Interstellar leader

A day later, the Harper Central star.

Li Qing followed the route on the screen, drove the flying car to the vicinity of Iloise's house, and parked on the highest parking lot.He took out a black suitcase from the trunk, closed the door gently, and went downstairs in silence.

There were already several people in the elevator, and when they saw Li Qing coming in, they all opened their eyes wide.Since entering the state of war and the republic's military and political institutions have been basically merged, government officials and their families have basically moved to the original military center temporarily.Today the building is occupied by people who serve in the government, including Ilois and her father.

"Um... are you Major General Lancelot?" A girl standing beside him finally couldn't help asking when the elevator descended rapidly.She looked very immature, about 15 years old, with excitement and admiration in her eyes. "I...can I take a picture with you?"

"Daisy, you're so rude." The girl's father scolded.

Li Qing didn't speak.Silence spread for a moment, until the elevator descended to the thirteenth floor, he suddenly looked at the open glass door and said, "Miss, do you know what I'm going to do now?"

"Hey?" The girl didn't react, she looked at the new star of the military department, the young and handsome major general walked out of the elevator door, he turned around, looked at her with calm and numb eyes, his dark pupils seemed to be A dark dry well in a winter night.

"I bring the news of a mother's death to her daughter and her husband."

The elevator doors closed.The small electronic sound of closing the door echoed in the silent small space.Li Qing walked to the end of the corridor on this floor, hesitated for a few minutes, and rang the doorbell.He turned his face to the camera on the doorbell system, so the owner of the house could better see who he was.

In a moment the door slid open to the left, and Eloise appeared before him with a look of wonder and delight. "Yeah, Isaac? Why are you here, what's the matter? Oh, I tell you a new discovery - there are some data showing that there is a small isolated galaxy in the third circle area, inhabited by some early colonists Or, their language should be of great research value, why don't you come with me after the war? Don't worry about Jorge being jealous, just take him along with you..."

After rehearsing a lot of lines before, Li Qing found himself standing frozen at the door, speechless at all.

Block the death list, and after the battle, the comrades-in-arms of the deceased will bring news to the family members to ensure that the news of the death is conveyed by living people instead of the cold star network. This is the war humanity pursued by the military.It is also the last warmth.

The sensitive historian immediately noticed something was wrong, and she tentatively asked: "The war is almost over, right? I saw news reports about Rockefeller's victory on the battlefield. Although it was vague, we did win. According to Albert, you An all-out attack is ready."

"Yes, it's almost over." Li Qing said expressionlessly. "We're almost winning."

There was no smile, no joy on his face.Ilois caught a glimpse of the box in his hand, and his voice began to tremble, with a hint of luck and expectation. "I... where is my mother now?"

In the next second, Li Qing shattered her hope. "I'm sorry." He said hoarsely.

Eloise's eyes were blank, she already understood what was behind the apology, and just repeated incredulously and unconsciously: "Where is my mother?"

"She sleeps eternally in space." Li Qing repeated. "sorry."

After a while, Ilois struggled to utter a word. "Is there no body?"

"The whole ship exploded, nothing. What I have is some of her relics."

"Come in and sit down, Major General Lancelot." A handsome middle-aged man appeared behind Ilois and gently embraced Ilois. That was her father, Lucas Riemann. Hill's ex-husband, a well-known anthropologist and sociologist.Iloise finally couldn't help it, buried her face in her father's shoulder, and cried very softly.

Li Qing walked into this apartment, the layout here was warm and comfortable, filled with an elegant atmosphere.He carefully placed the box in his hand on the immaculate white tablecloth, Eloise had gone back to her room, and Lucas had been staring at the box.It was only then that Li Qing realized that he was biting his lip, and the area around his eyes was red.

"How did she die?" Lucas asked suddenly.

"There are too many enemy ships, and the energy capsule caused by the suicide attack exploded. I was a light-year away from her at that time, and the specific situation is not clear. But what is certain is that it will be very fast." Li Qing explained with difficulty: "From The explosion of the energy module and the death of the entire ship is only a blink of an eye, and the crew will not feel any pain."

He lied.Heythel's starship was broken in the middle, and she was tortured to death by vacuum and low temperature. This process lasted at least 5 minutes.

"Thank you, that's enough." Lucas said softly.There was another dead silence, and he stared at the box on the table, his eyes filled with struggle.Finally, he stood up, picked up the box, and was about to go out.At this moment, Eloise came out of the room with tears still on her face. "Dad, what are you going to do?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to burn it."

"Give it to me!" screamed Eloise.Li Qing had never seen her so emotionally out of control. In his impression, Iloise had always been gentle and calm. He would be very excited when talking about his academic field, but he would never be as hysterical as he is now.

"What's the use of staying here?" Lucas roared back, his voice broken. "Does it make you cry every day looking at it? Enough, Eloise, I shouldn't have married her in the first place!"

"How can you say such a thing?" Eloise looked at her father incredulously, and Lucas finally broke out. "She only cares about her fleet, the war, and doesn't care about us at all. How did I humbly ask her to retreat to the logistics department before? She insisted on staying on the front line, and I knew there would be such a day!"

During the dispute, the box was opened, and several things rolled out, including a portable optical computer, several military uniforms and civilian clothes, and a weird puppet.Eloise walked over, picked up the puppet with trembling hands, and held it tightly in his arms.Lucas leaned against the wall, covered his face with his hands, and after a moment, he glimpsed a piece of paper between his fingers.

Paper is a very rare thing in the interstellar era. Apart from being used as top-secret information to prevent hackers from intruding, there is only one case where physical paper is used.Even after thousands of years have passed, people are still reluctant to virtualize this ritual.

He picked it up, turned it over, and it turned out to be a marriage registration form.The room was silent.

"Cynthia..." After a long time, Lucas choked up and read in a low voice. "Cindy."

He raised his head, and Li Qing could clearly see the tears in his eyes. "Mr. Lancelot, have you your pen?"

Li Qing took out a pen and handed it over silently.Like paper, pens are also very rare in the interstellar era, and they are only used for art and filling out registration forms.Lucas took it and started filling it out. "You've figured it out, haven't you?"

"Yes." Li Qing replied.His voice was low and hoarse, as dull and depressing as the atmosphere at the moment. "Hehir talked to me once, she said that she would go to the logistics department after this war is over, and let me help watch her legion. This way, she can spend more time with Iloise, and maybe you can... ... remarriage."

While speaking, Lucas had already filled out the form.He stared blankly at the white paper, and said softly, "Cindy, honey, we're remarried."

Li Qing suddenly felt that the air around him was squeezed by him as if it had life. Mysteries, conspiracies and death were as heavy and suffocating as the water in the deep sea.He wanted to escape from this place, from this world, into some world that might not exist, where there were no wars, no betrayals, no lovers who disappeared for no reason.

"My condolences." With that said, he stood up. "Sorry, but I think I should go."

"Thank you, Mr. Lancelot." Lucas regained his composure, but looked numb.

Li Qing nodded and left here.When he came to the parking lot on the top floor, he took a deep breath—the sun shone on his cheeks, bringing a warm and comfortable feeling. The speeding car shuttled through the high-rise buildings and the driveway in the sky, and he could see the opposite building through the glass With busy workers here, the planet, the heart of the Republic, looks as vibrant as ever.But he can no longer deceive himself that this is the whole world, because the scars have quietly spread all over the ground, just under this glamorous shell.

At the same time, in a small house in the civilian area of ​​the imperial planet Yalta, a gray-haired old woman pulled a young man in military uniform and cried, "How did he die? Tell me! Why don't you even have this?" let me know?!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, this is confidential." The man replied, with hesitation and intolerance in his tone.In fact, even the upper echelons of the empire didn't know what happened in that battle. As a small second lieutenant, he only remembered the chaos at that time, and the starships on his side exploded one after another, or collided with each other.It was a nightmare.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, please be sorry. He walked away without pain. The starship exploded very quickly, so I don't feel anything at all." The man slowed down his tone and said softly.

"My daughter died in Oates." The old woman didn't seem to hear his comfort, she fell to the ground, looked at the ceiling blankly, and murmured: "She is a logistics staff, she is on the transport ship, There is no combat power at all... They must have sent a surrender signal, and they have no power to fight back! That commander is definitely a devil! Even the logistics personnel will be massacred!"

She suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs: "I only have this son! Tell me how he died, please, tell me!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't know either." The man had just finished speaking when his bracelet lit up. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm leaving, please take care."

The moment the door closed behind him, the old man stood up tremblingly, went into the kitchen and took a knife.She closed the doors and windows of the house as always, extinguished all the lights, lay in the dark, and said softly: "Sissy, Dean, Mom is here to accompany you."

She pressed the blade against the skin of her wrist and slashed down hard.In the dizziness caused by the blood loss, the old man seemed to have come to the battlefield in the universe.In the wreckage of the starship, broken souls wandered in the cold one by one. At this time, they had no borders, just a group of lost children who could not find their loved ones or the direction of home.