Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 51

Chapter 51 – Era of the New Sidereal Calendar

Social status and a proper governing system were completely nonexistent in the past; to the residents of the Old Fart’s space station, they were just lackeys that followed their boss around like a street gang ready to pick a fight. But even among a group of delinquents, at least one person would have the ambition to move up the social ladder and seize any opportunity to open up a new path for everyone.

In the beginning, Saturday was just dragging along a bunch of his own lackeys to help Lu Bixing fix the main power source of the base. Now, even though he was just striking the iron while it’s still hot, he had somehow managed to build a real Self-Defense Squad.

It took a total of one week for Lu Bixing to return to the base with Lin due to the lack of fuel on their way back. During this week, Saturday assigned roles and ranks within his team of newly enlisted soldiers and even compiled a Self-Defense Force Regulations Manual with the help of Headmaster Lu’s four students.

With a solid structure and framework of operation, the Self-Defense Squad was starting to look a little more cohesive.

Despite all their efforts, however, this newly formed Self-Defense Squad was still nothing more than a group of kids playing war games in their backyard in the eyes of Commander Lin. They say unity is strength, but even ants can build an impressive underground fortress out of sand with their sheer amount of power. Lin Jingheng felt like a microbiologist looking at them through a microscope; while the feat was impressive, nothing could guarantee that this fortress they built from scraps and dirt would be able to withstand a real storm.

“We train for six hours a day, starting with the basics of mech piloting and fixed point patrols. We’re not that experienced with this, so any advice on what we should do next would be appreciated!” Saturday said enthusiastically to Lu Bixing as he entered the mech station with his team of trainees. Perhaps Saturday had gained some confidence after recently being appointed captain of the Self-Defense Squad, or perhaps he had heard too much gossip, but even the cold Commander Lin suddenly became a little bit less distant in his eyes. Saturday mustered up his courage and initiated a conversation: “Commander Lin, did your…uh, that fortress thing…do the same kind of training back then?”

Lin’s stoic reply came while carrying Zhanlu: “No, professional galactic soldiers of the IU don’t do training for individual tasks. The Security Commission of the IU Council required all soldiers of the IU undergo non-specified training at least ten hours a day.”

“No-non specified…?” Saturday looked at him dumbly. “Does that mean they can totally just slack off in training?”

“Maybe.” Lin Jingheng responded coolly. “At least, I believe they slacked off more than just a little, otherwise they wouldn’t have been so weak and useless.”

Lu Bixing took the chance to ask: “What about the Silver Ten? Do they follow the standard training requirements?”

“No. The Silver Ten has a total of 6 hours of sleeping time and 3 hours max reserved for meal breaks, internal affairs and repair or maintenance. Aside from special circumstances, we don’t get that much free time.” Lin Jingheng walked past the two without batting an eye towards the Executive Building. “Besides, it’s not like those space pirates rest either.”

Lin Jingheng’s words were meant to discourage Saturday from attempting the impossible.

Compared to the well-off families in the First Galaxy that could afford to send their kids off for proper military training at a young age, these congenitally defective bean sprouts of the Eighth Galaxy are in no shape to call themselves a legitimate military unit. They really think they can become heroes overnight just by coming up with some cool catchphrases and putting on a cape; what kind of joke is this?

Out of consideration for Lu Bixing’s friend, Lin purposely shot them down in a more roundabout way to avoid hurting some fragile feelings. Unfortunately, Saturday was not familiar with this unique Woltorian way of speech and started calculating these times on his own personal device.

“Hey, did you get that?” Lu Bixing nudged him.

“I think…he meant that we’re not training enough?” Saturday responded dubiously.

In more regrettable news, Lu Bixing also completely misinterpreted the commander’s words: “What he’s saying is, if you guys can train up to the standards of the Silver Ten he’ll personally train your squad. Have you ever heard of the Silver Ten?”

Saturday shook his head.

Lu Bixing continued: “The Silver Ten are the real elites of the IU. Back before they disbanded, they were the powerhouse of the Silver Fortress. Space pirates wouldn’t even dare step inside the eight galaxies because of them. They’ve never lost a single battle and were known as the ultimate guardians of the eight galaxies…so, what do you say?”

Saturday’s eyes brightened at every word that came out of him.

Lu Bixing leaned in closer to Saturday, and in a tone that sounded no different than a shady missionary of a cult, he whispered: “Do you want to become the new Silver Ten?”

Saturday almost found himself saying yes, but then collected his senses. “But…but we’re just a bunch of outlaws.”

“No buts.” Lu Bixing’s expression hardened. “Haven’t you ever heard of that ancient saying? ‘Real men don’t turn back.’ Keep moving forward. If the IU says you’re trash, does that mean you’re trash? Look at Wolto right now, it’s completely beaten up, why are you still hung up on those outdated social values?”

Saturday, inspired by this pep talk, ran off energetically as if he had injected steroids. High on adrenaline, he even forgot to ask why the Old Fart didn’t come back with Commander Lin.

Pleased by his successful marketing, Lu Bixing strolled behind him for a few steps. As Saturday’s silhouette began to disappear, Lu Bixing slowly picked up his own pace and rushed excitedly to find Lin Jingheng.

Lin Jingheng felt like some weird greater power had been messing with his luck lately. He had barely managed to escape the endless chatterbox from the exhausting journey back to the station, and now he found himself being greeted by a visibly displeased Monoeye Hawk near the Executive building.

The bird boy on a pirate ship, the Nuwa Project, and Lu Bixing’s bizarre genetic profile…Lin Jingheng had too many questions. Upon seeing Monoeye Hawk, he hurriedly called him over: “Perfect timing old man, I need to speak to…”

“I have nothing to talk to you about!” The hotheaded Monoeye Hawk didn’t even let the other man finish. “Little bastard, I knew you were shameless before but I can’t believe I underestimated just how shameless you could be!”

Lin Jingheng looked baffled: “What now, did I step on your tail while I was sleepwalking?”

Monoeye Hawk howled: “I’ll never let you have my son, I swear you better give up for good!”

In regards to Lu Bixing’s true identity, the two of them had already come to a silent agreement on how to handle the information. Lin Jingheng wasn’t sure what got to this old feline that made him bring up this issue again but couldn’t be bothered to find out, so he just sneered back: “And what makes you think you can tell me what to do?”

Lu Bixing overheard the two bickering again from behind, and dashed over to break up the commotion: “Dad, he’s already exhausted from this trip, let him rest!”

Monoeye Hawk: “…”

Lin Jingheng could feel that he was reaching his limit. One more word from Lu Bixing and his head might physically explode. He quickly ran off, not forgetting to leave the angry parent a parting line before he disappeared into the building: “You should keep a better eye on ‘your son’.”

To Monoeye Hawk, this was a direct provocation. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” he yelled back.

Lin Jingheng hummed back airily as he stepped into the elevator, not taking any of the threats to heart. The two somehow managed to bicker despite being on completely different wavelengths, successfully deepening the misunderstanding between them.

Lu Bixing saw that Lin ran off faster than a jackrabbit, leaving him in the lobby with his own dad ready to hand him a bloody scolding. Sensing that it wasn’t a good idea to stick around, Lu Bixing quickly blew a kiss back at his dad: “Hi dad, haven’t seen you in a while, I missed you a lot!”

The little rascal ran off before waiting for his beloved father to respond.

After managing to escape the chaotic father-son duo, Lin Jingheng went straight to the underground chamber and installed Zhanlu back onto the Model 3 to let him recharge. Before even taking the chance to sit down and take a sip of water, Lin Jingheng immediately made his way towards the private prison.

Mister Spencer had already spent a month in this prison cell. Aside from the robots that periodically came in to deliver meals, he hadn’t seen any living things since he got locked up.

At the sight of a living person, he jumped up and pulled up all the pride of an interstellar smuggler–to beg at the feet of Lin Jingheng.

He cried: “B4! Bro! I was wrong…I reflected over my actions for over a month here. I’m garbage, I owe Monoeye Hawk and all his brothers my life. If it wasn’t for the fact that I still have all the luggage here on this station to carry, I would cut myself up and repay with my life, I…”

Lin Jingheng wasn’t down to play physical tug-of-war with him, so he pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head.

Spencer immediately let go and backed off while attempting to squeeze out a friendly smile from his face, despite it being filled with tears and snot.

“Speak properly.” Ling Jingheng demanded.

“Listen bro,” Spencer calmed down a bit and lowered his voice. “Do you know what the situation is right now? When people are in the desert without water, even urine is valuable…I’d like to think I’m at least more useful than a puddle of pee, right? I can kneel down below everyone, or if that doesn’t work out, you can even rob my ancestors’ graves. Our home has always been here on the underground terminal since many generations ago…all my relatives are here! As long as you spare me I’ll do anything! Please let me out, I promise and swear on the graves of my family that I will not say anything to anyone! If I do, you can shoot me into swiss cheese!”

Despite having experienced people begging for their lives before him in the past, even Commander Lin himself couldn’t say that he had seen anyone invite him to rob their family’s grave. Perhaps the word “shame” really didn’t exist in Mister Spencer’s book, and Lin felt his eyelid twitch in frustration: “What can you do?”

“I have a spy in the pirate fleets.” Mister Old Fart sat up straight. “Really, I do. I picked up a birdman many years ago- human head with a bird body, but looks almost exactly like a human if you dress him up. I saved him once, but now he’s in the hands of the space pirates. I got my intel about the invasion into the Eighth Galaxy from him.”

Lin Jingheng’s heart skipped a beat, but he remained emotionless on the outside: “Spew out more bullshit and I’ll turn you into your favorite swiss cheese right now.”

“P-please don’t! I’m not lying!” Old Fart panicked. “You don’t believe me because you’ve never seen a real birdman right? Let me tell you, these genetically engineered human pets were extremely popular in the black market years ago. These pirates that were out to end bloodlines would go around and collect all these disabled people, then genetically engineer them into these awful half-human half-animal pets to sell to equally creepy rich buyers. Hybrids of humans and birds aren’t even that uncommon, there are also human snakes…”

Lin Jingheng interrupted irritably: “I know what genetically modified human pets are. They can’t survive outside of their individual breeding tanks, do you think I’d fall for your lies?”

“See bro, this is the part you don’t know. Think about it: we’re at a time where space travel is just like taking a stroll outside your own house. Body transplant? That’s nothing. If people really wanted to do it, it’s completely possible, it’s just that nobody does it.” Old Fart grinned in response. “The IU doesn’t do this because of ethics and whatnot. Space pirates don’t do it because of money. The faster it dies, the faster it sells, it’s all marketing! Why would we waste our energy to genetically modify something that can live for hundreds of years for a one-time transaction? Besides, the market for those special breeding tanks and supplies don’t generate much revenue either, only a fool would invest in something like that.”

Lin Jingheng taunted back with a sneer: “I’m surprised you guys learned microeconomics.”

“We didn’t, just bullshitting here. But the concept behind it is all the same.” Old Fart lowered his head. “Except someone broke the rules later. Probably an idiot or some crazy rich guy with too much time on his hands that wanted to show off. He spent a crazy amount of money…I’m not sure how much, but rumors said it was record-breaking. This guy grabbed a whole group of people to do research on human body transplant and called it the ‘Nuwa[1] Project’.”

Lin Jingheng lifted his gaze: “Nuwa? What a shameless name.”

Old Fart viciously nodded in agreement: “Isn’t it?! But unfortunately money does drive the world here. Even though technology is improving rapidly, it’s the money that decides where the future of research and technology goes. This project succeeded in the end, they even managed to create a group of genetically modified pets that could live outside breeding tanks like a normal human, and maintain the function of a human brain in some cases. That’s where the birdman came from.”

“That birdman,” Lin Jingheng asked supiciously. “What’s his name?”

“Huh?” Old Fart couldn’t comprehend the question. “What’s the name of the birdman? Birdman…it’s just a birdman, like a pet…”

“And then what?” Lin Jingheng once again interrupted.

“So like I just said, they broke the rules. If you have money you can buy yourself an extra bowl of food, but you can’t just break someone else’s bowl, you know? So this thing…the Nuwa Project, was eventually discovered by the masses. Collectors started to follow the project like crazy, but as for the merchants of the black market, everyone was upset at this new imbalance. As for others, many were just interested in this technology and tried to get on the bandwagon. It was like the whole world was after the people of the Nuwa Project…at the end, nobody involved in the original Nuwa Project was left. They were all killed, including the pets created from these experiments. That birdman just happened to be lucky and survive.”

Lin Jingheng caught right onto this bullseye and asked: “How did he manage to survive? And how did the information on this project leak in the first place?”

This time, the talkative Old Fart didn’t respond immediately and he looked away slightly.

However, he visibly curled up in fear when Lin Jingheng’s finger slid to the trigger of the laser gun, and finally answered weakly: “That birdman used to be a disabled orphan that nobody wanted. He had a few siblings that were also disabled, so those black market merchants disguised themselves as an orphanage and raised them for a little while. After they found out that it was too costly to cure their illnesses, they sold the group of orphans to the Nuwa Project. Aside from the birdman, none of them survived; two died in the lab, two others successfully became pets, but neither can live outside of their breeding tanks and they were sold to the black market.”

Lin Jingheng followed up: “How did you know?”

“People that go through the underground terminal all need to pass through my supply station. Whether it’s the Nuwa Project or the whatever project, nothing escapes my eyes.” Old Fart paused for a few seconds before continuing, “I got curious so I asked to visit the lab. I’ve been business partners with them for many years so they couldn’t really say no…”

“That’s when you found the birdman and even communicated with him while people weren’t watching,” Lin Jingheng said. “How did you communicate with him? You can read a bit of lip language, right? So you were the one that let the birdman escape.”

“I…uh, had a little too much to drink at that time and didn’t think about it.” Old Fart roughly wiped dried tears from his face. “He told me his two siblings that survived got sold to a big name space pirate and wanted to go find them. He begged me to take him out to the black market, and I was moved by his story…”

“Shut your trap, don’t give me that bullshit.” Lin Jingheng cut him off harshly. “The underground terminal’s toll price is determined by your total profit. You think I don’t know? Genetically engineered pets are your largest source of income; you’re the one that’s scared of breaking the rules and carrying the name of a traitor, aren’t you?”

Old Fart’s face turned slightly blue: “Uh….this is a bit…”

“You took the birdman out to the peripheral black market and sold him to the space pirate like he wanted you to. Do you have any idea who that buyer was?”

The Old Fart shook his head: “It’s a common rule within the black market to not disclose anyone’s identity, but there are very few who were obsessed with buying genetically engineered pets so…”

“You took him out to the black market and sold him to the pirates only after the Nuwa Project was completely obliterated and all test products were killed. You caught his interest with ‘the only surviving pet from the Nuwa Project’ and sold the birdman at a good price. The birdman was even grateful to you for helping him. Mister Spencer, you’re unbelievably manipulative for an underground merchant, no wonder you managed to live so long.” Lin Jingheng tapped Old Fart’s forehead with the gun. “What happened after?”

Old Fart stammered: “I-I haven’t seen this birdman for about 30 years. When I sold him, I told the buyer that this thing was very smart and was raised in the lab, so he knows how to repair and maintain breeding tanks. Taking him home meant he would never need to buy supplies from others and could just produce the materials on his own…”

Lin Jingheng slowly cracked his knuckles as the man spoke. Primal Alien kept genetically engineered pets behind other people’s backs; he wasn’t in a position to openly disclose his hobbies, and probably hosted multiple failed experiments on his own. No wonder that bird boy had so much freedom, he was like Primal Alien’s personal caretaker for his pets.

“Regular genetically engineered pets only live about two to three years at max even if you take good care of them. The birdman’s siblings are probably all dead now.” Old Fart lowered his voice even more. “I didn’t think he would live that long with the pirates. I took some men with me to the peripheral black market to collect some merchandise, and ran into the birdman in an auction…he couldn’t speak nor read nor understand sign language, so that pirate probably thought he was just taking a bird out for a walk. I was surprised this birdman still remembered me. He stepped on my foot when I passed by, and then told me in lip language while he kneeled down to clean my shoes that the pirates planned to invade the eighth galaxy in two months.”

“How long ago was the Nuwa Project?” Lin Jingheng asked.

“Around 30 years ago.” Old Fart tried to recall. “Regarding when they started…I’m not exactly sure, but when I discovered them for the first time they had already succeeded in their experiment. That was about….28 years ago.”

Lin Jingheng: “Who’s the sponsor?”

“This I really don’t know.” Old Fart said. “This…okay, I’ll admit I was the one that leaked the project, but everything else after was beyond my control because I didn’t mingle past that. But I suspect that the mysterious sponsor also had something to do with the silencing afterwards since they managed to clean everyone up.”

Lin Jingheng stood in silence.

Old Fart carefully studied Lin’s face, and butted in: “I’ve helped that birdman before and the pirates don’t know. He can be my little spy, so if you just let me out of here I’ll find a way to contact…”

Lin Jingheng gave him an extremely complicated look before he turned around and walked way, leaving the poor man’s cries to echo in the prison cell.

Dirty soils of corruption and immoral conduct are all too vast within the galaxies. Even when a miraculously pure flower manages to grow from these filthy roots, it doesn’t always get to bloom in peace.

This is the Great Era of the New Sidereal Calendar.

Lin Jingheng connected to a rebooted Zhanlu’s mental network. “How’s the Model 3?”

“Compatible.” Zhanlu responded. “The energy source is also sufficient.”

“Good.” Lin Jingheng scanned the entire space station through the mental network. “I’ll complete a survey map within 24 hours and prepare for long-distance communication. Aris Von is sure to react when he realizes Primal Alien hasn’t returned.”

Zhanlu: “Understood.”

Lin Jingheng took the elevator straight to the Executive building’s guest room. He looked down to see the Self-Defense Squad doing physical training like a bunch of kids in P.E. class, completely oblivious that they had less than two months left.

[1] Nuwa: The goddess of creation in Chinese Mythology, and mother of mankind.