The next day, Qi Zhimu returned again.
Ruan Mei was able to observe his work for another full day.
Neither idle nor too busy, Qi Zhimu handled his shift with ease until the very end.
Seeing him prepare to go home, Ruan Mei intended to turn off the surveillance and set off, but she was drawn in by the next scene.
A short-haired woman with a shapely figure, wearing the IPC uniform, entered the clinic and pounced toward Qi Zhimu without a word.
Topaz
?
Ruan Mei's gaze froze.
She thought Qi Zhimu would dodge, but to her surprise, he just pressed his hand against the short-haired woman's face to stop her from hugging him.
"I'm about to leave the Space Station for a mission. Can't I even have a farewell hug, 'Father'?"
Fa... Father?!
The moment she heard that word, Ruan Mei's brain exploded into a mess.
...A'Mu's daughter is already that old?!
When did he get married?!
When did he have a child?!
When... who was the woman he was with?!
"Stop messing around. How old are you now, still asking for hugs? Have you no shame?"
Qi Zhimu lectured her for a while, causing Yelena to pout unhappily.
But these words fell on Ruan Mei's ears even more explosively than what Yelena had just said, and a shadow cast over her face.
No wonder A'Mu had a private residence...
The Space Station management doesn't intentionally arrange housing for staff members with families; they provide housing funds instead.
Is A'Mu a native of the Azure Star in this life? Did he find a local wife from the Azure Star, or...
Ruan Mei clutched her chest, her breathing becoming rapid.
Just as Ruan Mei's thoughts were racing, Yelena spoke again.
"Even though we're on the same Space Station, you're busy every day. I haven't seen you much lately. Don't be so heartless."
With her face being pushed back, Yelena made a mumbling sound.
"If you really consider me your 'Father', then put away your little schemes and stop thinking about all that nonsense," Qi Zhimu said, speechless.
"True, from a certain perspective, you are the man who could become my father."
Yelena pried Qi Zhimu's hand off her face and said seriously:
"I wouldn't actually want you to be my real father; I don't want people gossiping about ethics and morality."
"Hey, why do you sound like you've already got me figured out?"
"You said you would protect me until I grew up. Are you going to go back on your word?"
"Aren't you big enough already, Big Yelena?" Qi Zhimu's eye twitched.
"You're 94 years older than me, so in your eyes, I'll never grow up."
Listening to the conversation of the two through the surveillance, the shadow on Ruan Mei's face gradually receded.
It seemed it wasn't what she thought?
Ruan Mei's spirits lifted slightly. She carefully observed Yelena's biological characteristics and soon let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Judging from biological genetics, the two were not blood-related.
Combining this with their conversation, Ruan Mei guessed that Qi Zhimu had likely adopted Yelena when she was young, or had taken care of her.
A teacher is like a mother; in a narrow sense, she could also be considered A'Mu's mother.
"Fallacy. You're a Short-Lived Species, and I'm a Long-Life Species. Can you really calculate it like that?" Qi Zhimu remained unmoved.
"Of course I can. I can become a Long-Life Species too; it's just a matter of whether I want to or not," Yelena laughed.
Qi Zhimu didn't deny this.
As one of the Ten Stonehearts, if she wanted to live on without illness or pain, there were many ways to extend her lifespan.
"If I had known..."
"If you had known what? If you had known, you wouldn't have saved me back then?"
Yelena didn't look unhappy upon hearing this; instead, she raised her slender eyebrows and smiled brightly.
"It's undeniable that there are those with hearts of stone among the Galaxy Rangers, but you aren't one of them."
"You couldn't stand by and watch an innocent child die, so you saved me back then."
"Silly child, I can't give you what you want. Why waste your time on me?" Qi Zhimu was out of options.
What could he do?
The karmic ties he formed back then weren't so easy to shake off now.
Furthermore—there was no reason he had to shake them off.
Yelena hadn't done anything wrong; she was just pursuing the future she wanted.
"Silly brother, what kind of nonsense are you talking?"
Topaz tilted her head and looked at him with a confused expression.
"All I want is to support you while you live off me. You just need to sign a marriage certificate with me to achieve that. You call that something you can't give? It's not difficult at all, okay?"
"..."
Qi Zhimu choked, then asked in return.
"What exactly do you see in a rough man like me?"
"Does there need to be a reason?"
"Doesn't there?"
"Does there?"
"Doesn't there?"
Yelena dropped her playful expression and became extremely serious.
"It's very simple. A single sentence, an event, or even a face can be the most genuine reason."
"When I was a child, I didn't know what kind of job kept you away for at least a dozen days at a time; I only knew that I looked forward to your return."
"When someone bullied me at school, you snapped their limbs like chopsticks."
"When someone mocked me for having no parents, you pulled out their tongue and then slammed a card into their parents' faces..."
"When unethical teachers took bribes to cover up for bullies, you hung them from the flagpole, eventually making it known to the whole city..."
"It was only much later that I learned the numbers on those cards were a type of money called Credit Points, different from the currency of my hometown."
"Only after growing up did I realize that many clichéd plots told countless times in stories are also the ones that touch people's hearts the most."
"I was supposed to fall into eternal darkness, never to see the light, but you pulled me out, gave me the chance to step onto a path of light, and protected me through the most dangerous stretches."
"That is the reason—the most genuine portrayal of the inner feelings of a girl who was raised by you and protected in the palm of your hand since childhood."
"Actually, it's not that you don't know; you just don't want to believe that such a reason is valid."
"Whether as a father or an older brother, you ultimately have no blood relation to me. From childhood to adulthood, my eyes have always been on your broad back."
"As long as I'm leaning on it, I'm not afraid even if the sky falls."
"I want to be with you and treat you well, not just because I want to repay your kindness, but because—"
"During the most important period that influenced my life, you were the only one in my world—a Galaxy Ranger who was used to fighting fire with fire, yet had a moral bottom line and a love for freedom."
Hearing every word, Qi Zhimu's expression became complicated.
"Back then, seeing that girl lying in the ruins with vacant eyes, sending out a signal for me to leave quickly rather than a plea for help, I wasn't thinking about much."
"I just felt that such a pure and kind child shouldn't die like that."
On the other end of the surveillance, Ruan Mei trembled all over as she heard Yelena's heartfelt confession.
Jealousy and other emotions weren't the main reason; it was that this experience was like looking in a mirror.
Was the way A'Mu saw her back then the same as how he saw Yelena?
But, A'Mu hadn't hurt Yelena. Not at all...
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