Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 91

Chapter 91 – He Grabbed His Hand

The Silver Ten’s standard expeditionary mission was also inhumane when they were fully equipped with proper energy sources. Non-frontline soldiers and unqualified personnel were all required to take large amounts of relaxants prior to boarding the mech, and during the expedition, nobody–including the commander and all pilots, was allowed to walk around inside the mech. Everyone would be locked in their position with airbags, and due to the high-speed of the expedition, all mech-to-mech communications were required to be limited to simple command signals without words.

When Lu Bixing rushed over, his personal device still had the blueprint of the Eighth Galaxy’s new network opened.

Lin Jingheng was waiting by the entrance of the Model 3 and spoke up as he saw Lu Bixing show up: “You’ll need to be at your best physical condition to board the mech today, I can’t let you on even if you feel the slightest bit of unease. If you have any problems, stay at the base.”

Words passed through Lu Bixing’s ears like a gust of wind as he ran over, his chest feeling like it was about to combust: “Give me…give me a backup relaxant.”

Lin Jingheng gave him a good look before he nodded and walked onto the Model 3. The beast in slumber let out a deep grumble the moment he connected onto its mental network, and within five minutes the entire fleet was already on the launching deck in an orderly fashion ready to take off.

Lu Bixing’s racing heart slowly calmed down as he followed Lin onto the Model 3, but another sense of burning anxiety began to fire up.

Monoeyed Hawk wasn’t a textbook definition of a good father; his carefree attitude had him constantly out drinking and partying, setting a bad example for his son. He was never much of a father and naturally didn’t have much parental authority, and of course, never really guided Lu Bixing like a proper mentor figure.

But to a sapling, as long as the soil had enough nutrients to raise it along with sufficient sunlight and water, it could still manage to grow. Even if there wasn’t anyone around to cut its branches regularly, it could still grow naturally into a unique tree.

Monoeyed Hawk was like the rich soil for Lu Bixing. The young man didn’t need to look down and check the status of the soil to know that it was the source that gave him life. He knew that this person would be there for him when he was at his most vulnerable time in youth, and that strong sense of security was like the strongest shield supporting him from behind. The shield helped Lu Bixing back on his feet every time after his rehabilitation, and even repaired his shattered heart after the young child broke down before the faces of the monsters in the underground chamber.

Monoeyed Hawk’s communication with the base cut off immediately after the alarm was received; Lu Bixing was too scared to think about what it meant and could only forcefully distract himself by clenching his fist tightly until his touch numbed.

Lin Jingheng wasn’t going to console him, and fortunately Lu Bixing wasn’t someone that needed words of pity. The two quietly but swiftly made their way through the Model 3’s passageways into the main control room.

Everyone on the Model 3 was already in their position. Unlike normal times, the control room was filled with medical capsules like a bunch of cocoons. Once the mech passed through the first transfer portal, the mech’s airbag would fill up all the space outside of the capsules to provide maximum protection for all members on the mech.

Lu Bixing pulled back his gaze from Lin Jingehng’s back and closed his eyes silently as he accepted the capsule’s full-body scan and sterilization before stepping in. He began counting his breaths to calm himself down and thought, if he was anxious, he could’ve just said so at the base and worried about it himself. Now that he stepped onto this mech, he might as well distract himself with some other thoughts–for example, who would possibly ambush Monoeyed Hawk? Were they doing it for revenge from a personal vendetta? Or did they have other plans? Who could possibly have the power to mobilize an entire mech fleet?

A flood of ideas appeared and then disappeared in his mind that couldn’t form into a cohesive thought. As his mind raced, Lin Jingheng’s hand held onto the cover of the capsule that was about to close down.

Lu Bixing stared at him dumbly. With an arm up on the cover, Lin Jingheng looked at him with a face almost as cold as the steel capsule cover, but Lu Bixing could tell that the former seemed to be struggling to say something. Unfortunately, Commander Lin wasn’t good at expressing his thoughts and ad libs are even more of a challenge for him. Lin Jingheng stared silently for a while before pulling Lu Bixing’s hand up and carefully releasing the young man’s clenched fist, then closed up the blueprint on his personal device that was still open.

For some strange reason, Lu Bixing almost felt his heartbeat escalating again after finally settling down with this small gesture. Guilt and insecurity once again filled his heart.

Lin Jingheng’s gaze lowered as he said in a gentle voice: “I’m right here.”

Lu Bixing grabbed his hand with a powerful force as if he wanted to squeeze through the commander’s flesh and bones.

Realizing he lost control, he loosened his grip and smiled at Lin Jingheng: “Commander, that’s pretty sly of you. Is this the rumored tactic to get into someone’s heart at their weakest time so you can trick them into selling their body to you?”

Before Lin Jingheng could answer, Zhanlu’s voice rang up within the Model 3: “Activating mech pressurization, engine system warming up, please return to your positions—”

He lowered his head and brushed his lips against the back of Lu Bixing’s hand, then closed up the capsule cover.

The cover closed up and blocked both of their views. Lu Bixing let out a long sigh, feeling the corner of his eyes warming up.

After a small buzz, the vanguard team began to take off while the launching dock trembled slightly as the mechs shot up into the sky.

“Wait, what happens if we run into unexpected situations in the middle of this?” This was Saturday’s first time seeing such a formation and remained worried even after lying down into the capsule, “are we able to communicate in time inside this thing?”

“If you can’t tell, it’s impossible to communicate during emergency situations, so the pilot has to deal with it themselves.” A soldier from the Ninth Squadron beside him said, “didn’t you notice that the first pilot of every mech was at least a Lieutenant…Oh right, there aren’t really any lieutenants and stuff anymore. Don’t worry young man, these people have been fighting more battles than all the meals you’ve eaten in your life, their coordination is like a pianist’s fingers.”

Even though Saturday and his crew had been running behind Lin Jingheng and calling him Commander, these uncultured Eighth Galaxy hooligans never truly grasped the concept of the Union’s Naval Commander. Though he knew what a “lieutenant” was; the smuggling control department between the border of the Seventh and Eighth Galaxy was a lieutenant. Due to his family background, Saturday had heard some stories about the lieutenant and knew that he was an old government official that spent most of his time sitting around his house.

Saturday was shocked and blurted out a dumb question that made him seem like an oblivious child: “L-lieutenants!? Do lieutenants also join in combat?”

The mech slowly lifted and landed on its track, then trembled slightly as it got ready to lift off. The soldier beside him laughed in response: “What’s so special about a lieutenant? You’ve been following our commander around for so long and still find a lieutenant amazing? Did you know that there are only 16 Naval Commanders in all of Union history? Is your impression of the Military Council just a bunch of chubby old middle-aged men pointing their fingers at everyone?”

Saturday was dumbstruck: “….Are they not?”

“Of course not! If you gain weight or ruin your image, the media will have you in a chokehold as the public spreads rumors about you. Only officials in faraway areas like this place would dare to be careless about their image. Even the 300-year-old Commander in Chief needs to watch his diet and figure in the Military Council.”

Saturday took a gulp and was rendered speechless by this rigid standard that even a top model couldn’t compare to.

“Of course, by the time you reach that status, glory is all in the past. Your main job really is to maintain an image, and Commander Lin is the only frontline commander left. He represents the Silver Fortress and manages all the military resources throughout the eight galaxies.” The Ninth Squadron soldier took back his smile and paused, then added, “Commander Lu Xin was given the title of Naval Commander back then because he reclaimed the Eighth Galaxy and rendered an outstanding service to the Union. Commander Lin was born in a peaceful era, and normally he wouldn’t have been able to reach this status with his young age and lack of experience. Aside from playing political games, the reason why he was able to claim the title was because the Silver Ten chose him.”

Saturday was an ambitious and smart young man; he knew that even though Lin Jingheng constantly tormented them, the fact that the commander merged the self-defense squad with the Ninth Squadron was also to raise the self-defense squad. The young man stared wide-eyed and listened closely while the mech warmed up on the track.

“The ‘Silver Ten’ got its name because we were stationed in the Silver Fortress, and split into ten different sub-fleets based on our functions. Before it was known as the Silver Ten, it was the number one interstellar mercenary fleet of the universe before the NSC Union was established, called ‘Phantom’….uh, you can take it as we were the strongest space pirates. At the end of the war, we acknowledged the Union’s Pledge of Freedom and stood at their side, even witnessing the legal establishment of the Union government. But mercenary fleets weren’t domesticated animals, so Phantom refused to be under control of the Military Council. At that time, the Union needed support from all parties and couldn’t give an empty check to their supporters, so they could only sign a treaty with us. In other words, while other navies worked directly under the Council, we were only hired by the Council as partners; this is the history of the Silver Ten.”

“Within 276 years, the Union went through countless changes; many people died, many people changed, but every generation of the Silver Ten followed their tradition and promise. Unless you retire from the military, otherwise nobody is allowed to leave the Silver Fortress outside 10 sailing days unless there is war. We swear to never keep personal arms, never to expand our forces; we vow to give up all of our freedom to fight for the Pledge of Freedom. The only right we reserve as the Silver Ten was that we can refuse the orders of our direct commander and operate autonomously under the Captains of the ten squadrons. We haven’t acknowledged many commanders throughout our history; Lu Xin was one, but ever since the Union recovered the Eighth Galaxy, Lu Xin began involving himself with the overall management of the Military Council. He felt that having the Silver Ten only accepting his orders would prompt suspicion of raising a private fleet, so in order to avoid complications he announced that he will no longer manage the Silver Ten directly.”

The cover of the medical capsules lowered and blocked Saturday’s view. Before the view in front of him completely disappeared, he took a last look at the soldier’s face and felt as if there was a slight hint of frost covering his expression.

The sounds of the airbags releasing rang up as Saturday heard the soldier say in a nonchalant tone: “Now that we’ve reached this point where we turned against the Union, I can say that it was because the Union was the one that ripped up the Pledge of Freedom first…”

A thunderous booming sound covered his voice as the airbags released and filled the mech. With the Model 3 as the central commanding ship, the fleet of mechs shot through the atmosphere like a ray of light toward the first transfer portal. Even without a word between each other, each mech remained in their position as if they were all part of each other’s bodies.

Saturday felt as if his entire body turned inside-out the moment they passed through the transfer portal as his back glued to the wall of the capsule. He had a sudden hallucination that his body was being slowly ripped into pieces, and this fear was intensified by the dark and small space within the capsule. Saturday pressed his nose to the oxygen hole and took deep breaths to suppress his urge to scream in terror.

He couldn’t imagine how the pilot could remain so calm and concentrated under the same situation; he thought about it for a while and suddenly felt that these elite soldiers were much scarier than he had imagined.

It had been many years since Monoeyed Hawk had experienced the desperation of getting slowly forced out of his mental network. Right before he disconnected, he could almost hear that ancient war anthem in his ears–

We came from the cape, the mountain range faraway

In the land abandoned by starlight, we light up the beacon fire of freedom

We heard…….

“We heard….” Monoeyed Hawk’s lips opened up slightly as he mumbled the lyrics he almost forgot throughout the years, “the storm roaring…”

He realized something at the moment and turned to the dead silent channel in disbelief. A muffled singing voice began filling up the empty channel until it became clear; the song playing was the most wide-spread version back within the Independent Navy. This version had no special remixes, and the complex tones were meddled down to become almost flat at the harmony as people’s voices blended in an unorganized manner, rough yet sincere.

We heard the storm roaring, blood burning—

A small mech that escaped suddenly appeared behind the pirate fleet and fired a missile towards the enemy. It was hard to tell whether it was pure luck or an actual skillful aim, the missile hit a mid-sized mech’s armory right in the bull’s eye.

The enemy clearly came prepared with plenty of ammunition as the armory self-destructed. Yet the explosion disrupted the formation on the side of the mid-sized mech, and before they could react another small mech jumped out of another transfer portal and fired a round of indiscriminate particle beams. The beams shot through the remnants of the exploded armory and missile, forming a storm of deadly objects flying into the enemy fleet. At the same time, the person that fired the shot cried into the communication channel: “Footsteps are advancing, flags are falling….Ah, my friend–”

Another voice interrupted: “Grey Wolf, you’re so off tune you’re heading towards Wolto!”

Before the Grey Wolf could respond, number 6 ran off and disappeared into the transfer portal once again and left the channel with his nightmare-inducing singing voice.

Soon after, numerous small mechs that had already disappeared into trackable distance from Qiming’s base popped up like grasshoppers from different directions and began carrying out a guerilla tactic against the enemy.

The enemy fleet maintained its ground, but due to the sheer size of their fleet, they weren’t able to move around freely. They were like an elephant being tormented by ants, growling in anger without a proper way to counterattack.

Monoeyed Hawk’s vision blurred for a second—they came back!

But what are these losers doing here!?

Shouldn’t these old skeletons that need hypertension medication after two emergency warps hide behind their tails and wait until their lives end inside a cave?

They really think they’re heroes for remembering the lyrics to a song!

Monoeyed Hawk struggled to find the medical capsule and shoved his arm inside for a second shot of relaxant. His muscles twitched in pain along with his bone-cracking sound; he let out a howl and maintained his sync rate with the mech at an average about 60% and ran headfirst into the enemy fleet. The mech sent out a shield damage alert as a wave of particle cannons and missiles flew by him, and at that moment Grey Wolf’s number 6 mech reappeared from another transfer portal as he continued with his off-tune singing: “Ah, my friend…”

It had been too long since he entered the battlefield, and the sudden adrenaline clouded his thoughts as he ran straight into the line of fire.

The harsh stream of fire stopped his mech inside the transfer portal. The ten missiles left in his armory were caught in fire and began to self-destruct after a violent tremble, taking along the mech’s energy reserve. Due to the high risk of blowing up a transfer portal through high-energy waves, the mechs surrounding the portal all dispersed after receiving the warning on their mechs. Monoeyed Hawk fired one last interception missile and slid through the cracks of the enemy fleet and escaped the ambush while rushing towards the transfer portal Grey Wolf was stuck inside in a deadly gamble.

Inside the channel, the song playing from someone else’s mech continued.

Ah, my friend–

Follow us, remove your shackles, raise your sails.

Monoeyed Hawk won the gamble. The self-destruction power of mech number 6 wasn’t strong enough to cause a portal explosion, and in the last second he made his way into the portal as the remnants of the explosion scratched past his damaged shield. Small bits of collision fire sparked on flammable gas from one metal piece to another and disappeared in a disorganized fashion like an off-tune music score.

Monoeyed Hawk saw William’s mech number 10 the minute he escaped from the portal, the two men connected briefly through the communication channel.

Monoeyed Hawk asked quickly in a husky voice: “Does everyone have the map to the underground passage?”

William said: “We sent it out!”

“Let’s go then, don’t meet up!” Monoeyed Hawk said, “We’ll each find our way over!”

The SOS signal Lin Jingheng received from them was sent around this area, and as long as the person they sent over wasn’t a fool, they would avoid the enemy and come through the underground passage. If there was even the slightest chance possible, could they manage to survive until backup arrives?

William suddenly asked in the channel: “The only people that knew our exact itinerary were the old friends that came along with us on this trip, right?”

“Of course,” Monoeyed Hawk could taste the salty sweat rolling into his mouth as he yelled, “fuck that bastard, if I find out who this traitor is, I’ll kill their whole family even if I become a damn ghost! They’re following us, split up!”

The two mechs passed by each other at their maximum speed. The connection between them was like a long and thin thread that was pulled to its limit until it cut off as the two disappeared from each other’s sight.

William passed through another transfer portal and noticed that Monoeyed Hawk took most of the pursuers to his side. He passed through a few more portals as if playing hide and seek until his surroundings became quiet. According to their promise, he should be making his way towards the underground passage once he escaped from the enemy’s pursuit and wait for his comrades to come.

He enlarged the map that Monoeyed Hawk gave him to cover the entire wall of the cockpit. Each individual dot indicated a protected portal like stars in the sky that was directing him to safety.

Those Union Naval Fleets that saved the Eighth Galaxy from the nightmare of the Rainbow Virus in the past also came in through underground passages, William thought.

He studied the map for a few moments and began fixing the map.

When Superintendent Yu was still in the Independent Navy, he was a scout soldier that scouted countless routes and had a hand in fixing hundreds of Military maps. Even if he hadn’t touched them in over a century and felt his skills already going down to Commander Lu Xin’s grave, he was still able to fabricate a map on the basis of a real one.

After he completed this task, he sighed and entered a line of coordinates through the network of the nearby transfer portal. It was all the coordinates of planets and space stations they passed by along the way. The long-distance communication quickly connected under the song of the Independent Navy, and William’s coordinates appeared in a number of signal posts within selected areas.

People that caught the signal at the posts immediately reported to the higher ups, while about two dozen communication screens appeared before William. There faces of various strangers appeared on the screen along with some old friends scattered in different parts of the galaxy, as well as the traitor that was secretly working behind their backs.

William silently replayed the spacial recording captured by the military recorder on the mech; from the time they were ambushed, to Monoeyed Hawk volunteering himself to be the bait as others escaped, then to the escapees returning, Grey Wolf being caught in the frontline and everyone broke out of the barricade…

If this was a “wolf pack”, this was probably the dumbest bunch of wolves in history.

Williams’ hand trembled as he sent out the SOS signal and the fake map he just created. The song of the Independent Navy reached the end inside this empty mech.

He readjusted his coordinates and sailed away according to his fake map.

If there really was a traitor among these old friends, the enemy will soon receive the fake information and chase after them through the map.

But…what about the others that received his SOS and coordinates?

Will they continue to watch on the side?

Will they return back to their cave and pretend they never received the message even after hearing the song?

William didn’t know. He thought, perhaps he wouldn’t be the person that would carry the Eighth Galaxy with his own hands.

He was only an average scout.

It was as simple as that.