Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 64

Chapter 64 – Will You Shoot Me Down If I Want To Pursue You?

It was quite unfortunate that the entire Eighth Galaxy’s communication was cut off from the rest of the Union and there were no reliable live reporters on site, otherwise the news of the legendary Ares Von’s absolute shock right now would be enough to fill up the headlines for at least a whole month.

The poor pirate scouting squad was all a bait, and the complex anti-detection system was also a bait. But were the exposed underground tunnel and the fake energy wave signals not also a bluff? Didn’t the AUS already confirm earlier that these were all just cheap tricks to cover up the space station?

How did the energy wave signals become real?

Ares Von couldn’t decipher the truth behind all of this; he wasn’t able to during his life, and he never received an answer in the face of death either.

Were there really Union fleets hiding within the Eighth Galaxy? If there were, how was it possible that they would let him roam free and blow up three whole planets in a row without moving a finger? Or was this a long and elaborate trap to hunt him down that started three months ago when Primal Alien went missing?

Most importantly, how was it possible that Lin Jingheng was still alive?

Just like how eco-friendly Prophets of the AUS who would rather sleep inside an ancient treehouse would still rely on data analysis during war, the Prince of Cayley was a mortal enemy of the IU and everything it stood for; yet he would never believe that the almighty Eden could have any loopholes.

During this lustrous time of unprecedented civilization, mankind was reduced to spots of shadows behind the grand stage of society.

The Ninth Squadron descended like a nightmare before Ares Von, who almost couldn’t believe his own two eyes. However, the rest of his fleet that was made of simple-minded fools was completely scared soulless. Except it was already too late to control the spread of fear among them.

The horrified pirates were jumbled up into a disastrous mix of space hotpot by the Ninth Squadron. Lin Jingheng didn’t leave room for them to reassemble and charged right into the pirate fleet, locking on the commanding mech of Ares Von. The Ninth Squadron quickly followed behind him and split evenly into three teams, each taking out a portion of the pirate fleet without any delays. Two missiles from the Squadron fired towards the center and took out the two guarding mechs beside Ares Von’s commanding mech.

In the next instant, Lin Jingheng fired a missile through the vacuum of space towards the armory of Ares Von’s heavy mech with precision.

Ares Von desperately turned his mech back and made an emergency warp. Yet, as if Lin Jingheng already knew which portal the pirate was going to warp to, another missile behind Ares Von reached the portal at the same time. Coincidentally, this was also a portal that had been tampered with previously and immediately triggered an explosion the minute the missile touched the entrance. The high-energy waves instantaneously

carried the Prince of Cayley into the midst of the explosion.

The man, the living nightmare of the Eighth Galaxy along with three planets and millions of innocent lives, disappeared into the void of space.

Artificial intelligences and supercomputers weren’t the only ones that could do preference analysis.

The moment Ares Von died, the spirits of the pirates also vanished. Despite having higher numbers than the Ninth Squadron, they were just floating targets without their commanding mech.

The rest of the battle ended more abruptly than a sudden thunderstorm; under the keen skills of the Ninth Squadron, the remaining pirates that managed to escape were forced to voluntarily remove their armory, log off the mental network and surrender.

Lu Bixing looked down at his watch; from the time the Ninth Squadron made their appearance to cleaning up the battlefield, it had only taken 10 minutes and 21 seconds.

He exhaled deeply and thought: “So this is the Silver Ten…the ultimate fortress that the Union tore down with their own hands.”

The next moment, a communication request was received into the armed forces’ channel and the legendary Ninth Squadron finally showed their true faces.

Perhaps it was because the Silver Ten already left the Union five years ago, quite a few of them seem to have decided to take advantage of this vacation like their boss. And in particular, the Captain of the Ninth Squadron…didn’t really fit the image of a soldier.

Despite wearing her uniform, the Captain had her hair tied up in a ponytail; under the laws of the IU, official military personnel under the Union were not allowed to keep long hair past their shoulders regardless of race or gender unless you were not an enlisted soldier. Yet the person before them didn’t just have long hair, she had two highlighted side fringes that draped from the side of her face down to her chest in a stylish way. The Captain was fairly tall for a woman, but also stood straight like a proper soldier. Her features were fairly sharp but maintained a youthful aura; upon closer look, one could also see that she also had some makeup on, as if she was a model who had just walked out from a military-themed photoshoot.

The “model” Captain took a step forward and made a proper salute to: “Captain of the Silver Ten’s Ninth Squadron, Elizabeth Carla Turan, reporting in.”

The hermits of the armed forces had never seen such a flashy female general and held their breath as they stared dumbly at her.

Lin Jingheng was already annoyed that the Ninth Squadron came in later than he expected, but now that he had witnessed the current state of his subordinates, his anger rose a few notches.

He first ordered a few medical capsules to come carry the poor students away to wipe their nose blood away, then turned his gaze coldly back at the female general. He turned off the channel with the armed forces and blocked off the curious eyes from the armed forces, then slowly opened his mouth: “Captain Turan, did I send out the wrong signal or did you misread my message? If I remember correctly, I asked you to come immediately to the frontlines, not come for a date, right?”

The Captain of the Ninth Squadron froze up immediately and knew she was a word away from becoming dead meat from the tone of her commander’s voice.

And of course, Zhanlu just had to make matters worse by choosing to butt in at this time and greeted her cheerfully: “It has been a while, Captain Turan, you look very beautiful and charming today.”

Lin Jingheng: “Right, you still had time to get her hair done on your way over. Did I make you miss an audition?”

Turan felt the muscles on her tense back twitch as she lowered her head and answered softly: “This…this was for hiding, so that we can better collect more information.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t realize I’m getting old,” Lin Jingheng said. “I thought the Ninth Squadron was supposed to be the vanguard, I didn’t realize you all became special service spies now.”

Turan: “…”

Lin Jingheng’s expression grew colder: “Why were you late?”

“These heavy mechs were originally illegally kept by the Sixth Galaxy, I had to find ways to get my hands on them. Most of these were old models that are already out of production; they look alright on the outside but the software and system are too outdated and can’t handle high-speed warping. We also couldn’t find any reliable mechanics- it was all we could do, commander.”

Lin Jingheng’s expression relaxed at the logical excuse.

Then he heard Turan add: “S….Small delays don’t hurt, right? Commander, you’re so heroic and powerful, I figured that with the current state of battle that you could still handle things by yourself if we were a little late.”

Lin Jingheng could almost feel his veins snap: “So if I wasn’t able to handle it and ended up getting caught in crossfire, you guys will be free from work, right?”

Turan shivered a little and feared that the commander would skin her alive if she said another word and kept quiet.

The former powerhouse of Wolto, the Silver Fortress, had always kept a model image of proper militia throughout the eight galaxies.

Though it was all thanks to the rigorous curriculum of the Black Orchid Academy.

Over 90% of the members of the Silver Fortress were elite graduates from the Academy, all from families of high class and influence. They were the poster children of the Union’s Military Council that gave the Silver Fortress its military image.

Yet the core of the powerhouse, the Silver Ten, were far from any stereotype of a proper galactic soldier.

The frontline vanguards were lawless, the special agent spies never played by the rules, and the mechanics were all a bunch of conceited delinquents that would bargain shamelessly with the Military Council every year for their budget. In addition, the main combat squadron were a bunch of wild dogs that only listened to Lin Jingheng. They always picked fights with other military units and executive councils when released into the wild, like a pack of untamed dogs that would always attempt to bite back anyone that came near them.

Lin Jingheng: “We’re retreating.”

By the time they returned to the space station, the artificial sun had already completed its orbit and lit up for daytime.

New Year’s Eve passed silently like ashes from the frontlines.

The limited space on the station already had trouble fitting a Model 3 on their mech dock, and now with 30 more heavy mechs there was no way to accommodate all of them. The poor mechs that the Ninth Squadron brought over were therefore forced to orbit outside the artificial atmosphere of the station like giant satellites. Turan then organized the squadron into three teams that rotated shifts every eight hours to monitor the heavy mechs’ orbits.

Both the famous squadron from the Silver Fortress and the residents of the space station studied each other like the other were rare animals at a zoo; it was only thanks to Lin Jingheng that neither side actually picked a fight with one another.

Turan tossed a playful wink at a station resident that kept his gaze on her, and jogged over to Lin Jingheng. Despite having the looks of a model, one could never judge a book by its cover; Turan was actually quite a chatterbox with endless gossip. The biggest mystery, however, was the fact that everyone around Lin Jingheng, from human to AI, were all chatterboxes that didn’t know how to shut up. For the commander who enjoys peace and quiet, everyday felt like purgatory.

Turan said as she jogged over: “Hey Commander, you know we can’t just have those mechs fly around forever, they’re going to run out of power soon. The armory is also almost completely depleted like an over-milked cow. If those pirates hadn’t run off like cowards earlier we might actually be out of missiles…thank god they’re actually just losers…By the way, this space station is pretty nice huh? You got food and drinks and even a movie theater, how about the military supplies? Since I’m here now why don’t you…”

Lin Jingheng gave her a cold glance.

Turan let out a little awkward laugh and used up all her guts to finish the sentence as she carefully nudged her fingers: “Why don’t you share some with me, please?”

Lin Jingheng stopped and took a good look at her. As if he just saw some disgusting scene in front of him, he announced sternly at her: “I’ll give you 20 minutes to get rid of that hair. Wash up like a proper human being before you talk to me, you can leave now.”

Turan: “…”

Lu Bixing kept quiet ever since this pretty girl who was also Lin’s ex-subordinate fell from the sky. He silently watched them from the side with an objective perspective for the sake of science, mostly to learn a little more about the cold-hearted commander.

Back when the scandal between Lin Jingheng and Yvgeniya was all over the headlines of the eight galaxies, the media had painted Lin as if he was a stone-hearted monk. Lu Bixing always thought that people were just being dramatic, but after witnessing the interaction between Commander Lin and the pretty girl, he suddenly felt like there might be some truth in those rumors.

“Seems like this is still an unsolved math problem.” Lu Bixing thought shamelessly as he secretly planned out his future Nobel Prize and Interstellar Union Freedom Contribution award breakthrough.

He then found the right time to interrupt the conversation: “I can take care of the parking and energy problem.”

Turan’s eyes lit up as she turned her head towards him. She stepped over and held out her hand, “And your name is?”

“My name is Lu Bixing.” Lu Bixing answered politely and shook her hands, “I’m kind of like a temporary mechanic of the fleet, right, Commander?”

Lin Jingheng quickly nodded his head without a word like he just saw his creditor.

“A military engineer?” Turan stared hard at Lu Bixing’s face and didn’t notice the awkwardness in her own boss’s expression. She squeezed his hand tight almost flirtatiously and continued: “What a handsome engineer, where did our commander find you? See, I’ve always said we should’ve fired the weirdos of the Third Squadron sooner…”

“Elizabeth Turan.” Lin Jingheng suddenly called out her full name.

Turan jumped up straight like she just stepped on a mousetrap: “Yes, sir.”

Lin Jingheng lowered his voice: “What did I just say?”

“For me to leave, sir.” Turan turned towards her squadron, “Everyone–turn around, follow me and off we fuck!”

Foucault followed behind to find a place for them to stay while Lin Jingheng turned and walked into the main control room.

The calendar was still from last year, yet the entire station looked completely different after just one night.

Looking down from the main control room, the once-new fleet of mechs were now covered in a layer of blood and ashes. The scars of battle were like a new skin of armor that grew out of the mechs, making the repair robots work nonstop. All mechs were parked in an organized fashion, with gaps in between. And, like the gravestones behind the Parliament of the IU, the mechs now only exist in memory.

Many residents gathered around the outside of the mech dock. Some saw their friends and family return and cried in joy, others that didn’t find their loved ones didn’t give up and tried to look for them inside the dock. Yet they all walked back soulessly when they found no signs of return.

As for most of the Self-Defense Squad members that never returned, nobody was waiting for them even when they were alive, and nobody asked when they died. This was another story.

Lin Jingheng leaned on the window bar with both his arms on top and slowly lowered his head. He closed his eyes as he carefully let out a deep breath he had been holding in.

Turan hadn’t officially reported to him yet and only glossed over how she’d gotten the mechs, but a bad feeling set his senses tingling the moment he learned of it.

Just then, he could hear the sound of footsteps behind him.. Lin Jingheng quickly wiped the traces of anxiety off his face and put back on his normal cold expression. He turned around…only to almost run right into Lu Bixing.

Right, there was also this man right here.

Lin Jingheng quickly stepped back out of reflex. He wasn’t sure what was up with Lu Bixing that night, but because he was also in a state of unease he swore to himself that if Lu Bixing said anything stupid to him, he’d kick the poor scientist out the room.

Even though Lin Jingheng didn’t curse out loud, a lift of an eyebrow indicated that he was ready to go off on another round of scolding if necessary: “What is it?”

Lu Bixing held onto his arms as he leaned on the window, and said deeply: “Thank you.”

Lin Jingheng: “…”

The “leave me alone” remained at the tip of Lin Jingheng’s tongue as he forcefully swallowed the line back when he realized that it was probably not an appropriate response.

“You still helped them at the end,” Lu Bixing said. “You knew the Ninth Squadron was coming, you could’ve just waited for them and ignored the rest of the armed forces like what we said in the beginning.”

Lin Jingheng made his way around Lu Bixing without giving him a look in the eye: “Primal Alien’s dead, you think Ares Von is easy to fool?”

“Wait,” Lu Bixing called him. “I heard from Mint and the kids that you used a relaxant again!”

Lin Jingheng didn’t want to answer and ignored him like he ignored Zhanlu on a daily basis.

Lu Bixing didn’t give up and quickly caught up to stand in front of him: “The aftereffects of using a relaxant is harsh, does it hurt?”

Questions like “Does it hurt” and “Are you tired” were a little too personal to Lin Jingheng. The last time he’d heard someone ask him these questions was when he was a kid, so from his perspective it was like Lu Bixing was casually talking about personal hygiene with him. It made him feel uncomfortable, and he wasn’t sure how to follow up.

“Stop wasting your time here,” Lin Jingheng patiently warned him. “Go do what you need to do.”

Lu Bixing sensed the unease in the man before him, but purposely stood in front and refused to let the other pass. He wasn’t afraid of Lin Jingheng’s temper because he knew the biggest reaction he could get was a simple “leave”, which wasn’t even a threat. Even though he understood logically why everyone else deflated into timid animals before Commander Lin, he wasn’t able to empathize.

“Hey Commander, why are you hiding away like you’re avoiding a plague? It’s not like I did anything to you.” Then, a sudden feeling of delight surged within Lu Bixing as he spoke, and immediately continued before Lin Jingheng could respond, “My confession last night got cut off by those pirates, so I wanted to talk to you a little more today. But you won’t even look at me, so what do you want me to do? Should I drag myself out and do maintenance for your mech dock instead?”

Lin Jingheng: “……”

Turan, who just finished cleaning herself up and opened the door to the main control room: “……”

Lu Bixing shot a quick glance at her; he wasn’t shocked or embarassed by the sudden intrusion, and was in fact quite amused by the colorfully astonished expression on Turan’s face. The same young scientist that once injected biochips inside his own body felt as if his equally crazy predecessors from ancient times all sent him endless courage and curiosity from the heavens, pushing him to pursue the impossible.

While Lin Jingheng’s face remained blank, Lu Bixing took the opportunity to grab a hold of the commander’s wrist and said: “If I said I wanted to pursue you, would you shoot me down right now?”