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墨書 Inktalez
The Dream Seeker II gradually slowed down, safely navigating through the vastness of space, drifting freely among the stars...
"Activate the backup gravity generator and adjust it to 1.2 Earth gravities!" After ensuring everything was in order, he quickly ran to the medical bay to better adapt to the cosmic environment.
"The ship is now safe," Reynold announced as he stepped into the cabin, sharing the good news with everyone. However, their faces were not filled with joy as he had imagined; instead, they were somber, nearly on the verge of tears. Looking down, he noticed that Hikamu's condition was worsening. None of the ten crew members understood magic, and despite their efforts, they were making no progress in treating him.
The wounds caused by burns would rapidly spread when treated with medication, and there was no drug available to halt the deterioration of his condition. At this moment, humanity's technological achievements felt utterly powerless against the forces of magic!
"Captain, I can't hold on much longer!" Hikamu managed to turn his head and looked at his concerned captain, tears welling in his eyes.
Although this mission had been assigned by their CRB superior, he had eagerly hoped to be part of it. Since childhood, he had been filled with fantasies and curiosity about distant stars, always wishing to explore those far-off places and witness life in another world.
Before joining the mission, he had been feeling down due to some family issues. But while wandering aimlessly through the crowd to pass the time, he received notification that he was about to be dispatched to a black hole for a mission.
A black hole... what an alluring place, drawing everything towards it. Hikamu readily accepted; it was his dream to escape this machine-ridden world and seek out a tranquil realm.
At this moment, observing the expressions of his teammates, Hikamu could predict just how dire his situation was. He knew completing the mission would be difficult for him, but he felt a sense of fulfillment; if it had been any other teammate in his place, they would surely be the ones suffering.
"Hikamu!!! How can you say that? We haven't given up! Why are you giving up on yourself? Stay strong... Do you believe in us?" Initially furious, Reynold shouted at Hikamu. However, upon seeing the gruesome sight beneath Hikamu's shirt—a patch of skin that was almost unrecognizable—his voice softened.
It was a horrific sight; flesh was mangled beyond recognition, revealing faint blue bones beneath. (This is something I witnessed firsthand when I was young; I got hit by an axe and saw that my bones were covered with a layer of faint blue material. I have always been curious about it… Author's note.)
"Captain, don't be sad. I can feel Death coming for me... Even though I won't be able to complete the mission with you all, I've fulfilled my own destiny... Do you know? My greatest dream has always been to leave the galaxy..."
At this point, Hikamu noticed the astonished expressions on everyone's tear-streaked faces and continued:
"Maybe you are all lucky while I am not... I come from a lower-class family living in an ordinary area on Mars. My fate was predetermined by my parents; they wanted me to become a salesman..." He chuckled helplessly at this thought. "But I refused to accept that; I wanted to be a warrior. Being a warrior was the only way to escape my identity... Studying? Ha! How could someone like me choose to be shackled by freedom? So I applied for CRB Group, and fortunately got accepted. Later on, I was promoted to Cosmic Warriors..."
"That's right! You are a Cosmic Warrior! Why would you give up so easily? We will treat you right away..." At this point, Reynold felt a surge of urgency as he rushed to Hikamu's side, grabbing the medical tools and preparing to act.
"Captain, you've always been my idol... Can you let me finish my story?" Hikamu tried to prop himself up, but Reynold pressed him back down.
"...Alright..." Seeing the pleading look in Hikamu's eyes softened Reynold's heart.
"When I was young, the place I lived was always crowded. Sometimes during the day, I had to stand because there was hardly any space to sit. Although the government provided each family with a room, it was limited... There were more than ten people in my family, but the house was only twenty square meters. To make ends meet, we filled the house with goods... I wasn't an exceptional child; I liked to fight and was seen as a failure... Fortunately, my captain, Kris, believed in me. It was thanks to his recommendation that I could come to this dreamlike place with everyone. I've always hoped to own my own spaceship, and Kris helped me get a private ship... Captain, do you know how happy I was at that time?" Hikamu's gaze swept over to Reynold, then fixed on Kris.
As the First Officer, Kris was consumed by deep remorse. His delays had cost precious time for the rescue, putting Hikamu in such a dangerous situation... Hearing Hikamu's words felt like a knife cutting through his heart; tears finally broke through the dam of his eyelids and flowed down.
"Captain, you don't need to blame yourself... Lan Liu has told me everything... I don't hold it against you... cough cough..." Hikamu's condition worsened; he trembled as he spoke, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Hikamu, how are you feeling?" Looking at Hikamu's state, Lan Liu steadied him, hoping he would feel a bit better.
"Don't worry about me... Let me say what I want to say before I leave without regrets..." Hikamu broke free from Lan Liu's grip and propped himself up. He looked around as if searching for something. His movements were slow, and after a long pause, he asked:
"Captain, can you bring my diary?"
Reynold was puzzled; he didn't know this team member kept a diary.
"It's fine; I can manage. I want to take it with me... I never had the chance to go to school, but through my own efforts, I've finally learned to write some words. Even if they are not coherent sentences, they feel more familiar than anything else to me."
Without hesitation, Reynold stood up and strode toward Hikamu's quarters. Before long, he found the thin paper diary hidden under the pillow and hurried back to the medical room. By this time, speaking had become very difficult for Hikamu. When he saw where Reynold got the diary from, a final smile flickered across his face.
He took the diary and held it tightly against his chest as he slowly lay back down and closed his eyes... At that moment, time seemed to dull everyone in the cabin until they realized that Hikamu had stopped moving altogether:
Their teammate had already left this world!
Perhaps, this was just the beginning... Everyone's hearts were filled with prayers.
"It won't happen... It won't happen... I promised everyone that I would bring everyone back safely... I can do this..." Reynold said as he knelt down, gripping his hair tightly. "I promised myself that I would bring you all back... I keep my word... I keep my word!!!" Reynold's voice rose to a howl, and the others fell silent in their sorrow.
"Captain, Hikamu really is gone... Don't blame yourself... We all made mistakes..." Lan Liu's words pierced each person's heart like a needle. Yes, he was their teammate, their brother, but at this moment, there was only one who had passed away...
Wenke, Fan Qing, and Gideon also set the spaceship to automatic mode and rushed over. The strange atmosphere made it impossible for them to remain silent any longer... They saw Hikamu lying quietly on the bed, holding a thin old notebook in his hand, as if he were merely sleeping.
Although Hikamu didn't possess as much knowledge as the others, he was indeed a straightforward and honest person who could do many silly things that made everyone laugh or show off his muscles, filling the spaceship with joy. To everyone, he was also someone who loved to learn, the most diligent teammate who would always pester others to teach him new skills whenever he had free time.
The only comfort was that Hikamu left with a smile on his face; the smile had frozen in time just moments before and would linger on for a long time...
Reynold cried out loudly, filled with the grief of losing a companion and endless regret and self-blame. "It was supposed to be my turn! Captain, why did you switch with Hikamu!" At that moment, Little Knife also questioned through tears, feeling as though it should have been him lying on the bed instead of Hikamu.
Everyone lowered their heads; they couldn't bear to see their once vibrant teammate now forever asleep!!!
"I’m so clever... If I had gone instead, Hikamu wouldn’t have died..." Sward cried out loudly. But the looks from everyone suggested that if Little Knife had gone, it would have been even worse... "Don't look at me like that! I..." Sward turned away helplessly, wiping the tears from his face.
"Little Knife, it's all my fault. From now on, even if it costs me my life, I won't let you get hurt!!!" Reynold said firmly as he looked at everyone.
"Sward, don't get involved. We all made mistakes. If we had all gone together from the start, it wouldn't have ended up like this!!! Hikamu wouldn't want us to be so downcast... His dream was to fly freely into infinite space; let's fulfill it for him..." Lan Liu was the first girl to break free from her sorrow and spoke up loudly.
"It's all my fault; Hikamu doesn't blame me... But I truly can't forgive myself... If there's danger in the future, let me go first!!!" Kris also lunged forward, but everyone held him back and comforted him. Even though he was a grown man, there were times when sadness overwhelmed him; at this moment of losing a brother, tears were inevitable...
Reynold wiped his tears and stood up: "Lan Liu is right. We came to the black hole just to carry out a mission assigned by Cosmic Headquarters, but now we have an additional mission: to avenge Hikamu!!! Does everyone have confidence?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!!!"
Everyone stood up, except for Hikamu, who lay on the bed. Looking at the sleeping Hikamu, flames of vengeance burned in their eyes. Their hearts were filled with a desire for revenge... Damn that desire; this group had temporarily lost their rationality... For now, let loyalty guide them.
"We have powerful weapons and advanced technology. The enemy is just a bunch of primitive humans without Enlightenment. Although this kind of battle isn't our style, they have forced our hand. Furthermore, they possess strange technology that, while not significantly affecting our ship, can still cause considerable damage... From now on, we will make them pay double!!!"
"Understood!!!" The crowd raised their heads and took their positions.
They returned to their respective stations and quickly began to repair the damaged parts of the ship.
"Captain, we've located the most densely populated monster gathering point." Dream Seeker II re-entered the sky outside Kadar Planet, preparing for a surprise attack.
"Good. Let's make them taste the power of the Solar Nuke once again!" Reynold's eyes glistened with tears of anger as he gazed at the black planet.
"Captain, I only have five Solar Nukes in total, and we've already used one," Wenke reminded Reynold, concerned it might be too much.
"Then prepare to launch two!" Reynold sat down, while sadness and anger filled the hearts of the others.
Could Kadar Star withstand two Solar Nukes?
"It should be over soon... Even a brilliant civilization should know better than to provoke us first!!!"
The launch preparation progress bar on the ship continued to advance...
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