Qiao Chen was surprised once he saw who arrived. However, it was only for a moment, and he finally understood why his teacher was acting so strangely. The newcomer sat down next to Caesar. The man had a warm and gentle temperament with a handsome appearance. Technically, this 'man' was a gher, and more specifically, this gher was the one who gave birth to Qiaoyi, Fionn. So he's my mother…
"I heard you and Jared split up." Fionn asked as he took note of his son's condition.
Qiao Chen wanted to speak, but decided against it. He figured that if he actually called out to his mom, the two would be too shocked. He couldn't act too different from the original Qiaoyi, so he ended up nodding in reply.
In the previous life, Qiaoyi had been unable to understand and accept his mother's remarriage. The mourning period after his father's death didn't even pass yet, but his mother had still left. He left him. From then on, he no longer called Fionn 'mom', just Mr. Fionn.
Qiaoyi was deeply hurt. He was a baby when his father died… Then his own mommy abandoned him. How could Qiaoyi no feel pain? How could he not feel the betrayal? The loneliness? The hurt?…
Therefore, every time Qiaoyi met up with Fionn, Qiaoyi treated him poorly. He did his best to viciously insult and try to humiliate Fionn. All his pain and suffering was redirected to this 'monster' who abandoned his father. This 'beast' who'd even abandon their own child…
"Are you… I mean, um have you fully recovered from your injuries?" Fionn asked carefully. He knew about Qiaoyi's injuries. He visited him a couple of times too, but he only visited when Qiaoyi was unconscious. He didn't dare and show up while Qiaoyi was awake. Fionn was scared of provoking Qiaoyi's anger and over stimulating him- therein disturbing Qiaoyi's recovery.
Fionn happened to accompany his husband while he handled some work affairs at the school today. He wanted to drop by and chat with Caesar while they were here. Unexpectedly, Qiaoyi was there as well. So even though Fionn knew that Qiaoyi usually disliked him, he still didn't want to miss the chance of seeing his own child. Not only did he want to check on whether Qiaoyi recovered fully, but he also wanted to check on Qiaoyi's emotional state after breaking up with Jared.
"I've already recovered well enough." Qiao Chen replied as he observed Fionn's cautious demeanor. Qiao Chen felt an abrupt trace of bitter sadness well up for himself and Fionn.
"You guys can keep talking. I'm heading to the lab, so I can see what needs to be prepared. I would like to start my project as soon as possible." Qiao Chen excused himself and stood up to leave. Qiaoyi's recent attitude towards his papa was quite bad. Qiao Chen couldn't just do a 180 on his attitude out of nowhere and just become another person at the drop of a hat. Right now wasn't a good time to try and reconnect with his mother either, so it was better to leave and wait for a better opportunity.
Fionn watched Qiaoyi's back as he left. He turned back to Caesar after he couldn't see Qiaoyi anymore and looked heartbroken. Grief reared its head in Fionn's heart.
"Don't take it too hard. The kid's already grown up and developed his personality to be like that already. He's still healing from the emotional scars. Don't rush him, and take your time to help him undo that knot."Caesar reassured.
"He still resents me… He should too. At that time, I was too impatient. I ignored his feelings. I ignored him, my own child. It's my fault. He wasn't ready. He didn't even see it coming. I was the one blindsided him and broke his heart. I caused that know. It's all my fault." Fionn blamed himself. He put his face in his hands as he regretted his rashness. He mournfully sighed, "I should have just waited until he was older before I remarried. I was too impatient."
Caesar sighed too.
Qiaoyi did in fact develop a deep scar on his heart because of Fionn's impatience. He thought that his mother didn't love him anymore. Fionn was in such a hurry to marry someone else. It was so urgent to him, that he didn't even wait until a year passed. To skip the mourning period, meant that Fionn abandoned his father. To leave and marry someone else so quickly also meant that Fionn abandoned him too. Ultimately, before Qiaoyi had a chance to properly process the grief from his father's passing he had to immediately watch as his own mother willingly left too.
Qiaoyi was only a few years old when he experienced the pain of not only his father's untimely death, but also the deep pain of his mother's betrayal and abandonment. These events were probably the catalyst to Qiaoyi developing such a paranoid and clingy personality.
Qiaoyi's father was dead. His mother was gone. Even his grandfather wasn't around much because of work. The only people who Qiaoyi saw and interacted with on a daily basis were the numerous servants around the house. So even though he was constantly surrounded by people, he was alone. The large manor that they lived in was always full, but it always felt so empty. So Qiaoyi began to develop a sensitive and prickly nature. Small things, which people normally brushed off, easily set off his temper.
In the past life, Qiaoyi never forgave his mother for what he did. However, Qiao Chen currently occupied the body and he didn't blame Fionn anymore.
Before their marriage, Qiaoyi's father and papa had their own people who they cared and loved for. His father's lover died, so his father had no one. Fionn's lover was still there, waiting in the distance. That was the man that Fionn quickly married.
As a military man, Qiaoyi's father was already had a cold and distant personality. After his lover's death, Qiaoyi's father became even more withdrawn. He threw himself into military battles and training with out a care for his own health or body. His life no longer had anymore meaning besides serving his country. Eventually, Qiaoyi's grandfather was fed up with his son and just arranged a marriage with Fionn.
The marriage proposal was accepted by Fionn's family when Fionn's lover was facing a major crisis within his own family. Fionn's family vehemently rejected the relationship between Fionn and his lover. So when Qiaoyi's grandfather proposed the marriage arrangement, Fionn's family quickly accepted and forced the marriage to go through.
Qiaoyi's father, on the other hand, did not know about such matters. In fact, he probably wouldn't have even cared if he had known. The marriage between the two was nothing more than a political marriage. Love and affection did not exist and was not cared for in these types of arrangements. Therefore, Qiaoyi's father never cared for his supposed wife's, Fionn, feelings or wellbeing. His heart had grown cold, so he believed that there wasn't a point to care for someone who wasn't his beloved anyways.
It was only after Qiaoyi's birth that his father's cold and icy heart finally melted. Qiaoyi's father loved Qiaoyi to death. Whenever he looked at Qiaoyi, his mouth had a constant smile and eyes were always overflowing with love. He finally remembered what it meant to love. However, the love and tenderness that Qiaoyi's father showed Qiaoyi was never directed towards Fionn. He didn't believe in replacements, so Fionn was still coldly treated as a stranger.
It was only at the end of his life did Qiaoyi's father learn about Fionn's situation. Fionn was forced to marry him and even had a person he was in love with. Throughout his whole life, he was never kind to Fionn, and now he felt as though he owed a lot to the mother of his child. He decided to pay Fionn back and give him the life he wanted before his death. Before he died, he returned Fionn to his lover. Then, he convinced Qiaoyi's grandfather to simply, and without making things too difficult, allow Fionn to leave after his death.
In the past life, Qiaoyi didn't know about such agreements. However, Qiaoyi's father thought everything through carefully after knowing these facts. He was deeply apologetic towards Fionn and his situation. He knew it would be hard to marry someone they didn't care for. It was even harder if you were forced into such a marriage.
In the past, Qiaoyi constantly lashed out and put Fionn down. Therefore, Qiao Chen, who recently jumped into this life, could not immediately acknowledge Fionn's greeting and attempt for reconciliation. Not only was Qiao Chen completely unfamiliar to such social interactions, but he also froze up due to guilt. After he recalled what he had done in his past life, Qiao Chen suddenly felt as though he was undeserving of Fionn.
Since he was able to experience this rebirth, in a sense, then Qiao Chen decided to slowly make up for his wrong doings in the near future.
Qiao Chen's mech project soon began. Since his teacher was the university's vice president, Qiao Chen was able to receive a lot of support. Qiao Chen knew that the reason why his teacher would look after him so well was because of Fionn. Well half of the reason should have been how Caesar believed in Qiaoyi's talent and ability. But Caesar and Fionn were also close friends, so the other half of the reason as to why Caesar was so attentive was because of Fionn's insistence and urging. However, no matter the reason, Qiao Chen was still wholly grateful for the help.
Qiao Chen and his six or seven assistants were busy working in the lab. The lab was fairly large, about the size of three basketball courts. The machinery and equipments were all humongous. When compared with the people inside the people looked rather tiny. The team was testing out a new mech. Although the new mech only had a tenth of the durability and strength of the current mechs, it had many more functions and capabilities.
Qiao Chen's project dealt with the development of a program for a mech's positioning guidance. He decided to use the new program he was implementing to carry out his first attack on Greene since his return. This whole plan wasn't coming out of the blue. It was directly related to the situation he wanted to take advantage of; the fifth fleet's current large-scale project.
Qiao Chen already had the whole project sketched out in his head before he left the fifth fleet's base. So although he himself was no longer participating in the project, there were still several talented mech engineers at the fifth fleet. Greene was sure to change his system's target to one of the other engineers and steal their work. With his system in play, he would definitely complete the project 'on his own'.
Qiao Chen was actually quite excited for Green to finish the project with flying colors. If Greene didn't, how else would Qiao Chen seem vastly superior? It was much better to surpass your enemy's crowning achievements just as they were being crowned.
As days bled into nights, Qiao Chen and his team busily worked until they finally completed his project. Even though they completed building and programming everything, they still weren't done. They had to run repeated tests to determine any other bugs or defects in the program. It was only when they completed the final testing experiment, were they finally able to call the project a success.
Over the course of Qiao Chen's project progress, Caesar watched how Qiao Chen completed his work step-by-step. He wanted to see if he help Qiao Chen if he hit any bumps or road blocks, but Qiao Chen performed perfectly throughout the entire venture. There were hardly any mistakes, if any. His test runs usually showed a successful and perfect programming that ran without a hitch. In fact, Caesar believed that 'Qiaoyi' was exhibiting a higher talent and intelligence capability than what he displayed previously during his university years. Caesar believed that it 100% not Qiaoyi who had made the mistakes during his stint at the fifth base. With this kind of capabilities, such mistakes or problems should have been nearly nonexistent.
Qiao Chen's execution and completion of of his project was fairly low key. The fifth fleet and Greene, on the other hand, went for a high profiled approach. They produced their work with a great fanfare to catch people's attention. With such a noisy approach, other bases decided to keep a close eye on them and knowledge of the fifth fleet's project spread before it was even released.
After they completed the development and research on their new military mech, it was necessary to run combat simulation tests on military grounds. After the mech passed the military standards, then the base would be able to utilize it in real combat. In addition to being able to utilize the mech during battles, the military would also either allow more funding for further research and development or award the proprietary copyrights to the data and mech to the base or team who completed the project. If the accomplishments on mech engineering was a personal project, than the person would be able to give their data or work with a base of their choosing.
Caesar was a seasoned vice president and professor. It was quite common for him to accompany his students to base for combat simulation testing. All his years of experience allowed him to become extremely familiar with the appropriate procedures. However, he never expected that the fifth fleet would also be testing their project at the same exact time and the exact same place as Qiaoyi.
The list had Qiao Chen and Caesar testing their project an hour before the fifth base would commence their testing. Like in many cases and situations, there were always unwritten rules that dictated the order of priority. Without mentioning the Flock name, Caesar himself was no ordinary individual. His identity as the acting Vice President of the Star Empire' Mech Engineering College allowed him the opportunity to have good relationships with several high level personnel within the military. Not only was he an important person from a renowned university, but most of the students that he personally taught and mentored throughout his career were currently working within the military. The combat simulation head also didn't dare to place any other group before Caesar's without specific orders allowing him to do so.
If it were any other person or base member, they would also give way to Caesar as a sign of respect. Caesar would always be able to test his projects first. However, the fifth base came with Greene, other outstanding personnel, and even Vice Captain Canette to test their project on this day as well.
It was at this time where Caesar and Canette met. It was rumored that they viewed each other as rivals, and their actions confirmed that the rumors were true. Therefore, as rivals, they refused to back down and allow the other to proceed with their testing first. The two sides were deadlocked and the combat simulator head was also stuck between a rock and a hard place. He didn't know who to calm down and who to persuade to back down because he couldn't offend either person.
"Well, we want to use the same simulation site. We are obviously going to be testing the same type of mech too. If that's the case, then we might as well battle it out with each other. Whoever wins will have passed the test. How's that sound?" Canette suddenly and confidently proposed.
"Engaging in combat with one another?" Caesar lifted his brows questioningly, "Are you sure?"
"What? Scared? I mean this is a project that your fake genius finished after all. How would you dare to go against a project developed by the true geniuses within the fifth fleet?" Canette disdainfully replied. His eyes were filled with contempt as he looked over to Qiao Chen as he stood behind Caesar's left.
"We have nothing to fear. Just make sure you don't regret your proposal."Caesar confidently replied. He had complete confidence in Qiao Chen's project. Qiao Chen kept a low profile throughout the whole process of the project, so few people knew what his project entailed. The fifth fleet, on the other hand, kept a high profile while they completed their project. That meant that everyone knew several key details of their project. Caesar long knew the consequences of their high profiled actions. If they wanted to play the fool so badly, then he would gladly grant their request.
Caesar and Canette both signed a battle contract. This agreement ensured that both parties could not hold the other liable for the damages caused during over the course of their battle.