Chapter 15 "Take your little firefly and run away"
[At the age of 16, you completed your studies as an outstanding graduate of the Imperial Court Academy and became a member of the Imperial Court Knights. You will also be the only human capable of controlling the Molten Knights.]
[You begin to spend more time on Molten Knight training, completing your transformation in the mountain base]
[This year, Liuying has regained the qualification to drive the Molten Knight, and often drives the Iron Knight to fight with you in the training ground at a negative distance]
[The training room has changed from a small sword training room to a tactical training ground that is larger than a playground, but neither you nor Liuying have changed at all.]
"Now, please invite graduate representative An Ming to come to the stage and speak."
At the end of midsummer, An Ming, a graduate of Royal Court Academy, slowly walked to the microphone and looked at the densely packed crowd below the stage. It took him less than three seconds to see the slender figure beside the flower bed in the distance.
Liuying was still wearing the same green dress. She stood beside the flower bed and waved to him with a beautiful smile.
Although there was a long distance between them, An Ming was very tall, so he could see the fireflies.
And An Ming only had fireflies in his eyes, so he could see it as well.
Separated from each other by the crowd, they stared at each other from both ends of the sea of people, just like when they first met.
The speech was just reading from a script, and An Ming didn't care at all. However, Liuying still carefully wrote a speech for him about outstanding youth that was in line with the spirit of the Imperial Age.
The effect was obviously very good. After An Ming finished reading it, there was a thunderous applause from the audience, which made him a little confused.
When An Ming was leaving the stage, he met Aini who was waiting behind the stage. She just glanced at him and said casually, "Don't die."
"You too."
An Ming nodded slightly, turned sideways and passed by Annie.
After graduation, he will officially become a Molten Knight and join the Empire's front-line battlefield, and every battle with the Zerg will be a life-and-death battle.
Annie would not interfere with the future chosen by An Ming. She said goodbye softly and never saw him again.
But until the end, whether it was the obsession in her heart or the first meeting when she was young, she shouted out the last words:
"An Ming!"
"Have you ever liked me?"
An Ming's back did not pause as he replied seriously, "No."
Annie's accumulated momentum deflated in an instant. Although she already knew the answer, she still felt a little pain when she heard such a straightforward answer.
"She is a 'special' genetically modified human. Nothing will happen between you and her."
"She's not a cyborg."
There seemed to be a condensed fire in An Ming's eyes, "She is a firefly."
Annie leaned weakly against the wall and smiled bitterly. It seemed that she had never defeated the firefly-like girl from beginning to end, not even for a moment.
"Run away."
An Ming was stunned for a moment, and saw Aini smiling weakly: "Take your little firefly and run away."
Fireflies are creatures that only emit the most dazzling light before they die, which can even outshine the stars.
Annie turned and left with trembling steps. Now she could finally say goodbye to the past and face the future as the daughter of a congressman.
At least don't have any regrets before you accept that fate.
Annie knew that she might never see An Ming again in this life, so at least she wanted to say goodbye properly now.
An Ming silently watched Annie's departing back, pondering the implicit meaning of her words.
"Goodbye."
Never again.
GrammerThere is never a tomorrow, only now.
Next to the flowerbed, Liuying immediately smiled brighter than the flowers when she saw An Ming. "Are we going to the cake shop to celebrate next?"
Probably no one can say "no" to Liuying's smile.
"Well, buy your favorite cake."
Although An Ming didn't understand why they had to buy a cake for Liuying to celebrate, as long as it could make Liuying happy, he would have no problem even driving Molten Knight to make the cake, not to mention buying a cake.
However, before the two of them had gone far, they were stopped by a strange knight, who said to An Ming in a respectful tone: "The Queen invites you to go to the Imperial Court alone."
An Ming's expression changed slightly, but before that, Liu Ying held his hand in advance and said with a smile: "It's just right. I promised you before that I would make some decorations for the transformation device. It's still in time for us to eat cake together when you come back."
She is always so considerate and never makes An Ming feel embarrassed or distressed.
"Okay, let's eat together when I get home."
An Ming hesitated for a moment and rubbed Liuying's head. Gramer was in danger now, and he couldn't pretend not to hear Annie's words. He needed more accurate information.
For his and Liuying's future.
Liuying stood there until she could no longer see An Ming's back, then she turned and left, humming an unknown tune softly, and prepared to buy some decorative materials.
Some time ago, she had promised An Ming that she would help him modify the transformer, but she just didn't have the time.
“Like the wings of a firefly.”
Liuying quickly found satisfactory materials and smiled with joy.
...
...
This is An Ming's first visit to the Imperial Court.
The unprecedentedly heavy atmosphere declared that this was not a place that ordinary people could approach. Clear water drops fell from the luxurious fountain, and the white floor tiles were so clean that they reflected light that people didn't know where to start.
The knight leading the way stopped at the stairs outside the palace and did not move forward. "The Queen is waiting inside the palace."
"Thank you."
An Ming nodded slightly. There was only one way forward, so there was no need to worry about getting lost.
Even though it was such a serious occasion, An Ming was still thinking about what kind of cake to buy for Liuying before going home.
On the throne, Titania supported her face with her right hand, her luxurious long dress covered the bright red carpet in front of the throne. Her expression was bland and indifferent, looking down from above at An Ming who walked into the hall.
This was not the first time An Ming had met Titania, but every time he had the illusion that they were meeting for the first time, he saluted, "Your Majesty," as he remembered the movements.
What came to his mind was Liuying's graceful salute before him as if she were spreading her wings of freedom - Liuying taught An Ming not only combat, but also the etiquette of the imperial court, which she had learned in her dreams.
"We meet again."
"An Ming."
The voice that answered him was a male voice he had never heard before. An Ming looked up and saw a thin figure walking out of the shadows behind the throne.
He looked like an ordinary passerby, with traces of burns faintly visible on his scarred right hand.
"It's you."
"It seems you have a good memory."
The man didn't seem to care about Titania. He walked straight to An Ming with an aggressive look in his eyes. "Want to hear a story?"
"A story about Grammer's past."
"What if I say no?"
An Ming was not overly surprised. He had already anticipated this before coming here. Perhaps everything about Grammer would soon be revealed.
"Although you have no choice, what if I tell you that it has something to do with the lady next to you?"
"Are you threatening me?"
From the moment he entered the hall, An Ming gave people the feeling of a slow, dull sword, neither swift nor high-profile, and could not match his reputation outside.
But the moment Liuying was raised, the simple slow sword was like a dragon unsheathed, and its sharp edge was about to blow away the entire hall.
An Ming doesn't care about Grammer's future, nor does he care what the Queen and the ruling parliament think.
Only fireflies.
All he cares about is fireflies.