A Deal Struck, A Trap Set

Ge Xiu's face was expressionless. His fluffy yellow hair was tousled, and his thin hands were raised to protect the back of his head. His narrow eyes glowed with a bright, deep black, making him look somewhat pitiful.

Lulai calmly withdrew his hand, showing no trace of guilt on his face.

Relaxing slightly, he leaned back in his chair and stared at Ge Xiu, asking with a hint of sarcasm, "You're young. What do you have to worry about?"

Ge Xiu curled his lips, raising a hand to smooth his messy hair. When he looked up again, his expression had returned to its usual nonchalance.

Lulai couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret.

Ge Xiu shrugged carelessly, a stubborn, almost heartless smile playing on his lips. "Life is what you make of it, sir."

Lulai's half-lidded eyes, framed by long, light-gold eyelashes, were as unwavering as the calm, unpredictable ocean on a windless day. The cold, harsh aura that surrounded him was carefully restrained.

Ge Xiu met his gaze, still smiling fearlessly, almost naively.

Their stare-down lasted only a few seconds.

Lulai's lips curved slightly. "That's good."

The statement was abrupt, but Ge Xiu understood it as an agreement to his joining.

He squinted, his eyes curving into a smile, and extended his thin hand toward Lulai. "Happy cooperation."

Lulai reached out as well, his large, slender hand enveloping Ge Xiu's small, cold fingers. "Happy cooperation."

But as their simple handshake concluded, Lulai did not let go. His firm, steady fingers gripped Ge Xiu's wrist with the strength of an iron vice. His voice was low and magnetic as he deliberately dragged out his words: "However..."

Ge Xiu raised an eyebrow, waiting for his next words.

"—That will be after you're an adult," Lulai added slowly.

Ge Xiu's expression turned incredulous. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Lulai in disbelief. "...Huh?"

Lulai remained unaffected by Ge Xiu's attitude, his calm, indifferent demeanor unchanged. He even seemed to be amused. "Do you think that after all my years in the military, I wouldn't know your age?"

With warm, powerful fingers, he gently squeezed Ge Xiu's thin wrist, shaking it lightly. "The Union Constitution states that residents of the galaxy reach adulthood at twenty-two. How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?"

To be honest, Ge Xiu didn't know his exact age.

He had been captured with no memory, sentenced in confusion, and thrown into this punishing world without any information.

But one thing was certain: he was definitely an adult!

And he had been for a long time!

Frustration turned to anger as Ge Xiu crunched on the remaining candy in his mouth, his tone sharp and defiant. "Aren't you planning to overthrow the Alliance? What do you care about the Alliance's Constitution?"

Lulai's expression remained calm as he lightly shook his head. "I disagree with their methods of governance, not with the Constitution's stipulations—especially in matters of adulthood."

"..."

Ge Xiu stared at him, wide-eyed.

Finally, Lulai released Ge Xiu's thin, now warm wrist, stood up, and silently pushed the chair back under the table.

He stared at Ge Xiu. "From today, I'll be your acting guardian. Hall will arrange rooms for you and your crew. They can stay here until the Leviathan is repaired. They'll receive the same treatment as my crew."

Ge Xiu slumped over the table.

Seeing the clearly irritated young man before him, Lulai's eyes finally showed a genuine smile. "I'll also have someone deliver sugar to your room."

Ge Xiu finally reacted, raising his eyes reluctantly. "...Make sure there's plenty."

Lulai's smile deepened, the thin, hard line of his lips curving into a slight arc. "Of course."

He straightened his uniform, turned, and walked out of the ship's cabin. Hall, who had been standing guard at the door, followed closely behind.

Once they had walked a short distance from the cabin, Hall couldn't hold back any longer. "Captain, I was also placed under your command when I was nineteen."

Lulai continued walking with determined strides, not turning his head. "You're different."

Hall was taken aback. He stared at his captain's broad, straight back. After a moment, he heard Lulai's calm, indifferent voice from ahead. "When you were nineteen, were you causing this much trouble?"

Hall's answer was less confident than he'd hoped. "...No."

At that age, he had been full of youthful vigor and eager to serve under the commander he admired so much. He had even falsified his age to enlist, and would have followed any order Lulai gave, no matter how dangerous.

"Not only that, but you also had the ambition and the ability to stir up the situation."

Their leather boots echoed with a steady rhythm on the hard metal floor, the sound bouncing off the walls of the long corridor.

"If properly managed, he'll be the sharpest weapon. Otherwise, his hostility and danger will turn on the one who wields him."

Hall nodded thoughtfully.

After all, the instability in Ge Xiu was extremely dangerous and difficult to control.

They reached the end of the corridor.

The hatch to the war room slowly slid open. Lulai paused for a moment before walking inside, turning his head to look at Hall. "Assign his room next to mine."

Hall instinctively straightened up. "Yes, sir!"

In the next second, he fully processed the order Lulai had just given, staring at him in a daze as he entered the war room. "...Huh?"

Hall's voice seemed to remind Lulai of something.

He turned around again, adding, "And send the high-end candies we confiscated from Sector B to his room."

The cold metal hatch closed in front of Hall. He stared at the metal plate not far from his nose, scratching his head.

Something... didn't feel right.

·

Lulai's crew worked with remarkable efficiency. The entire crew of the Leviathan was transferred to the main ship and assigned rest cabins, all placed in the same area near the sideboard. As Ge Xiu's second-in-command, Xiaoyi even got his own room and was happily exploring it, his excitement evident.

The other crew members were equally thrilled.

As residents from the abandoned edges of the galaxy, they had been reluctant to return to their harsh environment and had held onto a faint hope that the boy who had single-handedly taken control of the ship could lead them to a better life. Now, they were amazed to find themselves in a stable place with plenty of food and comfort, as if they were living in a dream.

But their peaceful respite was short-lived.

Ge Xiu soon appeared, full of energy. He dragged a chair into the middle of the cabin, climbed up, and with a megaphone in hand, stretched out his voice, shouting, "Gather—"

Hall, standing beside him, looked uncomfortable, his face cold and distant, as if he wanted to be anywhere else.

Ge Xiu smiled at his crew, who reluctantly assembled in the open space in the middle of the cabin. Each of them was as thin as a stick, but their eyes shone with admiration. After the first battle, Ge Xiu had been elevated in their eyes from a lucky, skilled individual to a savior, worshiped and revered by all.

After a few minutes, everyone finally gathered.

Ge Xiu's lazy voice echoed through the megaphone, bouncing off the walls and filling the space. "Those with skills, come forward and register. Those without skills, register what you want to learn. But everyone will learn basic mechanics. The more you work, the less you'll have to do. But no one here eats for free. Everyone got that?"

Hall glanced at him with a complicated expression.

There were so few of them that even Lulai's ship could easily sustain them. Lulai hadn't actually mentioned any rules about free meals, but the way Ge Xiu spoke with such authority made Hall suspicious. It was almost as if Lulai had said something similar after all.

"Yes!" The crew's enthusiasm was evident, but there were so few of them that their response was sparse.

Ge Xiu pocketed the megaphone, hopped off the chair, and turned to Hall with a smile. "Please, have a seat."

Hall had a bad feeling.

He didn't move, eyeing Ge Xiu warily. Ge Xiu didn't mind, popping a candy into his mouth as his grin widened. "By the way, your captain promised me you'd help handle the Leviathan's affairs. So, I'd like to thank Mr. Hall for his assistance in registering and assigning jobs."

Hall: "..."

His unscrupulous captain had sold him off as cheap labor to Ge Xiu.

While the crew of the Leviathan busied themselves with their new duties, Ge Xiu began exploring the main ship. He seemed endlessly fascinated by everything aboard, moving from one area of interest to another each day. Whether it was hull maintenance, AI systems, or the life support jurisdiction, he observed everything with the intensity of a starved ghost, startling everyone who came across him.

During this time, Lulai was preoccupied with military matters and rarely appeared before Ge Xiu.

However, as the captain, he maintained complete control over the ship and received detailed reports on all of Ge Xiu's activities.

Lulai glanced at the report on his desk, pausing for a moment on the attached data

.

The summary indicated that the probability of Ge Xiu harming the ship and its personnel was 0%, while the probability of him harming himself was as high as 78%.

Lulai raised his eyebrows slightly.

He stood up, walked to the door, and opened it. Two guards stood outside, immediately straightening their postures at his approach.

"Go find Ge Xiu," Lulai ordered calmly, "and bring him here."

The guards stiffened at the unexpected command, but they quickly recovered. "Yes, sir!"

However, after five minutes of searching, they returned empty-handed.

Lulai was taken aback.

One of the guards wiped away the sweat forming on his brow. He explained in a shaky voice, "Sir, the, uh, people in charge of the hull maintenance said they saw him dismantling the gravity module. But when we got there, he was gone."

Lulai's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Then find him!"