Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 131

Chapter 131 – Long Time No See

It was like Turan had damaged the language construction part of her brain on the door when she walked in; nobody in the command post understood what she was crying about and watched her grab onto the Prime Minister’s collar. The mechanics of the Engineering Department thought these two were about to finally go at it after over a decade of cold war and collectively took three steps back, ready to call in security to break up a potential fight.

But Lu Bixing understood.

To some people, the wounds that turned into scars over time would grow to become the untouchable reverse scale of their lives. Even a single word, letter, or a hint of it would be able to inflict pain upon that wound. Lu Bixing’s eyes widened slightly as his chin stiffened up visibly for a split second.

Lu Bixing quickly grabbed onto Turan’s wrist and pulled her disrespectful paws off as he asked nonchalantly: “You’re saying that the Expedition Team detected the Silver Ten’s communication passcode signal near the Heart of the Rose?”

Turan opened her mouth to speak when Lu Bixing held up a hand and interrupted her again.

He pressed his own personal device and pulled up a galactic terminal map of the First Galaxy, covering the room from the ceiling down to the floor.

Lu Bixing stood up and strolled casually towards the projection: “With our limited knowledge right now, we should form a reasonable hypothesis for the situation. The Central Militias have all stepped away from the Union while the Glory Troops and AUS pirates formed their own governing bodies within their organizations. The war has multiple fronts, but now it seems like there’s a turn of events on the playing field. It’s likely that the Union has once again gathered up the Central Militias under their wing; on the other hand, the AUS has been under the radar this whole time. Let’s just assume that the AUS is preparing for a counterattack and the Glory Troops are preparing to surrender.”

“The latter has been holding the First Galaxy hostage for over a decade. The First Galaxy is the epitome of modern civilization, so they can’t possibly be firing rounds of missiles like they did here in the Eighth Galaxy. This means that it’s likely that the pirates and Union have been involved in a long-time power struggle for many years and are finally reaching a resolution. But that’s when someone else joined in at the last minute and turned the tables again–judging from the method this third party is using against the Union, it’s highly possible that this third party is the old Freedom Corps pirates from the past. General Turan said that we’ve detected the passcode signal of the Silver Ten near the Heart of the Rose, so we can assume that perhaps the surviving Silver Ten fleets are chasing down the pirates near the area. If that’s the case, it would seem as if we were lucky enough to make it to a grand gathering of all the largest armed forces outside of the Eighth Galaxy.”

Turan couldn’t help but add in: “No, Prime Minister; the communication method used among the Silver Ten is different from the passcode used to summon the fleet, the order given to us from the higher-ups uses a completely different code system, this is the ru…”

“In the history of the Union, the Silver Ten had almost always been in a contract relationship with the Union and didn’t take orders from the Military Council. I’ve heard that in times like these when the top commanding position is vacant, you all have your own system of handling the situation. I’m surprised that the summoning order still uses the old coding system, it’s quite an impressive preservation of tradition; though I would have to say it’s quite unsafe.” Lu Bixing looked directly into Turan’s eyes. “Is there anything else you’d like to add, General Turan?”

Turan stared into his eyes and suddenly felt all words escape her. Under that intimidating stare, nobody aside from a fearless AI like Zhanlu would dare mention the possibility that perhaps Lin Jingheng was still alive.

Lu Bixing picked up the thermos on his desk and took a sip of the coffee he brewed this morning. The coffee was still warm as small wisps of steam floated from the cup, covering all the emotions in his eyes as he continued calmly: “Apparently, when areas of human activity expand in space, it’s very likely that large predatory animals and extraterrestrial life forms around the area face the risk of extinction. In contrast, smaller animals and life forms are more likely to merge into human society…whether it was the ‘empire’ or the ‘religion,’ no wonder why both of the largest pirate organizations were the ones that fell first. It’s now these drug dealers living underground who became the biggest threat to the Union; we were quite lucky to close off the Eighth Galaxy back then. Zhanlu, pull up some people from the Engineering, Intelligence, and Wartime Planning Departments immediately, I need an analyst team ready.”

“Understood.”

“How much energy disruption can the wormhole stabilizer used by the Expedition Team withstand? What’s the statistical difference between using the stabilizer and not using the stabilizer? Give me an estimation as soon as possible.”

“Prime Minister, the data analysis is currently in progress.”

“Zhanlu, pull up all old research the Union had on natural wormhole areas, we’ll need to devise a full strategy against them.”

“Okay, Headmaster Lu.”

“Also…”

Turan let out a breath of air as she stood slightly dumbfounded, then watched Lu Bixing order around this group of people to get to work. She suddenly discovered the biggest difference between Lu Bixing and the late Prime Minister Edward.

The old Prime Minister had always looked up to the Union whether it was in respect or hatred; he had always believed the Eighth Galaxy was a part of the Union and recognized the Union as the legitimate governing authority. Even though he endorsed the concept of ‘independence’ during a time of crisis, he never would have imagined himself to stand against the Interstellar Union as a rival force.

Yet Eleven Independent Years later, Lu Bixing walked out from endless warfare and unrest. He rebuilt the autonomy of the entire Eighth Galaxy with the blood and ashes of war; the Prime Minister today saw the Union as nothing but an equal to the Eighth Galaxy. In his eyes, whether it was the Union, the Central Militias under Lu Xin’s old subordinates, or the three main pirate organizations, nobody was an unchallenged enemy. Nobody was terrible enough to be feared and nothing could remain unconquered. He would carefully estimate the strength of his enemies and determine whether it was worth making a move first or remain cautious until provoked.

“General Turan,” Lu Bixing called to her after assigning a series of tasks, “follow me.”

Turan pulled herself back from her sea of thoughts and quickly followed after him.

Lu Bixing took her out onto the hallway. The hallways of the Milky Way City Command Post were covered with large windows that captured the scenery of the entire military base from the tall building. The enormous mech dock of the base not too far away was parked with a whole navy of heavy mechs produced by the Eighth Galaxy military factories; the heavy mechs rested in an orderly fashion as they quietly stared in a direction up in the air. Almost ironically, the solemnity of this scenery reflected the Military Base of the Union Military back in its glorious days.

Years of internal warfare almost destroyed the entire Eighth Galaxy, but it could also be said that the unrest also prepared them for the day the galaxy reopened. The Galactic Forces of the military now no longer had any newbies that had just barely learned how to pilot mechs; everyone enlisted was an experienced soldier who had survived the brutal battle of the fittest inside a cage.

Lu Bixing asked Turan: “What do you think the odds of the Silver Ten becoming my troops are?”

Turan didn’t know how to respond.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s nothing.” Lu Bixing smiled. “I just want to request something from you. I need the Galactic Forces to create a strategy plan right now based on the information we have of the active wormhole. The plan should be focused on how to transport enough troops outside the wormhole and how we will retreat from the other side safely in case of an emergency.”

Turan was shocked: “You want to..”

“I’m planning on heading out there personally. The Eighth Galaxy has been isolated from the other galaxies for eleven Independent Years, I need to go check how everyone’s doing out there.” Lu Bixing paused slightly and continued, “Of course, I’m also quite interested in the Freedom Corps right now. If possible, I’d like to get my hands on some of their stuff to bring back for research; I’m not planning on stealing their technology, it’s only for precautions to see how we can defend ourselves.”

“It’s been years, it’s time everyone unsheathes their swords and shows what they’ve got.” Lu Bixing waved Turan off with a smile. “Let’s get going now.”

There were no longer people who gathered up to complain that a non-combative individual like him shouldn’t head up to the frontlines. Now, he could go anywhere he wanted, giving only a simple order of “go prepare for my trip.”

Turan gave him a long look but couldn’t find any hints of what Lu Bixing was thinking on his face. She couldn’t even tell if he simply wanted to go mess with the world at a turning point like this or if he really wanted to follow that signal in the Heart of the Rose.

For a split second, Turan felt a sense of regret; if she had really let Lu Bixing out of the Eighth Galaxy that year to follow the footprints of that man, would everything have turned out differently today?

But regret was merely a self-depreciating emotion that all villains needed to learn how to control; Turan lowered her head slightly and then shifted her attention back to the pile of work before her. She gave a quick ‘okay’ and walked off to her post.

It was a sleepless night for Lu Bixing as he prepared to bring a fleet of armed mechs and a handful of top mechanics with him personally to the other side of the wormhole. Turan and the Engineering Department had completed all preparations, but there were still some risks of danger that required coordinating different departments for other back-end work.

Zhanlu waited quietly, as he had grown used to Lu Bixing’s work schedule.

Lu Bixing sent out his last work mail by dawn and finished the cold tea beside him, then carried Zhanlu out to sail out of the galaxy.

When the starship sailed near the wormhole area, Lu Bixing pulled up a report on his personal device. The report was the first official report the Expedition Team had sent back to them that described their experiences inside the wormhole. Mint mentioned the ID of an ecopod she had seen in the report, which happened to be the same one that Lu Bixing had picked up outside Planet Beijing-β many years ago.

Regardless if it was planned or by accident, it proved that Lin Jingheng really had passed through the wormhole into the Eighth Galaxy back then.

Lu Bixing went off into a daze for a short moment as he stared at the familiar ecopod–he was actually far from calm and collected as he had presented himself in front of Turan. He had interrupted her countless times on purpose simply to avoid giving himself and her any more false hope; he had already tasted the pain and hurtfulness of hope over the last eleven years and couldn’t bear to think about it for even a second more of his life. Yet human desires and nature were difficult to fully control as a single thought lit up Lu Bixing’s heart like wildfire that soon consumed his thoughts as the starship sailed near the wormhole area.

A decade-old passcode of the Silver Ten…even the ancients knew the importance of periodically changing a password. Even though a long-distance passcode was far more complex than a normal password, there was still a risk of it being broken. It was quite unthinkable that the Silver Ten would keep the same communication passcode for so long.

Then…who was still using the old passcode?

“Headmaster Lu,” Zhanlu suddenly spoke up, “you seem to be quite unwell, do you need a medical capsule?”

“No.” Lu Bixing recollected his wandering thoughts and lowered his gaze quietly.

No , he tried to reason it out with himself as unbiasedly as he could, it’s possible that both the Union and the pirates have the ability to decode the Silver Ten’s passcode and lure them to the edge of the First Galaxy. They are still a formidable fleet that could threaten anyone; perhaps there’s a conspiracy behind this, we need to be careful.

The first time, he fixed up Zhanlu with hope only to have that hope crushed by Zhanlu himself.

The second time, he ran out of the wormhole in a craze to search for any traces of that person, only to have the cold universe tell him to give up and stop this foolish daydream.

I can’t let it happen a third time , Lu Bixing thought.

He’d be as dead as a corpse would be, jumping off the same cliff thrice carrying the same hope.

It was time for him to calmly accept the truth, accept the reality that that person had already left him the same way his old man and Prime Minister Edward had.

Lu Bixing pulled his senses back as he casually changed the conversation topic with Zhanlu: “By the way–did you manage to find the person that matched my mother’s profile in your database?”

This was a long story: when Lu Bixing discovered that Lin Jingheng and Monoeyed Hawk were hiding something from him, he had attempted to investigate with what little clues he had. But because there was virtually no traces of evidence and it was considered a personal issue he had no time to look into, the investigation had been inconsistent attempts over the years. Only every once in a while, when Zhanlu had a little too much time on his hands, would Lu Bixing bring this up to keep him busy.

The connection between Lin Jingheng and Monoeyed Hawk aside from Lu Bixing himself seemed to be their relationship with Lu Xin. According to Zhanlu, the two grew unfriendly with each other because Commander Lin’s method of searching for Madame Lu’s memento was quite antagonistic.

During one sleepless night, Lu Bixing had a random thought while half-asleep and realized that Madame Lu had escaped out to the Eighth Galaxy the same year he was born. Could it be possible that she had some sort of relation to the mother he’d never met?

Madame Lu had been a well-known scholar when she was still alive, so it wasn’t difficult to search through her data. Lu Bixing pulled up an old photo of his mother that Monoeyed Hawk had left him and asked Zhanlu to search his database, with no results as expected.

This made Lu Bixing remember that old question from the past–Monoeyed Hawk had once told him that his mother was a teacher, but Lu Bixing never managed to find out which school she worked in. He had suspected that she may have come from outside the Eighth Galaxy, and because Zhanlu had once run the forbidden fruit system, he was able to search up everyone that had ever been registered into Eden through the database. To save Zhanlu from watching too many reptile movies, Lu Bixing tasked said AI with strange aesthetics this ongoing job.

“No, sorry, Headmaster Lu,” Zhanlu answered, “I’ve filtered through a list of about 2,000 potential candidates based on the physical appearance and social status of this lady and compared it with the genetic data of your brain with no luck.”

Lu Bixing was quite surprised: “There’s no such person? Did that old man make it all up?”

Why would Monoeyed Hawk fabricate something like this to his own son?

The safety alert on the mech rang out to inform all passengers that they had arrived in the wormhole area. Lu Bixing covered his face with the oxygen mask on the spacesuit, secured the safety belt and thought: “Why would he make up a story about a mother that doesn’t exist? He can’t possibly give birth to me on his own, right?”

“Zhanlu, ignore her physical and status requirements, compare directly with my DNA and…”

The unstable whirlpool of the wormhole arrived sooner than expected and swallowed up Lu Bixing’s words; Zhanlu was only able to register the first half of his order–

160 hours had passed outside the short trip inside the wormhole.

Deep in the Heart of the Rose, the Prime Minister of the Eighth Galaxy opened up his eyes and witnessed the dreary skies of the First Galaxy with his own eyes for the first time in his life.

Meanwhile, it was one hour before the polling on the hostage planet was scheduled to end; Serbia was about to leave the edge of the danger zone. The twelfth warning the Union sent to the pirates was once again ignored as the Union fleet turned their cannons toward their enemies.

September 17th, 4:00 A.M. Wolto time: the space pirates shot the first missile and opened up the battlefield near the terminal outside the hostage planet with the Union Military.

At the same time, the Central Militia stationed near the edges of the First Galaxy risked their lives to sail deep into the Heart of the Rose, preparing to ambush the pirates from behind.

This dog-tail game of chase was being witnessed in secret by the eyes deep inside the Heart of the Rose.

Mint supported a few training mechs on the frontlines of the Expedition Team and watched the battle unfold. The weak energy emission of a training mech could be easily covered up by the natural signal disruption within the Heart of the Rose and shielded the team from the eyes of the Central Militia. Mint carefully recorded the action of the whole fleet and sent the footage to Lu Bixing.

“The Union Forces seem much weaker than expected.” A mechanic from the Engineering Team under Lu Bixing commented as he pointed at the statistics of the Union mechs on the screen, “Even though they have a decent size for a fleet, it doesn’t seem like they’ve had a significant upgrade in equipment from eleven years ago.”

A real-time analyst added: “I’m doubtful that the pirates would have any sort of advantage against the Union either. The defense near the direction towards the Heart of the Rose can’t even stop an unarmed civilian starship from sailing in. See, I’ve said it already that these pirates would get ambushed, Prime Minister…”

“Shh,” Lu Bixing whispered softly, “watch closely.”

The Expedition Team soundlessly blocked off the spatial instability of the wormhole area in the Heart of the Rose with their equipment for the Central Militia, allowing them to pass through the legendary forbidden zone safely.

“This must be a blessing from the heavens!” The unknowing Central Militia charged in with high spirits and cut right into the pirate fleet from behind. “Long live the Union, hail the Pledge of Freedom!”

The Union spy on Serbia immediately reacted and helped rip apart the weak defense of the pirate force from behind enemy lines. Countless hostages were like birds let out of their cage as civilian starships of different sizes rushed out of the atmosphere.

“Minister Lu, large amounts of civilian starships are sailing into the Heart of the Rose, but the wormhole area has been more active than usual today…”

“Don’t stop non-armed personnel, let them through the area,” Lu Bixing gave out an order. He then paused slightly after and added with a lower voice, “If they’re lucky enough to pass.”

The public polling the pirates set up among the hostages ended right at this exact time. Was this simply a coincidence? Was it all set up to mock the Union?

On the abandoned small planet, the Union Forces on both sides quickly surrounded the pirate fleet between them. The unarmed starships made a sharp turn to avoid the battlefield as the station troops of the First Galaxy waited near the border for the refugees.

Suddenly, the tables of the entire universe changed–

“Minister Lu, look!”

Planet Serbia had barely made its way outside the Heart of the Rose and passed by a deserted Union space station along the way. A sudden stream of high-energy waves were detected as a fully armed pirate fleet appeared from behind(?) the abandoned station. The fleet blocked off the refugee starships and opened fire on the unarmed civilians as the Union Forces were thrown into a panic.

The countdown for the poll on Serbia ended as the side of “Woolf is guilty” received a shocking 95% vote. The next instant, the words “Woolf is guilty” flashed red on all pirate mechs as they opened fire in a bloody celebration.

“Minister Lu!”

“These pirates sure are unpleasant.” Lu Bixing stood up and scanned around. “What do you all say, folks? Since we made it in time for the party, why don’t we test our blades today?”

“Deactivating spatial blockage–”

“The Expedition Team is backing up.”

“Calibrating particle cannons–”

Lu Bixing gave Zhanlu a nod.

Yet before the Eighth Galaxy Forces were able to fire out their first shot, a battered-up fleet of mechs suddenly appeared from outside of the First Galaxy. Like a wandering skilled swordsman, they swiftly cut through both the Union Forces and pirate fleets with one smooth move.

Lu Bixing’s eyebrow lowered: “Wait.”

A former Silver Ninth Squadron soldier from the Eighth Galaxy Forces suddenly spoke up: “Minister Lu, it’s the Silver Ten!”

Meanwhile, Lin Jingshu clenched her fists as she controlled the battlefield remotely from the outside. Her nails pierced into her skin: “You really have to–”

On Wolto, Woolf stood up abruptly: “What did you say?”

Lu Bixing’s heartbeat drummed restlessly against his ears as an unexplainable feeling intensified: “Zhanlu, can you try to…”

Zhanlu already connected into the Silver Ten’s communication channel before he could finish–the most obnoxious mech fleet of the universe didn’t even bother passcode-protecting their communication channels.

Lu Bixing heard a voice…a voice that had appeared countless times in his dreams, speaking calmly through the sounds of cannonfire: “Long time no see, everyone. It’s been sixteen years, but it seems like none of you have grown up even a bit.”