“……”

Robin's words made his father silent for a long time, and his deep eyes flashed with entanglement and struggle, but in the end, he shook his head silently, looked at Robin's eyes and sighed: "I'm good here, I don't want to leave yet." ”

"Why! ～”

Hearing his father's rejection of his proposal, Robin stood up on the table with emotion: "You can live a better life, why stay!" ~What is there to be nostalgic for here, this broken steel cave? Damn, it's a prison. It's full of prisoners of war and prisoners, and you've been here for eight years, isn't that long enough? ”

Perhaps sensing the contempt for himself in Robin's tone, Robin's father suddenly rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong forearms and roaring, "I'm not old enough to retire, boy, after a few years of soldiering, do you think your dad is old?" Useless? To tell you, in Mercury, I Luo Cheng is the best mining expert, is the best! Not one of them! ～”

"But so what, even if you are the best, but without you Mercury will still turn around, and the mine will still be mined. Yes, you're not old, you're only forty-six, but you look like sixty-six now! ~" Robin grabbed his father's hand and tore open his shirt, pointed to his scarred skin and said, "You have injuries all over your body, and the radiation in your body has even exceeded the safe dose, you need treatment!" ~You need to cultivate, otherwise, you will ruin yourself! ～”

"There's a specialist here who specializes in treating radiation, and I don't need you to worry." The father swept Robin away, covered the scars with his clothes, and said, "I will turn the same way when Mercury is gone, but if I am really gone, then many people in my work team will die." Do you know? In the past eight years, the team I led had the lowest mortality rate in the entire Mercury, and without me, those bastards wouldn't have known how to survive in a cave full of molten lava, and without me, they would have been burned to char in that damn instant. It is because of my existence that they have survived until now! ～”

"But they are prisoners and prisoners of war, and you don't have to be responsible for their lives and deaths!"

"Yes, they're prisoners, but they're just making the wrong decision when they're doing something. Who can guarantee that they will not make mistakes in their lives? ”

“……”

His father's stubbornness made Robin speechless, he didn't expect his father to be so tough, and he didn't expect this harsh planet to make his father so nostalgic.

And perhaps seeing the gloom in Robin's eyes, his father sighed and said with a wry smile: "Robin, I know you are thinking about me. But I can't let go of those bastards who have followed me from birth to death for years, and maybe I'll consider your advice when their sentences are over, but for now...... I don't want to live alone in the city waiting to die. And although it doesn't look good, it's a place that I built up with my own hands, and I have a lot of friends here, and although life is a little hard, I have a good time. ”

Is it a bond?

Listening to his father's words, Robin suddenly thought of himself. Yes, if my father asked me to give up the dangerous job of being a soldier and go to something else, would I be able to let it go?

The answer is no.

Robin knew he couldn't let it go either. However, he doesn't seem to be as confident as his father, and he's not sure if he can protect the lives of others like his father. Colin's death became a scar in Robin's heart that would never heal. Suddenly, he began to doubt himself and wonder if he was a qualified captain.

"Dad...... Have you ever caused misfortune to those around you because of your decisions? Suddenly, Robin looked up at his father with a puzzled look.

“……”

Hearing Robin suddenly ask, a look of struggle clearly flashed across his father's face. He hesitated for a long time, but finally said, "Yes." ”

"So, do you regret it?"

"Nope." This time, my father's answer was extremely firm.

"Why?"

"Because I know I made the right decision." My father took out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep breath: "If the decision itself is right, then I don't need to regret it." ”

"However, because of this decision, someone around me died......"

"But there is nothing wrong with the decision itself, and some people will suffer misfortune because of this decision, but it is only because I am not capable enough." Robin's father looked at Robin with cloudy eyes: "Five years ago, a little guy named Ellis died. He had just joined my team when we were working deep into the cave when we encountered a cave cave, and a large amount of lava poured into the cave, blocking the exit from the cave. So I made a decision at the time, I decided to take everyone on the surface and get out of there before the lava consumed us. ”

Caught in the memory, his father flashed a look of pain, he rubbed his forehead vigorously, and said with difficulty: "The sun was just parallel to the horizon at that time, so we had nearly three minutes to run to the emergency shelter. However, after we ascended to the ground through a gap in the cavern, Ellis accidentally stepped on a rock that had been burned loose, and the hot iron spilling from the rock scorched his legs. So, when we ran to the shelter, we could only watch him be lit by the sun and burned to ashes like a torch. ”

After telling this story from a long time ago, Robin's father took a hard puff of his cigarette and snuffed out the cigarette butt: "Because of my decision, many people have been saved, but there are also people who have died because of this decision. So, is it the fault of this decision? No, it's not. I hadn't noticed the loose rock inside, and if I had warned Ellis beforehand, maybe nothing would have happened. ”

"Dad......" Robin knew that his father must have seen the confusion in his heart, so he said these words to himself.

"Robin, it doesn't matter what you've been through. But if you feel like you're making the right decision, don't be afraid to make it. Besides, I think you'll be able to understand the reason I'm here by now, and you've got your bonds, aren't you? ”

“……”

Robin nodded helplessly, and the persistence in his heart dissipated unconsciously. And the tacit understanding between father and son made them look at each other and smile without words, as if the quarrel just now had reconciled the estrangement between them in the past eight years, and the initial sense of distance caused by strangeness also disappeared.

"By the way, Dad, I have a girlfriend." Perhaps trying to dilute the previous tensions, Robin mentions Cecilia.

Hearing his son talk about his girlfriend, his father's eyes immediately lit up, hooked Robin's shoulder and said urgently: "Deceived a girl so quickly?" Let me see! ”

"She's a good girl, she's on the same ship as me, and she's my captain." Robin smiled and took out the bullet pendant hanging around his neck, and after opening the three-dimensional picture in the pendant, the photo inside had been replaced by a dynamic photo of Cecilia and Robin.

"What a fairy-like little girl...... Yo, still a lieutenant. You kid has a vision, and you have the style of your father. The father narrowed his eyes and smiled happily, and he suddenly asked secretly, "You ...... Is that that? ”

"Huh?" Unexpectedly, his father would ask this question directly, and Robin's face suddenly turned red.

"It can't be that there isn't that, right...... You kid! ~" The father took out the style of teaching his son a lesson, and slapped Robin on the back of the head: "You have to be quick to deal with the girl!" ~ If you catch it, you will go on it, and you will never let go of the opportunity ......"

“……”

Seeing that his father was in high spirits and foaming at the mouth of the conversation, Robin could only smile helplessly: "Dad, you can rest assured." We were classmates when we were in military school, and we were very harmonious in what you said......"

The father was stunned, and suddenly laughed: "Hahaha...... Stinky boy! ~ No wonder you graduated from military academy and only became an infantryman, it turned out that you were taking care of picking up girls, you bastard. ”

"Why, I wanted to be an infantryman."

"No quibbles! ～”

“……”

The dim light, the small room, the father and son who have been reunited after a long absence, laugh and laugh around the small table from time to time. Lights, sleepless nights...... A few days later, the second airport.

After a brief and warm few days in the steel cave with his father, Robin is about to leave. And his father personally sent him to the second airport, and insisted on carrying the small carry-on bag for him.

"Dad, I'm going to camp elsewhere after I'm gone, maybe...... Maybe I won't be able to see you for a long time. ”

"I know...... Don't worry, Dad will take care of himself. The father had red eyes and straightened the collar for Robin: "Don't be too desperate when you are a soldier, you have to flee when you should run for your life, don't rush to the front as a martyr stupidly." ”

"Huh...... I'll retire when I'm a general, and I've always had good luck. Robin took his bag from his father's hand, looked at Angus, who was already waiting at the entrance of the airport, and couldn't help but look back and say, "Dad, if you feel tired, think about my previous advice." ”

"I've got it, don't worry." My father waved his hand tearfully.

"Then I'm leaving...... Take care of yourself. ”

Robin puffed up his chest and saluted his father, gritted his teeth, and resolutely turned around and ran into the entrance of the second air port. Behind him, the father reached out to call out to Robin, but his lips trembled and he never spoke.

It wasn't until Robin's back disappeared from sight that his father collapsed his shoulders as if he had lost all his strength. But looking at the bullet pendant that Robin left for him, his father suddenly perked up, dragged a private passing by him to him, and shouted with his dancing hands: "See? It was my son who was in the military uniform just now! ~ He said he would be a general, hahaha...... He is my Luo Cheng's son! ～”

(To be continued)