Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong brushed aside his cousin’s hand and said a little unhappily, ”Tangtang, I’m asking you seriously.”

Tang Xin finally noticed Fang Hong’s unusual behavior and frowned, ”Brother, do you think I’m a fool? I met Miss Sicape before I came here, remember? And didn’t you tell us yourself about your time at the Morning Dawn Star?”

Fang Hong shook his head, ”I’m not talking about that, I mean even earlier, before you came to Eteliria.”

”Before?” Tang Xin was startled and couldn’t help touching her brother’s forehead, ”Brother, are you sure you don’t have a fever? Why are you talking nonsense? How could I have heard about it? The Morning Dawn Star wasn’t even a famous team.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but worry a little, but fortunately, the feeling her soft fingertips got in response was a cool one.

”No,” Fang Hong pursed his lips, suddenly realizing he couldn’t quite articulate it, ”do you remember when I dragged you to watch those Super Competitive matches when we were kids, and you were reluctant? Tangtang, your memory is much better than mine, try to think back, is there such a thing?”

Tang Xin blushed, recalling the times they secretly watched videos under the covers in the dead of night, knees hugged, sitting closely together. Her reluctance back then was mostly a pretense.

In her heart, she felt sweet, but on the surface, she rolled her eyes at Fang Hong, ”You know, you always dragged me into secretly watching those matches in the middle of the night, just to share the blame, right? And you always made me cover for you.”

Fang Hong felt a bit guilty, so he argued, ”Didn’t I block for you when we got caught?”

”I’m seen as the good kid in the eyes of outsiders,” Tang Xin retorted, ”Can you compare to me?”

”Alright, alright,” Fang Hong pleaded, ”Tangtang, think carefully, did you hear anything then?”

Tang Xin feigned unwillingness but felt a bit pleased inside, and said nonchalantly, ”You want me to remember, but you have to tell me the details. Just the name Morning Dawn Star, who would remember that? It was, after all, more than ten years ago.”

Fang Hong slapped his forehead, realizing she was right, so he recounted his earlier conversation with Alfan.

After listening, Tang Xin blinked lightly and said, ”Hearing you say that, I think I do remember.”

Fang Hong’s eyes lit up and he hurriedly asked, ”Tangtang, please tell me.”

”Brother, do you remember the first time we got a beating?”

”Bea... Beating?”

Fang Hong’s face turned red; he had been beaten so many times growing up, how could he remember?

”You had just come to our house not long ago, insisting on watching some match with me,” Tang Xin couldn’t help but laugh, ”but the volume was too loud, and my parents caught us. You got beaten badly that time, crying like a stuck pig.”

”No need to describe it so clearly,” Fang Hong said awkwardly, ”Besides, when did I cry? I don’t remember.”

”Of course, you don’t remember, I can barely recall,” Tang Xin slightly pursed her lips, looking at her brother with clear, bright eyes.

In truth, she remembered clearly that this guy was fussing about: ”Hit me if you want, don’t hit my sister——!”

Fang Hong, though, was embarrassed to bring up such things and quickly moved on, ”Let’s be serious, Tangtang, what do you actually remember?”

”When you were getting punished, on the light screen, there was a news broadcast,” Tang Xin said with a smile, ”Floating Island, the conflict between the Osh Empire and Colin Ishurian, and the Third District was involved, it was quite a significant event at the time.”

”Ah?” Fang Hong was a bit surprised, realizing it was like that, ”Did you also hear anything about Morning Dawn Star?”

”That I’m not sure about, it’s been too long, maybe it was mentioned,” Tang Xin looked at him and asked, ”Besides, why not just ask Miss Sicape?”

Fang Hong shook his head; of course, he planned to ask, but he always felt that with Miss Sicape’s personality, she might not tell him. Moreover, he wasn’t really concerned about whether ’Morning Dawn Star’ was the main protagonist of that event or not. Morning Dawn Star certainly went through the Battle of Bain, but that’s not important; what really mattered to him was the faint sense of familiarity lingering in his heart.

Could it be that he really did hear the name ’Morning Dawn Star’ while being punished but didn’t pay attention? He couldn’t help but think of how he later joined Miss Sicape’s ’Morning Dawn Star’, and how sometimes, coincidences do happen in this world.

At this time, everyone else was already prepared. Luo Hao held a Great Shield in front, Abed opened the door with a Key, and Ai Xiaoxiao waved at them from the other side:

”Tangtang, Big cousin, come on, we’re going in.”

Only then did Fang Hong say to his cousin, ”Tangtang, let’s go over there.”

Tang Xin gave him a glance and nodded slightly.

...

Ambassador Liao looked out the glass window, into the vacuum and darkness of the universe, where the silver-white Ring Corridor No. 02 was slowly rotating, and sunlight falling onto its snow-like ceramic material, casting a halo.

He enjoyed watching the rotation of the microgravity corridor, as if he were admiring a ballet dancer’s pose, which reminded him of the graduation ball and the first meeting with his lover.

Until the automatic door slid open with a hissing sound of air leaking, pulling him back to reality.