System, are you messing with me? - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Shu Ning carefully got up from his position on the ground and slowly turned his upper body first to the right and then to the left. A relieved smile spread over his face, when the injuries on his back only throbbed a little bit and a quick glance towards his silent companion showed that the Man felt the same.
Eventhough it was only one hour of well needed rest for the general and Shu Ning, it seemed to have done wonders for their exhausted muscles and many cuts. Even the bruises have lightened to a pale yellow. But they both knew that they couldn't continue to waste time by waiting for all their injuries to heal. Their comrads needed them on the battlefield as quickly as possible as they were still out there fighting for their lives and that without their strongest fighters present.
So without further ado Shu Ning helped his fiance gather up the rest of their things and walked over to the entrance of the cave.
"Well, i'm ready to go. My back has stopped hurting and my legs don't feel like jelly anymore."
"hm. In a second. I'll contact the fifth general to see what is going on over there first."
"...You think, that they are still alive then?"
Shu Ning lowered his head to hide the obvious sadness lurking inside of his eyes.
It was hard to stay hopefull of the survival of their own squad, when it was just moments before that they were slaughtered one by one. Especially without knowing if help was on the way. Thinking of all the comrads they have already lost made horrifying scenarios of mutilated soldiers started to play inside of Shu Ning's mind. It went so far that he could almost smell the red blood seeping into the dry and sandy ground and hear the agonized screeming of dying people reverberated in the silent cave.
Thankfully before the desolate feeling could settle completely inside of his heart, the reassuring voice of Sun Zhilong broke through his straying thoughts.
"Yang Quan. You have to believe in them. The fifth general is no one to triffle with. He probably found a way to call for backup by now. They will be fine."
"If you say so. Alright. I'll believe you. So let's not waste anymore time and join them already."
A soft fondness glimmered in the dark eyes of the General when the sadness finally wanished from Shu Ning's face to be replaced by a determined grin. With a deep chuckle Sun Zhilong digged out the comunication device from his pocket to send a quick message to his rival.
3G: Report. A soldier and myself were sepperated from the rest of the frontline fighters. We are ready to joyn the fray again but need the coordinates.
Just when the General wanted to put away the device again, as it was unlikely that he would receive an answer anytime soon, an almost silent ping sounded from it. With a raised eyebrows due to his surprise, he opened the incoming message and started reading it aloud for Shu Ning to hear.
5G: And I was already wondering where you two lovebirds dissapeared to in the middle of a fight. Was your boy toy too scared of death that you had to go and cuddle him or what? You even left your own people behind to be killed. What a General you are. While you probably fucked that scaredy cat into the ground, help finally arrived and we were able to push the Sphinx back. All of the participating soldiers are now on their way to the middle of the Sphinx nest to destroy their lair. Come at once.
3G: We did not flee the battle out of fear. The Sphinx surrounded the two of us and lead us away from the others. Yan Quan got injured protecting me and I had to treat his inruies first. We wouldn't have been any help otherwise. We'll meet up with you as soon as we can.
Shu Ning scowled at the insults they received from the fifth general but as he was already used to it by now, he decided to ignore the remarks for now. Sun Zhilong seemed to think the same, if the deep sigh and tight lips were anything to go by.
"Let's go meet up with them. They are already very close to the cave. If the blue moon is gone then we will know that someone is commanding the Sphinx. Possibly Wu Kang."
"It would make things easier if it was him. And I'm quite sure that it is"
Sun Zhilong raised his eyebrows at the eager tone of his lover but fortunately didn't question it. Instead, he just walked over to the entrance of the cave, gave Shu Ning a chaste kiss on the lips when he passed by and strode in the direction of the nest.
The two of them walked for what felt like ages, past dried bushes and over sand dunes, until they finally saw a group of green clad soldiers leaning against the side of a stone wall. Their uniforms were ripped to pieces or sullied with green and brown spots where they were still whole, sweat was flowing down the length of their body, bruises and cuts marred their taned and musculous skin and their breath came out in short pants from the strain of the fight.
Shu Ning looked at the scene for a bit longer before looking down at himself and Sun Zhilong. Even though the uniform looked about the same as the resting soldiers, the injuries of their own bodys looked less conspicious, except for Shu Ning's back of course.
"GENERAL! LIEUTNANT!"
A choir of voices boomed over the otherwise silent environment and all the Soldiers still resting against the rock quickly jogged over to Sun Zhilong and Shu Ning. Only the fifth General stayed behind and barely glanced over at his rival in disgust before turning his head away again. Even then, to Sun Zhilong it was obvious that the other man was waiting for their arrival.
"Don't be so loud. Do you want to alarm the Sphinx?"
"Don't worry Lieutnant. The others are keeping the Sphinx at bay. Only we, the fifth army and the ninth army are here."
"Lieutnant, General, are you two alright? Is anyone hurt?"
"Oh no, Lieutnant, your back. You are injured."
"What? The Lieutnant is injured? Oh no."
"Lieutnant, does it hurt? Did the General already treat your back?"
"Show us Lieutnant. We got some medicine from miss Zhou for emergencies.
Shu Ning quickly held up his hand to quieten down the noisy soldiers. It was hurting his head to be bombarded by questions from all sides and the horribly hidden chuckles coming from his unhelpful fiancé wasn't helping his irritation either.
"I'm fine. No need to worry about me. I'm glad that all of you made it out alive. You have done very well in our absence. But you should still keep your guards up. We will never know what will happen once we are in the heart of their nest."
The soldiers straightened their backs and clasped their hands behind their back in parade rest. An earnest and determined expression appeared on all their faces when they awaited their next orders.
Shu Ning barely suppressed a warm smile when he looked over his very-much-alive team mates and motioned for Sun Zhilong to take over because he was unsure of how to face their trusting eyes. He was only a visitor to this world after all. He didn't belong here, with all of them. Not really at least. He was already acting weak hearted towards the General, but if he would also connect with the rest of their team, then the sepperation would crush him.
"Let's go then. The fifth General and myself will be taking the lead. Those walking in the back should keep watch at the entrance of the cave. The rest will stay with us."
"Yes, sir."
With determined steps the crowd of soldiers moved towards the huge hole in the stone wall. A solemn silence settled over everyone as they slipped through the opening, following their two Generals. They were all on high alert as they passed through the short corridor and entered the wider part of the cave where the frail looking flower grew.
Shu Ning pressed his lips together in a thin line as he turned around to survey this place. It looked exactly the same as it did the first time he found this place and that shocked him.  After all, this flower should have been destroyed when the stone crumbled right behind him. But now the cave was standing again and the flower looked as beautiful as before.
"Yang Quan. Over there."
Sun Zhilong was leaning very close to Shu Ning's ear when he murmured those words, so that his lover was the only one to hear it but because the fifth General was standing right beside them, he picked up on the words as well and noticed the extra presence in the cave as well.
"Who are you?"
The figure turned around as if startled by the men's proximity and almost dropped the glowing stone held tightly in his hand. A maniac expression flickered over his face as he recognized the people standing in front of him and Shu Ning didn't even need to see the rest of the other's face to recognize him as well. Wu Kang.
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After apprehending Wu Kang, It took another day of cleaning up the Sphinx corpses from Samadon before the Soldiers finally arrived back at the military base. They were a sad sight to see when they stepped off of the vehicle, as most of the fighters were immediately carted of for treatment and those few that weren't too heavily injured made sure to guide their maniac prisoner down to his cell. Still, all of the people involved in the war were happy that at least a third of their comrads made it back alive at all.
One of those people who were lucky to survive the whole ordeal was of course Wu Kang who started the whole thing. And even though most would rather wish him dead then sitting in a cell, waiting for the verdict of his crime, Shu Ning was aware that death would have been a merci. After all, taking the blue moon without permission and using it to attack his own team is the highest form of treason.
Shu Ning: "That reminds me. Where is the blue moon? I didn't see it anymore when we left the cave. I'm quite sure that Wu Kang dropped it, but i don't remember seeing it anywhere."
System: "That's because the Female Lead took it. I was paying attention (￣▽￣)V"
Alpha happily rolled around in Shu Ning's mindscape while flashing his body in the color of the rainbow. So for a moment Shu Ning's head was filled with glaring light like in a disco, untill he got a headache and felt slightly dizzy from it.
Shu Ning: "....hmmm. Very good. I hoped that she would do that but completely forgott to check in the excitement. Whatever. We have her where we want her now."
Shu Ning narrowed his eyes in thought and felt a big evil smile spread over his face when an idea took shape. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice the concerned glances of the people around him.
Shu Ning: "I want to buy an item. One of those mind control cards."
System: "All right. You have 2000 Points at the moment. A mind controll card costs 300 Points and is capable of influencing only one person. If you want a higher scope then you will have to pay 200 Points extra for every added person. What do you choose?"
Shu Ning: "The simple one. Access Zhou Feng's brain with it and send her nightmares and hallucinations. If you can, then use the blue moon as mediator."
System: "Ok. Will be done. The Female Lead won't even notice what hit her."
Now that the important part was planned out in his mind, Shu Ning quickly bid good bye to the rest of his comrads and sauntered over to where his fiancé had been waiting for him. The man was leaning against the wall for support and his head hung a little lower than usual, but other then that there was no indication that the other was feeling tired at all.
"You ok? Those last few days were quite something, weren't they? I'm deffinitely exhausted enough to sleep through the next three days."
Sun Zhilong hummed in agreement and fixed his tired eyes on the white bandage barely peeking out of Shu Nings shirt. Thanks to the well developed tecnology of this world the injury was already mostly healed, but the General still looked worried whenever he got remindet of it.
"Sun Zhilong. I'm feeling fine. I'm not in pain or anything. Just tired. Take me to bed?"
Shu Ning put on the best coquettish expression that he could muster and slowly trailed a finger from his lovers neck, over his throat and slowly down the man's covered chest. A barely noticable shiver followed the path of his finger and dark, lust filled eyes were intently staring at him.
"Bedroom then. You are tired and should sleep. The sooner your injuries are over the sooner we can celebrate our engagement."
Sun Zhilong said the word celebrate like a dark promise, that made Shu Ning's skin prickle in a sense of danger. Yet instead of being frightened by the prospect of what's to come, a churning feeling of excitement settled low in his gut.
Even Shu Ning's knees almost bucklet from the sudden onslaught of desire, but the General quickly grabbed his arm to stabilize him again and smirkingly led him towards their bedroom.