Interstellar Legend

034 Sleepless Paradise

Today, Reno was still training.

A Thunder II mecha was running and leaping in the valley, sprinting for short distances, making sudden stops and turns, spinning rapidly, and even performing somersaults in the air. It moved swiftly through the valley, executing one dazzling maneuver after another.

Compared to the last time, his endurance had significantly increased.

However, after persevering for more than twenty minutes, Reno was completely exhausted, both mentally and physically. He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Normally, Nora would come over and shout in his ear, "Get up, you useless lazy bum! Don't think lying there pretending to be dead will get you off the hook..."

She would then force him to get up and push his limits once again.

Strangely, Nora didn't do that today.

She sat alone on a small mound, next to her kneeling her black mecha.

In front of her were several beer cans. She picked up one after another, opened them, drank them down, her eyes glazed, lost in thought.

Seeing her like this, Reno felt a pang of concern.

He disengaged from the mecha and walked over to Nora.

"You seem off today," he said.

Nora, already a bit tipsy, glanced at him lazily and then turned away. "Go away, go train, don't bother me," she said.

"I'm already here," Reno replied, sitting down next to Nora and grabbing a beer can, tilting it back and taking a sip.

Nora's eyes widened in surprise.

Her lips pouted like a child who had just been deprived of candy.

"My beer!" she exclaimed, reaching out to snatch it.

Reno dodged to the side.

Nora tried to grab it again, but Reno evaded once more. They engaged in a playful back-and-forth, with Nora unable to reclaim the beer for quite some time.

"Hey, you might be the boss inside the mecha, but I'm not afraid of you outside," Reno said, chuckling.

He teased her with the beer can, tempting her to try and take it. Nora swayed, attempting to grab it, but stumbled and fell.

As she fell, Nora didn't get up but instead burst into tears.

It was the first time Reno had seen Nora cry, the strong, cold, proud girl sobbing uncontrollably, deeply wounded.

For many years after, he never saw Nora like that again.

He watched her, bewildered, and asked, "What... What's wrong?"

Nora buried her head in her shoulders, sobbing softly.

After crying for a while, she looked up at Reno and said, "Want to know the reason? Easy, since you want to drink, go ahead and finish your drink, then I'll tell you."

"Okay!" Reno nodded eagerly, taking a long sip from his beer.

Although a bit tipsy, Reno managed to stay coherent.

He glanced around and realized they had finished all the beer between them. He grinned, "Gone... gone. Can you tell me now?"

"Sure..." Nora replied lazily.

She lay down on the ground, leaning against the shadow cast by the trees, using the sparse light and shadows as cover, and spoke in a relaxed tone, "I suffer from a disease."