Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 52

Chapter 52 – That Sounded a Little Weird

4:00 A.M.

Lin Jingheng woke up from an efficient four-hour nap and turned in the completed navigation map of the station to Zhanlu. He left the final correction of the map to the AI and jumped right into intensive physical rehabilitation training.

An hour and a half later, Lin Jingheng walked out of his training covered in sweat. Through the mental network of Zhanlu, he caught a glimpse of Saturday herding his Self-Defense Squad around the mech dock like a bunch of chickens. Lin Jingheng could barely make out that they were doing stamina training; he looked down at his watch and noticed that the squad had copied the training schedule of the former Silver Ten.

Lin Jingheng casually took a cold shower and shoved a pack of condensed nutrients down his throat. Rehabilitation periods for military personnel required a rigorous and precise diet plan relative to the amount of physical training. Normal food can’t be prepared to meet the exact requirements of the diet plan, so people in rehab relied on these specially designed condensed nutrient bars for their daily intake.

While most normal condensed nutrient meals have some artificial flavors in the mix, the ones that Lin was currently eating only had a mild salted taste. If anyone were to describe it, it was almost like eating snot; as if one was tasting all the misery in life, leaving only an empty void in one’s soul after consumption.

Lin Jingheng finished this mortal life’s worst breakfast and changed into a new set of clothing. He made his way across the space station as the artificial dawn broke and went straight to the receiving dock. Now that the route map was completed, his next task was to collect data on the high-energy waves caused by the explosion of Planet Egret in order to deduce the military firepower of the Cayley Pirate Fleet.

Saturday saw him from afar while taking his crew on their morning run and had the urge to show off to the commander. Vacation got a sudden kick by the captain beside him and yelped like a conch, dragging the others to whine along with him.

“What, are you fools still hungry or something?” Saturday scolded them, annoyed.

The squad that Saturday dragged along were already at their limit after a little less than three kilometers of running. They were all starting to fall behind and even running off track, completely drained of energy.

“Start over, and call louder!” Saturday exclaimed.

At his command, the squad of exhausted souls started calling out their numbers in cracked voices that sounded like a choir of death.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingheng thoroughly ignored the choir and stepped into the elevator to the receiving dock.

Lin Jingheng scrunched up his brows as the elevator door closed, noticing that the buttons didn’t work. Before he could complain about the elevator being broken, a familiar and headache-inducing voice rang from the elevator’s announcements: “Thank you for taking the intelligent robotic elevator. To activate the elevator’s functions, you must greet the elevator– Good morning, Mister Lin.’

Lin Jingheng: “…”

The ‘elevator’ kindly advised: “We recommend that you respond, ‘Good morning, my sweet elevator.’”

Lin Jingheng’s eyes twitched in annoyance as he disdainfully pulled up the station’s main operation authentication from his personal device and forcefully started the elevator.

“Okay, I know you said it in your heart already….uh-”

Lin Jingeheng then proceeded to mute the announcement.

Unfortunately, Lin Jingheng didn’t manage to escape ‘Mister Elevator’ for long when he saw Lu Bixing waiting for him in front of the main control room.

Lu Bixing was someone who had always been conscious of his appearance. Though for some reason, today he went the extra mile to dress himself up, looking nothing less than a model ready for a walk down the runway.

“People all need a sense of humor and should at least know how to have some fun. Hey commander, don’t you think your life’s a little bit bland when you’re so serious all the time?”

Lin Jingheng had learned his lesson and didn’t dare to offend the other man. He purposefully removed his gaze from Lu Bixing and walked inside the main control room: “Not at all.”

Lu Bixing followed behind and asked: “You always just drink and stare off into space when you have free time, don’t you have any other hobbies or interests?”

Lin Jingheng carefully chose his words: “I do.”

Lu Bixing’s four students all got up relatively early in the morning and were already gathered in the main control room by the time Lin walked in. They were sitting around a round table with all their personal devices out, a cluster of notes and mathematical equations covering the area around them. It seemed like they had been working on their homework for some time, and even left some breakfast on the table.

The students instinctively stood up from their table and turned around the moment they saw that Lin Jingheng had walked in. White hastily swallowed the bread in his mouth and mumbled a short greeting as well.

Lin Jingheng only cooly gave him a nod and before proceeding into the database room.

Lu Bixing pulled Lin’s arm over before he could walk away and said, “You’re looking for the data on the high-energy waves right? Hey kids, gather up! He’ll be checking your homework today, so everyone come and present your reports on the Egret invasion!”

The four students turned to each other with the same faces of despair; White, who was still swallowing the piece of bread he stuffed in his mouth, choked at his teacher’s suggestion and almost physically became the first sacrifice among the group.

Lin Jingheng didn’t come to listen to a bunch of dumb kids’ academic presentations and shot Lu Bixing a miffed look. Yet Lu Bixing seemed completely oblivious to his visible displeasure and returned his look with a smile as bright as the sun itself. Lin could almost see the invisible dog tail behind him wag passionately.

Unfortunately, Lin Jingheng couldn’t bring himself to upset this big animal beside him. He let out a big sigh and crossed his arms without a word, preparing himself to check each student’s homework.

The four students nudged each other for a while trying to decide who would have the privilege of going first. Huang Jingshu finally volunteered after seeing that nobody else could decide, and with a voice almost too gentle for a self-proclaimed gangster of the Eighth Galaxy, started reciting her report: “According to reliable sources, the space pirates invaded Planet Egret a week ago. The high energy caused by the explosion turned into particle waves that passed by the space station…”

Lin Jingheng interrupted: “Your main point.”

“M-Main point?” Huang Jingshu panicked a little as she flipped towards the back of her report. “Oh, I…I used the triangulation method to deduce…”

Lin Jingheng interrupted her once again: “The triangulation method is an academic model used for research purposes. In order to properly use it in academia, it omits a lot of variables and is not practical in real life situations.”

He remembered that this girl was also named “Jingshu”, like his sister, and subconsciously brought out more patience for her. Lin Jingheng tried to explain in a tone he considered more gentle, and then added another question at the end: “Did you use any other models?”

Huang Jingshu’s face turned bright red, and she went completely silent.

Lin Jingheng gave her half a minute before giving up, and called out: “Next.”

White stuttered: “I…I also used the triangulation model, and used the Cruz splits inside…”

“Bullshit. Next.” Lin Jingheng said.

“I looked up the planet profile and orbit of Egret.” Mint cleared her throat and peeked at Lin Jingheng from behind her report. The commander stood above her intimidatingly, looking as if he was ready to cut her off at any moment. She scanned a few seconds to muster up her courage and continued: “The mass of the planet is…”

“I know what the mass of Egret is.” Lin Jingheng said.

“I created a few simulations of the invasion based on the planet mass scale.” Mint replied.

Lin Jingheng lifted a brow at the statement: “Using what?”

“An astronomical calculator.” Mint said sheepishly.

Lin Jingheng’s mouth curled up slightly into a snooty smile: “I recommend you use an arithmetic calculator for kids, those are easier to use. Next.”

Little Rickhead witnessed his peers get shot down one by one by the invincible commander, and froze on the spot realizing he was the only one left. He whimpered with a face that looked like it was about to break down into tears and said “I…I don’t know how to do this.”

Lin Jingheng nodded in a graceful demeanor: “I appreciate your straightforwardness, saves everyone a lot of time.”

The commander then gestured to dismiss the students, turned his back, and made his way towards the database room like the biggest bastard in the universe.

Lu Bixing finally understood what he meant by having interests and hobbies: all the dumbasses in the world were victims for Commander Lin’s entertainment.

He gave a deep sigh and led the disheartened students to Lin Jingheng’s side.

Commander Lin gave silent approval for the students to watch him analyze the data. Lu Bixing took the opportunity to give a lecture to the students, strategically utilizing Lin as a live demonstration. Lin Jingheng remained focused and unbothered by the noise around him; his pace remained steady and fast while endless lines of data made their way directly into his personal device.

Back when Lin Jingheng was still in the SIlver Fortress, space pirates were always his number one enemy even if he didn’t know who he was fighting for. Analyzing and combating these space pirates became almost second nature to him, to the point where he was able to digest a large amount of data without the help of an AI.

By the time Lin Jingheng reached a stopping point, the artificial sun was already on the other side of the station. His eyes never left his personal device even as the students walked off like zombies from overworking their brains. He sat in solidarity until he noticed a mug slid over quietly beside him; Lin Jingheng reached over to the mug without looking and took a sip. The moment he noticed the liquid inside the mug wasn’t water, Lin Jingheng shot up from his position, shoved the mug back to the delivering hands and spat the liquid out at the nearest water fountain.

Lu Bixing stared at the cup of sweetened milk that got shoved back in wonder and took a sip. He didn’t taste anything out of the ordinary, and asked: “What’s wrong? Do you not like sweets or are you actually lactose intolerant?”

“Nothing in particular.” Lin Jingheng answered as he poured himself a cup of water. “I’m fine with water.”

Lu Bixing’s gaze fell onto Lin Jingheng’s loose dress shirt and he responded in realization: “Are you on a diet to regain your muscle mass?”

Unfortunately Lin JIngheng wasn’t particularly keen on discussing his own body with another man. He ignored Lu Bixing and turned back to reorganizing his analysis.

Lin Jingheng’s hands pressed down onto the main engine of the control room as he leaned in to review his data. His shoulders rose slightly as he leaned forward, creating an aesthetically symmetrical line across his back. The light from the artificial dawn of the station gently shone from in front of him, coincidentally passing through Lin Jingheng’s thin dress shirt and vaguely outlining his lean waistline.

Lu Bixing’s gaze instinctively followed downwards; he took a few steps back and eyeballed the waist, suppressing his urge to reach out and touch it. “Ahem…why didn’t you think about the consequences before you gave yourself that shot of muscle solvent?” Lu Bixing awkwardly asked.

“Why do you have to much to say?” Lin Jingheng responded hopelessly.

Lu Bixing carefully made his way towards Lin Jingheng. A fresh fruity smell passed through the air as Lu Bixing leaned in a little too close, and Lin Jingheng subconsciously tucked away a little.

Seeing that he didn’t sneak over successfully, Lu Bixing reluctantly ate the piece of apple he intended to shove into Lin’s mouth. “You know, I think it’s fine to not eat so much of that other stuff, don’t be so harsh on yourself and the world. What do you like to eat? Do you prefer sweet or spicy? Do you like meat or vegetables? Do you have anything else you don’t eat or drink besides beer?”

Lin Jingheng: “…”

Lu Bixing was always kind of annoying for as long as Lin Jingheng knew him, but he always knew his own boundaries. Lu didn’t cross any lines, so it was all still within the realm of tolerable behavior to Lin Jinheng. And sometimes, in instances as rare as seeing a meteor shower with the naked eye, he would admit to himself that he found Lu Bixing’s passion just a bit cute.

Yet recently, though unsure if it was just his own imagination or other issue, Lin Jingheng felt as if he were becoming overly tolerant of this child. It almost felt like Lu Bixing was getting a little too comfortable around him.

“Ares Von’s heavy mech fleet can almost rival that of a professional IU Military fleet.” Lin Jingheng forceully changed the topic with a straight face. “The loading capacity for heavy armory is much greater than the IU, making them more deadly as a fleet. Their defense is also much stronger, but my theory is that they also sacrificed a fair amount of dexterity and flexibility in the process. The anti-detection system you mentioned before could work here. If you want to stay here and talk about it, I’ll give you 15 minutes. If not, leave.”

“The framework’s already completed.” Lu Bixing said. “The robots are on the job right now, all we need to do is to send it off to the energy tower when it’s ready, you don’t need to worry.”

Lin Jingheng’s expression relaxed a bit.

Lu Bixing then continued before Lin Jingheng could be relieved: “Hey Lin, do you not smile a lot because you think you look better when you put on a serious face?”

Having no words to respond, Lin Jingheng pointed towards the door and suggested Lu Bixing to leave.

Yet not only did Lu Bixing not leave, he even pulled another chair over and sat down beside Lin Jingheng.

Hi curious and excitable gaze gave Lin Jingheng chills; Lin Jingheng felt as if he were the main specimen of some weird scientific experiment and asked defensively: “What else do you want?”

Lu Bixing felt a familiar challenge from the man before him.

It was as if the universe’s most unapproachable people and worst personalities were all his students; Lu Bixing always found himself drawn to these type of problem students. And even though Lin Jingheng in particular was exceptionally infamous on both accounts, Lu Bixing found himself especially drawn to him.

Even Lu Bixing himself had to wonder what this unexplainable inclination toward assholes said about his taste in men. He fiddled a little before deciding that if he just answered with “I want to talk,” the man in front of him would not hesitate to just walk away, so he strategically drew Lin Jingheng’s attention away: “So what’s it like on Wolto?”

Lin Jingheng was indeed caught off guard; he felt like someone had jabbed the softest point in his heart with a needle.

The former Lu household was less than two kilometers away from the Parliament Building of the IU. From the top floor of the building, one could clearly see the wonderland-esque forest behind the Parliament where Lu Xin’s mansion rested. Yet the child that was supposed to be born in that house with the love of his parents and family was now asking what Wolto was like; he was even naive enough to think Wolto also had crowded living conditions and streets of poverty.

Lin Jingheng’s internal dilemma earlier about whether he was spoiling the boy too much suddenly vanished. He completely forgot how much he wanted to give Lu Bixing a beating and was now filled with a burning desire to give the world to this child.

“Wolto’s population is sparse.” Lin Jingheng carefully weighed his words. “Aside from the central shopping center, there are almost no skyscrapers or tall buildings.”

“Why?” Lu Bixing questioned. “Don’t those big shots all love to stand tall above everyone else?”

“Some people do, some people don’t. Those that don’t won’t go out of their way to step up the ladder, but they also don’t want others to step above them either.” Lin Jingheng slowly relaxed his back. “Everything on Wolto was more or less a micro- of the entire IU. The result of a gridlock in power from all directions was the height limit of buildings on the planet. With the exception of the central business district, no buildings were allowed to surpass the air terminals. 3/4th of the entire planet was covered by decorative plants, it’s essentially a giant horticultural garden.”

Lu Bixing, being a full-grown rural child from the Eighth Galaxy, had never seen the First Galaxy outside of movies and books. Most of the photos and footage were concentrated within the Parliament due to the strict rules the planet had on photography and videography. He found Lin’s description a little hard to believe, and asked: “Isn’t that inconvenient though? I meant like using living facilities and such.”

“Wolto’s different from other places. There were no private properties on the capital planet. All property and land are subsidized and given by the government based on ranking and profession. Everything from the size of the land and distance to neighboring property had their own set of rules. Most would rather live further away than to cause trouble for their neighbors. All living necessities were provided by designated service personnel in charge of each area. If you needed anything, you could just contact them through your personal device; as long as you weren’t breaking the law, they would essentially take care of everything for you. The air terminals are semi-privatized and extremely convenient too, so there was no need for public facilities.”

Lu Bixing was first shocked by the aristocrats’ high standard of living, and then struck by a guilty conscious concern that he wouldn’t be able to provide for this formerly well-off Commander. He then timidly asked: “Was your home also the same?”

Lin Jingheng sat in silence for a while before vaguely nodding: “About the same.”

Commanders of the IU all had their own personal mansions, but Lin Jingheng only ever went to his own ‘house’ once after its completion for ceremonial purposes to record a genetic lock. He then threw it to a bunch of robots to clean up the house and left; he couldn’t even recall the address of the place anymore. Ever since Lin took charge of the Silver Fortress, he had never taken a vacation. Every once in a while he would return to Wolto for business, but would only stay in hotels for a few days before he returned. To him, Zhanlu’s mech felt more like a home than the mansion.

Lu Bixing added: “Then…don’t you feel a little uncomfortable staying in this busy station?”

“Not really.” Lin Jingheng said. “Just a little noisy.”

Of course, the rowdy little space station couldn’t compare to the capital planet where every individual had their own manor.

Lu Bixing pondered for a second before asking: “Why did you leave the IU then? And how did you manage to wipe your existence out of Eden?”

Lin Jingheng casually skipped the first question: “Eden is still a man-made technology at its core. It’s not perfect, there’s always a loophole.”

“But what about your family? Won’t they be worried?” Lu Bixing continued.

Starting from the topic of Wolto, Lu Bixing carefully manipulated the conversation slowly back onto Lin Jingheng himself. Unfortunately Lin Jingheng was not an easy prey. Lin Jingheng pretended he didn’t hear the overly personal question and returned: “And the Hawk never let you leave the Eighth Galaxy even after so many years?”

Luckily Lu Bixing didn’t try to force the conversation and answered: “Yeah, I can’t even mention it to him. He’ll freak out like an angry cat if I say anything. It’s like I have a bounty on me or something, if I step into any of the other seven galaxies I’d be caught immediately.”

Lin Jingheng: “…”

His wild guess wasn’t entirely wrong.

“And you’ve never tried running away by yourself?”

“I did.” Lu Bixing said. “I ran to Planet Beijing and found you…to be honest my goal wasn’t to stop at Beijing, but I accidentally opened up your ecopod at that time and felt bad, so I decided I had to be responsible and take care of you. I didn’t think I’d end up staying for that long either…took in a couple students and even sold my mech for a school. Plans always get interrupted by unforeseen changes, so my plan to travel around the IU was forced to a stop.”

Lin Jingheng grew a little suspicious. Lu Bixing’s mech designs were unique and out of the ordinary; despite not being a properly trained professional, his academic foundations were strong. It wouldn’t be hard for him to feed himself even without a proper ID or passport, and his sociable personality would make it easy for him to find people willing to help him out. On top of that, Lin Jingheng is well aware how recklessly courageous this child was from all the times he injected biochips into his own body. Taking a mech to travel the seven galaxies wouldn’t even be considered a dangerous adventure, but Lin Jingheng couldn’t think of any way that Monoeyed Hawk was able to keep him on planet Cayley for over 20 years.

While Lin Jingheng pondered, Lu Bixing stretched his arm behind his head and leaned back. “Now that I think about it, that would’ve sucked if I had just died on Beijing. I haven’t even traveled the eight galaxies nor had a lover, my life would’ve been a waste.”

The terrifying stories of the Nuwa Project and the human transplant experiments loomed over Lin Jingheng’s mind. He felt his throat tighten, but attempted to ask nonchalantly: “You haven’t even dated anyone yet? Then what were you doing for 20 years on Cayley, just playing with your mechs?”

Lu Bixing heard the stiffened tone in his voice, completely misunderstood and excitedly thought to himself: “This awkward piece of rock, what a roundabout way to ask my dating experience!”

”I’ve been saving up my luck for the fated one.” He gave Lin Jingheng a playful wink. “Saved a little everyday, and after so many years I finally met you, commander.”

Lin Jingheng: “…”

Something about that line definitely sounded off.