Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 69

Chapter 69 – There Won’t Be A Next Time

The temporary office door was half opened when Turan dropped by to hand Lu Bixing a list of their repair team and check in with her boss. Yet before she could announce her arrival by the door, she overheard this, almost choking on her own words that rolled straight back down her throat in shock. She closed her mouth shut and stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, shocked to the point where she didn’t even want to breathe.

The culture of the Eighth Galaxy was a symphony of smugglers and wanderers, its cities were centers for recycling artificial idiots, the executive heads were the mafia and gangs of each planet, and the people were constantly struggling just to live in these hellish living conditions…Lin Jingheng concluded that the young scientist Mr. Lu probably burned off all his brain cells from overworking a whole afternoon, just

hearing this wild suggestion.

He swallowed down the urge to spit out vulgarities and asked, “What do you want to eat that isn’t already available here that requires you to go outside, dirt?”

“It’s been over 6 months since we landed on a natural planet,” Lu Bixing softened his voice as he leaned in on the desk with one leg standing, the other tapping around like a restless child. He lifted a bright smile as if a stranger to negative emotions and looked towards Lin: “Hey Commander, you know I’ve never really been around the Eighth Galaxy despite my age. I was stuck on Cayley for so long until I finally managed to go out, and halfway out I had to stop in Beijing because I picked you up…”

Lu Bixing reminded himself of the awkward days when the two had first met and had to interact through the ecopod. This slightly awkward event was forced into becoming an even more awkward memory as Lu Bixing pulled it out in this context.

Lin Jingheng felt himself tense up subconsciously: “Okay, okay, just go off and stop wasting your time here. Hurry up and go, just make sure to come back before midnight.”

And then the man that couldn’t even spell out the word ‘fun’ lowered his head in frustration and started flipping through a random report with absolutely no intention of moving from his current position.

Lu Bixing slowly stood back up straight as his gaze swam around for a split second to reflect on his own words. He felt that he’d made a slight mistake with the excuse earlier and now Lin Jingheng was just pretending to not catch the hint of invitation.

Oh mighty human civilization, it was one thing to let people invent inhuman nutrient packs, why did mankind also have to create AIs that could take care of all daily meals?

Without a good plan to continue the fight and unsure whether or not Lin Jingheng was really that reluctant to go, Lu Bixing gave the man before him a longing look as he admitted temporary defeat in his head: “What a stonehead; oh well, I’ll have more chances in the future.”

As he consoled himself with his big heart, Lu Bixing turned around to meet Turan’s gaze right by the door. The two quickly exchanged glances as Turan called out from the doorway: “Pardon, sir!”

Lin Jingheng: “At ease, what is it?”

Turan walked in with a heavy expression on her face and said: “Commander, the scanning system just extended its outer boundaries to a radius of 200 kilometers, and we’ve discovered that there’s a small group of unidentified personnel spying on the base. According to the energy levels we’ve observed, we suspect that they are armed!”

Lin Jingheng and Lu Bixing were both taken aback at the instant.

Lu Bixing had grown up in the Eighth Galaxy and understood the kind of people that lived here – if there was any chance of survival in staying, they would never choose to venture out towards danger, and was quite shocked at the news. He thought to himself: “Do the people on Qiming really have some guts?”

Just then, Turan gave him a small wink from an angle that Lin Jingheng couldn’t see.

Lu Bixing: “…”

Curiosity killed the cat, and a meddlesome nature would kill a Captain; maybe this girl loved jumping into a pit of fire.

“Stay right there,” Lin Jingheng first called out to Lu Bixing, then turned towards Turan, “How far away are they from the base? What grade of armory?”

Lu Bixing still had his back turned towards Lin Jingheng and was desperately trying to communicate through facial expressions to Turan– telling her to not make too big of a fuss, because he still wanted to go out and tour around even if Lin Jingheng didn’t want to.

Thankfully, Turan was mentally tough and thick-skinned enough to fully show off her talent in bluffing when she realized she may have exaggerated a little too much and amended her previous statement without a change in expression: “Their position is constantly moving, armory level is ‘terra negative’ and not very professional, I’m suspecting that it’s a civilian unit that may have been victims or hostages of the AUS from before.”

Armories were all categorized into different grades–for example, mechs or terrestrial anti-missile systems were considered “cosmic grade”. Non-stellar armories were categorized into “terra grade”. Normally, a “standard terra grade” would mean the overall force of armed vehicles on land, which generally includes armed tanks and mobiles. Armed vehicles that were more destructive, such as fighter jets, aircraft carriers, and ground cruise missiles, were categorized as “terra plus”. Thus, a “terra negative” was a grade lower than the standard grade, and while they were considerably weaker, they still possessed enough firepower to pose a threat. A terra negative would be equivalent to a bunch of unorganized criminals carrying bricks and metal poles patrolling a certain area, and normally wouldn’t require properly armed units to take care of them. However, it didn’t exclude the possibility that they could potentially be hiding a greater threat underneath.

“Terra negatives shouldn’t be a big deal.” Lu Bixing wasn’t too keen on dragging Lin Jingheng down like this and found an opportunity to cut in as he got ready to take his leave, “Don’t underestimate mechanics — in this era, as long as electromagnetic waves still exist, we can hack into any system in this world. If it really comes down to it, I can also just jump into an energy field and escape from there–see ya!”

Both Turan and Lin Jingheng stopped him at the same time: “Wait!”

Lin Jingheng lowered his eyebrows in slight distress. Lu Bixing wasn’t his soldier — despite being a self-proclaimed military engineer, he was mostly around to just help with various tasks. On top of that he was already a grown adult with a decent handle in mech piloting that knew how to navigate his way through society. If he wanted to, he even had the ability to build an entire armed unit in the midst of chaos; he wasn’t a helpless minor, so Lin Jingheng didn’t really have the right to supervise him like a parent.

Lu Bixing said: “Don’t worry, if they really turn out to just be civilians, it’s even better for me. I’ll go and talk with them about the situation, and maybe even recruit some extra soldiers for you.”

Lin Jingheng was afraid of this ‘talk’. He wasn’t sure what kind of fertilizer had been used to raise Lu Bixing; this boy was extremely optimistic and had a big heart–one so big that even Lin Jingheng wondered if he really was a carbon-based organism that could live off of anything and everything. Lu Bixing’s friendly nature made him want to befriend everyone he crossed paths with, especially when he didn’t need to worry about any gains or losses. Sometimes Lin Jingheng suspected that he would go off and let people beat him half dead before he would even attempt to lift a finger.

“Go find…” Lin Jingheng paused as he quickly decided that Monoeyed Hawk would not be a reliable person in this situation, and turned to Turan: “Is there anyone in the Ninth Squadron that isn’t busy?”

“No,” Turan responded regretfully, “The base is too big and we only have so many people. Our engineering team just got transferred over to Professor Lu and are currently working on preparation, so we’re very short on people. We have some that are currently at break right now, but they’ve all just ended their shifts, and in less than a few hours they’ll have to…”

Lu Bixing quickly interrupted: “Oh no, don’t worry, I’m just going out for dinner; it’s not like I’m out for some diplomatic meeting, you guys don’t need to worry so much.”

Turan made a face like she’d just had a sudden realization: “Oh, is Professor Lu going out? How about…hm, I don’t really have a lot to do right now, how about…I go with you?”

She also proceeded to shoot him a playful wink.

Turan was an infamous thug back in the Silver Fortress that often went out for shady businesses and activities behind closed doors during her vacation breaks. Her complaint letters in the Silver Fortress always ranked the highest, and at one point her playful deeds even got up to the attention of the higher-ups of the Council, forcing Lin Jingheng to keep her in check for over six months.

In her own words, not getting some goods from pretty boys was her own loss; if there was a chance, at least get a hookup with them. And right now, Lin Jingheng could’ve sworn there was some drool at the corner of her mouth as she looked toward Lu Bixing.

“The Ninth Squadron is all busy, but the Captain doesn’t have much to do?” Lin Jingheng shot her a cold glance. “Get out, and turn in your report before training tomorrow morning.”

Turan quickly took back her thirsty stares and answered without complaint: “Yes sir!”

Lin Jingheng then sat at his seat with his brows still glued together for a little while, then stood up and turned towards Lu Bixing: “Wait for me.”

Then, he walked into the inner room with the same frustrating expressionless face to change.

Lu Bixing: “……”

Turan spread her hands the moment Lin Jingheng walked away and spoke tonelessly to him: “You’re writing my report for me.”

Lu Bixing could only give her a weak smile.

Turan still looked a little displeased, and finally gestured for him to lean in closer after thinking for a bit. Lu Bixing leaned over to hear the Captain of the Ninth Squadron shadily say: “So your…heterochromic dad, how come he always just comes and goes as he pleases? You should introduce him to me sometime.”

Despite being a man of culture that had seen and experienced many things, Lu Bixing almost felt his heart jump out as he jolted back and hit a table behind him: “Hey sister, that I can’t do, my dad’s not for sale, especially not like this!”

Turan burst into laughter from his dramatic reaction into a feral longhorn beetle.

Just then, the door to the inner room opened– Commander Lin changed faster than people taking off their socks, walking out as swiftly as the wind. Turan quickly turned towards Lu Bixing at the sound of the door opening and said quietly: “I’ll send you a template of the report to your personal device later.”

She then ran off before her boss could give her another scolding.

Lin Jingheng pulled out a cigarette from the pocket in his casual wear, and lit it up as he walked toward the door. He didn’t lift his head up to look at Lu Bixing , walking quickly like a mafia boss patrolling his territory; a cloud of smoke blew out from his mouth as he gestured towards Lu Bixing and ordered: “Let’s go.”

Lu Bixing almost ran over with overflowing excitement but suppressed the urge to do so with his entire being and remained calm: “How are we going out?”

Lin Jingheng: “The AUS left quite a few armed mobiles here disguised as civilian automobiles, probably for their secret services. We can just take one of those. I’ll need to check the geography around the base, the size and identities of the enemy, so you’re going to organize all the data.”

Lu…the newly appointed secretary of the commander felt a sense of helplessness. He felt that Lin was born with some sort of deeply rooted antisocial nature that always pitted the man against the world, and even against Lu Bixing himself. Going out to relax and eat was like breaking the laws to him — he needed some legitimate reason to get down off of his throne and walk outside so that he wasn’t wasting his time.

Lu Bixing mumbled to himself: “You sure are going out for business, your highness.”

Armed automobiles were the kings of warfare on land that could be categorized into weapons of mass-destruction. With enough energy supply, equipment, and a good handler, it would even be possible to strike down fighter jets with them. The mobiles were armed with a shield similar to the build of a space mech, but because the controls were a lot less complex, armed mobiles didn’t require mental networks to maneuver.

From the looks of the mobiles left by the AUS, they were not that different from civilian cars; in fact, they were even more beaten-up than an average car, fully equipped with a manual steering wheel that might indicate it was possibly an ancient piece of equipment from Earth.

Lu Bixing sat carefully inside the car, worried that even the doors might fall apart. On the other side, Lin Jingheng bypassed the security system and brushed a finger against a fingerprint scanner. The entire mobile transformed into a fully-equipped high-spec vehicle within seconds, its quality almost on par with a standard IU unit; the beaten-up look had really just been a facade.

Lin Jingheng saw out of the corner of his eye that Lu Bixing had fastened his seatbelt and entered the command code into the system. The armed mobile received the command and like a ground missile, pierced through the air and shot out the base.

The area outside the operational base were empty lands. Qiming’s rotation period didn’t follow the standard 24 hours of Wolto, making day and night seem to pass by much more slowly compared to the time they were used to on the artificial space station. It was already dusk; nameless plants and corn had already grown as tall as a person and blocked off the roads. If it wasn’t for the armed mobile, it would be difficult to travel around it. There was no deserted land in the First Galaxy as every piece of land was carefully planned out by the IU; even undeveloped lands were cleaned up properly by gardening robots for aesthetic purposes.

Lin Jingheng wasn’t joking around when he’d said he wanted to map out the topography. The armed mobile’s scanning system remained at a radius of above 1 kilometer since it drove out and automatically recorded every piece of energy wave signals it captured. A wave of invisible particle beams shot out from the front of the mobile to put down the obstacles on the road. The soft light of the equipment and screens gently shone on Lin Jingheng’s marble statue-like face; he sat silently, the lines of his shoulders and back clean and straight underneath the cotton dress shirt. Lu Bixing was recording the energy signals disinterestedly as

he looked over, subconsciously reaching his hands out to frame Lin Jingheng between his fingers like a movie poster.

“Hey Commander,” Lu Bixing said, “Have you ever taken your girlfriend…or boyfriend out of school when you were in Black Orchid Academy?”

Lin Jingheng was quiet for a while, and just when Lu Bixing thought he was going to ignore the question again, Lin Jignheng answered: “Black Orchid is a military school, the security is much more strict than this garbage base. There’s no way out, and you’d be locked inside if you got caught trying to run.”

And the one time he escaped from school, he was locked up inside the ‘coffin’ for three days as punishment.

Night on Qiming was blissfully quiet and peaceful without any obstacles on the road. Three hundred kilometers passed by quickly as the armed mobile passed through the desert at almost the speed of sound. Soon, the roads began to grow smoother and expand into highway terminals up ahead. The quiet energy radar finally picked up some small signals from lights and silhouettes of buildings in front, and the view of a city became visible.

Lu Bixing pondered a little before speaking up: “Captain Turan was just…”

Lin Jingheng didn’t respond. From the lack of reaction from the radar since they left the base, it was more than obvious what Turan’s intentions were.

“…She was just trying to help me ask you out on my request.” Despite being half-dragged into the mess, as the winner of this strange game, Lu Bixing heroically took the blame for Turan and glanced carefully at Lin Jingheng. “Lin, are you mad?”

There was a whole minute where Lin Jingheng was completely silent, until he finally spoke up without answering the question: “We’re almost there.”

Lu Bixing looked up instantly.

Lin Jingheng: “There won’t be a next time.”

Lu Bixing turned his head towards the window suddenly and saw the excitable smile that had spread uncontrollably across his face. It took him a full five minutes to force his facial muscles to relax back to something normal. He then pulled out his personal device and played around with it for a few moments; a loading bar flashed across his wrist and a virtual screen appeared. The screen was displaying an old satellite map– the master hacker had just hacked into the city’s internal network.

Lu Bixing blew out a whistle as he proudly shared his signal with Lin Jingheng: “3.5 seconds, that’s a personal record.”

He poked around enthusiastically and flipped through some information about the city: “This place is called the Milky Way City, average population about

3 million…look, there’s a central shopping district and some famous cuisines! Hey Lin, do you like chocolate pancakes?”

“…….What the hell? No.” Lin Jingheng turned the speed of the mobile down to an average driving speed as he pulled out another cigarette and shoved it in his mouth. “This kid is extremely talented, he just doesn’t grow up.” He thought to himself.

Lin Jingheng lifted an arm and rested it on the disguise steering wheel, slowly driving the car into the “Welcome to The Milky Way City” highway entrance. He wasn’t sure if he actually scared some inanimate object, but the moment he passed through, the lights on the sign vanished and emitted some smoke.

“There are even casinos…didn’t they say that the financial trust system was completely destroyed? What are they gambling with? Hey Lin, wanna guess what they’re using instead of money now?”

Suddenly, an ancient philosophical question resurfaced in Lin Jingheng’s endless sea of thoughts.

“Where am I?” He thought, “Why am I here?”

It was impossible to find a legitimate urban city within the Eighth Galaxy, and in terms of development, Qiming was still behind what Beijing had once been. The only positive was that Qiming’s climate was significantly better, so the cities seemed livelier. The central shopping district was really just a bunch of complicated alleyways filled with small tent shops and eateries that surrounded the streets and buildings. The uneven ground was filled with trash and bodily fluids, its stench mixed with the smell of food looming in the air.

A small robot announced with its mechanical voice: “Three nutrient syringes for 1000 banknotes, foreign travelers please line up here! Evening special, three syringes for a whole night of service!”

Lin Jingheng stood to the side and observed for a short while, discovering that this little city had established its own little economic community. Travelers exchanged nutrient syringes for a type of monetary points, which could then be used to purchase goods and services from the merchants within the city. The merchants then exchanged the points they earned with the city for syringes, eliminating the hassle of finding change for commodities.

While Lin Jingheng studied the city, Lu Bixing had already shoved three syringes into the robot’s stomach. The robot swallowed the syringes and shot a beam of light towards Lu Bixing’s wrist, indicating that the 1000 banknotes had been transferred to him.

“Tonight’s on me.” Lu Bixing said as he grabbed onto Lin Jingheng’s hand to not lose him in the small alleyways. A group of small vendors passed by with a cart full of stock through the alleyway up front, and suddenly he felt the hand he’d been holding subconsciously pull back a little, then suddenly turn into a full-force tug that pulled Lu Bixing’s entire body back.

Then, a bucket of water poured down on the spot Lu Bixing had just been standing on.

Lin Jingheng: “Be careful.”