Forcibly Marked by My Fiancé’s Best Friend - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Rat-tat-tat-tat—

Two aircraft circled in the sky, diving like the Black and White Guards of Hell, unleashing a barrage of gunfire upon the vessels parked near the ruins.

“Boss, why aren’t they moving?”

A blue-haired man stroked his beard, slowing his speed to inspect the aircraft on the ground.

“Those Imperial bastards are cunning. Don’t rush; let’s keep watching.”

Previously, after their failed ambush in the air, the two had retreated in a hurry with their wounded comrades, fearing a trap. They hadn’t expected the Imperials to actually have reinforcements. Earlier there had been only one aircraft, but after entering the Desolate Star’s atmosphere, another appeared.

“Boss, I’ll just blow him up!”

The blue-haired man looked troubled and cautioned, “No, we just tried that. That hull is probably tougher than our own ships. Blowing it up won’t do us any good.”

“Well, we can’t just wait here forever!” The man was the “Number One Assassin of the Desolate Star” hired by the other party; at this moment, he was even more anxious than the leader.

“Wait a bit longer,” the blue-haired man said. “I’m starting to think there’s no one inside.”

The white aircraft lowered its altitude, brushing past the stationary vessel.

“It really looks empty!”

The blue-haired man slapped his thigh. “Another ambush!”

“Huh?” The assassin was dumbfounded. Cunning to this extent?

The two continued to circle in the sky, neither daring to leave nor daring to approach. Suddenly, a squad dressed in military uniforms rushed out from the ruins, raising laser rifles and firing at the two aircraft holding the aerial advantage.

“Damn it! Why is it those Imperial bastards again?!”

The assassin released smoke grenades for cover. “How are they still alive?!”

“I knew that the Imperial guy had ulterior motives. This must be his handiwork!”

Now, they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to. The squad below was firing frantically at them with near-perfect accuracy; there was no escape. A massive amount of laser fire hit the aircraft, destroying the wings. Unable to stay airborne, the ships crashed down with a heavy thud.

The blue-haired man and the assassin scrambled out of the wreckage, crawling and rolling until they took cover behind Lian Xu’s aircraft.

“Damn, are they even human?”

“We’re finished. We didn’t even fight the enemy before we did ourselves in.” The assassin lamented, wiping away tears as he sent a message. “Wife, I’m sorry, I might not make it back.”

The blue-haired man smacked the back of the assassin’s head. “Stop the depressing talk! Get your gun! Let’s f***ing do this!”

“Ow, ow, ow.” The assassin put away his light-brain and reached for his waist, only to find it empty. “Boss… I… I think I lost my gun…”

Just then, a dark gun barrel rose between the two of them, the muzzle pointing directly at the blue-haired man.

“Who are they?” Yu questioned coldly.

“I-I-I don’t know them!” The blue-haired man was so nervous he stuttered. He felt his leg and realized his own gun was missing too, making him even more subservient.

“I-I-Imperial bastards! They’re people from the Empire!” the assassin hurriedly explained.

The blue-haired man chimed in, “Right, right, they’re from the Empire! Damn, those unkillable freaks aren’t human! They were like this three years ago, and they’re still like this now!”

Yu cracked his knuckles.

When he woke up, he was lying near the ruins. Lian Xu was gone, Fia was gone, and everyone he had seen at the base had vanished. The passage had been blocked and wouldn’t open. The military uniforms packed in the crates were gone, and even his gun was missing.

It was as if he had been mugged.

He even doubted if he was dreaming—perhaps he had never actually entered the base.

However, the fresh scent-blocking patch on the back of his neck reminded him that all of this was real.

Yu slumped to the ground. An Alpha who had just entered his rut required the soothing pheromones of an Omega—specifically, he needed Lian Xu’s pheromones. In that dark room, Lian Xu had pressed him down and given him a temporary mark, but upon waking, He Yu couldn’t sense even a hint of the cedar scent.

All that remained was a single sentence left on his light-brain:

—Something is wrong with Fia.

Fia and Lian Xu had disappeared together.

Yu gritted his teeth and punched the hard metal shell of the aircraft. “Of all times to have a rut…”

The blue-haired man and the assassin were terrified by that single punch.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t kill me! I’m really not with them!”

Yu turned to look at the blue-haired man. “Are you a local?”

The blue-haired man nodded vigorously.

“My name is Boni, born and raised on the Desolate Star!” the blue-haired man introduced himself. “He’s Hami, the assassin I hired.”

He Yu’s expression was complex. “Your planet still has assassins?”

How incredibly backward.

On the Empire’s planets, the profession of “assassin” had been extinct for at least fifty years.

These two were sneaky, yet incredibly cowardly. They were flying a high-end, sturdy aircraft, yet their operation of it was clumsy, as if they had just learned to drive.

But since they were people of the Desolate Star, they likely knew something about this base.

With that thought, He Yu pointed the gun at the two of them and ordered them onto his aircraft.

The two didn’t dare run. If they ran, they’d be shot dead—if not by him, then by those Imperial soldiers with their lasers. They obediently followed the man’s orders and boarded the ship.

Once inside, He Yu got straight to the point: “Since you’re locals, you should know what’s buried under these ruins.”

“It’s just ruins, what could be there?” Boni whispered. “We only followed your aircraft here anyway.”

“So… you’re the one who attacked my lover in the air?” He Yu asked with a half-smile.

Hearing the word “lover,” Boni almost fell to his knees in fear. “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare!”

Seeing this, Hami spoke up: “It’s you people who invaded our home to steal resources! We were just acting in self-defense!”

Immediately, Boni threw a punch at Hami’s head.

Yu stared at the two of them, lost in thought.

“Three years ago, we did send two armies here, but that was only to prevent an invasion from the Savage Star. The two armies arrived six months apart, but they both vanished without a trace the moment they landed. Where does this ‘stealing resources’ talk come from?”

Besides, what was there on this Desolate Star worth stealing?!

Boni argued, “That squad outside is from your Empire!”

Yu followed his gaze and saw the army outside wielding laser rifles with techniques identical to Imperial soldiers. The uniforms they wore were indeed the ones belonging to the Empire.

He thought back to the “modification experiments” Fia had mentioned.

Was this army a failure or a success of those modifications?

He Yu asked Boni again, “There’s an experimental base here. What exactly are they researching?”

At this, both men lowered their heads and remained silent.

It was as if they had heard something terrifying.

“Not talking, then?” Yu slowly raised the gun he had taken from the locals and clicked the trigger. “Two paths: one, I shoot you and send you on your way; two, I kick you out there to be with…”

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Boni didn’t hesitate for a second, rushing to confess before He Yu could finish. “That base is Hell!”

The Desolate Star was once a prosperous planet, possessing the best soil and metal resources in the entire galaxy. But one day, the scientific research base developed a potion. It was said to evolve humans, making them stronger and immortal.

No one knew if it was true or false, as the news only came from the base.

People were originally indifferent, until the first successfully “evolved” human appeared. He truly became powerful; once his cells reached a certain level of reverse growth, they seemed to freeze, undergoing no further changes. Yet, the man remained the same in appearance and psychology.

The only difference was that he did not age. Over a decade passed, and he still looked like he was in his twenties.

Once there was a success story, countless people craving power and immortality fought for the potion. But all subsequent batches were failures. Those who drank them initially went mad, and later, their bodies rotted away, yet they did not die.

They lived on without consciousness, their pupils vacant.

Because of the potion, the people of the Desolate Star began to kill each other. They resisted the base’s immoral behavior and killed the planetary leader. But those who entered the base disappeared one by one. If they were “lucky,” they might be seen years later walking around with rotting bodies.

Terrified of becoming living corpses, people fled and hid.

The planet, having lost its core, turned into a mess of loose sand.

They suffered external invasions and constant war; every usable resource was snatched away. The once-prosperous land became the wasteland it is today.

It was a lamentable sight.

“After the leader died, his son took his lover and went into hiding. Some people still hope the planet can return to its former glory, so we centered ourselves around his son and secretly built a new system. That place is protected; it’s the last resource site on the entire Desolate Star.”

Boni sighed.

“If the current leader dies too, we’re completely…”

Yu’s brow furrowed slightly. If it were Lian Xu, he would probably be moved by mercy to help them rebuild their home. But he wasn’t Lian Xu; he wasn’t that fond of meddling. War is an unavoidable disaster for every planet; if they couldn’t survive it on their own, what would external help really change?

He leaned back. The inability to sense Lian Xu’s pheromones made him extremely uneasy.

“Wait until dark. We’re fighting our way out.”

Boni looked up at He Yu. “Fighting? Who? Who’s going out?”

Yu glanced at him. “Is there anyone else here besides the three of us?”

Boni: “…”

Hami’s face looked grim. He leaned toward Boni and whispered, “Boss, we’re going to die. How about… we take care of him first?”

“I can hear you,” He Yu said.

Hami: “…”

As He Yu was planning how to break into the base and find Lian Xu, his mind drifted further and further.

Suddenly, the light-brain on his wrist beeped.

He opened it to find a message from Lian Xu.

[Meet at the base entrance tonight.]

Normally, He Yu would have treated this message as an invitation, dressing up elegantly to go to the “date.” But now, as he watched the light outside gradually fade, he hesitated.

His gland was tightly wrapped in the blocking patch, but the Alpha could clearly feel the burning sensation at the back of his neck. His demand during a rut was much higher than that of a normal Alpha. Now that the faint scent of cedar had dissipated, his gland remained in this agitated state.

It was a restless, panicky, and helpless fear.

His gland was warning him: the owner of that cedar scent might be in danger.