Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Li Aozi was not shocked by the other party; he simply came quietly behind them, sat leaning back against the person, stretched out his right hand over his left shoulder, and placed it on the other's shoulder.

The old woman saw his intention and placed her hand on the back of his hand, quietly feeling the warmth of the other:

"Your hand is still as warm and strong, and the skin just as youthful. I still remember when I held this hand and kneeled to propose to you—heh, back in my youthful days, I was truly full of life."

Li Aozi did not say anything; he could feel the wrinkled palm trembling incessantly.

The old woman had not spoken to anyone familiar for too long; she needed some time to adjust and organize her words.

"Hundreds of years ago, during the Yamiriko Federation period, the government was stable, and the world was at peace. I was also a young, promising girl, full of health and vivacity, always looking forward to the state assigning me a brave, strong, hardworking partner, someone like a farmer, worker, soldier, or astronaut—just then, I was tasked by the nation."

The old woman worked to calm her excited mood and said:

"'Alicxia, among your generation, your physical qualities are the best, your psychological qualities excellent, and you possess beautiful qualities. We hope you will see the future for your homeland. If there is someone among them you like, join with them, as a messenger linking the future and the past, to write a new peace.'"

"'But what if they face difficulties and setbacks?' I asked."

"'Then, you must become their bride,' the secretary said to me, 'You must guide them, serve them, and if there are new shackles and enemies, just hammer them to pieces for all injustice and the oppressed to keep fighting on.'"

The old woman covered her face, her dim eyes already shimmering:

"I'm so sorry… the Huang Dujuan contract was not proof of love. It was just a phrase written by the secretary to guide future people to open the time capsule."

"I'm sorry, I deceived you, Mr. Leoz."

"I am not your only bride, I was… coming for this era's people, a gift sent by Yamiriko to future generations."

The old woman bowed her head guiltily:

"Really... I'm so sorry for deceiving you so long."

"In fact, I do not have the ability to reproduce at all. The organization cultivated me to record past history, culture, morality, law, science, technology, and artistic works and to bring them completely to the present."

"My life reached its limit during the long slumber; from the first day I saw you, I was already an old woman. Even with artificial body modifications and genetic enhancements, the mental wear cannot be erased."

The old woman said filled with apology:

"Truly, I'm very sorry, Mr. Leoz."

"I know." Li Aozi said.

"Yes, you should know."

The old woman was stunned for a moment and then said in surprise:

"What… what did you say?"

"I knew about the Huang Dujuan contract from the very beginning."

Li Aozi calmly said:

"Comrade Alicxia, I know you are not my individual bride; you are a gift to everyone of this era, those valuable spiritual assets, heritage of beliefs, ideals, and legacy — it's the bridal dowry you brought to this era."

"...Is that so?"

Alicxia murmured:

"That's good, truly the person I feel most guilty and sorry towards is you."

"Equivalent exchange, Alicxia, let me reveal a secret to you too."

Li Aozi said:

"In fact, I have never opened the Huang Dujuan contract."

The wind pressed the rape flowers down, the headscarf was lifted to the sky, flying towards the distance.

Alicxia's silvery hair had long been falling out in patches, revealing a large bald patch, her aging face marked by accumulated pigment spots, wrinkles like oxidized apples, her teeth were also not stable anymore, and she was no longer beautiful and lively as in her youth.

She didn't turn back to look at Li Aozi, and Li Aozi didn't turn back to look at her.

The two of them sat back to back, seated on the ground, in the field of blooming rape flowers, maintaining the impression of each other in their hearts.

In Alicxia's heart, she absolutely did not want Li Aozi to see her in such a posture of an old, ugly, senile woman.

And Li Aozi knew that Alicxia did not wish to be swayed by his youthful beauty, to waver in her resolve to serve the people.

"In my youth, I was once moved in my heart."

Alicxia pretended to hold Li Aozi's smooth palm and softly said:

"No matter, whether you are the witness of the Huang Dujuan contract, at least you have accomplished these things."

"But your 'groom' shouldn't have been me."

Li Aozi said:

"I deceived you, Alicxia."

Alicxia laughed:

"At this point today, are you still tangled in this? Oh, Aozi, or are you saying in your eyes, Ms. Alicxia is just a petty, small-minded girl?"

"That's not what I mean, Elise. Being able to meet and know you, fighting side by side is my honor."

Li Aozi said:

"I am no longer human."

"I can feel it; not seeing you for forty years, the aura on you is no longer that of a mortal… warm, blazing, enough to evaporate and burn everything that comes near you. Just like the Sun."