Chapter 42: The Admiral and the Secretary Test Their Compatibility

The forum went crazy that night.

The Imperial fleet returned after obtaining victory, and both the Imperial citizens and its starnet exploded.

Another victory!

And the harvest was quite good. It was rumoured that they even had to transfer another battleship from the nearby B648 to hold all the captured pirates.

Both the officers and soldiers passionately described the day’s events.

There were quite a few soldiers who also excitedly talked about how Secretary Luo was so strong, so clever, how he was the admiral’s best support despite it being his first time on the battlefield, and of the deep bond of trust between the admiral and secretary.

@My Lucky Day: As a low-level military officer, I was fortunate enough to see that the colour of the admiral’s battleship and Secretary Luo’s hair are the same — what does this mean? Secretary Luo is the admiral’s strongest strength and his strongest shield! Secretary Luo is the admiral’s wife! Secretary Luo is very important to the admiral! Ah, it’s a wonderful love!!!

@Lu Cheng the Adjutant: Too amazing! No need to discuss at all! Secretary Luo whooshed and knew what the admiral was thinking! They worked together like duang duang duang! I can’t talk about the specifics, I can only say that they trust each other a lot! They handed their lives to each other on the battlefield!

Once, Secretary Luo risked using himself as bait, and boom! The enemy hit Secretary Luo’s fighter, but our Secretary Luo’s skills were brilliant! He escaped early, then boom! The admiral blew the enemy to smithereens! Then! Lion 01 stretched out his hand! And caught Secretary Luo’s escape pod! A big palm held a small escape pod!

Ah! A wonderful love!

@Autumn Sun, Winter Rain: I saw it! When everything was over, the admiral and the secretary hugged in the hangar! They whispered to each other, and Secretary Luo even got on tiptoe and kissed the admiral! Everyone exploded! Secretary Luo’s face was super red! The admiral looked serious, but in the end he couldn’t hold back his smile! An absolutely wonderful love!

@Lone Wanderer: With one hand, the admiral held the secretary’s waist, and on the other, he touched his forehead to his mecha. He guards the hallowed land with his mecha, and surrounds his lover with his body. A wonderful love!

The Empire immersed itself in revelry.

They revelled in their victory, in the trust and love between Secretary Luo and their admiral.

Everyone looked forward to it too much. They hoped to see Lucas and Luo Ran get married, to leave an excellent descendant for the Empire who would be a perfect heir to the army and continuously guard the Empire.*

Their names represented victory and hope for a good life.

However, the people involved had no idea this was happening.

In a corridor of the battleship.

Luo Ran followed behind Lucas through a meeting, sorted data, decided on a route… After everything was done and Lucas was walking expressionlessly to his room, it was already deep into the night cycle.

Luo Ran followed silently. When he saw that there wasn’t any official business, he stopped. “Take a good rest, Admiral, I’ll go back first.”

“Wait.” Lucas ordered, “Stay there, don’t move.”

Luo Ran: “…”

What should come still came.

Luo Ran stiffened his spine and endured his shame as he tried his best to keep his tone calm. “I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intention to do it back then, my apologies, I’ll pay attention next time.”

Lucas hated physical contact. Apart from his earlier rut, he could only stand a few light touches after they’d worked together for several years. Now, with this kiss… Lucas wouldn’t feel disgusted, right?

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Luo Ran explained. “It’s my first time here and I was caught up in everyone’s excitement, so I suddenly lost my wits for a while. I don’t have any other thoughts.”

“No need to explain.” Lucas thought to himself, Isn’t it just that you like me so much that you lost control?

Tsk. This little fool. The more he covered it up, the more obvious it was.

“Admiral, I…”

“Okay, you don’t need to say it.” Lucas looked sideways at Luo Ran with a smiling face full of doting, as if he’d seen through everything. “I’ll allow it.”

He was even a bit similar to the description in Nana’s stories — with his eyes curved up, he looked three parts cool, three parts arrogant, and four parts indifferent.

…Allow it?

Luo Ran was a little confused.

Did he mean… he didn’t mind it?

Repeating his words, Luo Ran said, “Admiral, what happened was a misunderstanding, please forget it as soon as possible.”

Lucas frowned slightly.

What’s he doing now?

Playing hard to get?

He sneered, then grabbed Luo Ran’s wrist and pressed him against the window.

“Luo Ran.”

“…” Luo Ran watched Lucas nervously.

“You’re really…”

Trying to play tricks again!

But then Lucas remembered what Zhou Mingkai said. He couldn’t do this, Zhou Mingkai reminded him, with Luo Ran’s high self-esteem, he couldn’t expose him.

Then thinking of what Shen Xiluo said… Forget it, they as alpha had to be more tolerant of their beta and omega.

Lucas generously chose to condone Luo Ran’s insidious scheming.

“Try another kiss,” Lucas said, unsubtly changing the subject.

Luo Ran: “…”

Luo Ran felt like dying on the spot, or digging a hole and crawling in. “Admiral, I am sincerely apologising, it really was a moment of impulse! I…”

His eyes widened.

Because… Lucas bowed his head and gently kissed him.

Luo Ran froze as soon as pressure met his lips. He was completely unable to react, not understanding why things developed in this way.

“Give it back to you.” Lucas smiled and raised his eyebrow. “You can try next time.”

Then he turned and walked away.

Luo Ran: “…”

Even as Lucas’ back faded out of sight, Luo Ran still stood there in a daze.

It was completely out of his expectations.

Incredible, unparalleled in the world.

Luo Ran’s face burst into flames, and the fire even spread to his ears and neck.

Although Luo Ran knew that Lucas didn’t mean anything by it, and was merely taking revenge in his straight man way, he still felt extremely… ashamed.

Elsewhere, after Lucas returned to his room and made sure there was no one around, he excitedly gave the wall a hard punch.

Holy shit!

Luo Ran kissed him, and he kissed back!

Lucas’ ears were also a little red.

Holy shit!

Why was his secretary like this? Just because he was beautiful, handsome, cool, had both a perfect figure and perfect personality, and was amazing even on the battlefield, he played with his feelings at will.

And…

Lucas found that ever since he watched Shen Xiluo’s damn video, he didn’t seem to be able to look straight at Luo Ran. He hadn’t felt anything before, but it was different now that they were done with work, especially just now when he shackled Luo Ran for an instant.

His mind became a mess as soon as he saw Luo Ran.

It felt much too disrespectful towards Luo Ran, and seemed especially… immoral and unethical!

Lucas, sitting on the edge of his bed, frowned and resisted the urge to give Shen Xiluo a punch.

Just because of that depraved pervert, he, a dignified admiral of the Empire, had his mind filled with this trash!

…Speaking of.

Lucas suddenly felt very impatient. He wanted to quickly return to the capital and get Luo Ran to step up his investigation.

Who the hell was the omega that night?!

He took off his jacket, annoyed.

When can I fix this!

As a result, neither Lucas nor Luo Ran slept that night.

* * *

The fleet leisurely cruised their way back to the Empire and officially arrived two days later.

As the battleships made their way to the military camp, the Empire’s blue sky was covered with fireworks.

Except for the battleships’ flight path, the entire sky was filled with them.

The citizens, knowing that the army would be coming home today, had bought the fireworks in advance to welcome their heroic admiral’s return.

Gorgeous, colourful flowers bloomed among the clouds.

They competed with the sun for radiance.

It was also the first time for Luo Ran to be standing inside a battleship during this event. With him being so close, it felt as if he were in a sea of flowers.

Luo Ran suddenly felt a bit proud.

He felt proud of Lucas.

“We’re back,” Wang Qiuyang commented with a grin. He and Lu Cheng stood beside Luo Ran. “We’re back safe.”

The three of them watched the fireworks together, feeling a bit strange.

Previously, Wang Qiuyang had thought that he wouldn’t be able to come back, and even planned to exchange his and his brothers’ lives for time.

Yet things turned out unexpectedly well.

“Yeah.” Luo Ran smiled back. “Next, we need to start preparing for Adjutant Lu’s wedding with Prince Andika.”

Lu Cheng’s face flushed. “Ah… yes, yes.”

Lucas and Luo Ran soon became very busy, to the point that Luo Ran wanted to split himself into two.

Although Lu Cheng’s wedding arrangements were mostly handled by the Imperial government and Luobing’s royal family, he nonetheless had a military identity, so Luo Ran was also partially responsible.

A new batch of UNK had arrived safely in the Empire. The Imperial family and the Council took the opportunity to establish a new department — the UNK Special Research Institute — and transferred Xia Zhi, who was the first to successfully refine UNK, all the researchers and omega involved with UNK at the research institute, and their corresponding medical staff… all the relevant personnel were transferred. It instantly became the most important project of the Empire.

Apart from this, Luo Ran also had to take care of his usual military and company work, as well as the many documents which piled up during his and Lucas’ trip.

And with Luobing and the Empire’s renewed talks, everything happened to collide.

Marriage: between Lu Cheng and the little prince.

Changes to the contract: the Empire didn’t intend to let Luobing take cheap advantages.

Unusually, Lucas spoke up at the meeting.

The original contract was to exchange one ton of ore for five tons of food. Now, with the UNK as it was, Luobing requested to reduce the ore by a third, and — since the UNK was so precious — to increase the food to at least seven tons.

The lion opened its mouth, because UNK was indeed rare.

After Lucas and the Council discussed amongst themselves, they made a decision.

“One third less ore, no problem,” Lucas said with crossed arms and legs.

The Luobing envoys immediately became happy.

“The Empire can also ensure the safety of all future UNK ore transports.”

The envoys were even happier.

He continued, “It’s no problem to add two tons of food, the Empire can even give up to ten tons.”

Now, the envoys and princes who were observing the meeting began to feel that something was wrong. Luobing’s eldest prince furrowed his brows. “Conditions?” he asked.

Lucas smirked. “Luobing’s army will merge with the Imperial army.”

In other words, Luobing would become a true vassal state of the Empire, and all its military assets would be under the Empire’s control.

The prince’s expression froze.

Lucas raised his eyebrow. “You can refuse, but then the Empire won’t care shit about escorting the UNK.”

Those hyperlanes were all fought for by Lucas, inch by inch. If they lost the Empire’s protection, it was easy to imagine how the interstellar pirates would covet the UNK.

In this operation, after Lucas withdrew from the southeast hyperlane, Luobing lost quite a lot of their UNK and could only seek help from the Empire. Thankfully for them, Lucas left some people there to oppose the pirates, otherwise they would’ve lost even the little bit left.

It was a plain slap in the face.

Without the Empire, Luobing wouldn’t even be able to export UNK.

“Please let us… consider it again,” Luobing’s eldest prince sighed heavily.

* * *

After the meeting ended, Zhou Mingkai asked curiously, “Will they agree?”

“Yes,” Luo Ran replied with a smile.

Because they had no other choice.

This operation was the proof.

“So what if they don’t agree. We won’t die without the UNK, but if they don’t have food, hmph.” Lucas crossed his arms, full of arrogance.

Luo Ran, chuckling lightly, was about to say something when he saw Princess Lillia and Eldest Prince Zhou Mingyu approaching them.

Luo Ran: “…”

Luo Ran and Zhou Mingkai, who knew what was going on, started to have headaches.

“Admiral…!” Lillia cheerily skipped over. “My royal father wants us to try again! At least, we at least have to use the compatibility scanner first, right?”

Andika’s wedding would take place in just half a month and he instantly became the most important person among the Luobing royal family. With a previously inconspicuous illegitimate child suddenly stepping on her head, Lillia no longer cared about Lucas, nor did she care about liking Luo Ran, she just wanted to marry! And she had to marry someone more powerful than that Adjutant Lu!

Lucas’ expression instantly twisted, as if he’d eaten shit. “The fuck we’re trying, scram!”

Shivering, Lillia ducked behind Zhou Mingyu. “Y-you promised my royal father!” she said to him.

Zhou Mingyu let out a sigh, then looked at Lucas and Luo Ran. “This… I can’t do anything about it, it’s just going to the compatibility scanner to take a look, Admiral, we might as well try it?”

Since Zhou Mingyu already came forward, Luo Ran could only say, “Admiral, let’s have a try.” Then he added in a lower voice, “Do it once to cut off Luobing’s hopes, then they’ll never bother Admiral again.”

After swearing a few times under his breath, Lucas reluctantly agreed.

* * *

At the Empire’s compatibility scanner.

The compatibility scanner was just a small machine with a platform that could only hold a few people, and was built beneath the Empire’s tree of longevity.

Later generations didn’t deliberately modify it after its construction, instead leaving it largely as it was. They only added a large screen to the tree trunk to display the results.

The tree of longevity was a centuries-old tree that towered towards the sky and grew so wide that it needed several full grown men to encircle it.

Because of this, its branches were covered with red ribbons bearing names, all of which represented the wishes of many pairs of lovers.

It was a very romantic place.

“Admiral, don’t look so reluctant, and keep your mouth shut,” Luo Ran whispered to Lucas. “Look, a lot of people are here to watch the show.”

Knowing that Lucas was going to brave the compatibility scanner again, many enthusiastic people — normal citizens and nobles alike — were here to watch the fun.

Lucas rolled his eyes.

Then he and Lillia went up and stood on the platform.

Beep– Beep–

“Starting calculations…”

“Progress: 10%, 20%…”

* * *

“100%, calculations are complete.”

Everyone looked up at the screen.

“…”

Test results for Lucas Aldor and Lillia Grande:

-78%

There was also a line of automatic system comments at the bottom: work harder, you’ll find someone better in the future.

Lillia was stunned.

When she first saw this number, she thought that out of a perfect 100% score, she got 78%, which could be a record high, because it was difficult for ordinary people to pass 50%. But before she could scream with joy, she saw the ‘-’.

Lillia: “…”

The people below couldn’t help but laugh.

Luo Ran helplessly shook his head. As expected.

“No, no way…! Ugh…” Lillia cried unwillingly, still staring at the screen. “I-It must be because we stood in the wrong place! Admiral, come closer!”

Lillia stretched out her hand to drag Lucas over.

“Scram!”

Lucas was very annoyed, he’d already made a compromise to come at all. Now that Lillia wanted to touch him, Lucas, who was extremely disgusted by physical contact with outsiders, instantly erupted and viciously slapped her hand away.

With Lucas’ strength, he easily pushed a petite girl like Lillia quite a few steps away even if he didn’t intend to use force.

When Luo Ran, who stood below the platform, saw that Lillia was about to fall over, he immediately jumped up and supported her.

What a joke, if people knew that the Empire’s admiral pushed Luobing’s princess off the platform, that would be terrible.

Beep– Beep–

“Starting calculations…”

“Progress: 10%, 20%…”

Lucas: ?

Luo Ran: ?

Lillia: ?

…!

Only then did Luo Ran realise that in order to help Lillia, he had stepped onto the platform.

“100%, calculations are complete.”

Test results for Lucas Aldor and Luo Ran:

200%

Comments: not getting married is unreasonable.

Ding dong!!

“Congratulations on triggering the system’s hidden condition! A once-in-a-century 200%!”

Luo Ran: “……”

How could it be 200… how could there be a 200!

Wasn’t the highest score 100?!

Did it get a bug?

Or…

Why did he and Lucas get such a high score!!

Lucas clearly never got higher than a 20 with anyone else?!

Luo Ran cracked.

This triggering condition was added to the system later, and was connected to the display screen. As soon as the score exceeded 90, the system would set off fireworks and broadcast it on the starnet in real time. However, very few people had ever received this network-wide blessing.

And so, at this moment–

Boom—— boom——

Boom——

Five or six fireworks continuously flew up to the sky. This was already Luo Ran’s third time viewing fireworks in a short period.

…And it was related to Lucas every time.

The tree also exploded with colourful streamers.

Luo Ran and Lucas stood blankly on the high platform as ribbons of every colour rained down on their shoulders, with a tree of love behind them.

Just like…

A wedding scene.

At the same time, an automatic notification popped up on the starnet.

[Congratulations to Lucas Aldor and Luo Ran for achieving 200% on the compatibility scanner, we wish the two lovers well for a hundred years!]

Translator:
I… almost forgot to translate this chapter… so it’s a bit rushed and may have more mistakes than usual. Please point them out in the comments!

Footnotes:

This seems… like excessive expectations for a child. Poor kid, I wouldn’t want to grow up with all that on my shoulders. And for gods’ sake, let Lucas/Luo Ran have some privacy. At first the netizens’ support was cute, but now it’s verging on uncomfortably nosy for me.