always talked about, what he constantly dreamed of, was going back to Sky City.

His desk and drawers were full of photos and documents about Sky City. He had never let go.

It was all fake.

A liar. A big liar.

Li Suisui buried her face in Jian Chengxi’s chest, but her frail little hands clutched tightly at his clothes, as if by doing so, she could somehow hold on to something.

As expected, what she hated most was Daddy.

…

The next day

After days of thunderstorms and heavy rain, the weather finally cleared up.

Jian Chengxi’s little saplings were growing well. Today, he planned to go into town and sell some regular fruit. There was barely any money left at home. Normally, they could get by eating fruit, but Li Chen’s leg injury still hadn’t healed, and he absolutely couldn’t go without nutrient solution. Though Jian Chengxi didn’t think much of his own abilities, no matter how poor they were, he wouldn’t let the kids suffer.

The street was especially lively today, with news and pamphlets being handed out everywhere.

Jian Chengxi asked the auntie at the neighboring stall, “Is there some big news lately?”

The auntie gave him a glance but didn’t respond.

Ever since Jian Chengxi had a public argument with someone from A-Hu’s family at the market, the villagers had started shunning him. A-Hu’s family was related to the village chief and was much more popular than Jian Chengxi ever was.

Seeing the auntie stay silent, Jian Chengxi figured he might as well drop it. But just as he was about to walk away, the auntie spoke up. “You really don’t know? It’s that young girl who runs the clothing shop up front—her fiancé came back. The young man earned military honors and is now a second lieutenant in the army. He’s already taken the whole family up to Sky City to enjoy a good life.”

Above the dilapidated underground city, there was a sky city made up of floating islands.

There, people enjoyed the most prosperous, advanced, and comfortable way of life. No one had to worry about leaking or collapsing houses, didn’t have to eat unpleasant fruit, wore the best clothes, and enjoyed the highest privileges.

Jian Chengxi sighed and said, “That’s nice.”

The auntie gave him a glance and snorted, “Aren’t you involved with that Wang Zhe guy? His whole family’s moving soon, won’t they take you with them?”

Jian Chengxi immediately explained, “I have nothing to do with him anymore. Where they move to has nothing to do with me. Sky City is great, sure, but my kids are here. I’m not going anywhere.”

The auntie was visibly stunned, looking at Jian Chengxi with a hint of unfamiliarity in her eyes, as if she didn’t recognize this version of him.

Jian Chengxi went back to selling his fruit without saying anything more.

Instead, the auntie leaned in and said, “You really have nothing to do with Wang Zhe anymore?”

Jian Chengxi nodded. “That’s right.”

“Then you did the right thing. That Wang Zhe kid might look decent, but his character’s no good. Gambles all the time.” The auntie suddenly seemed a lot warmer toward Jian Chengxi. She continued, “Actually, I think you made the right call not staying with him. My husband works at the broadcast station, and he just picked up a little piece of insider news.”

Once you get on the inside, that’s when you start hearing the real underground intel.

Jian Chengxi asked curiously, “What kind of intel?”

The auntie leaned in mysteriously and whispered, “I heard that the thunderstorm a few days ago wasn’t natural at all. It was caused by a wormhole anomaly outside our planet. That night, the Zerg soldiers rioted, and our control towers detected a faint signal from one of the countless black holes the Zerg were hiding in. It was the pheromone signature of an orc going into mental rampage from our planet.”

Jian Chengxi was stunned. “From inside a black hole!?”

“You didn’t know, did you? Three years ago, our planet actually sent out a special force to wipe out the Zerg. That force had over two hundred thousand people, but half a month later, they all vanished.” The auntie grabbed Jian Chengxi’s hand and continued, “It was the disappearance of that unit that led to our planet’s military being drastically weakened. The Mother Tree—our divine tree—suffered serious pollution and destruction. Many died, and many more were injured. Later, Archangel Mirage led everyone in pouring the entire planet’s resources into building the electric grid we have now. Only then were we barely able to hold off the Zerg invasion.”

Jian Chengxi asked, “So they’re dead?”

“We all thought so, but some people believe they’re not.” The auntie held onto Jian Chengxi’s hand and continued, “Didn’t your man leave three years ago too? If they really come back, even if you don’t expect him to be some impressive officer like a second lieutenant, even if he came back missing an arm or a leg, that would still count as military merit. You’d be in luck.”

Jian Chengxi didn’t like the sound of that and immediately stood up for himself. “Auntie, what are you saying? Why would he be missing an arm or a leg? Don’t look down on people like that. So what if someone else’s man is a second lieutenant, maybe mine’s a general.”

The auntie chuckled and teased, “You really know how to dream.”

“……”

…

Deep within a cosmic wormhole

The land was lifeless, shrouded in eternal darkness, the air thick with a sharp, metallic scent of blood.

“General, are you alright?!”

A voice, anxious and filled with concern, rang out from behind.

The deputy general rushed over with the troops behind him, only to be stunned by the scene before him. Zerg corpses littered the ground, and the once-powerful mechs lay shattered into pieces before the man.

A blade gleaming with cold light was drawn back, splashing a few streaks of blood across Li Lingfeng’s face. His eyes were frighteningly cold.

The most terrifying thing should have been the brutal, mangled corpses scattered across the field.

Yet at that moment, as everyone looked at the cold-faced man standing in a pool of blood like a resurrected god of slaughter, a chill of fear rose unbidden from deep within.

Li Lingfeng said calmly, “What is it?”

“Just as you predicted, they really were ambushing us from the south. Luckily, we were prepared. The alchemic serum you created completely neutralizes the Zerg’s miasma. We barely took any damage and have basically wiped out the enemy!” The deputy general grew more excited as he spoke. “Now that the Zerg have suffered heavy losses and the black hole they created has started to crack, should we strike while the iron is hot and pursue them?”

Li Lingfeng took off his blood-soaked cape, revealing a powerfully built frame, and said in a deep voice, “Call off the pursuit. Set up camp where we are.”

The deputy general asked in confusion, “Why?”

Li Lingfeng lifted his eyelids and gave him a glance, speaking with concise clarity, “If we pursue now, the Zerg King will be killed for sure. But will their reinforcements still come?”

The deputy froze for a moment, then it all clicked.

Right—if the Zerg King dies, the Zerg outside the black hole won’t come through. They would lose the chance to wipe them out in one strike, and the black hole would never fully collapse. As expected of a general, Li Lingfeng had once again shown why he was worthy of that title. In all these years, through countless storms and battles, the deputy had seen many commanders, but the only one he truly admired was Li Lingfeng.

Decisive and ruthless, yet meticulous to the finest detail.

What was even more terrifying was that this man wasn’t just a genius in combat and mecha, he was also unmatched in the field of alchemy.

Without his leadership, they might have been completely wiped out in the very first year inside the wormhole.

The deputy turned around and shouted, “All units, pass down the General’s orders—set up camp immediately. Transmit the message to all fronts. Halt the advance, rest and regroup before the next move!”

The once leaderless army dared not defy the General’s command.

All units halted at once and got to work setting up where they stood.

They had been here for three years, and everyone had grown used to the monotonous life inside the wormhole. During downtime, all they could do was chat about home.

The deputy brought over some food and handed it to Li Lingfeng. “General, would you like something to eat?”

Li Lingfeng shook his head indifferently.

The deputy knew this man was terrifyingly powerful, but even more so was the fact that he seemed to lack any emotion at all. He was cold and detached like an unfeeling machine. After three years away from home, regular soldiers would often miss their families, but Li Lingfeng had never mentioned anything of the sort. It was as if he didn’t have a family, no wife or children waiting for him. His thoughts were so deep, they were impossible to read.

The deputy gathered his focus and reported, “Lately we’ve pushed the Zerg King into a frenzy, and the black hole’s started to crack. Our signal might finally reach the home planet. I was thinking, if our families find out we’re still alive, they’d be overjoyed. Especially your family, General—if they knew how incredible you are now, they’d be thrilled!”

Li Lingfeng gave him a cold sideways glance.

Just that one glance made the deputy feel an immediate sense of mortal danger. He quickly cut off the topic and slipped away with a random excuse.

In the vast, silent expanse of the wormhole, the lively sounds of soldiers bustling about echoed in the distance. Li Lingfeng thought about what the deputy had just said and felt a wave of bitter irony in his heart.

Happy?

Jian Chengxi would probably just cry.

After all, he and his beloved little lover were in perfect harmony and already planning to run away together. How could he possibly be happy to see him again?

At the thought of his past-life lover cheating on him with that damned man, a stormy, murderous glint gathered in Li Lingfeng’s eyes. This time, he would return earlier than he did in his previous life. The idea of eloping with some other man? Jian Chengxi better not even dream of it.

Beep

A chime from the communication terminal rang out in his mind.

It was a message from the Empire.

In less than half a month, Jian Chengxi—who used to go half a year or more without sending a single word—had actually messaged him again?

In his past life, Jian Chengxi had never shown any concern for him, not even once.

Could it be…

That the Jian Chengxi in this life was different from the one in the last?

Slowly lifting his head, the dim light of the wormhole cast shadows over the silver mech armor. The man’s face remained cold and stern, but deep inside, a faint trace of anticipation rose in his heart. With a swift motion, he tapped open the message bracelet, and the first thing he saw on the message panel was:

“Are you there?”

[Message retracted]

“Are you dead or what?”

[Message retracted]

It looked like he was struggling to figure out what exactly to say. Just a few seconds later, a new message appeared on the panel:

“Still alive?”

Li Lingfeng stared at the string of sent-then-retracted messages. Even though he knew it might not be genuine concern, the icy chill in his eyes seemed to melt just a little. At the very least, Jian Chengxi hadn’t completely forgotten him and there was still some care about whether he lived or died. Maybe he could consider being a little less harsh when he returned. He could let Jian Chengxi off the hook, he would just deal with the lover and be done with it.

Just as he was thinking that—

[Message retracted]

After a few minutes of silence, a new message slowly popped up on the panel:

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. Bad luck, go away. Rest in peace, dear ex-husband, may you sleep well. Just pretend I never sent anything. Don’t worry about us—I’ll be starting a fresh new life.”

“……”

A new life?

A second spring with that lover?

Heh.

Li Lingfeng stared at the message on the panel, the trace of amusement in his eyes slowly fading away.

As expected, he had been far too soft on him.