Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 105

Chapter 105 – He’s the Stain of My Life

Monoeyed Hawk, who had been watching silently on the side, finally spoke up lazily when the Prime Minister left the room: “You’re making the Prime Minister choose between staying a sewage rat in the dark or mustering up their guts to peek out of the window.”

Lin Jingheng shrugged in response without denying it.

“You know what he’s going to choose,” Monoeyed Hawk said, “you don’t know how many people in this world could spend their whole lives struggling to survive until they reach their ends, but nobody would be willing to crawl back under the mud after they’ve seen the light. You didn’t need to push the Minister like that–and you, Lu Bixing, since when did you become the spokesperson for the Silver Ten?”

Lu Bixing walked quietly beside Lin Jingheng; he didn’t dare to show any PDA in front of his own father, but still discreetly slid his leg underneath the table to tap the tip of the commander’s boots. It was a meaningless gesture that could only be explained as a strange obsession of wanting to touch the commander–he calls this the “Lin Jingheng Syndrome” that makes him crave physical contact when he sees the commander within reach to satisfy his itching heart. The young scientist then said: “Hey Commander, hurry up and help me out here, hand me that certificate of appointment to be your spokesperson.”

“Don’t mess around.” Lin Jingheng kicked him lightly with the tip of his shoe and asked earnestly, “what are you going to do if I have to leave the Eighth Galaxy temporarily?”

Lu Bixing questioned back: “didn’t you say that you’ll come back no matter how far you go as long as I’m still here?”

Monoeyed Hawk cleared his throat loudly: “….you two. Am I a ghost that didn’t know I’m already dead?”

“How could that be?” Lin Jingheng gave him a rather kind but fake smile. “I believe you should at least be self-aware enough to know this isn’t the case, old Lu.”

Monoeyed Hawk felt that Lin Jingheng was mocking him again but couldn’t pick out exactly how he was being made fun of, so he could only glare in frustration with a cloud of smoke above his head.

Lin Jingheng saw that the old cat had its tail up in anger and took back his mischievous attitude: “I activated the backup central of the Silver Ten, which is built around Chief Woolf in the City of Angels. Under normal circumstances, the Silver Ten will reorganize after receiving my message and gather up; now that most intergalactic terminals in the Union are virtually deserted, it will take a while before they can all make it over here. On the other hand, the AUS would arrive sooner since most of their forces are centralized in the Sixth and Seventh galaxies.”

Monoeyed Hawk didn’t grow up with books and a proper education; other than trading and selling mechs, he had very little knowledge in other fields and didn’t quite understand what the young commander meant: “So you’re saying you contacted the Chief Commander of the Union? Is he reliable? Should we ask Minister Edward to say something to him?”

“A ‘backup central’ means that I merely use his coordinates as a reference to send out my orders, it doesn’t mean I’m contacting the man personally and having him do all the work in my place. The old Chief isn’t my subordinate, does it look like I can order him to summon the Silver Ten for me? If I already openly betray the Union when I gather the Silver Ten up again, how could I possibly drag the old Chief in the middle of this?” Lin Jingheng already got tired of explaining after two sentences. “Please use your brain a little here, old Lu, you won’t even catch a rat if you keep that empty head of yours.”

Monoeyed Hawk slammed on the table and stood up: “You little…”

Lu Bixing slid his teacup on the table between the two men and frowned: “Gentlemen, am I also a ghost that didn’t know I already died?”

Monoeyed Hawk and Lin Jingheng both took back their cold gazes. Monoeyed Hawk mumbled as he sat back down: “he started it.”

Lin Jingheng finally explained the situation without the taunts: “before I left, I arranged for the Captain of the Third Squadron and a few of the core technicians to join the old Chief’s personal team of guards. Normally, as long as Chief Woolf is alive, his personal guards will never leave him; because the coordinates of the Third Squadron’s Captain are public and secure, it could serve as the coordinates for the communication center under extreme circumstances…but Chief Woolf had been holding the seat for the top director of the Military Council for over 200 years, it would be almost impossible to do anything behind his back while working as his personal guard.”

Lin Jingheng paused a little; his hands slowly clenched together on the table as he hesitated. He had been growing more and more suspicious of the old Chief recently, but for the first time in his life, he prayed that he was wrong about the old Chief. He wanted to be proven wrong so that Thomas and the rest of the crew wouldn’t have to be stuck in the City of Angels now that he activated the backup central.

This thought flashed across his mind for a moment before Lin Jingheng tossed it aside; now that they’d reached this point, he couldn’t afford to be anxious.

Chief Commander Woolf was already over 300 years old and a founding father of the Interstellar Union, an important spiritual figure of the Pledge Freedom, and the first principal of the Black Orchid Academy. Everyone he could name in the Military Council was once his student…how could someone like him betray the Union? What would he be planning?

I hope I’m simply overthinking this , Lin Jingheng thought.

Yet the heavens laughed whenever Lin Jingheng prayed.

The poor Young twins were in fact, almost hopelessly stuck in the City of Angels right now.

“Y’know, wouldn’t the City of Angels be considered a refugee camp right now if it was back in ancient times? It’s a damn camp just to keep people safe, how did it manage to avoid overpopulation and even build beautiful natural scenery? Look at it, there isn’t even a single residential building…tsk,” Thomas attempted to activate the alarm, only to find that the signals had been blocked. He was about to curse in frustration at not being able to crack the code until he caught a glimpse of Lin Jingshu from the corner of his eyes, then swallowed his vulgar language and censored himself, “….ew, gosh, this is so frustrating, even energy fields are blocked off.”

Poisson: “Disgusting, talk normally for once!”

The two worked seamlessly as if they shared the same mind; one worked on hacking into the network’s signal blockage while the other controlled the armed mobile. The armed mobile swiftly passed through the web of laser beams in an attempt to break out of the barricade, only to be dragged back by two other armed mobiles from the side. Poisson pulled the lever and forced the car to fly up, almost hitting the highway terminal above. Thomas yelped and complained: “Did you buy your land mobile driver’s license from the black market!?”

“Yeah I did,” Poisson taunted back, “it was also buy one get one free, didn’t I give the extra one to you?”

“Hey there pretty miss, let me properly introduce you. This Mister Poisson Young here is not only a top technician of the Silver Third Squadron, he’s also the three-time champion of the ‘impersonate Commander Lin’ tournament.” Thomas chatted without delaying his work; he pulled out a laser gun and locked on their target outside – the target dodged the beams too quickly and crashed into the highway terminal above. The poor enemy mobile almost immediately fell to the ground after the crash and dented the terminal tracks–yet the alarm that would panic even at any bit of littering on the tracks was dead silent while the entire terminal started to fall apart.

Thomas cursed at the sight: “damn son, there’s no way you can fix that shit anymore—by the way, this little shit here spends all his free time reciting Commander’s lectures in front of a mirror, I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.”

Poisson pulled back and dropped the armed mobile suddenly as it passed by a pursuing enemy mobile emerging from the dark.

Thomas immediately followed up with two shots; the first laser beam pierced through the safety lock of the engine at the bottom of the mobile, the heat of the beam melting the metal of the outer layer. The second shot was a mini blast projectile into the body of the enemy mobile. Within an instant, Poisson drove the mobile away from the enemy.

The projectile exploded and destroyed the engine of the enemy mobile, creating a chain reaction of smaller explosions around it until they turned into a ball of fire.

The explosion was finally large enough to pull the attention of the dead auto-repair system of the terminal as a bright light shined to indicate the robots were heading back to work.

The internal security system of the City of Angels quickly caught this area with signals all blocked off; the pursuers caught on and immediately made their escape through the energy fields.

Poisson let out a sigh of relief and finally found time to shoot back at his brother: “You have proof? I bet you proved that when you shoved your head in the toilet to replenish your sad brain cells. Sorry Miss Lin, we came in a rush and didn’t have enough people so I can only bring my embarrassing little brother out to help, I apologize for making you see this unsightly thing.”

Thomas complained: “I’m your older brother!”

Perhaps she was too used to keeping her dignified image and had learned to constantly watch her mannerisms, or perhaps she did have some psychological problems; Lin Jingshu wasn’t born with the emotion called ‘fear’.

She had just experienced a life-or-death situation of kidnapping and attempted assassination with the blood of her guard still staining her skirt, but there was no trace of anxiety or sadness on her face. She sat in the backseat of the armed mobile as if she was drinking afternoon tea and looked at the twins in curiosity and slight envy: “Are you two twins? You both sure get along well.”

Thomas turned his head and pretended to puke, Poisson sneered; then as if they had been practicing this line, both of them answered in union: “He’s the stain of my life.”

Lin Jingshu lowered her head and let out a chuckle, then asked; “so, can I ask what’s going on now?”

“To make things simple,” Poisson said as his expression grew stern, “your brother Commander Lin Jingheng is still alive, and this news spread to the space pirates not too long ago. Because the Union’s network is completely destroyed, he summoned the Silver Ten through us, but when he received the order and attempted to send out long-distance signals to our comrades, the signal suddenly cut off. That’s when we noticed that the communication network within the City of Angels had been blocked off.”

Thomas followed up seamlessly: “In other words, someone inside the City of Angels is working with the pirates, found out about our plan, and is attempting to stop us from contacting the rest of the Silver Ten.”

“If the culprit is really in the City of Angels, as the only blood sibling of Commander Lin, you’re in an extremely dangerous position right now. The enemy may attempt to kidnap you to threaten the commander,” Poisson said, “so we decided to come over after a short discussion and ran into these people, thank god we made it in time.”

Lin Jingshu pressed her hand to her lips as if she was shocked by this news.

“It’s going to be a pain to explain to the law enforcement teams, it would be best if we can leave right now.” Poisson said, “the enemy’s energy field blockage is gone now, do you have anywhere safe that we can stay at temporarily?”

Lin Jingshu thought about it for a second and said: “go to my house, there’s a private mech dock in my backyard. You can pass through a protected portal the moment you leave the atmosphere and head directly to the Eden laboratory.”

The twins glanced at each other–the special terminal directly connected to the lab was likely built after Lin Jingshu was attacked by space pirates and was forced to abort her child.

Thomas responded carefully: “Uh…sorry, we were also quite upset when we heard the news, we haven’t even dared to tell our boss about it.”

“Thank you.” The corner of Lin Jingshu’s lips curled up slightly as she changed the topic, “is my brother doing well?”

“He looks pretty good,” Thomas said, “doesn’t seem like a guy who’s about to be chased down by the entire Union. Also, I can’t believe he’s hanging out with the Eighth Galaxy’s new government right now. You know ‘hanging out’ isn’t a phrase that normally applies to him.”

Lin Jingshu laughed. When she was truly laughing from her heart, her eyes would curl up like the moon while her sharp chin lifted up. She was covered in a blood-stained long dress, but the smile on her face was like a spring breeze through the fields.

“Oh no,” Thomas covered his eyes, “my lady, the more I look at you the more I wouldn’t be able to live in this mortal world.”

“Shush, kiss-ass.” Poisson said, “we’re preparing the energy field, please let me know if you feel uncomfortable, Miss Lin.”

The armed mobile let out a sharp sound as it shot out a protective airbag around Lin Jingshu. They arrived at the backyard of the Gordon household and immediately made their way out of the City of Angels through a private mech from the backyard.

Lin Jingshu’s passport was extremely powerful, and within half an hour they arrived safely in the Eden lab.

Lin Jingshu looked quite similar to her brother, but after interacting with her it was almost as if these two were completely unrelated.

She wasn’t very talkative but was great at maintaining a conversation by commenting at appropriate times, making it quite pleasant even if she didn’t contribute much to the conversation. It was very enjoyable to be around her despite her quietness. Even though it was clear that she felt quite uncomfortable when they passed through the energy field, she never once complained and even asked for stories about her brother in the Silver Fortress.

Thomas Young was almost like a male version of Turan and would lose his mind when he saw a beautiful woman. In the heat of the moment, he answered everything and exposed all of Commander Lin’s everyday shenanigans in the Silver Fortress…as if the person that recited the commander’s words in front of the mirror everyday wasn’t his brother.

As the Captain of the Third Squadron’s spirit was floating in a dream and felt he was going to find another lover of his dreams, they arrived at the lab.

The doors of the mech slowly opened up as it connected to the lab’s landing dock. There was a decorative sign of the Eden lab on the side of the dock, and underneath the dock were numerous cars driving within the clean and organized lab.

The lab didn’t seem particularly interesting from the outside. Even though the Third Squadron spent most of their time working in the background, they were still soldiers. Thomas’ gaze quickly scanned past the large Eden sign on the dock–there was something behind the sign, and from experience working with mechs, he could tell that it was the size of a standard missile launcher.

As they made their way into the lab from the mech dock, an eerie feeling tingled the sixth sense of the twins. The deeper they walked in, the stronger the bad feeling got; it was as if there was a frightening aura surrounding the entire lab. The Young twins exchanged a quick glance as they noticed the suspicion in each other’s eyes.

A few researcher-looking people seemed to have already received the news that Lin Jingshu would be arriving and were waiting outside the mech dock. They politely escorted the group inside the lab; aside from a simple “Mss Lin” greeting, they didn’t speak a second word. Nobody asked why there were two strangers following beside her and didn’t even bother looking at them, as if the twins didn’t exist at all.

Thomas shot another glance at Poisson and asked with his eyes: are these real people?

Poisson watched Lin Jingshu’s back in front of him, shook his head and frowned: they wouldn’t even look her in the eye.

The entry into the Eden laboratory was supposedly of the highest protection level, and if they didn’t arrive through a special terminal, there should be armed soldiers and heavy security outside the lab. Would they really not question the arrival of strangers into their territory? Was it simply because they were following Lin Jingshu?

But…wasn’t Lin Jinshu just a puppet spokesperson for the Gordon family?

The twins communicated wordlessly with each other.

Poisson narrowed his eyebrows down even more: Her reaction when she first heard that the commander was still alive was also very strange, she was too calm.

Thomas: Right, she didn’t even show any sign of disbelief and simply accepted the fact as if she already knew.

Poisson pressed his fingers together and discreetly made a unique gesture: The guards around her when she was kidnapped were also strange.

Most bodyguards and personal guards were salaried professionals that worked for their clients; it was hard enough to expect them to remain loyal to their jobs, but the two guards around her acted like sacrificial lambs that gave their lives to protect her.

People who would give up their lives without hesitation to protect someone else did exist, but someone like that was either a true hero or someone that had strong emotional attachment to the person they wanted to protect.

Yet a hero is a hero because they are one in a million; could it be possible that Miss Lin had such luck that she was able to find all the heroes in the world to protect her? And if the guards sacrificed themselves for her out of personal feelings, Lin Jingshu’s reaction didn’t match up….she was still as calm and collected as if she hadn’t just lost two human lives, and instead broke two human-like AIs.

“All the equipment and communication networks here are independently built, they’re not under the control of the City of Angels,” Lin Jingshu said, “all the transfer portals around the area are protected so you can build your long-distance communications here without getting intercepted.”

Thomas nudged Poisson’s arm and nodded: She’s still Commander’s sister.

He then asked Lin Jingshu in a nonchalant tone: “Once the long-distance signal is set up, the enemy could easily scan and find it. Are you sure this won’t cause trouble for you?”

Lin Jingshu smiled: “Don’t worry.”

Poisson also attempted to gauge a reaction: “That’s true. We will meet up with the rest of the Third Squadron immediately after we send out the message and head to the Eighth Galaxy. Miss Lin, perhaps you should check and see if you need to prepare anything for this long journey?”

Lin Jingshu was stunned and then responded: “you two have already helped me a lot by saving me. If there’s anything I can do to help you all and my brother, please let me know, but I am safe within the committee, I’ll make sure to bring more guards with me next time.”

“Are you….not planning on leaving with us?”

“This place is still my home, I can’t just leave it.” Lin Jingshu said with a smile, “please follow me, I’ve already prepared the communication network for you both. Please don’t forget to say hello to my brother for me, and tell him to take care. If there’s a chance in the future, perhaps I can visit the Eighth Galaxy…I haven’t left the First Galaxy since I was born, what a pity.”