Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 50 - limitless (3)

Chapter 50 – limitless (3)

The badlands were engulfed in ice crystals. Its frosty winds were piercing cold.

An iron titan strode on the ice with steady steps. When it reached Ling Yi’s side, the Colonel’s voice emitted from it. “Why are you zoning out?”

Under extreme temperatures of 45 degrees below zero, everyone was required to wear special protective gear, but Ling Yi was unexpectedly able to function normally—he only needed to wear slightly more layers than usual.

Ling Yi retracted his gaze from the far distance and lifted his hand. His palms were somewhat pale, but they did not look frostbitten.

The Colonel sighed. “Your body’s insane. In the event we need to be frozen, I’m afraid you might still stay conscious in the sleeping cabins.”

“I’m almost at my limit,” said Ling Yi. “I already feel very cold.”

“But you’re still alive and fine,” said the Colonel.

“I…” Ling Yi frowned.

His face had widened out as he grew older. Under the freezing cold environment, his mildly pale skin became a foil against the glossy red of his lips. His black eyes, long hair, and clothes all produced a stark contrast against the snow white background.

—Only because those captivating features were absolutely flawless, that one did not even know where to begin with their praises.

When the frosty winds blew even more violently, sweeping his long black strands into the air, the black, white and crimson colours left a strong impact on one’s eyes. The Colonel saw everything through the camera of his Skeleton and was struck with bedazzlement, as if his soul had transcended the mortal world, witnessing the arrival of a messenger from heaven or hell.

Ling Yi combed strands of his hair behind his ear, then continued, “I’m scared.”

“What is it?” asked the Colonel.

“I feel like my body is alive.” Ling Yi looked at his palms. “It changes its genes to adapt to different environments. If Lin Si was here, he might discover new enzymes in my body. I always feel like, on a biological level, I’m not human anymore.”

The Colonel guffawed. “That’s a good thing. What is there to be scared of? As long as you’re thinking of people like us in your heart, who can say that you’re not human?”

“Oh,” the Colonel pondered, then said, “apart from when we’re praising you.”

Ling Yi let out a laugh, made a noise of affirmation, then continued to walk into the depths of the icy plains.

Majority of this planet was covered in solid ice, while the areas without ice were mineral layers as hard as iron. They had discovered some rare beryllium ores, and were currently extracting them.

Thus far, the Expeditioners were abundant in their harvest. Although several planets thought to be inhabitable were proved to be uninhabitable, they still reaped many rare resources and minerals that were all on the Voyager’s list of materials in shortage.

Lucia’s database regarding the voyage had also grown to be very, very extensive. Currently, she possessed the ability to manage many more extreme situations.

Ling Yi was sociable and liked by everyone. This type of ‘like’ was different from the kind of doting affection he received on the Voyager at the beginning—the experiences of the past few years allowed others to develop a new understanding of Ling Yi.

Ling Yi had completed many dangerous missions by himself that could have been a path of no return, such as the one time he explored a natural cave and everybody thought he would not come back. Later, when he grew even older, he began to lead teams on missions. He was calm and decisive, and possessed an extraordinary judgement, hence anyone who teamed up with him felt genuinely happy to follow his leadership.

In other times, he had a very good temper, was earnest and gentle, so when people had any problems, they would love to look for him for a chat.

But the Colonel knew that there were occasions where Ling Yi would hide away to be alone by himself. As the leader of the Expeditioners, he paid very close attention to Ling Yi’s mental state, so he followed along this time.

He noticed Ling Yi had walked far off, switched open the camera system on his bracelet, and photographed the skies, ice fields, and icebergs multiple times. Then he received several text messages with the photos attached: “Looks good?”

The Colonel opened them and looked at the photos. He did not have a good sense of aesthetic judgement and never studied photo composition or lighting, so he could only purely tell that it looked good.

“Looks good,” he replied.

After a moment, he added, “Like Antarctica.”

Ling Yi took more photos, at last pointing the camera area at himself, expressionlessly holding up a “V” sign, then turned off the camera function.

The Colonel could not help but laugh out loud.

It turned out Ling Yi still had the hobby of taking pictures to record memories. It was cute.

He was just about to take a few for himself, then suddenly saw Ling Yi’s entire body stiffen as he looked towards a certain direction.

And then he swiftly ran over towards his own direction, appearing simply as a black shadowy blur in his vision.

Ling Yi jumped onto the Colonel’s Skeleton, his speech quick yet serious, “There’s trouble, retreat quickly.”

The Colonel did not know what happened, but he still listened to Ling Yi, immediately changing the Skeleton’s position. The Skeleton attached its four limbs to the ground, activating its highest thrust force, then sprinted on the ice towards their temporary camp at whirlwind speed.

He heard Ling Yi report the news to the camp, “There’s abnormal activity on this planet. Stop the extraction immediately and prepare to leave as soon as possible.”

Then he connected with Lucia, “Lucia, survey the geological condition, prepare for evacuation, cooperate with members on the ground.”

The Colonel could hear the urgency in his voice and was about to ask, but heard the loud, deep howling of the wind, accompanied with the frightful creaking sounds of ice fracturing.

It was a sound he had never heard before that sent shivers from the bottom of his heart and made his scalp numb.

“Unknown alert, unknown alert, vigorous surface activity will be occurring shortly. Searching for solutions.” Lucia’s voice rang out.

“Search failed, please…” The robotic female voice wavered and distorted, then abruptly stopped.

“The magnetic field has been disrupted. Don’t turn back.” The Colonel heard Ling Yi say.

He gritted his teeth and continued to rush forwards.

The Skeleton’s field of vision was 360 degrees without any blind spots. The Colonel could clearly see from the image sent from the camera that behind them was a giant cascade of white, several hundred times larger than an avalanche, akin to a volcano eruption. They could not escape it even with the Skeleton’s speed.

At this moment, Ling Yi, who was on his back, threw a microbomb ahead of them.

It propelled itself with its own drive system, creating an explosion in the distance.

Ling Yi said, “Jump.”

The Colonel understood. The assisted propulsion immediately activated—they leaped hundred metres above, then glided forwards. The weapons system activated; from above, they frantically bombed at the crevice they had blown open before, then descended straight down, rolling into the ice hole that was already hundred metres deep, continuing to excavate downwards, and finally opening up a small space that was only enough to contain the Skeleton body.

That strange and frightful sound was already ringing beside their ears, vibrating deafeningly. The entire world shook wildly. A great strength came about all of a sudden, pulling at the ice layer. Then a crack appeared, and it struck violently.

The place above where they dug out had already been filled to the top with ice and snow. And then, the entire layer of ice was churned to bits, spun, and oscillated.

They stayed still inside the block of ice. The Colonel held onto Ling Yi for life to prevent him from getting injured in the neverending collisions, as he was not protected by the Skeleton.

The hours that passed were endless.

They were like gravel swept along by torrents, tumbling within the turbulence for an unknown amount of time.

The Colonel felt like his brain had already become a beaten egg.

One day, two days, three days.

By the time everything finally subsided, over eighty hours had passed. The entire planet sank into a dark night.

“Thank god it’s finally over.” The Colonel’s tightened nerves finally relaxed. “We almost died.”

Ling Yi climbed out from the robotic arm, smashing out a block of ice in the narrow space and chewed on it, then handed one over to the Colonel, “We can find the surface when it’s daytime.”

The Colonel sighed, “Another thirty-something hours again.”

He turned on the light so the environment was not as frightening, asking, “Can you hold out?”

Ling Yi said, “I’m hungry.”

At least, they usually stored food inside the Skeleton. The Colonel took it out and handed it to Ling Yi. “I’m not gonna eat. These will probably last two or three days.”

Ling Yi did not say anything about splitting the food evenly. He simply intercepted and began to eat.

The temperature inside the Skeleton was warm enough, but it could only contain one person, so the Colonel stayed inside the whole time. Ling Yi did not enter, because he could still survive in the low-temperatures outside, but the Colonel would die.

However, as he needed to maintain his body temperature, he needed to consume much more energy—his current overall body temperature most likely did not reach even half of his normal body temperature. Hence, if he did not eat for many days, he would die, but the Colonel would not.

This was not the first time they encountered life and death situations such as this. In the vast outer space, survival was unpredictable, and there were too many unknown dangers and phenomena that you would never know what you could face in the next moment. If the magnetic field was disrupted, communication could not be achieved, and therefore the only thing they could rely on were themselves.

“Next time, if you’re going alone, you need to wear a Skeleton.”

Ling Yi sucked on an empty tube of nutrient fluid and said, “I felt like you were gonna follow me, so I didn’t wear one.”

The Colonel tentatively let him go.

“Thankfully y’all are people from ‘limitless’. Thank you Lin Si,” sighed the Colonel.

Ling Yi laughed.

When he laughed, he revealed his two sharp canine teeth. His eyes glowed under the light’s radiance, exhibiting an exceptional kind of attractiveness that was bright and wild.

He knew he was facing great danger, but also knew where the limits of his abilities lay. The more one understood themselves, the more they would trust themselves, and this trust was what made one intelligent and strong. Time and experience changed a person; the erosion caused by torrents washed away some things, while leaving behind others.

The Colonel observed Ling Yi, discovering that although he was still delicate and beautiful, one could no longer link this beauty to fragility. He did not know since when, but the little thing who made people want to protect him had turned into a friend he could fight alongside with.

*

The author has something to say:

Update tomorrow.

Putting up an ad =w= I hope you guys will save my new novel. I’ll start it after I finish this one. It’s a xianxia with low magic, a little cute story that’s funny, light, and easygoing. The novel name is The #1 Sugar Baby of the Immortal Path. You can see it if you click into my column.

Synopsis:

I come from a good sect that never shunned me for having poor aptitude, never forced me to practise martial arts, and even arranged a betrothal for me since I was young.

My fiancée is a renowned domineering young miss. She’s beautiful, strong, and loves me very much. Thereafter, when I tread through the waters of Jianghu, I relied wholly on her for protection, thus becoming the renowned #1 sugar baby of the immortal path.

One day, I discovered that this person seemed to be a man, who was crossdressing as a woman.

Even worse, he believed that I was a woman crossdressing as a man.

Like my organs had been sliced to bits, I said, “Brother, what have you done to my fiancée?”

Like a knife had been twisted into his heart, he said, “Brother, what have you done to my fiancée?”

The waters of Jianghu are truly murky. Even if I’m starving to death or dying out in the wilderness, from the moment I jump in, I will never, ever eat another mouthful of rice prepared by him again.

—But how good it smells.

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