Chapter 52: The Secretary, an Omega?

Looking at the stars from a mecha was very different to looking at the stars from a battleship.

The stars seemed much brighter. Looking out to the vast universe from this tiny space through a tiny window, you would fully realise how insignificant you were.

Luo Ran wasn’t scared; he was even quite excited.

He’d never thought that he could one day sit in Lion 01, see this scene of the universe, and see how Lucas was usually like.

But soon there was no time to appreciate scenery. He saw rows upon rows of warships, belonging to the interstellar pirates who’d rushed over.

“Don’t worry, they’re still reeling from last time, there’s no way they can fight seriously,” Lucas smiled and raised his eyebrows. “You just watch.”

Lucas had always been confident and domineering on the battlefield.

Whether he won or lost, as the commanding officer, he couldn’t be timid.

He was the god of war, and would always be what the god of war should be — one man able to hold out against ten thousand.

Luo Ran quietly watched Lucas organise the army as he held the manual.

Lucas used both hands to control the mecha, and his whole attention was on the display which showed an overview of the battlefield. Blue dots represented their own forces, while red dots represented the enemy.

He looked at those bright dots and gave orders over the comms, controlling the direction of the army formation, grasping the overall situation.

It was the first time Luo Ran watched Lucas do this at such a close range.

Calm yet not cowardly, cautious yet self-assured.

A Lucas like this made Luo Ran unable to move his eyes away.

On the one hand, he observed the battlefield with Lucas, and on the other, he couldn’t resist resting his gaze on the way Lucas operated the mecha’s controls. From his mechanical fingers, Luo Ran’s gaze naturally flowed up to his sharp, distinctly handsome throat and chin.

Boom——

Boom——

Artillery fire focused on Lucas’ Lion 01, it seemed like he was the obvious target.

Perhaps it was because they knew their chances of victory weren’t high that the pirates were fighting so hard, like desperate wolves backed up against a cliff.

Huntsman, currently commanding his fleet, was trying his best to break out of the Imperial forces’ siege and doing his damndest to get to Lucas.

Lucas wasn’t afraid of him in the least but right now Luo Ran was with him, so he took care to skirt around the rear, not leading the charge as he usually did.

Luo Ran couldn’t help but remind him, “Behind…!”

He’d already noticed it. He manipulated the control column to bring Lion 01 into a vertical leap, neatly avoiding the gunfire coming from behind them.

“Admiral, you’re their target!” Luo Ran frowned.

“That’s to be expected, we’re both here,” Lucas said, also frowning slightly. “Wang Qiuyang, when will our backup arrive?”

“Sir! The reinforcements are currently at coordinates X6-Y1, ETA is four minutes eleven seconds!”

Although everyone in the team were elite soldiers, there were too few of them, so it wasn’t easy for them either.

In just a few minutes, pirates had surrounded Lion 01 in all directions.

“Don’t worry, backup is almost here, we can break out soon,” Lucas’ eyes glinted, “so just sit tight.”

Rumble——

Rrrrrrrumble——

All artillery fire was aimed at Lion 01, to the point that Luo Ran could barely see through the window for the smoke and muzzle flashes.

Lucas relied on his precise calculations to avoid the shelling. Under his control, Lion 01 didn’t look like a cumbersome mecha at all, but rather resembled a real life agile lion.

It required a heaven-defying level of spiritual power for anyone to make this hunk of heavy metal which ordinary people couldn’t even power up move so lightly.

“Careful…!” Luo Ran had also been calculating their enemies’ positions. He nervously pressed Lucas’ shoulder and called out, “Coordinates X4-Y6!”

Lion 01 used an almost-impossible angle to avoid a guided missile, utilising its flexibility to the extreme, but in the next second, Lucas was stunned.

A huge battleship endured artillery fire to come towards him, ignoring all attacks. Even when it was almost blasted into a burning wreck, it still insisted on charging him like crazy.

Although Lion 01 was able to avoid missiles, it couldn’t hide from a gigantic battleship disregarding its own life to rush at it as if in a suicide attack.

But even if it did hit and sacrificed both its structural integrity and everyone on board, it still wouldn’t do much damage to Lion 01 the mecha — what it was doing was meaningless.

Were the people on board crazy?

Boom———

The battleship indeed crashed into Lion 01 with a loud noise and violent shaking, it happened so quickly that they had no time to dodge.

When the battleship exploded, Lucas used one hand to maintain his mecha’s balance and the other to pull Luo Ran into his chest and cover his ears.

Boom——— Boom!

The explosion was so loud that it almost shattered their eardrums. The cockpit shook as if in a vortex, so much so that if it weren’t for Lucas’ quick actions, Luo Ran would’ve been thrown far away, and the booms would also have hurt his spirit.

“This bastard…!”

A light flashed in Lucas’ eyes. Now he knew why the pirates’ flagship was so determined — it was filled to the brim with a shocking amount of gunpowder!

Just the enemy flagship crashing into Lion 01 wasn’t enough to destroy it, but if the gunpowder inside also exploded, then…

But they couldn’t eject either; if they did, he and Luo Ran would be blasted into smithereens long before reinforcements arrived! Lion 01 was their bulwark.

Lucas held Luo Ran close as he manipulated the mecha.

Then, an incredible scene happened–

Lion 01 raised its left hand which held a sharp sword… and cut off its own right hand!

Its right hand fell, taking with it the attached battleship the moment the gunpowder within exploded.

Luo Ran watched as a crimson flower burst into existence beneath the mecha, blowing both the battleship and its separated hand to pieces!

All this happened in a matter of moments. After this series of inhuman operations, even someone as strong as Lucas felt a bit dizzy.

A few seconds later, another warship charged at them.

It must have wanted to repeat the trick.

Luo Ran’s breath caught. “Admiral!”

Lion 01 couldn’t lose another arm, they had to dodge!

These pirates are crazy…!

It wasn’t easy to build a battleship capable of withstanding the Imperial troops’ bombardment, and pirates weren’t rich in resources in the first place. How many lives and materials did they sacrifice for this?!

But on the other hand, if they could use these to exchange for Lucas’ life, then the pirates would have gained a lot.

“Admiral!”

They were out of time…!

Luo Ran broke free from Lucas’ grip and reached for the control column.

Whoosh——

Lion 01 narrowly avoided death with a weirdly stiff posture, and the battleship which missed them was soon shot down by the Empire’s other mechas.

After dodging, it seemed as if Lion 01 finally couldn’t hold on, and it fell uncontrollably.

“Luo Ran…!”

Lucas, now awake, took over control and steadied Lion 01.

Their reinforcements had finally arrived.

* * *

In the cockpit, Lucas, completely confused, hugged Luo Ran to himself.

Just now, someone forcibly connected to his spiritual power. It was only because it was Luo Ran whom he had no defence against and was 3S grade that it succeeded.

Lucas had felt as if he’d been electrocuted, and for a moment, the scent of white tea pierced into his deepest nerves.

He hadn’t rejected it.

Then there was a violent bump, Lion 01 moved under Luo Ran’s control, and they avoided the pirates’ battleship.

After this, he collapsed onto the console and lost consciousness.

“Luo Ran!”

Lucas picked him up, only to see Luo Ran’s chalky white face. A stream of blood trickled from his ears, flowing along the lines of his face and chin to drip down.

“Luo Ran…!”

Lucas vaguely understood something.

At this moment, Luo Ran was held in Lucas’ arms, shivering all over and looking like he was in extreme pain.

He was already in an extremely fragile state with injuries both physical and mental, now that it was compounded with how he forcibly broke into Lucas’ spiritual sea and took control of an unreasonably heavy mecha like Lion 01, it was no wonder he couldn’t hold on.

“Luo Ran, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…” Seeing Luo Ran like this, Lucas couldn’t help holding him closer, feeling ice in his veins.

He couldn’t panic.

Taking a deep breath, he turned on the comms and said, “Cover my retreat to the flagship! Dr. Shen go on standby, Luo Ran is hurt!”

“A-Admiral…” Luo Ran gripped Lucas’ clothing dazedly. His entire body trembled from pain, his back already soaked through with cold sweat.

At this moment, he felt as if someone had peeled back his scalp and was relentlessly hammering his head.

He’d never felt this way before. It was like something had blocked his perception of the outside world, making his mind so chaotic that he couldn’t understand anything that was happening.

“Luo Ran…”

Lucas used one hand to make the mecha retreat and the other to hold Luo Ran.

Luo Ran was still trembling.

The situation was critical.

Lucas took another deep breath, then lifted his hand to the back of Luo Ran’s neck, pressed him to his shoulder, and pulled down his high collar. There, he bit down on Luo Ran’s nape.

Sure enough, his teeth dug into a raised piece of soft flesh — an omega’s gland.

With the interaction between his pheromone disorder and spiritual collapse, the originally light scent of white tea burst out at this moment. If not for the fact that he was still on an active battlefield and had to control himself, Lucas would’ve been instantly brought into a sympathetic rut.

“Mmph!”

An alpha bit his most vulnerable place. Despite not knowing what was going on, Luo Ran still subconsciously twitched, then his whole body went limp.

As Lucas bit into the gland and poured his own pheromones in, he gently rubbed Luo Ran’s head to comfort him.

In his daze, Luo Ran faintly felt something invade him and take over his entire being.

It was a very strange feeling, but also very comfortable.

Luo Ran still hurt a lot, but the pain gradually eased.

What happened later, he had no idea. He completely passed out.

Lucas gave Luo Ran a temporary mark. He was still a little absent-minded as he looked down at the flushed, unconscious form in his arms. Only his muscle memory and subconscious reflexes ensured their safe arrival to the flagship.

“Admiral!” Shen Xiluo had long stationed himself at the landing pad with medical equipment and a stretcher. Upon seeing Lucas exit the mecha carrying Luo Ran, he immediately demanded, “What happened?”

“He…” Lucas opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to form words for a while.

When Shen Xiluo got closer, he understood the situation with a single glance.

He pushed up the frame of his glasses. “Fortunately you reacted quickly, and knew how to help Secretary Luo.”

Saying so, he directed Lucas to put Luo Ran on the stretcher and rapidly began first aid, injecting him with the necessary drugs.

As he watched Luo Ran’s pale face, Lucas thought to himself that Shen Xiluo was right.

He’d been a blind idiot.

Translator:
Gunpowder and explosives in space… Just… just ignore it… Is this happening in the atmosphere or something… but it’s not mentioned… suspend disbelief… (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻  I can’t ignore it! Author, at least use lasers!