Jiang Ye sat on the windowsill, clad only in a white towel, his muscular body exposed.
He gazed out the window, lost in thought, the massive planet Wheeler suspended in the dark expanse of space.
This was Bi Rongjun's Nebula-class warship, an entire fleet navigating the orbit of Wheeler, laden with troops and weapons. Jiang Ye had requisitioned a room on the warship as his office, and after finishing his work each day, before sleeping, he would sit by the window and stare blankly for a long time.
The sound of rushing water from the bathroom stopped, and a moment later, the scent of shampoo approached.
Cen Yemeng, also clad in white, sat on the windowsill, wearing only her underwear, her figure's curves perfect. She repeatedly wiped her long hair with a towel, naturally resting her long legs on her husband's.
"Honey, your eyes have bloodshot veins," Cen Yemeng's movements suddenly paused, and she leaned forward in surprise.
"Bloodshot veins?" Jiang Ye was taken aback. He reached out and tapped the window. Wheeler and the universe outside the glass instantly vanished, replaced by a perfect mirror reflecting the scene in the room.
Jiang Ye leaned closer to the glass, peering at his eyes. Indeed, there were bloodshot veins, quite a few, with almost half of each eyeball red.
"Staring at the battle plans for the past two days has been hard on my eyes," Jiang Ye sighed, his voice full of exhaustion. "I might have gotten a bit overheated. This war has been going so poorly, it's made me furious. I've been losing my temper and yelling for days, and sometimes I get a headache and sore eyes when I'm yelling."
"Don't be angry, honey. Anger harms your body, it's not worth it," Cen Yemeng said with concern. "Aren't the battles going quite well? I saw Xu Yan this morning, and she said they've started constructing the military base in the Ring Tropics, and it will be finished next week. Didn't you want to trap the Gante army in the Tropics? Isn't that proceeding smoothly?"
"Alas, you don't see the specific battle reports, so you don't know how chaotic the situation is. Too many people died in the Leileiu region. I told those division commanders not to be bloodthirsty, not to turn the battlefield into a slaughterhouse, but they forgot everything when the fighting started. Pursuit battles turned into annihilation battles, and some units even killed prisoners!" Anger flickered across Jiang Ye's face. "Damn it, I'll definitely have to dismiss a few people after the war!"
"Calm down, honey. Don't get angry over this. People always die in war. You're a thousand miles away, and they're on the battlefield; there are many situations we might not be clear about. You should trust our soldiers," Cen Yemeng took her husband's hand and squeezed it gently. "Even if the Gante army is completely wiped out, your intervention on Wheeler will reduce a lot of human casualties for the entire planet. Their warlords kill even more people in their wars, and it's an endless cycle of death. We are solving the problem once and for all."
Jiang Ye sighed, saying nothing, and rubbed Cen Yemeng's delicate hand.
"Cen Zi called me this morning. She knows we're fighting on Wheeler and asked if she needed to send reinforcements," Cen Yemeng said.
"How did you reply?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Of course, I refused. I said we'd call her if we needed her in the future, and that the situation on Wheeler is excellent, so we don't need her help," Cen Yemeng replied with a look of disdain. "She's only coming now to try and get some benefits, to claim some credit. There's no such easy thing for her."
"Actually, it wouldn't be bad to have her send some troops. They don't have to fight, just exchange experiences and foster some camaraderie between the armies," Jiang Ye said. "If you don't want her to come, then don't. It doesn't matter."
"Foster what camaraderie!" Cen Yemeng's face fell, and she clenched Jiang Ye's hand fiercely. "I'm warning you, honey, keep your distance from Cen Zi. Don't let her get involved."
Jiang Ye chuckled. "Are you that jealous? I'm talking about the armies of both sides, not about me and her! Her troops fought a major bloody war with alien civilizations. If we can exchange experiences, we can absorb some of their knowledge, can't we?"
"She herself wants to come," Cen Yemeng tilted her head, staring at the ceiling. "Do you want her to come, or not?"
"Did she say why she wants to come?" Jiang Ye asked seriously.
Cen Yemeng bared her teeth, like a provoked lioness. "Jiang Ye! You should immediately say no to her coming! I have no interest in seeing her!"
"She looks a lot like you," Jiang Ye said with a straight face.
Cen Yemeng stared in disbelief. "Damn it! You're looking for trouble!"
"Just kidding. I have no interest in seeing her at all," Jiang Ye said with a smile. "But Cen Zi is the planetary leader of Salu Star, and I'm very interested in that identity."
"Then see what time you have available, and I'll have her come over," Cen Yemeng said. "She said she wants to catch up with me, but we don't have any old friendships. If she comes, it will definitely be about official business."
"Next week," Jiang Ye said. "After the battle situation on Wheeler stabilizes and the Gante army is completely trapped, I'll meet her."
"Okay," Cen Yemeng gracefully stepped off the windowsill. "You go wait in bed. I'll go find the military doctor to get you a reagent."
Jiang Ye obediently went to bed, sat leaning against the headboard, grabbed a copy of "New Lectures on War Economics" from the bedside table, and buried himself in reading.
Cen Yemeng pulled on a bathrobe to wrap around herself and went out in slippers.
At the end of the corridor was the medical room for senior officers on the warship. As Cen Yemeng entered, the doctor and several officers inside stood up abruptly and saluted in unison.
"At ease, at ease," Cen Yemeng turned to the doctor. "Jiang Ye's eyes have bloodshot veins, he might be a bit overheated. Get me a broad-spectrum testing kit."
"Certainly, certainly. Please wait a moment," the doctor hurried to the freezer.
Cen Yemeng turned and looked at the officers waiting beside her. "Division Commander Liu, Division Commander Zhao, Division Commander Stanford, you're here so late. Are you feeling unwell?"
"Thank you for your concern, Commander," Division Commander Liu stood up, his expression awkward. "During the operational meeting today, Commander Jiang scolded me thoroughly. I couldn't sleep lying in bed, so I came to ask for two sleeping pills."
"Me... me too," Division Commander Stanford said with a wry smile.
"My blood pressure is a bit high, so I came for a check-up and to get some blood pressure medication," Division Commander Zhao smiled. "Commander Jiang didn't scold me. My unit wasn't on the front lines; we were handling logistics."
"Jiang Ye was just talking to me. He thinks the battle was a failure, with too many deaths, and that some units killed prisoners," Cen Yemeng said. "Could it be you two?"
Division Commander Liu's expression shifted from awkwardness to embarrassment. He said helplessly, "My unit didn't kill prisoners, but my unit absorbed two regiments from the Leileiu region, and those two regiments killed prisoners. How should I put it, they were forced to kill prisoners."
"How can killing prisoners be forced?" Cen Yemeng's eyes sharpened. "They surrendered, and we don't lack food. We just need to keep them under watch and give them something to eat."
"The Gante army developed a type of intestinal bomb, small packets of liquid. Once swallowed, they stay in the stomach and intestines," Division Commander Liu explained. "The Gante army has special combat support teams. During battles, they stand behind with machine guns, driving the troops in front to charge. Anyone who is slow or turns back is shot. When we surround a Gante army unit, their combat support teams mix in with the ordinary soldiers. If the ordinary soldiers surrender, these madmen from the combat support teams will detonate the intestinal bombs they swallowed beforehand, killing everyone around them."