Everyone laid on Carlâs back, his tailbone swung, his huge wings flapped, and he flew across the mineral belt as freely as he swam in water. But because it was too free, Lydney was surprised.
No species could enter outer space directly from a planetâs atmosphere. Low temperatures and high pressures would kill everyone who entered the universe directly. Carl could even take them directly into space with only a protective shield around him.
âOxygen can still last 52 minutes. Can you fly to the ship, Carl?â Jamie pressed buttons on his nano computer and calmly said, âIf you canât fly, all of us will die with you.â
Colin was puzzled when he heard the tone of his voice. âAh, arenât your seeds gone? You donât seem to be sad.â
âBut weâve found the map,â Jamie shook his wrist. âIâve entered the map into the Vagrantâs shared terminal, and you can see it as well.â
Haiâan thought Jamie was happy, but when he saw half of the body of the little Ayulon lying on his soil, he was very sad to think that Auguste had just seen the egg and only wanted to touch it.
Auguste couldnât even touch him.
âI had long thought that Cessie would not easily give me the seeds, but that was before when we did not find a map, and I placed all my hopes on him. But Auguste...â Jamie turned to Auguste.
Auguste put his right hand around Haiâan to prevent him from slipping off Carlâs back. He wrapped his left hand around himself and buried his face in his left elbow. Haiâan didnât know what he was thinking.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
After a while, his muffled voice drifted out, âThat egg had been dead for a long time, but I wanted to confirm it.â Auguste raised his head, bent his right knee, knelt and sat down. âI couldnât hear the beating heart of an egg, but I didnât expect Nightmare to be in Deanâs hands, and Dean is becoming so extreme now.â Auguste looked at the little ship and covered it with his hands. âI just wanted to take him home.â
But it was too late.
Everyone was silent, and the small space was filled with inexplicable sorrow. Haiâan suddenly understood the meaning of Vagrantâs name. Immortal vagrancy, nowhere to call home.
Suddenly, a huge drop of water came flying out, hit Colinâs head and drenched his hair. Colin clicked his tongue. âThis is so salty. Is this your tear, Carl?â
Corson turned to Colin and asked him to shut up before he moved. Several tears fell on Corsonâs face. Lydneyâs clothes were soaked with Carlâs tears. Jaime began to crawl around, avoiding Carlâs tears from high-speed inertia.
Even Haiâanâs little nest was smashed with a drop and because it was weightless in space, the droplets were flying around and wetting Augusteâs clothes.
The mechanical fighters sent by the ship flew behind them. Auguste looked back and frowned. âCarl, slow down immediately, and rush out in ten minutes.â
When Carl listened, his body went up and the Dragon Wings flattened forward, their speed slowed down in an instant, and the mechanical fighters behind them rushed forward densely in that instant. Haiâan could not understand why Auguste had asked Carl to do so.
âIs it an enclosure wall?â Lydney suddenly asked.
Colin stared.
âHow do you know?â Jamie was a little surprised.
An enclosure wall was the latest area closure technology studied by the Empire. The effect was similar to the pale yellow shield that rose around Freeport when they left that day. The difference was that the protective shield of Freeport had to be supported by a planetâs core power source and could only cover the size of a planet.
The blockade wall only needed four warships to delineate a planar enclosed wall or a quadrilateral enclosed space. The technology was not yet finished and the empire was not sharing this to the outside world.
Lydney felt a little embarrassed. He felt his head. âI went to DiduXing for two years as an exchange student and participated in the research and manufacture of the closed wall. I planned to go to the Imperial Research Department in the future, but they thought maybe I would suffer from Alzheimerâs disease before I could study it, so they let me go back to Freeport, but I think thatâs good, at least I met you guys in Freeport.â The money was good.
âBrilliant!â Colin gave Lydney a thumbs-up.
Both Auguste and Alia were military maniacs, especially Alia. She was interested in the technology of the enclosure wall. Before they quit the Imperial Regiment, she was able to make a miniature enclosure space for four mechanical fighters. Unfortunately, they only had the Vagrant, a warship, and could not try to make a larger enclosure wall.
Colin nodded and looked at Lydney with admiration. âWhen you get back to the ship, you can talk to Alia. Sheâs also interested in the technology.â
In Colinâs opinion, people who could study these strange things were not simple people. Alia and Auguste were one thing, but Lydney was a pure human.
âHold fast, donât let go.â Auguste suddenly told them.
As Haiâan looked ahead, the mechanical fighters who flew in front of them were able to store energy to launch self-detonating bombs, and then, along with the bombs, they hit an invisible wall. Tens of thousands of roaring bombs hit the same section of the blockade at the same time, and the fire was terrible.
Those mechanical fighters blew up like fireworks, but everything was silent. So silent they could only hear their own breathing and heartbeats.
A minute later, a gap finally appeared in the wall. Carl looked at the gap, pressed down, rolled up the steel wings, rotated and flew toward the gap. As he passed through the explosive layer, Red Shield finally caught up with them. She raised her shield and blocked some of the blast flames. The pale blue shield waved in an unstable manner, as if the sea of flames would burst through at any time. Haiâan finally knew how important Augusteâs âhold onâ was.
If you carelessly released your hands and hit the protective layer directly, it would be estimated that you would be half dead, while the violent shock wave passing through the explosive layer would shatter internal organs, and the intense high temperature would cause serious burns.
The gap lasted only a few seconds, and as Carlâs tail had just broken away from the wall, the wall immediately closed again.
Clearly it was a very close call. Lydney suddenly thought of something. As the only pure human who participated in the design of the closed wall principle, he could not help imagining that if Carlâs tail did not break through, his tail would be cut off directly. Or was it a dragon hanging on a closed wall?
The ship was just ahead, and Leston had put down the shipâs landing platform and stood on it in his space suit.
Red Shield flew faster than Carl, and she landed one step first. Then Leston opened the liquid shield and connected it to the shield around Carl. When the connection was finished, Carl immediately turned back to his human form. He jumped out of the air with Lydney crosswise, his right knee bent slightly to cushion the impact of the fall.
Haiâan was held tightly by Auguste, and everyone else was fine, except Colin, who jumped down and stepped on Carl, who cried crocodile tears, fell down on the platform and sat on the ground, twirling and sliding forward for a long distance. He finally hit Lestonâs leg before stopping.
Leston: â...â
Alia jumped out of Red Shield and saw the water forming a pile in one place. âIs Carl crying?â
Carl was naked at the moment, he hugged Lydney to him so that he just barely covered his privates, leaving all eight abdominal muscles and strong pectoral muscles exposed, including his buttocks.
Haiâan: I canât block my eyes.
But there was Auguste, who wrapped his clothes tight around Haiâan.
Jaime covered his eyes and came up from behind. âItâs over. Iâm going blind.â
Carlâs eyes were still red. He sniffed and stared at Jamie fiercely. âYou can fuck off.â Then, with red eyes and Lydney in his arms, he went to the hall. He wanted to dress in his room.
Lydney, who was held by Carl, was also embarrassed, but he could not let Carl put him down. After all, Carl was ashamed of himself now. The position was very uncomfortable. Lydney raised his hand and finally put it gently around Carlâs neck.
âWell, did you get the dragonâs eggs?â Leston asked concerned.
Alia sighed and dropped her head.
When Leston looked at this, he understood everything. He wiped his lips, frowned and pushed his hair back with his hand. âFuck!â
Auguste took Haiâan back to the room, put Haiâan on the table, went to the bedside cupboard, took out a small transparent bottle, and sat by the table. He took Haiâan out of the little nest and saw the body of the little Ayulon lying quietly on the soil. Auguste was silent for a moment. He gently lifted the body with his hand and blew a breath at him.
Auguste spewed a pale blue flame, which rolled around the corpse of the little Ayulon and the corpse gradually decomposed into blue crystals, which slowly fell into the transparent bottle.
Finally, the glass bottle was filled halfway, which glittered brightly all the way to the bottom of the bottle. Auguste put the bottle on the top of the bedside cabinet and turned off the light. He sat on the bed, leaned back against the pillow, put Haiâan close to his chest, and touched his leaves with a finger.
Haiâan looked at Augusteâs close face. His eyes were a deep dark red. At that time, his pupils were round, less chaotic as they were in the black market and more gentle.
Slowly, Haiâan stretched out a vine and touched Augusteâs face.
The moment his vine touched Auguste, both of them were stunned.
Auguste looked down in the dark room, but he saw the green tender Haiâan standing straight, his upper leaves trembled with his movements, Auguste lowered his head, gently kissed the leaves on the top of Haiâan, filled with infinite warmth.
âWill you always be with me?â In the darkness came Augusteâs barely audible voice.
Haiâan circled the vines around Augusteâs index finger.
Yes.
Even if you canât hear me, I promise you.