Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 144

Chapter 144 – The Starship Ambush

“The starship fleet is about to leave the active wormhole zone; energy level is within normal threshold.”

“Detecting communication signals.”

“Communication signals are stable, currently decoding signal message—”

In the Eighth Galaxy, the Galactic Expedition Team’s lab received a stable audio message from the other side of the wormhole. Sixteen days had passed since the experimental starship sailed out, and the starship was expected to arrive at the Heart of the Rose today.

The entire Eighth Galaxy tuned in to this livestream of the experiment; the amount of people online increased continuously, reaching a baffling four billion all watching at the same time. Four billion people across the galaxy were holding their breath as they listened to the noise coming out of the distorted time-space.

“That’s unbelievable,” Thomas applauded. “These folks in the Eighth Galaxy are so unified to learn more; there are so many people watching this boring academic channel, you can’t underestimate these people’s potentials!”

Poisson responded coldly: “Are you stupid?”

“Bro.” Thomas forced a smile onto his face as he lowered his voice to speak. “I know that your birth was a buy-one-get-one-free tragedy, and I understand that you suffered from poor development in childhood that led to you having speech dysfunction–but don’t you think you use the same words a little too often?”

Poisson glanced at him from the corner of his eyes: “Back when the Seventh Galaxy was attacked by the AUS, Commander Lin let eight billion refugees into the Eighth Galaxy. The transfer portals were promptly cleared up after and forcefully created a vast sea between the Eighth Galaxy and the Union; many people didn’t believe they would have the chance to go back home in this lifetime — do you get it now? There are only four billion people online right now because it’s a workday today; not everyone is free to watch the stream.”

Thomas stood dumbfounded.

At that moment, the Expedition Team’s tech support on land decoded the message from the starship as the noise from earlier was slowed down to 1,500 times its original speed. The original message became much clearer–it was the Eight Galaxy’s Anthem of the Independent Navy. The muffled chorus had already reached its end and stopped on a high note as it passed the distorted time-space. After traveling through numerous warps in space, the song sounded almost ethereal over the broadcast, like voices from another world. A short pause followed the end of the song before it switched to a simple ballad from the Union. It was a song about first love that was popular within the Union back in the day, and soon became a well-known tune that everyone knew of.

At that moment, even someone as dense as Thomas Young could feel the inseparable love-hate relationship between the Eighth Galaxy and the Interstellar Union.

“Outside the Heart of the Rose is the First Galaxy. They never sailed deep into the forbidden territory in the past and didn’t know, but the Prime Minister and Expedition Team’s sudden appearance in the Heart of the Rose last time shocked the Union. They certainly wouldn’t sail around that place unprepared this time.” Turan and Lin Jingheng walked into the lab a few minutes late as Turan whispered quietly to her boss, “I still think the experimental starship should’ve carried a few mechs…”

“What are you planning to do, mixing in a few mechs into a scientific research team? You could get away with it in the past saying you didn’t know what was on the other side of the wormhole, but now we all know who our neighbors are. Why would you do the same thing now?” Lin Jingheng asked, “Do you want to show them that we’re foolishly insecure?”

Turan asked: “But what if they turn their backs on us?”

“Maintain the stability of the communication signals.” Lin Jingheng glanced at her quickly before gesturing to have the communication tool that connected to the experimental starship passed over to him. “Expedition Team, can you all hear me?”

There was a bit of a delay between the two sides; a long while passed before the other side of the wormhole responded: “Yes, Commander Lin.”

“If you run into the Union Navy or Central Militia when you all arrive at the Heart of the Rose, greet their Chief Commander Woolf on behalf of me. Tell them that I’m praying for the old man’s health and sending best wishes to him from the other side of the wormhole.” Lin Jingheng waved off the small microphone floating in midair after finishing and turned his head back to Turan. “They have no reason to turn their backs on us; even if they did, they won’t dare to do so, don’t worry.”

Turan: “……”

The Grand Marshal was certainly a man that would always piss off the world when given the opportunity, and still piss off the world even when nobody asked for it.

Lu Bixing had been waiting inside the lab for a while and was assigning tasks to the director of the lab on the second floor. His attention was suddenly grabbed by this line as he lowered his head to see the certain individual who walked in to gift this provocation. Lin Jingheng lifted his eyes and shot a glance at the Prime Minister, lightly nodding without making a sound in a public place like this.

The director of the Expedition Team noticed the abrupt pause from the Prime Minister and asked curiously, “Prime Minister?”

Lu Bixing subconsciously loosened his shirt collar, and gave an abstruse smile while completely forgetting what he had said earlier.

“Calculating from the current orbital period, there should be no more than four military fortresses between the Heart of the Rose to Wolto. Aside from General Duke stationed at the border of the First Galaxy, there isn’t anyone else in particular that we need to be aware of. A fully armed superdimensional heavy mech fleet can pass through a transfer portal with a 24 standard weight limit; if I want to, it would only take six hours for me to sail from the Heart of the Rose to Wolto. Unless they also blow up the Union’s First Galaxy into another isolated land or re-station all their border troops within the Heart of the Rose, I don’t see that as a problem.” Lin Jingheng said to Turan airily, “Would they really re-station their troops for an unarmed research fleet of three people? Woolf is a Chief Commander, not a madman with an entire galaxy of soldiers. Besides, the Central Militia in the other galaxies have much more autonomy than the past and won’t listen to him all the time.”

Turan fell silent for a moment: “Do you still believe that Woolf isn’t a madman?”

Lin Jingheng didn’t answer.

He remembered that the old Chief would often visit them when Lin Wei was still alive; he was still ‘Grandpa Woolf’ at the time.

In his memories, this Grandpa Woolf never looked like a kind and warm elderly man. Especially as he grew older, the old man’s sharp features and thin skin revealed deep wrinkles that proved he was not a man who smiled much in life. He was quiet near the young kids and sometimes didn’t even know how to communicate with them, so he would only bring some childish toys as gifts and ask if they liked them.

But his hands were strong and warm; when those hands gently brushed through the children’s soft hair, the stern expression on his face would always soften up a little with a hint of kindness behind that silence.

Lin Jingheng wasn’t sure how Lin Wei died. The official sources said it was illness, but because he was too young to investigate the truth at the time, he had believed in what he was told.

He still remembered that day had been overcast and gloomy. The Union had purposely tweaked with the climate of Wolto to fit the mood on that day. Because General Lin Wei’s funeral was a grandiose event, many famous politicians in the government had attended. The house was filled with the chatter of a lot of strangers walking around; there were even loud reporting drones flying above their heads. Little Lin Jingheng had held his sister’s hand and escaped the noise as they stuck together, accidentally overhearing some of the conversation among the strangers in their house.

“…..I actually have some underground sources here that I’m sure none of you have heard before, but it’s suspected that General Lin Wei committed suicide.”

“I sort of guessed that,” another person said. “The average lifespan on Wolto is around 300 years old, there’s never been a case of being diagnosed with the pop reaction under the age of 200. With his status and access to medical resources, how could he possibly die of illness?”

Children born from Eden had never heard of the word ‘suicide’ and couldn’t even comprehend the concept. The young ten-year-old boy listened in confusion but subconsciously caught the cruelty in those words and quickly covered up his sister’s ears.

“Laura Gordon was a member of the White Tower, and the White Tower can access the core of the Eden system. If I have to say, having these people rebel against the Union would be like turning our houses into haunted mansions. Perhaps she did something to General Lin and Eden behind their backs and destroyed him psychologically.”

“But I’ve heard that their relationship wasn’t particularly bad…”

“How could they have any real feelings in a political marriage? Even voluntary marriages nowadays don’t last for over three years–don’t all of these public faces tell this to the world all the time?”

“Laura Gordon’s issue is quite vague, but I’ve heard that there were feelings between those two. Of course, that little bit of feelings between them might not even be genuine; rumors have it that Laura secretly manipulated the data inside Eden back then…you know, controlling dopamine levels or something. If you know how to control it, it can even make you fall in love with a dog.”

“You’re the one that falls in love with a dog!”

This chatter grew louder and livelier, like a murder of crows talking above rotten flesh, boiling the blood of the young boy listening in. Lin Jingheng accidentally gripped his hand tighter as Lin Jingshu struggled in discomfort.

Suddenly, the group of people collectively closed their mouths and lowered their voices as they awkwardly stood in a row–Chief Woolf had walked into the house. It seemed as if his hair had grown all white overnight, his cheeks sunken in even more. Yet he was still tall like a tree as his hawk-like gaze shot fiercely across the room with a word while the secretary behind him waved at the twins hiding in the corner.

The two kids quickly ran up while Secretary Wang’s words fell into little Lin Jingheng’s ears as he whispered to the old Chief: “……I’m afraid we can’t decline the Committee’s request, we can only keep one.”

Woolf didn’t turn his head to look at the kids as if another glance would hurt his eyes: “Then let Lu Xin handle it, I’ve already spoken to him.”

Lin Jingheng carefully lifted his head.

Secretary Wang said: “I thought you would personally take care of them.”

Woolf’s footsteps stopped for a moment. For a split second, Lin Jingheng felt as if the old Chief was about to turn his head to look at them, but didn’t in the end.

After a while, the old Chief finally responded hoarsely: “…..I can’t take care of them, I’m getting old. I can’t handle this…this…take them away, it’s heartbreaking to see them.”

It was heartbreaking to look, so he didn’t look. Perhaps that was why many years later he was able to drop the guillotine without hesitation.

Lin Jingshu sensed something at the time and struggled a little anxiously in her brother’s hands. A layer of sweat covered the palms of the two small hands holding onto each other; there was still the warmth of mutual dependency back then.

Lin Jingheng held onto her hands tightly and thought, I’m still here, I’ll protect you.

However…

He never fulfilled that promise.

He hadn’t returned to Wolto in twenty years, hadn’t seen her with his own eyes in twenty years, and hadn’t even attended her wedding. The closest they had been together all these years was on the small planet, separated by the cover of the ecopod. But he couldn’t move at the time and had to treat her like the most dangerous enemy in his life. His tightened heartstrings were shielded in fear; he didn’t dare to express any true feelings, nor did he have room to keep any lingering affections in his heart.

The replicated robotic arm Lu Bixing made for Zhanlu seemed off because he had never seen the young girl in the school uniform back then.

Lin Jingheng pulled himself back from his wandering thoughts and said expressionlessly to Turan: “Compared to the Union, the Freedom Corps pirates would be more troublesome to deal with. They just caused some commotion in the Heart of the Rose not too long ago, so the Union would supposedly be on guard against them. But the opium is everywhere around us so we still need to be careful; let the Expedition Team check if the signal disruption system is still functional.”

Human researchers only controlled a small portion of the experimental starship fleet. In order to fully observe the effects of the wormhole on human mental networks, most of the piloting was conducted by AIs that could withstand network hacking. In case they ran into an enemy attack, the unmanned starships could form a barricade on the outside and automatically send out disruption signals. These signal disruptions were completed with the help of Doctor Hardin himself and could intercept the mental state of first generation opium chip carriers, giving enough time for people inside the starships to make an escape.

“Make sure the experimental starships don’t leave the Heart of the Rose,” Lin Jingheng said. “Set up the communication post over there and retreat immediately.”

“Experimental starships are about to leave the wormhole—”

The entire lab was speechless. Due to the delay, by the time this message was sent back to Qiming, the starships had already arrived at the Heart of the Rose. Everyone in the lab held their breaths and waited eagerly for the message to be received.

The next moment, noises that indicated there were communication signals rang out while the AIs and supercomputers automatically began decoding the message. Shortly after, a violin tune flowed out of the speakers as the silent lab riled up within an instant.

They succeeded!

They successfully created a stable terminal to the border of the First Galaxy!

The Eighth Galaxy had been isolated from the rest of the universe like a lone island for almost seventeen years and finally rebuilt the bridge to the outside world. Everyone who still had lingering nostalgia was given a beacon of hope that they would be able to return back to their homeland. At the same time, the same technology could also be used to explore the ever-expanding universe, open up new frontiers, and continue spreading the blueprint of human civilization. Perhaps they could even open up a bigger and more developed new Age of Exploration.

Lin Jingheng lifted his head to see that Lu Bixing had his eyes locked on him the whole time from the second floor. After finally catching the eye of the commander, Lu Bixing meekly scanned his surroundings to make sure nobody was looking at him. Then, he gave the commander a very un-Prime Minister-like and unprofessional thumbs up, then pointed at his chest, every little gesture proudly telling his commander wordlessly, “See, I told you I could do it.”

When the team director beside him turned his head around, his face red in excitement, Lu Bixing immediately took his hand back and changed his facial expression. He fixed his shirt as if nothing had happened and nodded his head back in acknowledgement.

Lin Jingheng: “……”

Then, the stable signal sound suddenly grew sharp as the violin music stopped. Turan stood up abruptly–

Mint was checking the data on all the experimental starships when she heard a loud sound from the communication channel, her fingers slipping in shock before she could send out her report.

A teammate shouted inside the channel: “The starship has been attacked!”

Mint quickly calmed herself down and pulled up live reports on the target starship, then saw the direction of the ambush through the camera. The enemy wasn’t far from the target and could be seen with a low power telescope; it was a small fleet of mechs that sailed out like a ghost ship, with no marks on their mech bodies. It seemed as if they had been waiting patiently for a while and didn’t hesitate to shoot out a missile the moment they saw the Eighth Galaxy fleet appear.

Thanks to the strange gravitational field within the Heart of the Rose, the missile was pulled off-course and only scraped the tail of one of the starships in front of the team. The starship instantly sent out a disruption signal, as programmed in its AI, and saw an immediate reaction; a few of the small mechs within the fleet suddenly changed course and flew out of line and into the distorted gravitational field.

“Don’t worry.” Mint disconnected the damaged part of the mech and hid her team behind the autopilot ed starships that lined up like an iron wall before them. “It’s the pirates, they only have a few mechs with them right now, we’ll have to retreat immediately.”

“Wait, Mint, starship three is on stand direction 017!”

As the line finished, a high-energy alert rang up inside the starship. An armed mech fleet closed in on them swiftly as Mint’s eyes widened, then saw the fleet open fire at their starships.

The experimental starships all opened up their shields to the maximum within a matter of seconds on the command of the researchers. The next moment, a row of high-energy particle beams passed through the team from behind and shot through the ambushing pirate ships. Another fleet of mechs then sailed past the team to chase down the pirate fleet.

The small pirate fleet would have been versatile enough to escape, but after taking on the signal disruption head-on earlier, they were still disoriented and barely regained control of their mental networks. Before they could return on their route to retreat, the mysterious mech fleet blocked off the road and swiftly shot down the pirates. The surviving pirate ships frantically sailed out only to have their shields melted by the high-energy waves, armory knocked off the mech body, and captured by the mech fleet.

Mint finally let out a breath of relief and turned on the unarmed signal on their starships to show that they were simply a research fleet.

The mech fleet sent a communication request, in which a young man dressed in a Union military uniform appeared on the screen. With her limited knowledge of military rankings, Mint vaguely made out that the emblem on his uniform seemed to indicate that he was a colonel. The colonel on screen saluted her courteously in response.

“I’m the representative of the Union Government’s First Galaxy Border Station, my name is Lorde. A few weeks ago, the First Galaxy captured an abnormal energy wave from the Heart of the Rose and knew that perhaps our friends from the other side would arrive. We were fearful of a pirate invasion and reinforced our patrols in the area, but little did we know that we still missed a few flies. Hopefully that didn’t scare you all.” The colonel named Lorde said, “General Duke sent me over to ask if our friends from the Eighth Galaxy needed any help from us — we’ve been looking forward to hearing back from you all for a while now.”

Mint had been spending all her time doing galactic explorations and research with the team and didn’t really know how to deal with formal diplomatic situations; for some time, she thought about whether or not she should bring up Lin Jingheng’s ‘greeting’ from earlier.

Then, the colonel continued: “I hope Commander Lin is doing well. I don’t know if I’m fortunate enough to be remembered by him–I used to be his Vice Admiral back in the Silver Fortress.”