Meta 08: Restart

Vera stared at him in shock. “Rhine, do you know what you’re saying?”

Sutherland answered for him, “Does it matter what he says? Rhine, you can’t distance yourself from her. You’ve colluded with the enemy and betrayed the Federation. You can’t even save yourself—how can you die in her place?”

Lin Zhu heard this and, for once, found herself agreeing with Sutherland, that detestable, shriveled old man. She frowned in annoyance.

Rhine didn’t respond. He walked straight to the pod.

The two officers tried to stop him, but their respect for Rhine meant their resistance was half-hearted at best. Rhine opened the pod and pulled Lin Zhu out. The gesture was… very much a straight man’s, but quick—much faster than waiting for her to climb out and then helping her down.

Only then did Rhine speak. “One hundred and twenty thousand lives lost, five out of eight squads destroyed—the responsibility is mine, and I won’t shirk it. But, Mr. Sutherland, you know as well as I do: if we strictly follow Federation law, my crimes are not punishable by death.”

His words struck right at Sutherland’s deepest fear.

While Lin Zhu was undergoing the psychic test, his men had brought him bad news: Rhine had managed to protect the largest Rhodium-107 vein on B-791, the heart of the Federation’s military-industrial chain. If that supply were cut off, all mainline warships’ energy weapons would cease production.

That, plus Vera’s support, meant at worst Rhine would be stripped of his rank…

This was the closest Sutherland had ever come to seeing Rhine dead—he couldn’t let it slip away. “Fine, if you want to die, I have no objection. Ms. Karin?”

Karin was on Sutherland’s side; naturally, she had no objection either. “In that case, let General Rhine get into the pod.”

Vera barked, “Rhine!” He strode up to him. “You’re giving up your life for a woman—are you insane? Have you forgotten how your parents were slaughtered by the insectoid? Forgotten the vow you made to wipe them out?”

Rhine looked at him calmly, lowering his voice. “Marshal, this woman—she can open the temple. There are secrets of the insectoid inside. If we can unravel them, maybe we can finally end the insectoid threat for good. So, please, protect her.”

Rhine’s voice was low, and he spoke in the interstellar language. Lin Zhu couldn’t guess what he’d said to Vera that made the Supreme Commander of the Federation grip his arm in such a loss of composure.

Rhine gently removed Vera’s hand. “Marshal, thank you for everything.” He stepped back, gave Vera a crisp military salute, then turned to Lin Zhu and said, “Do your job well, and you’ll be fine.”

Lin Zhu blinked, confused. “What does that mean?”

Rhine didn’t explain further. He gestured for her to step aside. Once she’d moved a few steps away, Rhine walked to the pod. Vera’s fists clenched, his gaze locked on Rhine. Without even turning, he could sense Sutherland and the others practically itching to pop champagne in celebration.

Lin Zhu watched as Rhine lay down in the pod.

Ah…

Was he really going to march so heroically into the underworld? And for her?

No, why was he saving her? She couldn’t figure it out, only that she now owed him a massive debt—and she hated owing anyone. What now, what should she do?

She looked at the livestream, hoping to find some help among the barrage of comments praising Rhine’s manliness—though none could figure out why he was so manly as to die for the streamer.

[Streamer, aren’t you good at chanting sutras? Chant one for him, let him go in peace.]

[Are you serious?]

[Hahaha, I mean, maybe chanting will mess up the machine’s operation.]

[Yeah, yeah, the Rebirth Sutra—those bugs were dumbfounded by it, maybe the machine will be too. Streamer, start chanting!]

……

……

Lin Zhu realized she really was desperate—she was actually relying on these wicked netizens. But she couldn’t blame them; this was a power struggle, an internal affair of the Federation. The only way out was through their own, and the solution, as always, was a life-or-death contest—like a royal succession battle.

Rhine lay down perfectly straight, his hands not folded comfortably over his abdomen like Lin Zhu’s, but crossed over his chest, his legs pressed tightly together instead of relaxed and splayed to the sides.

Even in death, this man maintained a soldier’s posture.

The rapid turn of events left Lin Zhu powerless, but in her helplessness she only grew more agitated. She charged forward, shoving aside the officer about to press the execution button. “Idiots! You’re all idiots! Idiots who harm their own people!”

Of course, they still didn’t understand the word “idiot,” but Rhine did. As an S-class psychic, a legendary existence, he’d mastered the pronunciation of Earth’s language through the translator from their first conversation. From her tone, it wasn’t hard to guess the meaning of the word.

Equivalent to the Federation’s common insult: “trash.”

She was defending him?

The corners of Rhine’s mouth lifted ever so slightly. Since his parents were killed by the insectoid, he hadn’t smiled. The simple act felt so unfamiliar.

Sutherland shouted, “Seize her!” Then he turned to Vera. “Rhine is exchanging his life for hers, not releasing this insectoid spy. Now that Rhine is submitting to the law, she should be kept under strict guard. Marshal Vera, I trust I’m not placing myself above the law?”

Vera rolled his eyes at him. “No, but you’ve certainly placed yourself above humanity.”

Sutherland laughed, delighted. “Humanity? That powerless word was deleted from Federation textbooks centuries ago. Oh…” He feigned sudden recollection. “Since there’s a temple on B-791, and only that woman can open it, when to go and who goes can’t be decided by you alone, Marshal Vera.”

Vera replied, “The council will decide.”

Sutherland said no more. Vera’s ugly expression was truly a sight to behold; he couldn’t help but smile, his mouth curving like a hanger bent by a heavy weight.

The execution program started. The countdown began.

In less than a minute, Rhine Stran—who had shaken the star regionss, Vera’s right-hand man, an admiral at twenty-eight—would be nothing but smoke, never again a threat. Sutherland would finally have a chance to bring down Vera. He exhaled in satisfaction; today’s harvest was rich indeed. He could hardly wait to throw a banquet.

Lin Zhu’s full-throttle outburst got no reaction. She was about to roar again when a short but powerful shout rang out, “Don’t stop me!!”

Everyone turned. A scruffy young boy, held back by five guards, was still managing to push forward.

He looked fifteen or sixteen, eyes bloodshot, veins bulging in his neck. He scanned the room, not seeing Rhine, and shouted anxiously, “General Rhine? General Rhine?”

Sutherland snapped, “Can’t even stop a kid? Do you all want to face a court-martial?”

The five guards, hearing this, redoubled their efforts to restrain the boy.

The countdown was already below thirty seconds.

Lin Zhu couldn’t wait any longer. While everyone was distracted by the boy, she broke free from the officer holding her, rushed over, and shoved aside the officer at the button. At the 25-second mark, she slapped the button, halting the countdown. As the officer lunged to grab her, she shouted to the boy, “Your general is in the pod—he’s about to be executed! Save him, quick!”

Thank goodness for the translator. The boy’s momentum exploded like a landslide. The five guards, who must have had some connection to Rhine, dropped the act and let the boy through. He ignored Vera, Sutherland, and the rest, charging straight to the pod. “General Rhine? General Rhine? Can you hear me? General Rhine?”

No response.

Lin Zhu glanced at the countdown stuck at 25 seconds, her heart pounding.

Back at the funeral home, once a body was pushed into the cremator, it didn’t wait until the end to turn to ash—it started burning right away. Was Rhine already burning in there?

The officer in charge of the execution was Sutherland’s man. He pressed the button again, infuriating the boy, who launched himself at the officer. The five guards dropped all pretense and joined the fight. The officer who’d been grabbing Lin Zhu had to help his embattled colleague.

Sutherland, seeing the chaos, abandoned all decorum and rushed over, only to be knocked flat by Lin Zhu. At the 3-second mark, she finally slammed the button again, halting the countdown. She called to the boy, “Come here and guard this!”

The boy stood guard by the button, ready to fight anyone who tried to touch it.

Lin Zhu pounded on the pod, frantic as if she were desperate to get in and pee. “Rhine? If you can hear me, say something! Rhine, Rhine?”

Rhine was already suffocating, his pale face now ghostly white. Suddenly, he exhaled, his chest heaving. Disoriented, he had no idea where he was. The pod was thin, and the pounding from outside vibrated through it, making his ears ring.

Lin Zhu pressed her ear to the pod. Why wasn’t there any response?

Only 3 seconds left. Was he already ashes in there? She wanted to open the pod.

Sutherland, still sprawled on the floor, saw the 3-second countdown and sneered, “Even if he isn’t executed, Rhine’s body will be severely damaged. He’s finished.”

But crippling Rhine wasn’t his goal. His goal was Rhine’s death—only then would he be safe.

Sutherland got up, grinning wickedly, and tried to intimidate the boy guarding the button. “Step aside.” The boy, enraged by the words “he’s finished,” lashed out, pummeling Sutherland with youthful fury.

Chaos erupted. Sutherland couldn’t break free, but he kept his wits and shouted at the stunned Karin, “Press it! Quickly!” Karin snapped out of her daze and rushed over, only to be punched in the face by Lin Zhu.

Lin Zhu threw herself in front of the countdown button, shouting to Vera, “Marshal Vera, the situation has changed! Get your people to restrain them!”

Vera wasn’t faring much better. Though a soldier by training, he was no longer young and carried plenty of old injuries. In the scuffle, he’d taken several blows. He shouted, “Cohen!”

Cohen tapped his communicator. In less than twenty seconds, a squad of fully armed guards stormed into the hall, quickly inserting themselves between the two sides and bringing the chaos under control.

Lin Zhu ignored them, running to the pod and pulling with all her strength. With a ripping sound, Rhine’s perfectly straight legs appeared before her. It couldn’t be burning from the top down, could it? Worried, she knelt to check his upper body—only to meet his slowly opening eyes…

For a moment, all the noise faded into a blurred backdrop. The netizens, pausing their commentary on the brawl, all typed in unison: “Holy crap, is this a wedding photo…”

She didn’t know how they’d jumped straight to “wedding,” but seeing Rhine whole and unharmed, Lin Zhu pulled him out until his entire body was free of the pod, then collapsed backward, gasping for breath.

At that moment, her hair was a bird’s nest, her breathing like a bellows, her clothes disheveled, and she’d somehow lost a shoe—but for the first time, she felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

Mom, we saved a life. Duck Egg, we saved a life.

The young boys, seeing Rhine, were overwhelmed with joy and relief. Of course, they didn’t show it openly, but their eyes shone, brimming with both emotions.

Sutherland was beside himself. “The execution was interrupted—it should be restarted immediately.” He looked at Vera. “You should give the order—restart it!”

The lead boy stepped forward, neck stiff, and shouted, “General Rhine is innocent!!” The five guards echoed in unison, “General Rhine is innocent!!!”