The Crazed Little Darling: Pampered by the Possesive Commander!

Chapter 139: Third Brother Can’t Possibly Be Dead

Su Ruan walked to his side, pulling him to sit down."Brother Lu, you look quite unwell."

Su Ruan touched his forehead; it was icy, not like he had a fever.

Lu Shinian grasped her hand tightly, voice tinged with hoarseness, "I’m fine."

He reached out to pull Su Ruan into his embrace, asking, "Do you feel bored?"

Su Ruan looked up, a hint of concern in her delicate brows, "Not bored, it’s quite interesting."

"Brother Lu, you seem to be in a bad state, are you feeling uncomfortable?"

After a pause, she leaned closer, almost to Lu Shinian’s ear, lowering her voice to almost a whisper.

"Ancestral Stage?"

Just two words, and he already understood her meaning.

Lu Shinian shook his head, chuckling softly.

"Not at all, thanks to that Level 3 Energy Stone, I’m quite stable now."

"Barring any accidents, I should pass safely through this half-month."

Relieved it wasn’t the Ancestral Stage, Su Ruan nodded, "That’s good."

Lu Shinian looked up at the live broadcast screen; indeed, the Third Legion had been ambushed by the Second Legion.

The two teams clashed briefly, with the Third Legion achieving a minor victory before parting.

Lu Shinian’s eyes rarely showed nostalgia, yet he voluntarily spoke:

"In the past, I joined military tournaments with a friend."

Su Ruan showed interest; it was Lu Shinian’s first time mentioning his past.

"And then?" she probed.

"Back then, we got ambushed by the Second Legion too." Lu Shinian laughed, "At that time, the Third Legion’s power was weaker. In direct terms, far inferior to the Second Legion."

"Like now, breaking through head-on was inconceivable."

Su Ruan’s interest deepened, prompting further inquiry, "And then?"

"Then he defected right in front of us to the opposing side." Lu Shinian’s tone lacked any disdain or disgust.

Su Ruan regarded him thoughtfully.

"Isn’t defecting a serious crime?"

On a battlefield, defecting leads to military tribunal.

"But if the enemy’s power is overwhelming, sometimes a choice must be made between annihilation or bearing infamy." Lu Shinian raised his hand, ruffling Su Ruan’s hair.

"Ruan Ruan, battlefields are complex; pure righteousness doesn’t always work."

"So was it fake defection?" Su Ruan questioned, "Pretending to surrender, yet secretly conveying intelligence to your side."

"Hmm." Lu Shinian acknowledged.

"He seemed so honorable, one wouldn’t think him capable of such tricks."

That was one of the key factors in their later victory.

Su Ruan quickly evaluated Lu Shinian’s friends she knew, ruling them out one by one, finding no match.

Someone earning Lu Shinian’s praise couldn’t be an unknown figure.

"Where is he now?" Su Ruan’s curiosity prevailed.

Lu Shinian’s gaze darkened, "He left."

"Departed during the battle ten years ago."

He didn’t want to touch the term too cruel for both his friend and himself.

Su Ruan understood, that so-called "left," meant death.

The fierce war with the Insect Race ten years ago still remains unspoken among many surviving soldiers.

"Sorry." Su Ruan lightly bit her lip.

"Ruan Ruan, there’s no need to apologize." Lu Shinian pinched her cheek, feeling the sensation in his fingertips move his Adam’s apple, speaking deeply, "I brought it up first."

"I’ve been busy with military exercises before, but being a judge this time brings back familiar memories."

Back then, he was young and reckless, acting without considering consequences, suffering numerous hardships.

Until that military tournament, he learned the battlefield had a "cautious development flow."

"We won first place in that tournament." In hindsight, it seems an inevitable result, but back then, they navigated countless wrong paths and pitfalls.

Su Ruan saw this friend mattered greatly to him, and comforted him by patting his shoulder, "His heroic name will surely endure."

"By the way, what’s his name?"

Lu Shinian’s lips slightly parted, "Cheng Qingye."

Su Ruan’s pupils suddenly contracted, breaking away from his embrace, standing abruptly, "Impossible!"

Lu Shinian looked up at Su Ruan, "Ruan Ruan?"

Su Ruan felt icy, her previously flushed cheeks now pallid.

"Cheng Qingye, the Cheng of prospects, the Qing of purity, the Ye of wilderness?" Her voice trembled slightly, the look towards Lu Shinian carried a hint of panic.

Lu Shinian stood, holding Su Ruan’s small hand tightly.

"Ruan Ruan, calm down." He murmured, "Tell me, what’s wrong?"

"Those three characters?" Su Ruan insisted on asking.

Lu Shinian nodded, "Those three characters."

"Impossible." Su Ruan murmured, managing to calm under Lu Shinian’s grip, spoke seriously, "It might just be a namesake."

"Namesake with whom?" Lu Shinian pursued.

Su Ruan looked steadily at Lu Shinian, her pure black pupils devoid of light.

"Third Brother."

"My Third Brother is named Cheng Qingye."

Lu Shinian was slightly surprised, "Your Third Brother doesn’t bear the surname Su?"

Su Ruan shook her head, "Third Brother bears our father’s surname."

"I, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, the three of us bear our mother’s surname."

Su Ruan seemed to remember something, reversing to clasp Lu Shinian’s hand, asking, "Brother Lu, do you have his photo?"

"No." Lu Shinian’s eyes darkened, "Before his death, he asked me to destroy all his records as his last wish, which I fulfilled."

"Not only is there no photo, even his name isn’t on the list of the deceased."

"He was always solitary, apart from his ties with me, he had no other friends."

"So..."

Besides him, no one remembers him.

If it weren’t for his memory, he’d seem as if he never existed in this world.

"Do you have your Third Brother’s photo, Ruan Ruan?" Lu Shinian asked.

Su Ruan shook her head, "No, Third Brother disliked photos, leaving no pictures or traces."

Thinking carefully, each departure seemed to erase his life’s marks.

Such behavior, seemingly hiding from discovery, could he truly just be an ordinary doctor?

Su Ruan pressed her lips, firmly stating, "Third Brother can’t be dead."

"Five years ago, he even sent me..."

Before she finished, Vice Wang rushed in urgently from outside, looking troubled, "Commander, there’s a situation!"