At 7:00 p.m. on June 19, 2900 of the Universal Calendar.
Lu Qiao teleported.
In an instant, he moved from one place to another.
The previous moment, he had just happily finished showering at the bathhouse. He had put on his underwear and was about to put on his shirt. The next second, he arrived in a conference room filled with people, dazedly falling onto a man he had not seen for five years.
—That’s right. Wearing nothing but a single pair of underwear, he had fallen straight into the arms of the man sitting at the head of the conference table, right in front of everyone.
The people in the conference room were startled, and the scene immediately descended into chaos. The soldiers outside heard the commotion and rushed in, pointing their guns at Lu Qiao…and at another woman who had suddenly appeared in the conference room just like him and fallen onto a certain officer. The two of them had instantly become highly suspicious figures.
Lu Qiao’s expression went completely blank. He turned his head to look at the rows of guns and the suspicious, wary, and shocked gazes directed at him. Then he turned back to look at the uniformed man who had caught him and was likewise somewhat stunned.
Deep inside, he trembled and screamed:
What’s going on? What’s going on?! Wasn’t I in the bathhouse? Wasn’t I putting on clothes? Where is this place? Why is Yan Qiu here in front of me?! Why couldn’t I teleport after I finished getting dressed? Why did it have to treat me so embarrassingly?!
Lu Qiao’s entire body had turned pink, and he was as stiff as a stone.
“…Marshal!” Yan Qiu’s adjutant had also drawn his gun in that instant, his expression guarded and tense.
They had originally been holding a perfectly normal military meeting. Who would have expected a man wearing only a pair of underwear and a woman to suddenly appear in the conference room?
No one present had seen what had happened in that instant. Therefore, even though the two people looked harmless, everyone could not help but feel threatened.
Yan Qiu recovered from his surprise. He quickly removed his jacket, draped it over Lu Qiao, pulled him close, and calmly said, “It’s fine. Lower your guns.”
“But—”
“Lower them.”
Yan Qiu spoke, and with so many people in the conference room looking at one another, they had no choice but to lower their guns.
“Marshal, this…” someone began, but the atmosphere was awkward for a moment.
At this point, nearly everyone on both sides of the conference table had left their seats. Only Yan Qiu and another officer remained firmly seated, and both men were holding someone in their arms.
The other officer was equally dumbfounded. Ever since the woman had appeared in his arms, the stern expression he had worn while attending the meeting had completely collapsed, and his face had instantly turned bright red.
“Y-You…how did you get here?” he stammered.
“I-I don’t know.” The woman looked timid. “I had just finished dinner…”
Meanwhile, Lu Qiao was covered by Yan Qiu’s jacket, which still carried the man’s body heat.
He did not move at all, lowering his head and shrinking into Yan Qiu’s arms.
The man looked down at him, his eyes shifting slightly, and asked, “What happened just now?”
Lu Qiao’s voice came through clenched teeth. “I don’t know…I felt dizzy for a moment, and then I appeared here…”
“Marshal, Officer Yang, do you know these two?” a general asked hesitantly.
The change had happened so suddenly that, in their shock, many people had not yet connected the circumstances surrounding the two pairs. Only after hearing the general’s question did they react.
The tall, imposing, handsome man sitting at the head of the table was none other than Yan Qiu, Marshal and commander of the First Legion of the Galactic Empire.
The Empire’s First Legion had returned two days ago. This was the first military meeting convened by the legion’s commander after their return. No one had expected such a bizarre incident to occur.
Hearing this, Lu Qiao endured his embarrassment and lifted his eyes to glance at the man again.
He had not even known that the other man had returned.
Five years had passed, yet Yan Qiu seemed both unchanged and completely different. His hair was a little shorter, and his features had become more defined.
Furthermore, five years seemed to have fully ignited the masculine aura within him, causing it to burst forth.
He had become much more mature. An unfamiliar aura surrounded his entire body, one that made Lu Qiao feel slightly nervous.
At the same time, Yan Qiu carefully examined the person in his arms.
Although Lu Qiao had wiped the water droplets from his hair, he had not dried it. The ends of his hair all clung to the back of his neck.
Beneath the oversized military jacket was a naked body. Although he was slender, he was not lacking in muscle. It was evenly distributed across his limbs, giving him both flexibility and strength.
As for his face…
He really had become thinner. This made his dark eyes appear even larger, while his chin had become more delicate.
Yan Qiu’s gaze remained fixed on Lu Qiao as he answered the general’s question.
“Yes. I know him.”
Yan Qiu’s voice brought Lu Qiao back to his senses.
He realized that he and Yan Qiu had been staring at each other for several seconds.
He had not looked away, and Yan Qiu had not looked away either.
Only then did Lu Qiao belatedly feel embarrassed, his face heating up as he shifted his gaze.
He grabbed the jacket and felt that the hem should have covered his butt.
This guy definitely grew taller again, right? And he’s obviously bigger than he was five years ago. Even his chest muscles are firmer than five years ago…
Wait.
This isn’t the time to be thinking about random things. What the hell is going on?!
Everyone here appeared to be military officers, so this place should be the Imperial military headquarters.
Could this be Central Star?
He had been in the bathhouse of a training facility just moments ago, and that training facility was located on a third-rate star.
Central Star was fifty thousand light-years away!
What kind of technology could allow someone to teleport fifty thousand light-years in an instant?
Even a spatial passage could not connect a distance that far. And with current technology, there was absolutely no way for a living creature to pass through a spatial passage naked, without relying on spacecraft or other machinery!
Therefore, what had just happened was unscientific.
Extremely unscientific.
“You guys don’t know what’s going on either?” he asked quietly.
Yan Qiu raised a hand, pulling the jacket around Lu Qiao a little more securely, and said in a low voice, “I don’t know.”
Lu Qiao scratched his hair in confusion.
Even Yan Qiu and the others did not know.
Then what exactly had happened…?
At this moment, seeing that the soldiers had already lowered their guns and feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of so many people, he stretched his legs and tried to stand.
However, the moment he moved, Yan Qiu hooked an arm around his waist and lifted him back up.
Lu Qiao looked up at Yan Qiu in confusion and pushed against him to signal that he wanted to get up.
Yan Qiu paused for two seconds before releasing his hand.
Lu Qiao finally managed to stand up as he wished. But when he tried to withdraw the hand that had been braced against Yan Qiu’s chest, he discovered…
His hand was stuck to Yan Qiu’s chest!
Lu Qiao stared at Yan Qiu in shock. He tugged at his hand.
It would not come off.
“What kind of superpower is this?” Lu Qiao said in a disordered voice.
“Come here.” Yan Qiu immediately spoke.
As he said that, he pulled Lu Qiao back onto his lap without allowing him to refuse.
With more of their bodies in contact, Lu Qiao discovered that his hand could come off now.
But the place where his thigh was pressed against Yan Qiu’s thigh had become stuck instead.
In short, he and Yan Qiu were like two magnets.
They could not separate!
The entire conference room erupted in an uproar.
—What exactly was going on?!
Yan Qiu examined the state he and Lu Qiao were in, then looked up at his adjutant.
“Go confirm the situation in the C1 Star Region.”
Five minutes later—
The conference room was quiet.
Well, that was not entirely accurate.
Many people were whispering to one another, but they had lowered their voices, so only faint murmurs could be heard.
Behind Lu Qiao, the man was sitting firmly in his chair.
And Lu Qiao was sitting between the man’s legs…
He, Yan Qiu, the other officer, and the girl in his arms had experimented a little and discovered that as long as one part of their bodies remained connected, the rest of their bodies could move freely.
Therefore, Lu Qiao and Yan Qiu technically only needed their fingertips to touch.
But for some reason, Yan Qiu had said, “Aren’t you tired of standing?”
And then he had simply pressed Lu Qiao down onto the chair.
Lu Qiao was having a hard time accepting the current situation. His mind was completely blank, so he simply sat down obediently.
The two maintained this peculiar sitting position, while everyone else looked at them in an equally peculiar manner.
Yan Qiu looked completely calm.
Lu Qiao, meanwhile, was still in a daze, staring at the conference table and questioning his entire existence. He had no idea that the gazes of everyone around him had already changed from suspicion at the beginning to blazing curiosity.
As for Officer Yang and the girl in his arms, there was no need to mention them.
The two had been blushing and acting shyly from beginning to end. The sour smell of romance had practically filled the entire conference room.
But what about Marshal Yan and the man in front of him?
With the way they were sitting, and the way Marshal Yan was half-embracing him…
Were they boyfriend and girlfriend?!
Had these two really not noticed anything strange?
Or were they silently acknowledging it without saying anything?
No, no.
That slender, handsome man was obviously completely blank-minded.
But Marshal Yan…
He was the calmest person in the entire room from beginning to end, okay?!
To say that he had not realized how strange this was?
Impossible!
Just as everyone’s eyes began to gleam with gossip and they were discussing Lu Qiao’s identity, someone knocked on the conference room door.
An officer walked in and handed Lu Qiao a pair of pants.
Only then did Lu Qiao recover.
He muttered, “Thank you,” then stared at the pants for a moment before remembering how, just now, when he had been unable to react at all, Yan Qiu had naturally stated his size.
Lu Qiao: “…”
He shoved the scene to the back of his mind, put on the pants, and muttered, “You could’ve brought me a shirt too…”
“Aren’t you already wearing my clothes?” the man’s low voice sounded beside his ear.
Lu Qiao paused.
His ear felt a little itchy.
“You’re not wearing anything yourself?”
“I’m not like you. I didn’t come here without anything on,” Yan Qiu teased.
After a pause, he asked quietly, “Just finished showering?”
“Yeah.” Thinking about it made Lu Qiao feel shaken all over again. He murmured, “Luckily, I put on my underwear just now. If I’d been one step slower, I really would’ve come over completely naked…”
Upon hearing this, Yan Qiu’s breathing stopped for a moment, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Lu Qiao thought for a moment, then buttoned Yan Qiu’s jacket one button at a time, trying to make himself look as properly dressed as possible.
As he touched the stiff military fabric, he could not help feeling a little envious.
He and Yan Qiu were three years apart.
Five years ago, Yan Qiu had officially entered the military and had remained at the border ever since.
Back then, Lu Qiao had still believed that once he entered the military three years later, he would definitely be able to catch up to this man and stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
He had never expected circumstances to suddenly change, completely disrupting all his plans.
Now, this man had already risen to the very top of the Imperial military, standing at the head of the marshals.
Meanwhile, he was still at a training facility on a third-rate star, unable to see the direction of his future, his heart filled with confusion.
Lu Qiao did feel somewhat disappointed by the difference in their circumstances.
But he had always been optimistic—or perhaps he simply tried his best to remain optimistic.
Therefore, after being depressed for a few seconds, he cheered himself up again.
No matter how terrible his circumstances were, what had happened had already happened.
There was no use obsessing over “if those things had never happened.”
After all, there was no such thing as “if” in this world.
Instead of wasting time feeling sad, he might as well think of a way to resolve his predicament.
Speaking of which, half a month ago, the twenty-five star nations, including the Galactic Empire, had formed the strongest interstellar alliance in currently known interstellar society—the Cosmic Alliance.
The alliance had achieved a major victory against its hostile forces.
Furthermore, the First Legion of the Galactic Empire, led by Yan Qiu, had directly annihilated the enemy’s main base and captured the enemy leader.
This forceful and fierce direct strike had sent the entire Cosmic Alliance into an uproar.
Those who followed and understood military affairs could not help but scream and go wild over Yan Qiu and the First Legion.
After that battle ended, the greatest threat to the Cosmic Alliance had disappeared.
The remaining problems did not require the alliance’s strongest combat force to handle, so everyone had been eagerly awaiting the return of the First Legion.
Meanwhile, Lu Qiao had been wondering in his heart:
Even if Yan Qiu came back, would I still be able to see him?
Lu Qiao had known Yan Qiu in the past.
During his most difficult period, he had even received some help from Yan Qiu.
But the Yan Qiu of today was completely different from the past.
He was now one of the highest-ranking marshals in the Empire and held the position of chief among them. He must have been extremely busy with affairs, and probably did not have the time to think of him.
Lu Qiao did not feel that getting a chance to meet Yan Qiu would be easy.
It was just that, back then, in order to lend him money, Yan Qiu had directly linked his own account to Lu Qiao’s account…
Lu Qiao had never understood how this man could be so careless as to give him access to his entire account.
The amount of money in that account had shocked Lu Qiao quite badly at the time.
In any case, Lu Qiao had borrowed some of the money from the account when he was truly in difficulty, but he had already paid everything back before this.
And Yan Qiu did not seem to have any intention of disconnecting their accounts.
Lu Qiao suspected that this man might have simply forgotten about it.
So he had been thinking that, no matter what, he should remind him.
And now was the perfect opportunity.
Because of some unknown reason, he had directly encountered Yan Qiu.
He would have to find an opportunity to mention the matter later.
Just as Lu Qiao was pondering this, the discussions below grew louder.
After the incident had happened, everyone had spent some time calming down before discussing it among themselves again.
Yan Qiu had mentioned the C1 Star Region.
What did the C1 Star Region represent?
—The World Core System!
That most mysterious existence!
If something happened there, the consequences absolutely could not involve just one or two people.
It would involve the entire universe!
Five minutes was nowhere near enough time for everyone to analyze and speculate.
Some people answered phone calls. Others went online.
During the few minutes before Yan Qiu’s adjutant returned, everyone had already learned that this situation was indeed not limited to this conference room.
It had probably occurred throughout the entire universe.
Clearly, everyone had been badly frightened.
At this moment, the Star Network had already exploded, while StarBlog had completely crashed.
Many people were posting that they had suddenly been transported to another place and had become locked together with someone, unable to separate no matter what they did.
Others said that a certain friend had suddenly appeared beside them, and the two of them could not separate either.
Later, one of the officers in the conference room received a phone call.
It was probably from his wife at home.
“What? That little spotted dog from back home came through!?” the officer said in astonishment. “The one that gave our Big Black two litters?! I-It’s still alive…”
The people nearby who heard the contents of his call were even more bewildered.
Even dogs had not escaped???
Speaking of which, why had this only happened to certain people?
What exactly was the pattern?
At that moment, Yan Qiu’s adjutant finally hurried back.
Everyone immediately focused their attention on him.
The adjutant stopped and gave a military salute.
Yan Qiu asked directly, “How is it?”
“The C1 Star Region Administration has sent word. At exactly 19:00, the World Core System came under a virus attack,” the adjutant said, forcing himself to remain calm. “The research team has already begun deciphering the virus, but it will take at least forty-eight hours to complete the analysis!”
Everyone immediately became agitated.
It really was the World Core System!
Something had gone wrong with that thing!
And if something had gone wrong with it, that meant this incident was caused by a change in the rules governing the operation of the world!