Qiao Chen had already anticipated the two to turn their attentions onto the Radiance RS. If he hadn't, then how would they have been able to enter the mech's cockpit so easily? He knew that Greene would never give up so easily. If had been the type to be resigned to his fate, then he would have stayed on that little planet he woke up on. The Radiance RS' program was connected to his communicator, so he would be notified as soon as it started up.
Qiao Chen and Auray descended from the mech and Qiao Chen turned to Greene to say, "This is evidence of you trying to tamper with my program. It contains your own unique style of code writing, and these are an exact match to the code you wrote when you had tampered with my programs while I worked at the fifth fleet. That's why I kept making mistakes, and that's why you were the only person who could have fixed them." as he held up the magnetic card.
"I didn't. Stop spouting your nonsense. I didn't tamper with your work at all. And there aren't any of my codes left there either." Greene defended. He had no idea what leftover code or evidence his system would leave behind, if there were any. Why would I need to explain anything about this so called evidence? What made it mine?
"Even if you don't admit it, it's fine. Every mech engineer will leave behind some sort of preference as to how they code. That is unique to how they incorporate the programming style. The same style should have been left in the programs you wrote before. As long as you compare them, any real engineer can see what's going on." Qiao Chen intentionally stressed the word real. Greene only knew some basic and superficial things about mech engineering. If he relied on his true ability, then he wouldn't even qualify as a mech engineer's assistant.
There were more and more people entering the hangar, including members of the negotiation team and intelligence team.
"The malicious destruction of the fleets' mech programming during mission time is a very grave matter. The charge is equivalent to betraying the nation. This case should be sent to the Capital's Supreme Court for review." Caesar said as he walked to Qiao Chen's side.
"That's impossible. Greene wouldn't do such a thing." Jared defended. He looked towards Greene in hopes that he would come up with evidence that would refute Qiaoyi's claims.
"You were the one who brought him to our nation, and you were the one who brought him into the fifth fleet. He was your confidant, you are his accomplice. Everything he did, whether it was to your knowledge or not, falls under your responsibility. Of course you don't want to believe that he would do such a thing. But with the evidence I have, everything will be left to the Capital Supreme Court to decide. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not." Qiao Chen said.
"Jared, is this what you call good work? Bringing in such a person to come work in our fifth fleet? I'm afraid if that is so, then we won't be able to accommodate you here at the fifth fleet. When we return, you can apply elsewhere." Vegas shouted angrily. He was fuming. All of the accolades and the accomplishments the third fleet claimed should have belonged to the fifth fleet. However, because of this Greene character, they were held accountable for numerous mistakes and received several punishments.
Greene was in a state of panic. He dealt his hand, but how could it have played out like this? It shouldn't be like this. I traveled into a new world with this system. I should be the hero. I should be the protagonist in the lime-light.
"Ahh! It hurts!" Greene suddenly felt a sharp pain spread through his head. The system seemed to be breaking down. Green crumpled onto the ground with his head full of pain. He felt an intense feeling of panic set. No. This can't be. It can't happen like this. If he didn't even have the system, then he'd be in deep trouble. He couldn't do anything in this world without his system. Greene trembled in fear and pain.
"Stop faking it. Even if you keep pretending, you still can't escape the punishment." Canette spat. He had thought that Greene was someone with real talent and ability and would be able to defend himself. But he never expected to get dragged down.
Jared still hadn't come back to his senses from the shock of Vegas requesting his resignation. He didn't pay attention to Greene who was rolling on the floor in pain. Soldiers weren't like engineers. Once they transferred to another base, then everything they had done was wiped clean. They needed to start their work, rank, and accomplishments from scratch. If he was forcibly transferred out, then no good fleet would even try to accept him. This would become a huge stain on his life. His military career was done for.
No way! No. I must have father find a way to keep me in the fifth fleet when I return.
"Help call a doctor for him." Qiao Chen said as he looked at the pain filled Green on the floor. He knew that Greene wasn't pretending. I'm afraid that the system in his mind is truly disappearing for him to be in so much pain. Qiao Chen had installed an even more powerful anti-virus in the Radiance RS's mech programming. Coupled with the virus from before, his system should have completely and utterly collapsed.
Greene was taken away and imprisoned. They would return to the capital to deal with it. The doctor couldn't find any problems with his body, so he gave Greene a tranquilizer to calm him down.
It was finally clear to everyone as to why Qiaoyi had made so many mistakes during his time at the fifth fleet, but performed so much better after leaving them. Vegas and Canette began to remember that Qiaoyi had only made his frequent mistakes when Greene entered the fifth fleet. It was too late for their regret, this was a direct result of their actions and inactions.
All of the nation's fleets returned and the emerging cluster of planets had been nearly hollowed out. They were currently preparing to return to the capital planet with a large amount of ore and minerals.
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"Ahn~" Qiao Chen moaned. He lied in his bed with his eyes closed. He was bearing the heavy impact of the man who was pressing down on him. It wasn't clear whether the sweat on his body was his or from the one above him.
Qiao Chen was thrusted into until he was a bit dizzy. However, he knew that begging for mercy or throwing a little tantrum was useless. This person would not lighten his efforts. The more he asked for mercy, the more excited and energetic the man would become.
Auray suddenly stopped and Qiao Chen opened his eyes, puzzled. He gasped out, "What's wrong?"
"Let's get married when we return to the capital." Auray said to Qiao Chen earnestly.
"Did you have to say that now? At least wait until we're done, yeah?" Qiao Chen questioned. He was practically stunned speechless. Was this the best time to talk about marriage?
"Yes or no?" Auray pressured. He wanted to get the answer straight away.
"Is this you proposing to me right now? At a time like this? While we're doing a thing like this?" Qiao Chen resisted the urge to kick him out of bed. So unromantic!
"Yes. Do you agree or no?" Auray asked as he straightened up.
"Ahn~ Asshole. Are you coercing me or proposing? I won't say yes."
(T?N: That tsundere Qiao Chen is coming out again. Remember, he would have said yes, but he's the one that'll go left if you say right.)
An hour went by…
Three hours went by…
And finally, five hours had passed.
Qiao Chen couldn't even lift a finger. He powerlessly said, "I agree. Let me go already. If you do it again, I'll die in bed."
"When we return, we should register immediately. Then, we can prepare everything for the wedding." Auray carefully pressed on Qiao Chen's back, shifted him closer, and kissed him on the corners of his lips.
"Just let me sleep. Whatever you want is fine." Qiao Chen had no strength to argue with him. Anyways, he didn't even want to fight it, because it was exactly what he wanted to do anyways.
————
Greene's trial soon began after their return to the capital planet. The Capital Supreme Court found massive amounts of evidence: Greene hadn't only tampered with Qiaoyi's programs, but he even went for nearly all of the fifth fleet's mech engineers. Greene was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison and was barred from working on any mech related projects for the rest of his life. The fifth fleet and Jared were also held jointly liable and were severely punished.
Jared was forced out of the fifth fleet. And even though the Wilsons worked endlessly to help him, no department on the Capital was willing to accept him. In the end, there were only two choices left for him. The first one was to suspend his military career and stay at home. The other was to go to a remote planet and start from scratch.
Furthermore, Greene's matter became the sparking point for their faction to be suppressed. Not only did the fifth fleet face considerable penalties and punishments, but many of the fifth fleet's officials had their ranks either removed or demoted. Therefore, their losses were quite severe.
Finally, Greene was sent back to the planet Plaines. Jared, on the other hand, chose to go to planet Usharal for a new start. One planet was located in the easternmost part of the nation while the other was on the westernmost. The two were very unlikely to meet again.
When Jared arrived at Usharal, he expected that his ability would allow him to quickly promote his rank and he'd return to the capital quicker. However, when he arrived, the environment wasn't too bad… he just didn't know why everyone seemed to push him aside. More precisely, everyone seemed to be intentionally targeting him and pushing him aside.
Jared was born into a noble family. He had a promising future, but had fallen to the point where even the most common soldier dared to bully him. He couldn't stand passing his days like this, but when he applied to return to the Capital… it was never approved. He could only stay there.
Jared even tried to sneak back onto the capital. The end result? He was caught, returned, and tormented even more. He asked his family to help him, but the Wilsons were already powerless to help themselves and couldn't spend any spare effort for him.
Greene was imprisoned, and he didn't have a good time either. Not long after he arrived on planet Plaines, he was severely burned in an accident. The medical equipment there was limited. Even if there were ample medicines, they weren't specifically set aside for a prisoner. So he had to endure the pain every night. He couldn't even make a sound because if he did, then the other detainees would beat him up.
After suffering accident after accident, Greene suspected that all these problems were arranged by Qiaoyi. He thought that Qiaoyi wanted to torture him. However, what he didn't know was that pregnant Qiao Chen had no time or any cares to torture him nor Jared.
However, although Qiao Chen didn't do anything to them, that didn't mean that the people around him wouldn't. Qiao Chen's grandfather, Duke Flock, was furious after he knew that Greene and Jared were the cause for Qiaoyi to suffer such a grievous injury to his back. There was also the Orray family.* Not only were the Orrays from a higher tier line of nobility, but almost all of the males in their families had significant military backgrounds. Auray's father and several of his uncles alone held very important positions. Even the usually gentle and low-key Fionn couldn't walk away from the knowledge that his son was framed and injured so severely.
(T/N: It must be noted that the author said the Auray Family. Uhh what? Why would Qiao Chen call his hubby by his last name? I'll just call him Auray Orray, better than Auray Auray.)
—–
The people in this universe had a longer lifespan. Qiao Chen didn't die until he was well over two hundred years old. He died in Auray's arms. Even in his old age, Auray was still healthy and spritely. However, he died alongside Qiao Chen the moment his eyes closed.
Qiao Chen completely downloaded Auray's soul and was immediately withdrawn from the universe.
"Welcome back." Mulder Foley stood by the bed and watched Qiao Chen slowly open his eyes.
"How long did it take this time?" Qiao Chen sat up and moved a little. One of the functions of the equipment beside him was to exercise and move his muscles so his body wouldn't feel very stiff.
"It's still 10 days." Foley replied.
"Really?" Qiao Chen asked. Qiao Chen thought that since the time was the same as the last, than it would probably take 10 days to complete each mission. Then he turned to face Aunan Andrei laying beside him.
"You have a two hour break. What do you want to do? Foley asked.
"I don't need a break. Let's just start on the next mission." Qiao Chen replied as he lay back down.
"Ok. I'll have someone come in and prepare everything."