Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 163

Chapter 163 – A Fatal Mistake

The hardness on the surface of the slide was adjustable, covered in soft material all around the tunnel, making it safe even if the speed down the slide was too fast. The soft part that touched the person sliding down was the perfect smoothness for comfort and could also be adjusted based on voice control at any time. The fresh scent of oranges suddenly swept out of the tunnel and greeted Lu Bixing: “Zhanlu?”

“The mist inside the slide will automatically choose your favorite smell when you slide down,” Zhanlu’s voice rang out, “but it didn’t recognize you earlier and failed to load the data, so I reloaded the new data into it.”

Lu Bixing had already reached the bottom floor by the end of this short conversation. His speed suddenly dropped as a soft obstacle arose within the tunnel, like countless hands protecting him, letting him land safely. Right by the exit, a 3D projection appeared.

It was almost as if Lu Xin had sprouted up from the ground as he gave a wide grin at the young man exiting the slide: “You’re speeding a bit here, little one.”

That projection was life-sized with a visual that was almost identical to a real person; Lu Bixing’s heart jumped in shock as it suddenly appeared. He pulled his legs back a little before slowly standing up and discovered that the legendary Commander Lu Xin was indeed about the same height as him. Every little action by the projection made it seem as if they’d known each other for decades.

Lu Bixing held out his hand; the Lu Xin in the projection also held out a hand and touched the tip of Lu Bixing’s finger gently. The young man was startled as he turned his gaze back up in disbelief, almost thinking he had touched a real person.

“It’s a technology created by nano electric waves that made it seem like real touch.” Zhanlu explained, “He considered that perhaps you wouldn’t know how to control your speed down the slide as a young child and would be scared falling off the slide, so he created a virtual replica of himself. That way, you could hold your own father’s hand even when he wasn’t home.”

Lu Bixing stared into the eyes of the projection for a few moments: “He…won’t move anymore?”

Zhanlu explained: “This is a pre-recorded projection like the default start screen on a computer. It’s not an AI, Headmaster Lu; but there’s another pre-recorded action, you can try holding his hand.”

“Ah, no it’s fine, that’s a little too childish.” Lu Bixing waved his hand off awkwardly and walked out on his own.

Lu Xin’s gaze from the projection followed him as he walked off; those dark brown eyes reflected a hint of warmness that was almost too real, almost as if he really was sending off the young man with a gratified yet proud hint of loneliness.

Lu Bixing: “……”

He let out a sigh, turned his head slightly to exchange a glance with Lu Xin, then finally turned his whole body around in defeat and grabbed that virtual hand. The realistic touch brushed against his skin, almost making him feel as if he really was holding the hand of Lu Xin himself. That man before him stood proudly with broad shoulders; a few little strands of hair stuck out from the back of his head as he led the young man out the door with his large silhouette and said the last recorded line.

“Dad’s here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

The door at the end of the slide tunnel opened up and let in the light from outside. Lu Bixing stood bewildered as the touch to his hand and the projection before him both disappeared; he subconsciously turned around while still gripping that warmness from the hand earlier……

There was nothing left.

Lin Jingheng waited by the elevator for him. It was breaking dawn outside as the light of the Woltorian sun cast brightly over his shoulders. Lin Jingheng stood a few steps away and looked quietly at Lu Bixing.

Across timespace, all feelings merged and moved a cold heart.

Lu Bixing’s smooth talk, smooth words, had all malfunctioned at that moment as he stared in awe at the man before him, unable to even make a sound.

He truly had known this man before he was born.

Yet at this time, Lee jolted over and broke the strange atmosphere between the two: “Prime Minister, Marshal!”

Lin Jingheng pulled his thoughts back and turned: “What is it?”

“A message from Poisson,” Lee explained in a hurry, “the Freedom Corps launched a massive all-out attack throughout all the galaxies; the number of hidden biochip humans among the masses is rising exponentially. They didn’t even bother with galactic troops this time and went straight to kidnapping all governments and important political organizations within the seven galaxies.”

Bayer, who had also received the message, ran over by the time Lee finished his report.

Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng asked in unison: “What’s the source of the information?”

“It’s all from the secret communication ports the Third Squadron left throughout the Union many years ago,” Lee said. “From what we’ve gathered so far, it seems like the capital planet of the Second Galaxy has already fallen.”

Bayer didn’t catch on fast enough and asked: “Why did they choose to act in the Second Galaxy? Is there some strategic reason for it?”

“No,” Lu Bixing responded lowly, “it may be because the Second Galaxy is the closest in distance, so news from the other galaxies hasn’t had the chance to make it over yet.”

Lin Jingheng: “It takes a longer time for a signal for a secret port to transmit than through a standard long-distance port; it would take at least ten hours for the message to be received if it was sent from the Second Galaxy. There is only one scenario where someone would willingly choose to send messages through the secret port: the network and long-distance communication signals are completely blocked off within the galaxy. I’m afraid the Second Galaxy Central Militia on Wolto right now hasn’t received any news about it yet.”

Lee’s eyes widened in shock while Bayer trembled fearfully as a horrifying image all flashed across their minds–

Friends and colleagues beside them suddenly unleashed the terrible faces beneath their disguises while the biochip consumed the entire seven galaxies like an unstoppable virus. These biochip humans were all-powerful superhumans, exponentially more powerful than the average man. They could hack into human-machine ports at any given time, rendering all digital equipment useless. They would take over natural planets, space stations, and even military fortresses…every corner of the universe where humans lived. The injection process of the biochip was swift and easy; once a body fully accepted the opium’s modification, the host would willingly kneel before the Freedom Corps pirates.

Wouldn’t that turn the entire Union into a biochip empire overnight?

Who or what else could possibly stop them?

On Neverland, Lin Jingshu stood before a massive galactic map after a restless night. Aside from the First and Eighth Galaxies, all places of human habitation were being consumed by a black void at a fearsome speed.

Some of these changes were quiet and discreet while most people were still asleep.

Yet others were like a storm overnight–

“Are the funeral guests preparing to enter the service?” Lin Jingshu asked. “Contact Wang Ailun and tell him that we’re ready.”

Most funerals for important figures on Wolto were held in the morning, so guests would often begin preparing before sunrise. By the time the sky was bright, they would be ready to attend the service; for a funeral on a scale as large as Woolf’s, the preparation time was much longer than usual.

Inside the Union Parliament building that had been on lockdown for a whole night, a few small robots walked out cautiously before the sun rose to distribute the formal attire and white flowers to each guest. They originally wanted to mark down a list of guests attending the funeral, only to be shooed away by the guns from the Central Militias.

An exhausted and disheveled Wang Ailun received the signal, a flash of light crossing his spiritless eyes. He stood up nonchalantly and walked towards the generals of the Central Militias as he lowered his head to announce: “My friends, it seems like we should be heading out now.”

The General of the Second Galaxy’s Central Militia was a thin middle-aged man by the name of Zheng Di who always looked stern due to the sharpened features from his sunken cheeks. He lifted his head up to give Wang Ailun a quick, distasteful glance–a secretary was a good position for a career. It was a great opportunity to gain some experience when one was still young, and the tough tasks given to secretaries were often good foundations for future careers in both the military and politics. However, to be a personal secretary for someone for most of one’s life and spend one’s days like a caretaker seemed a little too easy and not deserving of respect in Zheng Di’s eyes.

He thought the secretary before him was an unpolished blob both inside and out; the more Wang Ailun kneeled and begged them, the more he loathed his pitifulness. He finally chose to ignore the secretary by giving an arrogant snort in response, ignoring the ragged Secretary General like air and turned his head back to announce: “Let’s send off the old Chief!”

With the single command, all the armed mobiles behind him flashed their miniature cannons and fired compressed air up into the air like bullets.

The loud shot pierced through the skies, scared off even the early birds of Wolto, and shook the entire Parliament building. Wang Ailun’s ears buzzed in discomfort as he continued to maintain a forced smile on his face, tasting a bit of blood as he ground his teeth beneath that smile: “After you, Officer Zheng.”

The moment Zheng Di raised a foot to step onto the stage, his Vice Admiral quickly made his way through the crowd and reported something into his ear in a whisper.

The expression on the face of the Second Galaxy’s Central Militia General was that of disbelief: “What did you say? Who’s contacting me?”

The Vice Admiral’s gaze scanned past Wang Ailun on the side; Zheng Di’s eyebrows scrunched up slightly as he turned to leave the Secretary General out in the cold and walked back to his own armed mobile.

“Jing…Lin…” The moment Zheng Di saw Lin Jingheng’s face through the long-distance communication screen inside the armed mobile, his jaw dropped in shock as he stuttered for a few moments. After struggling to decide whether he should call the man on the screen by his full name or show some courtesy and call him ‘Commander’ or ‘Marshal,’ he finally asked: “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Eighth Galaxy? Isn’t the Eighth Galaxy supposed to be closed off already?”

“It’s me,” Lin Jingheng skipped over the small talk, “Old Zheng, is the long-distance communication in the Second Galaxy blocked off?”

Zheng Di was startled for a moment before he turned his head abruptly.

The soldier beside him responded, confused: “It’s not…there’s still a signal; the internet time of the Second Galaxy is still accurate.”

Lin Jingheng: “It should be around noon time on the capital planet of the Second Galaxy already. Did you receive today’s daily headline notification?”

The soldier: “……”

Who would even care about their hometown’s news headlines at a time like this?

Yet Zheng Di immediately realized what was going on: “You fool, who would openly cut off all your signals and announce to you that they had blocked off your communication channels? Connect me to the Second Galaxy’s Central Command Post right now!”

The soldier ran out of the mobile.

“It’s too late,” Lin Jingheng explained quickly, “it’s very likely that the capital planet of the Second Galaxy has already been taken over by the biochip humans of the Freedom Corps. We’re not sure how many of these same biochip humans exist on Wolto, but you’ve all fallen into the enemy’s trap; retreat immediately!”

At the same time, Wang Ailun stood alone back on the stage and realized something had been off with that Vice Admiral’s expression before they left.

Soon after, Lin Jingshu received a message from Wang Ailun: “High chances we’ve been exposed already, move on with the plan.”

A handful of fifth generation chip carriers held their breaths as they waited for her orders.

Lin Jingshu lifted a hand, the fifth generations stepped out from hiding–

An eerie and heavy air spread throughout the Central Militias at the funeral. Soon after, the generals and soldiers that were ready to step inside the Parliament building all turned around without a word and returned to their armed mobiles ready to retreat.

That was when an unexpected event happened.

A row of laser guns shot into the crowd of people waiting to attend the funeral service; cries and screams of horror quickly consumed the entire hall. A few of the guests in the mix suddenly took off their clothing to reveal bodies covered in guns and explosives, firing at the Central Militias that were about to flee.

Those assassins were like the superhumans depicted in ancient sci fi films, their actions so fast they were almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Every single one of them had the ability to wipe out a whole team of professional soldiers and were completely unfazed by traditional weapons. Multiple little explosions of blood leaking out of gunshot wounds did not slow them down a single bit, making it almost seem like a horrifying real-life zombie chase.

Yet while the civilian crowd panicked all around, the Central Militias held their ground and quickly pulled up their shields in seamless cooperation. They artfully switched between offensive and defensive tactics as they escorted their superiors’ armed mobiles outside of firing range.

Wang Ailun was already hiding in his safe zone and felt a layer of cold sweat rolling down his back as he watched this exchange. He then pulled his personal device back up and called out: “I wanted to wait for them to enter the hall and lock them inside to destroy them, I didn’t expect them to notice right before they stepped foot inside. Jingshu, we can’t go on like this, your handful of biochip humans can’t hold out against a full fleet and take the head of their commanders; we’d be done if they all manage to retreat back up to space!”

Lin Jingshu consoled him half-heartedly: “Don’t worry, Uncle Ailun. The backups are on their way.”

Wang Ailun was a bit shocked: “You have backup?”

Lin Jingshu let out a light chuckle. The next moment, all the armed mobiles on site rang out in a high-energy alert; another group of close-range armed mobiles closed in and surrounded the Central Militias seemingly out of nowhere. It was difficult to judge their numbers at a glance, but these mobiles didn’t even give a second thought to the unarmed civilians on the streets and fired a round of particle cannons right into the Central Militia fleets.

The aftershock travelled past the Parliament building, which then trembled under the threat of these large weapons of mass destruction. Wang Ailun cursed under his breath as he took his own bodyguards down to the shelter space inside the building. A shade of unease flashed over his mind–he didn’t know where or how Lin Jingshu had managed to get all of these armed mobiles behind his back.

Conspirators were always like this; when their partner didn’t have a backup plan, they would think their partner was foolish and lacked adaptability.

Yet when their partner did keep a backup plan in case of emergencies, one would fall into another spiral of suspicion and wonder if their partner hadn’t truly shown their cards.

“I really can’t keep this madwoman around,” Wang Ailun thought to himself, “it’s one thing to use pirates short-term, any long-term cooperation would be like teasing a monster, they’ll easily bite back at you.”

The important politicians of the Union all gathered up inside the refuge space and didn’t even bother with their political panderings as they all pulled Wang Ailun over: “Secretary General, are these pirates?”

“I’m afraid it’s the Freedom Corps.”

“My goodness! How could there be pirates on Wolto!?”

“What are those Woltorian Guards doing?! First they let the Central Militias forcefully land on the planet, now these pirates are almost breaking into the Parliament building and they’re still completely clueless! Are we going to be forced to flee to the City of Angels again?”

“Don’t mention the Central Militias, we should be glad they’re here–how many of those pirates are there, can the Central Militias hold out?”

Wang Ailun reached his hand out to calm the restless politicians. The moment of holding absolute authority in his hands once again filled him with confidence as he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm. Do not worry, for I already contacted all the Union Troops stationed around Wolto before daybreak, they should be arriving soon. By that time, regardless of the Central Militias or the pirates, nobody will be able to stop us; our troops are known to be one of the most powerful fleets in the universe, we’ll promise everyone’s safety.”

A message was received on his personal device the moment he finished his short speech.

Wang Ailun lifted a faint smile: “Our troops have already arrived at Wolto’s atmospheric zone.”

Regardless if it was the arrogant and crude Central Militia or the foolish Lin Jingshu, everyone was doomed to become his stepping stone–

At that moment, the security team of the Parliament building finally arrived as soldiers took teams of security robots into the refuge space Wang Ailun and his politicians were staying in. The anxious politicians finally let out a sigh of relief as they saw the security arrive.

Lin Jingshu put on her jacket on Neverland, ready to reap her fruits of victory.

She reached over to give a little fairy a pat on the head, “The surprise is here, Uncle Ailun.”

Inside the hall of the Parliament building, Wang Ailun fixed his suit and walked out of the crowd, ready to take command of the security team: “You all are too late.”

The captain of the security team gave him a strange look: “Our bad, Secretary General.”

A split second later, Wang Ailun caught something off about the captain and stopped his footsteps abruptly. He saw the captain smile eerily, pull out his laser gun and pull the trigger after aiming the gunpoint at his chest.

Wang Ailun was pushed out of the way immediately by his own bodyguards and flew out a whole two meters away, almost feeling like his lungs were going to be thrown out. Inside the refuge space, all of the politicians began running in all directions for their lives like a pen of headless chickens. The security robots pulled out their guns and fired at the crowd as if they were being controlled by an invisible power; a corpse covered in gun wounds fell by Wang Ailun’s feet, the eyes of the victim still wide in shock.

Under the pressure of the situation, Wang Ailun pulled out his special permission as the Secretary General and ordered the highest level danger alert. But his personal device did not react to his orders.

That ‘security team captain’ slowly walked over to him, following a trail of blood, and lowered his gaze to look at the Secretary General. The captain’s knee had a visible open hole from a shot from Wang Ailun’s bodyguards earlier, but he walked as if it didn’t affect his movements.

Opium…biochip humans.

But how could it be?

How could a biochip human break through the Parliament building’s security check without his knowledge?

How many people did they have?

Lin Jingshu…had she been using him this whole time?

The captain took off his hat and opened his mouth. An eerie female voice came out of that mouth in a horrifying manner, the voice of Lin Jingshu: “Ding ding, surprise, Uncle Ailun.”

Wang Ailun’s pupils shrunk in shock but he no longer had the ability to fully digest everything that was happening in his mind as a laser gun shot right through his head between his eyebrows.

An unprecedented massacre began inside the Union’s Parliament building, the symbol of civilization of the New Sidereal Era.

A massive signal disruption was sent out from Wolto as the generals of the Central Militia realized they lost connection with their mechs up in space, along with all landlines on the planet.

Soon after, a new disruption shook the grounds of the capital planet as more and more pirate armed mobiles drove over, followed by crowds of anxious and fearful Woltorian civilians.

Early in the morning on the capital planet, many people didn’t even get the chance to be properly dressed. Some ran into the streets, others drove off like headless flies in their personal vehicles, but everyone all crowded near the central area in hopes of seeking help from the government.

Even if the Central Militias wanted to revolt, they were still a proper military unit and could not open fire on unarmed civilians. The useless Woltorian Guards were like dead fish in the water, so the Central Militias had to take on the job and open up the doors to let these civilians inside the central area.

Little did they know that was another fatal mistake—