Chà Chà Novel

“The warships are in position! Every Federation soldier is on full combat alert!”

Wu Yi’s voice rang out, strong and resolute.

“Tang Wan, this will be your first real battle against the insectoids. You spent years at Shilan’s side. He trained you himself. I believe you can win this war.”

The commissioner spoke with steady warmth.

Wen Shilan heard no answer from Tang Wan. He saw only that Tang’s head was lowered, his thoughts impossible to read.

“Lan-ge!”

Wu Yi was facing the door, so he was the first to spot Wen.

After three years away, Wen Shilan had returned without a word of warning.

Tang looked up instinctively. At the sight of that tall, slender figure in the doorway, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Wu Yi rushed over and wrapped Wen in a tight embrace. “Lan-ge! It’s been three years! Where did you go? Do you have any idea how much I missed you? You never messaged me, and you didn’t answer when I wrote. I thought I’d never see you again!”

For once, Wen didn’t step aside. He let Wu Yi hold him and patted his back as though comforting a child. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

The commissioner was visibly moved as well. Wen had fought the insectoids for years; no one knew the battlefield better. Three years ago, he’d disappeared without saying goodbye, and no one had known where he went. Many had truly believed they would never see him again. Yet here he was, arriving at a time like this.

Of course, it would have been all right if Wen hadn’t come. He had no mental power, and the battlefield was dangerous. Staying away would have been safer.

Tang Wan was the only one who wasn’t smiling. Once the shock passed, his eyes settled into a stillness like stagnant water. Yet he couldn’t look away from Wen for even a moment. Beneath his dark gaze lay feelings so deeply buried they might never see daylight. The man he had missed for three years, longed for over three years, wanted so badly it made his bones ache, had appeared before him without warning.

Tang didn’t know exactly where Wen had been. He knew Wen must have been with Qi Yan, whether on the Werewolf Planet or somewhere else. In all three years, Wen had not set foot on Silan once.

Tang had spent those years turning over what he’d done. Had he been wrong? He told himself he hadn’t. His methods had been despicable, but at the time he’d seen no other way.

And yet perhaps he had been wrong, because Wen no longer even wanted to look at him.

Wen had left Silan after that incident. Tang had driven him away. But Wen had kept it quiet. When Qi Yan took Wen from the house, Tang had called Wu Yi to come for him, expecting the Federation to condemn and imprison him. Nothing happened. Apart from Wen, Qi Yan, and Tang himself, no one else ever learned what he had done.

Wen seemed to have spared him. Then again, perhaps he hadn’t.

For three years, guilt and pain had swallowed Tang whenever he woke in the middle of the night. All he could do was train his mental power without rest, push himself harder, and protect Silan—the place Wen valued most. Perhaps then Wen would look at him again.

Wu Yi’s eyes were red. Wen had learned just how easily he cried. How could a man so broad and sturdy be so prone to tears? After letting Wu Yi hold him for a while with no sign of letting go, Wen finally pushed him away. “There’s a war coming. Save your tears until we’ve won.”

What Wen had just said…

“You’re going to the battlefield with us?”

Tang was the first to grasp his meaning. He forgot the ache in his chest at seeing Wen again. He needed to know whether Wen truly intended to fight beside them.

Wen’s eyes finally rested on Tang, if only briefly. He gave a small nod.

So that was it.

Wen really meant to go.

“No! You can’t!”

Tang Wan’s refusal came out sharply, almost before he’d had time to think. Wen Shilan could not go.

How could Wen even consider going to the battlefield?

A battle could change in an instant. No one could guarantee they would come back alive, not even Tang himself.

Wen had lost his mental power when he was still undefeated. Now he was weaker than an ordinary soldier. Going to the battlefield would be no different from walking to his death.

Nothing could happen to Wen. Tang couldn’t bear to see him hurt.

Tang drew a deep breath and looked at him. Even Wu Yi shook his head. “Lan-ge, the general’s right. You can’t go.”

It was far too dangerous. Wen would be placing himself in the deadliest part of the war.

They were already overjoyed that he’d come back at a time like this. It proved Silan, the Federation, and all of them still mattered to him. That was enough. Going into battle was out of the question.

“No! Wen Shilan, you’re no longer part of the Federation. You have no authority to fight.”

Wen was stubborn. Once he decided to do something, no one could change his mind. Tang knew that better than anyone. Wen had changed in many ways, his gentleness now edged with detachment, but on a matter like this, he was unlikely to yield. Tang could not let him fight, so his words came out harsh.

Wen looked at him, a faint smile at his lips and unmistakable mockery in his bright eyes. His voice was calm. “I’ve fought the insectoid queen countless times. I know how they attack and where they’re most vulnerable. I can adapt as the battle unfolds and keep casualties to a minimum. Tang Wan, I have more right to take part in this war than any of you.”

He had to go. No one could stop him—not even Qi Yan, much less Tang Wan. Did Tang think a few harsh words would change his mind?

Or did he hope to hurt Wen into giving up, then congratulate himself for doing it for Wen’s own good?

Tang and Wu Yi still disapproved. Only the commissioner hesitated, then made his decision. With a sigh, he put a hand on Tang’s shoulder to stop him from arguing further. “Shilan is right. No one has a greater right to be part of this battle.”

Three years ago, Wen had personally forced the insectoid queen into dormancy. He knew that hideous creature better than anyone.

“Let’s go. We’re wasting time.”

Wen turned first. His white shirt outlined his upright figure and long legs. He looked particularly striking today; if they hadn’t known he was going to war, they might have thought he was dressed for a party.

On the warship, Wen could no longer summon his combat form without mental power. Tang brought him a suit of armor that could be put on manually. Wen gave it a passing glance but didn’t take it. “I don’t need it.”

The insectoids had spread to Silan’s border on a scale nothing like the attack near the farm. Looking down from the warship, Wen could see them packed across the ground. Border soldiers fought desperately below, their red blood mingling with the insectoids’ blue. Wen’s expression remained utterly still. He no longer carried into battle the fierce disregard for his own life or the determination to bring every soldier home that he had once felt.

“Stay on the warship. Don’t come down. Here’s a new communicator. You can direct me from here.”

Tang placed it in Wen’s hand. There was no time to lose. He touched the divine stone at his chest and shifted into his blue-and-white armored combat form, then leaped from the warship. Wu Yi followed close behind, reminding Wen once more not to leave the ship.

When they were gone, Wen looked down at the communicator and gave a scornful laugh. “As if I need this.”

It landed in the bin with a sharp clink. Wen then took out Qi Yan’s core stone and his own red divine stone, which he had strung together. A faint light glimmered within his stone. He closed both stones in his hand, and within seconds they fused. As Wen’s divine stone absorbed the energy from Qi Yan’s, it blazed with astonishing light before sinking into his chest.

When Wen looked up again, red armor spread over him inch by inch until it covered every part of his exposed skin. He rolled his neck and wrists, feeling the returning strength of mental power throughout his body.

He really did have Qi Yan to thank. Half of Qi Yan’s energy could restore Wen’s mental power for a short time. It wasn’t as strong as his power had once been, but it was enough—enough for what he was about to do.

Wen Shilan opened the warship’s hatch and leaped into the air. His brilliant red armor stood out against the sky.

A soldier spotted him and stared. After killing the insectoid in front of him, he shouted, “It’s the general! It’s the general!”

“The general’s back!”

One soldier noticed, then a second, then a third.

Wu Yi and Tang Wan stared at the red armor. They had seen it lead them to victory in more battles than they could count. It was so familiar that their eyes grew hot before they knew it.

Wen’s voice rang out from above, carrying across the battlefield. “Federation soldiers, I’m here to bring you home!”

For centuries, Silan had fought the insectoids. Their queen was cunning and nearly impossible to destroy. Whenever she ran out of energy, she retreated to her nest and slept. When she woke, another war began.

Centuries of fighting had taken countless lives and torn families apart. All the blood and tears of the Federation’s soldiers had bought them were brief stretches of peace. They had lived this way for far too long.

I’m here to bring you home.

There was nothing especially rousing in the way Wen said it, yet the words seemed to ignite everyone who heard them. No—the fire had already been there. Now it roared to life.

“General!”

Wu Yi roared as he slashed an insectoid’s throat. Blue blood sprayed across his armor. He turned to his comrades. “You hear that? The general’s here to bring us home!”

Tang stared at Wen, unable to understand how his mental power had returned. Beneath his armor, his eyes burned red. Warm tears ran into his mouth, leaving a salty taste.

“I heard him.”

Tang spoke so softly it was barely more than a murmur.

He had heard. Wen Shilan had come to take them home.

“Then get your head in the fight!” Wen called back.

He turned toward Tang, who froze. Wen shouldn’t have been able to hear him. But that didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. Tang rose to stand beside Wen and looked down at the soldiers. With all the strength he had, he shouted, “Federation soldiers! Charge!”

Charge. Win this battle, and they could go home.

No one liked war, and everyone feared death. But once they were on the battlefield, even that seemed to fall away. They pushed their bodies beyond their limits, fighting, shouting, roaring.

The people of Silan hated the insectoids above all else. The creatures were hideous and revolting, and they had never let the planet know peace.

Every last insectoid deserved to die.

Wen’s return transformed the Federation soldiers. They fought harder and harder, as though their strength were endless and they could feel neither pain nor exhaustion. All they knew was that if they won, they could go home and enjoy a little peace until the insectoids came again.

Before long, Wen reached the insectoid queen’s nest. There she lay: the enormous, grotesque creature he had fought so many times before.

“Wen Shilan. I didn’t expect you to regain your mental power, even briefly. What a pity. I devoured it three years ago, and while I slept, it spread through every part of my body. Do you truly think you can beat me now? I wonder where you found that temporary power. How long will it last—five minutes? Ten?”

The insectoid queen burst into shrill laughter. “You’re at the end of your strength, and still you came. How delightful! I couldn’t kill you three years ago, but today I’ll tear you apart piece by piece! Come back to me, my children~”

At her call, the insectoids surged toward her and merged into her body one after another.

“That’s… her ultimate form!”

Every insectoid had split off from the queen. Now they were all returning to her. Before the soldiers’ eyes, she grew larger and larger until she nearly covered the entire mountainside.

Wen Shilan had fought the insectoid queen many times, but this was the first time she had taken her ultimate form. She called every creature that had split from her back into her body. Their combined power made her swell larger and larger.

So he wasn’t the only one who wanted to end this war after all these years. That hideous creature wanted it over too. Did she think swallowing his mental power would let her conquer Silan?

In her dreams.

Panic spread through the soldiers at the sight. Wen alone flew his armor up into the air.

“Watch out!”

Tang Wan reacted first and reached for Wen, but couldn’t catch him.

Wen looked no bigger than an insect before the queen, yet his presence was overwhelming. He faced the grotesque creature and said quietly, “You didn’t actually think you could devour my mental power and make it yours, did you?”