Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 60

Chapter 60 – Primal Alien’s Murderer

Lin Jingheng wasn’t mad; in fact, he even found it a little amusing.

A little more than 6 months ago these kids were only baby animals running around with their minds filled with unrealistic ideas, with a slim chance of growing into a self-sufficient predator in the foreseeable future. And now, these little feral creatures actually learned how to walk and use their measly brains to question others.

Just from this, Lu Bixing and his teachings from the ghetto school of the Eighth Galaxy already proved to have more significant educational value than the Black Orchid Academy’s system.

“So?” Lin Jingheng asked, teasing slightly. “Did your teacher not tell you that they were only able to live an extra three months because they still had value as a bait?”

“But…” Mint opened her mouth to respond only to see White tug on her shirt from the back, making faces and gestures at her to back off. Mint bit her lips and pushed him aside as she took a step forward. “Nobody has the right to determine another person’s value…Hey don’t tug on me, let me talk!”

“Don’t hold her down,” Lin Jingheng said with his arms crossed. “Growing a backbone is necessary.”

“Ever since the genetic revolution of the Old Sidereal Calendar, the Interstellar Union banned all non-medical genetic and human body modifications universally. Thus, the human genes have not changed for thousands of years since, so in the eyes of creation all humans are equal.” Mint choppily recited a segment that sounded like something taken directly from a textbook. “Nobody can decide anyone’s fate.”

Lin Jingheng nodded slightly after her speech and answered: “Yes, a civilian’s life and freedom is an inalienable and inviolable right granted to everyone. This is politically correct, your consciousness and understanding is almost on par with Zhanlu.”

Zhanlu’s voice rang across the Model 3: “Thank you for your praise.”

Lin Jingheng’s gaze lowered as he relaxed his arms and continued: “But listen here, little girl, while rights are inalienable, missiles can attack. Particle cannons can deal damage. Pocket-sized laser guns, button-sized biochips, a few milligrams of terminal virus exist for the purpose of being used by people…is this not true?”

Mint: “…”

“‘Should’ and ‘can’ are two separate concepts. If everyone looks from the perspective of “should I”, Ares Von should’ve already been punished for his sins, I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger.” Lin Jingheng gestured towards Zhanlu, and a cooler filled with non-alcoholic ciders appeared by the walls of the Model 3. “Take whatever you like, now go off and play.”

Unable to convince the commander nor have the ability to send out messages behind his back, the students stepped back down quietly. In order to reach Saturday from there, they could only rely on long-distance connection, which Zhanlu was in charge of. Even putting aside that there was no way for them to obtain access to send out the communication request, Saturday was currently playing a life-or-death game of hide-and-seek with the pirates — who would risk the threat of exposing their coordinates to the pirates by sending out a signal to Saturday?

Saturday felt like his temples were being stung with many needles.

The Self-Defense Squad had already made their first mistake. They intended to hide out by the transport portal and ambush the pirates by sending them a wave of long-distance missiles the minute they entered the portal; yet, despite knowing theoretically how it works, being able to act upon it was a different story.

The fluctuation of energy waves around transfer portals was immense, therefore any sort of high-energy particles that passed through, regardless of how powerful it was, would always face a certain level of deflection. The amount of deflection was dependant on the scale and type of transfer portal and the weight of the mech passing through the portal; there was no quick and accurate way to calculate exactly how much deviation there would be, and soldiers often made up for it with experiences and precise handling built upon battle after battle…The Self-Defense Squad may have had some experience and a good sense of handling their weapons, but shooting out a missile through a transfer portal was still much beyond their skill level.

Saturday just yelled to get his team ready, and the Self-Defense Squad members that were already too swallowed up in fear completely misheard the orders. In panic, a few of the members pressed the button and sent out at least five missiles towards the transfer portal; the missiles deviated from the portal and bounced off to the side like shooting stars.

They’d officially screwed up. They didn’t just beat the bushes to provoke their enemy, they’d also exposed their coordinates.

The pirate squad, while small, had incredible reflexes and mobility. Once they captured the energy waves, they immediately spread out and reorganized into a ferocious hunting team. Pirates, unlike the wastes of the space station, were used to sailing outside the realms of the eight galaxies and were more than capable of cutting off the entire Self-Defense Squad the moment their mental networks touched.

Saturday cried into the main channel: “Run!”

When Lin Jingheng took them out in his Model 3, it was usually as easily done as sweeping up fallen leaves on the ground to the commander. The Self-Defense Squad also became conditioned to run like wild animals the moment they heard Saturday yell ‘Run’ into the channel.

Lin Jingheng wouldn’t randomly drag them out and kill them, but the pirates were not the commander they knew.

At the same time, the scouting squad on the pirate’s side were also shocked. Normally in a situation where both sides seemed to have the same level of firepower, even if one side ran out of fuel or energy they would still choose to continue firing at the enemy as they retreated. Sometimes if the enemy had a harder shell like a proper military fleet, they would even attempt to fend off their pursuers by taking over their mental networks.

The fearsome and experienced fighters of the space pirates stood dumbfounded as they watched their enemy fleet run like cowards. They were currently stuck in an energy field maze with a…very usual enemy.

The scouting squad were stumped for a few moments and missed a golden opportunity to chase after them, allowing the Self-Defense Squad to successfully make their escape through the transfer portal. Lu Bixing’s anti-detection system quickly and efficiently covered Saturday’s traces behind a web of intricate maps, creating a second stalemate between the two sides.

In the beginning, both sides were just playing blind hide-and-seek with each other behind the anti-detection system; however, the pirate scouting squad’s decoding technology quickly found a small loophole in the system and cracked the outer layer to find the hidden terminals within an hour.

Saturday took his entire team and performed an award-winning act of deception without even realizing they were only the opening act.

The pirates were cautious at first, but after seeing the pitiful fleet run around like scared animals a few times, the small pirate squad learned their enemy’s true strength. They began chasing the Self-Defense Squad more aggressively and quickly switched the table from the defense to offense, striking like a wild beast ready to catch a helpless prey.

On the other hand, the Self-Defense Squad could only run from their pursuers. While attempting to cover a teammate that almost got disconnected, Saturday took a direct hit from the pirate squad, breaking over 90% of his mech’s shield. He took out a bottle of cold water from the cooler inside the box of supplies, took a sip and dumped the rest of it over his head to cool down his tense nerves. Saturday shook his head violently and spoke into the channel: “We can’t just keep running here, we’ll need to fight back.”

“But how?”

“Do what Commander Lin told us, set up a trap and ambush them.” Saturday paused for a moment to think before continuing, “Listen up guys. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t know that the access to the anti-detection system is code-protected. They’ve pursued us for so long already, it’s about time they got tired of it and are looking to steal a mech from our side so that they can have access to the system. My shield’s already halfway broken, so I can be the bait…”

The channel exploded into a sea of complaints before he could finish: “No way, what are you gonna do if they get you?”

“Who’s gonna give us orders if you pass out?”

“You might actually die if they hack into your mental network!”

Saturday yelled for them to stop at least three times as they all spoke, but nobody wanted to back down. For the first time in his life, he finally understood why the cold Commander Lin Jingheng was always so unreasonably arrogant: when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, no food gets served on the table. If a commander is too compromising, a fleet would never be able to get anything done.

Saturday took a deep breath and yelled once more into the channel: “Can you all shut the fuck up and listen to me already!?”

A short silence finally graced the communication channel.

“Those are scouting squads, they’re professionals at this hacking thing, got it?” Saturday said coldly. “It’s only a matter of time before they decode the system; we can hide while we can due to our territorial advantage right now, but later? Are we just gonna run for our lives? I don’t care if you all just decide to run, but my question is where do you run to? I doubt any of us can survive a month outside of the space station, are you guys okay with this? Are you!?”

He remembered the three months of nightmarish training when he would get up before the sky was bright and drag his team out to train. They all thought they had done everything they could and could protect their homes, only to be crushed by the harsh reality that they were nothing but ants to the vast outer space. At this realization, they were all forced to overcome their grief.

Saturday’s voice grew louder as he spoke, and by the end of it he could almost hear his own voice crack.

Perhaps some people are like this; the quieter and softer they talk, their spirits also mellow out. If anything were to instigate a louder and more aggressive response, even if it’s just a fight, the same people’s spirits can be reignited by their environment.

“The anti-detection system is a maze,” Saturday finally calmed his voice as he pulled up the route map from the system. “Look, the transfer portal closest to the enemy right now is portal 0014, and right beside it is a refraction point. We have the anti-detection system behind us, we can round behind them before they notice. I’ll go out and bait them, and I’m sure they will try and take over my mental network in order to hack into the anti-detection system’s database. At this point, they will lower their defenses, so you guys that are ambushing them from behind can focus all your firepower at them…there’s only one chance, you all have to hit the target! Hit however many you can, if you can’t kill off everyone, don’t hesitate and run, are we clear?”

A member asked: “What about you? Your shield’s already broken.”

“As long as I log off the moment before the enemy attempts to hack in my mental network, I won’t get hurt…I’ve succeeded many times during the simulation battles, otherwise I would’ve already been braindead from the number of times Commander Lin kicked me off.” Saturday said. “Commander said, scouting squads usually have an average sync rate of 75%, and I believe him. My highest sync rate also hits above 75%, so in case any of you guys fuck up, I still have a chance to reconnect to my mental network and run off…is anyone else here able to do that? Holiday, what’s your mental network sync rate?”

Holiday sulked back: “R-right now? 60%.”

“And your highest?”

Holiday then proudly announced: “…61%”

These low-level players usually have a very common virtue: they don’t even have a chance to outshine their own average performances.

Saturday shot back: “And you’re still trying to spew out bullshit, remember who’s the boss here!”

When the Self-Defense Squad was just a newly formed unit and Saturday was just a fresh new player in the game, he had a lot of grand ideas and plans for his team. He once tried to ask Lu Bixing how to get more people to follow and acknowledge him as a leader.

Lu Bixing thought about it for a second, and then answered: “Nobility, prestige, threat and manipulation, choose one out of the four and there will be someone that will follow you. If you don’t have any strengths and experience, or if you don’t have the heart of steel and no money, you’re only left with words of persuasion to lure people in. But remember, people are going to be here because you’ve convinced them to. They’re not here to roleplay emperor and his lackeys with you, don’t hide behind others like your old boss, and always lead them when you need to.”

You were right, Professor Lu.

Saturday laid his hands on the communication equipment, let out a deep breath from his lungs and said: “Let’s go.”

“Target located.” The pirate scouts were quickly exchanging information.

“Chase after them.”

Another game of chase began.

This time, it looked like the Self-Defense Squad weren’t able to find the transfer portal in time and scattered out in the midst of space. With only 15 mechs in the squad, going separate ways was not an option for the pirate scouts, so naturally they singled in on Saturday: “That mech’s shield is already damaged, and judging from the way it’s moving, it’s suspected that the internal engine may also be damaged.”

Saturday purposely turned off a few of the mech’s propellers and only kept one side, running around with his ‘broken leg’ away from the pirates.

Within less than five minutes, the single-side propeller already overheated from the high acceleration of the mech. The internal alarms rang louder and louder as repair notifications kept popping up. Saturday ignored the signals and shifted his gaze towards the anti-detection system, surprised to see that his hopeless teammates were all heading towards the ambush spot. Their brains were still intact, and were actually heading in the right direction.

As the pirates began closing in towards Saturday, the small squad split into two while a missile locked on Saturday’s mech.

Anyone that’s been through a real battlefield in space knows that every missile on a mech is valuable, so most missile shots are fatal on the battlefield.

Saturday howled as he saw the missile aimed towards his mech and desperately changed his course midway. The shock from the mental network vibrated into his ears as the missile barely scratched the edge of his mech. With his lack of experience, Saturday’s turn became too wide and he found himself almost making a full circle around the same spot. This slight delay gave the pirates the opportunity to close in on both sides.

Saturday glanced towards his sync rate: 75%… he was currently at his best.

The moment the pirates closed in, the enemy’s mental network expanded rapidly and hacked into Saturday’s network.

Saturday thought he was used to being wiped off the network, but only now realized that a simulation could not compare against a real battle. During simulations, his vision would blacken and he found himself knocked out of his own network before he even realized he’d entered the Model 3’s range, as if someone just hit him with a pole while walking alone at night.

Yet now, the mental capacity of the pirates was about the same level as him. When they hacked in, they would do it in organized groups, one wave after another until their enemy was completely overwhelmed.

Saturday held onto his network desperately wave after wave, feeling like numerous people ganged up to take turns beating his head with a hammer. Slowly but surely, Saturday’s sync rate dropped from 75% to 55%.

Saturday watched his teammates close in to the amush spot on the anti-detection system as he held in the blood inside his mouth.

His sync rate was dropping steadily. 54%…53%…

While the waves of invasion continued, Saturday still needed to keep the balance of his mech and avoid physical attacks from the other side of his mech. At 51%, he was no longer able to maintain complete control of his mech.

In that instant, Saturday yelled into his mech and logged right off his mental network, allowing the pirates to take over. At the same time, 29 little mechs appeared behind the pirate squad.

Before the pirates could respond, a wave of missiles fired towards them like a bunch of motorboats cutting through a body of water. Saturday took the opportunity to reconnect onto his mental network, then opened his armory and fired a missile towards the pirates. His missile pierced right into the body of a mech, forcing it out of its line like a kite blown by a violent wind before it exploded into another mini fireworks.

“I got one!” Saturday exclaimed, feeling his adrenaline rushing. “I got one!”

Yet the inexperienced Self-Defense Squad didn’t manage to eliminate all the pirates in this attack, as half of the missiles missed their targets. To their surprise, the remaining five pirate mechs still had power to fight back and didn’t run like they expected.

The communication channel was now filled with sounds of explosions, and everyone’s voices began to cut off. The remote assault team of the Self-Defense Squad ran a bit too far ahead and caught a few surviving pirates, starting another storm of cannons and missiles criss-crossing. At the end, no more strategy or plans existed on the chaotic battlefield as it turned into another round of physical combat.

And the members of the Self-Defense Squad that had never pulled a trigger before were all forced to familiarize themselves with their armory at the kill-or-be-killed situation of this merciless battle.

A missile shot towards Saturday; unable to dodge in time, Saturday instinctively turned on his shield…to find that his damaged shield was no longer responding.

“Oh shit.” Saturday thought as he saw the shape of the missile through his mental network.

The feeling of being crushed inside a mech was way beyond Saturday’s imagination as his head slowly blanked out.

Just then, a small mech in front of Saturday and took the missile head-on. Saturday’s eyes widened; the mech’s shield shone intensely as the rest of the mech slowly melted from the high energy of the missile. The armory at the tail of the mech compressed into the body, and a dot of light peeked from the center of the armory like the sun rising from the horizon, then expanded into the overarching sky…the little mech that shielded itself between Saturday and the missile self-destructed.

Everything vanished in the radiating light.

The mechs around it trembled in the explosion. Saturday didn’t even have a chance to see who it was; the fire in his eyes grew rabid as he charged towards the pirates and fired three missiles in a row: “I’m going to kill all of you!”

Humans gamble their lives in the vast galaxy; deep love and hatred swallow up their bodies and souls…yet in the eyes of the universe, they are merely little glares of light in the darkness.

The Prince of Cayley, Ares Von, watched the battle coldly as if he was viewing a movie.

His half-covered face could not express any complicated emotions, always making him seem a little more serious than he really was. He asked slowly with a rusty voice: “Why is there energy turbulence in this area, has it been analysed yet??”

“Your highness, we’re suspecting that this is an area that was laid with an ambush. It’s equipped with an extremely powerful anti-detection system.”

“Extremely powerful?” Ares Von’s metal fingers folded together eerily with his human hands. “An extremely powerful anti-detection system with no barriers? Why are we able to still watch this battle live?”

The subordinate beside him remained in his bowing position wordlessly in fear.

“Such familiar style, such familiar traps.” Ares Von slowly stood up and pulled his subordinate up carefully. “I think we found Primal Alien’s murderer.”