Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 156

Chapter 156 – A Bad Feeling

The Eighth Galaxy and the Border Patrol of the First Galaxy had always been on rather friendly terms and were both quite respectful toward each other. Before the wormhole was closed off, the Eighth Galaxy sent out three separate warnings followed by the disruption signals.

The First Galaxy Patrol fleet all backed out of the Heart of the Rose out of safety concerns.

Inside the empty forbidden zone of the Heart of the Rose, the massive galactic signal post trembled slightly and began distorting in the direction toward the center of the forbidden zone. The next moment, the signal post snapped in half as countless pieces of equipment inside the massive body poured out like droplets of water, which were later sucked into the center of the gravitational field.

The backup engine of a small mech someone must have left behind caused a series of small explosions around the area. The outward flow of oxygen into the void of space quickly subsumed the explosions as the engine crashed into the remnants of space waste. These colliding objects then quietly flowed into the massive graveyard inside the Heart of the Rose.

All remaining artificial objects left in the area began to collapse in a grand apocalyptic scene.

If anyone were to witness this scene, perhaps they wouldn’t be instilled with fear. Fragile carbon lifeforms might be as weak as an ant under this overwhelming force of power, but beneath this awesome display was a shadow of man-made production.

The process of collapse lasted a full three hours, turning the Heart of the Rose that had just recently gained some liveliness back into a deserted forbidden land.

Perhaps they still lacked the technology for a smoother process, but the closing-off of the wormhole this time was a tremendous feat that sent off waves of high-energy particles like leakages of water. The First Galaxy Patrols backed off six sailing days away from the wormhole zone and could still feel the lingering effects of the abnormal energy disruption; even the transfer portals nearby were completely shut down. Out of safety concerns, they finally decided to fully retreat from the Heart of the Rose.

Therefore, nobody noticed that the ‘whirlpool’ inside the Heart of the Rose settled down temporarily about ten Woltorian days after the large commotion of the Eighth Galaxy shutting off the wormhole. Soon after, a full fleet of superdimensional mechs sailing in the shadows appeared out of the wormhole zone and gathered up within the Heart of the Rose.

These mechs mimicked the disruption of the wormhole’s energy waves and created a fake flow of disruption that was later amplified through special equipment, spreading out toward every corner of the First Galaxy. They manually covered up the Heart of the Rose with danger signs for display, as if the Eighth Galaxy was still currently ‘closed up.’

The heavy mech fleet hid inside the Heart of the Rose on standby, then a disguised civilian starship sailed out from one of the heavy mechs. The starship swiftly sailed around the Heart of the Rose from the other direction and silently snuck into a remote supply station, waiting patiently to enter the First Galaxy.

“With this speed, we’ll be in line for at least another two hours. The First Galaxy’s efficiency in customs is certainly impressive, has it always been like this?”

A man walked down from the top observatory deck of the starship as he commented.

He was wearing an awfully fitted dress shirt with a unique cut; it was fitted enough where an extra centimeter would hide his waistline, but a centimeter less would be too tight to wear. It looked almost like any normal white collared shirt, but glistened in a spectacular glow under the dimmed lights of the bar. It looked almost a little too cheeky for a proper collared shirt. His pupils were artificially altered into a deep green color and the natural curls of his hair had been bleached to a lighter blonde color and brushed back into a clean and docile all-back style. This clean-cut hairstyle further contrasted his sharpened features over the last few years, grinding off every last bit of modest and gentle aura that normally surrounded the man.

No stranger or acquaintance that ever interacted with him on a daily basis would have recognized that this was that forever dependable Prime Minister Lu of the Eighth Galaxy.

The lower level of the starship had a little bar. Lin Jingheng slid a glass of wine over the counter from behind the bar to him. His gaze scanned the other man from head to toe discreetly as he responded: “The First Galaxy is normally quite cautious, but this certainly is a bit too much.”

Border customs were of course all manned by AIs; they were both walking databases and workers with extremely high work efficiency. Normally it would take only one minute to scan through an entire merchant ship–there was no reason why there would be such a long line.

“Maybe there’s a human checkpoint after the machine checks.” Lin Jingheng said, “The old Sidereal Era fell from their overdependence on AIs, so when the NSC era began, the Union was very careful about AI safety. Government examinations for Artificial Intelligence are very strict; calling stops to investigations is common and the risk of new research is extremely high, so naturally there aren’t a lot of investors. Instead, AI controls, management, and defense became popular subject areas, leading to about 300 years of academic and developmental imbalance. Normal worker AIs are easy targets for hackers, so if any emergency situation arose, they wouldn’t have time to do a full upgrade of the robots and would just add an extra human checkpoint on top of regular security…the atmosphere is heavy here, looks like something did happen to Duke.”

Lu Bixing frowned at ‘human checkpoint’: “Human scans? Will we run into any issues with that?”

“Don’t worry, Prime Minister.” A voice suddenly rang out from the dark corner. If it wasn’t for Lu Bixing’s chip that gave him more sensitive hearing and that he already knew someone was standing there, he would’ve jumped in shock. The speaker was Bayer from the Silver Tenth Squadron. “Old Lee can take care of it, that’s his job.”

“After Eden broke down, Lee took the First Squadron and wandered the galaxies while building multiple fake identities along the way in case of emergencies,” Lin Jingheng responded airly. “Everything from the starship we’re on right now to the person you’re roleplaying has a full story behind it. If border customs could catch us, he would be jobless by now.”

Lu Bixing nodded in response. The next moment, he leaned on the bar counter with both arms to reach Lin Jingheng’s ears.

The latter thought there was some important news and naturally closed in to listen, only to hear Lu Bixing whisper to him: “If you want to check me out, just do so openly without shame. You know, your little glances every so often are starting to turn into sexual harassment, mister.”

Their false identity had been arbitrarily assigned through the First Squadron’s database that followed the rule of ‘the most contrasting character with the smallest change.’ Lu Bixing’s real colors were hidden behind the fake green pupils at this moment, shadows of his character peeking out through the product of technology. The blend of authenticity and deceptive front created a mysterious but captivating sense of allure, not unlike a sweet and tempting poison.

However, there was a certain Captain of the Tenth Squadron waiting with his ears perked up on the side, so Lin Jingheng had no choice but to maintain self-restraint and composure. He pinched Lu Bixing’s chin with his fingers and pushed him away: “Screw off, lover boy, don’t bother me.”

He quickly pulled up his personal device to cover himself and flipped quickly through the Wolto Daily from the last few days: “This is all pointless news; the Wolto Daily’s used to earning their pats on the back by riling up public opinion, so they’re always out for scandals they can fry up in their pans. The last time they were this quiet was when Woolf took down the Committee and dragged the media into a scandal–in other words, they sense the impending danger but still aren’t sure which side to stay on.”

“General Duke was assassinated on his way back to the capital planet, so it’s natural that the atmosphere is hostile as the Central Militias demand an explanation from the Union government.” Lu Bixing straightened up from the counter and showed a more disciplined look on his face as he spoke. “From the outside, there isn’t a reason for the Union government to kill Duke in their territory, and the situation right now isn’t stable enough for them to sit down leisurely and carefully grind out the rotten grains from their stock. So clearly, some pirates are mingling and purposely souring the relationship between the two; at least that’s what everyone would think.”

Lin Jingheng lifted his gaze: “So?”

“So what should I do if I were the Union government, feeling that the situation is still unstable, the pirates are still lurking in the shadows, and relationships between the Union and Central Militias are growing more unfriendly by the day? It’s a matter of profits and power–I certainly can’t rely on good merits and words to win over public opinion, so I can only deliver a common enemy to direct all the attention onto. That way, through this wavering and uncertain situation with everyone standing on their toes, I can reunite the lost lambs together with a clear goal.” Lu Bixing picked up the wine glass and twirled it a bit in his hands. His whole body was covered in a bold and almost flashy outfit, like a snazzy host, but the moment he opened his mouth he once again returned to the familiar Prime Minister Lu. “That way, ‘the pirates assassinated Duke’ would become a great headline that could emphasize the wicked arrogance of the pirates. This would further rile up the anger of the Central Militia and turn their frustration away from the Union—see, even the pirates think that the Union and Central Militia need a bit of fuel between them to escalate the conflict. Doesn’t that mean it should be time for everyone to unite together instead?”

Bayer peeked his head out from the shadows: “Prime Minister, so you’re saying that the Union government might be the ones behind this assassination.”

“If the blame of this assassination gets placed on the Freedom Corps, it’s very likely that it’s the work of the Union government.” Lu Bixing said in a low tone, “But what’s strange to me is that according to the information that was leaked to the Eighth Galaxy, it was the AUS that killed Duke. Woolf is behind the AUS, this is a fact that we all know, and according to what General Lee said, after the AUS recovered from the great battle that year, they’ve been rather quiet. Isn’t it a bit strange to suddenly pull them back out again at this time to be the punching bag? Isn’t Woolf scared of playing with fire here?”

Lin Jingheng: “So you think that the rumor about Woolf being turned into someone’s puppet might be true.”

Bayer interrupted: “But Prime Minister, that doesn’t sound very realistic. Woolf may be old but he’s reaching a level above mortals, who could possibly control him?”

“Doctor Hardin brought up this man multiple times during our conversations,” Lu Bixing said. “I’ve heard that Woolf had refused to have his name on the forbidden fruit’s list and was quite upset about Hardin’s betrayal to the Union. But the same man many years later didn’t hesitate to sacrifice two whole galaxies to cover up the fact that his name was on the list–what do you think? This is a striking contrast that sounds almost like he was being controlled, don’t you think? Whether he was being controlled by his own obsessions or by outside forces, the fact still remains the same: there is a weakness in his heart. No matter how powerful a person may seem, how fearsome their tactics may be, they can’t make up for that bit of weakness in their hearts. Anyone that manages to find it can poke at that weak spot and claim a life.”

Lin Jingheng’s heart skipped a beat momentarily as he lifted his head up and looked at Lu Bixing.

Lu Bixing gave him an understanding but peaceful smile: “But a skinny camel is still larger than a horse; it’s not likely that Woolf would let anyone control him that easily, he may have kept another trick up his sleeves. The two messages of ‘Woolf became a puppet’ that we received might have been important hints he was sending out.”

Bayer could almost feel his brain overload and explode like a volcano, quietly thinking that it may be better for him to remain an innocent and pure little galactic assassin. He didn’t dare to speak up again due to his slow processing speed and could only give Lin Jingheng a slightly concerned look. This was the first time in his life that he worried that their infamously cunning Marshal might lose in a battle of wits one day.

Lu Bixing picked up a little pack of snacks and handed it over to the distressed Bayer: “That’s why we’re here to see things for ourselves personally.”

This all had to be traced back to the time when the Milky Way City Command Post first received two completely contradicting messages—

One was an SOS, the other was a stern warning. The entire meeting room blew up in shock as the Generals of the Silver Ten all turned their gaze towards Lin Jingheng. The latter remained silent and didn’t give any visible reactions.

Lu Bixing raised a hand to calm down the commotion: “Seems like the players on both sides of the bet are forcing us to make a decision immediately.”

“Prime Minister, the more conservative decision is always the best option.” Someone from the Eighth Galaxy Financial Department spoke up and then turned towards Lin Jingheng, saying, “Right, Marshal? A similar thing happened before and we almost lost you; it wouldn’t hurt to be a little bit more conservative this time to avoid following in the same footsteps, right?”

Before Lin Jingheng could answer, Lu Bixing responded in his place: “The more conservative option is not always the safest option; we can’t determine right now if there are any parties out there that want us to seclude ourselves in the Eighth Galaxy.”

The Minister of Finance said, “What kind of threat would an enemy that wants us to seclude ourselves pose? I believe that as long as we have the Marshal and the Silver Ten with us, even if they open up the wormhole from the outside, we can still guard our homeland without issues.”

“Then what if we’re all gone?” Lu Bixing once again interrupted Lin Jingheng before the latter could even open his mouth. “Besides, even if we managed to guard the wormhole zone, we aren’t living in a void. It takes only a century to sail from the Union to Qiming even without transfer portals, and if we take galactic transportation technology’s advancement into consideration, the time could be cut shorter into an unimaginable scale. Perhaps 50 years…or even twenty years, ten years.”

The Minister of Finance didn’t have words to respond.

“Let’s also consider the worst case scenario here,” Lu Bixing said. “We don’t close off the Eighth Galaxy. In the worst scenario, we would see a repeat of the events that happened in the first Independent year. But the good news is, unlike where we were at during that time, we finally have our own military and proper fleets, so we can’t possibly face the same loss as we did before. If we close off the Eighth Galaxy, it would be hard to tell what the worst case scenario is….perhaps a force none of us sitting here would wish to see will take over the Union and turn it into a world we don’t wish to see. Here’s an example–like the Freedom Corps.”

The Minister of Finance once again looked at Lin Jingheng, but the latter could sense that Lu Bixing refused to let him talk, so he decided to keep quiet.

“A classic sci-fi horror trope in ancient earth times was the concept of mankind versus ‘bugs’ in an all-out war; this often reflected the ancients’ fear of insects as a species. The fear didn’t stem solely from their grostique appearances, but also the fundamental societal structure of them that elimited all individuality. Now imagine a human society that is a direct copy of that, where every individual person is a superhuman with unbelievable power, and they still manage to completely obey their social hierarchy and status by sacrificing their lives to carry out all orders under those conditions while maintaining cognitive abilities. What do you think will happen to us if we face them? Don’t look at the Marshal–if it really does end up at that point, even ten of Marshal Lin won’t be enough to deal with them.”

Lu Bixing grabbed onto Lin Jingheng’s clenched fist under the table and carefully but forcefully pulled those tightened fingers apart.

Don’t say those fake words you don’t truly believe in. Lu Bixing gave him a glance and thought to himself, If I was in the Union gambling with them, my bet would also be that you won’t sleep on this.

Prime Minister Lu gave the final word at the meeting: “We can’t give up this opportunity to choose our path in history.”

Thus, the plan to secretly dispatch the Eighth Galaxy troops out of the Heart of the Rose was settled. The Silver Sixth Squadron’s main fleet remained on standby in the Heart of the Rose, then the Galactic Expedition Team provided the technological support and faked an abnormal energy wave of shutting down the wormhole.

The Ninth Squadron remained the last line of defense stationed on the other side of the wormhole.

The SIlver First Squadron acted as the secret service squad that provided the fake IDs and identities. Finally, an elite espionage team of professionals from the Silver Tenth Squadron followed along and escorted the spies into the First Galaxy.

This was the first time in Lu Bixing’s life, excluding the time he sailed around the Heart of the Rose, that he came in contact with human society outside of the Eighth Galaxy. He felt as if his own two eyes were not enough for him; he munched on some snacks down at the bar, chatted with Lin Jingheng briefly and ran back up to the observatory deck on the starship. He studied the supply station and unarmed starships of the First Galaxy, sending countless messages to the ships beside him and chatted a whole world away during the two-hour line wait. Finally, after mapping out a whole family tree of these strangers he’d just met and listening to a whole rant from a luxury item merchant, he managed to gather up enough information to estimate the economic situation of the First Galaxy after the war.

Lin Jingheng couldn’t go with him because the cursed system from the First Squadron had assigned him the role of a sickly man that needed a wheelchair. He needed to avoid unnecessary activity to be in character for this role. Of course, it wasn’t that easy of a job originally. Lu Bixing absolutely refused to let him use drugs to melt down his muscle tissues and without the help of drugs, having to act as a sick patient for extended periods of time would risk exposing their identities. Therefore, in order to make things more ‘realistic’, Lee had no choice but to suggest to his boss to not move around so much.

Bayer walked over and shook hands with Zhanlu’s robotic arm that was draped across the corner of the bar counter: “You haven’t returned to the First Galaxy in about twenty years, how does it feel to come back and pay it a visit?”

Lin Jingheng sighed: “I can only remember the terminal maps of the First Galaxy and the locations of the stationed troops……I have a bad feeling about this.”

Lin Jingheng’s words of fortune were equivalent to curses, and bad feelings often became reality.

Wolto, mid-level mountain ranges, the Chief’s Mansion.

The guards by the backdoor were switching shifts when the light in the robotic security’s eyes flashed a few times before suddenly vanishing completely.