Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 153

Chapter 153 – Don’t See Me, and I Won’t See You.

Wolto was famous for its Ten Beautiful Sceneries that were blessed by nature and enhanced by sculptures and artwork, creating breathtaking landscapes that seemed otherworldly.

One of the most famous among them was a place called Neverland.

The name Neverland was taken from the mythical island in the ancient classic Peter Pan; it was a popular tourist attraction built on a natural island. The island utilized modern technology to build a false dreamland of the fairy tale.; It was initially designed to be a children’s amusement park, but after discovering that the marketing to children wasn’t going as expected and instead attracted countless adults that wanted a temporary escape from the tiring Woltorian society, it was redesigned to fit the needs of its customers.

After a few revamps, Neverland became an artificial paradise on Wolto and was one of the most extravagant and luxurious tourist attractions in the world.

How luxurious was it? As an example, despite being a pure Wolto-born elite, Lin Jingheng had never once stepped foot on the island even up until he left the First Galaxy.

Before the war, the average cost of living on Neverland for a single day was 80,000 First Galaxy currency—which was about 1/10 of the yearly income of a Top Commander in Wolto. The island also required reservations at least a year ahead of time despite being only an ocean channel away from Wolto’s central continent.

A tourist train drove by on the magnetic rail floating up in midair; the surroundings were filled with realistic projections of cloud layers that had little fairies created with special transformable materials that flew alongside the train. These little fairies were equipped with high-functioning AIs that could interact with the passengers inside the trains.

A thin, white hand reached out of the window of the train as a little fairy landed gently on its palm. The little fairy looked up and blew the person above it a sweet kiss.

“Neverland had always been a property under the Committee’s name. If you want to know why the Committee was so obsessed with political power to the point of embracing corruption, you can simply take a look at this place,” the person inside the train said. “The transformable materials used to build the ‘Ten Great Sword,’ six million a gram, were all used to build these silly little things on this island.”

Said fairy gave a hurtful expression after listening to these words and lowered its wings. The individual inside the train chuckled slightly and tossed the fairy outside: “What an eyesore, get out of my sight.”

The person inside the train was Lin Jingshu.

Perhaps not even Wang Ailun could have imagined that this mysterious head of the Freedom Corps had already settled back down in Wolto.

The bodyguard beside her was a new face; in comparison to the one who had served her in the City of Angels, he seemed much more dependable just from his posture and clear eyes. There were no unnecessary expressions on his face nor any hints of careful studying behind a facade; standing beside Lin Jingshu, the only emotion that consumed him was passionate loyalty. He immediately followed up after her and said: “This is because the old world is already in ruins, my master; their social order and management were imperfect, that’s why corruption and political conflicts were born from their society. But they’ve already lost the battle.”

Lin Jingshu chuckled lightly: “Eden is gone, Woolf–Woolf is getting old and senile, and Wang Ailun’s little clique is completely consumed by thirst for power. Do you not see that Secretary Wang is already trying to take away the military autonomy from the Central Militia right now, while the situation is still unstable, to return back to the old order of heavily centralized power? All crows are black, there are no exceptions.”

The guard responded in a deep voice: “The great new world will consume all of this mess before they are given a chance to grow.”

“Let’s hope so.” The train was reaching the central area of the small island and landing onto the ground level; the Union flag stood proudly in the center of the island and could be seen from the windows–However, the flag was only raised halfway today. Lin Jingshu was too tired to continue the conversation with her passionate subordinate; someone that was too driven by emotion could often seem a little too silly…even though she was the one who sculpted this personality trait into her subordinates. She asked quietly: “What’s going on today, why is the flag only half raised?”

The guard responded: “Yesterday was Commander Lu Xin’s death in duty anniversary, so all of Wolto is commemorating with the half-risen flag for three days.”

Lin Jingshu’s expression turned slightly eerie: “The Union announced that Lu Xin’s death was in the line of duty?”

The central government did not hesitate to ‘recycle’ the Committee to their own benefit and nailed them to the wall of shame as a punching bag for the public’s anger. This naturally meant that the frustration about pirates invading the Union was also credited to them, turning the Committee into both the ‘greedy elite class that ruled over the public’ and ‘the traitors of the Union’…despite the fact that these two roles fundamentally contradicted each other. Woltorians were filled with high-class smooth talkers who could fabricate a whole tale for the big bad antagonist of their story.

Because Lu Xin’s death had been confirmed to be a conspiracy by the Committee, the late commander’s story was quickly rebranded into a tragic but heroic tale.

Lin Jingshu opened up her personal device to see the news filled with live streams of the grand memorial services all over the Union to commemorate the man.

“As the bedrock of the Union, Commander Lu Xin gave his life to the Pledge of Freedom, but his soul remains above us as he protects his people with honor and without regrets. Every general that has followed in his footsteps became kindling fires that spread all over the galaxies, lighting the path honorably for the Union to return to Wolto…..”

Lin Jingshu laughed out loud at this commentary and said: “Hey, don’t you think these people are like blind sheep that run around as they bleat proudly? When the shepherd shoos them to the east, they would happily run towards that direction, and when they’re being sent to the west, they would turn around and run back there without hesitation–almost as if they weren’t the same people that were calling for Lu Xin’s execution back in the day.”

The guard opened his personal device to show her: “Look, master, there’s about 10,000 people at the Wolto memorial service right now, and here’s a map of the population disparity in the area; all glowing dots on here are our people.”

It was a condensed map of the central plaza in front of the Union Parliament. Every little dot represented a person: black indicated a normal person, a glowing dot indicated a chip user. These chip users somehow managed to pass through the moving security and entered the memorial service site. The glowing dots on the projection glistened like stars in the sky, and at least one-fourth of the people present were lit up.

Lin Jingshu responded lightly: “Looks like the new signal blocker seems to work fairly well?”

“Yes, the ‘seed’ we planted in the First Galaxy was very successful. According to the latest statistics, about 36% of the population have already accepted our biochip injection; we are prepared to fully take over the Parliament overnight. Wang Ailun already ordered the second troop increase at our request — the total number of armed fleets dispatched has already surpassed the highest number of frontline fleets during wartime by 90%. This means we’ve already met the requirements for initiating a one-sided confrontation against our neighbors; in addition, the Union is completely defenseless inside and around the borders right now. One of our men within the First Galaxy border guards reported back saying that the Eighth Galaxy sent out a message questioning the situation on our side, and Duke quickly responded that it was all a misunderstanding, so he made his way back to Wolto today–Master, we’re one step away from the new world, we’re only waiting for your orders.”

“Good,” Lin Jingshu closed the projection of the map, “Duke’s been loyal to Commander Lu Xin ever after death, it’s about time we send him off to see Lu Xin.”

The train slowly landed and stopped at a station. The little fairies dispersed within an instant and landed on the ground, turning into different forms of ancient mythical creatures; one of them turned into a unicorn and kneeled courteously, ready to offer its back for transportation to the passengers inside the train.

Lin Jingshu was suddenly taken aback when she saw it.

Unicorns weren’t uncommon toys among young children, many had at least a plush doll of one in their toy bins. When Lin Jingshu was young, she also had a unicorn that could even fly. Children under 40 kilograms could ride on its back and fly up to the ceiling. The unicorn was pure white like snow, its eyes made of a rare gem with a unique glow; it was an extremely expensive toy. Lin Wei wasn’t particularly strict with budget when it came to his children….nor did he mind the money. He left his assets and finances for his AI butler to handle, and didn’t even bat an eye when he signed the checks to purchase necessary childcare items–that little unicorn was Lin Jingshu’s most prized possession.

The twins were already aware that they would be separated, but didn’t expect it to happen so soon. When Lin Jingshu saw the crowd of military officers from her swing, she fell off in shock and ran back in the house to look for Lin Jingheng before she could even flinch at the small injury from her fall.

Lin Jingheng was taken out of the house by the caretaker and exchanged a glance with the little girl panting heavily from a distance. She was like a little girl that hadn’t prepared for her final test at school and was about to cry out as she thought about what she could do. She then suddenly turned and ran up the stairs to find her unicorn. She didn’t have time to think about what it could possibly do, nor did she consider if Lin Jingheng would like something like this; she simply followed her instinct to let her closest sibling take away her most prized toy, as if he could also take her heart away.

The unicorn was too heavy for her to carry, so she could only let it fly down the stairs on its own. But as a children’s toy that was designed with safety first, its flying was slower than a crawling child. No matter how much she urged for the unicorn to go faster, the toy was like a silly balloon that floated slowly down the stairs…by the time she finally made it to the door, Lin Jingheng already left.

How could that be? She thought, you haven’t even taken away the most important thing yet. She chased after him out the door, in tears.

But the car had already driven away and disappeared into an after-image on the tracks in midair. It left without a trace.

Lin Jingshu stared at the unicorn before her as her gaze cooled down: “What is this thing?”

The guard quickly explained: “This is the standard transportation within the island. Of course, if you don’t like it, you can also choose other forms, for example, dragons…”

“Can this silly thing run ten kilometers an hour? Do I look like I have that much time to waste?” Lin Jingshu cut him off coldly, “Go away, give me an armed mobile.”

The guard didn’t dare to disobey her. The unicorn that was denied got up in confusion and carefully backed away; its clear and innocent eyes were almost identical to the toy she’d had in the past, filled with sinful purity and weakness.

“Keep a close eye on the Heart of the Rose and the Eighth Galaxy.” Lin Jingshu ordered expresionlessly, “We’ll act immediately as soon as the Eighth Galaxy takes action.”

Now that you’ve left, don’t come back and stand in my way.

Now that we’ve finally reached this point, can you promise me that you will not come see me, and I will not go see you anymore during this lifetime?

As the representative of the Central Militia’s First Galaxy Border Station Troops, Lorde had been acting as the buffer between Duke and the Union’s central government–in other words, he was the punching bag for both sides. He was appointed to follow Duke back to the Military Council on Wolto to question if Chief Woolf had gone mad.

Lorde’s early days in the border troops had been relatively decent. His family had a reputable background and because of his kind and friendly nature, he didn’t mind picking up the check during outings with his colleagues, which earned himself a warm welcome. People started off with simply wanting to snatch a free meal, but recently he noticed that the number of people who would voluntarily initiate a conversation with him had dropped significantly. People were starting to go back to their distant attitude towards him, which made him slightly uncomfortable. It wasn’t because he was afraid of being singled-out, but the signal that was sent out by this isolation was also very dangerous; it meant that the trench between the Central Militia and the Union was growing wider and deeper.

Duke was still upset from the trip and had just found an excuse to blow off his fumes at Lorde, punishing him with handwriting the military policy handbook. Lorde didn’t bother arguing with him and walked towards the secretary’s office with a heavy heart when the mech suddenly shook.

Lorde almost stepped on himself as he looked up in confusion. Then, a loud siren sounded off within the mech.

“High-energy detected, high-energy detected—”

“Warning, the mech body has been locked on by tracking missiles!”

“Opening up anti-missile system, shield energy level raising to the maximum, particle cannons preheating, all armed personnel please get in position—”

Lorde jolted up and connected to the pilot’s cockpit with his personal device: “This is Colonel Lorde, what’s going on?”

“Colonel Lorde, our mech fleet ran into an enemy attack….buzz…the internal communication….buzz….”

The internal communication channel of the fleet was forcefully intercepted and cut off.

This interception-first style of battle was eerily familiar. Lorde’s mind went blank for a few moments before his eyes widened, then he turned and ran out–the AUS!

“General, the ambusher is an AUS armed fleet. They have about three heavy mechs and thirty guarding small mechs, our fleet has a considerable size advantage; the enemy refused our communication request!”

Why did the AUS that had suffered a great deal of damage by Lin Jingheng and had disappeared for so many years suddenly appear?

This trip Duke took to complain to the government was completely a last-minute decision, so how could the AUS possibly know about it and set up an ambush on the road?

And since it was a question of diplomatic nature, Duke understood the hostile implications of bringing in too many armed mechs, so the majority of his fleet was only intimidating by their size and didn’t have much of a bite!

“General, be careful!”

The ambushing AUS didn’t bother saying a word and fired heavily at the escorting fleet. A few of the small mechs on the side that were caught off guard were immediately swept away by the blast. Before the aftershock completely vanished, the enemy shot out another wave of particle cannons right behind the earlier blast, crashing head-on into the heavy mech’s shield. The mech shook violently at the exchange, pushing Duke back as his waist hit the edges of the meeting table: “Shit!”

General Duke wasn’t simply a man of words, he had been a gallant conqueror of the galaxies for many years and now, the old General was enraged. Before the internal communication signals returned, the commanding ship shot out of the fleet into the enemy’s firing range. The guarding mechs immediately followed behind and slashed right into the AUS fleet like sharp blades butchering into the flesh of a battle, opening heavy fire on their ambushers.

The difference between a proper military fleet and the AUS pirate fleet became visible immediately as Duke’s team ripped open a path down the middle of the AUS fleet.

At the same time, the international communication signals on Duke’s side returned; the old General’s voice rang throughout the mechs: “Reel them in with particle cannons, don’t let them escape! These shameless pirates, how dare you pick a fight within the First Galaxy. You all have been hiding underground for so long, I didn’t even know where to dig the rest of you up…”

Before he could finish, the mental network in the commanding ship went unstable for an instant; it was being hacked.

It was common for a heavy mech’s mental network to be hacked during battle, but it wasn’t easy to successfully hijack one because the backup pilots on a heavy mech were often a full team. Even if one had Lin Jingheng’s powerful mental strength that defied the laws of nature, they would only be able to create a small opening with a short disruption. That short disruption would only be used to make room for escape, as fighting head-on with a heavy mech in a battle of mental networks could easily injure the invading pilot.

This time, however, the unstable mental network did not immediately kick out the hacker and instead triggered a warning inside the mech: “Caution, pilot must check human-mech sync rate, caution, pilot must…”

“What a piece of useless bullshit,” Duke cursed, “Give me the…”

A soldier quickly walked up to him before he could finish: “General, the mental network is being hacked from within!”

Duke was startled: “What did you say?”

The soldier said quickly: “There are traitors on the commanding ship, please be careful, General.”

Duke stared at the soldier’s face for a moment; the sixth sense he developed over the years of surviving the battlefield blaring a siren inside his head. WIthout second thought, he pulled out the laser gun from his waist and took a few steps back: “Stand still!”

The ‘soldier’ didn’t obey the orders as an eerie sneer filled his face. Duke’s personal guards charged up and surrounded the guard, who was completely unfazed by the turn of events. In a movement so swift that it was almost impossible to see with the naked eye, the few guards that ran forward all fell to the floor the next instant. Duke fired a shot right into the soldier’s chest, but the latter only trembled slightly as he continued making his way forward, ignoring the bloodied hole in his chest.

Duke stood aghast–this wasn’t a normal person!

Then what about the people who ambushed them from the outside? Were they really the AUS?

This area was already very close to the First Galaxy’s capital planet Wolto, which was heavily guarded by the military, so how did they manage to sneak in?

Was Woolf truly the one giving out commands behind the Union’s central government, or…

Within a few moments, he felt as if he saw a massive conspiracy in the shadows drop down before his eyes.

Soon after, he felt a cold object lock onto the back of his neck. Duke stared at the pool of blood before him, reached his hand back and realized his carotid artery was slashed open. He staggered a few steps forward and turned his head around in disbelief, only to see another assassin with the face of his vice admiral standing behind him with a ghostly smile. The next moment, that face slowly changed before Duke’s eyes and turned into a stranger’s face.

Opium…

But he realized it too late.

The communication channel within the Central Militia immediately broke down; the next moment, the mental network of the commanding ship fell into enemy hands as all cannons on the ship opened fire at the surrounding ally mechs. The Central Militia that controlled the battlefield earlier completely fell apart from within.

As a colonel, Lorde was supposed to be on standby during conflicts like this and wait by the launching deck of the heavy mech for the next orders, ready to sail out to the frontlines at any moment. He had barely connected onto the mental network of the small mech and was about to report to the commanding ship’s cockpit when he heard the alert about the mental network hack. General Duke was assassinated immediately afterwards and sent out one last order before his last breath–request help from the Eighth Galaxy.

Lorde’s hand was covered with cold sweat. All unoccupied small mechs suddenly moved at the same time under the control of the heavy mech, which ordered everyone to disarm and surrender immediately.

Lorde bit down on his tongue and sailed his small mech out without hesitation. The Central Militia soldiers that were on standby in the deck followed him out; within the narrow launching deck, under endless sirens, the exchange of mech fire clouded Lorde’s vision. He had been enlisted for half a century, starting off with sending and receiving mail in the Silver Fortress, then followed Chief Woolf around like a clueless lackey. The number of times he had fired a missile could be counted on two hands, and had all been ordered by his higher-ups.

As a colonel, this was the first time he’d ever been on the frontlines of war.

Lorde yelled out desperately as he sent out the order to fire; a missile broke through the door of the launching deck. Soon after, an enemy’s missile also reached the tail of his mech; Lorde didn’t have time to react as he stiffened up his body, the range of his mental network contracting out of fear and instinct. A loud blast rang inside his ears as his vision blackened, almost falling off the mental network. When he regained consciousness, he discovered he had already left the heavy mech–an unknown colleague had blocked off the missile for him and even added an extra layer of shield for his mech, sacrificing their own mech under the missile blast. The aftershock of the explosion pushed Lorde’s mech out and dodged past the first wave of fire from the hijacked commanding ship.

Lorde’s face was cold; he couldn’t tell if it was tears or sweat rolling down his face, and made an emergency warp before he could turn his head around.

The Eighth Galaxy, in the Home of Commander Lin…

“Do you not have a sense of time anymore!?”

After multiple failed attempts at waking up the Prime Minister, the personal device on Lu Bixing’s wrist activated its little electric shock. The unfortunate Grand Marshal was once again pulled in as collateral damage, feeling as if he had just grabbed onto a cactus plant with his bare hands as the sting almost triggered a heart attack. He angrily tossed Lu Bixing’s hand away in response.

“I’ll stop, I’ll stop, I promise I’ll ban this thing from now on.” Lu Bixing frantically turned off his unique alarm.

Zhanlu once again appeared out of nowhere: “Excuse me…”

Lu Bixing interrupted: “I know, we’re going to be late, we’re getting ready.”

“That’s not it, sir, Headmaster Lu,” Zhanlu’s voice almost sounded more stern than usual, “The Milky Way City Command Post sent an emergency telegram—”