It was obvious to Claude that Livy was an unwilling participant to the kiss by the way he struggled beneath him; still, he was equally unrelenting. He was aware of how the young pilot squirmed under his hold, but he decided to ignore his silent protests and continued to kiss him.
Claude indulged himself in the way tyrants do with their conquests.
If this was a war, Livy would have run away with his tail tucked between his legs. <sup>1</sup> The original Chinese idiom is 丢盔卸甲 (diū kuī xiè jiǎ). Literally, it means “to throw away one’s helmet (丢盔 – diū kuī) and coat of mail (卸甲 – xiè jiǎ)”. Figuratively, it means “to throw away everything in headlong flight route”. The context behind this idiom is that, during a war, the losing side would often cast aside their heavy chain mail to expedite their retreat, even if this meant throwing away their last barrier of protection. When Claude let go of Livy’s hands, the former quickly stepped out of the way just before the young man’s fist could slam into his face.
“What the f*ck are you doing—” Livy violently leapt up from his bed. However, because he bumped into the medical apparatus beside him, he almost fell onto the floor. Due to the unexpected force, the blindfold loosened and slipped from his face.
The bright light that flowed in from the windows of the ward seeped into Livy’s eyes, and it briefly blinded him.
After blinking his eyes several times, Livy saw Claude standing two meters away from him, observing him coldly, “Looks like there’s nothing wrong with your eyes; are you still bored now?”
“I’ll kill you!!! Then you’ll see whether I’m bored or not!” Livy lunged at Claude; his punch came as sudden as a flash of lightning, but Claude only had to turn his body slightly to the side in order to avoid it.
“Then, next time, even if you really do not care about anything, please at least protect yourself.”
Livy’s chest heaved, and before a minute could pass, he shakily laid back on top of his bed.
As a last stand against Claude, he raised his middle finger in the former’s direction.
“This time, let’s just say your clever moves allowed you to win!” Livy spat out. After saying that, he donned another nonchalant expression, as if he had not a care in the world.
But even though he was determined to calm himself down, his mind kept wandering back to the memory of Claude kissing him, and he could barely contain his anger at the thought of it. Still, he reminded himself that he shouldn’t give in to his fury, because if he did, then that would mean that he had fallen into Claude’s ‘ruse’.
“You can continue being proud of yourself, Claude.” Livy picked up the blindfold lying on the ground and clumsily put it back on. After which, he lazily rolled over on his bed.
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Claude gazed at Livy for a long time. Then, he lowered his eyes and smiled with a hint of irony.
※※※
During the time in which Livy was stuck in the hospital and recuperating from his eye injury, the fighters of K11 engaged in battle with the alien invaders exactly twice. Both times, they had relied on their superior numbers to win, but despite this advantage, they were still barely resisting their enemies’ advances. With each battle, it became more and more apparent how they were in dire need for fighters who could fly at high speeds.
After about half a month into Livy’s hospitalization, the young pilot’s eyes were finally declared fully recovered, and his discharge papers were officially signed. On the day of his release, there were only two people in his ward besides the medical staff. One was the ice-cold looking Miller, and the other was the extremely apologetic-looking Sharon.
When Livy’s blindfold was finally taken off, he blinked for the first couple of seconds. After his eyes had finally adjusted to the light, he exclaimed, “Why is it that even when I am standing so far away, I can see still the freckles on Sharon’s face so clearly?”
“That’s good; a fighter pilot is supposed to have better eyesight than the average person.” Although Miller spoke very coldly, the gradual loosening of his clenched fists gave away the nervousness he felt towards Livy.
“That’s not good.” Livy wagged his fingers, “Many things lose their magic when you see them clearly.”
While smiling, Sharon walked up to Livy, “Seeing the way you are now, you’re definitely the Livy Van Perle that I know. I no longer feel guilty; I even feel the need to beat you up.”
“Ah… you want to beat me up? Then, I’d better go blind.”
“Explain yourself to me properly; what is this I hear about my relationship with Major General Sien?”
“Ah, for this I have a very good explanation; it is the relationship between a superior and subordinate from different departments.” Livy answered firmly, but Sharon looked unconvinced.
“What else did you say?”
“And… that your relationship included having dinner together.”
“And what else?”
“And… I don’t remember anymore.” Livy scratched his head.
“Because of your ‘blessings’, I’m currently the talk of the entire military affairs department. Thanks for the free publicity; now, I’m a celebrity.”
Outside the ward, Claude Sien leaned his back against the wall; he listened attentively to the light banter and laughter coming from the other end of the door.
The head doctor saw him loitering outside the room. He approached Claude and asked, “Won’t the Major General go in?”
“No need. His eyesight is too good now. I’m afraid he’ll see me too clearly .” <sup>2</sup> 我怕他把我看得太清楚, in the context of this paragraph, can be translated as “I’m afraid he’ll see me too clearly.” However, in another context, it can also be translated as “I’m afraid he’ll see through me.” Claude tilted his head slightly and flashed his charismatic smile at the doctor.
※※※
A week later, Livy resumed his training and officially returned to Zone Z.
As soon as he stepped inside, Miller saw Livy’s front collar was unbuttoned, and his temples couldn’t help but jump up, “Brat, if you’re not in good shape today, I won’t forgive you and go easy on you just because of your injuries.”
“Ugh, your OCD has struck again.” Livy approached Miller with a smile and hooked his fingers under the other party’s chin, “But, even though I can see so clearly, Major Miller is still an amazingly beautiful ikemen that makes other people’s hearts go pit-a-pat—”
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“You think I’m going to be provoked by your little spiel? I’d be an idiot if I let something like that get on my nerves.” Miller sneered and smacked Livy’s hand away. Then, he grabbed him by the collar and dragged him over to the cockpit door and lightly shoved him into his work station, “Don’t waste my time.”
It was at that moment Claude walked over towards them while holding a holographic computer. It looked as though he was currently discussing some important matters with the captain at his side. Seeing his preoccupied state, Livy felt a little unhappy, even though he didn’t quite understand why he felt that way.
“Hello—my dear Claude—” Livy waved his hand around.
The other man looked up and smiled politely at him, “Hello, my dear Livy. I hope you will listen obediently today.” <sup>3</sup> 乖乖 (guāi guāi), which means well-behaved or obedient, is normally a form of address or term of endearment used for young children. Claude tells Livy: “希望你今天乖乖听话” = “I hope you will listen obediently today.” The way that this sentence is structured makes it seem as though Claude is speaking with a rambunctious child.
Those exact same words, when uttered by Livy, felt frivolous but, when spoken by Claude, sounded mature and even contained a half-indulgent air. The young pilot couldn’t help but think that the contrast between the two of them was becoming more and more poignant each time the two of them did the same thing.
The hatch closed with a bang, and Livy put on his goggles in preparation for training.
At this point in his training, he had already entered the mobile shooting phase. While flying at an ultra-high speed, Livy also had to practice how to accurately hit his target which was also in motion.
To everyone’s surprise, Livy’s flying ability did not regress one bit just because he had taken time off to recuperate from his injuries. He was still like a fish in water. However, his shooting ability left Miller and other experts feeling rather helpless.
Throughout the whole morning, the scientists devised innumerable methods and even developed new software to help him improve the accuracy of his shooting, but to no avail.
“When he was piloting the Blue Crisis, his hit rate was still seventy percent. But, in the Pure-Hued Lady, his hit rate cannot even reach thirty percent!” Miller wanted to pull his hair out as he looked over Livy’s stagnant numbers, “We’ve finally found a person capable of piloting the Pure-Hued Lady; but are we going to have to reprogram the Pure-Hued Lady into a dual pilot system so that we can give Livy a shooter?!”
“Calm down; do not be so overanxious for quick results. One month ago, we couldn’t even find a person who was capable of staying inside the simulation system for at least five minutes. But look at Livy now: he can even stay inside the Pure-Hued Lady for over an hour without saying he wants to throw up.” Claude patted Miller’s shoulder and added, “Perhaps it is not Livy’s fault. We should look into the attack system later.”
“So what you mean is…”
“The Pure-Hued Lady is faster than the Blue Crisis. Therefore, unlike in the Blue Crisis, the attack trajectory of a missile or laser-guided missile that is fired by the Pure-Hued Lady becomes influenced by the aircraft’s initial velocity. It is likely Livy’s intended target was already off even from the moment of his missile’s initial launch.”
“But, the time between the projectile’s launch and its collision with the target should be short enough that whatever error results from the increased speed becomes miniscule.”
“For us, possibly, but not for a pilot who is extremely sensitive to speed like Livy.” Claude’s words put Miller into deep thought.
Half an hour later, Livy — tired as ever — emerged from the cockpit.
As he staggered out, Claude supported him with one hand.
“Thanks.” Livy responded with a sigh.
“Is something bothering you?”
“Well…yeah…” Livy frowned as he scratched his head with a hint of annoyance.
“Is it because there’s always a time difference between when you launch your missile and when you hit your target?” In a single sentence, Claude had gone to the crux of the matter, and Livy looked up at him with clear, bright eyes.
“Were you able to become a scientist because of your superior observational abilities?”
“This has nothing to do with observational ability.” Claude laughed lightly. He leaned towards Livy, and Livy couldn’t help but warily sidle away. “Don’t look at me with such cute eyes or I will kiss you.”
“Don’t you dare.” Livy’s voice instantly sank.
“Hahahaha…” Claude suddenly roared with laughter; it was the first time Livy had seen him laugh so happily, “In the past, when I treated you like this, you were too lazy to even get away. Now I think you’re afraid of me!”
“You perverted virus! Anyone would try to stay away from you!”
“Yo! Claude—it’s rare to see you childishly bantering with someone else.” A lilting voice with an indolent color echoed through the training room; it managed to draw Livy’s attention and cause him to involuntarily turn around in order to find the source.
The lighting made it hard to see the other party’s appearance, but an immaculate and pristine military uniform was haphazardly draped over the other party’s shoulders. Furthermore, the undershirt he was wearing only had two buttons done……the bottom two buttons. No doubt if Miller met this man, he’d be furious; this Livy thought as he watched Claude walk over to the other party.
“Maurice—” Claude stretched his arms out to embrace the other party, and the two patted each other’s backs in a brotherly manner.
Under the lights, the other man’s appearance finally became visible to Livy. His hair was messy and seemed to have been unkempt for a long time. His eyes were slightly droopy but nevertheless exuded a sense of wisdom.
Speak of the devil, Miller actually walked out of the research room just in time to greet their new visitor.
Livy was surprised to see him with awestruck eyes, and when he arrived in front of that guy named Maurice, he saluted him with an air of reverence, “Greetings, Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Rea!”
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Livy’s jaw was about to drop. What the h*ll?! What was up with this guy?! Who was he to command such respect from both Miller and Claude?
“No way, Miller… aren’t you supposed to strut around, button up this guy’s buttons, then tell him his uniform isn’t a windbreaker?”
“Hoho, isn’t this little guy the legendary Livy Van Perle?” As soon as Maurice finished his statement, he walked over to Livy and pinched both of his cheeks fiercely as if he had stumbled upon some kind of squishy playdough or stress ball.
What turned out to be a friendly gesture took an unexpected turn when, in an instant, Livy nimbly threw him over his shoulder, and the whole training room shook when Maurice landed flat on his back on the ground.
Miller was frozen with his mouth half open, while the other researchers turned towards the source of the commotion in curiosity. For a long moment, it seemed as though time stood still.
Livy rubbed his face, rolled his shoulders, then stuck his hands inside his pants’ pocket before saying, “Sorry. Instinct.”
Maurice pressed his waist and stood up with a slight tutting sound, “I’m getting old, so I really can’t withstand this anymore. Young people nowadays really don’t know how to respect their elders…”
“Livy Van Perle! How dare you injure Maurice Rea! Do you know who he is—” Miller shrieked in aghast. In Livy’s opinion, the reason why this guy was making such a fuss was because his mindset was too hierarchical.
“Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Rea.” Livy raised an eyebrow. He slowly rolled the words off his tongue while placing special emphasis on the word ‘lieutenant colonel’. Suddenly, he felt a jolt when a familiar memory came to mind, “Wait… isn’t the first pilot of the Blue Crisis also named Maurice Rea?”
“That’s correct! I am that Maurice Rea. Incidentally, my real occupation is not ‘warplane pilot’, but ‘warplane programmer’. In other words, though mathematical calculations, physics, and missile trajectory planning may be none of my business, the operation sequence is my creation.” The confidence that leaked from the corners of Maurice’s mouth when he spoke was a little dazzling.
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1
The original Chinese idiom is 丢盔卸甲 (diū kuī xiè jiǎ). Literally, it means “to throw away one’s helmet (丢盔 – diū kuī) and coat of mail (卸甲 – xiè jiǎ)”. Figuratively, it means “to throw away everything in headlong flight route”. The context behind this idiom is that, during a war, the losing side would often cast aside their heavy chain mail to expedite their retreat, even if this meant throwing away their last barrier of protection. 2
我怕他把我看得太清楚, in the context of this paragraph, can be translated as “I’m afraid he’ll see me too clearly.” However, in another context, it can also be translated as “I’m afraid he’ll see through me.” 3
乖乖 (guāi guāi), which means well-behaved or obedient, is normally a form of address or term of endearment used for young children. Claude tells Livy: “希望你今天乖乖听话” = “I hope you will listen obediently today.” The way that this sentence is structured makes it seem as though Claude is speaking with a rambunctious child.