Imperfections Volume 1 Chapter 23

"Sir, I've detected that your heart rate is 20% higher than normal, are you feeling unwell?"

Jingheng Lin was unable to speak.

He spent eighteen years searching for the person that took away Mrs. Lu. In that same eighteen years, he spent all his time and energy plotting and removing those that weren't on the same side with him. He crawled on his knees to the frontline of the Union, and successfully entered the Silver Fortress. Silver Fortress was an important military district, and with extraterrestrial pirates still out there, it had the most mobility out of the Union. Only Silver Fortress could give him the freedom he craved even in his dreams.

Fifteen years ago, he finally got the chance. He let a group of extraterrestrial pirates escape on purpose, and watched them flee to the Eighth Galaxy. With the chance, he followed them. When he pa.s.sed by Planet Cayley, with the help of some time difference, he altered a few things to give himself a break. He left the troops, went alone, and chased down Monoeye Hawk in a floating nightclub in Cayley's atmosphere.

Monoeye Hawk was having some "fun". When Jingheng Lin caught him, he even hadn't put his pants on yet.

The whole interrogation was a complete disgrace to Monoeye Hawk. At last, only after he finally confessed that he was the one who took Mrs. Lu away did Jingheng Lin give him a pair of pants out of extreme generosity.

If he recalled it objectively, Jingheng Lin had to admit that he was a tad bit too immature and aggressive back then. And that the way he handled things was a little bit too much. But a single palm could not make any sound, and Monoeye Hawk definitely wasn't to be excused from inflaming the tension between them — Anyway, that pair of pants was the base of the bad relations.h.i.+p between the two.

Monoeye Hawk, legs bare, with only a pair of shorts on, was carried by three microparticle cannons. He landed, and was forced to hand over Mrs. Lu's ashes, the commodore's epaulette he carried with him, and the voyage recorder on the small stars.h.i.+p Mrs. Lu was on...but no child.

With gritted teeth, Monoeye told him that Mrs. Lu was gone, and so was the child Xin Lu was so excited about. Of course, Jingheng didn't believe him, but there was no evidence that the child had existed at the time, and it wasn't possible for him to stay any longer. So he let Monoeye Hawk go.

At the time, when Xin Lu's stele in the memorial garden was destroyed and erased, Jingheng Lin did anything he could to save a tiny piece. And that tiny piece was of Xin Lu's epaulette. After that, for many years, Jingheng Lin deducted where Xin Lu's mech was destroyed over and over, and spent endless amounts of energy to search for any remains. His result was three teeny fragments the sizes of fingernails.

The fragments were his remains, the stele was his glory, the epaulette was his entire life's belief, and his lover was where his soul was laid to rest.

Thus, except for the uncertain child, these four things could finally rest in peace together.

Five years ago, Jingheng Lin still hadn't given up, and he returned to the Eighth Galaxy. He installed a gene lock on the outside of the ecopod, using gene information left from Mrs. Lu's pregnancy checkups. The original destination was Cayley Planet, where Monoeye Hawk was, but unexpectedly, it was accidentally opened by Bixing Lu on the outskirts of Beijing-ß.

Was it destiny? Fate, which he had never believed in?

Jingheng Lin's gaze was stuck on the mech's mental network, extending to faraway places. Being in a mech, his perspective had already spread into the infinite darkness. Suddenly coming back to where he actually was, he watched this simple, crude, pathetic mech, his feelings a mixed pot of mess.

In these five years, he kept suspecting Bixing Lu over, and over, and over again. And he was slapped by the harsh truth over, and over again. Because the Blackhole was Monoeye Hawk's closest partner thirty years ago, he even bothered to clutch the Blackhole in his grasp, in hopes of catching even the teeniest lead....

"Why...why would the brain's genotype not be identical as the body's?"

Zhanlu answered, "My apologies, sir. But there are too many possibilities for me to conclude."

"Oh," Jingheng Lin paused, and spoke as if whispering to himself, "Do you think he's like Mr. Lu? I don't think so."

Maybe it was because that unlucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d Monoeye Hawk had done something, or maybe it was simply because he was more like his mother — Jingheng Lin wasn't that well acquainted with Mrs. Lu. Thirty years, it was too long ago. He wasn't able to recall things and people that he wasn't familiar with back then clearly.

For a split second, a ton of irrelevant thoughts popped up in his usually logical and a.n.a.lytical mind. It was a gigantic mess, with everything possible in it. Illogical, as if something had short circuited.

Zhanlu asked seriously. "Sir, do you mean for me to do a comparison a.n.a.lysis of Headmaster Lu and Commodore Lu's facial features?"

"......No."

"Sir," Zhanlu said, "I have to remind you, your mental strength is wavering, and your connection suitability with the mech is dropping. Based on historical data, this is close to your lowest record. Are you feeling unwell?"

Jingheng Lin's gaze was still stuck on Bixing Lu, and he answered absentmindedly, "Hmm?"

"The current figure is fifty-six percent. If the connection suitability drops below 50%, you will face the risk of inactive disconnection of mental network links. Since graduation, you have never had an inactive disconnection. "

"Really? Then my life sounds so unfulfilled." Jingheng Lin smiled, his reason unknown. Then he closed his eyes, blocking out his own vision. The mental network that was just previously undulating like waves slowly calmed down. After the suitability percentage paused for a brief moment, it started to raise slowly, as if it was lifted up by a st.u.r.dy, immensely strong hand. It went all the way up to 89%.

As if an unseen armor was forming slowly.

He became the immovable commodore again.

"We have twenty minutes before we reach the abandoned station. Prepare for landing and docking. All injured and those who cannot pilot a mech, back to the medical cabins." Jingheng Lin commanded, his back facing towards them.

If he was willing to become the Dean of Affairs at Starry Sea Academy, the school's discipline should become anew. From the rebellious headmaster to the rebellious students, everyone followed his orders. None of them gave an objection, and lined up. They were all very obedient, like a group of wild animals that had just registered circus ident.i.ty.

"Sir," Zhanlu asked in the mental network, "Will you talk with Headmaster Lu about this?"

"No, "Jingheng Lin replied, "I've told you dozens of times before that I loathe conversation."

He twisted Zhanlu's question to avoid answering, but the naive AI did not understand him. It kept on prying, "Then will you give my entire backup permission to him like Commodore Lu?"

Jingheng Lin went silent for a second. "No."

Zhanlu waited silently in the mental network for him to keep on speaking, although based on past data, when Jingheng Lin answered with a tight tone like his, there was a ninety percent chance that he was going to pretend that he was mute and deaf.

But this time, he kept on going.

"Your previous owner was a great idealist. He would sacrifice himself for some of his beliefs." Jingheng Lin spoke calmly.

"I'm different — I don't have as many feelings to commit to. If there's no alcohol, I'll drink blood. I'm waiting to collect the bodies of those who want me dead. I don't have a purpose for someone to carry on after I'm dead, and I don't have a wish for someone else to help me fulfill......Zhanlu, encrypt all of the data recorded today according to top-level secret. Including what I said to you, the medical data, and the suitability figures."

"Yes, sir," Zhanlu said. "But Headmaster Lu may not know that he is related to Commodore Lu yet."

"He doesn't need to know." Jingheng Lin started to adjust the travel route and power system, ready to land. His suitability with the mech's mental network went up one more point quietly, reaching the highest possible figure for human to mech connection — 90%.

Soon after, the abandoned station came in the view of the mental network. The mech slid into the station's rail, decelerating. The outsides of the cabin felt the friction with the man-made atmosphere, and the heat-protective layer made a light sound, as if the winds could already be heard.

This was good news. The artificial atmosphere was still there, which meant that the abandoned supply station was probably still operated by someone.

The mech's power percentage dropped to 7%. Red alert signals flashed rhythmically, weaving together with the fluorescent gra.s.s on the wine cabinet like an expansion of Christmas colors.

Monoeye Hawk walked over to where Jingheng Lin was. "Is the energy enough to land safely?"

As this was complete bulls.h.i.+t, Jingheng Lin ignored him.

"Fine," Monoeye Hawk softened his tone, which was something rare. He asked humanely, "Do you know about the pirates 'Prince Cayley's Guards'?"

Jingheng Lin calculated the landing process with full concentration, and reacted with a tiny twitch in the corner of his eye.

Monoeye Hawk glanced back at the medical room, and in the tiny noise, he lowered his voice another octave, "Prince Cayley's name is Fland Von. A complete pervert. More than a hundred years ago, he was chased out of the Eighth Galaxy by Xin Lu, and his close guards collectively revolted, and smashed his head. You know, the Eighth Galaxy usually despises fake Union b.a.s.t.a.r.ds like you, but in order to overthrow Prince Cayley, we chose Xin Lu."

"I've heard that during the rule of the Cayley Prince, except for the guards of the prince, interstellar travel was prohibited in the Eighth Galaxy, and the entire starry sky was his personal belonging." Jingheng Lin said. "He owned cutting-edge research results and arms, but in order to prevent people from rebelling, he spread anti-science and anti-intellectualism within interstellar range. He announced a hundred and three bans, almost killing non-governmental technology advancements entirely. Its effect still exists though it's been almost a hundred and fifty years."

"That was heard from textbooks, wasn't it, young commodore?" Monoeye Hawk laughed coldly. "Let me tell you something fresh — do you know about the Reinberg laboratory?"

Jingheng Lin didn't rebuke him right away, which meant that he was willing to listen.

So Monoeye Hawk kept on going. "Prince Cayley thought that a mere three-hundred-year-old life was not enough. Immortality, that was his goal. And so was the Reinberg laboratory built. Eight years of human experiments, but I'm not sure what their results were. Whatever, in that eight years, they created a tomb of ten thousand......no, a hundred thousand."

"The year 128, the sixtieth year of Cayley's reign in the Eighth Galaxy. The entire Eighth Galaxy was drained to the bottom by those vampires — not even spinal fluid was left. Somehow, a famine happened — do you even know what the word 'famine' means? f.u.c.k, 'famine' is a word that was wiped out of dictionaries back in the Earth Era. In this era, where a nutrition injection can keep you alive in s.p.a.ce for two months, tens of millions of people died from hunger. The Cayley government pretended to set up a disaster relief team, and those f.u.c.king garbage took the money, but sent people to produce compressed nutrition meals from human experimentation bodies. Then they f.u.c.ked up the disinfection process, and some of the viruses from the experiments spread out to the people. And that resulted in a G.o.dd.a.m.n plague."

"Oh," Jingheng Lin finally gave a reply, "I've heard of it — the Rainbow virus."

The Rainbow virus — the one responsible for recent history's most gruesome plague, and a result of the human mind.

This virus was purely artificial. High pathogenicity, high mortality rate. Nearly impossible to destroy. Full of imagination, it was inserted with a micro AI imitation, which made it able to morph according to its surroundings. After a large-scale outbreak, the Eighth Galaxy was rendered defenseless. A few cases even happened in the Union. More than six years after, a research team in Wotto finally developed a cure to the Rainbow virus. The team received the n.o.bel Prize and the Freedom Contribution Prize that year.

The year 136 — when Xin Lu finally reached the Eighth Galaxy and brought the antibody for the Rainbow virus — was the year that the Eighth Galaxy was finally released from this ridiculous calamity.

"I don't know who this guy that calls himself 'Prince Cayley' is," Monoeye Hawk said, "But back then, it was the tradition for the guards to be completely mad. Now that they've suddenly reappeared in the Eighth Galaxy, I'm...wait, the power level has dropped to five percent, can you do it?"

"Docking valve ready. Prepare to land."

"Warning, not enough power —"

"Transceiver signal normal, activate or not?"

"Warning, power remaining less than 5%, estimated unsafe landing."

"Warning—"

Jingheng Lin suddenly spoke. "Deactivate main power system."

"What..." A shocked Monoeye Hawk spoke.

The drained mech shuddered violently. As the mech's body lost its power, the previously slowly descending mech instantly became a free falling body. The students' screams sounded from the medical cabin. Monoeye Hawk clutched tightly at the wine cabinet, weightlessness pus.h.i.+ng his innards up.

"Warning, because of gravity, the mech's body is cras.h.i.+ng accelerated—"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

The protective gas inside the mech suddenly inflated the cabin, and everyone floated up. The next second, Jingheng Lin used the remaining energy to spread the four energy blades open. The four blades were in perfect formation. The extra protective gas snaked down the blades, condensing into a thin membrane similar to a giant parachute. Gravity and resistance reached a dangerous balance within a few seconds.

In the deafening noise, the mech landed precisely on the rail, not even a centimeter off from where it should be.

Simultaneously, all the devices on the mech shut down, and the mental network completely evaporated, the mech having gone out of power. The whole mech body stopped for a second, and then suddenly slid down the rail. On the immaculate rail system, sparks flew from the docking valve. Then they stopped moving — they had landed safely!

A moment of silence spread in the mech. The next second, the mech burst out in whistles and cheers, and the students that had just regained footing on land almost cried out of joy.

Monoeye Hawk shuddered, and pointed an accusing finger at Jingheng Lin, "You...you rabid dog!"

"Thanks for the compliment." Jingheng Lin nodded, his expression unmoved. He removed his gloves, and tossed them onto the wine cabinet. He straightened his collar, calmly resuming what he was saying, "After Prince Cayley, or Fland Von, was killed, his two sons fled to extraterrestrial areas. The elder one was betrayed by his subordinates, and died halfway through. The younger one inherited the t.i.tle of Prince Cayley, took care of his father's remaining lackeys, and created a new Prince Cayley Guard. Relying on the arms and technology they exploited from the Eighth Galaxy back then, they soon seized a large amount of pirate forces. There's still news floating around these few years that they're still roaming around the Eighth Galaxy."

Monoeye Hawk was shocked for a second. "You keep a tab on them?"

Jingheng Lin's lips curled, as if a smile had appeared. "Sorry, but it was me who took care of the attack on the guard of honor back in 258."

Monoeye Hawk: "......"

Being the secluded emperor he was in the Eighth Galaxy, he was a bit out of date with news outside of it. These years were spent lazily and freely, and as long as the fire did not reach the Eighth Galaxy, he did not really care about anything that happened in the other galaxies. That did make him a bit ignorant and ill-informed.

And that's why he didn't realize that the "258 Freedom Day Attack" that his precious son mentioned was a refined compliment!

Bullying his father just because he was illiterate! Bixing Lu had grown in ability, daring to compliment that son of a b.i.t.c.h named Lin right in his face!

Five years of being away from home, and his wings were already fully grown!

Smoke streamed from Monoeye Hawk's eyes and ears and nostrils. All the hair on his body spiked up two feet, nearly making him a sea urchin.

He lowered his voice, his expression contouring. "I'm repeating myself for the last time. Get the f.u.c.k away from my son!"

Jingheng Lin raised his brows. "So strict? Is the young master a jailbait?"

"You Union commodores are out of us Eighth Galaxy peasants' leagues!"

"That wasn't what your son said when he was using my name out there."

There were two things that Monoeye Hawk regretted the most in his life. One was when fifteen years ago, when he went out to enjoy himself, he should've had a gun on the waist of his underwear. The other was that he thought that boys should be raised more harshly, and should be raised in poorer conditions, and did not give up money on his knees to sponsor his son when he ran away from home.

"Bulls.h.i.+t!" Monoeye Hawk screeched.

Jingheng Lin replied with a snicker.

"Hey, hey! Why are the two of you arguing again!" The disinfected bubbles on Bixing Lu had finally fallen off, and when he walked out of the medical room, he had changed on a set of clothing he got from who knows where. Navy blue, neat, and the sharp collar made him look actually...kind of humane, and possibly adult-like. He stretched out a hand and separated the two, speaking, his head aching, "Was the skydiving parachuting not exciting enough? Jeez, I can't even annoy you two."

"It has nothing to do with you!" Monoeye Hawk's anger hadn't fully ebbed away yet.

Jingheng Lin had the politeness of an elder though. He asked gently, "Are you feeling better? You acted a little too rashly."

Monoeye Hawk finally realized what was happening, and to compete for affection, he quickly forced on a kind smile that could scare the c.r.a.p out of an entire kindergarten of kids. "Dad's not angry at you."

Exasperated, Bixing Lu looked at Monoeye Hawk, and felt like his aged father's mental age was still young after these years. Two hundred years, but going on ten. Emotionally exhausted, he cooed sincerely and earnestly, "Dad, we're literally on his mech right now. Grow up."

Monoeye Hawk: "......"

Jingheng Lin's gaze fell on his navy blue jacket. Bixing Lu saw him, but it didn't affect him anymore, and he spread his hands, unafraid of losing face, "I borrowed your mech, and then I borrowed your wine, and now I'm going to borrow another jacket from you. Can we just count it as one single package of favors?"

Jingheng Lin wanted to say "whatever", but then he thought that it was too cold and indifferent, and wanted to change it to "my pleasure". But then he also thought that it was too different from what he usually was like, and he didn't want to scare anyone. Before the words could reach his lips, they were stuck in his throat out of cautiousness. He could only nod briefly. Then he used the excuse of checking the air pressure and quality outside the cabin to avoid Bixing Lu's gaze.

The cabin door slowly opened, revealing the abandoned supply station to them.

In the artificial atmosphere, both the air pressure and quality were extremely ideal, and no s.p.a.ce suits were needed. The station's rails and buildings were in good condition, and the artificial lawn on both sides were smoothly cut. It was just that it was eerily silent, the sidewalks empty. There were still traces left by cars on the roads, deathly still safety robots and shuttle buses lined up on both sides like two rows of hideous arrangements.

Following the directions, they arrived at the station's main control room.

"The power system has shut down, but the hardware isn't damaged." Bixing Lu observed it. "I'll try, it should be able to turn on."

"But Pres Lu, isn't it said that since this station is on the smuggling channel, someone will use it for trading? Where are they?" Jingshu Huang asked.

"They're gone, but I'm afraid that they haven't been gone for long. Just look at the lawn at the front door. The machines clearly are regularly maintained, and there's even leftover heat on them. Sometimes, you have to be like this when you're doing illegal trade — even if you hear just a gunshot, you move to another place. You don't know when they ran away, and you can't know when they'll come back." Bixing Lu kept messing with the machines, speaking at the same time, "Help me s.h.i.+ne a light on this."

Right as he finished his sentence, a soft, white light was beamed right beside his hands. Bright enough for him, but not enough to p.r.i.c.kle his eyes.

"Hey that's pretty nice," Bixing Lu remarked casually, "Who loves studying so much that they have an eye-protecting lamp in their personal terminal?"

No one answered him. Slowly realizing something, Bixing Lu turned back to check. He saw that his students were standing a few meters from him respectfully, and the one s.h.i.+ning the light for him was Commodore Lin.

Shocked, Bixing Lu's mind went blank for a second. But before he could say anything, another beam of light shone from another direction. It was Monoeye Hawk, who couldn't stand being alone. He followed Lin, s.h.i.+ning a beam of light that was as blinding as a searchlight, making the two unable to open their eyes.

"Dad, are you trying to catch us in the act? You're literally making our eyes go blind!" Bixing Lu pleaded.

Jingheng Lin: "......"

"No," Bixing Lu suddenly realized what he just said, "I didn't mean it that way, Lin...... erm, the...... "

Jingheng Lin interrupted him. "Just call me with what you're used to."

Bixing Lu sneaked a glance at him. In the soft, warm white light, Jingheng Lin's face was a bit pale. Probably because it had been quite the exhilarating experience. He didn't know why, but he recalled all the expressions he had toyed with on this face. A nerve in his brain short-circuited, and a thought popped up in it: "I should've taken photos of them."

Jingheng Lin — the last commodore of the Union. Somehow, he managed to see the real one in person!

Bixing Lu didn't take Monoeye Hawk's bad mouthing of Jingheng Lin seriously. Perhaps it was because of the asymmetrical eyes, but Monoeye Hawk viewed everyone with prejudice, especially good-looking people that were the same s.e.x as him.

When Bixing Lu was young, besides looking up at the starry sky, he used to hold tons of curiosity towards the world outside, collecting news from the Seven Galaxies regularly. Ever since he could remember, the Union had always been parties and peace, and the military was gradually losing power like a donkey after letting down the millstone on its back. Only Commodore Lin had his contributions and achievements inscribed in between the lines.

Bixing Lu was extremely sensitive when it came to numbers. He discovered that in earlier years, there was at least thirty to forty interstellar pirate attacks per year, and every time they happened, the Union would publish a solemn and desolate condemnation. Then the Union would have to use troops dozens of times larger to regain a victory. In contrast, the pirates always fled when they lost, waiting out in extraterritorial regions for the next chance. Like c.o.c.kroaches. But the attack numbers and casualties took a cliff drop around a decade or two ago as if the pirates had gotten morals overnight and evaporated — right after Jingheng Lin took control of the Silver Fortress.

Bixing Lu sighed: "To be honest, it all still feels like a dream right now. You're really...... ah, there was so much that I didn't say in time before the Toxic Nest's base blew up."

Soft, warm white light deflected on Jingheng Lin's grey irises. Impossibly tender. "What did you want to ask?"

There was too much.

Every detail of battle that the Union failed to report, and was Zhanlu really the Zhanlu? What was it like to refuse Yevgenia, the Union's number one beauty? Most importantly, how did he avoid being detected by Eden, the literal sky and sea of the Union?

But he scanned with his gaze around him, and saw that the students were still listening with full attention. Bixing Lu hesitated. He wasn't sure if Jingheng Lin was willing to announce his ident.i.ty. Plus, he, as a freaking commodore, must've had a lot of hards.h.i.+ps to make him fake his death and leave the Union to curl up in the G.o.dd.a.m.n Eighth Galaxy of all places.

Grownups, especially ones that were naturally introverted like Jingheng Lin, probably were not willing to rip out their blood and tears for others to see.

In a blink, Bixing Lu controlled his vigorous curiosity. Completely flipping the tone of his voice, he joked, "Can I have a signature?"

The four eavesdropping students almost tripped, signaling at each other with crooked expressions.

A confused Mint asked, "Was that just a fanboy thing or was that just gay?"

White's expression was one of, "I can't really explain this in just one sentence, dude".

Jingshu Huang looked around them, and motioned to her cla.s.smates with her gaze, "Should we give them some s.p.a.ce?"

Rickhead's eyes widened, and he sneaked a look at Bixing Lu's clothes in the corner of his eyes, "Pres Lu wasn't wearing these a while ago!"

One in each hand, Jingshu Huang dragged Rickhead and White away. Being clever, Mint quickly caught up to them. The students put up a curious facade, and surrounded Monoeye Hawk, asking him enthusiastically about the future of the arms market and highly praising his fas.h.i.+onista eyes.

Nowadays, teenagers were full of tricks — if Headmaster could successfully seduce B4, maybe the school could sign a long-time agreement for the Blackhole to accept graduates from the academy! How a glorious future, both in academics and in employment!

Jingheng Lin was stunned at Headmaster Lu's "illogical request". After a while, just as Bixing Lu thought that he was going to say a "I'm not going to, f.u.c.k off", Jingheng Lin dug out a pen from his pocket.

"Yeah."

Bixing Lu: "......"

Jingheng Lin asked patiently, "Where do you want it?"

The self-taught Headmaster Lu, who was always like fish in water in his cla.s.ses, learned the awkwardness of not having a reply to his question for the first time. He gestured, panicked, "No, I......"

Jingheng Lin held up his wrist. His palms were dry, and his fingertips were covered in hard calluses. His sharp-edged fingers were seemingly strong, but his movements were light, sweeping over Bixing Lu's sleeve like feather.

He wrote a one-stroked "Lin" on the back of his arm.

"All of the Silver Fortress's announcements back then had my signature on them. If you want to, you can do a handwriting verification."

Maybe it was because he broke his arm awhile ago, but Bixing Lu's arm went numb from his fingertips all the way up to his lower arm. He forgot what he was supposed to say--like during the opening ceremony.

Surrounded by a bunch of squawking teenagers, Monoeye Hawk was close to exploding. But then, he glanced over and saw what just happened. Dozens of filthy guesses popped up in his mind. "Where are you touching!"

Jingheng Lin released his hands innocently, reminding, "The power core reignition is ready to start."

"Oh," Bixing Lu laughed awkwardly, "Right."

He quickly secretly warmed up his numb hands, and pressed "Yes" on the reignition command. The next second, the entire s.p.a.ce station gave a light, whirring sigh, as if it was reborn. Countless lights lighted up row by row, the giant energy tower released fluorescent laser lights, projecting the shadow of the mech down on them. The repair robots lined up before the elevators, busily starting to automatically check and repair the damaged mechs. Zhanlu, who had been silent on Jingheng Lin's arm, seemed to light up too. He happily connected to the energy tower, sucking in the energy like a black hole.

"I'll go to check on the mech," Jingheng Lin told him. "If there's any need, you can always find me over there."

He finished his words, and walked past the fuming Monoeye Hawk, walking off to the mech.

Bixing Lu's mind stayed blank for quite a while. Then he looked down at the scrawled, messy, wild "Lin" on the back of his lower arm, and was baked out a thin layer of sweat by the main control room's heat dissipation system. Carefully rolling up his cuffs, he started to work on the main control room's equipment, the lower half of his body "paralyzed".

This station was quite advanced, even having an illegal communication web that spanned the entire Eighth Galaxy. Bixing Lu casually pressed on the repair command. At the same time, his mind was a confused, chaotic mess, "How is he so nice to me all of a sudden? Just to anger the old guy...really, this place, as terrible as it should be, has quite enough energy and food stores. The materials can be replenished though, who knows when the pirates blocking traffic will be gone......why is my hand still numb, is it going to become actually paralyzed......There's even an arms storage here, but it requires a pa.s.sword that I'll have to solve...He has such long fingers.......Pfffft, what am I thinking? The encryption for this pa.s.sword is......"

The abandoned station's encrypted lock really wasn't anything. With only ten percent of his brain actually working, Bixing Lu somehow muddily managed to open it.

Bixing Lu's brain was still occupied by Lin's low-voiced "you can always go find me over there" playing on repeat. He heard a light "beep", and then barely managed to pull back his foggy maid back onto the right track, scanning the reserves absent-mindedly, "Oh, it's empty."

His gaze stayed on the empty arms reserve dazedly, his mind still on Jingheng Lin's softened features under the white light awhile ago. Half a minute later, Bixing Lu suddenly awoke from his befuddled state — something's wrong, how was the arms reserve empty when the energy and food stores are so abundant?

He looked up immediately, his gaze quickly scanning over all the equipment in the main control room — the date of manufacture on the outer case of the host computer was NSC 200, and was still running smoothly. That meant that both the software and hardware was regularly updated and maintained. So this station was occupied!

Why did they leave so hurriedly and left enough materials to support a whole mech of people, but took all of the weapons with them?

"Dad," Bixing Lu's expression darkened, "we might have to immediately......"

Before he could finish his sentence, the communication system he just repaired finished running, and activated.

The screen high up on the main control room's wall lit up. What appeared first was a wall of snowflakes. Then a man appeared, half of his body made up of mechanical parts. His empty gaze pierced out of the screen, creepy and full of malice.

Monoeye Hawk pushed Rickhead, who was in front of him, away. A vein popped up on the corner of his forehead.

"Greetings, my friends and family in the Eighth Galaxy." The man grinned a stiff, weird smile, "I am Ares Von, do you guys still remember me, your old friend? If you can't, that's okay. Let me reintroduce myself."

"I, Prince Cayley, who was betrayed and thrown away by you a century ago, is now back from h.e.l.l, full of hatred and carrying the sword of revenge. Are you guys pleasantly surprised?"

White trembled even though he didn't know why he did. He unconsciously grabbed Bixing Lu's sleeve, "Headmaster, who is he?"

The man who called himself Prince Cayley spoke word by word. "My family ruled the Eighth Galaxy for more than sixty years, and fed countless ungrateful trash and parasites. We let you live in *Arcadia, free of the Union's invasion and exploitation. But how did you repay me, my dearest subjects?"

*arcadia: similar to utopia

"You took in the Union b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and betrayed your master for just a few mere bones. You killed my father and brother, and made me flee to the extraterritorial regions. And until now, my body still can only be supported by these sc.r.a.p metals—what, how did these years under the Union feel? Did the Union give you freedom and dignity? If you were sobbing in pain under gunfire, would the great savior Union send someone to save you?"

Finally at the end of his speech, he laughed, his breath trembling with excitement, "Let us celebrate my return together!"

Then a sudden, loud sound came out of the screen — several hypers.p.a.ce heavy mechs were aiming their arms at Planet Cayley. Prince Cayley let out a long whistle, and hundreds, perhaps even thousands of missiles rained down on the defenseless Planet Cayley, covering both the sky, and the ground. The immense energy wave was so extreme that it made everyone shut their eyes tight. The Eighth Galaxy's capital planet was drowned in gunfire in a split second.

A planet evaporated in the world.

Before the shocked audience could respond to it, the man on the screen yelled, "Surprise! Next one!"

The interstellar coordinates were shown on the screen, a muzzle pointed towards Beijing-ß.

Not every time you run away from home meant that you could go back.