"Hahaha! Hahahahaha!"
After leaving the party, Yang Ming drove the luxury car sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau, while Catherine laughed non-stop in the passenger seat.
She was laughing quite loudly.
Yang Ming drove with a sullen face, trying to appear familiar with the street layout with Lyu’s help at the moment.
Did they really think he couldn’t hear them?
Lyu and 026 were now laughing uncontrollably too!
This Atro destroyed in mere minutes all the goodwill Yang Ming painstakingly built before, nearly causing Yang Ming to snap on the spot.
Did he not see Yang Ming constantly serving Catherine food, occasionally cracking jokes with her? This wasn’t the behavior of a man pursuing a new romance? Bringing up his past lover , what the hell!
Luckily, Yang Ming was wise enough not to explain anything to Catherine at the moment; instead, he gently let Hanton’s number two mistress take a seat.
"Back then, we were on a ship that only returned to its homeport once a year. We supported each other and provided mutual spiritual support, making the monotonous and lonely space voyage not so dull.
"During that time, everyone endured significant mental trauma. The fierce Valkyrie destroyed the entire spaceship; we were luckily among the survivors.
"Don’t worry, I won’t seek revenge on you. There’s nothing worth avenging anyway."
Expressing tolerance, pointing out their relationship happened years ago, comforting each other due to the loneliness of the voyage.
What else could he do besides this?
Directly attack his previous lover to show loyalty to his potential girlfriend beside him?
That was not something a man should do.
After confirming several times with Atro, Yang Ming repeatedly conveyed that there was no need to pursue previous details. That girl was released by the military police on the spot and rushed forward to give Yang Ming a deep hug.
Hmm... her figure was a bit out of shape.
"Hanton, I didn’t expect you to... I’m willing to compensate you, with anything."
Yang Ming could only refuse with a smile, stating he did not know her well enough.
What was initially a pleasant dinner party quickly came to a close afterward.
Before leaving, Yang Ming proactively asked for Atro’s contact information. Atro immediately expressed he would remain on this planet recently, and Yang Ming could contact him for anything directly.
The Military Intelligence Bureau was a department handling some of the dirty and arduous intelligence work for the Military Department. Atro had plenty of connections.
Moreover, during the party, Atro hinted multiple times that he had someone backing him who could help Yang Ming solve various problems.
After stepping out of the hotel suite, Yang Ming vaguely heard Atro sighing with people around him, saying things like ’ancient technology really is amazing’ and ’can’t tell it’s a mechanical body’ and such.
Catherine patted Yang Ming’s shoulder, "Can you do it again? That thing, ’I have very few ex-girlfriends!’ Hahahaha!"
Yang Ming ignored her with a sullen face.
She laughed even more happily.
"Why do you find this so amusing?"
Yang Ming navigated the road while using the bubble voice he hadn’t used in years:
"Oh, my dear Captain Catherine, shouldn’t you be jealous and upset? Aren’t we in a phase of ambiguous affection?"
Catherine removed her mask, placed it beside her hand, leaned comfortably in the seat with the auto-adjusting support module, fluttered her long lashes, and gazed brightly at Yang Ming.
"Should I feel unhappy about this?
"That was your past lover, not your current one. If you tell me now that while trying to date me, you’re maintaining unclear relationships with other women, I might let you taste the power of my fist.
"But for now... you performed well earlier; you didn’t make things difficult for a weak person and helped her out of trouble."
Yang Ming thought, "Is this woman really so open-minded?"
Then he recalled he was still maintaining a relationship with Miss Hera, although Hera being on the Dark Star made her not a regular lover.
"I’m not that much of a philanderer," Yang Ming said calmly.
"Who knows, mysterious Mr. White Ghost," Catherine clicked her tongue, "It seems before confirming whether you truly take our relationship seriously, I can’t easily express my fondness for you."
"That’s completely unnecessary."
Yang Ming’s gaze grew distant:
"I admit, I do have quite rich experience in this area, but I uphold one truth."
"If I can’t offer my future partner a pure body, then I’ll offer excellent skills to my partner," Yang Ming winked at Catherine with his right eye. "The importance of skills, you will understand in the future."
Catherine gritted her teeth, almost unable to resist kicking this guy away.
Yang Ming opened the car window, enjoying the cool night breeze. Amidst their teasing banter, he was also pondering a rather challenging small problem in his heart.
How should he face the Hanton family?
Although the body was still Hanton’s, the mind and consciousness had been replaced by him, a big boy from Earth.
In some sense, it’s the murderer visiting the victim’s parents.
Quite awkward indeed.
The closer they got to the Hanton family’s place, the more Yang Ming’s thoughts deepened.
Catherine stopped making fun of Yang Ming over this, starting to chat about lighter topics with him.
Yang Ming muttered, "Why does the Military Intelligence Bureau want to befriend me proactively?"
"I heard from the director, you’re quite the catch now," Catherine said lightly. "After all, the Emperor praised you once, so various departments of the Empire have started to reach out to you proactively."
Yang Ming laughed, "In an emperor-dominated nation, the Emperor’s influence is truly bone-deep."