Chapter 57: Dog Boss Admiral

The imperial fleet flew towards the mine, meeting the pirates head-on.

Artillery roared as the two fleets crossed paths.

The pirates soon reacted and turned back in order to stop the imperials.

Lucas didn’t board Lion 01, because there was currently no need. Instead he stood on the main bridge and gave orders to the imperial troops through the comms.

“Don’t get bogged down, maintain our forward momentum! Our goal is to occupy the mine!”

This was a very risky move because the mine had openings in every direction, it was easy to attack but hard to defend.

Since the Imperial fleet’s purpose was to prevent the pirates from taking the UNK, what Lucas should do was to drive away the pirates aggressively, not to take over a mine which had no way to be defended.

But the moment he gave the order, no one defied him.

For these military officers, worship and blind obedience towards Lucas were embedded in their bones.

In this battle, Freeman stayed behind and did not go out with Wang Qiuyang and the others.

Lucas had to devote his entire attention to the battle situation and might not have the time to pay attention to Luo Ran, so he would assign a trusted lieutenant to him.

Although Luo Ran himself felt that it was unnecessary.

“My apologies, Adjutant Freeman,” Luo Ran smiled at Freeman from where they watched the battle through a window, “I’ve kept you back here.”

He thought to himself, These officers would probably rather go out and fight than stay here where it’s safe.

“No!” Freeman immediately replied. “I’m very proud that the admiral ordered me to protect you! This is a responsibility greater than fighting a war!”

Luo Ran: “…”

A second later, he still bit the bullet and asked, “May I ask, why do you think so?”

Freeman answered very seriously, “First, you are the admiral’s partner, your safety directly affects the admiral’s ability to fight and thus the Empire’s peace! Second, you are a key contributor to the Empire’s excellent next generation! All in all, I am protecting a cornerstone of the Empire!”

“…” Luo Ran silently turned back to the window.

Seeing that Luo Ran didn’t reply, Freeman smiled at him. “Secretary Luo, you like the admiral as well, right?”

“…” He was quiet for a long moment before he said, “Of course I like him.”

But whether it was that kind of like, he didn’t know.

And he never could have imagined that Lucas would seriously want to develop their relationship in this direction, it was too outlandish.

He couldn’t react at all.

Luo Ran chuckled, then changed the topic. “Is this the bitter-cold mine?”

“Yes!”

Looking out the window, they could see pits and machines below them, as well as warships and gunfire coming from both sides.

“Well, I hope the people above don’t use UNK to do bad things,” Freeman said, shaking his head. “And hopefully they don’t draw attention to us either.”

If they really continued to research UNK as the first prince wished, then the soldiers would inevitably be injected with UNK.

“I’m not afraid of sacrificing for the Empire, and I’m not afraid of fighting interstellar pirates! But I don’t want to be injected with poison, die for no reason, lose my mind and hurt people, or turn into a tool who only knows how to fight.”

“The admiral won’t allow such a thing to happen,” Luo Ran stated. “I won’t either. Our army has dignity — we are defenders, not zombies or tools.”

Freeman grinned. “Yeah.”

Boom——

The battleship shook violently.

Outside, the imperial fleet had successfully occupied the mine and forced the pirates back with overwhelming firepower.

The battleship landed directly above the mine entrance. Although their numbers were comparable with the pirates, they temporarily held the upper hand with superior equipment and tactics.

“It’d be great if there’s no UNK,” Freeman said, “this thing makes people go crazy, can’t the Empire not use it?”

“Impossible.” Luo Ran gently tapped the window frame. “People will want to use UNK as long as it exists, the benefits are too great. The only variable is how they use it.”

Beep—— Beep——

An alarm suddenly sounded in the battleship and the lights were replaced with red emergency lighting, looking a little ominous.

“Alert, all non-combatants please go to the vault…”*

“Alert, an S-class guided missile is about to be deployed…”

“Estimated time four minutes and thirty-one seconds…”

A projector showed the route to the vault on the wall.

At the same time, Lucas’ voice came from Freeman’s radio.

“Take Luo Ran to the vault, his mental state can’t bear the noise.”

“Yes sir!”

…An S-class guided missile?

Here?

Right above the mine?

Luo Ran’s eyes widened.

Everyone knew how powerful this weapon was, yet it was to be used here?

Perhaps…?

“Secretary Luo, let’s go!” Freeman said. “I’ll take you to the vault!”

If the imperial side was going to fire an S-class guided missile, the pirates weren’t going to take that lying down. They would undoubtedly retaliate in equal measure, which would blanket the battlefield in deafening explosions; the flagship would then increase cabin pressure to raise their defenses,* and violent shaking was a given. Lucas and the other soldiers might be fine, but the ordinary workers and Luo Ran whose spirit was damaged had to avoid it as much as possible.

“Okay.” Luo Ran glanced in the direction of the bridge and paused, then obediently followed Freeman to the safe area.

The vault in its sealed state isolated them from all sounds and changes in the outside world. Luo Ran sat down and leaned against the metal wall, staring out the singular tiny, round window in a daze.

The window couldn’t be opened, and neither was the scene outside any clearer because the vault was sealed, but he still quietly looked at it.

It was pitch black in all directions, and this vault only had the two of them.

“Secretary Luo…” Freeman began carefully, sitting opposite Luo Ran, “when you recover, you can go out and fight next to the admiral side by side, this is only taking a short rest.”

Luo Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Do you think I’m disappointed that I can’t go on the battlefield?”

Freeman didn’t speak.

“How can that be,” he said. “The admiral didn’t hire me to help him fight a war. If there’s a war, he has you, and Adjutant Lu, and Adjutant Wang and all the others. My duty is to help him take care of the internal affairs and logistics.” He smiled. “Everyone has their specialties. I’ll be very happy if I can do my job well, why should I burden the admiral more by poking my nose in in an unrelated field?”

Freeman stared blankly at the gentle yet confident Luo Ran.

The majority of his time was spent in the borderlands and he was the adjutant Lucas trusted the most who was stationed at the Empire’s borderlands, and only recently was he transferred back, so he wasn’t as familiar with Luo Ran as Lu Cheng or Wang Qiuyang.

Only now did he understand what Lu Cheng meant by ‘golden partner’ and ‘mutual support’.

At this moment, Luo Ran discovered that the window had been covered by white smoke and flames.

Booooom————

Missile launch.

The entire battlefield shook — presumably, the pirates broke the pot and used weapons of similar power.

Their weapons may not be as powerful as those of the Empire, but they were equally terrifying.

Only after the smoke gradually dissipated could Luo Ran vaguely see the situation outside.

His eyes widened.

The entrance to the mine… collapsed.

The entire opening was buried under mud and stone, and explosive shockwaves had caused the mine to sink.

Under Lucas’ provocation, the pirate and imperial fleets had collectively destroyed the bitter-cold mine, the source of UNK ore.

Freeman also lost control over his emotions. “Holy shit…”

They really hadn’t intended to blow up the mine on M4, after all, the M4 mine entrance wasn’t big, but he hadn’t expected that incident to give Lucas… inspiration?

This was too crazy…!

The explosion affected the surrounding trees and land, and the entire mine had been instantly razed to the ground.

“No wonder… No wonder!” Freeman made a noise of understanding. “Yesterday the admiral told me and Old Wang to tell Luobing to pull all the workers from the mine so that no one would be left there after the pirates arrived, but not to do anything else… So he’d had plans since then! But he didn’t say anything!”

Luo Ran was also surprised.

He hadn’t been told either.

Lucas had probably also been thinking it over and actively looking for opportunities, after all, it wasn’t certain that this course of action would succeed.

But he still did it in the end.

For the Empire’s soldiers.

And also for Luo Ran.

No one could take away or hurt a lion’s possessions.

Lions guarded their territories fiercely.

Luo Ran stared blankly out of that small round window.

An unknown amount of time later, the vault door was pushed open.

A tall man stood at the doorway, bringing the bright outside light with him into the darkened vault.

Lucas seemed even more reliable than usual with his figure silhouetted against the light.

Luo Ran blinked.

At this moment, the scene behind Lucas became a field of purple flowers.

I’m hallucinating again, he thought.

By now, he could more or less distinguish between hallucinations and reality, unless he was very tired.

“It’s over, come out.” Lucas stepped forwards and put an arm around Luo Ran’s waist. He was here to pick him up.

Though he felt like a sour pickled fish,* Freeman still couldn’t help covering his mouth and crying.

What a wonderful love.

Luo Ran followed Lucas out of the vault and back to the bridge.

The pirates had been defeated once again and many of them fled, though the imperial forces had also captured quite a few and were now in the process of cleaning the battlefield.

Ever since Admiral Alton killed the former leader of the pirates — that is, Huntsman’s father — and Lucas was promoted, the pirates had never won in a straight fight against Lucas despite looting up and down the Empire.

This was because firstly, Huntsman wasn’t as good as his father, and secondly, Lucas was indeed very capable.

But it was also thanks to Huntsman’s amazing stability that he was able to continuously wear down the Empire slowly while looking for opportunities to turn the situation around.

Luo Ran saw that the outside environment was now barren dirt, with a huge crater centered on where the mine used to be. He shook his head. “You’re crazy.”

“That’s true,” Lucas grinned, proud and domineering, looking as if he was afraid of neither heaven nor hell.

Kill buddhas if buddhas came, kill gods if gods came.

Fearless people had always been lunatics.

“I just want to know what those dogs in the capital look like now! Since they don’t have a good way to use UNK, then don’t use it! No way can they hurt my troops.” No way can they hurt my secretary, Lucas thought as he hugged Luo Ran closer by his waist.

* * *

Half a day later.

Shi Xiuqi’s trembling voice came from within a conference room.

“Crazy! He’s crazy! The admiral’s gone crazy…!” Shi Xiuqi gripped the report, still unable to believe it. “The admiral flattened the mine in Luobing’s east district to the ground!”

“Why are you so excited?” Second Prince Zhou Mingjing asked with his arms crossed over his chest and a raised eyebrow. “It’s just that there’s no UNK. There are normal mines all over Luobing, there’s no need to worry.”

“The important part is the UNK…!” Shi Xiuqi’s entire face was distorted.

His heart hurt for half a day when the M4 mine was destroyed, and now…

Shi Xiuqi felt he was about to go crazy too.

“You soldiers and ruffians… you never think about the Empire’s future development!”

It wasn’t just the first prince’s faction who showed regretful expressions.

No one thought that the UNK would be destroyed just like this.

It was simply gone.

The previous disputes suddenly became meaningless. If they never found another UNK mine, the Empire would never be able to take advantage of this new energy source.

“Shut up!” Zhou Mingjing couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed the table and shouted angrily, “Soldiers fight on the front line with their bodies to protect a bunch of dog officials like you, do you have the face to speak against them!”

Shi Xiuqi jumped, not expecting Zhou Mingjing to start scolding him to his face.

Another of the first prince’s supporters spoke up. “We acknowledge and cherish the sacrifices of our soldiers, but the situation is different now, Your Highness shouldn’t use moral kidnapping. All mechas and battleships of the Empire are monitored, we all know what happened. There was originally no reason for things to turn out this way and the UNK mine could’ve been preserved, but Admiral Lucas ordered to fire a missile and purposefully targeted the mine!”

“Nonsense!” The second prince’s supporters also stood to speak. “According to the analysts, the admiral had every reason to use such a method in order to win!”

The ensuing dispute turned to whether or not Admiral Lucas intentionally blew up the mine.

Analysts on both sides had their own opinions.

“That’s enough!” First Prince Zhou Mingyu shook his head. “No matter what happened, the UNK is now ruined, there’s no point in arguing more. It’s just…” he lowered his eyes. “Admiral Lucas took action before the Empire made a decision, this is undeniably overstepping his bounds.”

“Yes,” someone else said, “the admiral holds a lot of power. If the army only acts on his personal interests instead of for the greater Empire, that would be a disaster!* Today he can blow up a mine, tomorrow he might blow up the capital!”

These words infuriated the people who were part of the military. Several of the senior officers had hair-trigger tempers and they immediately began shouting and quarrelling, and some were even on the verge of starting a brawl.

The room descended into a mess.

* * *

The events of the capital hadn’t reached Lucas’ out-going fleet for the time being, he was currently eating with Luo Ran.

It was only after their meal that Lu Cheng forwarded him the report.

“Tsk.” Lucas raised an eyebrow as he read it. As expected.

“What happened?” Luo Ran wasn’t used to it yet, he wanted to return to his work post quickly.

“The Council is asking me to temporarily hand over management authority of the army and ‘rest’ for half a month,” he said, rolling his eyes. It seemed like the first prince wanted to weaken his authority.

Luo Ran frowned lightly.

“What are you afraid of? That guy Zhou Mingyu worked so hard to give me a holiday, I’m quite happy,” Lucas sneered. 

The first prince thought too simply.

Even if he left for half a month, he and Luo Ran hadn’t worked hard in vain. The military department was solid, the first prince would never be able to swallow even half a bite in only half a month.

Besides, the Empire relied on him to fight their battles, how could they really let him ‘rest’.

“I’ve studied public relations, I won’t let anyone discredit you,” Luo Ran said. “I’ll pay closer attention once we go back to the capital.”

His meaning was that he would return to work once they arrived back at the capital.

Lucas frowned.

“Sir, please stop preventing me from working,” Luo Ran said helplessly. “I’m not that delicate.”

“Fine. But I have conditions.”

“Hm?”

Lucas pointed at himself. “Kiss me and I’ll let you get back to work.”

Luo Ran: “…”

Who ever heard of a secretary who had to sell his own body to his boss in exchange for more work?

No one would believe it!

Luo Ran looked down with a flaming red face. “Sir, please don’t…”

“I’m not making trouble, there’s no work for you if I don’t get a kiss,” Lucas said righteously. “I’ve researched it, other bosses have even more unspoken rules they use, it’s already very kind for me to ask for a single kiss.” He propped his leg against the table with a grin. “Come on.”

Luo Ran: “…”

He took a deep breath in an attempt to maintain his rationality and stated coldly, “Sir, if I don’t return to work, the documents will accumulate, and the one who suffers in the end will be me.

“The most important thing is that if I don’t return, after you are forced to hand over your authority, a tiny mistake somewhere will seriously cause consequences.”

His work really couldn’t drag on any longer, Luo Ran thought. And… he might have been tortured into having Stockholm syndrome. These days, with him prevented from looking at any paperwork, he felt uncomfortable all over, and he had a sense of emptiness as if he were wasting his life.

“If it weren’t for your last sentence, I would’ve believed you.” Lucas raised an eyebrow. “I said it already, use a kiss to trade.”

“…”

“Luo Ran,” he said, grinning, “I’m going on holiday. Zhou Mingyu so kindly gave me time to pursue you, we can take our time.”

“…”

Seeing Luo Ran still sitting upright, putting on an appearance of distant professionalism, Lucas only felt annoyed.

This little bastard.

He didn’t care so much, he directly grabbed Luo Ran’s collar and pinned him to the table.

Luo Ran’s eyes widened.

Then Lucas leaned over and pressed their lips together.

“Mmph…”

Luo Ran was firmly nailed to the table. Lucas kept him down with a hand on his head, so he could only passively allow the kiss.

Lucas’ kissing skills had always been poor, he wasn’t much different from a big dog biting everywhere he could reach.

The scent of tobacco made him dizzy, so much so that Luo Ran suspected he did it on purpose.

But Lucas clearly knew he was a beta, why would he do this? Why would he use his pheromones to tease him…!

After it was finally over and they separated, Lucas still looked unsatisfied. “If you just gave in and kissed me earlier, you could’ve done it on the cheek or something, this is what you made me do.”

“Sir…!” Luo Ran panted for air. The corners of his eyes were red as he said in annoyance, “You’re too unreasonable, it’s time to break up.”

“Yes, I’m coercing you using unspoken rules.”

Lucas was very frank.

Translator:
This chapter is actually my favourite in the entire novel, in particular the conversation between Luo Ran and Freeman about how he and Lucas have different specialties. Did I refuse to drop the novel despite barely updating for the past year just so I could translate this part? …Maybe.

Footnotes:
1. Vault [地基]: lit. base; from context it’s a safe place to store non-combatants on the battleship during combat. Also I think it’s funny to be vaulted for your protection.
2. The flagship would then increase cabin pressure to increase defenses [主战舰为了提高防御能力也会提高气压]: not sure what the 提高气压 could be referring to other than air pressure?
3. Sour pickled fish [酸菜鱼]: reference to Chinese web slang where jealous = sour; other variations include feeling sour, being a vinegar jar (because vinegar is sour), chugging vinegar etc.
4. Hate to say it but I think the first prince’s faction has got a point. Monopolies are hardly ever a good idea, and it’s even worse if it happens in the military. That’s called a dictatorship.