Once the dizziness from soul travel wore off, the first thing He Yuan's brain registered was the pain from his lower leg. A quick look around showed that he was in a high tech hospital room, on a bed and hooked up on several machines.

One of his legs was suspended in the air, empty from the knee down and wrapped in bandage. He Yuan sighed in mild disappointment. It appeared he'd transferred over when Yang Xue had already been amputated.

888 materialized then and took a quick look around. He automatically assumed He Yuan was disheartened about this task due to being partially disabled so he consoled, "There are still other ways to complete the task."

He Yuan simply turned to his system and shook his head. "That's not what I'm bothered about. I was hoping to transfer at the time when Yang Xue was newly taken into the Ding family.

-That way, I would walk right into Ding Weimin's protection room and have them know that Yang Xue was capable of absorbing the magnetic energy and then I would walk right out. Never to return. Then they'll know how it feels to have their hopes thoroughly crushed. Idiots."

Despite himself, 888 chuckled. His host was a sadist.

"I thin-" He Yuan suddenly paused when 888 dematerialized. He turned his attention to the suspended TV as someone walked in.

Ding Weimin, dressed in his spotless uniform, looked around the room that contained Yang Xue before his eyes finally landed on the mandron himself. Yang Xue calmly stared back with his brown and red ringed eyes looking especially sharp.

The mandron's hair had grown out quite a bit and his skin was also very pale from the blood loss so even with his sharp eyes, he still ended up looking so soft and delicate.

Like mandron's should.

Ding Weimin stood a bit straighter. Honestly, he still could not believe that Yang Xue had somehow managed to kill the Xor queen. It was Yang Xue, a mandron. Well.... it could have been a stroke of luck so he folded his arms behind his back and called out, "Yang Xue."

He Yuan slowly raised a brow at Ding Weimin. The man was quite tall, with well sculpted features, very handsome and looked every bit heroic. He Yuan didn't get it. Ding Weimin had started out honourably, sacrificing himself for his men and all that.

Just why were his dealings with Yang Xue completely deplorable?

Ding Weimin observed He Yuan for a while more before sighing and walking closer. "About the Xor queen..." He took a deep breath. Although it was very dishonorable to claim the merits of others, he couldn't help himself. It's been two years since the magnetic energy was fully absorbed from his body and also two years since he resumed his career but he hadn't been able to make any notable achievement to solidify his return.

As someone who was exalted as an interstellar hero, he had been very pressured to produce results so when he had finally made his way to the spaceship and everyone had assumed he'd killed the Xor queen...

He really couldn't help himself.

Ding Weimin had thought that Yang Xue had died with the queen so, even if he might've felt sad at the mandron's death, claiming his achievement wasn't so bad. Who knew Yang Xue had survived? He sighed once more. "Let's just leave things as there are now. You don't need that little bit of recognition anyways so-"

"Little bit of recognition?" He Yuan cut in slowly. Ding Weimin was so bold wasn't he? That was the Xor queen Yang Xue had killed. With her absence, the Xors could possibly go extinct -destroying the threat altogether. How was the recognition little?

Compared to Ding Weimin, that 'little bit of recognition' would have been more useful to Yang Xue. The racial discrimination he suffered at the army stronghold would be a lot less if he had received recognition for his achievement.

Not only that, the less than stellar treatment of mandrons by the humans and andronians would reduce by a lot. That 'little bit of recognition' would've opened up the minds of the other two species to the possibly boundless potential of the mandrons and not only could it cause them to be a bit more accepting, countless opportunities could be made available to the mandrons.

He Yuan's question caused Ding Weimin to frown. Could Yang Xue not clearly see that this was the best course of action? He pinched his nose bridge. Nevermind, Yang Xue was a mandron after all. It was to be expected. "Yang Xue, you had been present in the worst phase of my life.

-What I was before the accident, you clearly know. I was and am still an inspiration to many. You're already in this state, we both know that this achievement would be more useful to me, why not let it go? The recognition you are already receiving as a mandron that had made it to the rank of Private First Class should be enough for you."

"So..." He Yuan began slowly with a look that made Ding Weimin seem like an idiot. "Just because I'm a mandron and you had gone through a bad phase in life, it's okay to claim what is mine? I wasn't responsible for your injury so why are you trying to demand compensation from me? You're alive, all thanks to me and yet this is how you repay me?

-If you wanted the achievement so bad, why didn't you kill the Xor queen yourself? Instead you and your girlfriend used me as bait to escape and now you have the nerve to claim my merit."

Ding Weimin's face turned darker the more He Yuan spoke. In the end he said sternly, "Yang Xue don't be unreasonable! You're a mandron so the pressure isn't that much for you to perform exceedingly well and no one had used you as bait. You were just too slow."

888 tsked. [Bullshit.]

He Yuan casually waved at the door. He was done. "Get out." Whatever Ding Weimin owed Yang Xue, he would collect with interest in due time.

Ding Weimin took a deep breath to compose himself as he turned to leave. However when he got to the door, he paused and turned his head. "You-" He shook his head. Yang Xue wouldn't understand anyways so what was the use trying to reason with the mandron? He decisively left the room.

He Yuan tapped his chin rhythmically with a finger after Ding Weimin left. From the earlier interaction and also from all of Ding Weimin's actions towards Yang Xue it could be seen clearly that the man did not view Yang Xue as anything more than a mentally disabled mandron.

Even if he had told Yang Xue differently in their years together, deep down, Ding Weimin still viewed Yang Xue as a dumb mandron and thought it was okay to claim Yang Xue's merit because he felt Yang Xue did not fully understand the weight of his achievement.

He Yuan shook his head. Yang Xue was slow, not stupid and even if he were a complete idiot, the achievement was still his.

A doctor and two nurses walked in then and after performing several checks on He Yuan, they determined it was okay for him to check out of the hospital the next day.

He Yuan nodded his thanks and looked to the nurses. "Can I have the things I was admitted with?"

The nurse on the right smiled. "Sure." Then she moved to the wall and pushed a button. A small sliding sound was heard and soon, the ceiling opened and a metal claw extended out with a clean and nicely folded uniform, which was torn in many parts, and a metallic bracelet.

The nurse grabbed the items from the metal claw and walked over to He Yuan. "Here. This is all."

"Thank you." He Yuan accepted the items and laid them at his side.

As soon as the three people left, He Yuan picked up the metallic bracelet and clipped it around his wrist. Although he was familiar with the item from the storyline, he personally had no idea how it worked so he decided to fiddle with the technology and work it out himself.

Fortunately, it had a user friendly interface so thirty minutes was enough to figure out the basics. After that, He Yuan checked out Yang Xue's bank account balance. It had just a couple hundred creds, not even enough to fed for more than a month.

Yang Xue, like many other mandrons, was very simple minded and took things at face value. Meaning that if he didn't see the need, he wouldn't pay attention to a particular thing. The money that was in his account was just for emergency purposes and nothing else.

A prosthetic limb would cost millions of creds. Even if He Yuan took all the money that had been handed over to Yang Zhi, it still wouldn't be enough to foot the bill. He Yuan crossed his hands behind his head and relaxed completely. He would still take all of Yang Xue's money from Yang Zhi. As for the rest of the prosthetic limb cost...historical

Was the Ding family not available? They owed him after all.