Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 57

Chapter 57 – He’s Starting to Loosen Up

Even though the famous young scientist Mr. Lu Bixing was an inexperienced oddball that spent most of his life building a relationship with his own scientific experiments, he still maintained the adventurous spirit and ability to take action. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but that wouldn’t stop him from pursuing his desires.

He immediately sensed Lin Jingheng’s unease, and soon discovered the fun in teasing a stoic show-off. Lu Bixing took the opportunity to ask for a little more and took a step further to wrap his arms around the commander.

Lin Jingheng: “…”

It started off as a whim of the moment to mess with Lin, but Lu Bixing found himself mesmerized by a completely unexpected sensation. The commander’s body was not as he imagined: Lin’s chest was firm, and waist thinner than its appearance. Lin Jingheng’s spine was straight and upright like his character. To Lu Bixing’s surprise, this body wasn’t as cold as the soul inside it; there was warmth that also penetrated through the fabric of his clothing. Lu Bixing was suddenly captivated by the warmth of this accidental embrace.

Lu Bixing felt like he just got electrified. He could even vaguely smell the rum from the other man’s breath beside him…until Lin Jingheng held his breath the next second.

Lin Jingheng finally stepped backwards, and an unnatural sound of his overly stiff joint cracking broke the silence.

While Lu Bixing didn’t feel like he’d had enough of the embrace, he slowly let go in fear of accidentally cracking another bone. He backed off a few steps before he remarked casually: “I didn’t know you were so kind.”

Lin Jingheng just got a kindness label slapped onto his face and naturally wanted to reclaim his honor by giving Lu Bixing a scolding, but couldn’t find a good reason to. He’d never put up the front of a commander in front of Lu Bixing, and a hug really wasn’t an inappropriate act that called for him to be mad.

Stuck in an awkward situation, Lin Jingheng took a deep breath and decided to play along and pretend nothing happened. He responded coldly: “I just didn’t want you crying over it.”

The commander then turned around and put his signature anti-social attitude back on. Lu Bixing let out a sigh in relief in his mind as he secretly savoured the feeling of embrace from earlier, feeling as if his heart would combust.

Just as the two men were busy pretending nothing happened, a medical capsule quietly rolled out from the medical chamber of the Model 3 towards Lu Bixing. Zhanlu’s voice then broadcasted within the mech: “Headmaster Lu, I detected that your heart rate is unusually high, your blood pressure and body temperature also rose. Do you need some medical attention?”

Lu Bixing: “…”

Lin Jingheng shot a glance back at him in surprise.

Lu Bixing ran back in embarrassment: “I….I need to go passcode lock the transfer portals.”

A human-form Zhanlu walked out from the walls of the Model 3 and gave a confused look at Lu Bixing’s silhouette. He started scanning through his internal database in silence, and after a few moments, came to a revelation: “Sir, after logical deduction, I came to a conclusion regarding Mr. Lu. I can share them….”

“I don’t need to know, keep it to yourself.” Lin Jingheng let out a sigh and held up an empty glass to Zhanlu.

Zhanlu skillfully poured some rum and ice into the glass.

On the other side of the Model 3, Lu Bixing took a random mech from inside the dock and disappeared into a transfer portal.

Lin Jingheng also didn’t seem to be in a rush to return to the station. He just stayed in the quiet space environment as he slowly sipped his rum.

Zhanlu reminded him: “Sir, while I relaxed some of your dieting restrictions based on your rehabilitation progress, you will be hitting your alcohol limit for the day if you continue to drink.”

Lin Jingheng responded slightly absent-mindedly: “Then put the bottle back in the cellar, I’m done.”

Commander Lin’s drinking and smoking habits were only picked up from veteran soldiers in the past and not an addiction. He would take them when offered but would never actively seek them out. During rehab and dieting, he wouldn’t even touch a wine bottle; and while on a mech, Commander Lin will also not turn on any open fire.

During the dieting period, Lu Bixing was like a pranking child attempting to find out what the commander’s favorite food was by interrupting his diet. Lin Jingheng never responded because he wasn’t sure what his preferences were either; to him, the process of eating was just another task — he would just eat whatever was most convenient and whatever was written on his nutrition plan.

He didn’t like reading novels and hated socializing. Back in the Silver Fortress, he would even block out all non-military news on his devices. The only celebrity he recognized out of the entire eight galaxies was Yevgeniya, even the last movie he ‘watched’ was at least 20 years ago. The movie had been a propaganda film sponsored by the Military Council meant to promote recruits, which then led to old Commander Woolf to drag a team of active officers including Lin Jinghing himself to attend the premiere showing of the movie. Lin Jingheng showed up at the premiere for a few photos, then proceeded to fall asleep for the next two hours while the movie aired.

The only thing that could be considered an entertaining pastime for Lin Jingheng was the built-in mini games of a mech’s piloting software. Sometimes during long intergalactic expeditions, he would play a few games with the mech during downtimes. Lin’s personal favorite was a bombing game that tested the player’s concentration. The game sets up virtual targets randomly within the range of the mech’s mental network, and the player must destroy the target within a limited timeframe. For people that didn’t have a high enough sync rate with the mech, it would be difficult to get past the first round. And of course, the virtual target Lin Jingheng chose for his games was the Parliament of the IU.

“I’m a pretty boring person, aren’t I?” Lin Jingheng said out of the blue.

“By human standards, that’s not entirely correct.” Zhanlu responded fairly. “You become considerably more lively when you’re criticizing others.”

Lin Jingheng forced a smile: “Okay, so you’re saying I’m just unbearable.”

“You are indeed not an easy person to get along with.” Zhanlu tilted his head slightly. “Sir, you look a bit vexed, just like the first time Miss Penny confessed to you.”

Lin Jingheng’s brows twitched a little as he finished the rest of the rum in his glass.

Zhanlu continued: “I’ve heard that when humans choose their partners, they often have an ideal image or type in their mind. According to my observations, your type seems to be close to what Miss Penny was like.”

Lin Jingheng almost choked on his rum, causing him to cough violently. “How come I didn’t know I had a type?” he asked in shock.

“You were very kind and patient to Miss Penny, far more so than how you treat others you considered friends. You would go out of your way to protect her and consider her feelings; on top of that, you hardly ever used harsh words in front of her or even made her a target of your unique sarcasm…this is very unusual for you.” Zhanlu reasoned, “Planet Beijing’s incident was indeed a tragedy, sir, I am sad for your loss on your behalf.”

Lin Jingheng didn’t respond immediately. His gaze fixed toward the direction of Beijing through the Model 3’s network; yet there was nothing to be seen aside from darkness, as if the once populated planet had just evaporated into the vast sea of outer space. Lin Jingheng spun the empty glass on the table and spoke in a lower tone: “I don’t like Penny, I’ve already rejected her. I…never really had much to say to her either.”

The truth was that Lin Jingheng had always felt uneasy around Penny. It was as if he was back at the Black Orchid Academy’s modern history class where he would always get distracted but still had to be careful to not get caught dozing off; he didn’t want to be caught breaking a girl’s fragile heart, and it was more exhausting than he would ever admit.

“I was…” Lin Jingheng paused to search for the right words. “I was just thankful she thought so highly of me, it’s rare for people to have such positive opinions toward me.”

“This isn’t a very fair assessment, sir. Miss Yevgenia’s confession was far more passionate than Miss Penny.” Zhanlu answered, “During the Freedom Day Parade that year, she personally stepped down the stage to see you. I kept the relevant data from that encounter and came to the conclusion that her physiological state at that time was very similar to Headmaster Lu’s state just earlier; however, I don’t recall you ever thanking her.”

The last sentence made Lin Jingheng even more distressed. He answered exasperatedly: “Yevgenia is the social butterfly of the IU Parliament and famous actress. Faking a few heartbeats isn’t that hard for her; a seat in the Parliament or a whole week’s worth of headline news would make her much more excited.”

“Hm, so you agree that ‘politics sullies love’. It seems as if your views on affection and sentimental value are as reserved as you present yourself.” Zhanlu picked up the emptied glass. “Then what about your former Vice Admiral from the Silver Fortress, Mr. Lorde?”

Lin Jingheng’s eyes widened slightly: “What?”

“The Vice Admiral is very introverted and not good at expressing his own feelings, but everytime he passed by you, his heart rate would increase an average of about 10-15%.” Zhanlu continued without even realizing he was throwing a bomb out. “His gaze was always following you. Everytime you leave your office, he would always give you another glance before he locked the door after you.”

Lin Jingheng stared at him in wild disbelief.

Zhanlu nodded understandingly: “Okay, according to your expression, you didn’t think your Vice Admiral was any different than an AI aside from the fact that you can’t toss cigarette ashes on him…Mr. Lorde has my condolences, I hope he is doing well right now.”

Lin Jingheng leaned back in his chair in frustration and decided to stop responding. Talking to Zhanlu didn’t take the stress off his shoulders — if anything it only increased his stress level.

Lu Bixing updated the anti-detection system in almost no time and reorganized for a second simulation game…or perhaps a better term would be another one-sided massacre.

The second simulation lasted a total of 50 minutes, again with the three teams scoring in the negatives. Lin Jinghehng discovered another loophole this time: when approaching a fleet the size of the Golden Warriors, the massive scale of the fleet would collectively produce a weak but detectable siphonage of energy waves. The fleets were so used to sticking close to each other that commander Lin caught them red-handed once again.

Like the previous simulation, the highlight of the simulation was still Saturday; being the token mascot of what Commander Lin dubbed as ‘the fools with big dreams’, Saturday fully lived up to that moniker by continuously charging forward for an attack. This time, he even brought a few of his men straight into the range of the Model 3, getting more and more aggressive every attempt. Though of course, despite having the courage to challenge his enemy, he was still no match for Commander Lin.

The third simulation lasted an hour and thirty minutes. This time, Lin Jingheng didn’t open fire. Weasel and his squad attempted to cheat by attempting to install a spy cam onto the Model 3 the night before the game, in hopes to monitor Commander Lin piloting the mech the next day.

Of course, poor Mister Weasel had no idea who he was up against, and foolishly tried to one-up the top AI of modern times with an ancient spying trick. Lin Jingheng didn’t call him out for him, and instead decided to give him a lesson on the battlefield. Using Zhanlu’s hidden communication terminal, Commander Lin counter-hacked into Weasel’s mental network. The three fleets stared dumbly at the still Model 3 on their maps, completely unaware that there was already a Trojan Horse among them. At the end, under the disguise of Weasel, Commander Lin lured the three fleets together and eliminated everyone without moving a finger by letting them slit their own throats. Thus, Lin Jingheng personally demonstrated to Weasel’s team that deception during war is fine, but you’d better educate yourself first.

The Iron Knights fell to the last place and were put on station patrol.

By the fourth simulation game, the anti-detection system was almost near-perfect. This time, both the Golden Warriors and Iron Knights had learned their lessons and remained hidden inside the anti-detection system in hopes to last four and a half hours on the clock. After a few hand-in-hand fights against the fleets, Lin Jingheng already had a decent grasp of their characters. He rounded a few times within the signal range of the anti-detection system to lure out Saturday and was not disappointed. Saturday was also perhaps a suicide squad candidate in another timeline; despite experiencing the pain and torture of having his mental network stripped away multiple times, his desire to gain some points off Commander Lin had not been crushed.

Lin Jingheng answered his bravery and demolished the entire Self-Defense Squad. The commander even underhandedly used the mental network to threaten Holiday to sell out the other two fleet’s coordinates.

From that day on, it was as if Lin Jingheng had his eyes locked on the Self-Defense Squad. Every time they entered the field, he would always target the squad first and then deal with the other two fleets while he was at it. This cost the Self-Defense Squad not only their points on the scoring board, but their semi-permanent position being in the last place also forced them to become professional station patrolers.

Saturday and his crew had been floating in space for about two weeks, feeling as if they’d turned into the satellites of the station.

When Lu Bixing came in to deliver supplies, all he found was a bunch of mechs floating like dead corpses in the midst of space. The members of the self-defense squad were either all gathered up playing cards or playing the mini games on the mechs. Even Saturday himself gave up on attempting to gather the team up for physical training and holed up in a corner of the mech after setting it on autopilot to sleep.

After three tries to communicate with the squad with no response from any of the mechs, Lu Bixing hacked into Saturday’s mental network and blasted a loud heavy metal track inside the mech. Saturday shot up from the deathly sound of the music immediately; and to make matters worse, Lu Bixing even turned off the internal gravity control of the mech, which made Saturday run headfirst into the ceiling of the mech. Unable to get a hold of himself in zero gravity, Saturday bounced around the mech like a rubber ball until he finally settled back down and almost puked on the spot.

“Good morning, Saturday”, Lu Bixing greeted him energetically. “Nice dance moves you got there, but you might want to do something about those flowery pants.”

Saturday yelled back: “Give my network back to me, I’m going to fucking puke!”

At the end, he only managed to puke out some acid from his empty stomach.

“Yesterday? I didn’t eat anything yesterday, just took a few sips of wine last night and fell asleep. I’m getting tired of the condensed meals.” Saturday said as he cleaned himself up. “I can’t even remember what a freshly cooked meal tastes like anymore.”

“Interstellar expeditions often take months to complete,” Lu Bixing said. “You’re going to have to get used to it.”

Saturday sneered back: “Hell no, real soldiers deal with that to protect their homes. I’m dealing with this because we have no military.”

Lu Bixing’s eyes widened as he studied Saturday’s expression through the screen: “Do you actually think Lin is targeting you specifically?”

“No,” Saturday shrugged. “He doesn’t need to target me specifically, he probably just thinks I’m the easiest to beat up, so it’s always me first. What am I to him anyway? I’m not that skilled and can’t even work with the other teams.”

Lu Bixing responded: “Maybe he just wanted to give the task of patrolling to you…”

“Right, just send me off to this long-distance job in the middle of nowhere. Isn’t this just the same as house arrest? Here, bring the dog food over, mister prison guard.” Saturday interrupted and opened up the receiving dock for the supplies. “By the way, professor, this can be the last time you send us supplies to us, and maybe think about finding someone else to take over for us. We’ll stay for another night today and I’ll bring our squad back tomorrow. I’ll disband the Self-Defense Squad when we get back to the station so nobody has to deal with this mess anymore.”

“You’re giving up?”

“I’m giving up. I didn’t listen to you back then because I was too naive. People were right, you won’t know that you weren’t made for something if you didn’t at least try.” A dead mouse feels no cold; Saturday shrugged as he watched the supplies roll into his mech. “Did that old fart die? Or did he get locked up?”

Lu Bixing was stumped in surprise.

“What, am I really that stupid to you?” Saturday continued apathetically. “Whatever, not that it matters. Technically I was raised by him, but in reality he just kind of threw me into the space station and left me to survive on my own until I was old enough to start working for him. Whether he dies or not is really not my problem. I think some other people also figured it out, they just didn’t say anything about it. When a person…or people, have no dignity as humans and are only just surviving without a goal, life itself means nothing besides coldness. That asshole was this kind of person, and we were all the same too.”

The people on this space station were like the lowest hierarchy of citizens on ancient Earth civilizations. They struggled to get by every day, their survival instinct forced their emotions and feelings into a narrow stream of water that flowed through their bodies. They’ve never understood civilization, nor do they care who the ruler of the land was; being able to live another day was all that mattered.

“We didn’t kill him or torture him, don’t worry. It’s just not safe to let him out right now.” Lu Bixing answered. “The others were accusing you of assassinating Mister Spencer…”

“They’re just looking for excuses. Some people have even said I’ve slept with him before.” Saturday shook his head and laughed. “And you, you really are…pft. I don’t even know what to say to you, why do you take everything so personally?”

The two looked at each other for a while in silence until Saturday stood up to organize the supplies: “I did think about bringing that old man down before and taking over this station. I was just a kid back then and thought I was strong, but now I understand.”

Lu Bixing’s eyebrows lowered as he looked at Saturday’s thin silhouette through the screen.

“These garbage in the station are completely hopeless, raising them like pigs was the best solution. I’m also a pig, I was just silly enough to think I can fly.”

Outer space was a place that magnified negative emotions, making it not an ideal place to have a deeper discussion. Lu Bixing decided to return back to the station and cancel the next simulation battle until Saturday returned; he needed to have a talk with him.

Yet before he could make a landing on the station’s dock, he could already feel Zhanlu’s extensive mental network.

This time, Zhanlu did not constrict his range; the AI’s vast network spread to its absolute maximum. Like a giant web that captured anything within its range, Lu Bixing could almost feel it taking away even his breath. The network was reaching as far as a few of the nearest transfer portals and beyond. Lu Bixing pulled himself back to reality and quickly turned his head over to the calendar to find that someone had circled the date for tomorrow on it.

The Three-Month promise was coming to an end.

Lin Jingheng already set up everything he needed for long-distance communication; by the time the clock struck 12, he would send a signal outside the station.

The station would become a bird nest resting at the edge of a cliff, ready to fall at any given moment.

While Lin Jingheng didn’t say anything explicitly, he had been helping Lu Bixing train the armed forces. After a while, Lu Bixing almost bought into the delusion that maybe, just maybe, the commander was loosening up a little and starting to grow attached to the station.

However…