Chapter 198: At the Bottom of the Well of Gravity
"… Then I have gone through the procedure of the plans for the migration and submitted it, you just need to have a meeting with the Federation, send an engineering team to Mars orbit and install the thrusters as instructed." Ade whispered, "Also I've reinstalled TurnA's operating system, now its authority is back in your hands, and …"
"Stop saying that." Loran turned his back to Ade, "You know I don't want to hear that."
"Although it is very sure, this time it's too important, I am afraid that you don't agree with it, so I simply do it in advance." Ade carefully bowed his head and made amends, "I'm sorry, I'm willing to be punished."
"As my vassal, you secretly made such a big fuss, even overwritten Turn A's operating system, and I knew nothing about it from the beginning to the end. Heh, willing to be punished?" Loran's shoulders trembled slightly, and he shouted sternly, "Do you know that this is a crime against national security? You will be sentenced to life imprisonment, do you know?"
This was probably the first time Ade heard Loran speak in such a harsh tone, for a moment, he didn't know how to reply.
"Why didn't you discuss this with me beforehand?" Loran asked with a cold voice, "Do you think I will definitely object? Or do you think things are too big for me to trust? Are all the words you have spoken in person just words?"
Ade actually wanted to ask a question what exactly he had said, but now it is better not to ask, "I think there is a certain probability that you will oppose, but I will do it anyway, and then we are likely to quarrel. I don't want you to be… angry."
"So you are afraid that I am angry?" Loran gasped and laughed, "Then I can tell you clearly that I'm angry now."
For some reason, Ade suddenly felt that at this moment, Loran's tone was like that of C.C., and suddenly felt a headache.
"You deliberately didn't explain it in my office, and specifically waited until we are now back to the secret base. Do you think that I will be more accommodating here and will forgive you?" Loran said word by word, "I'm, angry, angry, angry!"
Ade could only close his mouth. He really had no experience and no way to coax Loran when he was angry.
"I ask you a few questions, you must answer truthfully, don't lie to me." Loran had an almost inaudible "hmm" from behind, "Who else knew about this beforehand? Did you discuss it with C.C. and the others?"
"Rei, she was an important assistant in the development of the DG virus." Ade decisively chose to be honest, "Except for her, no one knows it. I didn't tell C.C., Lacus, and Ange."
"So ah, well …" Loran's tone inexplicably moderated, "Anyway, this matter certainly can not be public, but this time, you make mistakes and you must be punished, so I can only punish you privately."
"Oh." Ade meekly nodded, "Then I accept the punishment."
"With your current situation, the punishment must make you feel pain, otherwise, it won't work as a punishment and you might do it again next time." Loran was silent for about half a minute, "Then let's fine."
"Huh?" Ade froze, "A fine?"
"I remember that Anaheim's equity is in C.C.'s hands, the various copyright patents are supposed to be in Lacus's hands, and you have to pay Ange, Mineva, and Momoka pocket money, right?" Loran turned his back on Ade and raised the corners of his mouth, "Don't ask others for money, fill up all the closets in this house with your own secret money."
Ade was speechless for a moment.
"Speak up, is there any displeasure with my punishment? You're not happy with a little punishment?" Loran turned around and looked at Ade with a red face in anger, "Don't you want to accept it?"
It took Ade three seconds to dawn on himself and nodded desperately like a woodpecker, "Accept, accept, I accept the penalty. The penalty is too painful for me, but I will definitely pay the penalty in full."
"Attitude is good." Loran's puffy cheeks were still a little red, "There's something else I was going to discuss with you, but since you made such a big mistake, I decided not to discuss with you and shoot the board myself."
"I don't have a problem with that." Ade hesitated and asked tentatively, "So what is it?"
"I'm still angry and don't want to tell you." Loran hesitated, "Here's a hint, this year is the tenth anniversary of something. You have one chance to guess, guess right and I promise you I won't be angry anymore."
Ade replied without hesitation, "It's the tenth anniversary of our meeting."
Loran stared straight into his clear pupils in a daze and froze for a long time before he whispered, "You guessed wrong, but I'm not angry anymore."
"Good, good." Ade shamelessly moved his position next to Loran, allowing the two to sit closer, "So what do you plan to do for your tenth anniversary?"
"This year is the tenth anniversary of the first Gundam project, Diana and I have discussed it and plan to issue a commemorative coin with your avatar on it, I was going to discuss with you about the image on it." Loran showed a mischievous smile, "I've decided on the fly, let's use the image from the time we first met."
"Back then? Wait, I was only a teenager back then? What kind of lifelong shame is this?" Ade looked a little flustered, "I object!"
Laura stood up and stretched his body comfortably, and said briskly in a playful tone, "Opposition is invalid. You just wait for a hundred years later, the Internet, textbooks, history books are full of your image in junior high school ~"
The hazy light hit Ade's face through Loran's slightly transparent white dress, making the latter's eyes involuntarily move up and down with the former's drastic movements.
Loran felt the grin stab at his body with a helpless smile, "Stop thinking nonsense, I am taking you as a friend."
"Even if you are the prince, you can't stain my innocence out of thin air. I, Adrien Lingus, definitely didn't think wildly." Ade said with a serious look, "We are very normal friendships."
"Yeah, a very normal…," Loran sat down next to him, "… relationship. "
"This time, I plan to take DX with me to Earth, kill all angels once and for all." Ade stared intently at a grain on the wooden floor, "DX's firepower should be enough to deal with them."
"Hmm." Loran softly whispered, "Come back early, I'll wait for you."
…
Three days later, on a special plane from the moon to Lhasa.
Garrod and Tiffa sit side by side across from Ade, and Garrod said in a despondent tone, "Doctor, in fact, we simply don't need to come together, right? You can also drive DX, and your NT ability is even stronger than Tiffa, what's the meaning to ask us to go to Earth together?"
"The point is that you are paid as DX's pilot, it is your contracted duty and you must fulfill it." Ade replied, "If you don't care about the high liquidated damages, you can stay on the moon with Tiffa."
"Tsk, the evil capital and hypocritical contract kidnapped me, when will the real free kingdom be realized?" Garrod sighed in an old-fashioned way, "Tiffa, this is the cruel adult world, and we can only struggle to live in this cold world."
"That's enough." Ade looked over at Tiffa, "He's too noisy, can you think of something?"
Tiffa gave an apologetic smile and gently tugged on the sleeve of the boy beside her, "Garrod, let's change seats."
Garrod exhaled a long breath of relief, led Tiffa to get up and walked to the corner at the other end of the special plane.
C.C., sitting on the right side, gave Ade a glance, "You're willing to let the little girl go? Why don't you chat a little longer? Oh yes, NT can chat inside the brain."
"What are you talking about?" Ade decisively grabbed C.C.'s left hand and closed it between his own palms, "I only want to talk more with you. It's not easy to get rid of the two kids."
"Your words are getting sweeter and sweeter." C.C. raised her eyebrows, "Tsk, when you were a kid, you were so cute, but now… ugh …"
"Can you not always mention my childhood things?" Ade misplaced his gaze in embarrassment, "Only the older… will often… uh… …"
"Only the older will often do what?" C.C. said expressionlessly, "Go on, I'm listening, only the older ones will, hum?"
"Actually, ah, your style of dressing can be a little more mature," Ade coughed, "Otherwise, I always tend to confuse you with Momoka if I don't look at the hair, and it would be embarrassing if confuse you with Mineva a few years later."
C.C. puffed out a laugh and laughed happily for a while before saying, "What makes you take me out instead of Ange?"
"Because these messy things are almost coming to an end. After the angels are solved, there are no more external enemies." Ade scratched her soft palm, "I started this part of my life with you, so I want to end it with you too. It has some sort of symbolic meaning for me."
"Very well." C.C. leaned her head on his shoulder, her long, slender hair scraping against his neck, "Any future aspirations? We have long days ahead of us, we can't keep living for the purpose of saving humanity, can we?"
"I quite like everyone, and I quite like this world, so I hope that my friends and people I know well will live happily." Ade replied out of breath, "And that the family is harmonious and don't quarrel."
"I think the latter one is the point, right?" C.C. pinched Ade with her sharp nails, "Actually, we should have gotten used to it, there is nothing to fight about. But you are complacent, huh?"
Ade was silent for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Thank you."
C.C.'s heart was suddenly moved. She looked up for a moment, came to his ear and whispered, "Let's do it."
"How did the topic jump to this?" Ade could not help but jaw, "First, we are still on the ship; second, Tiffa and Garrod are still at that end; third, what if the steward comes over?"
"The steward won't come in this cabin, the two kids whispering at that end won't come over either, I don't see any problem." C.C. said, leaning down, "Good boy, don't move."
A few hours later, the special plane landed smoothly at the Lassa base, and Commander Bright Noa was there to receive Dr. Lingus and his party in person. Commander Noa expressed his concern and greetings to the accompanying personnel on the lunar side, and he said kindly to Dr. Lingus —
"Lingus, are they both okay? They look pretty bad."
"I have no problem." Tiffa said with a red face, "No problem, really."
Ade gave C.C. a covert stare, and C.C. snickered disdainfully, then blinked her big eyes with an innocent look, pretending she was a teenage innocent girl.
"Doctor, I might not be able to make it." Garrod looked pale, "I have a headache, I panic, my chest is tight, want to vomit, and very difficult to breathe. I probably will not last long. I want to entrust Tiffa, Tiffa to…, uh no, Tiffa can't be entrusted to you."
Ade ignored Garrod and slapped himself hard on the head, "Oops, I completely forgot about the whole altitude sickness thing."
"Lingus, did you just say he was DX's pilot?" Bright gestured to Garrod and said unhurriedly, "It's okay, you'll get better soon with some oxygen and medication. Besides, you've only just arrived in Lhasa and haven't done anything yet, the angel can't just show up now, right? That would be too much of a coincidence—"
"Shut up!" Ade ignored any diplomatic etiquette and interrupted Bright loudly while reaching out his right hand to cover Bright's mouth.
However, it was already too late. A sharp consciousness from the endless other side pierced his spirit directly. The sludge of memory gushed out from the depths of the well of the soul with the hot breath of self-doubt, and he lost all movement before he activated his Geass. The sharp pain in his brain made him want to faint immediately.
"Ade?" C.C. was the first to notice his abnormality and nervously helped him with his arm, "What's wrong with you?"
"Ade?" Another voice rang out in his consciousness, "Dad is gone! Everyone's been killed! You're obviously not even Lilin, why did you do it? Why!"
