Chapter 41

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Of course, now Bai Lianhua knows that all the system says are useless. It is itself a liar… He was really too childish to believe in whatever it said back then.

The system really did hide its other identity of being the Return System of White Moonlight too well, is what’s to blame.

Bai Lianhua starts grinding his teeth after working through his memories.

He searches for more information related to Shi Cangyuan, working out what happened on him these years.

As he knew, when he left the world, Shi Cangyuan was part of a secret mission that took a whole year to finish. yet, when Shi Cangyuan finished his mission perfectly and returned to the capital planet for his reward, contrary to all expectations, perhaps having been informed of some drastic news, he suddenly decided to first use all the holidays he could have had in the future and had a long rest for half a year.

——Bai Lianhua could only guiltily admit that this is likely because Shi Cangyuan has discovered his disappearance and was searching for him… Okay okay, he really was quite cunning to aim exactly for when Shi Cangyuan was executing his secret mission to leave, since that meant Shi Cangyuan couldn’t contact him normally and would only discover that he’d left a long time later. Now that he thinks about it, it’s quite the dumb decision, truly useless.

Later, Shi Cangyuan who returned to his post after half a year of disappearance is as strong as ever. He’s unstoppable in the frontlines, looking even stronger than before——There are people who’ve fought together with him on the celestial Internet that describe him so, saying “He seems to have endless emotions in his mind that he vents all out on fighting with insectoids. Personally, this doesn’t seem to be a worrying change, because Shi Cangyuan is a rational person at all times. His strategies are as brilliant as ever, his planning as meticulous as ever. The price might have been that he’s become a bit more taciturn, but this is only making his achievements pile up more.”

Shi Cangyuan’s name also spreads to every corner of civilisation.

If perhaps his name was well-known from him having twice succeeded in gaining pilotship over ‘Dicarus’ and also discovering and participating in the development of the next generation of mechas, then his actual, tangible military achievements have pushed him into the throne of the God of War. He’s become the most reliable defence the empire had that everyone loved.

Yet it is also this Shi Cangyuan that didn’t even wait until his 8-year term was up on piloting the number one mecha. When he is certain that what he has achieved will ensure the advantage is on the empire later when fighting against the insectoids, he retired quietly.

Even though with his strength, everyone thought it was no problem for him to do a few more terms.

People have had longer life expectancies in the spacefaring world. Even if Shi Cangyuan was delayed by almost eight years, he’s still young when he took back ‘Dicarus.’ He’s at the peak of his life. His retirement was certainly saddening.

The next pilot candidates of the number one mecha are never as deserving of the honour afterwards.

There’s always been a movement to get Shi Cangyuan to come back, growing especially prominent after the fact that the second wave of evolution of the insectoids have produced such elite fighters that none in the entire empire could stand up to.

…

Bai Lianhua logs out of the celestial Internet with a complicated mind.

The system approaches him, clearly failing to read the mood, “now is when the host, you, should appear!”

“Come, start emanating the charisma you have as the white moonlight in Shi Cangyuan’s mind, and find the antagonist who’s probably already nurturing fungus somewhere.”

“If you can successfully convince him to return and save the world, then host, you’ll be the most perfect white moonlight ever!”

Bai Lianhua “…”

No no no, system, do you really think that Shi Cangyuan who’s the incidental antagonist wouldn’t have had enough with his tragic fate rectified and cleansed and you’re asking them to completely abandon their character, adopting the righteous protagonist’s world-saving script?

Is he going to be participating in two separate productions? What the heck? Are you going to give the antagonist double the wages?

… Bai Lianhua didn’t seem to notice that he seems to have voiced out his disses against the system.

While the system hasn’t reason on its side it still sounds firm, replying almost instantly, “double! Why not. Aren’t host, you, the most valuable reward the antagonist would dream of?”

Bai Lianhua “???” Say that to my face again?

See if I dare to publicly show exhibit A, how to tear apart a system with bare hands, and commit suicide dragging you this damned system that sets up hosts professionally together?

The system seems to back off seeing Bai Lianhua blow up like a pufferfish. Realising it’s probably said something bad, it tries to smooth it out, “cough, I mean, host, your return is the best encouragement for the antagonist.”

Bai Lianhua “…” No, you’ve already made yourself clear earlier.

Sigh, he’s tired.

…

Bai Lianhua starts to guess where the antagonist might be.

Sounds simple, but not really… Shi Cangyuan really hid too well. There are so many people looking for him in the entire empire, and nobody has even caught a glimpse of him.

So, without a clue, Bai Lianhua tries to search for clues on the celestial Internet.

The system suddenly looks at him with a hard-to-describe, love-filled expression.

It confuses Bai Lianhua successfully, who is wondering what the system is up to this time.

“Emm… My cute little host, are you intellectually challenged?”

Bai Lianhua “???” What kind of tone is that? Has the dumb system finally been taken over by a malicious virus?

It couldn’t be! It looks hi-tech, you know?

“After this many worlds, you still haven’t realised the pattern of who’s the most important person in the antagonists’ minds?”

“It’s you, my silly badger of a host!”

“Shi Cangyuan can only have retired because of losing you, and so he finds no joy in what he’s doing anymore… Even the glory he used to value the most has become unimportant compared to you.”

“Not looking for clues on yourself, and going onto the celestial Internet to look for random snippets… If even host, you, can’t find the antagonist, no one can.”

“We double-white of being white lotus plus white moonlight is not just in name, ok?”

Bai Lianhua “…”

What in the world is with this desire to retort the system ferociously but can’t find anything to do so? Argh, I’m so angry!

So after Bai Lianhua goes to ponder the meaning of life for a while, he accepts the system’s suggestion reluctantly.

Clues on himself? Fine, then let’s start from the beginning.

Chronologically… Bai Lianhua strolls to that small shopfront Shi Cangyuan used to rent, where the two first met.

Bai Lianhua thought this would turn out to be useless. He just wants to retort the system… ‘Look, I’m serious about following your advice, aren’t I’ with a stupid face.

What surprises Bai Lianhua though, is that while the run-down shop is closed… But from the decoration, it’s clearly the same as the mecha repair shop that Shi Cangyuan had opened.

——He does remember that the owner had revamped it when Shi Cangyuan stopped renting it though.

After some thought, Bai Lianhua decides to ask nearby shopkeepers.

They also seem to be quite interested in this, and excitedly talk on and on with Bai Lianhua. Apparently, the original owner of the storefront had some ridiculous fortune, and even on this shaggy planet, someone bought this shop at a great price.

Apparently, the person was super generous… And since buying it, even though the decoration was switched up, but they never saw it open. It always sat there unused, God knows for what.

Bai Lianhua feels a spark in his mind.

After cordially excusing himself, and seeing nobody else around, Bai Lianhua secretly tries to tap his own biometric magnetic chip on the lock of the shop’s door.

——Before, as the biggest VIP client of Shi Cangyuan, he even had the authority to enter the store as he wanted… Uh, though really, this is just to make it easier for him to ask Shi Cangyuan for help when his ridiculous mecha modding experiments go awry 24/7.

No matter what, if Shi Cangyuan really is behind this, perhaps this would work?

While Bai Lianhua didn’t fancy his chances, but the truth is, the door really does open gradually.

Bai Lianhua widens his eyes. It’s evidently clear that the shopkeepers’ so-called dumb and rich buyer is Shi Cangyuan.

Since nobody else but Shi Cangyuan could have valued this small shopfront so much, even remembering to add the right for him to open the door.

Bai Lianhua gradually walks inside, and sees that everything has been reverted to the previous state. All the details seem to be the same with the scenery he remembers, even the decorations on the table are seemingly the same.

It feels as if Shi Cangyuan would still be fixing parts casually somewhere, and then he’d raise his head and ask Bai Lianhua what eye-bleaching mod he’d applied to his mecha this time around.

… No, this isn’t just that.

Bai Lianhua starts furrowing his brows.

The system gets curious looking at his expression, “host, what’s up?”

“Are you really really moved?” Is this something that actually worked on the host again?

But even though when he found out that Wen Fu tried to set up his residence like that in the Forest of Mists, he wasn’t this moved?

Don’t people stop finding something special when it’s repeated?

It even dissed a bit inside about how the antagonists have no originality when it comes to their methods.

“No…” Bai Lianhua takes a deep breath, “pull up the scene from the first day Shi Cangyuan and I met in his store, and compare it to this.”

“I know it’s something you can do.”

The system doesn’t understand what the host is on about, but it’s not a particularly demanding request, so it searches through its data and recreates the scene of their first meeting with a projection only it and the host can see… And then even the system itself is stupefied.

This… was the antagonist always this painstakingly precise?

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