Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 125

Chapter 125 – Our School Motto

Lin Jingheng connected to the ecopod’s mental network silently. The ecopod shook in response, and coincidentally sent out a vibration strong enough to break a glass tube in the corner of the lab. The liquid inside the tube flowed all the way down to the foot of the old doctor.

The old doctor didn’t move and only gave the man inside the pod a mournful look.

The corners of his eyes and mouth naturally drooped downward due to his old age, making him look more heartbroken. The wrinkles on his face looked as if they were carved on in order to immortalize the sorrows of old age.

“Whether it’s the war or Jingshu, I am guilty for what happened to the Union today. I’m the first director of the White Tower,” Doctor Hardin said lightly, “I’ve taught many brilliant students including your mother.”

“The initial goal of Eden was for the benefit of mankind; if it can function properly, we’d be infinitely closer to the eternal happiness the ancients sought after. But the researchers were too optimistic…when a man-made product becomes too powerful to the point where even the average man can’t successfully put a stop to it, no matter how good the intentions were in the beginning, it is doomed to end in one of two ways the more it is developed. Either mankind becomes the slave of machine civilization, or a small portion of man controls the lives of many through the hands of this powerful tool and turns the majority into their slaves.”

“By the time I realized Eden had gone off the rails, I initially thought about finding a way out for the Union. I believe you should agree with me on this.”

Lin Jingheng could only move his eyes–his expression remained the same regardless if he agreed or not.

“I wanted the White Tower, which was the core of the Eden system, to play the role of the shepherd that controlled the system and worked night and day to realize this goal. But I forgot that people have their own status and ideas; that’s why someone among my students exposed me to the Committee.”

This wasn’t hard to understand. People that lived in the bottom of society often dreamed to fight for justice and looked at the people above them with biased lenses. The middle class wanted to step on the people below them and label them as losers or procrastinators that didn’t work hard to prove their own worth. At the same time, they stood on top of the lower class in hopes to use them as a pedestal to move up the social ladder. As for the people on top, they viewed everyone below them as violent and ungrateful barbarians that could never be satisfied with their current status.

The White Tower was the core of the Eden system and had a close relationship with the Committee. Whether it was the valuable researchers or politicians that were backed up by the Committee, they were all the bright future of the Union. The young and rash Doctor Hardin stole a piece of cake from his higher-ups and paid with the price of a death sentence.

“Due to my irresponsible actions in the past, two things came to be. The first was the powerful backlash from the Committee; their greed grew uncontrollable as they began using Eden for their personal gains more and more. The second…was that it caused all my loyal students to lose hope in the Union and to look outside the boundaries for help, connecting with the madmen of the AUS and raising a monster in foreign land. I didn’t know who to trust especially after the same tragedy that happened to me happened to Laura once again. Out of regret, I left Jingshu with the Committee…I also didn’t have the power to expose myself and take that child away, turning both of us into the next targets of the Committee.”

Doctor Hardin lowered his head as he spoke and looked at the liquid on the floor. The spilt liquid reached a corner of the ecopod, which was near the power socket.

“RT7 solutions have electrical conductivity,” the old doctor mumbled. “My life has been full of indecisiveness which resulted in my making a lot of mistakes. It’s normal that you want to kill me.”

Lin Jingheng’s eyes moved slightly as he looked at the old man judgingly through the glass cover.

Doctor Hardin said in exhaustion: “My specialty is brain neurology and human-mech interaction. It took you only two months to go from the first time you showed a conscious reaction to being able to control the network and interact with the outside world. But it took you a hundred days to be able to ‘wake up’ since learning how to control the mental network; this isn’t a normal pattern. I’m guessing you’ve been using the time to collect information on the outside, right? I can believe that you still have plenty of ways to kill me even if you can’t move right now.”

It was hard to tell Lin Jingheng’s reaction after being exposed; his eyes were still calm as if he had no intention of hiding. Hardin suddenly felt like he could understand why so many people wanted his life. This man was truly someone that could turn the world upside down even with a single breath left.

“I’ll keep the secret for you,” Doctor Hardin said, “Jingshu closed up this planet and we’re all trapped here. Everyone’s on the same boat right now; can we live in peace for a while?”

Lin Jingheng’s eyes curled up in what looked like a sneer; the doctor wasn’t sure if that was a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to his question.

“I’m already old, I’m not scared of death. I’m scared that she will go down the path of no return.” Doctor Hardin moved his wheelchair away from that highly conductive liquid. This time, Lin Jingheng didn’t show any signs of threat as he watched the old doctor slowly roll out of the lab.

“……Even though it’s already too late.”

Lin Jingheng’s consciousness finally began to fade away after he confirmed the old doctor had left. He struggled to disconnect from the mental network and found himself dozing off very quickly after.

The passage of time inside the ecopod gave him anxiety, but he didn’t dare to think too much about it. To be able to reach this point and reopen his eyes was like a miracle to him. He felt as if he traveled thousands of miles while that thin silk strand of luck held him up on the cliff of life and death, swinging him around wildly. It forced him to hold his breath and concentrate every time he was awake, in fear that the silk strand would snap at any moment.

The Eighth Galaxy had Turan guarding them. The Captain of the Ninth Squadron would never hesitate at any given moment, perhaps she had already cleaned up all the portals around the galaxy. But him…what about Lu Bixing?

It was barely past dawn on Qiming after rain. The sky was clear with a hint of sunlight glowing from the horizon.

Lu Bixing stood beside a small statue next to the entrance of the hospital as he listened to a doctor talk beside him: “…can no longer eat on his own, but thankfully we still have nutrient syringes. I noticed the record on the capsule from yesterday didn’t look very well; he only slept lightly for less than twenty minutes. This is possibly insomnia caused by pain, but we can’t increase the dosage of painkillers for him anymore.”

Lu Bixing asked: “He refused to sign?”

The doctor shook his head and Lu Bixing fell silent.

According to law, unless the patient had completely lost consciousness and had stated clearly while in a conscious state that they wish to be put to sleep, only a blood-related family member could sign the paperwork for the patient. The old Prime Minister was still conscious and had no other family, so he still had the right to choose his own path.

A robot rolling out a wheelchair during the conversation got the wheelchair stuck somehow, and a few doctors ran up to help. Due to the condition of the old Prime Minister, his wheelchair was no longer simply a tool for mobility and had the function of an ecopod. It was over a meter long with a very strong shell, almost like a small car.

“Careful, don’t injure him.”

“It still won’t work, everyone leave, call a robot out to help out.”

Lu Bixing let out a sigh, took his jacket off to place on the statue and said: “Let me do it, push it to the side for me.”

He grabbed both sides of the wheelchair and pulled the stuck wheels out of the ground with his bare hands.

“I…goodness, Prime Minister Lu, you’ve been working out lately.”

Lu Bixing responded wordlessly with a smile and carefully pulled the wheelchair out of the place it was stuck in.

The sleepy old Prime Minister felt something, opened his eyes and looked at the young man.

“Alright.” Lu Bixing took the wheelchair from the robot’s arms. “You all can go back now, don’t worry, I’ll have someone escort him back later.”

After Lu Bixing was officially appointed as the Prime Minister of the Eighth Galaxy, the old Minister Edward began spending more time in the hospital. Of course, despite his condition worsening everyday, the old Prime Minister’s heart still carried the Eighth Galaxy. He would still go around the executive building and military command post every morning as people walked into work.

Lu Bixing was still worried about him and could only escort him every day from the hospital and take the old man around the two places before the nurses escorted the old man back to the hospital.

The old Prime Minister was still weak as he laid on the wheelchair half-awake. Lu Bixing didn’t bother him and walked alongside the automated wheelchair with a hand resting on the handle as they made their way towards the Qiming military base. Lu Bixing’s ankle boots trudged through the wet grounds, his expression calm and peaceful with the current Eighth Galaxy, giving off a sense of dependency.

The soldiers in the base saluted them as they walked by. Not too far away, a group of newly enlisted soldiers were doing ground training with training mechs. The old Prime Minister tapped on Lu Bixing’s hand to stop for a bit as he squinted his eyes toward the lively training grounds filled with virtual cannons and fire. If this was a real battlefield, the amount of fire would be enough to wipe out the entire Galaxy within the short time he watched.

The four students that just finished their morning run with Turan ran into them and quickly ran up to give the old Prime Minister a blanket.

The old Prime Minister suddenly spoke up: “How realistic is the data used on the training grounds?”

Lu Bixing answered quietly: “All data and records are being 100% reenacted in simulation. A training mech can cut down over half of the normal training time for new soldiers.”

“I saw the new ten-year development plan you recently signed,” Prime Minister Edward paused for a moment. “Bixing…”

“Hm?”

“Military supplies, production, and large-scale industries are getting too much funding and planning. What do you plan on turning the Eighth Galaxy into…a super fortress where all citizens are soldiers?”

Lu Bixing carefully avoided the sensitive topic in front of his students and said: “In a newly settled society under machine civilization, large-scale and military industries are the most optimal choices for building the foundation of the economy. They can accommodate large amounts of uneducated people; besides, education during this time often focuses on the hard sciences until we enter a more stable and wealthy phase of development. This is the law of history, what’s wrong with it? Besides, we can’t possibly be stuck inside the Eighth Galaxy forever, we’ll have to rebuild the transfer portals leading outside eventually. I’m already replanning the maps. If you don’t go out voluntarily, the enemies will knock on your door; we need a lot of resources, a powerful fleet to protect our safety. We can’t protect our future if we can’t protect ourselves.”

The old Prime Minister followed up with another question: “What kind of future?”

“A peaceful and wonderful future, of course.” Lu Bixing’s gaze scanned across the young men and women beside him as he gave a model explanation. “The Universe expands every second, there’s an even bigger world and more exciting new discoveries beyond the Union. Society had grown too comfortable with the luxuries in front of them ever since the great age of exploration — we’ve already forgotten the curiosity that once belonged to mankind. I want us to escape a fake utopian world and reopen a new age of exploration–this was also the reason why I wanted to open up the Starry Sea Academy many years ago.”

White’s eyes lit up and interrupted from the side: “Boss, you’ve already built so many military schools and mech design schools on multiple satellites, when will you rebuild the Starry Sea Academy? I can study there for another century.”

Mint kicked him for talking too much.

Lu Bixing rolled his eyes at him and lowered his eyebrows: “You think I can just build my Starry Sea Academy whenever? It needs that six million star dome, where’s the money? You say it so easily, why don’t you try and raise the money so you can be my sponsor?”

White stuck out his tongue.

“We’ll think about this later.” Lu Bixing smiled. “We still have a million things to do right now and nobody has enough arms and heads to deal with it. We don’t have the tools and place to study quietly right now, so for now we’ll have to pour our limited resources into basic education, we’ll eventually have the Starry Sea Academy…”

White cheered and gave Rickhead on the side a high-five: “We want that six million dome with our school’s motto carved on it.”

“Alright you all can leave now, go do whatever you all need to do.” Lu Bixing waved them off. “You kids are too loud, the old Prime Minister is tired, don’t bother him.”

The students all ran off at the gesture. Every one of them now had their own schedule of work to do; some were interning in the engineering department, others were working as frontline mechanics for Turan, and White was already starting his work with mech design in the factories. Even though the students had grown used to hanging out with others and would still gather up during their free time to share their latest work progress and new ideas.

Their shared experiences in the past had created a strong bond between the students as they grew to be like family.

Lu Bixing and the old Prime Minister could still hear Rickhead’s loud voice from afar: “What school motto!?”

“We have one, dumbass!” Huang Jingshu responded, “‘Remember that from now on, knowledge is more valuable than money, boundless curiosity is more precious than knowledge, and what’s more valuable than curiosity is the starry sky above our heads.’”

Lu Bixing’s mind went blank for a moment.

Whether you’ve found a way or you’re lost, everything depends on where the tides of history take you. In your long life, perhaps you’ll go through countless failures and times of complete solitude…

Please remember to not get ahead of yourselves when you stand in the eye of the storm. Think about the boundless sea of learning in the academy when you sink deep into the dark waters; don’t bury yourself in mud and sand and remember the foundation the academy built for your young soul.

How foolishly shameless.

How far away it all felt.

Lu Bixing pulled himself back to reality and collected his expression once more as he lifted the blanket up for the old Prime Minister: “Let’s go, you should go back to the hospital after we make a round in the executive office.”

Prime Minister Edward grabbed onto the young man’s wrist. That hand didn’t seem abnormal; it was an average size for a grown man, not particularly thin or thick. The young man’s fingers were long and warm to the touch; the old Prime Minister said quietly: “My wheelchair weighs almost a whole ton, yet you can still lift it up with your bare hands. I’ve also heard that you even sleep for less than three hours a day, but you don’t look a bit tired at all.”

Lu Bixing gave a thoughtless excuse: “I’m still young……”

Prime Minister Edward interrupted: “What did you do to yourself?”

Lu Bixing closed his mouth. Perhaps it was because the old Prime Minister was the only living elder with some authority and was already too sick to stop him, Lu Bixing didn’t hide and continued: “Just a small experiment. There’s still a lot of unknown factors, I can’t exactly share the details right now. But if it succeeds, I can potentially build a super fleet of extremely high mental-strength soldiers.”

The old Prime Minister asked sharply: “Like those half-human, half-monster fleets of the Freedom Corps?”

“Of course not,” Lu Bixing answered truthfully, “if AIs could completely replace humans, modern warfare would’ve already been a war of robots by now. The AI fleet of the Silver Fortress wouldn’t fall so easily either, we have a failed example before us already.”

“You know that I’m not asking you what type of soldiers are better.” The old Prime Minister put on a stern attitude. “Do you know the dangers of this time? If…”

“If I die, then my job ends here.” Lu Bixing answered calmly, “But for as long as I’m alive, I will no longer return back to the state where others can take advantage of me.”

I will personally rip up the path leading out of this isolated land; I’ll crush the peace they built on lies and make them all pay for their crimes.

The old Prime Minister said: “Listen to what you’re saying, isn’t this contradicting what you said before? You really plan on opening a new Era with this mentality? A whole new era of exploration?”

“It’s not contradicting.” Lu Bixing’s gaze lowered. “What new era? Those are just pretty words to spoon-feed the children.”

The old Prime Minister fell silent. A sudden gust of wind blew over and threw the old man into a violent coughing fit that sounded as if he would cough out his own lungs.

Lu Bixing let out a sigh and turned the wheelchair to block the wind.

The old Prime Minister finally let out a breath of air and said: “Bixing, there will be nobody who can pull you back from the wrong path when I leave one day.”

Lu Bixing’s grip tightened as the handle of the wheelchair cracked in opposition.

“Prime Minister,” he asked softly, “why don’t you sign the papers to be put to sleep? Is it because you’re worried about me?”

“Being put to sleep can end pain and give the patient honor and peace in the final moment of their life.” The old Prime Minister’s voice was like a broken record, “I voluntarily give up my honor and peace until the very last second, so that I can struggle and fight with this galaxy until the last moment. I…”

His voice cracked as his body trembled. Lu Bixing asked: “I’ll give you a shot of anesthetics, can I send you back so you can get some sleep?”

The old Prime Minister’s fingers clutched harshly onto the young man: “I…I…resigned seven times…in the Eighth Galaxy’s government…and came back an eighth time….so that I could take the position of Prime Minister…during the toughest times…”

“Okay, okay, I know, Edward…”

“I…I couldn’t do anything on my own…until…until I met you guys…I finally saw a bit of hope…Bixing, can you also give yourself a chance to stand up again…after perishing into ashes seven times? The words you’ve spoon-fed the kids…are…are…”

45 days later, the old Prime Minister finally perished into ashes for the eighth time and walked to his end.

For Lu Bixing, a decade-long grind of anguish and hardships inevitably began.

Author’s note: Regarding the time: the Eighth Galaxy will be using the Eighth Galaxy time, with a year being over 400 days. Everywhere else will be using Woltorian time.