Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 102

Chapter 102 – Please Help–

The flames of war powerful enough to burn through the NSC era took too long to finally spread – how could they let peace-loving cowards put out the fire before it could sweep the world?

The flesh and blood of every man would become its fuel; like how the ignorant and mad people of the Union had once foolishly helped create numerous tragedies in the past.

That was why it was better if Lin Jingheng was dead.

That way, his life of glory and fame could rest eternally in the spirit of the Union.

Intergalactic terminals were not like the highways on land that have a permanent location; all the transfer portals, planets, space stations, and even entire galaxies were always orbiting and rotating. Therefore, the coordinates of a terminal were often extremely complex and used dynamic coordinates that were difficult for most people to remember.

The construction of an intergalactic terminal also took a large amount of work to complete. Construction must take into consideration all orbital patterns of the celestial bodies it passed through and potential miscalculations along the way before a draft of the terminal could even be drawn out. Once the map was completed and published, all mechs and starships within signal range would automatically receive an update on their navigation systems.

Non-military terminals often had stricter regulations for construction; they were required to incorporate emergency rescue systems and make sure all supply stations on the route met the minimum requirements of intergalactic law. The supply stations would need to be mobile and follow along the terminals, and to ensure that each station had sufficient sources of supplies; all of them had close ties to the nearest planets on the axis.

Dwarf planet Egret was an important axis planet for multiple intergalactic terminals, but after its annihilation, the new government had no choice but to readjust and move the new axis planet to Egret’s neighbor, Alpenglow.

Hope’s mech landed on the closest private supply station near Alpenglow.

A “private supply station” was really just a better name for an illegal black market shop.

While the new government was busy repairing the terminals, ex-smugglers in the Eighth Galaxy had crawled out of their caves and reopened their supply stations to loot off of the businesses in the terminals. The government hadn’t officially passed any laws regarding the existence of these private supply stations, so it was still considered a grey area business.

Most private stations remained fairly lowkey and offered slightly cheaper services and supplies than an officially recognized station. If a merchant was smart enough to know where to find one of these stations, they could save quite a bit of traveling costs.

The little station had quite a few customers, but most of them were quite unrefined and looked clearly like regulars of the black market, making the station look quite messy. The restaurant area in the mech station also looked a bit run-down with only one small diner and a syringe vending machine. There weren’t enough tables and chairs, so the people sat on the ground and chatted among themselves as they ate. It would sometimes turn into small arguments around the corner without physically throwing hands, giving the small station a sense of liveliness. Interstellar merchants that would stop by a black market station were like lone wolves that hunted for their own food within the vast land, so they knew when and when not to pick fights.

Hope exchanged a nutrient syringe for a small table and ordered some food from the diner.

Open fire was banned from mech stations, so the food they ordered was actually just frozen meal packs that had been transported from planet Alpenglow and heated up. It wasn’t fresh and had a strange taste, almost like airline food on ancient earth.

A new follower and technician of the Eighth Galaxy beside Hope asked: “Prophet, what do you plan on doing after leaving the Eighth Galaxy?”

“Our sponsor will provide some arms for us,” Hope said. “But those will only be for self-defense. My opinion is that we should avoid warfare as much as possible; interstellar war is not a children’s fight, you can’t throw fists at each other and then hold hands to apologize the next minute. The moment you press that missile button, you’re forcing everyone on the battlefield to choose a side regardless of who they are until the field is covered in blood; by that time, everything will be too late.”

In a time where everyone was blinded by hatred and madness, carrying the blood and flesh of their comrades as they march into vengeance, Hope’s unshakable belief in peace was like a rare streak of light amid the darkness. The technician nodded subconsciously and said: “We’ll follow you to the end.”

Hope turned to him in an amiable manner and said: “the betrayal of the Glory Troops was within expectation. Even if we helped each other out in order to survive outside of the Union, it was only because we had no choice but to do so; it doesn’t mean we will walk down the same path when we step within the Union.”

Another AUS member added: “I dare say that they already planned on abandoning us even before they invaded the Union; they’ve already hooked up with Yelvich from the Hummingbird Fortress, said they will share the supplies and terminals with us, but immediately turned their backs the moment they took over the Silver Fortress and claimed Wolto. They even borrowed Yelvich’s authority in the Union and forced us out of the First Galaxy.”

Hope nodded calmly: “That is true, but from an objective point of view, our ultimate goals don’t conflict with each other. They want political power, and have two goals in mind–first, we need to fulfill the wills of the last two directors of the White Tower and destroy Eden to free the souls of mankind. Next, we want to obtain legal status for our organization within the Union. I feel that there is room for negotiation here, but why did the Glory Troops abandon us? This clearly has something to do with those uncultured madmen in the organization always causing trouble. Do we really have to protect those lowly men that even their allies look down on?”

The technician said: “Prophet, will the people in the troops accept our organization’s ideals?”

“The organization’s ideals need to be flexible and adaptable. I’ve spoken with Professor Lu before, and I feel like his opinion is insightful and reasonable. A belief or idea, no matter how righteous it is, is dead if it can’t adapt and evolve. It will either become an empty shrine or rot in time. Society has already reached the age of galaxies, it’s laughable to expect people to return to the ancient grasslands as hunter-gatherers. We have to see the value of certain technologies that have improved human life; for example, nutrient syringes and meal packs–no, it’s not tasty like real food, but it has certainly saved many lives. Pushing to ban such things isn’t helping mankind, it’s almost an act of evil.” Hope said, “We are against the abuse of technology and dangerous weapons, so our future agenda should be to push for a more comprehensive interstellar environmental protection law and a stricter policy for special field technological research. We shouldn’t be raising super soldiers to fight violence with violence, nor should we support the idea of sending everyone back to mother Earth to live like the ancients.”

The newly converted technician felt his heart grow as he listened to Hope’s speech and felt obliged to help the future of mankind.

Hope took a break from his talk and reminded everyone to eat before the food got cold, but as he picked up his utensils, he heard someone yell from the side: “It’s here, yahoo–!!”

The crowd in the diner began cheering as Hope lifted his head towards the sky. The terminal to Alpenglow was about to meet with the space station during its orbit.

The planet in the sky grew closer as if it was about to crash into the station at an alarming rate; the crowd on the space station panicked at the sight and felt as if the sky was about to fall on them. Yet the servers on the space station remained calm and even laughed at the panicked customers for losing their minds. After getting their laughs for the day, the servers walked over and helped the scared customers up from the ground.

There were tiny telescopes on the table that could be used to gaze upon the planet. When Alpenglow’s range was at the closest to the station, people could even see the individual cities and lights on the planet through these telescopes.

Hope’s very first farm was built on Alpenglow; he purposely chose this route in order to give one final look at his project on the planet before he left the galaxy.

The energy tower on the large farmland was maintained by robots; its light was always on and also acted as a landmark of the farm. Hope heard a person on the table next to them explain passionately to their new followers: “Did you see that? The lit-up tower over there, that’s the farm we passed by earlier. That place is beautiful!”

A smile slowly appeared on Hope’s face.

Indeed, it was a beautiful place.

There was a natural lake besides the farmland with rare minerals inside that created a unique reflection on the water, as if there was a layer of rainbow covering its surface. The climate of the planet leaned more on the humid and warm side and during seasons of higher temperature, the lake water would rise and reach toward the valley around the lake. On a good sunny day, the colorful lights from the mineral water would glisten and create a dazzling scenery.

Hope protected this area, fixed the roads and resting spots around it and named this place “The Terrace of Jewels”.

Planet Alpenglow was originally just a small planet at the edge of the Eighth Galaxy with a very small population. However, it would become the first successful base for food production of the new galaxy, and now that it was the new axis planet of numerous terminals, it would grow more populated and lively.

As for the Terrace of Jewels, Hope thought, perhaps one day people would write poems about it, or even turn into a new hotspot for marriage proposals.

The planet quickly flew away from the station’s view and the chatter inside the station returned as the broadcast in the diner started playing the anthem of the Independent Navy–which quickly received numerous complaints. Ever since the network of the galaxy had been repaired, the new government had been zealously advertising their next projects by playing the anthem, to the point where everyone was starting to grow tired of hearing it. To counteract against the overplayed anthem, these traveling merchants started forming their own little concerts in the diner and fought for the microphone, creating an almost comedic scene in the crowded diner.

A follower of the AUS turned to Hope and said: “Prophet, the people we’re meeting sent us a message. It’s not a long-distance one, so they should be nearby already; I just checked our coordinates with them and they suggested that we should meet them over here on the station.”

“Okay,” Hope answered, “then let’s eat up and get going.”

Before they could all turn to finish their food, the loud diner suddenly broke into silence like someone had cast a spell on the crowd. A large man next to their table stood up abruptly, creating a loud sound that echoed throughout the diner. Hope and his crew turned in confusion towards the direction of the crowd’s gaze on the large screen in the diner’s main area. The screen was split in half, with the upper half displaying each individual mech’s remaining energy sources and repair status and the bottom half displaying a live view of space outside the station.

There was an armed mech fleet on the screen sailing maliciously toward the station.

The fleet was made up of mid-sized mechs sailing in an orderly fashion, each carrying a full load of ammo and weapons. Yet anyone that had been doing intergalactic trades knew that a proper fleet of the new government would never sail to a private station to resupply and rest.

A server dropped a freshly heated pack of food on the ground out of fear and yelled in panic: “Oh shit, boss! Someone’s here to take down illegal businesses!”

These groups of merchants in the diner were conflicted; on one hand, they were afraid of being arrested, but on the other, it was a great chance for them to take some food amid the chaos and leave. A few of them with sharper senses quickly made their way back to the launching dock and prepared to flee. The owner of the space station ran around frantically as he yelled at the customers and robots, not knowing what to do at a time like this.

“Is it them?” The technician in the AUS asked quietly, “are these the people that are picking us up?”

“That shouldn’t be.” The follower that had reported earlier checked their personal device. “I just sent our coordinates not too long ago, they couldn’t be that fast. Even if it was them, they can’t possibly make such a dramatic entrance on someone else’s territory.”

Hope’s eyes locked on the screen as the fleet sailed closer. His bad feeling grew worse by the second before his expression changed suddenly: “We’re leaving too!”

Hope’s followers quickly followed the fleeing crowd. At the same time, Hope grabbed a server about to make their way out of the diner and said: “this is an enemy attack, not patrols from the government. Tell your boss to turn the shield of the station to the maximum and run!”

The server looked at him in awe and then ran off to report it to the owner of the space station.

However, the owner didn’t take the warning in and shouted from across the diner with his mini robots: “Enemy attack, my ass! You still haven’t paid yet!”

“Prophet, quick!”

The small mech they’d brought over was already fully charged up and was sent onto the launching tracks in the dock. Hope pushed a few panicked followers and technicians up onto the mech and could see the fleet with his own two eyes before he had the chance to connect onto the mental network. Within an instant, a wave of missiles fired down upon the space station.

The first few merchants that had left the station were piloting old merchant starships and not military grade mechs. A single missile demolished the defenseless starships; those people who had been planning on stealing food earlier were now stardust before they even realized what was happening.

At the same time on Qiming’s Military Operational Headquarters, Lin Jingheng ignored Turan’s endless questioning on why he’d missed training in the morning and stepped onto the Model 3.

Zhanlu: “Good morning, sir. Today you….”

Lin Jingheng: “Shut up, you’re banned from talking.”

Zhanlu: “……”

The powerful AI, worth six million per gram, could not fathom what he had done wrong with a single “good morning”.

Turan stared at Lin Jingheng’s slightly curled-up lips and felt that her boss was growing more and more sadistic; he was starting to actually enjoy bullying an AI.

Lin Jingheng raised a hand to stop Turan’s questioning and asked: “Did we recapture Hope yet?”

“Not yet, he probably ran off through an underground tunnel. We’re increasing patrol around private stations right now. Also this is just my own thoughts, but I think we should really start controlling these little black market shops.” Turan’s personal device flashed as she spoke. She gestured towards the commander and picked it up, “Ninth….uh, I’m the Top Admiral of the Eighth Galaxy’s Galactic Defense Force, Elizabeth Turan, what is it….say what!?”

Lin Jingheng stopped in the hallway.

The first starship that left the target space station noticed something was off and managed to escape the first wave of deadly missiles. Its shield crashed into to another wave of particle cannons and sailed at top speed towards the nearest transfer portal, triggering the alarm on the transfer portal.

“An unidentified fleet of mechs suddenly opened fire on us, please, help—”

Another wave of cannons shot through the tail of the starship. A starship’s shield was not strong enough to withstand the blows of a military-grade mech, so its core energy system at the end immediately self-destructed, swallowing up the entire starship in a ball of fire before the starship could successfully pass through the transfer portal.

The energy field of the portal was also interrupted by the abnormal energy signal while a vague image of an explosion was sent directly to the operational base on Qiming.

Hope turned on the automatic acceleration of his mech and shot up into the sky directly without passing through the launching tracks. Almost at the same time, the entire launching tracks of the station were shattered while the gravity control system shut down. Mechs parked on the station flew up into the sky while the rest of the supplies on the station floated aimlessly in space. Remnants of missiles and mechs crashed down onto the station, piercing through the rooftop of the launching dock. Everything on the station shattered like glass; everyone that couldn’t manage to escape, along with all the robots, the diner…all turned into a destructive mess of flesh and blood against the light visible through the mental network of the mech.

The small mech that could only manage to save itself watched from afar as the alarm of its shield rang inside.

Hope managed to dodge a missile and threw a fist against the wall inside the mech.

After receiving the emergency call, the closest military station on Alpenglow immediately sent out respondents.

The director of the military station on Alpenglow was a former soldier of the Ninth Squadron who had brought a few of his old colleagues to restation on the axis planet, but most of the forces were new soldiers who had been recruited after the formation of the new government. Most of these people had come from Alpenglow and only received a proper name and status after enlistment. They were barely six months into training and had only had experience escorting broken or malfunctioning starships; they were not at the level to handle a fully armed force of enemies.

Yet they had 1.5 billion newly settled populations behind them, a fresh new life awaiting them in the future…

Therefore, they had no choice.

The invaders were blocked off for a moment before they spread out and faced the station fleet on Alpenglow.

The follower from the AUS quickly pulled himself from the almost solidified protection bubble and called out: “Prophet, the people that are picking us up will….”

Hope didn’t answer him as he stared wide-eyed through the mental network at the massive body of a heavy mech slowly sailing out of the transfer portal behind the invaders. Its fearsome figure exposed itself like a monster from behind, followed by numerous mid-sized mechs surrounding it.

The symbol of the AUS pierced through the night sky onto everyone’s eyes.

The fragile Alpenglow forces were like a sandcastle facing an enormous wave.

“Prophet!”

Hope sailed the mech towards the Alpenglow forces without a second thought.

Yet it was too late.

WIthin less than a minute, the Alpenglow forces were essentially annihilated under the violent waves of cannons and missiles. Even Hope’s small mech received collateral damage with its broken shield and weaponry that caught on fire.

A few of his followers attempted to force Hope into an ecopod for escape as the mech was counting down to self-destruction.

The people that were picking them up finally arrived and attempted to send out a communication request under the unstable signal connection.

The invading fleet of the AUS didn’t even bother giving a second look at their fallen enemies and quickly sailed towards the fleeing survivors of the Alpenglow fleet, ready to destroy every last one of them.

Through the half-broken mental network, Hope saw a nuclear missile finally land on planet Alpenglow during the deadly chase.

The mushroom cloud spread in space and immediately wiped out all the lights on the planet; the imperishable light of the energy tower disappeared.

The Terrace of Jewels, the farmland, and the lives of billions perished.

It was as if axis planets on galactic terminals were cursed since the fall of Egret.

Hope’s mech self-destructed and his connection to the mental network was forcefully cut off. He fell unconscious while the people beside him turned into ashes in an instant; the ecopod was like a small grain of sand that escaped through the cracks while the ashes spread quietly into space.